• Tele2’s top table purge continues
• Qualcomm reports best ever quarterly sales
• India set to auction mmWave spectrum for 5G

In today’s industry news roundup: Under its new CEO, Tele2 is reshaping its leadership team, with the CFO and head of sales the latest to depart; Qualcomm reported a 17% hike in fiscal first-quarter sales but that didn’t stop its share price from falling; India’s regulator has recommended the auction of mmWave spectrum to be used for 5G services; and much more!

The leadership team clear-out at Stockholm-based service provider Tele2 continues, with the European operator’s CFO, Charlotte Hansson, and chief commercial officer, Hendrik de Groot, the latest to pack their desks and head to the exit door with immediate effect. “I thank Hendrik and Charlotte for their steadfast dedication and leadership during their time with Tele2,” noted the operator’s CEO, Jean Marc Harion, in this announcement. “They have both been instrumental for Tele2’s commercial and financial progress in the past four years, and I wish them all the best in their future endeavours,” added the CEO. Not instrumental enough, it seems. Tele2’s head of financial reporting and operations, Peter Landgren, becomes acting CFO until a permanent replacement for Hansson is appointed, while de Groot is being replaced from 10 February by Petr Cermak, who until recently was group chief commercial and strategy officer at one of Tele2’s key competitors, Telia. “I am very pleased to welcome Petr to the team. His extensive telecom expertise, strategic mindset, and ability to drive change will be invaluable as we accelerate the transformation of Tele2 into a faster and stronger company,” noted Harion, who recently announced plans for a 15% headcount reduction at Tele2. Harion has been revamping his leadership team since he took on the Tele2 CEO role last November: The operator’s CTIO, Yogesh Malik, was replaced just weeks after Harion became CEO, while the executive VP of people and change, Jenny Garneij, and the company’s chief operations officer, Kim Hagberg (who had been a member of Tele2’s executive management team for more than five years) left the operator “with immediate effect” in consecutive weeks in early January.

Wireless chip giant Qualcomm has reported a 17% year-on-year increase in revenues to $11.67bn for its fiscal first quarter, which ended 29 December 2024, the company’s highest ever sales and ahead of market expectations. Earnings before taxes for the quarter were up 23% to just over $3.6bn. “We are very pleased to have achieved quarterly revenue records, which reflect the strength of our technology, product roadmap and end-customer demand,” stated CEO Cristiano Amon. “We are delivering growth across our diversification initiatives and remain committed to executing on our fiscal 2029 targets to achieve $22bn of non-handset revenues.” In its products division (QCT), which was responsible for just over $10bn in revenues, Qualcomm reported good growth across all three lines – handsets (up 13% year on year to $7.6bn), internet of things (IoT) (up 36% to $1.55bn) and automotive (up 61% to $961m). But the company’s share price fell by 4.8% to $167.46 in early trading on the Nasdaq exchange on Thursday after the company noted that its patent licensing division, QTL, which currently accounts for about 14% of total sales, is not expected to record any sales growth this year following the expiration of a deal with Huawei, reported Reuters.  

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued recommendations for the auction of mmWave spectrum in the 37-37.5 GHz and 37.5-40 GHz frequency bands, which would be used for 5G services. At the minimum reserve price, the spectrum being put up for auction would be worth 179.4bn rupees ($2.04bn). The government’s Department of Telecommunications will make the decision on when the auction will be held. Currently, India’s mobile market leaders, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, are offering 5G services across the country, while the third-largest operator, Vodafone Idea, is set to launch its initial 5G services in March. 

The US backlash against the sudden and enormous success of Chinese generative AI (GenAI) app DeepSeek continues, with reports that registrations completed via the company’s website might send some data to China Mobile, one of the many companies that are currently subject to US sanctions, reports Bloomberg. For a reminder of the storm that DeepSeek’s launch caused, particularly in relation to the investments associated with AI processing, check out this article.  

The future of the $42.5bn US Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program, put in place to fund the rollout of broadband infrastructure in underserved areas, appears uncertain following the nomination by President Donald Trump of Arielle Roth as the new head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which is managing the distribution of BEAD grants. Roth has been the telecom policy director for Republican Senator Ted Cruz, who has been critical of the management of the BEAD programme, as Ars Technica reports. 

– The staff, TelecomTV