5G News Round Up for the Week to 5 January 2025

The first week of 2025 has seen significant industry consolidation and restructuring across Europe’s telecom sector, alongside major developments in AI investments and social media governance. Key themes include infrastructure sharing deals, leadership changes at major tech companies, and ongoing regulatory challenges around privacy and content moderation.

European Telecom Consolidation

Major infrastructure sharing and M&A deals are reshaping Europe’s telecom landscape. Vodafone completed the €8 billion sale of its Italian unit to Swisscom, following its earlier €5 billion Spanish unit sale to Zegona Communications. In Spain, Vodafone and MasOrange agreed to create Europe’s largest fiber company, FibreCo, covering 12.2 million premises with projected annual EBITDA of €480 million within three years. The deal values the joint venture at €9-10 billion. Separately, Nokia completed the sale of its submarine cable unit ASN to the French government while retaining a 20% transitional stake.

AI and Technology Investment

Nvidia emerged as a major force in AI investment through 2024, spending $1 billion across 50 startup funding rounds and corporate deals – outpacing both Microsoft and Amazon. The investments targeted AI companies with significant computing demands, many of whom are buyers of Nvidia’s chips. This comes as major tech customers like Microsoft and Google work to develop their own chips to reduce dependence on Nvidia.

Regulatory and Policy Developments

A US appeals court struck down the FCC’s net neutrality rules before implementation, dealing a blow to efforts to prevent traffic prioritization by operators. In Malaysia, major platforms including X and Google missed deadlines to obtain new social media operating licenses under laws targeting online threats. Meanwhile, Apple agreed to pay $95 million to settle privacy violation claims related to its Siri voice assistant recording users without consent.

Corporate Leadership Changes

Meta Platforms announced Nick Clegg’s departure as president of global affairs after seven years, to be replaced by Republican Joel Kaplan ahead of Donald Trump taking office. The leadership change comes as major tech companies have shown increased support for the President-elect despite past conflicts.

Suggested Reading

Vodafone, MasOrange Create Europe’s Largest Fiber Company
Details of landmark €10bn infrastructure sharing deal
https://www.mobileworldlive.com/vodafone/vodafone-spain-masorange-agree-fibreco-deal/

US Court Strikes Down Net Neutrality Rules
Analysis of regulatory setback for FCC
https://www.mobileworldlive.com/fcc/us-court-strikes-down-fcc-net-neutrality-rules/

Nvidia’s $1bn AI Investment Spree
Deep dive into chip giant’s startup funding strategy
https://www.mobileworldlive.com/nvidia/nvidia-racked-up-1b-spend-on-ai-deals-in-2024/

Meta Leadership Shake-up
Impact of executive changes ahead of Trump presidency
https://www.mobileworldlive.com/meta/meta-shakes-up-leadership-ahead-of-trump-arrival/

Malaysia’s Social Media Licensing Push
New regulatory framework for platform accountability
https://www.mobileworldlive.com/x/tech-giants-miss-malaysia-social-media-deadline/