• Vodafone UK claims big 5G radio power savings using Ericsson apps
• Ciena set for AI-fuelled hike in full year revenues
• Sigve Brekke appointed group CEO at Thai telco True Corp

In today’s industry news roundup: Vodafone UK is touting significant energy-efficiency gains from using a trio of Ericsson AI-enabled applications; Ciena is set to benefit this year from the inter-datacentre optical transport network investments fuelled by AI workload demand; former Telenor CEO Sigve Brekke has been appointed as the group CEO of Thailand’s True Corp; and much more!

Vodafone UK says it has reduced the daily power consumption of 5G radio units by “up to 33%” at a few sites in London using AI and machine learning (ML) applications from Ericsson. In a trial, the UK operator used a number of applications from the Swedish vendor’s Service Continuity AI App suite, namely 5G Deep Sleep, 4G Cell Sleep Mode Orchestration and a Radio Power Efficiency Heatmap. “These features work in tandem to measure, predict and optimise energy consumption across the network, with the ability to power down components during low-traffic periods and rapidly reactivate them when needed,” noted Vodafone UK. To find out a bit more about the function of the apps, check out this press release. TelecomTV is awaiting further information from the operator on how these applications were deployed and further energy-efficiency measurement details. Andrea Donà, chief network officer and network director at Vodafone UK, stated: “By working with Ericsson to successfully apply these innovative software solutions to our network, we’re able to significantly improve energy efficiency without impacting the service our customers receive. Reducing power consumption at our trial sites is a big win – both financially and environmentally – and shows we can continue to improve the efficiency of our network as we build 5G coverage across the UK,” added Dona, who is to be the head of networks at the giant UK operator that will shortly be formed from the £16.5bn merger of Vodafone UK and Three UK. Katherine Ainley, CEO of Ericsson UK and Ireland, added: “It’s exciting to see how our work with Vodafone UK is making a real difference. Our ability to significantly reduce network energy consumption while maintaining high performance standards is a testament to the innovation and expertise of our combined teams.”

Ciena has reported revenues of $1.07bn for its fiscal first quarter that ended 1 February, a year-on-year increase of 3%, though the vendor’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was down by 2.2% to $156.5m. While its routing and switching product revenues dipped year on year, its optical networking product sales increased to $728m for the quarter, and its Blue Planet orchestration software unit increased its revenues by almost 100% to $26m, giving it an annual run rate of more than $100m. Sales picked up significantly in the Americas to $795.7m, making up for a significant dip in the EMEA region where revenues stood at $157.9m. Some 49% of total revenues came from non-telco customers, with about two-thirds of those non-telco revenues coming from cloud service provider customers, such as the hyperscaler datacentre operators. “We delivered strong fiscal first-quarter results that reflect balanced growth and strong momentum across our customer segments and reinforce the continuation of positive demand dynamics,” stated Gary Smith, Ciena’s president and CEO. “As the global leader in high-speed connectivity, we are incredibly well positioned to benefit from the global investment in networks to scale for cloud and AI. As a result, we are very confident in our ability to deliver in fiscal year 2025 and beyond,” he added. Ciena expects its full fiscal year revenues to increase by between 8% and 11% compared with the $4bn generated in the fiscal year that ended 2 November 2024. 

Sigve Brekke, the former CEO of Telenor, has been appointed group CEO of Thai mobile operator True Corp, the operator has announced. True said it has implemented a “leadership restructuring aimed at strengthening its executive team and driving the company’s transformation into a world-class tech company. As part of this transition, Mr Sigve Brekke has been appointed group CEO, overseeing the company’s overall strategic direction. Mr Manat Manavutiveth, the current CEO, will take on the role of president/CEO of the Enterprise & Data Business, leading the company’s core digital, online, TrueVisions, enterprise and data business to accelerate True’s digital transformation in response to future global changes. Mr. Sharad Mehrotra, currently deputy CEO, will be president/CEO of Consumer Business, leading the mobile business and customer services, responsible for the mobile business group, overseeing the company’s mobile phone customers.” In January, Brekke was appointed as the executive chairman of the Telecom and Digital Business Group at Charoen Pokphand Group (CP Group) which, along with Telenor, is the main shareholder in True Corp, but now his role has evolved further. Suphachai Chearavanont, True’s chairman, stated: “Today marks another important step in driving True Corporation after the successful merger in the past two years under the management of a strong leadership team that has enabled True to transform the organisation smoothly, laying a solid foundation for continuous growth. This restructuring will build on the strength and elevate the potential to another level by adding a leader with world-class vision and experience.” Brekke added: “It is a privilege for me to take on the role of group CEO of True Corp and I am grateful to Mr Suphachai Chearavanont, chairman of the board and the main shareholders CP Group, Telenor Group and China Mobile for trusting me to helm True Corp in the coming period. Thailand’s potential in the era of digitalisation and inclusive AI is indisputable.” 

Xavier Niel’s Iliad Group is strengthening its grip on Swedish telco Tele2 (in which it holds a near 20% stake) with the addition of Maxime Lombardini to the Tele2 board of directors. Lombardini is “active in the Iliad Group” where he is currently vice chairman of the board, noted Tele2 in this announcement. Lombardini is also the interim chairman of the board of directors of Millicom International Cellular, another telco in which Niel has invested and he would like to control. Tele2 has undergone a series of significant changes over the past year, especially at the executive team level, as the operator attempts to retain its challenger status, and there are few companies in the global telecom sector that know more about being a successful challenger than Niel’s Iliad Group.  

Spinnaker Support, which helps companies run their Oracle, SAP and VMware platforms, has renewed its Oracle support contract with Telefónica Germany following the “success of its initial two-year contract period” and has expanded the relationship to provide third-party software support for Telefónica Germany’s VMware systems for the next three years. “After the success of its ongoing delivery of Oracle support and the decision made by Broadcom-VMware to introduce a subscription licensing model, Spinnaker is now providing support for Telefónica Germany’s entire SDDC VMware environment,” noted Spinnaker Support in this announcement. “With the change in licensing model came a significant increase in fees to remain with VMware, resulting in Telefónica Germany deciding to review its options and ultimately broaden Spinnaker’s focused support,” it added. Companies around the world, including many telcos, face a tricky decision about how to deal with Broadcom’s introduction of a licensing scheme for VMware’s products, which has led to significant increases in the cost of running VMware’s tech. Without a licence, Broadcom-VMware doesn’t provide support to companies with VMware deployments – Spinnaker Support is one of a number of IT services companies that can pick up that support relationship for companies that want to continue using their VMware platforms but not sign up for a Broadcom-VMware licence. Some companies have decided to switch from VMware to an alternative cloud platform provider, a move fraught with challenges: For example, Boost Mobile, the US alternative 5G operator formerly known as Dish Wireless, is swapping out its existing containers-as-a-service (CaaS) vendor, VMware, for Wind River’s Studio Operator platform, as we reported last December. AT&T, meanwhile, took Broadcom to court last year over its support agreement but the two parties eventually reached a settlement. 

Deutsche Telekom has appointed Gottfried Ludewig as the new head of its public sector unit, which provides services to federal, state and local government customers as well as those at a broader European level. Other customers for the unit include churches, research, aerospace and aviation. Ludewig, who will continue with his role as DT’s head of the healthcare enterprise sector, replaces Jürgen Schulz, who has run the public sector unit since 2007: Schulz “is leaving the company at his own request at the end of the month,” noted DT. 

– The staff, TelecomTV