Financial

The Government of Rwanda has launched a new $30 million (RWF25.4bn) ‘National Research and Innovation Fund’ aimed at boosting the country’s ICT sector.

International Telecoms Week (ITW), the leading annual meeting for the global wholesale telecoms industry, has confirmed the event taking place in Atlanta next year will be held on 23-26 June.

Afrimax, the company that has run a number of mobile operations in Africa under the Vodafone brand, says Vodafone Zambia will have “new ownership”.

South African operators Vodacom – partly owned by Vodafone – and MTN have jumped in quickly to express interest in Ethiopia’s plans to open up Ethio Telecom to foreign investment.

Prysmian Group has set a date for completion of its acquisition of General Cable since being given clearance by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US.

Pressure increased on BT’s CEO Gavin Patterson today following reports that leading shareholders are talking to the company’s new chair about replacing him.

Deutsche Telekom AG (DT) has completed the purchase of an additional 5% in shares of Greek operator Hellenic Telecom (OTE).

Who are really the minds behind the leading innovation in the wholesale carrier market? We want nominations from our readers, from the industry at large, from those who supply the industry and those who use it. Don’t just nominate someone from your team. Think creatively: who is really the most innovative in 2018?

Telia has overhauled its management team, naming a new CEO of Telia Sweden, a new COO and a new head of its units in Lithuania, Estonia and Denmark.

MTN Group is setting out the details of its proposed Nigeria Initial Public Offering (IPO) for a speculated $500 million.

UK-based broadband provider TalkTalk has agreed to offload its direct B2B business to Daisy in a deal worth around £175 million.

The A1 Telekom Austria Group’s Bulgarian subsidiary has rebranded as A1 Bulgaria, continuing an alignment of the Austrian telco's brand strategy across its footprint.

Egyptian International Submarine Cables Company (EISCC) has agreed to purchase Orascom Telecom Media and Technology’s (OTMT’s) shares of its subsidiary MENA subsea cable for $90 million.

Vodafone Qatar obtained 911 million riyals ($250 million) in financing to help accelerate the operator’s fixed-line services rollout and 5G deployment across the country.

RETN has announced two new points of presence in North America, in Toronto and Ashburn, Virginia.

du, part of Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (EITC), has announced a number of solutions that create secure ecommerce environments for its customers.

Revenue and profit of BT’s Global Services division and its Wholesale and Ventures divisions were both down sharply last year.

Orange has redefined and accelerated its multi-services operator strategy with the launch of a new Wholesale & International Networks division.

GTT Communications, has announced its financial results for the quarter ended 31 March 2018.

After two acquisitions, CLX Communications VP Rob Malcolm says there could be more on the way, and explains why we're seeing consolidation in the SMS market

Digital Realty has reported Q1 2018 revenues of $744 million up 2% quarter-on-quarter and 35% year-on-year.

Strong numbers across the board as we run down the latest Q1 2018 figures from the likes of Orange, Verizon, Telenor, Tele2 and Telefónica.

Europe’s new data protection rules come into operation in four weeks tomorrow, on Friday 25 May. But though they officially apply to the 28 members of the European Union, including the UK, the impact is global.

Indus Towers and Bharti Infratel have agreed to a merger that will create the second largest tower company in the world based on number of towers.

UK-based telecoms firm CityFibre is the subject of a £538 million takeover bid from a consortium of infrastructure funds backed by Goldman Sachs.

Reports over the weekend suggest that a blockbuster deal that would see Vodafone buy Liberty Global’s German and eastern European cable networks is imminent.

Equinix becomes Australian market leader with 15 IBX data centres nationwide after closing A$1.035 billion Metronode deal.

The former CEO of Alaska fibre company Quintillion has been charged with $250 million fraud by pretending it had wholesale contracts worth $1 billion.

OTEGLOBE has recently announced a 15% increase in EBITDA as part of its 2017 financial results, COO George Nikoloudis explains to Capacity how the carrier has reached €333.5 million in revenues and 2.9 billion total traffic billed minutes.

Talks between SoftBank and Deutsche Telekom over merging their US subsidiaries, Sprint and T-Mobile, have restarted, according to reports.

VEON has withdrawn its offer to buy the rest of Egypt-listed Global Telecom Holding and has ruled out plans to make any future offers.

Telefónica has reportedly set the ball rolling to place its Argentine subsidiary on the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange as it looks to cut its debt levels.

Vodafone has completed the sale of its Indian tower unit to ATC Telecom Infrastructure Private Limited (ATC) in a deal worth INR 38.5 billion (€478 million).

Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai has unveiled new rules that would bar US telecoms companies from buying equipment using a government subsidy program if the kit is bought from a “company that poses a national security threat”.

GTT Communications has announced that a group of investors being led by Aleph Capital Partners and Crestview Partners will invest $175 million in common stock in the company.

Singtel has unveiled plans to become one of the first telecoms firms to offer interconnected mobile wallets across different ecosystems through an interoperable platform.

The Zimbabwean telecoms market is worth more than $1 billion according to figures from the African nation’s regulator.

Telefónica Brasil has unveiled plans to spend £5.2 billion in capital expenditure over the next three years as it looks to boost fibre penetration in the country.

Two major global operators have started trials to see how blockchain can speed up time for inter-carrier settlements and make them more reliable.

Tofane Global has made its second move in international wholesale market in a week after agreeing exclusivity to acquire Altice’s wholesale voice carrier business in France, Portugal and the Dominican Republic.

GTT Communications' acquisition spree is set to continue after the network provider announced a deal to buy Canadian managed networking and services provider Accelerated Connections (ACI) for an undisclosed fee.

Prysmian Group has received effective clearance from the US antitrust authorities to buy rival General Cable in a deal worth approximately $3 billion.

Verizon Communications and its newly-incorporated Straight Path wireless unit have paid the largest civil penalty ever to the US Treasury to resolve a Commission investigation.

MTN is looking at options to list its Nigerian unit as part of a $5.2 billion IPO, according to reports.

Zayo Group has completed its $127 million acquisition of Spread Networks whilst also announcing an extension of its fibre network in Texas.

Saudi Telecom Company has appointed Nasser Bin Sulaiman Al Nasser as acting CEO of the company, replacing Khaled Bin Hussain Biyari, who has been appointed as assistant minister of defence for executive affairs by the Saudi government.

Wind Hellas is deploying its own fibre-optic network, enhancing its existing retail and wholesale services in several areas throughout Greece, amid €500 million plans.

Equinix has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Infomart Dallas, including its operations and tenants, from ASB Real Estate Investments, in an $800 million debt and cash transaction.

eStruxture Data Centers has acquired Québec-based data centre operator Kolotek from Gaz Métro Plus, further solidifying eStruxture’s leadership position in the Montreal market.

Indian operator Bharti Airtel is considering selling shares in its African operation, which has 14 operations from Burkina Faso to Zambia.

Telia Company has denied reports it is holding talks with Danish rival TDC over a possible takeover.

Japanese technology giant SoftBank has set out plans to list its domestic telecoms arm later this year, according to a report from Reuters.

Telecom Egypt has signed a three-year transmission and infrastructure agreement with Vodafone Egypt, valued at more than EGP 2 billion ($133m).

Vodafone has confirmed it is locked in talks to buy some of Liberty Global’s European cable assets – the latest step in a long-running saga between the two operators.

Liquid Telecom’s CEO for South Africa Kyle Whitehill is to leave the African operator in order to return to the UK to be with his family.

Telecom Italia (TIM) deputy chairman Giuseppe Recchi is to become CEO of Dutch healthcare firm Affidea Group.

Vodafone’s senior vice president and global head of connectivity business Vivek Jhamb is to leave the UK-based operator, Capacity can exclusively reveal.

Reports claim Deutsche Telekom held talks about a mega merger with Orange last year, but the discussions fizzled out with the companies failing to agree on terms.

Only two of the five companies shortlisted to take over 9mobile have bid for the former Etisalat Nigeria, according to reports.

Google’s cloud division has unveiled its participation in three new subsea cables that will service five new regions as part of a $30 billion investment into its infrastructure.

Vocus Group has announced an organisational restructure while will see it split the enterprise and wholesale divisions of its Australian arm into separate operating units.

Tele2 has agreed a $3.3 billion deal to buy Swedish cable operator Com Hem in the latest in-market consolidation move inside Europe.

A shareholder in Cable and Wireless's Jamaican arm has launched legal action against the firm, claiming financial transactions to its parent company have impacted the regional unit.

Millicom's Tigo unit, America Móvil’s Claro and Personal’s Nucleo were the mobile operator winners in Paraguay’s 700MHz spectrum auction, which raised around $84 million.

Reliance Communications has been boosted by reports that the China Development Bank has withdrawn its insolvency filing against the embattled company.

CyrusOne’s definitive agreement to acquire hyperscale data centre provider Zenium Data Centers for $442 million provides first critical step in its European expansion strategy.

The total value of significant data centre-orientated M&A deals that closed in 2017 surged to $20 billion, almost doubling the figure from 2016, according to new data from Synergy Research Group.

Xtera has launched legal action against both Nokia and NEC Corporation, claiming both firms and their subsidiaries have infringed on its patents.