What’s up with… Rakuten Mobile, VMO2, Telefónica, ‘fair share’

• VMO2 abandons NetCo plan as Q2 disappoints
• Rakuten Mobile selects its 5G SA vendor partners
• ‘Fair share’ payments crop up in trade talk reports 

In today’s industry news roundup: Cisco, Nokia and F5 make the cut for Rakuten Mobile’s 5G standalone deployment; Virgin Media O2 looks to have abandoned its plan to spin off a standalone wholesale fixed broadband company; European telcos hoping for ‘fair share’ payments from Big Tech firms look set to be disappointed; and more!

Rakuten Mobile has chosen Cisco Systems, Nokia and F5 as the key technology partners for its 5G standalone (5G SA) deployment, the Japanese operator has announced. “The strategic technology partnerships with Cisco, Nokia and F5 will significantly enhance Rakuten Mobile’s network capabilities, simplify operations through AI-driven systems, and drive innovation for enhanced consumer and enterprise mobile services across Japan,” the operator noted. Cisco will supply its mobile packet core portfolio, which is great news for the US vendor but not such good news for Japanese vendor NEC, which had been developing a 5G SA core platform with Rakuten Mobile for several years. Nokia will supply cloud-native network functions (CNFs) – including authentication, user data management, signaling, analytics and IMS voice – that will be deployed on Rakuten Symphony's Cloud-Native Platform and Cloud-Native Storage (CNP and CNS). In addition, the operator is “partnering with F5 to enhance the security and scalability of its 5G SA core network. This collaboration is also an industry-first showcase of F5’s BIG-IP Next Cloud Native-Network Functions for its Gi/N6 LAN services integrated into the Cisco mobile Packet Core portfolio,” noted Rakuten Mobile. The operator’s CEO Sharad Sriwastawa noted: "Rakuten Mobile disrupted the industry in 2019 with the world's first end-to-end cloud-native, virtualized mobile network built on Open RAN. Today, we're accelerating our evolution towards fully autonomous network operations. Through the power of 5G, AI, and strategic partnerships with leading innovators like Cisco, Nokia, and F5, we are empowering customers in Japan with state-of-the-art, secure, and sustainable mobile connectivity. We are setting a new global benchmark for intelligent, cloud-native mobile networks, meeting the dynamic needs of both consumers and enterprises and solidifying our position as a leading global innovator." Rakuten Mobile’s move comes amid growing evidence that network operators are, at last, committing to 5G SA deployments – see Rolling on with rolling out 5G standalone.

Virgin Media O2 (VMO2), the UK telco jointly owned by Liberty Global and Telefónica, appears to have scrapped its plan, first unveiled in February 2024, to form a standalone wholesale high-speed fixed broadband access unit dubbed NetCo that would compete with BT’s Openreach and CityFibre. The idea had been to seek an external investor that would buy a stake in the operation and help provide working capital, but that turned out to be tough in an (AI) era when infrastructure investors are far more interested in pumping their money into datacentres. In May this year Liberty Global noted that the efforts to secure an external investor for NetCo had been put on hold, but now Telefónica CEO Marc Murta has indicated to Reuters that the NetCo plan is “not on pause” but has instead been “stopped”. VMO2 declined to comment further. The news came as VMO2 reported less than stellar second quarter results, with total revenues down by 5.5% year on year to £2.53bn and adjusted EBITDA slightly down (by 0.4%) to £984.2m. The operator ended June with 15.64 million contract mobile customers, down from 15.85 million a year earlier, and 5.64 million fixed broadband connections, down from 5.71 million a year earlier.  

Also from Telefónica… The Spanish telco’s chief operating officer (COO) Emilio Gayo reportedly told Reuters that Telefónica is “reducing our exposure to Huawei” in Germany and Spain to follow the “rules we have in these countries”, but noted that the operator would continue to work closely with the Chinese vendor in its major operations in Brazil. But it’s unclear what Gayo is referring to as Telefónica already seems to have migrated away from the Huawei core platforms it had previously deployed in Germany and Spain to work instead with Ericsson and Nokia. TelecomTV has reached out to Telefónica to seek clarification.  

Have the ‘fair share’ dreams of Europe’s major telcos been shattered? Whether the region’s operators will ever be able to claw some capex funds from the Big Tech firms that fill up their data pipes looks less likely than ever following the US/European Union trade agreement brokered earlier this week by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and US President Donald J. Trump. The White House Fact Sheet about the agreement includes a paragraph about an intention to “address unjustified digital trade barriers”, with the White House claiming that “the European Union confirms that it will not adopt or maintain network usage fees. Furthermore, the United States and the European Union will maintain zero customs duties on electronic transmissions.” So, is ‘fair share’ now dead in the water? Maybe not. As the EC announcement notes, “The political agreement of 27 July 2025 is not legally binding. Beyond taking the immediate actions committed, the EU and the US will further negotiate, in line with their relevant internal procedures, to fully implement the political agreement.” And Ars Technica reports, the EC has denied there is any confirmation that ‘fair share’ rules will not be included in the region’s Digital Networks Act.  

Google seems set to invest $6bn in a massive datacentre facility and its associated power infrastructure in the Indian port city of Visakhapatnam in the state of Andhra Pradesh, reports Reuters.  

Orange has been dealing with the fallout from a cyberattack it suffered on 25 Friday. The operator noted that it collaborated with its cybersecurity division, Orange Cyberdefense, “to isolate potentially affected services and minimise any impact,” but these measures “caused disruption to certain management services and platforms for some of our business customers, as well as a few consumer services, primarily located in France. Our dedicated teams are actively engaged in informing and assisting the affected customers.” According to Orange, “there is no evidence to suggest that any internal or customer data has been exfiltrated.” 

– The staff, TelecomTV