Eurobites: French connection helps Cellnex thrive in H1

Cellnex Telecom, the Spain-based towers company, saw its first-half adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) grow 16% year-over-year, to €1.49 billion (US$1.64 billion), on revenue that was up 17%, to a smidgen over €2 billion ($2.2 billion). During the period, Cellnex signed new agreements with SFR and Bouygues Telecom in France and acquired full control of OnTower Poland. Total investments in H1 amounted to approximately €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion), mainly for "build-to-suit" (BTS) tower programs in a number of countries and the OnTower Poland acquisition. (See Cellnex merger rumors add to ongoing tower chess game.)

Not quite such a rosy picture at Belgium's Proximus, which saw underlying EBITDA slip 3.7% year-over-year in the second quarter, to €446 million ($490 million), on revenue that was up 4%, to €1.49 billion ($1.64 billion). The usual suspects of increased energy and labor costs were cited as the reasons for the drop in earnings. Despite these increased costs, BICS, the international services arm of Proximus, managed to record a 2.8% increase in EBITDA, though revenue was down 1.1%, to €267 million ($294 million), partly as a result of currency fluctuations. Full-year guidance for Proximus was confirmed, with CEO Guillaume Boutin predicting that domestic revenue growth would be at the upper end of the given range of +1% to +3%, thanks largely to better than expected revenues from device sales and IT hardware over the first six months of the year.

Sparkle, the international unit of Telecom Italia (TIM) and quite possibly the name of the Barbie sequel, has reached an agreement with Ge-DIX (Genoa Data Internet Exchange) – a non-profit consortium of interconnection services – to establish an Internet exchange point at Sparkle's Genoa Digital Hub data center.

Arcep, the French communications regulator, has settled a dispute between Orange and Tismi, a mobile virtual network operator with operations in several EU countries. The dispute centers on Orange's unwillingness to offer an interconnection agreement for two-way SMS termination on Tismi's preferred terms. Arcep has effectively ruled in favor of Tismi, telling Orange that within five months it must submit an interconnection agreement to Tismi that includes an identical rate of billing for SMS between the two parties.

UK converged operator Virgin Media O2 has added a number of free, ad-supported TV (FAST) channels to its TV lineup after striking deals with +E Networks EMEA, All3Media International, Banijay Rights, Blue Ant Media, Extreme International, Fremantle, Little Dot Studios and Tastemade. Deal or No Deal USA and Homes Under the Hammer are just two of the delights on offer. The new channels will show up on Virgin TV's electronic programming guide.