Robert Clark

4 days ago | lightreading.com | Robert Clark

Private capital firms are lining up to get a piece of Spark's data center business. The embattled New Zealand telco has put 50% of its data center unit on the sale block – estimated to be worth around 1.2 billion New Zealand dollars (US$719 million). Australian private equity and asset management firms Pacific Equity Partners, BGH Capital and QIC have been named as likely bidders.

1 week ago | lightreading.com | Robert Clark

Telco giant China Mobile already has 166 contracts for low-altitude services across China. China's low altitude economy has become another of those segments where domestic telcos have been allocated a potentially lucrative central role. The industry, which is defined as including hardware as well as services, totaled 500 billion Chinese yuan (US$69 billion) in revenue in 2023 and will cross CNY1 trillion ($139 billion) in 2026, according to consultancy CCID.

1 week ago | lightreading.com | Robert Clark

With NTT Docomo set to buy SBI Sumishin in a $2.9B deal, all four Japanese telcos now own or are closely affiliated with a bank. NTT Docomo is to buy online bank SBI Sumishin to bolster its financial services offerings – a hotly contested segment in Japanese mobile. The deal, estimated to be worth 420 billion Japanese yen ($2.9 billion), is part of a wider capital and business alliance between the NTT Group and SBI Holdings, Sumishin Net Bank's controlling shareholder.

1 week ago | lightreading.com | Robert Clark

KT and Viettel's $95 million artificial intelligence (AI) partnership will focus on AI transformation, consulting and Vietnam's AI infrastructure. KT Corp has struck a 130 billion Korean won (US$95 million) AI partnership with the Viettel Group. The two telcos will collaborate on AI transformation and consulting in Vietnam and plan to set up a JV to serve other southeast Asian countries, the companies announced this week.

1 week ago | lightreading.com | Robert Clark

China Mobile leads the way on 5G-Advanced with a $1.4 billion upgrade plan this year. In the wake of the 5G capex spree, it's no surprise mobile operators have been cautious in their embrace of 5G-Advanced. Currently, 26 telcos in 15 countries are investing in 5G-A, and of those only six have launched commercial service, industry association GSA says.