What’s up with… Spectrum, Telefónica, Viettel

• Charter and Cox complete merger, launch Spectrum
• EU gives Telefónica gigafactory JV thumbs up
• Viettel seals spectrum licences for Dominican launch

In today’s industry news roundup: Charter and Cox merge, launching the world’s biggest cable company, Spectrum; European Commission gives the go-ahead for Telefónica and partners to launch an AI infrastructure joint venture to bid for a gigafactory project; Viettel wins spectrum licences as part of its plans to establish a new mobile operator in the Dominican Republic; and much more!

Charter Communications and Cox Communications have completed their landmark $34.5bn merger, creating one of the world’s largest cable companies, which will operate under the brand name Spectrum. Charter was already the largest cable operator in the US, with around 31 million customers, and adding Cox’s customer base of 6 million means Spectrum will serve around 37 million customers across 45 states. Charter, which acquired the privately owned Cox with a combination of stock and $4bn in cash, also purchased Liberty Broadband, a publicly traded company controlled by billionaire John Malone that held a major equity interest in Charter. Malone now controls around 11% of the combined company. “The addition of Cox to the Spectrum footprint is one that can be celebrated by customers, employees and investors alike,” said Chris Winfrey, Charter president and CEO. “Together, we will bring the best products, at the best price, coupled with the highest level of customer service to more customers across our expanded 45-state Spectrum footprint.” Cox customers will be given access to Spectrum plans by mid-September, according to the company, including its mobile and video services. The deal closed after receiving conditional approval by the California Public Utilities Commission earlier this week, as reported here.

The European Commission has given the thumbs up for Telefónica and several partners to create a new Spanish AI infrastructure joint venture, as part of its push to build AI gigafactories. The commission approved the move by ACS, Telefónica, Santander and the Spanish Society for Technological Transformation (SETT), operating as Sepi Digital, to create a new entity that will manage datacentre colocation services in Spain and will act as the company’s vehicle to bid for one of the seven European AI gigafactories that the commission plans to build. The Spanish project, which also has backing from Portugal, will feature a dual-location split between Móra la Nova (Tarragona) and San Fernando de Henares (Madrid). In support of the bid, the Spanish government committed €719m to the project through Sepi, which will be controlled by the private sector. Telefónica, Banco Santander and ACS will jointly hold a 47% stake in the project (15.67% each) and Madrid (through Sepi) will hold 48%, while another company – Multiverse Computing – will take a 4% stake, and the rest will be held by the Regional Government of Catalonia.

Viettel has won the rights to three spectrum bands that will support its efforts to launch a new mobile operator in the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Telecommunications Institute (Indotel) said Viettel Global JSC, which is a subsidiary of the Vietnamese operator, won the right to use 240 MHz of spectrum in the 700 MHz, 2,300 MHz and C-band frequencies for 4G/5G mobile networks for a 20-year term. Guido Gómez Mazara, chairman of Indotel’s board of directors, said: “Our goal is to provide people in the Dominican Republic with superior telecommunications services, increase competition in the market and, most importantly, optimise costs for consumers.” The Vietnamese operator now has 90 days to establish a Dominican entity to hold the licences, before launching a new operator in the Caribbean island – its third market in the Americas region, after Peru and Haiti.

In the same auction, Indotel also granted spectrum licences to Claro Dominicana, the largest mobile operator in the Dominican Republic. Formerly operating as Codetel as well as Verizon, Claro, which has been owned by America Movil since 2007, was awarded 20 MHz in the 700 MHz band for the remaining 15 years of its current concession. During the tender process, which was launched in February, Indotel also tried to auction 30MHz in the AWS band but received no bids, leaving those blocks unclaimed.

Indonesia’s ION Network has deployed Ciena’s WaveLogic 6 Extreme solution on its new ION Cable System 1 (ICS1), which links Singapore with Jakarta. The 2,000km cable will use WL6e’s coherent optics to offer wavelength services of up to 1.2TBit/s, with total end-to-end capacity of 24Tbit/s, Ciena said. ICS1 will also use Ciena’s advanced Layer 0 control plane capabilities for operational efficiency and will be run on Ciena’s 6500 platform. Overall, the system’s total capacity will sit at 288 Tbit/s across six segments, using two fibre pairs, and will be used to boost network reliability for more than 250,000 homes across Bali, Java, and Sumatra, according to ION. “ION Network is committed to accelerating digitalisation in Indonesia, and ICS1 will help drive this vision with the help of Ciena’s market-leading optical technology,” said Daniel Simanjuntak, chief technology officer at ION Network. Ciena previously worked with ION on the delivery of its B3JS cable, which links Jakarta, Bangka, Bintan and Batam with Singapore, and its BDMCS cable, which connects Batam, Dumai and Medan.

Turkcell has signed up to no less than six new European research and development projects linked to 6G technologies, AI and sustainability. The operator will contribute to several programmes that fall under the EU’s Horizon programme: 3D-NET, Magic-6G, and Future-6G, which focus on 6G technologies; Safari and Unifier, which aim to strengthen critical digital infrastructure; and Resurrection, which supports sustainable digital transformation, according to the Daily Sabah. Commenting on the involvement in programmes, Vehbi Çağrı Güngör, Turkcell’s chief network technologies officer, said: “Our participation in six international projects carried out under Europe’s most respected research programmes is a strong indication of the confidence placed in Turkcell’s international R&D capabilities. By taking active roles in these projects, we are helping build the digital infrastructures of the future and contributing to the development of global standards.”

– The staff, TelecomTV