Eurobites: Boldyn relieves Cellnex of private networks business

UK-based Boldyn Networks, which until recently was called BAI Communications, has agreed to acquire the private networks division of Spanish towers powerhouse Cellnex. The unit in question is largely made up of Edzcom, Cellnex's Finnish subsidiary, which specializes in connectivity services for private networks in industrial environments. The deal is expected to complete in the first quarter of next year. No financial details of the deal have been released.

Cellnex, meanwhile, has enjoyed a fruitful first nine months of 2023, with adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) growing 16% year-over-year, to EUR €2.25 billion (US$2.40 billion), on revenues that also rose 16%, to just over €3 billion ($3.2 billion). The company has adjusted its short-term guidance upwards and confirmed its medium-term guidance to 2025 on the back of the results.

Another tower company, Italy's Inwit, saw third-quarter EBITDAaL (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, after leases) rise 18.5% year-over-year, to €173.8 million ($185.6 million), on revenues that grew 12.6% to €242 million ($258 million). Despite this, Inwit said full-year revenues were only expected to grow in the lower part of the range previously indicated (€960-980 million).

Latvian mobile technology company LMT has been trialing maritime 5G technology in the Baltic Sea with port services provider LVR Fleet. A 5G connection was established with a ship using a shore-based network, and the 5G network connectivity was, says LMT, successfully passed from that ship to an end-user ship using the "multi-hop" principle.

ETNO, the European network operators' association, has been expressing its concerns about what it considers "an overly broad data access right for public authorities" in the EU's Data Act, which is currently going through the Brussels/Strasbourg mill. It believes the provisions as they stand may end up "stymying the emergence of innovative home-grown data analytics services in Europe." ETNO recommends that policymakers bring forward mechanisms that encourage public-private sector cooperation on the use of EU citizens' data.

Telecom Italia boss Pietro Labriola has been defending the sale of his company's fixed-line grid to investment firm KKR in the face of the charge from influential shareholder Vivendi that it and other shareholders should have had a say in the decision. As Reuters reports, Labriola maintained that the decision to accept the KKR offer without putting it to a shareholder vote was "based on several independent legal opinions indicating that the matter clearly falls within the exclusive competence of the board." (See Telecom Italia empire crumbles with $20.2B network sale.)

Nokia is to supply 800GE connectivity for a multivendor network built annually by industry volunteers to support supercomputing research. The SCinet network, described by Nokia as the "world's fastest live showcase supercomputing network," forms part of the SC 2023 conference in Denver, Colorado next week.