Telefónica, Brocade show NFV speed
The move toward virtualizing network functions continues to gain momentum as wireless operators look for ways to cut expenses, increase agility in service offerings and remain competitive against over-the-top services. The latest push comes from Spain-based telecom giant Telefónica, which...
Claudia Bacco, Managing Director – EMEA, has spent her entire career in telecom, IT and Security. Having experience at an operator, software and hardware vendors and as a well-known industry analyst, she has many opinions on the market. She’ll be sharing those opinions along...
NII Holdings, which operates in Latin America under the Nextel brand, announced it will likely file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection because it cannot fulfill its financial obligations. Following the announcement, NII Holdings' shares plummeted. According to the filing, the mobile phone carrier has until Aug. 15 to...
EMEA in perspective is a Monday column focused on the identification of regional trends and outcomes of the prior week’s news. Claudia Bacco, Managing Director – EMEA, has spent her entire career in telecom, IT and Security. Having experience at an operator, software and...
The greater the number of competitors, the better for the user, said Brazil's minister of communications, Paulo Bernardo, to members of the press this week. Those comments came on the heels of Telefónica's bid to buy Vivendi's Brazilian unit GVT. Telefónica hopes to combine its Vivo operations, which...
In a new twist to the changing Mexican telecom market, Telefónica is reportedly in talks to acquire Grupo Iusacell, a deal that could be worth up to $4 billion, according to local newspaper El Confidencial. Rumors have been circulating since early June that the two were considering a merger. In a regulatory...
The U.K.-based Vodafone Group released its interim management report on July 25, showing that its service revenue declined 4.2% in the quarter ending June 30, the first quarter of the company's fiscal year. While Europe continued to drag down that figure ― the region declined 7.9%...
The European Union's new caps on mobile phone roaming charges began July 1, cutting data rates for users traveling to other EU countries by more than 50%. The data roaming cap dropped from 61 cents to 27 cents per megabyte. The cap on making...
Ahead of a key regulatory decision over its plan to acquire E-Plus, Telefónica signed a network sharing agreement on June 25 with Drillisch, which operates as a mobile virtual network operator in Germany.
Under the deal, the smaller rival will get access to 20% of...
Vodafone is acquiring Cobra Automotive Technologies, an Italian auto electronics maker, for $196 million. The London-based carrier has agreed with the company's main stakeholders to buy their 74% stake in the company and has an offer out to buy the rest. The deal will...
On the heels of receiving European Commission approval for its $953 million takeover of Ireland O2, Hutchison Whampoa is turning its sights to Italy. Several unnamed sources told Reuters that Hutchison is resuming talks with Russian Vimpelcom to merge their Italian operations.
A merger between Hutchison's telecom subsidiary 3 Italia and...
The Orange Group has named Ramon Fernandez, the current director general of the French treasury, as its next CFO. Fernandez will start his new position on Sept. 1. The current CFO, Gervais Pellissier, will take over the management of Orange's European Zone, which also...
Ad agency Omnicom reportedly it has a $230 million deal to integrate its Accuen ad buying unit with Twitter's MoPub mobile ad exchange. The 2-year deal will give Accuen first access to Twitter's new ad units, and should improve Omnicom's rates and access to...
Despite suffering from slow sales and tough competition in Europe, Vodafone Group said it was still looking to invest in its mobile network.
When the London-based carrier reported earnings for its fiscal year ending March 31, it noted $11.1 billion in “impairments” from its operations...
Argentina is set to conduct spectrum auctions this year designed to free up frequencies for both 3G and 4G services.
According to the minister of economy, Axel Kicillof, and the communications secretary, Norberto Berner, the 1.7/2.1 GHz (advanced wireless services) band auction will focus on LTE services while the...
Deutsche Telekom is paying the price for T-Mobile US's success. U.S. expenditures were blamed for the decline in Deutsche Telekom's earnings this quarter. The Bonn, Germany-based carrier posted a 3.9% decline in core profit, falling to $5.62 billion, even as net revenues rose 8%....
Deutsche Telekom has begun a quest to convince its cash-loving countrymen to accept mobile payment. The carrier this week launched MyWallet in Germany, allowing its customers to make purchases with their smartphones―and the offer included a sweetner, an introductory bonus of up to €40...
Mobile advertising is coming into its own, and companies that sell advertising are racing to stay ahead of the curve. Google of course intends to be one of those companies. The search engine giant relies on advertising for the revenue that is funding its...
With the help of investment firm Blackstone, Telefónica is launching Axonix, a mobile advertising exchange platform, which it claims is the first owned by a telecom company. The Axonix venture is set to resurrect the technology of the ad exchange MobClix, which went bankrupt last...
América Móvil filed an injunction against the resolution issued by Mexico's Federal Telecommunications Institute (Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones or IFT) naming the telecom giant a dominant player in the Mexican telecom market.
The company serves about 70% of Mexico’s mobile-phone customers and was ordered by the...
Spanish telecom giant Telefónica will provide wireless Internet connections for the high-end electric car the Tesla S in Europe ― and reportedly its getting paid millions to do it. While the carrier showed off the car at the Mobile World Congress event in February,...
The Spanish group Telefónica announced a major reorganization in its operations, ending the Telefónica Digital unit, created in 2011 with the objective of bolstering Telefónica’s place in the digital world and leveraging any growth opportunities arising in this environment. To replace its digital unit,...
