• Liberty Global eyes up Three Ireland
• Ooredoo adds to its sovereign infrastructure portfolio 
• UK altnet Gigaclear struggles, CityFibre ups its B2B game

In today’s industry news roundup: Liberty Global is reportedly in talks to acquire Three Ireland to bolster its mobile operations in the country; Middle East operator Ooredoo has fast-tracked its datacentre expansion plans with a strategic acquisition; as UK fibre broadband altnet Gigaclear struggles under its debt pile, CityFibre pitches its SME-friendly wholesale services; and much more!

Liberty Global is reportedly in talks regarding the potential acquisition of Three Ireland from Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison, which last year concluded the merger of its UK operation with Vodafone to form VodafoneThree. The Financial Times (subscription required) reports that the M&A talks are at an advanced stage, with Three Ireland being valued at about €1.5bn. Liberty Global, which declined to comment on the FT report, is already active in the country via its Virgin Media Ireland operation, which has about 380,000 fixed broadband customers connected to its own fixed access network (for a broadband market share of about 20%, making it the joint second-largest player) and 144,000 mobile customers through its mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) operation that offers its services over Three Ireland’s radio access network. Virgin Media Ireland generated revenues of $360.8m and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $120.4m for the first nine months of 2025. Three Ireland is the largest mobile operator in the country with about 5.3 million connections for a market share of almost 50%: It generated revenues of €309m and EBITDA of €84m during the first six months of 2025. Combining the two operations would create a company with a strong position in both mobile and fixed broadband in what is a relatively small but very competitive market that also includes national operator eir (broadband market leader with about 27% market share, and 15% mobile market share) and Vodafone Ireland (with about 20% broadband market share and 27% mobile market share).   

Ooredoo’s datacentre division, Syntys, has acquired datacentre operator Q Data, including its two carrier-neutral datacentre facilities, from Doha Venture Capital for an undisclosed sum to boost its portfolio and datacentre capacity in Qatar. The move brings Syntys’ total live IT capacity in the country to 26 megawatts (MW), Ooredoo noted in this announcement. Syntys CEO Sunita Bottse stated: "Q Data brings proven, revenue‑generating assets that meet the rigorous standards our clients demand. By integrating these facilities into the Syntys platform, we expand our capacity in Qatar with internationally recognised, Tier 3‑certified, carrier‑neutral infrastructure tailored to the needs of hyperscale and AI customers. We’re executing a disciplined plan to reach more than 120 MW of installed capacity across MENA by 2030,” she added. The move “complements Ooredoo Group’s digital infrastructure portfolio, which includes the sovereign AI cloud launched in 2025 that provides public and private institutions in Qatar with local access to advanced compute services,” noted the telco.

2026 is shaping up to be a tough year for the UK’s fibre broadband altnet sector. The Financial Times (subscription required) reports that Gigaclear, which only weeks ago secured additional funding to support its operations, is set to be taken over by its creditors, including the UK taxpayer-backed National Wealth Fund as well as high street banks NatWest and Lloyds, following an unsuccessful attempt to find a buyer. Gigaclear’s network currently reaches about 600,000 premises across 26 UK counties, mainly in the southern and Midlands area of England, and it has more than 160,000 connected customers. However, it is saddled with about £1bn in debt and, according to the report, a financial restructuring process that would reduce the value of the debt carried by the operator is under consideration. The news comes only weeks after London-based fibre access network operator G.network was sold to a distressed debt firm (which has since put the company into administration) and altnets Truespeed and Freedom Fibre were reported to be in merger talks.

More positive UK altnet news comes from major wholesale fibre-to-the-premises operator CityFibre, which has expanded the availability of its business broadband services to 4.5 million UK premises. According to CityFibre, its business services are “designed to meet the needs of small businesses, small or home offices (SoHos) and home workers with symmetrical speeds of up to 2.5Gbit/s, perfect for data backup, remote collaboration, scalable connectivity, work-ready Wi-Fi for multiple users and more. Alongside rapid fix times of less than eight hours and plans to introduce a greater choice of install points, bringing a connection directly to a home office, CityFibre’s reseller partners now have the opportunity to target small businesses, SoHos and the millions of people who regularly work from home,” the operator noted. CityFibre’s network passes 4.6 million premises across the UK and has plans to eventually pass 8 million. It counts the likes of Sky, VodafoneThree and TalkTalk as wholesale customers and was on course to end 2025 with about 900,000 commercial connections to its infrastructure. In July 2025, CityFibre announced it had secured new financing worth almost £2.3bn and is seeking to grow through acquisitions as well as through further network rollout – see CityFibre girds its M&A loins as it secures £2.3bn in funding.  

Another week, another satellite announcement, as Vodafone Qatar becomes the latest telco to strike a deal with Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Vodafone will become the first mobile operator in Qatar to offer Starlink satellite broadband services for business customers, expanding connectivity options to harder-to-reach places, reports the Gulf Times. Vodafone Qatar’s enterprise customers will be able to access Starlink’s low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation, which provides broadband connectivity at up to 500 Mbit/s and latency as low as 20ms to users in industry sectors with remote operations, such as maritime, oil fields or desert locations. Mohamed Mohsin Alyafei, enterprise business unit director at Vodafone Qatar, commented: “We are proud to partner with Starlink and, as the first B2B reseller of its solutions in Qatar, enhance national ICT infrastructure and advance business resilience, supporting Qatar’s digital transformation agenda, and contributing to its National Vision 2030. Vodafone Qatar remains steadfast in its commitment to ensure consistency of our services, proactive investment in our network, and dedication to delivering the best connectivity experiences to businesses and customers in Qatar.” It is the latest partnership for Elon Musk’s satellite firm, which recently received approval to deploy another 7,500 satellites from US authorities. At the end of 2025, it announced partnerships with Dialog in Sri Lanka; it also struck a deal with Vodacom Group for services across Africa back in November. Starlink has also announced a number of direct-to-device (D2D) connectivity deals with operators, though this partnership with Vodafone Qatar is only for broadband services.

Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) has amended its $82.7bn acquisition agreement with Netflix, the companies announced. Netflix will still acquire WBD for $27.75 per share, as announced in early December last year, but it will now be an all-cash deal instead of a mix of stock and cash, as was initially agreed. WBD had received a competing all-cash, $30 per share takeover offer from Paramount but rejected that offer. The amended deal with Netflix looks like a move to see off Paramount’s ongoing interest in buying WBD, which has turned somewhat messy.  

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has appointed Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs to manage the upcoming IPO of its digital services and infrastructure division Jio Platforms, which boasts India’s leading mobile operator Reliance Jio as its main unit. RIL is ready to start the IPO process but, according to The Statesman (and many other media outlets), the giant Indian company is now awaiting confirmation from the government’s finance ministry that the minimum stake large companies must float in an IPO process has been reduced from 5% to 2.5%: RIL reportedly plans to float 2.5% of Jio Platforms’ equity and raise more than $4bn. RIL reported its third-quarter financials last week, with Jio Platforms recording an increase in sales, profits and customer numbers – see Jio boasts 5G, FWA and cloud traction as IPO looms.

– The staff, TelecomTV