• Vodafone faces antitrust charges in Germany
• Smartphones gets a Trump tariff holiday
• Ericsson investors line up new CEO
• It’s World Quantum Day

In today’s industry news roundup: Vodafone and Vantage Towers are suspected of deliberately sabotaging the 5G network rollout of German rival 1&1; smartphones and chips get a Trump tariff stay of execution; Ericsson’s CEO could be on his way out, according to Swedish speculation; it’s a special day for the quantum tech community; and much more!

Vodafone Germany, its parent company Vodafone Group and Vantage Towers, the infrastructure company in which Vodafone Group is a key shareholder, are believed to have engaged in anti-competitive behaviour by deliberately restricting the number of mobile sites being made available to Germany’s 5G newcomer 1&1, in contravention of a commercial supply agreement, according to the country’s national competition authority, Bundeskartellamt. “In 2021, Vodafone’s group company Vantage Towers had contractually agreed to provide the sites. However, massive delays have occurred since then,” noted the authority in this announcement. Indeed, 1&1, which is building out a national 5G Open RAN network with Rakuten Symphony, has been falling foul of the lack of agreed site provision since late 2022, as TelecomTV reported at the time. It finally launched its initial services in late 2023 but has been bedevilled with issues ever since, including network software issues that impacted its customer migration to its new platform last year. The authority added: “In late 2021, Vantage Towers concluded an agreement with 1&1 on the co-use of a number of antenna sites in the four-digit range, a project which was to be realised in several stages until the end of 2025. Later on it was agreed to postpone the deadlines for the agreed provision of antenna sites for one year. However, since the agreement was reached, there have been massive delays in providing the agreed sites to 1&1. Currently 1&1 is still not able to use more than a small fraction of the contractually agreed sites. In contrast to this, Vodafone has significantly expanded its own network in the years following the agreement and upgraded large parts of this network to the 5G standard, including the sites that were meant to be used by 1&1. Using the contractually agreed sites is an essential factor for 1&1 in building up its own mobile network, a process which has now been greatly delayed. According to the Bundeskartellamt’s preliminary assessment, this development significantly impedes 1&1’s ability to compete.” Andreas Mundt, president of the Bundeskartellamt, stated: “Based on the findings to date, the delay in the contractually agreed provision of sites is to be considered an anti-competitive impediment to 1&1’s market entry as a fourth network operator. According to the information available to us at this stage, the delay and its negative effects on competition in the relevant markets could, and in view of the prohibition of abusive practices under competition law, should indeed have been avoided. At the current stage, we are considering using our powers as a competition authority to enforce the provision of the sites which have not yet been made available.” Vodafone and Vantage Towers now have the opportunity to respond to the allegations – I wonder what they will say?

Smartphones, laptops and other personal computers, semiconductors and integrated circuits, touchscreen displays and various other tech products have been exempted from the new tariff regime introduced by US President Donald Trump, the US Customs and Border Patrol announced late last week, but the duration of those exemptions is uncertain and the tech sector’s joy is likely to be short-lived. As The Guardian reports, Trump followed the exemption announcement with a warning, posted on his own social media platform (Truth Social), that separate tariffs would soon be imposed on certain technology products and that he will launch a national security trade investigation into the semiconductor sector and the “whole electronics supply chain” so that the US could not be “held hostage by other countries” (particularly China). By the time you read this, of course, a new idea might have bubbled up in the president’s brain and further changes might be in the air. In the meantime, the financial markets are in turmoil and the global economy’s near-term future hangs on the musings of one unrestrained individual. It reads like a movie script, but unfortunately it isn’t.     

Ericsson’s main shareholders, including Investor AB and ​​Industrivärden, are reportedly set to oust the giant Swedish vendor’s CEO Börje Ekholm and replace him with the company’s current chairman Jan Carlson, according to Swedish financial media firm EFN, which cited several sources with knowledge of the matters. The investors appear to have run out of patience with the lagging share price which, at SEK72.24 on the Stockholm exchange, is down more than 20% this calendar year, and with Ekholm’s strategy, in particular the acquisition of Vonage for $6.2bn in 2021. The vendor has since been forced to write down the value of that asset to about $2.1bn, about 40% of the purchase price. The Vonage acquisition has been one of the main planks of Ekholm’s more enterprise-focused vision for the company as the value of the traditional telecom infrastructure sector continues to erode, but it seems the view of the main shareholders is that the strategy is not paying off or providing a decent return on investments, despite signs of recovery, in particular in North America, towards the end of 2024. However, the world is a different place now, the impact of US President Donald Trump’s tariff strategy (if you can call it that) is unknown and investors, in general, are nervous. Watch out for Ericsson’s first-quarter earnings conference call early on 15 April, when the Ericsson management team will provide insight into current market conditions, the latest financial results, their views on global supply chain economics and, most likely, some clarification on the current top table speculation.   

Every day is special in one way or another, and 14 April is World Quantum Day. To mark the occasion, TelecomTV has published its latest article highlighting one of the most important next-generation telecom sector trends, quantum-safe networking – see UK claims major quantum comms network breakthrough – just as the UK government announces a £121m investment to fund R&D and projects that, the UK’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) hopes, will “secure the UK’s position as a world-leader in quantum as part of the government’s long-term commitment to the sector.” Announcing the funding, DSIT noted that the investment is “giving the next generation of researchers the opportunity to bring their ideas for health, cybersecurity and beyond to life. Their innovations, like quantum technologies for tackling fraud, could birth thousands of jobs and the businesses of tomorrow – supporting the government’s economic mission and the Plan for Change.” The National Quantum Computing Centre is getting £21m of the funding, the National Physical Laboratory’s (NPL) quantum measurement programme is getting £10.9m and £46.1m is going to Innovate UK “to accelerate the deployment of quantum technology across a range of sectors, including computing, networking, PNT (position, navigation and timing) and sensing”. Meanwhile, industry think-tank Economist Impact has revealed the results of a survey of quantum technology professionals which finds that 83% of those experts believe that quantum utility – when quantum computers will overcome hardware and error correction challenges to perform better than classical computers – will be realised within 10 years. Maybe Q-Day will be here sooner than many think. To keep up to date with the latest quantum-safe networking developments, check out TelecomTV’s dedicated quantum technology page.

Deutsche Telekom is teaming up with Wolt, the German technology company known for its local commerce platform, “to bring even more convenience and advantages to customers in Europe. Customers in seven countries, through the Magenta Moments engagement programme, will have access to Wolt+, Wolt’s subscription programme offering zero delivery fees and exclusive discounts, across a wide selection of restaurants, grocery stores, and other local shops, coupled with additional exclusive Wolt deals beyond Wolt+,” the operator has announced. “Our partnership with Wolt focuses on what matters most – providing tangible value to our customers,” boasted Dominique Leroy, a board member for Europe at Deutsche Telekom. “By integrating Wolt into Magenta Moments, we’re delivering meaningful lifestyle experiences across our European markets. It’s another step in our ambition to go beyond connectivity and enrich the lives of those we serve.”

Smart Communications, the mobile division of Philippines telco PLDT, has teamed up with PLDT Enterprise, the telco’s enterprise services division, to launch an anti-fraud service enabled by a GSMA-certified Open Gateway network API. The service, dubbed Silent Authentication, enables financial institutions, e-commerce platforms, and enterprises of all sizes in the Philippines to deliver seamless and safer mobile transactions while protecting users from phishing, identity theft, and other cyber threats,” noted PLDT Enterprise in this announcement. Silent Authentication is a network-based verification solution that “serves as an alternative to the traditional one-time passwords (OTPs), reducing the risk of phishing, identity fraud, and OTP interception,” noted the operator. “This seamless method of authentication not only enhances security but also improves the user experience by enabling faster and more secure digital interactions,” it added.   

– The staff, TelecomTV