• Cellnex looks to sell stake in Swiss unit
• Investors express concerns over OpenAI valuation
• Telecom Italia appoints advisors over potential sale

In today’s industry news roundup: Cellnex is in discussions to unload its Swiss unit in a potential sale to Manulife; some investors in OpenAI raise an eyebrow over the company’s recent valuation due to strategic turbulence and growing competition from Anthropic and Google; Telecom Italia appoints advisors to mull over the €10.8bn takeover bid tabled recently by Poste Italiane, and sets a timeline for the sale of Sparkle; and much more!

Neutral infrastructure specialist Cellnex is reportedly in talks to offload its stake in its Swiss unit to Manulife Financial Corporation’s investment management arm. The Spain-based tower and infrastructure company is reportedly looking to sell its 72% stake in its Swiss business, which manages around 6,000 sites, according to a report from Reuters, citing people familiar with the discussion. JPMorgan recently valued the Swiss business at around €2bn. The remaining shares are held by Swiss Life Asset Managers, but the report didn’t say if Manulife is looking to buy the entire unit, or just the Cellnex majority holding. In 2024, Cellnex sold off its Austrian assets to a consortium for €803m and has also offloaded other operations over the past few years but it is still active in 10 countries, including Spain, France, and the UK.

OpenAI’s latest valuation has left investors arching an eyebrow, according to reports, due to concerns over recent strategic turbulence, product roadmap revisions and increased competition from Anthropic. The ChatGPT developer has been valued at $852bn, but reports in the Financial Times (subscription required) claim some investors expressed wariness when asked to underwrite its funding round, due to fears that changes in strategy could leave the company vulnerable to Anthropic and Google ahead of a mooted initial public offering (IPO) that could happen later this year. One even called the company “unfocused”, the UK newspaper reported. The concerns have been played down by OpenAI’s CFO, Sarah Friar, who pointed to its most recent funding round, which was “the largest in history, oversubscribed, completed in record time, and backed by a broad set of investors…”, though the company did recently mothball plans for a major investment in the UK. OpenAI has partnerships with several major telcos and SoftBank Group is one of its biggest financial backers.

Telecom Italia (TIM) has hired “advisors” to pore over the €10.8bn takeover bid tabled recently by Poste Italiane. Evercore and Goldman Sachs are set to act as financial advisors to the telco’s board as it analyses the offer, whilst Bonelli Erede and Gatti Pavesi Bianchi Ludovici will provide legal advice (that sounds like a lot of people to cater for each lunchtime…). 

Pan European data transport network operator euNetworks is the latest regional player to sign up as a connectivity partner for the AWS European Sovereign Cloud, which launched earlier this year and for which Colt has already been named as a connectivity partner. Marisa Trisolino, CEO of euNetworks, stated: “Data sovereignty is one of the most critical topics for businesses right now and this priority is only set to grow in strength, particularly in the EU and wider Europe where regulatory pressures continue to rise. euNetworks is perfectly placed to support organisations in keeping their data safe by providing secure access to sovereign cloud platforms. Our European focus, datacentre-to-datacentre connectivity leadership and high-performance, private connectivity mean customers can trust that their data is secure and compliant.”

Lidl and 1Global have confirmed their new expanded relationship, which was widely reported at the start of the week, with the major supermarket chain set to launch mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) services in multiple new markets based on the 1Global platform, and Lidl’s parent company, the Schwarz Group, taking a 9.9% stake in 1Global. The official announcement also included some interesting insights into what is driving the move and how Lidl plans to develop differentiated services. The partners noted that “the strategic partnership includes the development of innovative telco solutions on Stackit, the Schwarz Group’s cloud solution. Data sovereignty, particularly regarding the secure handling of customer data, is a top priority here.” In addition, Lidl’s mobile customers will be able to manage their services via the Lidl Plus app, a move the company believes will help entrench loyalty. The fabulously named Julian Beer, executive vice president of purchasing at Lidl International, stated: “With this step, we are consistently evolving our loyalty app into a lifestyle companion for our customers and, with affordable connectivity, creating an offering that is relevant for the entire family. We are integrating this seamlessly with our core business.” So if you fancy a 5G contract with your cured sausages, seasonal gardening tools and a cat scratching post, you’ll know where to find all of those in one place…

And in a separate M&A-related announcement, Telecom Italia says that the sale of its wholesale and international division, Sparkle, is set to be completed in the second quarter of this year. The European Commission has just given its approval for the €700m purchase of Sparkle by BidCo, a joint venture between Italy’s Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) and Retelit, a provider of communications and IT services to the Italian enterprise sector. The deal was initially agreed in April 2025.  

DE-CIX has become the first internet exchange in Mexico to implement Google’s Verified Peering Provider (VPP) service, allowing its partners to connect more easily to the tech giant’s resources. The German-owned IX, which is distributed across multiple datacentres in Mexico City and Queretaro, launched the service at the end of March, but said that it has already had to double capacity due to high demand. The Google VPP programme identifies and endorses internet service providers and internet exchanges, offering diverse connectivity to Google’s global network. This means enterprises using Google services can ensure more uptime.

– The staff, TelecomTV