A week in telecoms: A new Quantum Alliance takes shape and Telecom Italia inches towards planned NetCo sale

SKT drives Quantum Alliance

SK Telecom (SKT) announced that it has formed a Quantum Alliance in collaboration with Nokia and five other partners. The aim is to develop a quantum technology ecosystem in South Korea initially, and then seek international opportunities. Alliance members hope to tap into a global market that the Korea Intelligence and Information Society Agency estimates will grow in value from $19.6 billion in 2023 to $117.9 billion by 2030.

SKT noted that the Quantum Alliance name will be replaced by a new brand expected to be revealed in the coming months. Indeed, the name has been used previously by SKT for a collaboration with Deutsche Telekom that was announced in 2017, and another movement with a similar name, the Quantum Alliance Initiative, was launched in the US in 2018.

SKT has already highlighted it will be leading efforts to develop standards for key management of hybrid approaches with quantum key distribution (QKD) and post-quantum cryptography (PQC). According to SKT, quantum-safe communications refers to the use of technologies and methods that are resistant to attacks by quantum computers in order to keep information assets secure even after a large-scale quantum computer has been built.

In addition to quantum technology, SKT has also been driving global R&D efforts on GenAI and large language models, as well as the metaverse with its ifland platform.

India plans spectrum auction in May

India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has invited operators to submit applications for spectrum in eight frequency bands, ahead of an auction planned for May.

A total of 10,523.15 MHz of spectrum worth 963.17 billion Indian rupees ($11.65 billion) will be put up for sale.

The Business Standard said telcos will have the right to use the spectrum for 20 years from the date of frequency assignment. It added that the higher frequency bands are expected to command a lower price, similar to the last auction held in 2022.

But the government is expecting the response to be subdued, as noted by Light Reading. According to Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister for Communications and IT, “the next spectrum auction will be a limited auction because an already large part of the spectrum required by the industry was auctioned” previously. For instance, Reliance Jio has already acquired pan-India 700 MHz spectrum, which it uses to offer 5G standalone (SA) services.

Telecom Italia takes further steps towards NetCo sale

Telecom Italia (TIM) is preparing for its future as an operator without a fixed grid, using its recent Capital Markets Day to provide more details about how it will work with NetCo once the division has been divested in the summer.

At the same time, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP) has entered into an agreement to join KKR’s Optics Bidco investor group, a move that will give it a 17.5% interest in the fixed business. Optics Bidco, which includes involvement from a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Italian infrastructure fund F2i and the Italian government, agreed to acquire NetCo for €18.8 billion in late 2023.

But there was bad news for TIM as the operator’s shares plunged by a quarter over concerns about debt levels, cashflow and dividend payments under the new structure following the planned network sale. Adding salt to the wound, a subsequent clarification for the guidance showed that after the planned grid divestment, net debt would rise by €1.4 billion this year to €7.5 billion.

Meanwhile, TIM’s largest shareholder Vivendi, which holds a 24% stake, remains opposed to the KKR deal. Taking all this into account, it remains to be seen if Pietro Labriola will succeed in his bid to seek a second mandate as TIM CEO at a shareholder meeting in April.

MTN partners with Omnispace on satellite IoT and 5G

South Africa-based MTN Group will collaborate with US-based satellite operator Omnispace on the development and deployment of satellite IoT and 5G non-terrestrial (NTN) services using S-band spectrum.

Specifically, the two partners will explore the integration of MTN’s terrestrial mobile networks with Omnispace’s NTN network, “leveraging 3GPP standards to serve consumer mobile and enterprise IoT services”.

MTN joins a growing cohort of operators that are collaborating with satellite companies to extend wireless coverage in hard-to-reach areas, and also provide so-called direct-to-cell or direct-to-device (D2D) satellite services. For instance, Vodafone Group has formed a partnership with Project Kuiper, Amazon’s low Earth orbit satellite (LEO) communications initiative, and is also working with AST SpaceMobile on D2D services. In addition, Deutsche Telekom has a partnership with Skylo and Intelsat, while Telefónica is collaborating with Sateliot.

Meanwhile, T-Mobile US and SpaceX recently announced the successful launch of six Starlink satellites that support D2D capabilities. T-Mobile was the first to link up with Starlink but has since been joined by Rogers in Canada, KDDI in Japan, Optus in Australia, One NZ in New Zealand, Salt in Switzerland, and Entel in Chile and Peru.

Orange and MasMovil leap final regulatory hurdle

Orange and MasMovil look to be on track to complete the proposed merger of their Spanish operations by the end of March. The European Commission has already given the green light to the deal. Now, the Spanish government has approved the creation of a new telecoms company that will have more than 30 million mobile, seven million broadband and two million TV customers.

According to a statement from Spain’s Council of Ministers, Orange-MasMovil has committed to “make large investments in fixed and mobile infrastructure, which could not be achieved on such a scale without the proposed operation”.

The future joint venture will also be permitted to take over the spectrum concessions currently held by Orange Spain and MasMovil. However, the new entity will then exceed the spectrum cap for a single operator, meaning it will have five months from the close of transaction to offload any surplus frequencies.

As part of the merger remedies, Orange and MasMovil have already committed to sell 60 GHz of spectrum held by MasMovil to Digi Communications across three frequency spectrum bands (1,800 MHz, 2,100 MHz and 3.5 GHz).

Also noted…

TalkTalk Wholesale Services has rebranded as PlatformX Communications (PXC) to create the “UK’s largest independent wholesale telecoms platform”. PXC has been operating as an independent company within TalkTalk Group since March.

BT tied with Broadpeak on live video streaming, claiming that the new Multicast-Assisted Unicast Delivery (MAUD) solution will “enable more reliable, efficient and sustainable live video streaming”.