Advanced Television

Broadband

Canada: Shaw increases profit

Canada’s Shaw Communications has reported a 68.5 per cent surge in quarterly profit, as more subscribers signed up for the telecom company’s wireless services. Telecom service providers in Canada, including Shaw Communications, have started investing heavily in the next generation 5G network, to attract data-hungry customers: Shaw successfully completed its first 5G technical trials in […]

January 14, 2019

Brexit: Inmarsat business division moves to Luxembourg

London-based Inmarsat is moving its European Aviation Network (EAN) division out of London, and will relocate to satellite-friendly Luxembourg. The shift will happen before April, and the decision has been made because of the threat of Brexit to Inmarsat. Inmarsat has a European Commission licence to operate its EAN service on S-band within the European […]

January 11, 2019By Chris Forrester

Research: Dual play customers’ ‘loyalty’ risk

Customers who sign up for combined broadband and TV packages are being hit with loyalty penalties of up to £690 (€766) a year, according to research from UK consumer body Which?. The consumer champion found that two in five of customers (40 per cent) who signed up to so-called dual or triple play (if a […]

January 11, 2019

Spain: FTTH passes 8.2 million lines

FTTH boomed in Spain in 2018 with a growth of 2 million lines (over 203,000 new lines in just October) for a total of 8.2 million lines, according to the latest report from the CNMC. Movistar led the market with a market share of 46.9 per cent and 3.9 million lines. Some 90 per cent […]

January 11, 2019From David Del Valle in Madrid

Vodafone Spain to axe 1,200 jobs

The football TV war and the proliferation of low-cost packages is seeing Vodafone Spain drastically cut staff. The company has announced a redundancy plan that will affect 1,200 out of its total workforce in Spain of 5,000. Vodafone states that the layoffs, to take effect in February and March, are the result of the obligation to […]

January 10, 2019From David Del Valle in Madrid

OneWeb close to launch

Arianespace has confirmed that it will launch the first batch of 10 OneWeb satellites on February 19th, weather permitting. The satellites have been built by OneWeb’s satellite building partner, Airbus in Toulouse, and will be launched by a Europeanised version of Russia’s Soyuz rocket from Kourou in French Guiana. OneWeb has contracted 21 of these […]

January 10, 2019By Chris Forrester

SK Telecom, Harman, Sinclair automotive MoU

Korean mobile telco SK Telecom and Sinclair Broadcast Group, one of the largest TV broadcasting companies in the US, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with connected products and solutions specialist Harman at CES 2019 in Las Vegas jointly to develop and commercialise digital broadcasting network-based automotive electronics technology for global markets. The move […]

January 10, 2019By Colin Mann

Spain: UTECA Feb deadline for new DTT plan

Spain’s largest TV Association, UTECA, has set February as the deadline for the new DTT plan to be approved by the country’s government. The new DTT plan, initially scheduled for approval last December, is vital for the start of the second digital dividend in the country with the release of the 700 MHz band. DTT […]

January 9, 2019From David Del Valle in Madrid

Cable Europe wants fresh policy framework

Cable Europe has launched a White Paper with specific policy recommendations to develop and deliver the broadband infrastructure of the future. The paper is designed to inform and support EU policy through the election cycle of 2019 and the five-year mandate to come.  It places in social, economic and technological context the challenges of framing […]

January 9, 2019

Orange Spain sets sights on Euskaltel buy

Orange Spain is reportedly interested in acquiring Euskaltel following UK-based Zegona’s decision to withdraw its bid for the company. According to El Economista, Orange and Euskaltel have a healthy relationship as a result of their partnership in mobile networks, with Euskaltel using Orange’s infrastructure since 2014. Kutxabank, the largest shareholder in the Basque-country-based company with […]

January 8, 2019From David Del Valle in Madrid