Bharti Global and UK Government Take Control of OneWeb Satellite Company

The formerly bankrupt OneWeb satellite company is now owned principally by Bharti Global and the UK government. $1bn of new equity has been injected into the company.  

Neil Masterson, formerly co-COO of Thomson Reuters, where he spent 20 years, is the new CEO, and returns from New York to London for this role.

ARM to be bought by Softbank (IoT Big Driver)

Cambridge, UK based Smartphone-chip-maker ARM Holdings confirmed it is to be bought by Japan's Softbank (a recognised investor in "technology paradigm shifts") for £24bn (or 31bn USD), a premium of 43% on its traded market value. ARM's customers include Samsung and Apple. However, an earlier acquisition of Sprint Telecom is weighing heavy on Softbank's finances who will take a loan from Mizuho Bank to finance the acquisition of ARM for just under one-third of the deal value. Growth in the "Internet of Things" (and the evolution from the mobile Internet) is believed to be one of the prime motivations behind the acquisition.

Vodafone Researching "5G"

Vodafone has partnered with Dresden University of Technology to research 5G. Dresden is one of many universities joining the telecoms operator in this quest e.g. Carnegie Mellon University and University of Surrey. Vodafone's Head of R&D said that despite 5G being in its "very early stages" it was worth investing "time and effort" to understand the technology.

Merger of T-Mobile and Orange - European Telecom Consolidation

Merger between Orange-owner France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile UK will see a business with sales of 9.4bn euros (£8.2bn; $13.5bn), Holding about 37% of the mobile market. It will be the UK's largest provider, overtaking O2 (owned by Telefonica).

Name five telcos in Europe.

France Telecom - did you know France Telecom actually operates ships to conduct laying and repair of undersea cables?
Deutsche Telekom
British Telecom
Telecom Italia (they use abbreviation TLC in their reports to indicate the Telecommunications sector). First half 2009 revenues are 13.9billion EUR (3.8% less than last year)
Telefonica - revs of 6.5 billion EUR first half of 2009. they like to talk about their OIBDA (operating income before depreciation and amortization)

End of Nortel - Ericsson Sweeps up Wireless Assets

2009 has seen the end of Nortel (formely Canada's Northern Electric, who manufactured Canada's first gramaphones in 1900), which filed for bankruptcy protection in January.

Ericsson is now paying $1.13bn for Nortel's assets. The auction of its CDMA business and LTE (Long Term Evolution) Access assets was concluded on July 25th 2009. Some dubiety still exists over its Metro Ethernet Networks business, described as one of Nortel's "crown jewels".

Where did Nortel go wrong? What mistakes were made in Nortel's strategy/execution?

Barclays Mulling its share of the Bailout, brightsparks(_fincrisis, X). ? X =att

Barclays have up to 31 March to join the Treasury's asset insurance scheme for "toxic loans". Barclays have submitted three portfolios of assets to the government for consideration. Barclays profit for 2008 was £6.08bn ($9bn) - a profit despite the fallout in financial markets.

AT&T is creating 3000 jobs as it plans to ramp up capital spending in '09 by investing in broadband and wireless networks. It added data traffic on its network was growing 50% YoY.