What’s up with… KDDI & VNPT, Inwit, Telxius

• KDDI and VNPT team on Vietnam launch
• Inwit looks to buy its way into the datacentre sector
• Telxius hooks up with Synamedia on CDN build

In today’s industry news roundup: Japan’s KDDI is collaborating with state-owned VNPT for the launch of a new mobile service in Vietnam; under-pressure Italian towers firm Inwit is reportedly seeking to buy its way into the datacentre market; Telefónica-owned Telxius is developing a new content delivery network with Synamedia; and much more!

Japan’s KDDI has struck an agreement with state-owned Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) to develop and launch a new mobile service in Vietnam later this year. The two companies initially signed a “Business Cooperation Contract” at the beginning of March to collaborate on a new operator to primarily target young consumers and digital natives in Vietnam. KDDI will bring its operational expertise to the table, while VNPT will provide the domestic infrastructure, brand presence and customer touchpoints in the Asian country. The new brand will make use of the operating system employed by Povo, a low-end mobile plan operated by KDDI in Japan. Because povo2.0 is an online-only prepaid brand, users can purchase data on an as-needed basis, which keeps costs down. VNPT already offers mobile services via its Vinaphone brand in Vietnam.

Italian towerco Inwit has had a difficult start to the year after finding itself locked in a dispute with several of Italy’s largest mobile operators, which also happen to be its biggest customers. Now reports suggest Inwit is on the verge of making an offer to buy datacentre assets worth around €100m from Italian telco Wind Tre, potentially opening a new avenue for the infrastructure firm. Il Messaggero (subscription required, in Italian) reports that Inwit is in early discussions with Wind Tre-parent company CK Hutchison about a binding offer for its datacentres. The deal could see the Hong Kong-based company retain a minority share in anything Inwit buys, should a deal be reached. Last month, both Fastweb + Vodafone and rival Telecom Italia (TIM) said they planned to exit long-term lease agreements signed with Inwit (as reported here), as the two telcos look to form a towerco joint venture. Inwit, which operates 26,000 towers across Italy, has said it will fight any efforts to terminate the respective agreements.

International wholesale carrier Telxius has partnered with Synamedia to launch a scalable, carrier-grade content delivery network (CDN). The partnership combines Telefónica-owned Telxius’s Tier 1 IP high-capacity backbone with Synamedia’s multi-CDN management platform, Quortex Switch, to enable international content providers to optimise traffic based on real-time quality of experience or network condition. Telxius already offers a CDN through its international network, which spans more than 100,000km across both terrestrial and subsea cables, and comprises 100 points of presence as well as 26 landing stations and datacentres worldwide. Synamedia was formerly Cisco’s video solutions service before it was bought by Permira and spun into its own company in 2018.

In Belgium, Proximus, Fiberklaar, Wyre and Telenet have signed network collaboration agreements “to support the further deployment of high-speed gigabit networks” across the Flanders region in the north of the country. The signing of the agreements, based on “fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory access” to each others’ networks, follows extensive negotiations that have been ongoing since mid-2024, but the deals still require regulatory approval. “This is a new step forward towards an effective collaboration, designed to extend the reach of gigabit-capable infrastructure, enabling more consumers to benefit from faster connectivity while reducing the need for duplicated civil works,” noted Proximus in this announcement. 

BT Group is set for a brand and marketing shake-up that will see it start to rely more on its traditional brand name rather than shift everything under the EE brand that is used for much of its consumer services portfolio. According to ISPreview, the BT Mobile brand that was shelved in 2023 is set to be revived for a SIM-only proposition as part of a broader overhaul of how the UK telco presents itself to the market. The full details are set to be unveiled on 7 May. 

Just a few months after they confirmed market speculation that a merger was in the works, UK fibre broadband altnets Freedom Fibre and Truespeed have, following regulatory approval, completed the deal to create the Freedom Truespeed Group, “a scaled, capital-efficient full fibre platform with an expanded regional footprint across the UK”. The combined operation has reached and is ready to provide services to 412,000 premises and currently has about 70,000 in-service customers across the north-west, West Midlands, south-west and east of England. “By combining Freedom Fibre’s wholesale, open-access network with Truespeed’s established retail capability, the group is well positioned to support continued growth across both wholesale and consumer markets. The merger reflects a shared ambition to build a stronger, more resilient business that can compete effectively in an increasingly competitive and consolidating sector,” the new operation announced.

– The staff, TelecomTV