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Telenor builds national AI factory, welcomes first client

Annie Turner
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Telenor builds national AI factory, welcomes first client

Operator makes initial investment of €8.5m to build facility around NVIDIA’s full-stack AI computing platform

Telenor Group has officially launched its AI factory, designed to help businesses accelerate AI-powered transformation across various industries. As part of the initiative, Telenor announced an initial NOK100 million (€8.5 million) investment in February to build an AI factory using NVIDIA’s full-stack AI computing platform.

Telenor’s AI factory aims to enhance AI adoption for internal operations and external customers, and provide local AI computing capabilities to the Nordic region by allowing them to harness Telenor’s infrastructure and access NVIDIA H100 Tensor Core GPUs and the NVIDIA AI Enterprise software platform.

The AI factory will serve as a collaborative platform, combining Telenor’s infrastructure and expertise with partner companies to accelerate the adoption of AI across industries. As Telenor expands this initiative, the AI factory will onboard more customers.

Its first customer is a Norwegian company, Hive Autonomy, which specialises in autonomous technology. The idea is that it, and others like it, can develop solutions in the region to help other companies optimise operations, reduce costs and improve safety through data-driven, AI-powered solutions.

Hive Autonomy’s solutions are autonomous systems that adapt to dynamic environments and operate with heightened levels of precision and safety. With Telenor’s AI factory, Hive Autonomy can focus on refining and scaling its technology.

Christoffer Jørgenvåg, CEO of Hive Autonomy, says, “The opportunity to collaborate with Telenor is a major milestone for Hive Autonomy. This partnership will drive significant advancements in our autonomous solutions, allowing us to enhance safety, efficiency, and reliability in new ways.”

Jannicke Hilland, EVP & Head of Telenor Infrastructure, comments, “Our mission is to empower organisations to innovate, and Hive Autonomy’s commitment to redefining autonomous technology aligns perfectly with our vision. By combining their forward-thinking solutions with our critical infrastructure, we’re opening doors to a future where AI and autonomy transform industries in real, tangible ways.”

DT loses European Court case – who cares?

Annie Turner
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0
DT loses European Court case – who cares?

If there was ever a judgement that showed how unfit for purpose the European Union’s regulatory and legal processes are, this is a prime candidate

In the last few hours, the European Court of Justice has published its decision which support an earlier, lower court ruling in a case brought by Deutsche Telekom, Tele Columbus and NetCologne against Vodafone.

Back in 2018, Vodafone announced its intention of acquiring Liberty Global’s cable networks in Germany, Czechia, Romania and Hungary for an eye-watering €18.4 billion.

In Germany, Liberty Global’s cable TV firm operated under the Unitymedia brand and had acquired Kabel BW before it was itself up for sale. The European Commission expressed concerns about the proposed merger with Vodafone and its “compatibility with the internal market” but nevertheless approved the deal in July 2019, subject to Vodafone meeting certain remedies to safeguard competition. For example, Vodafone gave Telefonica Germany access to the cable network.

However, Deutsche Telekom, Tele Columbus and NetCologne were not satisfied that the Commission had gone far enough and strove to have the Commission’s approval overturned at the Court of the European Union. Its ruling supported the Commission’s decision, but the litigants persevered.

After much legal toing and froing, the European Court of Justice has now agreed with the lower court’s ruling.

Too late, irrelevant

Who cares? Five years later, it’s irrelevant. In the meantime, there have been three changes of leadership within Vodafone Germany and and a new group CEO is at the helm. The current incumbent in Germany, Marcel de Groot, bragged about the operator having the “largest unified fibre network in Germany” earlier this year. So why is Vodafone’s grip on the Germany, its biggest market, apparently weakening?

One could argue that disruptions in leadership and tying Vodafone Germany up in a legal argument could have been part of the reason it took its eye off the ball rather than leveraging the claimed superior infrastructure. This should have been a massive advantage given how late DT’s fibre build started in earnest.

Instead, as Vodafone appears to be losing its grip on its biggest market, DT is gaining ground in Germany as demonstrated by its Q3 results which no doubt will numb the pain of losing that court case.

DT’s Q3 reported profit up 50+% to €3bn as it raises full year guidance

Annie Turner
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0
DT’s Q3 reported profit up 50+% to €3bn as it raises full year guidance

Highest growth is coming from the T-Mobile US, but Germany and the rest of Europe are growing too, and T-Systems

Europe’s largest operator group in terms of marketcap, Deutsche Telekom (DT) has reported its Q3 adjusted net profit was up 3% to €2.3 billion. Reported net profit came in at €3, up by more than 50% compared with the same period last year*. Net revenue rose organically by 3.6% to €28.5 billion.

Service revenues grew by 3.8% in organic terms, to €24.1 billion, while Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortisation and adjusted loss (EBITDAaL) was up 6.4% year-on-year, in organic terms, to €11.1 billion.

Deutsche Telekom said in a statement it “remained on course for success in the third quarter of 2024, in line with the plans recently outlined by the company at its Capital Markets Day in mid-October.”

“The growth momentum continues unabated on both sides of the Atlantic,” said Christian Illek, CFO of DT. “At the same time, we have successfully brought our leverage ratio back down to below our target value.” This is true, but most of it is from the US side.

In October, the rating agency Moody’s raised the long-term rating outlook of Deutsche Telekom to positive and its shares have now reached a 23-year high. DT group expects to report adjusted EBITDAaL of around €43.0 billion, up from the previous guidance of around €42.9 billion.

This relates to T-Mobile US raising the mid-point of its guidance range by $50 million and an expected increase in earnings of €0.1 billion contributed by business outside of the US. The guidance for free cash flow AL remains unchanged at around 19.0 billion euros.

Reasons for success

In Germany fibre adoption is gathering pace with a record new 131,000 customers compared to 77,000 FTTH lines activated in the same period last year. Broadband net adds were 38,000. Also, 49% of retail broadband customers use a rate plan offering speeds of up to 100 Mbps and more. The number of new TV customers increased to 76,000, from 51,000 TV net adds in the prior-year period.

DT also added 327,000 branded mobile contract net adds and mobile service revenues grew by 2.1% year-on-year between July and September.

Revenue in the Germany operating segment grew by 2.5% in Q3 to €6.5 billion. Adjusted EBITDAaL rose by 3.5% to €2.7 billion, resulting in a margin of 42.2%.

United States

T-Mobile US “pulled ahead of its competitors with strong growth in key customer metrics in the third quarter of 2024”. The postpaid customer base grew by 1.6 million, while the number of postpaid phone customers was up by 865,000. The churn rate in the key postpaid phone customer segment dropped to 0.86%, reaching a record low for a third quarter.

Service revenues increased by 5.2% in the quarter just ended to $16.7 billion. At the same time, adjusted EBITDAaL rose 7.8% year-on-year to €8.0 billion.

Rest of Europe

Revenue and earnings continued in European national opco outside Germany. Adjusted EBITDAaL increased by 8% in organic terms to €1.2 billion. Revenue grew in the same period by 4.2% in organic terms compared with the prior-year period to €3.1 billion. The key service revenues increased by 4.7%.

The mobile contract customer base grew by 176,000 in the third quarter to 27.8 million, while the number of users of fixed-mobile convergence products passed the 8 million mark for the first time on the back of 143,000 net additions in fixed-mobile convergence in the same three months. The number of broadband customers increased by 47,000, and the number of TV customers by 41,000. Greece was the biggest contributor with 24,000 TV net adds, thanks in part to an attractive portfolio of sports broadcasting rights.

T-Systems are go

T-Systems underpinned the upward trend with consistently positive financial performance indicators. In the period July to September, the company recorded “an increase in order entry” of 18% year-on-year in organic terms to €870 million. Revenue grew in the same period by 3.3% in organic terms to €991 million.

Adjusted EBITDAaL increased by 17% in organic terms to €102 million. T-Systems contributed to the increase in value of the Group with a positive cash contribution of €28 million, up from €18 million in the third quarter of the previous year.

* The difference between these two figures is mainly due to net positive special factors from the measurement of several financial investments prompted by a reduction in discount rates following changes in the capital market environment, according to DT.

LINX expands African footprint with new Ghana and Kenya interconnects

Simon Dux
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0
LINX expands African footprint with new Ghana and Kenya interconnects


The London Internet Exchange (LINX) targets east and west Africa where more subsea cables are landing  

The London Internet Exchange (LINX) said it will be expanding its interconnection footprint in Africa with LINX Accra, a new Internet Exchange Point (IXP) for Ghana. LINX Accra will be a neutral, multi-site interconnection fabric providing peering services and more for networks to improve performance, keep local traffic local and lower network latency.

The move follows LINX’s announcement that it will be expanding its interconnection service provision in Kenya as it welcomes LINX Mombasa to its global network map. One year on from the launch of its first Internet Exchange Point (IXP) on the continent, LINX Nairobi, the global interconnection service provider will be extending not only its Kenyan footprint but also its partnership with local data centre operator iColo: A Digital Realty Company.

In September, LINX announced it will be extending its African interconnection platform to PAIX Data Centres in Nairobi, following demand from the local networking community. Recently, Systel, a telecommunications and network services provider in Kenya, became the first provider to enable the Microsoft Azure Peering Service (MAPS) at LINX Nairobi.

Ghana gateway

Set to go live in early Q1 of 2025, the new IXP will follow the LINX design of a resilient, interconnected, multi-site fabric to grow with the predicted demand for the region. Ghana has six subsea cable systems making it one of the most internationally connected countries in Africa. LINX Accra will initially launch from Onix and PAIX data centres as part of phase one. This setup will provide redundancy and interconnectivity, allowing networks at either location to meet at LINX Accra via a single cross-connect to access peering services and more.

“The LINX Accra IXP will bring robust, distributed interconnection services across several data centres in Accra,” said LINX head of global engagement Nurani Nimpuno (above). “LINX Accra will not only support the growth of the strong local ISP community, but with several key internet submarine cables landing in Accra, it is uniquely positioned to become a central gateway for Internet traffic in West Africa.”

Mombasa calling

Mombasa is also home to several major submarine internet cables, including 2Africa, SEACOM, TEAMS (The East African Marine System), and EASSy (Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System). Mombasa not only serves Kenya but also provides critical internet traffic infrastructure for neighbouring countries such as Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, and even landlocked nations like South Sudan.

“The launch of the Mombasa IXP is a significant complement to the existing LINX IXP in Nairobi a step that will bolster interconnection across East Africa,” said Nimpuno. “Improved efficient local traffic exchange enhances network resilience, reduces latency, and supports a seamless digital experience. This expansion strengthens not only our partnership with iColo, but the region’s digital backbone, as we work together to pave the way for greater connectivity, innovation, and economic growth.”

Several international content providers, cloud services, and digital infrastructure companies have a presence in Mombasa’s data centres. These include Google, Akamai and Netflix. By hosting popular content locally, the need to retrieve it from overseas servers will be reduced.

“With over 90 networks connected at our data centre campuses in Mombasa, the addition of LINX gives our customers a far-reaching global platform for enhancing interconnectivity. LINX provides an opportunity for our customers to peer at other global locations, including Nairobi, strengthening worldwide connectivity,” said iColo founder and chief executive Ranjith Cherickel. LINX Mombasa will be the first Internet Exchange Point at iColo’s MBA2 facility and with a physical presence in both sites and an interconnected fabric setup, this adds a new level of interconnection services for the region.

LINX Mombasa is predicted to go live early in Q1 of 2025 and is planned to mirror the technical set up in Nairobi, using Nokia kit to enable peering services and more on 100G ports from day one. Existing members of LINX globally including networks connected to LINX Nairobi will be able to take a 10G port with 1Gbps of peering service with no additional costs as this is part of LINX’s unique membership package.

Softbank, NVIDIA trials aim to turn RAN into revenue centres

Annie Turner
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0
Softbank, NVIDIA trials aim to turn RAN into revenue centres

SoftBank will deploy the new AITRAS Converged AI-RAN Solution in its own network and offer it commercially to other operators from 2026

Amid a raft of announcements about the joint efforts of Softbank and NVIDIA to “accelerate Japan’s journey to being a global AI powerhouse, the AI-RAN stands out for telcos.

The press statement describes AI-RAN as new sort of network that runs AI and 5G workloads concurrently. In an outdoor trial, conducted in the Kanagawa prefecture, Softbank achieved “carrier-grade 5G performance” while running AI inference workloads on the network’s unused capacity.

SoftBank used NVIDIA’s AI Enterprise to build “real-world AI inference applications” for the trial, including autonomous, remote support for vehicles, robotics control and “multimodal retrieval-automated generation at the edge”.

Adding up the numbers

The premise is that, on average, mobile operators only use about a third of RAN capacity. Bringing AI into the mix would enable operators telcos to monetise the idle capacity for “AI inference services”.

The AI-RAN solution would turn compute power up or down dynamically to meet demand and supply without affecting the network’s performance. The idea is to build an ecosystem linking the demand and supply of AI technology using NVIDIA’s AI Enterprise serverless APIs and orchestrator.

The ecosystem could send external AI inferencing tasks to an AI-RAN server that has computing resources available to deliver “localised, low-latency, secure inferencing services”.

NVIDIA and SoftBank suggest operators could earn about $5 from AI-inference revenue from every $1 of capex they invest in new AI-RAN infrastructure. SoftBank estimates it have an ROI of up to 219% for every AI-RAN server it adds to its infrastructure.

Softbank plans to use this tech in its own commercial network and offer it to telcos globally from 2026 in the shape of AITRAS technology. It says this is a “convergence solution based on the AI-RAN concept that can host both AI and RANRAN…workloads on the same NVIDIA-accelerated computing platform”.

Source: Softbank – link here

Forget single-purpose RAN

“Shifting from single-purpose to multi-purpose AI-RAN networks can mean 5x the revenue for every dollar of capex invested,” said Ronnie Vasishta, SVP of Telecom at NVIDIA. “SoftBank’s live field trial marks a huge step toward AI-RAN commercialization with the validation of technology feasibility, performance and economics.”

Ryuji Wakikawa, vice president and head of the Research Institute of Advanced Technology at SoftBank added, “SoftBank’s ‘AITRAS’ is the first AI-RAN solution developed through a five-year collaboration with Nvidia. It integrates and coordinates AI and RAN workloads through the SoftBank-developed orchestrator, enhancing communication efficiency by running dense cells on a single Nvidia-accelerated GPU server.

“We are confident this AI-driven innovation, AITRAS, will pave the way for new business models in telecommunications, serving as a crucial factor in the transformation of mobile operators.”

SoftBank also announced it is building “Japan’s most powerful AI supercomputer” using the NVIDIA’s Blackwell platform, and will use the NVIDIA Grace Blackwell platform for its next supercomputer.

Further, SoftBank intends to use the DGX SuperPOD for its own GenAI development and other AI-related activities, as well as for those of universities, research institutions and businesses in Japan.

China-backed hack stole private comms of US federal staff via telcos

Annie Turner
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0
China-backed hack stole private comms of US federal staff via telcos

“Communication service providers are becoming a goldmine for nation-state hackers”

On Wednesday evening, the US’ Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the FBI confirmed that the Salt Typhoon attack, launched in October, breached US telecom providers. This allowed the hackers to access private communications of a ‘limited number’ of federal government officials.

The confirmation came almost immediately after Moody’s Rating published its annual cyber security heat map in which it upgraded telecoms from being High Risk to Very High Risk.

Joint statement

The CISA and FBI issued a joint statement which read, “The U.S. government’s continued investigation into the People’s Republic of China (PRC) targeting of commercial telecommunications infrastructure has revealed a broad and significant cyber espionage campaign.

“Specifically, we have identified that PRC-affiliated actors have compromised networks at multiple telecommunications companies to enable the theft of customer call records data, the compromise of private communications of a limited number of individuals who are primarily involved in government or political activity, and the copying of certain information that was subject to U.S. law enforcement requests pursuant to court orders. We expect our understanding of these compromises to grow as the investigation continues. 

“[We] continue to render technical assistance, rapidly share information to assist other potential victims, and work to strengthen cyber defenses across the commercial communications sector. We encourage any organization that believes it might be a victim to engage its local FBI Field Office or CISA.”

Goldmine for hackers

Donny Chong, Director Nexusguard, commented, “This is yet another example of how communication service providers are becoming a goldmine for nation-state hackers. Telecom providers have become gateways through which foreign adversaries can reach government officials and sensitive data. This marks an escalation from previous attacks, aimed at intercepting business information via internet traffic to extort victims for monetary gain.”

He added, “The role of telecom providers is transforming. Once viewed primarily as connectivity providers, they now stand on the frontlines of cyber warfare and espionage. Securing these networks shouldn’t fall solely on the private sector. Government support is essential, with regulations and security standards to help protect this critical infrastructure.”

Chong also urged “increased regulation” for the telecoms sector “that set cybersecurity standards in line with this rising threat. Funding should be extended to telecom providers that are looking to bolster cybersecurity measures in the form of tax incentives for security investments or cybersecurity skill development. These measures can help set stronger foundations for cyber resilience moving forward.”

Swisscom and Ericsson launch 5G mobile private network service

Simon Dux
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0
Swisscom and Ericsson launch 5G mobile private network service


If Ericsson and Swisscom were a couple the new service portfolio is equivalent to renewing their vows

Swisscom and Ericsson are planning to introduce MPN Private, a fully standalone Mobile Private Network (MPN) offering based on Ericsson’s private 5G network portfolio. It is unsurprising that the operator has turned to Ericsson given the vendor serves as the network supplier for Swisscom’s entire mobile network. However, it does demonstrate that Ericsson is making decent inroads in the private 5G network space with several operators.

For example, the company has already been working with Vodafone for over a year. Last month, Vodafone Portugal installed a 5G Standalone mobile private network (5G SA MPN) in the oldest cement plant in the world, in partnership with CIMPOR, a leading cement manufacturing company, Ericsson and SAP. It has also done work equipping EDP’s Castelo do Bode dam with 5G.

Ericsson is also the key partner for Telstra which just launched a new private, fully managed 4G/5G service based on the vendor’s private cellular core that customers can control and administer to deliver wireless services. Interestingly with this service, Telstra partitions a dedicated part of its public mobile network and the enterprise doesn’t need to build out the infrastructure. It allows Telstra to effectively offer private, hybrid and public 4G-5G infrastructure solutions to enterprises.

Dual mode

The basis the Swisscom offer is Ericsson’s dual-mode core technology offering both 4G and 5G connectivity simultaneously. This enables a wide range of innovative use cases for both indoor and outdoor environments, while easy integration into business processes, devices and applications ensures greater efficiency in productivity, costs and energy consumption.

With MPN Private, companies use their own Ericsson Private 5G core on the company premises. In combination with an in-house system, this enables a private, localised mobile network that can be operated and managed completely independently of a specific network provider. 

This ensures at all times that data-intensive communication is guaranteed independently of mobile robots, digital twins, or a connected workforce, on the factory premises, for example. MPN Private is designed specifically for business customers and comes pre-integrated to ensure rapid service delivery and enable advanced and intelligent operation in any environment, with sensitive data protected on-premises.

“With Ericsson, we have opted for an established and proven network equipment supplier with whom we are jointly advancing the topic of mobile private networks with and for companies in Switzerland so that they can benefit from the advantages of mobile networking,” said Swisscom Business Customers head of connected business solutions Fredy Portmann.

“Together with Swisscom, we are focused on providing commercially viable solutions that are designed for today’s dynamic environments and developed to meet the demands of complex and industrial operating environments,” said Ericsson key account manager Kenneth Ong. “We see strong momentum for private networks driven by use cases that benefit greatly from 5G connectivity. The combination of Swisscom’s high-performance and high-coverage network, as well as Ericsson’s turnkey solutions, will open up new opportunities for customers who recognize the value of private networks.”

With Mobile Private Network, Swisscom said it is expanding its existing communications portfolio in cooperation with Ericsson, adding that, in the coming months, the range of services in the field of MPN is to be further deepened and expanded together.

Moody’s annual cyber heat map puts telecoms at Very High Risk

Annie Turner
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Moody’s annual cyber heat map puts telecoms at Very High Risk

The map suggests that sectors that are $1.7bn in debt are at most risk: airlines and power generation also moved into that category this time

Moody’s Ratings has moved telecoms into the Very High Risk category in its annual cyber heat map, as major telecom companies have experienced damaging cyberattacks in recent years. Like other very high risk industries, they are “highly digitized and play a crucial role in the functioning of society and the economy”. After being “highly digitized” the second factor that contributed to higher cyber risk scores are “below-average cyber risk mitigation practices”.

We imagine that many operators might have quite a lot to say in refuting the second attribute, but Moody’s cites, “Costly cyberattacks on companies such as T-Mobile USA (Baa2 stable), AT&T Inc. (Baa2 stable) and Optus Australia, a subsidiary of Singtel Optus Pty Limited (A3 stable) underscore the industry’s Very High risk designation. These firms have experienced numerous and severe attacks in recent years that have resulted in the theft of personal information from millions of current and former customers and led to substantial financial settlements with regulators.”

Source: Moody’s Ratings, Annual Cyber Heat Map, November 2024

It continues, “The breaches illustrate the critical challenges telecommunications companies face in safeguarding sensitive customer data against increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks. Telecommunications firms have made substantial investments in digital transformation, particularly in migrating significant portions of their operations to the cloud.

“While cloud services can reduce some cyber risks tied to the business, they may also introduce new vulnerabilities. This was evident in a recent AT&T breach where malicious actors gained access to data stored on a third-party cloud platform. Although telecommunications companies are investing heavily in cybersecurity, their efforts have yet to counteract their heightened risk exposure. This stands in contrast to the very highly exposed banking sector, for instance, which despite facing similar risks, has more effectively mitigated the threat through implementation of top-tier cybersecurity measures.”

It says an example of weaker mitigation practices would be the telecommunications sector’s vulnerability management. Data from a Moody’s affiliate, Bitsight Technologies, points to the sector being 2.5 times more likely to have unaddressed Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEVs) affecting their networks than banks. The sector’s cyber diligence and cyber governance scores similarly show weaker results in our 2023 cyber survey.

Interestingly, between them (see below), the High risk and Very High risk sectors represent $28 trillion of debt.

You can find out more here.

Crowd-sourcing: operators have a huge opportunity in high-density venues

Annie Turner
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0
Crowd-sourcing: operators have a huge opportunity in high-density venues

Ericsson’s research found that network stability and app performance is 10x more important to consumers than speed alone

Record-breaking events like Taylor Swift’s World Tour and the Paris Olympics have made 2024 a landmark year, with impacts felt beyond entertainment. Taylor Swift’s Eras concert series (photo shows a Swift concert at the Wembley Stadium in north London) alone has fuelled economic activity, adding nearly £1 billion to the British economy. When the Eras tour moved to mainland Europe in May, there were fears it could cause inflation. And that’s just one example in this era of mega-events.

Ericsson’s latest Consumer Lab Report reveals that it’s not only the economic impact that’s notable – connectivity has also become a defining feature of the fan experience. With more fans turning to social media to capture and share real-time moments, stable and reliable networks have shifted from a luxury to an expectation, setting new standards for live events that will only rise in the future.

The report looks at four major issues around increased fan engagement at live events:

Data demand & 5G advantage

Major events saw more than 40% of fans streaming, uploading, and sharing, creating “intense data peaks”. According to Ericsson’s report, 5G provided a 20% higher satisfaction rate than 4G had 20% more satisfied users than 4G, underscoring its role as a critical asset for high-density environments.

Reliability over speed 

Fans rated network stability and app performance 10x more important than speed alone, underscoring the need for resilient infrastructure to support digital engagement at scale. This is something Mobile Europe feels very strongly about but too often regulators focus on speed and therefore operators are obliged to also.

Revenue potential

Some 40% of fans are interested in paying to have guaranteed connectivity during big events. Ericsson’s research found that event goers are ready go pay between 5% and 15% on top of the cost of the ticket for guaranteed, seamless connectivity. 

Implications for market in future

Ericsson concludes that with more high-profile events are on the horizon, telecom providers have “a window” in which “to set new standards in fan engagement and capture growth by partnering with venues to deliver premium 5G experiences”.

How to do it

It will be interesting to see how many operators cash in on it. Helpfully, Ericsson has published a technology paper alongside the ConsumerLab report, that delves into the technology needed to provide guaranteed, seamless connectivity at big events.

The paper highlights the steps taken by operators with preparations beginning more than a year in advance to handle expected traffic spikes and avoid network interruptions. Increased capacity was provided by 5G, particularly using 5G mid-band time-division duplex (TDD) spectrum combined with Massive MIMO technology.

This approach proved “cost-effective and efficient”, according to the Ericsson paper, boosting capacity and enhancing experiences for 4G and 5G users alike. For example, at the global sporting event in Paris, average throughputs for 5G users were up to six times higher than 4G under normal conditions and four times higher during peak times. On the other hand, mid-band 5G TDD delivered a 3.5-fold energy efficiency improvement per gigabyte compared to 4G.

Telecom Egypt signs $609 mln 5G infrastructure deal with Vodafone

Simon Dux
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Telecom Egypt signs $609 mln 5G infrastructure deal with Vodafone


The wide ranging wholesale agreements aim to kick start Vodafone Egypt’s 5G rollout

Telecom Egypt has signed several multi-year agreements, worth around EGP 30 billion ($609.7 million), to deliver a raft of infrastructure services to Vodafone Egypt as that operator prepares to rollout 5G. The partnership includes extending Telecom Egypt’s transmission services agreement with Vodafone Egypt until 2031, securing Vodafone Egypt’s current and future expansion. It also includes a four-year agreement for fiber connectivity to Vodafone Egypt’s mobile sites. 

In addition, several other agreements have been signed for virtual fixed voice and internet services, enabling Vodafone Egypt to expand its integrated portfolio of communications services in the Egyptian market and benefit from a range of distinctive value-added services and competitive business offerings.

The agreements will be disbursed over the duration of the agreements, which have varying maturities up to 2034. Vodafone Egypt, which is Telecom Egypt’s largest wholesale customer, is the owner of the largest mobile market share in Egypt and received its 5G licence from the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) last month, as did Orange Egypt and e& Egypt. The three spend around $675 million. Vodafone Egypt also extended its existing spectrum licences for five years, to 2039, for $17 million. Telecom Egypt got its 5G licence from the NTRA in January 2024 for $150 million. 

In contrast to Ethiopia, Vodafone Egypt is currently a jewel in Vodacom’s crown. In the current reporting period, Vodafone Egypt delivered service revenue of ZAR 13 billion, contributing 22.1% to the group service revenue. Vodacom said service revenue was up 44.1% in local currency, accelerating marginally to 44.4% in the second quarter. The operator put this down to the success of Vodafone Cash a financial services platform based on M-PESA. In the first half, Vodafone Egypt hit 50 million customers and grew ARPU by 34.6%.

In June, Vodafone Egypt became the first service provider globally to deploy Ericsson’s triple-band Radio 4466, supporting Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) and Time Division Duplex (TDD) bands – using 1800MHz, 2100MHz FDD and 2600MHz TDD bands.

Haya Karima

Speaking at the signing ceremony, communications and ICT minister Dr Amr Talaat said the number of mobile towers has doubled in Egypt over the past five years, reaching over 36,000 towers nationwide. “Over the past two years, more than EGP 8.8 billion has been invested – equally shared between the four mobile operators and the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority – to expand the network of mobile towers in the villages of the ‘Haya Karima’ initiative,” he said. “The mobile network coverage for all phases of this project is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter of next year.”

Vodafone Egypt CEO Mohamed Abdallah said the deal has made the telco one of the largest infrastructure investors in the country. “This partnership reflects our commitment to leveraging the latest technological solutions that will enable us to provide high-quality services to our customers in Egypt,” he said. “It also underscores our efforts to continue investing in the development of network infrastructure and the deployment of high-speed fibre optics.”

“This is part of our ambitious vision, following our recent acquisition of the 5G services licence with an investment exceeding $150 million. We are now on the verge of a new phase and are fully equipped to offer the best services with the highest quality standards,” he said. “We are committed to achieving successive accomplishments that meet our customers’ expectations and support our vision of leading Egypt’s digital transformation, in line with Egypt’s Vision 2030.”

“Telecom Egypt remains steadfast in its commitment to advancing the telecommunications sector in Egypt, leveraging its technical expertise and state-of-the-art infrastructure to support this goal,” said Telecom Egypt managing director and CEO Mohamed Nasr. “We are committed to driving Egypt’s digital transformation and shaping a better future for telecommunications services, in line with the rapid global advancements in the telecommunications and information technology sector.”

Above, from left: Vodafone Egypt’s CEO Mohamed Abdallah, Egypt’s minister of communications Amr Talaat and Telecom Egypt’s MD and CEO Mohamed Nasr at the signing.

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