Beijing pushes major Chinese telcos to raise dividends

Beijing pushes China Telecom, China Mobile to raise dividends

Three major Chinese telcos are dramatically changing their financial strategies and shifting from reducing capital costs to offering higher dividend yields.

As reported by Nikkei Asia, this shift is linked to the increasing interest from the Chinese government in the performance of the stock market and its directive to accord more importance to shareholder returns within state-owned enterprises.

China Telecom followed this logic but took it a step further, as interim...

22 August 2024 | 5G

Telcos urged to embrace horizontal strengths in B2B sales

Telcos are encouraged to leverage their core strengths in connectivity and data services to drive B2B sales, rather than chase vertical specialisation.

Research firm GlobalData argues that while there is a temptation for telcos to deepen sector-specific partnerships, this often leads to unrealistic expectations and costly strategic readjustments. 

“Over three decades of working with telcos, GlobalData has seen many ambitious statements about building up expertise...

21 August 2024 | Operators

Bharti Enterprises to acquire majority stake in BT

Bharti Enterprises has announced plans to acquire a majority stake in BT, the UK’s largest broadband and mobile provider.

Bharti will purchase approximately 24.5% of BT Group from its current top shareholder, Altice. The acquisition will be executed through Bharti Global, the international investment arm of Bharti Enterprises.

Sunil Bharti Mittal, Founder and Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, commented on the historical significance of this move: "Bharti and BT have an...

12 August 2024 | 5G

Huawei’s upcoming chip may break China’s 7nm barrier

Chinese tech giant Huawei continues to defy expectations, steadily reclaiming its position in the global smartphone market despite weathering over five years of stringent US sanctions. Showcasing remarkable resilience and innovation, the company's recent chip development and smartphone sales advances paint a picture that transcends mere corporate resilience.

Huawei's journey through the sanctions storm began in 2019 when the Trump administration, citing national security concerns,...

7 August 2024 | China Mobile

Net neutrality rules suspended by federal appeals court

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has dealt a significant blow to net neutrality advocates by blocking the recently reinstated rules from taking effect. This decision extends an earlier temporary pause, effectively putting net neutrality on hold until further notice.

The court granted a stay after reviewing petitions from broadband providers who opposed the rule. In their ruling, the panel of judges stated that the internet service providers (ISPs) had "successfully showed they...

2 August 2024 | Broadband

Top 8 benefits of cloud-native telecom development for service providers

Technologies in the IT field do not stand still. The pace of improvement in tools that enable developers to create better products is constantly accelerating. At the same time, standards and approaches to work are changing — the time frame for bringing a finished product to market is decreasing, and the quality bar is steadily increasing. 

Fortunately, telecom software development companies have found a simple and effective way to speed up processes without sacrificing quality....

1 August 2024 | Operators

Ofcom tightens rules to combat foreign scam calls

Ofcom, the UK's communications regulator, has introduced new measures to protect consumers from scam calls originating overseas. The strengthened industry guidance, announced today, requires phone companies to block calls from abroad that falsely display UK landline numbers.

This move aims to tackle a common tactic used by fraudsters who 'spoof' trusted phone numbers to deceive victims. By imitating numbers from reputable organisations or government departments, scammers increase...

30 July 2024 | 5G

France hit by coordinated attacks on telecom infrastructure

France has been targeted by a new wave of sabotage attacks, this time focusing on telecom operators. The incidents occurred on Sunday night and have affected fibre optic networks across six regions of the country.

French authorities have confirmed that installations belonging to major telecom providers SFR and Bouygues Telecom were vandalised. The attacks appear to be well-coordinated, with damage reported in southern France and near the Luxembourg border, as well as in areas...

29 July 2024 | Broadband

The dawn of OpenRAN: Revolutionising mobile networks

Born from the need for greater flexibility and cost-efficiency in mobile networks, OpenRAN (Open Radio Access Networks) emerged in the mid-2010s as a radical reimagining of cellular infrastructure. The concept gained momentum in 2016 when the xRAN Forum was established, later merging with the C-RAN Alliance to form the O-RAN Alliance in 2018. This collaborative effort aimed to break the stranglehold of proprietary, integrated systems that had long dominated the...

25 July 2024 | 5G

T-Mobile and KKR to broaden US fibre network with Metronet acquisition

T-Mobile and KKR announce strategic acquisition of Metronet to broaden U.S. fibre network

T-Mobile has entered into a joint venture (JV) with KKR to acquire Metronet in a move that will significantly expand T-Mobile's fibre footprint. Metronet, it's worth noting, is currently the fastest-growing pure-play fibre company in the US.

"This is a unique opportunity and a smart, capital-efficient deal that enables T-Mobile to profitably build on our success in broadband and provide fast, affordable, and reliable connectivity options to millions more customers nationwide as a...

25 July 2024 | Broadband