Top 10 Telecom Stories of 2024

As 2024 draws to an end, it’s time once again for me to share my top telecom stories of the year. You can also read my previous reviews of 2023, 2022, 2021 and 2020.

Here’s this year’s selection, in no particular order. Would these have also got into your top 10? Let me know if you agree or disagree with my choices.

Verizon buys Frontier

In September, Verizon announced the acquisition of US fibre operator Frontier Communications for $20 billion. The move extended its fibre coverage to 25 million premises and added another 2.2 million broadband customers to its roster.

The deal reflects the beginning of what looks like a sustained push from US mobile carriers into the market for converged services. AT&T is building its own fibre network as part of its Gigapower joint venture with BlackRock, and T-Mobile is acquiring two fibre providers, Lumos and Metronet, in collaboration with investment companies.

High-profile mergers receive regulatory green light

We may look back on 2024 as a pivotal year for industry consolidation. Two high-profile European mergers were approved following significant regulatory scrutiny. First, Orange was allowed to merge with MasMovil in Spain, albeit only after major remedies were agreed involving fourth operator Digi. In the UK, Vodafone was given the go-ahead to merge with Three in a landmark deal that creates a new market leader with more than 29 million mobile customers.

US carriers target satellite opportunity

The US has emerged as a hotbed of activity in satellite communications as the three leading operators battle for technology leadership. In 2024, AT&T and Verizon confirmed partnerships with AST SpaceMobile for direct-to-device services. Both are competing with T-Mobile, which recently opened registration for the upcoming beta launch of its direct-to-device offer based on a collaboration with Starlink.

Verizon signed a deal with Skylo in 2024 for a service that will use L-band spectrum. These moves, alongside global forecasts and detailed market assessments, are analysed in CCS Insight’s recent Spotlight. If you’re not yet a client, you can get a taster of this report by watching our recent webinar or you can contact us for more information.

Operators join forces on network APIs

In September, major operators including AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Verizon and Vodafone joined forces with Ericsson to form a new company to accelerate efforts to produce APIs by taking a multichannel approach. The initiative involves hyperscale cloud companies, providers of communications platform-as-a-service products, system integrators and independent software vendors. It will use specifications from Camara, the open-source project driven by the GSMA and Linux Foundation.

But as my CCS Insight colleague Ian Fogg commented, this is very much a vendor-driven initiative, with Ericsson owning 50% of the new company, and the operators the rest. The backing of a single provider of network equipment carries the risk of differences between vendor implementations, harming network API strategies.

Telecom Italia completes “netco” sale

The sale of Telecom Italia’s fixed-line infrastructure unit to a consortium led by investment company KKR for up to €22 billion allows the embattled company to significantly reduce its debt. The transaction followed more than two years of intense negotiations as well as fierce opposition from the operator’s largest investor, Vivendi.

The agreement leaves Telecom Italia free to focus on its mobile network and services, as well as its enterprise services business, in its domestic market. The company also plans to sell off its subsea cable unit, Sparkle. Although these are drastic moves, we predict at least two more operators will announce similar plans to create separate “netco” and “servco” divisions in 2025.

Bharti Global buys 24.5% stake in BT

The deal marked the end of Patrick Drahi’s involvement with BT. The French billionaire’s Altice empire is saddled with debt and it was an open secret that he was looking to cash out. However, few saw the Indian company as a potential acquirer, and the deal marks an interesting turnaround given that BT owned a 21% stake in Bharti Airtel between 1997 and 2001. The agreement also offered a major vote of confidence for new BT CEO Allison Kirkby, who has made an impressive start to the daunting task of turning the company’s ailing fortunes around.

Vodafone Idea readies to challenge rivals

In September, Vodafone Idea in India kickstarted a network investment programme by awarding contracts to Samsung Networks as well as traditional suppliers Ericsson and Nokia. The move followed a plan outlined in May that will see it spend up to $6.6 billion over three years to expand 4G population coverage in 17 of India’s 22 telecom service areas (known as circles) and launch 5G in major cities. The company has suffered a steady recent fall in customers amid strong competition, but still counts over 200 million subscribers.

Orange delivers “most connected” Olympic Games

As a big sports fan, I had to put this story on my list. At Paris 2024, for the first time in the history of the Olympic Games, a sole company was assigned the role of connectivity provider. French operator Orange took on the daunting responsibility of connecting 120 locations, more than 850 scheduled events, 15,000 athletes, at least 10 million visiting fans and a global TV audience.

The operator appeared to pass the test with flying colours. Notable deployments included a private 5G standalone network at five major venues including the River Seine for the opening ceremony; a unified IP network at 60 venues with a capacity of 100 Gbps; and about 50 temporary cell sites to bring greater capacity to packed venues. For more on this story, see this blog.

Operators deploy generative AI to bolster customer service

Generative AI has been one of the hottest topics of 2024 and formed a major focus for telecom operators at MWC in Barcelona. This year, we’ve seen plenty of examples of operators using the technology to bolster customer care, notably to solve enquiries more quickly and accurately. This includes enhancements to Vodafone’s TOBi chat bot, Deutsche Telekom’s Frag Magenta service and BT’s Aimee. Other operators such as Verizon, Orange and SK Telecom also outlined their strategies for the technology in 2024. I covered these and other moves in this Insight Series report.

T-Mobile acquires UScellular

In May, T-Mobile agreed to acquire most of the assets of UScellular, the country’s fourth-largest mobile carrier, in a deal valued at $4.4 billion. The deal encompasses over 4 million customers, the carrier’s retail stores and some spectrum licences. UScellular will retain about 70% of its spectrum and its 4,382 towers. UScellular had been steadily losing subscribers, partly because of expansion into rural America by bigger rivals like T-Mobile, as well as a push into mobile from the country’s cable providers.

Those are my top 10 telecom stories from 2024. I’m looking forward to bringing you more in 2025!