Vodafone Group will reportedly miss out on more than €1.1 billion in deferred payments from German broadband venture OXG, after its partner Patrick Drahi’s Altice agreed a deal to sell its stake.

Financial Times reported Vodafone was set to receive deferred payments of €487 million and a further €595 million from Drahi’s Geodesia Holding, which held the stake that was managed by Altice, based on hitting business objectives.

That agreement has, however, been thrown into the water due to Societe General agreeing to acquire Drahi’s stake. The buyer will not be subject to the same commitments Drahi was, according to sources, meaning Vodafone will miss out.

In a statement released by Vodafone in September after the deal between Geodesia Holding and Societe Generale was agreed, the operator expressed support of the sale.

“The transaction secures a committed funding partner in OXG, enabling the continued expansion of its fibre network in Germany, while maintaining strategic flexibility for Vodafone.”

Vodafone partnered with Drahi’s Altice to launch OXG in 2023, with both companies taking a 50% stake in the business.

However, the entity has struggled to hit targets. FT reported OXG committed to spend €7 billion on its fibre buildout to more than seven million homes in Germany up to 2029, however it encountered higher than expected costs.

The network currently only reaches 1 million homes. Vodafone was due to receive the first of its deferred payments after reaching 1.5 million homes.

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European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen (pictured) outlined plans to restrict children’s access to social media under the watchdog’s proposed EU Kids Act, as concerns mount over the impact of addictive online services and increasingly capable AI systems.

In her annual State of the Union address, von der Leyen told the European Parliament: “What we are witnessing is a great capture of our children. A capture of their attention, their focus, their minds.” She explained the proposed EU Kids Act would ban children under 13 from social media and bar under 15 users from having personal accounts.

Meanwhile, 13 to 15-year-olds would only be able to use “mini accounts” set up and supervised by parents, with limited features and time restrictions. Platforms would also be required to implement additional safety features for users aged 15 to 18.

“We are reversing the burden of proof,” she said, adding, “platforms will have to prove that they are safe”.

Von der Leyen noted young Europeans now spend four to six hours a day on screens, pointing to concerns around addictive features, harmful content, online bullying and growing rates of sleep issues, anxiety and suicide.

“We do not have to accept addictive features. We do not have to accept children being drawn into ever more extreme content. We do not have to accept that girls have their photos used for AI-generated sexualised images,” she argued.

The measures form part of the EU Kids Act, which the EC is due to propose tomorrow (17 September). The proposal would introduce age checks across social media, video sharing platforms, app stores, online games and AI services.

The EC is also preparing a broader Digital Fairness Act aimed at addressing addictive design features beyond services used by children.

AI tipping point
AI was also a focus of the address, with von der Leyen describing it as “the second tipping point of our times”.

She warned that increasingly capable models could create new security risks, including more powerful hacking capabilities and the potential for self-improving systems to cause mass harm.

She revealed the EC plans to work with partners including the UK and Canada on “model evaluation, verification, early warning, AI security and much more”, while also seeking greater European computing capacity and investment in local AI companies.

Von der Leyen called on the region to use AI to support sectors including healthcare, manufacturing, transport and agriculture, while retaining human oversight. “Our approach is clear. We want AI… But above all, we want AI with human agency.”

Global concerns have been mounting over the pace of AI development this week, as Anthropic and OpenAI chiefs called for a slowdown in frontier AI development after researchers warned of existential risks from increasingly capable systems.

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Japanese operators hope to make inroads to improving the reach of mmWave 5G and signed a memorandum of understanding covering joint exploration of ways to do so.

SoftBank Corp, KDDI, NTT Docomo and Rakuten Mobile agreed to jointly explore how the coverage afforded by mmWave 5G at 28GHz could be expanded within the limitations of the band, which offers solid connectivity over short distances.

The operators each issued a statement explaining the frequency band is prone to degradation due to physical obstructions and has propagation characteristics which are susceptible to attenuation.

They plan to study ways to expand the use of compatible base stations and architectures to identify possible options to widen the reach of mmWave 5G.

The exploration is also set to cover repeater equipment and other relevant assets.

Some form of shared access could be involved: the operators stated they would continue to deploy their own mmWave 5G equipment, but look into “how to effectively” use it.

The operators explained they are taking action because of difficulties in deploying enough mmWave 5G base stations in a timely fashion, which they noted is a common challenge.

A baseline assumption of their research is each operator will determine their own expansion needs and explore how a combined approach to boosting coverage could fit with their requirements.

There is an overarching ambition towards “transcending the boundaries” between the operators.

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BT Business highlighted the impact of a drone system used by the British Transport Police (BTP) intended to cut disruption caused by trespassers and other issues on the country’s rail network, a deployment set to be expanded over the next two years.

The police division is using BT’s drone SIM system and connectivity from its EE unit in a project the operator stated is able to cut response times for various problems taking place across the UK’s rail network.

It asserted the deployment is the first national routine use of beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drones by a police force in the UK.

The first routine operations using the drones took place earlier this year, with the BTP now operating seven so-called drone-in-a-box locations across the rail network. It plans to expand to 14 over the next two years.  

BT explained with 20,000 miles of railway track to cover, BTP faced challenges in responding quickly to trespass, welfare and operational disruption issues which often occur in remote areas.

It noted officers previously had to travel significant distances to assess situations, “delaying critical operational decisions”.

The drone system is intended to support real-time intelligence, faster decision making and safer responses.

Head of BTP’s drones programme Simon Bachelor said the technology is “transforming the way we respond to incidents across the rail network”.

“Real-time aerial intelligence enables our teams to assess situations faster, deploy resources more effectively and improve safety for both officers and the public.”

BT added “as drones become an increasingly important tool for transport, law enforcement and public safety organisations”, it is working with a range of entities “to turn emerging technology into real-world operational benefits, improving safety, efficiency and resilience”.

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Salesforce and Google Cloud expanded a strategic partnership, agreeing to run the former’s products natively on the hyperscaler’s infrastructure and connecting AI agent platforms so they can act on shared data.

Under the deal, Salesforce will begin migrating select US customers on to Google Cloud through its Hyperforce architecture in Q4, providing access to its partner’s infrastructure, data services and Gemini Enterprise.

Following general availability in North America, it expects to conduct a phased regional expansion in 2027.

Meir Amiel, Salesforce’s president and chief trust and infrastructure officer, said the infrastructure underneath customers is changing, not the trust they have built with the company.

He added Hyperforce running natively on Google Cloud would match its current security, compliance and resilience standards.

On the AI side, Google Cloud is among the first hyperscalers to implement Salesforce’s headless architecture, built on the open Model Context Protocol standard.

It lets Gemini Enterprise tap Salesforce data directly without custom integration for tasks including pipeline health checks, account summaries and case triage across sales, service, finance and advertising workflows.

The partnership also extends into analytics and commerce. Gemini Enterprise can now query Tableau analytics directly, with governance, row-level security and semantic models enforced on every request.

Integration with the Universal Commerce Protocol will let merchants using Salesforce Commerce Cloud highlight and sell products within Google Search and the Gemini app, while keeping payments and order management on existing commerce infrastructure.

Salesforce Data 360 and Google BigQuery, which are compatible with Zero Copy data sharing, are expanding integration to more regions and adopting the Iceberg Rest Catalogue open standard. The companies noted they are also exploring further capabilities such as bidirectional semantic data sharing.

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OpenAI reportedly confirmed it discussed AI safety with rivals Anthropic and Google DeepMind for several weeks, at a time of concern over the risks posed by increasingly capable models.

Chris Lehane, OpenAI global policy chief, told CNBC the AI start-up does not believe the companies require an antitrust waiver to coordinate on safety, arguing collaboration was preferable to pursuing separate approaches.

Speaking in Washington DC yesterday (15 September), Lehane added OpenAI would support bipartisan legislation to mitigate catastrophic AI risks.

Google DeepMind and Anthropic did not respond to CNBC requests for comment, leaving OpenAI as the only company to confirm the discussions.

Slowdown
The reported discussions come after several industry leaders publicly called for a slower pace of frontier AI development.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei argued in an essay published on 12 September that frontier laboratories should deliberately slow capability gains. He warned a swarm of increasingly capable AI agents could take over the internet through a persistent botnet within six- to 12-months.

Amodei proposed embedding independent evaluators inside AI laboratories, adopting common safety standards among developers in democratic countries and pursuing international regulatory coordination.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman backed the call to pace frontier development, describing independent evaluators with employee-like access as “a great idea” and saying OpenAI would adopt the same approach. He later clarified that pacing did not mean stopping development.

Altman also ruled out an OpenAI public listing in 2026, telling Fortune that safety concerns made it an ill-advised time for an initial public offering.

Trump dismisses AI slowdown
US President Donald Trump rejected calls for a slowdown, saying “very negative forces” were exaggerating the risks and arguing the US needed to preserve its AI lead over China.

China also brushed off the proposal. Its foreign ministry urged an “open, inclusive and benevolent approach” to AI, while state-run Global Times described Amodei’s plan as a “Cold War playbook” intended to contain the country’s ambitions.

OpenAI stated the cross-company discussions began before Amodei published his essay and before a former Anthropic researcher resigned publicly over the approach taken by leading AI laboratories.

The discussions follow a July proposal by Google DeepMind chair Demis Hassabis for a US-led frontier AI standards body modelled on the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Hassabis proposed a public-private body funded by industry and staffed by independent technical experts to evaluate advanced models before release.

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Europe’s biggest operators urged European Union (EU) policymakers to rethink regulation they argue is restricting investment in connectivity, with spectrum, fibre and cybersecurity rules amongst their top concerns.

In a joint statement, 17 European telecoms chiefs including Telefonica chairman and CEO Marc Murtra, Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Hoettges, Orange CEO Christel Heydemann and Telenor Group president and CEO Benedicte Fasmer called on the EU to “correct the course” of the proposed Digital Networks Act (DNA) and Cybersecurity Act (CSA).

The executives argued that “incoherent policy reforms” risk weakening the region’s position. They noted the mobile sector requires €475 billion to establish world-class mobile networks, “requiring a step change in investment”.

The DNA, unveiled by the European Commission (EC) in January to modernise and simplify connectivity rules, aims to harmonise regulation, facilitate cross-border operations and promote investment in fibre and mobile networks. However, the operators argued the framework fails to improve the investment and innovation environment for European connectivity.

The CEOs called for spectrum licences to be granted indefinitely by default, with terms of at least 40 years in exceptional cases. They explained a move away from frequent auctions would free up capital for 5G, fibre and future 6G deployment, adding European operators spent €110 billion on spectrum licences alone over the past 12 years.

The group also pushed back against mandated copper shutdowns, stating operators should decide when to retire legacy networks based on customer demand and market conditions. European operators invest more than €30 billion annually in fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) networks.

Safety net
More broadly, the telcos called for a shift away from rules designed for legacy networks, arguing “regulation should remain a safety net” in “today’s increasingly competitive fibre market”. It also urged policymakers to allow greater scope for innovation with advanced 5G and 6G services, including network slicing and quality differentiation.

On cybersecurity, the operators warned CSA rules mandating the removal of equipment from high-risk third-country suppliers including Huawei could result in up to €40 billion in replacement costs for the sector. They called for a “proportionate, risk-based approach” that considers alternative measures, adding blanket replacement requirements could divert capital away from fibre, 5G and 6G investment.

Ultimately, the group argued stronger connectivity would support growth across AI, sovereign cloud and defence technology. “As CEOs of Europe’s leading telecom companies, we are ready to play our part in delivering European tech leadership,” the executives stated.

Other signatories included executives from TIM, KPN, Proximus, Swisscom and Liberty Global.

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SES unveiled plans to establish direct-to-device (D2D) satellite manufacturing capabilities and a supply chain in Europe with Elveo Mobile as part of an expanded collaboration aimed at accelerating the delivery of services in the region.

Elveo Mobile is the result of a merger between Lynk Global and Omnispace which included SES becoming a major shareholder of the combined entity.

As part of the expanded collaboration, SES will use Elveo’s patented technology to enable mobile roaming for European consumers, businesses, governments, institutions, and defence users.

SES and Elveo Mobile will collaborate to establish manufacturing capabilities and a robust European supply chain for low Earth orbit (LEO) D2D satellites using Elveo’s satellite bus, payload and software technology stack.

The satellites will form part of a multi-orbit architecture combining Elveo’s network with SES’ geostationary (GEO) and medium Earth orbit (MEO) systems, designed to deliver secure and reliable connectivity to European governments and institutions, including NATO.

SES stated European customers also stand to benefit from its global distribution of Elveo’s offering, which use the latter’s high-priority 2GHz s-band spectrum rights and a global market-access footprint currently covering more than 1 billion people.

SES CEO Adel Al-Saleh stated European consumer, commercial and government users deserve resilient, secure multi-orbit connectivity, adding the company is preparing to deliver it by combining SES’s networks with Elveo’s D2D services.

Elveo chief Ramu Potarazu, a former Lynk Global CEO, described SES as the right partner for bringing D2D services to Europe.

“By working closely with SES, we are confident we can accelerate access to critical D2D connectivity for European mobile operators and governments that depend on them,” Potarazu stated.

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Health company M42 positioned a deal with Oracle as its latest step to establish the UAE at the centre of the global market, with the pair deploying a product offering unified access to patient data.

Oracle stated M42 intends to use its Health Data Intelligence product on clinical, genomic and real-world data to boost management of chronic diseases and enable a host of other services.

These include mapping the health of populations and providing precise care.

Oracle stated M42 is on a mission to establish the UAE as “a global hub for healthcare innovation” and a leader in employing AI to overhaul the sector.

Dr. Ali Anees, CCO for UAE and Bahrain at M42, said the company is a long-term user of Oracle’s health products and has high expectations about what can be achieved through the combination of information detailed above.

The executive expects the work to speed detection, and deliver “more predictive insights” and tailored patient healthcare.

M42 hopes the Oracle products will advance ambitions to deliver comprehensive patient records which it expects to aid healthcare providers’ work by offering a big-picture overview.

It expects the unified approach and ability of AI to digest reams of data to help identify disease patterns and contributing factors.

AI is also being banked on to deliver swifter diagnoses and detection of emerging health trends.

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Intel-backed Altera confidentially filed for a listing in the US, adding to a frenzy of IPO-related activity in the technology sector in 2026.

In a short statement, the company disclosed it had submitted the registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The number of shares and the price range for the listing was not revealed. Reuters reported last week the firm was preparing the move, with plans to raise more than $2 billion.

Altera makes programmable chips used in data centres, telecoms networks, AI applications and for aerospace and defence systems.

Intel offloaded a 51% majority stake in the business to private equity company Silver Lake last year, a deal that gave Altera a valuation of around $8.8 billion.

As part of the sale, Intel remained on board as a strategic partner and retained the remaining 49%. It acquired the company in 2015 for $17 billion.

Bloomberg reported US IPO activity has soared on the back of large AI investment.

SpaceX set the pace with a record-breaking IPO that raised $75 billion, while SK Hynix raised $29 billion in what was the largest-ever US listing by a foreign company.

There is also more tipped to come, with AI rivals OpenAI and Anthropic in line for market debuts in the next year.

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Juniper Research predicted a bright future for private mobile network spending due to heightened demand for infrastructure capable of extracting the full benefits of AI in business operations.

The company expects outlay on private LTE and 5G networks to hit $84.7 billion in 2031 compared with $17.3 billion this year.

Juniper Research suggested infrastructure providers may reap the greatest benefits by partnering with companies specialising in enterprise AI systems and positioning private networks “as a natural part” of modernisation initiated by the technology.

It argued private networks “are increasingly becoming the default way” to meet the connectivity requirements of AI.

VP of research Nick Maynard believes differentiation will emerge as the secret of future vendor success.

He highlighted “proven Industry 4.0, operational technology and mission-critical applications” as fields where vendors could fully establish an edge on rivals, pointing to services including automated guided vehicles, machine vision, and predictive maintenance and industrial control operations as prime opportunities.

To capitalise, private network vendors should “develop architecture that is repeatable, but highly tailored to individual sectors”, Maynard advised.

Juniper Research ranked current equipment vendors based on their shift “away from general enterprise connectivity” towards systems specific to industrial use cases.

It did not offer any big surprises in a top-five ranking of vendors in the here and now, with Nokia leading Huawei, Samsung, HPE and Ericsson, respectively.

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Tele2 sought out an experienced telecoms executive to become its next EVP and CCO in an appointment due to happen no later than 1 June 2027.

Vahdat Zehtab brings 18-years of experience in the telecoms sector and is set to join from the post of CEO with Valdyr, creator of an AI-native network operating system.

Tele2 is filling a role opened when it promoted Nicholas Hogberg to be president and CEO in July after Jean Marc Harion stood down for personal reasons.

Zehtab spent five-years heading Telia’s B2C Mobile unit covering its Swedish operation. Tele2 also highlighted broad international experience in commercial director roles “across several European and Asian markets”.

There was further B2C experience gained with Ncell in Nepal.

Valdyr appeared to cash in on news of the appointment by choosing today (15 September) to reveal the moniker as its new brand, replacing its previous Telness Tech name.

Executives said the rebrand better reflects “what remains once the old” telecom stack is removed.

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Accenture agreed to pay the US government $25 million to settle allegations it used race and sex as factors in hiring and promotion decisions at its federal services business.

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) alleged Accenture Federal Services (AFS) falsely certified it was complying with anti-discrimination requirements attached to federal contracts while using race and sex in employment decisions from 2017 onwards.

The government claim AFS “took race or sex into account when making hiring decisions to achieve progress toward non-public workforce composition goals”. According to the DoJ, AFS provided business leaders with monthly reports summarising the percentage of each race and sex within the unit to show how closely the workforce matched representation targets.

“These demographic goals were designed to, and did, drive changes in hiring practices based on race and sex,” the DoJ argued, adding the targets prompted a round of entry-level recruitment at the company in late 2020 and early 2021.

It also stated candidates who advanced AFS’ demographic goals received additional visibility during managing director promotion discussions and that the company reserved access to some training, mentoring, leadership development and education programmes based on race or sex.

The agreement added the settlement was not an admission of liability.

An Accenture spokesperson told Reuters: “We have cooperated with the government’s review, and we are pleased to put ⁠this ​matter behind us to avoid the costs ​and resource demands of prolonged litigation.”

The Donald Trump administration has taken aim at DEI practices across the federal government and its contractors. Deloitte agreed to pay $21.5 million in August, while IBM agreed to a $17 million settlement in April over allegations concerning illegal DEI practices.

Last year, US operators T-Mobile US, Verizon and AT&T ended or scaled back diversity initiatives.

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Authorities in Norway opened investigations into Telenor Group over its former operation in Myanmar, charging the company on suspicion of violating sanctions and separately on claims of complicity in a crime against humanity.

In a joint statement, Norwegian law enforcement organisations PST and Kripos announced the opening of separate probes and outlined the associated charges.

PST is assessing potential violation of sanctions legislation related to Telenor’s divestment of its unit in Myanmar, which completed in 2022.

It accuses the company of including sanctioned surveillance equipment in the sale without permission of authorities.  

Kripos is looking into complicity with crimes against humanity, which relates to accusations the operator’s unit in Myanmar “repeatedly handed over historical traffic data on customers of the military regime” between the time of a coup in February 2021 and the sale of the business.

The authority stated this was at a time when “the regime was responsible for extensive abuses against parts of the civilian population”.  

In a stock market statement, Telenor revealed it is closely cooperating with investigators and pledged to “do everything in its power to assist in clarifying the case to the fullest extent possible”.

The operator noted no individuals had been charged or were under investigation.

Telenor added the probe “represents a further step in the extensive and ongoing dialogue” it “has maintained with the Norwegian prosecuting authorities over a long period, during which a substantial volume of documentation and information has been provided”.

As part of their investigations, the PST and Kripos are set to conduct a search of the company’s headquarters in Oslo today (15 September) and plan to cooperate on their probes.

Telenor reportedly previously argued it was required to hand over data to Myanmar’s miliary government, stating it was faced with “no good options”.

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Telefonica agreed a five-year deal worth around €1.7 billion with sports streamer Dazn to broadcast Spanish football matches, in line with the operator’s pay-TV strategy.

The operator stated it would pay an average of €330 million per season from 2027, in an arrangement running until 2032. The sum is 18% more than the €1.4 billion deal Telefonica agreed with Dazn in 2022 which also spanned five seasons.

Telefonica has made football a central part of its strategy, using premium sports content to attract high-value customers on its pay-TV bundled packages.

It faced increased competition for the rights to show top-tier La Liga matches, which has expanded access beyond traditional broadcasters, and attracted interest from US media groups and digital companies.

UK streaming service Dazn holds the rights to show around half of the matches in La Liga and the new agreement gives Telefonica access to games lost to the streaming service following an auction in 2025 which was worth €5 billion.

Telefonica attributed a domestic revenue increase in Q2 to a boost from TV subscribers during the FIFA World Cup tournament.

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Los principales operadores europeos han instado a los responsables políticos de la Unión Europea (UE) a replantear la normativa que, a su juicio, restringe la inversión en conectividad.

Entre sus principales preocupaciones figuran las normas sobre espectro radioeléctrico, fibra óptica y ciberseguridad.

En una declaración conjunta, 17 directivos de empresas de telecomunicaciones europeas han pedido a la UE que “rectifique el rumbo” de la propuesta Ley de Redes Digitales (DNA) y la Ley de Ciberseguridad (CSA).

Entre los firmantes figuran el presidente y consejero delegado de Telefónica, Marc Murtra; el CEO de Deutsche Telekom, Tim Höttges; la consejera delegada de Orange, Christel Heydemann, y la presidenta y CEO del Grupo Telenor, Benedicte Fasmer.

Los directivos sostienen que las “reformas políticas incoherentes” corren el riesgo de debilitar la posición de la región, y señalan que el sector de la telefonía móvil requiere 475.000 millones de euros para desplegar redes móviles de primer nivel, lo que “exige un cambio radical en la inversión”.

El marco DNA, presentado por la Comisión Europea (CE) el pasado mes de enero para modernizar y simplificar las normas de conectividad, busca armonizar la regulación, facilitar las operaciones transfronterizas y promover la inversión en redes de fibra óptica y móviles.

Sin embargo, los operadores consideran que este marco no logra mejorar el entorno de inversión e innovación para la conectividad europea.

Los directivos piden que las licencias de espectro se otorguen de forma indefinida por defecto, con plazos de al menos 40 años en casos excepcionales.

Según explican, prescindir de subastas frecuentes liberaría capital para el despliegue de 5G, fibra óptica y la futura red 6G; añaden que, solo en licencias de espectro, los operadores europeos han gastado 110.000 millones de euros en los últimos 12 años.

El grupo también se opone a los apagados obligatorios de redes de cobre y defiende que sean los propios operadores quienes decidan cuándo retirar las redes antiguas, en función de la demanda de los clientes y las condiciones del mercado.

Los operadores europeos invierten, por otro lado, más de 30.000 millones de euros anuales en redes de fibra hasta el hogar (FTTH).

Red de seguridad

En términos más generales, las empresas de telecomunicaciones piden un cambio de enfoque respecto a las normas pensadas para las redes tradicionales, y argumentan que “la regulación debe seguir siendo una red de seguridad” en “el mercado de fibra óptica, cada vez más competitivo”.

Asimismo, han instado a los responsables políticos a permitir mayor libertad para la innovación con servicios avanzados de 5G y 6G, incluida la segmentación de red y la diferenciación de la calidad de servicio.

En materia de ciberseguridad, los operadores advierten de que las normas de la CSA, que exigen la retirada de equipos de proveedores de terceros países de alto riesgo como Huawei, podrían suponer costes de sustitución de hasta 40.000 millones de euros para el sector.

Piden, por ello, un enfoque “proporcionado y basado en el riesgo” que contemple medidas alternativas, y advierten de que los requisitos de sustitución generalizada podrían desviar capital de las inversiones en fibra óptica, 5G y 6G.

En definitiva, el grupo sostiene que una mayor conectividad impulsaría el crecimiento en inteligencia artificial, computación en la nube soberana y tecnología de defensa.

“Como directivos de las principales empresas de telecomunicaciones de Europa, estamos preparados para contribuir al liderazgo tecnológico europeo”, han declarado.

Entre los demás firmantes figuraban directivos de TIM, KPN, Proximus, Swisscom y Liberty Global.

Con información de Amiya Johar.

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El sector español de las telecomunicaciones y las infraestructuras atraviesa una fase de reordenación accionarial y negociaciones de calado.

Tres operaciones marcan la actualidad: el aumento de la presencia de BlackRock en Cellnex Telecom, la reducción del peso de Morgan Stanley en Telefónica derivada de su acuerdo con STC, y la supuesta reactivación de los contactos entre Telefónica y Zegona para una posible adquisición de Vodafone España.

BlackRock eleva su participación en Cellnex

Según ha informado Cinco Días, la gestora de inversión estadounidense BlackRock ha elevado su participación en el capital social de Cellnex Telecom hasta el 6,398%, frente al 5,001% que declaraba anteriormente.

Esta posición, comunicada a la Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV), equivale a un valor de mercado de unos 1.093,81 millones de euros, el nivel más alto del fondo en la firma de infraestructuras desde mayo de 2017.

El desglose accionarial detalla que BlackRock controla un total de 42.494.570 títulos, repartidos en un 5,113% mediante derechos de voto directos atribuibles a acciones y un 1,285% a través de instrumentos financieros.

Con esta reordenación, la firma se sitúa entre los principales accionistas de la operadora de torres, por detrás del holding Edizione, de la familia Benetton (10,252%), el fondo británico TCI (10,44%) y el fondo soberano de Singapur GIC (7%).

Cellnex mantiene, por su parte, su plan de remuneración al accionista para 2026, que prevé la distribución de 500 millones de euros en dividendos y otros 500 millones destinados a programas de recompra de acciones, además de una reducción de capital social de 500 millones de euros aprobada el pasado julio.

Morgan Stanley reduce su peso en Telefónica

Cinco Días ha informado también de que la firma financiera Morgan Stanley ha reducido su participación en Telefónica hasta el 8,398% del capital social, frente al 13,091% que registraba anteriormente. La posición actual de la entidad estadounidense en la operadora está valorada en 1.726 millones de euros, equivalentes a 476.180.167 títulos: un 0,101% en derechos de voto directos y un 8,297% mediante instrumentos financieros.

El movimiento, formalizado el pasado 4 de septiembre, sitúa la posición de Morgan Stanley en su nivel más bajo desde su llegada al capital en septiembre de 2023.

Fuentes del mercado explican que la variación responde al vencimiento programado de parte de los instrumentos derivados con los que el banco ha cubierto la entrada de Saudi Telecom Company (STC Group) en el capital de Telefónica, operadora saudí que adquirió un 9,9% de la teleco española en septiembre de 2023 con la intermediación de la firma estadounidense.

Las mismas fuentes señalan que el movimiento no implica un cambio en la estrategia accionarial del fondo y que otros instrumentos financieros irán venciendo en fechas posteriores. El capital de Telefónica sigue encabezado por la SEPI (10%), STC Group (9,969%), CriteriaCaixa (9,9%) y la propia BlackRock (más del 6%).

Telefónica y Zegona retoman las negociaciones sobre Vodafone España

En el terreno de las grandes operaciones de consolidación, el diario VozPópuli ha avanzado que Telefónica ha reactivado las conversaciones con el fondo británico Zegona para adquirir Vodafone España.

Tras unos meses de parón motivados por la incertidumbre geopolítica en Oriente Medio y por las diferencias en la valoración de la firma, ambas partes han retomado el contacto.

No es la primera vez que surge este rumor: en junio de 2025, el consejero delegado de Vodafone España, José Miguel García, desmintió cualquier plan de venta a Telefónica y aseguró que la operadora se centraba en su propia hoja de ruta de crecimiento.

Telefónica y Vodafone España han declinado hacer declaraciones oficiales y ambas compañías confirman que no se ha presentado ninguna oferta formal, aunque fuentes del sector señalan que las conversaciones siguen abiertas.

El principal obstáculo continúa siendo la brecha de valoración: el equipo económico encabezado por Marc Murtra tasó en su momento Vodafone España en unos 8.000 millones de euros, mientras que Zegona fija sus expectativas en unos 15.000 millones de euros (un valor de 11.100 millones de euros más una deuda neta de 3.600 millones)

El fondo británico ha mejorado los ingresos y la rentabilidad operativa de la operadora en los últimos años, lo que sitúa a la firma en una posición más favorable de cara a una eventual venta.

A ello se suma el precedente de la Comisión Europea, que ha autorizado la compra de SFR en Francia por parte de sus tres principales rivales (Orange, Bouygues y Free), un movimiento que el propio Murtra citó hace unos días como ejemplo del nuevo criterio favorable de Bruselas hacia las consolidaciones dentro del sector de las telecomunicaciones europeas.

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US regional mobile operator Nex-Tech Wireless signed a four-year agreement with Ericsson to modernise around 85% of its RAN footprint across rural Kansas and expand its existing cloud-native core deployment to support standalone (SA) 5G.

The companies described the agreement as a key part of Nex-Tech Wireless’ rural network modernisation effort. It aims to bring advanced 5G services to communities outside of major metropolitan markets and support the operator’s plans to build network hosting capabilities for other providers.

Nex-Tech Wireless is set to deploy Ericsson radio system products and technologies, including the AI-capable RAN Processor 6655 and the latest 4G and SA 5G RAN software features.

The upgrades are expected to deliver higher throughput and lower latency, expand FDD/TDD coverage and improve capacity and spectral efficiency. Ericsson said the project will provide a scalable platform for rising customer demand and new 5G use cases.

The agreement also expands Nex-Tech Wireless’ existing deployment of Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G Core, which runs on the vendor’s cloud native infrastructure. Ericsson will add 5G core and roaming capabilities to support the SA 5G rollout.

Ericsson’s Telco DataOps Platform will also support the 5G deployment and provide data for accurate billing and revenue management.

Financial terms and an expected completion date for the work were not disclosed.

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The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) and the US Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) agreed to link their dedicated supercomputing platforms to accelerate the development of fusion energy through AI.

Announced yesterday (14 September) at the Global Fusion Policy Summit in London, the Joint Declaration of Intent establishes the Sunrise–Stellar-AI Federation, connecting UKAEA’s £45 million ($59 million) Sunrise supercomputer with PPPL’s Stellar-AI platform.

The partnership pools high-performance compute resources to train shared machine learning models. These models analyse experimental data from two major spherical tokamak facilities: UK’s MAST Upgrade in Oxfordshire and US’ NSTX-U in New Jersey.

A spherical tokamak facility is a type of nuclear fusion reactor which confines superheated plasma using magnetic fields.

The entities stated single-facility datasets often fail to generalise across different machine designs. Combining operational data from both sites enables researchers to build more accurate predictive models and digital twins for future plants.

Beyond immediate data sharing, the federation aims to shorten design cycles for upcoming commercial fusion projects.

The Sunrise and Stellar-AI partnership builds on a memorandum of understanding signed between UKAEA and PPPL in June, which set out a framework for joint work between both organisations.

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Amazon Prime Video launched short-form news clips, expanding its offering with on-demand coverage of local and national stories.

News Clips is currently available through the dedicated news section in the Prime Video app on living-room devices. The playlists appear in the Trending Topics and Local News carousels, with mobile and web support due to follow.

The tech giant stated each playlist brings together reports from multiple news providers, allowing users to follow a developing topic without watching a live channel or full-length programme.

The service is open to all Amazon customers in the US, regardless of whether they have a Prime membership. It sits alongside free, 24-hour local, national and international news feeds.

Brian Griffin, head of global app experience at Prime Video, stated customers coming to Prime Video for news could previously only watch breaking coverage live or tune into full-length on-demand programmes.

He explained News Clips gives them a quick way to catch up on stories from their neighbourhood and around the world when they cannot watch live.

News Clips extends Amazon’s push to broaden Prime Video beyond entertainment into sport and news. In May, the company expanded Clips, its scrollable short-form mobile feed, to feature moments from films, series and National Basketball Association (NBA) coverage.

According to TechCrunch, Prime Video is not the first streamer to add short-form news content. Peacock introduced the format in March, followed by HBO Max and Netflix in July, then Disney+ in August.

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