What’s up with… Univity, Orange, Nexfibre

• Univity gets €27m for sovereign satellite service
• Orange raises growth guidance after strong Q1 results
• CMA launches an investigation into Nexfibre’s Netomnia acquisition

In today’s industry news roundup: France’s Univity raises €27m in funding towards building a sovereign satellite service to support European telcos; Orange posts better-than-forecasted Q1 financial results thanks to a strong showing in the Middle East, Africa and in Europe; the UK’s competitions watchdog opens an investigation into Netomnia’s proposed buyout of Nexfibre; and much more!

France-based Univity has raised €27m in funding to complete the build of its very-low-earth orbit (VLEO) 5G demonstration programme as it looks to launch a European-based sovereign satellite connectivity service from 2028. The funding round was backed by Blast, Expansion and France’s Deeptech 2030 fund, which is managed by Bpifrance on behalf of the French government, with the cash earmarked for Univity’s uniShape VLEO plans to provide high-speed, low-latency connectivity to connected devices. Univity also intends to build a wholesale space infrastructure to support telecom partners by ensuring native integration with existing mobile networks. As part of the scheme, two VLEO 5G satellites will be assembled, integrated, tested and operated in orbit to validate Univity’s 5G non-terrestrial network (NTN) service and direct-to-device (D2D) smartphone connectivity.

Orange has raised its growth guidance for the year to more than 3% after posting stronger-than-expected first-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation after leases (EBITDAaL) and revenues, thanks to strong growth in the Middle East and Africa and a solid performance in Europe. First-quarter EBITDAaL rose 6.6% to €2.60bn, above analysts’ consensus of €2.58bn. Revenue climbed 3.5% to €10.1bn, topping the forecast of €10bn across the Orange Group. Results from the Middle East and Africa were particularly strong, up 12.7% driven by a 19.4% growth in mobile data. But even Orange’s home market of France grew 2.3% to €4.4bn, as Orange added 54,000 fixed broadband and 40,000 mobile customers. Orange Cyberdefense also posted a strong quarter, with growth of 9.2%, while Orange’s wholesale revenue was also up by 6% compared to Q1 2025. Orange Business, however, saw revenues dip by 2.6% to €1.75bn for the same period. The full results can be found here. Q1 2026, which ran to the end of March, marked the launch of Orange’s new three-year strategy, Trust the Future, which the operator unveiled in February.

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has opened up an investigation into Nexfibre’s proposed £2bn acquisition of Netomnia. The regulator is seeking views on the anticipated acquisition by Nexfibre, which is a joint venture between Liberty Global, Telefónica and InfraVia Capital Partners, as it looks to create a challenger to BT’s Openreach – as Nexfibre CEO Rajiv Datta told TelecomTV earlier this month. Nexfibre already passes more than 2.6 million premises, but the acquisition of Netomnia will boost this figure to nearer to 8 million by 2027. The CMA welcomes comments from interested parties between 23 April and 8 May, before moving on to the next stage of the investigation. In separate statements, Datta and Nexfibre’s three investors all acknowledged the investigation and said they will “engage constructively” with the regulator.

Nokia’s share price jumped by more than 4% to €8.86, its highest level since 2010, following the publication of its first-quarter financial numbers, which included high growth numbers for parts of its Network Infrastructure division (optical systems, IP routers, fixed broadband equipment) that are benefitting from ongoing investment in datacentres and the networks that connect them. While Nokia’s like-for-like group revenues for the first three months of the year increased by 3% to €4.5bn, Network Infrastructure net sales grew 6%, with revenues from the optical networks portfolio growing by 20%. Nokia noted: “For the full year, we now expect Network Infrastructure net sales to grow between 12% and 14% in 2026. We expect Optical Networks and IP Networks [routers], combined, to grow between 18% and 20%. We are also increasing our investment in Optical Networks to maximise our opportunity in this accelerating market. As a result, we are currently tracking somewhat above the mid-point of our full year financial outlook of €2bn to €2.5bn in comparable operating profit.”

The UK government has confirmed it is in contact with telecom companies over the potential threat to subsea cable systems following an incident involving several Russian vessels. In a session in parliament, reported here by the UK Defence Journal, Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty asked armed forces minister Al Carns if the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had held discussions with telcos on how to counter the threat, prompting Carns to respond that the MoD is “committed to a collaborative approach between government and the private sector” when it comes to national resilience. He also confirmed he had held talks with industry over “a range of threats including Russian sub-threshold interference”. The question and answer came less than two weeks after defence secretary John Healy revealed that the Royal Navy had been tracking Russian submarines operating near undersea cable systems around the UK. The UK is a key route for much of the world’s internet traffic.

Banglalink has partnered with SpaceX to integrate Starlink’s direct-to-device satellite connectivity into the Veon-owned operator terrestrial coverage in Bangladesh. The partnership will see Banglalink first launch messaging services over Starlink later this year, before introducing data services at a later date, should regulators give the relevant approvals. It will make Bangladesh Veon’s third market to introduce satellite services with Starlink, following similar deals in Ukraine (via Kyivstar) in November and Kazakhstan (through Beeline) in December. Veon has an agreement that could bring Starlink services to all five of its operating markets – with the other two being Pakistan, where it operates as Jazz, and Uzbekistan where it operates as Beeline – reaching a total of more than half a billion people. 

– The staff, TelecomTV