A week in telecoms: India’s Reliance targets Africa

India’s Reliance Industries targets African 5G market

Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani is setting his sights on the African telecoms market, according to Bloomberg, with an initial foray into Ghana via Radisys, a company owned by Reliance’s Jio Platform.

Radisys will provide key network infrastructure, applications and smartphones for a new public-private joint venture in Ghana called Next-Gen Infrastructure Company (NGIC), according to its Executive Director Harkirit Singh, who is also the CEO of Ascend Digital Solutions. He described the plans ahead of NGIC’s launch announcement in Mumbai, India’s financial hub, Bloomberg reported.

NGIC will provide shared 4G and 5G services to mobile operators and internet service providers in Ghana. Other strategic partners in NGIC include Nokia, Tech Mahindra, Microsoft, Ascend Digital Solutions and K-NET.

According to Bloomberg, Singh said Ascend Digital and K-NET hold a combined stake of 55% in the new company. The Ghana government will own just under 10% of NGIC, while local mobile operators and private investors will retain the remaining shares in the company.

In a press release, Radisys said the collaboration aims to deliver affordable 5G mobile broadband services across Ghana. NGIC has been awarded a 5G license and is expected to launch 5G services across Ghana within the next six months, followed by expansion to other parts of Africa.

According to Singh, the aim is to “tap the capital markets and bring in strategic investors as and when required.”

The move comes after Ghana decided to adopt a wholesale network approach to 5G, with much of the technology now coming from India. The hope is that African markets will be able to replicate the success of Reliance Jio in building out its 5G network in India. 

Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Minister for Communications and Digitalization for the Republic of Ghana, said the creation of shared 5G mobile broadband infrastructure “is critical for delivering affordable, high-speed data access to the people of Ghana and help achieve our Digital Ghana vision.”

“The creation of NGIC as a neutral, shared platform, accessible to all mobile network operators and tower companies, will help to expand 5G services rapidly across the country. We are inspired by India’s digital infrastructure and low-cost mobile data usage and keen to replicate it in Ghana,” she said.

T-Mobile US to buy a slice of UScellular

Deutsche Telekom-owned T-Mobile US confirmed recent speculation that it plans to buy parts of regional operator UScellular, announcing it has agreed to acquire “substantially all of UScellular’s wireless operations.”

The self-styled Un-carrier is to splash out $4.4 billion on 30% of spectrum assets across several spectrum bands as well as customers and operations. UScellular will retain ownership of its other spectrum as well as its towers, with TMobile entering into a long-term arrangement to lease space on 2,015 towers, and extending its lease on a further 600 towers. 

The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions and certain regulatory approvals, is expected to close in mid-2025. UScellular is 83%-owned by Telephone and Data System (TDS).

LeRoy Carlson, Chair of the Board of Directors of UScellular, cited rising competition and increasing capital intensity among the reasons for its decision to integrate its wireless operations with those of T-Mobile, and stressed the ongoing focus on providing 5G services to rural areas. 

“T-Mobile has the resources to provide UScellular’s customers with an unparalleled network experience, lower prices and higher-quality services. We are pleased that T-Mobile also shares our commitment to bringing best-in-class connectivity to rural Americans, who today comprise nearly 40% percent of the population that UScellular serves,” he said. 

The move comes four years after T-Mobile acquired Sprint, and will see the operator embark on yet another network integration process.

T-Mobile has also only just completed the purchase of virtual network partner Ka’ena Corporation, including customer-facing brands Mint Mobile and Ultra Mobile and enabler Plum. Furthermore, it recently agreed to form a 50:50 joint venture with Swedenbased investment firm EQT in order to acquire local US fiber network provider Lumos.

Telefónica adds AI to partnership with Google Cloud

Telefónica and Google Cloud have prolonged their existing partnership by three more years and have also extended their collaborative efforts into the realm of artificial intelligence (AI) and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI).

According to the Spain-based operator, the strategic collaboration “has demonstrated great value for both companies over the last several years, which has encouraged Telefónica to extend for three additional years — and to explore collaboration on areas such as the use of AI and data services, the use of Google Cloud’s solutions to host network functions under a telco cloud approach, and the improvement of Telefónica’s network operation via automation.”

The agreement includes the expansion of Google Cloud services offered by Telefónica Tech to the B2B market. The group’s B2B digital services specialist has now achieved five Google Cloud specializations and Managed Service Provider status.

According to Enrique Blanco, Telefónica Global CTIO, “this extension of the partnership reinforces Google Cloud as a key partner for Telefónica in the coming years. Many of our new services and processes will be based on the innovation, agility, scalability and flexibility that Google Cloud provides to us.”

Telefónica said it is building next-generation digital products and services, with Google Cloud technologies as strategic enablers. The operator plans to “explore a set of innovation projects with Google Cloud on previously agreed areas, which include AI, Gen AI, MLOps, accelerated computing infrastructure for AI, Web3, blockchain, quantum, and edge computing.”

Google Cloud is also working closely with Wayra, Telefonica’s corporate venture capital, to provide startups with technology to help them innovate their product development processes, optimize costs, and support their market expansions.

Telefónica originally formed the B2B deal with Google Cloud in June 2019, promising to offer its solutions to international enterprises. It has also formed similar relationships with other hyperscalers including Amazon Web Services and Microsoft. 

Digi looks set to pick up OTE’s Romanian business

Digi Communications has been on an expansion drive in recent years, with plans to launch services in Belgium and Portugal in 2024 and a strategy to turn itself from an MVNO to an MNO in Spain via the MasOrange merger remedies.

Now, the group is aiming to pick up more assets in its domestic market, Romania. It has signed an MoU with Deutsche Telekom-owned Greek operator OTE to potentially buy the latter’s Telekom Romania Mobile Communications (TRMC) business. 

OTE has been seeking an exit from the Romanian market for some time. It has already sold its fixed-line operations to Orange, and has been exploring options for its mobile unit over the past couple of years. 

Last year, OTE signed an MoU on the sale of TRMC with Quantum Projects Group, which is controlled by Adrian Tomșa, the owner of Clever Media Network (CMN).

However, after six months of silence, OTE said it has started negotiations with a new buyer called West Network Invest, described as an investment vehicle that is majority owned by Digi Romania and minority owned by Clever Media group. Digi recently changed the name of its Romanian operations from RCS&RDS to Digi Romania.

It now remains to be seen if this latest deal will be approved by Romanian authorities on competition and security grounds. 

Digi has said TRMC would remain as an independent telecoms operator on the market should the transaction be completed. However, the business has not been performing well, reporting a further 4.1% decline in revenue and a 20% drop in core earnings in the first quarter of 2024. 

Separately, Vodafone Romania and Orange Romania said they have expanded an open RAN project in rural areas of the nation, adding virtualized 2G technology to the mix. The two operators first announced they were collaborating on open RAN in October 2023. 

VEON sells stake in TNS+ in Kazakhstan

VEON has placed a strong focus on becoming a digital operator in recent years, with the launch of services in fintech, education, healthcare and entertainment that are tailored for each of its markets.

This “asset light” strategy has also seen it gradually reduce its footprint to six markets in order to better focus on areas markets where it can create scale with its digital operator model, dubbed Digital Operator 1440 or DO1440.

VEON has now just reached a deal to sell its 49% stake in TNS+ in Kazakhstan to its joint venture partner, the DAR group of companies, for $137.5 million.

Kaan Terzioglu, Group CEO of VEON, described the business, which operates under the Beeline brand, as “Kazakhstan’s digital powerhouse, with products ranging from its financial services application Simply, to its entertainment platform BeeTV, and its innovative second brand Izi.”

Beeline Kazakhstan also owns software development company QazCode, which Terzioglu said is spearheading an “AI-first approach in the country.”

Following the sale, VEON will be active in Pakistan, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. It sold its Russian unit VimpelCom last year. In Q1 2024, the group reported revenues of $942 million, up 11.6% from last year in local currency terms or 6.6% in dollars.

Also noted…

French billionaire Xavier Niel is considering buying out telecom firm Millicom International Cellular, according to his investment vehicle Atlas Investissement.

NTT Data is buying a controlling stake in Malaysia’s GHL and Globe Telecom is weighing an IPO for GCash.

KKR is expected to win unconditional EU antitrust approval of its plan to buy Telecom Italia’s NetCo unit.