What’s up with… Netomnia, Telefónica, GPS

• UK altnet Netomnia lands further funding
• Telefónica loses government deal over use of Huawei tech
• EC leader’s plane suffers GPS jamming

In today’s industry news roundup: UK altnet Netomnia raises £300m in debt funding to help with its ongoing expansion; Telefónica loses a €10m Spanish government contract because of its ongoing use of Huawei technology; GPS is back in the news following a concerning incident involving the leader of the European Commission; and more!

Netomnia looks well on course to be one of the survivors in the UK fibre broadband altnet sector. The operator, the second largest altnet behind CityFibre, has just raised £300m in ‘junior debt’ funding, comprising £160m from existing investors I Squared Capital and Palistar Capital, which was originally secured in May, and an additional £140m subscribed through increased commitments from I Squared Capital and Palistar Capital alongside new lenders Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) and Bain Capital. This latest investment builds on Netomnia’s £880m ‘senior debt’ commitment, bringing its total debt funding  to £1.2bn. The fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) altnet, which last year announced a merger with Brsk to give it greater scale and efficiencies, says it now reaches 2.7 million UK premises, of which 375,000 are connected for commercial services. It is on course to reach 3 million premises by the end of this year and hit 5 million by the end of 2027. Group CEO Jeremy Chelot stated: “The last funding round was oversubscribed, showing the clear demand for Netomnia from both new and existing lenders. This £140m extension reinforces confidence in our ability to deliver at scale while staying firmly on track with our build plan and profitability targets. Our mission remains clear: Connecting millions more homes and businesses with the UK’s most powerful internet.”

The Spanish government’s Digital Transformation Ministry has cancelled a €10m services contract with Telefónica because of the telco’s ongoing use of Huawei technology, reports Reuters. “We confirm the cancellation of the contract for reasons of digital strategy and strategic autonomy,” the ministry said in a statement emailed to Reuters. The news comes only days after reports emerged that Telefónica had signed a new five-year deal with the Chinese vendor late last year for a 5G core platform that will support its 16 million consumer mobile customers until 2030. Huawei’s low price was reportedly key to securing the deal from Telefónica.

A plane carrying European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen had its GPS navigation system jammed while it was trying to land in Bulgaria on Sunday, reports CNN. The EC received “information from Bulgarian authorities that they suspect this blatant interference was carried out by Russia,” the EC’s deputy chief spokesperson, Arianna Podestà, told CNN. Maybe an alternative to GPS is needed to avoid such interference in the future…. see New quantum magnetic navigation system to replace aircraft GPS.

A software issue left “an isolated number” of Verizon mobile customers without service for a few hours during the weekend due to a software-related issue that was swiftly resolved, according to this message to Verizon customers from the telco’s network president, Joe Russo.

– The staff, TelecomTV