Will the new coronavirus cause a recession in US in the next 6 months? On February 27th, we put the probability at 75% and we predicted that the market will decline by at least 20% in (Recession is Imminent: We Need A Travel Ban NOW). In these volatile markets we scrutinize hedge fund filings to […]

ADTRAN®, Inc., (NASDAQ:ADTN), a leading provider of next-generation open networking and subscriber experience solutions, announced today it has signed a joint development project with Orange as part of its Access Renewal and Evolution Strategy (ARES) program. The partnership is focused on the application of Software-Defined Networking (SDN) technology to fixed fiber access networks.

Clear, a developer of enterprise-grade blockchain settlement networks, has completed a $13M Series A. Eight Roads led the round, which also included Telefónica (NASDAQ:TEF) Innovation Ventures, Telekom Innovation Pool of Deutsche Telekom (NASDAQ: DTEGF) HKT (HKSE: 1137.HK) and Singtel Innov8. The funding will enable Clear to develop B2B payment systems that can process thousands of […]

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Do you remember 5G? Before the coronavirus consumed all of our attention, the fifth-generation mobile networks were supposed to be the panacea for lagging economies, telecoms firms, keeping pace with China, autonomous cars, smart factories and plenty more besides.Overhyped? Maybe. But 5G will still be an economic boon. And perhaps inevitably, Covid-19 has collided with the rollout of the new technology, which ultimately depends on four ingredients: popular acceptance and adoption; the ability to install the equipment; access to capital; and the availability of spectrum — the radio frequencies used to transmit the signal that will allow vast gobs of data to be transmitted at lightning speeds.For now, telecoms companies insist the pandemic will only delay the rollout by several months. That may be optimistic. Problems with any one of the four factors above could throw things off course, and the current environment has elevated that likelihood. Given their role in dividing up the spectrum and auctioning it, governments have a particular responsibility to ensure they don’t hold up the process any more than is necessary.Much has been made of the conspiracy theories falsely suggesting 5G contributed to, or even caused, the virus’s spread. They prompted the gloriously terse response from the U.K.’s telecommunications regulator Ofcom: “This is wrong. There is no scientific basis or credible evidence for these claims.”The falsehoods may still permeate public opinion. Research suggests that even if people don’t believe conspiracy theories per se, they can nonetheless influence their views. So an underlying fear, however unwarranted, could persist that 5G is somehow detrimental to one’s health. That could perpetuate popular opposition to the necessary proliferation of new antennas.The virus has already disrupted the global supply chain, making it harder to source gear from China in particular. Telecoms equipment maker Nokia Oyj said that such interruptions shaved 200 million euros ($218 million) from revenue in the first quarter, and they continue to be a risk. Lockdowns are also making it harder to install that equipment. Orange SA Chief Financial Officer Ramon Fernandez said last week that fiber deployment — whose wires connect not just homes but the antennas — will be delayed by the virus.Telecoms operators are changing how they spend their money, too. The surge in people working from home has put huge pressure on their existing setup. That means operators are having to reallocate capital in the short term toward making sure their fixed networks are reliable, rather than working to upgrade and install everything that’s needed for the next generation of mobile services.Even with all that, Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri told me that he expects the delay will probably only be a “couple of months,” echoing comments from his peer at rival Ericsson AB, Borje Ekholm. Perhaps the biggest risk to a fast rollout is the availability of spectrum, which is where governments come in. They dedicate a particular tranche of frequencies to 5G and then auction it off. A slew of those sales have been put on the back burner by the pandemic. While Germany and Italy have all but finished theirs, other countries, including France, the U.K. and Spain, are unlikely to auction frequencies until later this year.With national budgets stretched by efforts to counter the impact of the virus, there will be a temptation to milk those auctions for all they’re worth. That could create a pinch on companies’ finances that makes rolling out the new networks even harder. Italy managed to squeeze 6.2 billion euros out of its telecoms firms back in 2018; Germany wrung 6.6 billion euros from Deutsche Telekom AG, Vodafone Group Plc, Telefonica Deutschland AG and 1&1 Drillisch AG. Economists generally classify networks as “productive” government investments, because they contribute positively to long-term economic output. It would be better for states to foster their new 5G networks by not overcharging for them. Otherwise they risk ceding more ground to China in the race for adoption. In return for more generous auction terms, it would be fair for governments to request an accelerated rollout.The virus is already reaping havoc on vast tracts of the economy. Best not to let it damage any more growth.This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Alex Webb is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Europe's technology, media and communications industries. He previously covered Apple and other technology companies for Bloomberg News in San Francisco.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

(Bloomberg) -- China warned France against treating Huawei Technologies Co. differently from European competitors when it comes to future 5G network equipment contracts, as the U.S. mounts a campaign to keep the Chinese tech giant at bay.In a lengthy statement issued on Sunday on its website, the Chinese embassy in Paris urged France to establish “transparent criteria and treat all companies in a similar way,” referring to telecom equipment makers.It also warned that a difference in treatment based on the country of origin would be considered “blatant discrimination” and “disguised protectionism.”The statement also carried a veiled warning.“We do not wish to see the development” in China of Finland’s Nokia Oyj and Sweden’s Ericsson AB being “impacted because of discrimination and protectionism” against Huawei by France and other European countries, the embassy said.Why 5G Mobile Is Arriving With a Subplot of Espionage: QuickTakeThe statement comes as France prepares to auction off 5G spectrum in April. France’s main carrier, Orange SA, has already announced it would leave Huawei out of its 5G network and work instead with Nokia and Ericsson.But two other French carriers who’ve been reliant on Huawei for their 4G networks, Altice Europe NV’s SFR and Bouygues SA’s telecom unit, have yet to name their 5G partners.The U.S. has been pressuring European allies to ban Huawei over fears that China’s government may be able to access its systems for spying. Huawei and Beijing officials deny there’s any such risk.“Huawei’s 5G equipment are totally safe” and have never presented any “backdoor” lapses, the statement from the embassy added.The U.K. government has faced a backlash from some senior lawmakers in its own party following a decision last month to let Huawei play a limited role in its 5G networks. That prompted one of China’s top diplomats in Britain to call their opposition “a witch hunt” in an interview with the BBC on Sunday.President Donald Trump has privately castigated Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo didn’t rule out the possibility that the episode could hurt post-Brexit trade talks between the countries.(Adds Chinese ambassador comment in penultimate paragraph.)\--With assistance from Thomas Seal.To contact the reporter on this story: Angelina Rascouet in Paris at arascouet1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Thomas Pfeiffer at tpfeiffer3@bloomberg.net, Jennifer Ryan, Anne PollakFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

(Bloomberg) -- Facebook Inc. and some of the world’s largest telecom carriers including China Mobile Ltd. are joining forces to build a giant sub-sea cable to help bring more reliable and faster internet across Africa.The cost of the project will be just under $1 billion, according to three people familiar with the project, who asking not to be identified as the budget hasn’t been made public. The 37,000-kilometer (23,000 miles) long cable -- dubbed 2Africa -- will connect Europe to the Middle East and 16 African countries, according to a statement on Thursday.The undersea cable sector is experiencing a resurgence. During the 1990s dot-com boom, phone companies spent more than $20 billion laying fiber-optic lines under the oceans. Now tech giants, led by Facebook and Alphabet Inc.’s Google, are behind about 80% of the recent investment in transatlantic cable, driven by demand for fast-data transfers used for streaming movies to social messaging.Facebook has long tried to lead the race to improve connectivity in Africa in a bid to take advantage of a young population, greater connectivity and the increasing availability and affordability of smartphones. The U.S. social-media giant attempted to launch a satellite in 2016 to beam signal around the continent, but the SpaceX rocket carrying the technology blew up on the launchpad.Google announced its own sub-sea cable connecting Europe to Africa last year, using a route down the west coast.2Africa is expected to come into operation by 2024 and will deliver more than the combined capacity of all sub-sea cables serving Africa, according to the statement. The announcement comes after internet users across more than a dozen sub-Saharan African nations experienced slow service in January after two undersea cables were damaged.Facebook has partnered on the new cable with two of Africa’s biggest wireless carriers, Johannesburg-based MTN Group Ltd. and Telecom Egypt Co. The U.K.’s Vodafone Group Plc and Paris-based Orange SA, which both have a significant presence on the continent, are also involved. Nokia Oyj’s Alcatel Submarine Networks has been appointed to build the cable.The 2Africa cable will be one of the longest in the world, trailing Sea-Me-We 3, which is 39,000 kilometers long and connects 33 countries, according to Submarine Cable Networks.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

(Bloomberg) -- French lawmakers from the National Assembly voted in favor of a contact tracing app meant to contain the spread of the coronavirus, following an intense debate over privacy rights as the government prepares to lift more lockdown measures next week.The application, dubbed StopCovid, was designed by a state-led task force, including the leading phone carrier Orange SA, software company Dassault Systemes SE, as well as Inria, the institute for research in digital science and technology. User data collected on the app will be sent to the nation’s health authorities in a bid to contain any re-emergence of the deadly virus.National Assembly lawmakers backed the app use with 338 votes in favor and 215 votes against. The project has drawn criticism from privacy activists in France, who argue such tools accelerate state-surveillance technology on citizens. Digital Minister Cedric O defended the project and said it includes guarantees protecting privacy rights. He said downloading the app is voluntary and data collection and the app itself are both meant to be temporaryFrance started to relax lockdown rules on May 11 and Prime Minister Edouard Philippe is expected to further ease controls next week. The app will be available to download on June 1 on the Apple and Alphabet’s Google app stores, O said on Wednesday.Read More: Apple-Google Virus-Tracking Rules Put Apps in a Privacy BindStopCovid will work with a smartphone’s bluetooth technology and will send out an alert to its user if they come within a meter of a person carrying the virus for more than 15 minutes. In case of exposure, the user will be asked to self-isolate quickly, reach out to their doctor and get tested. The app received the backing from the privacy watchdog CNIL on Tuesday.The approval didn’t come without warnings from lawmakers. Damien Abad, member of the National Assembly for opposition party Les Republicains criticized the app, associating it with a “nightmarish Orwellian society,” of state surveillance in a debate before the vote on Wednesday. Other lawmakers like Virginie Duby-Muller argued this app wasn’t enough to compensate for a lack of testing since the pandemic struck.Read More: The World Embraces Contact-Tracing Technology to Fight Covid-19Contact tracing apps have had a mixed result across the world so far. Singapore was one of the first to launch TraceTogether in March but due to its relatively low adoption, a lockdown couldn’t be avoided in the country. In Australia, which launched its own tool last month, only one person has been identified using data from it, the Guardian reported on May 23. There are still “strong doubts” about StopCovid’s compatibility with similar apps from other European countries, O told lawmakers on Tuesday.The French app, which is similar to one being developed in the U.K., is designed by national players, unlike the apps in Switzerland and Germany, which are based on a platform jointly developed by Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google.Read More: France Says Apple Bluetooth Policy Is Blocking Virus TrackerO pushed for the homegrown solution and criticized Apple for not changing its bluetooth settings to allow the French state to ease its app’s use. France’s conflict with Apple is part of a broader debate about how much data U.S. tech giants should collect and who should have access to it.StopCovid is “too serious a hindrance to our right to secrecy,” Sacha Houlie, member of the National Assembly for Macron’s party said before the vote on Wednesday. “I fear the surveillance society.”For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

(Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. was fined a record 1.1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) by French antitrust regulators after the U.S. tech giant was criticized for anti-competitive agreements with two favored distributors.The French agency said Apple conspired with two wholesalers -- Tech Data and Ingram Micro -- in a move that thwarted wholesale competition for non-iPhone products such as Apple Mac computers. The duo was also slapped with fines of 76.1 million euros and 63 million euros.“Apple and its two wholesalers agreed to not compete against each other and prevent resellers from promoting competition between each other, thus sterilizing the wholesale market for Apple products,” Isabelle de Silva, head of the French agency, said in a statement on Monday.The Apple penalty is the latest crackdown on Silicon Valley by France’s Autorité de la Concurrence. It fined Google 150 million euros late last year for setting “opaque” rules for its Google Ads advertising platform that it applied unfairly and randomly.The fine comes after Apple said Saturday it’s closing its hundreds of retail stores outside of Greater China until March 27 and is moving to remote work in order to help reduce the spread of coronavirus.Apple said the French decision “will cause chaos for companies across all industries” and vowed to appeal.The tech firm said it considers customers should be allowed to choose the product they want, either through Apple Retail or its large network of resellers across the country.Monday’s fine dwarfs the previous record antitrust penalty in France for a single company -- 350 million euros -- which was handed down to Orange SA in 2015.The combined penalty for Apple and the two wholesalers is also a record, topping the 951.2 million euros fine in 2014 split between 11 shampoo and toothpaste makers including L’Oreal SA.The French regulator said the Apple case was prompted by a complaint lodged by eBizcuss, an Apple premium reseller, in 2012.Antitrust officials say Apple’s actions froze market shares and prevented competition between different distribution channels for the brand. Apple allegedly took measures to force premium resellers to provide the same prices as it did in Apple Stores and on its website.The tech company also created an economic dependency for premium resellers, France’s Autorite de la Concurrence said. The resellers were contractually obliged to sell nearly only Apple products yet at times were not supplied with new products even when they were available on Apple’s website or in its stores.(An earlier version of the story was corrected to fix the French agency’s error concerning fines for Tech Data and Ingram Micro)\--With assistance from Helene Fouquet.To contact the reporter on this story: Gaspard Sebag in Paris at gsebag@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net, Peter Chapman, Molly SchuetzFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

(Bloomberg) -- The organizer of the world’s biggest mobile technology conference, MWC 2020 in Barcelona, will offer refunds or discounts to future gatherings to the tens of thousands of attendees and companies that had paid to attend February’s canceled event.MWC was an early major casualty of the coronavirus pandemic, and it had never been scrapped in its 33-year history. By removing it from the calendar, telecom heavyweights lost a significant opportunity to generate marketing buzz around their latest wares. The industry’s biggest players often spend tens of millions of dollars to exhibit at the show, and smaller ones pay in the hundreds of thousands.On Wednesday the GSMA, the trade body for the mobile technology industry, said in a statement it will offer full refunds to all attendees for the cost of their tickets, which cost 799 euros ($865) for a basic admissions pass. For large exhibitors, the GSMA wants to incentivize discounts on attending the show in future years as an alternative to claiming large refunds.Mats Granryd, the director general of the GSMA, said in an interview with Bloomberg at the time MWC was canceled that the trade body was “looking for solidarity” and everybody bearing their own costs.It looks like that may be happening, to some extent. Some large operators have already expressed to the GSMA their intention to participate in MWC next year, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation. These include Orange SA, Telefonica SA, Vodafone Group Plc and NTT Docomo.Larger companies will get the option of receiving a credit worth 125% of what they paid to exhibit at this year’s show, which will be applied as a 65% discount on the cost of attending next year, plus 35% and 25% discounts on the two subsequent years respectively.Alternatively, they can claim refunds equivalent to 50% of their spend for MWC 2020, up to a maximum of 150,000 pounds ($178,000).For smaller exhibitors -- those who spent up to 5,000 pounds -- a full refund will be offered. However, these firms can also opt to waive a refund and instead be granted a 125% credit and three years of discounts.Companies that had canceled their attendance prior to the GSMA calling of the show will be offered credits and discounts, but not cash refunds.The GSMA’s board is made up of executives from a number of the world’s biggest operators, including Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom AG, who agreed to the initial cancellation. The GSMA isn’t expecting its operator members to seek refunds.About 80% of the GSMA’s annual budget is derived from the money it generates from MWC Barcelona, according to two people familiar with the group’s budget.But internally, executives don’t consider the cancellation of MWC 2020 and Wednesday’s offer of refunds to be an existential threat, according to an executive with direct knowledge of board-level conversations who didn’t want to be named discussing private matters.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

(Bloomberg) -- Safaricom Plc., weighing an offer for Ethiopia’s telecom business later this year, plans to take on debt to fund a joint bid by a consortium including parent Vodacom Group Ltd. and two other entities.“We do know the investment to build the network in Ethiopia will be big,” Safaricom’s interim Chief Executive Officer Michael Joseph said in an interview at the company’s Nairobi headquarters. “So all of us will have to borrow to invest. The composition of the consortium will be on your willingness and your capability of taking on debt and your willingness to take a risk.”The privatization of Ethiopian Telecommunications Corp. and issuance of two spectrum licenses has been delayed by elections that were pushed to August from May, according to Joseph. The government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed hasn’t yet provided guidance on the bidding process, including any limits on foreign ownership, he said.East Africa’s biggest company had total borrowings of 4 billion shillings ($39.5 million) in 2019, and 36.3 billion shillings in undrawn bank facilities, according to its annual report. Revenue has been rising every year since 2003, when the company became profitable, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.“Leverage makes sense for Safaricom considering their balance sheet size, so the cost of borrowing will be low,” Silha Rasugu, an analyst at EFG Hermes, said in response to emailed questions. “It also allows them to maintain dividend payout through the high capex cycle as they build a network in Ethiopia.”Safaricom shares closed unchanged at 29.95 shillings after a seven-day losing streak on the Nairobi Securities Exchange.Unlike Kenya, where Safaricom’s business became profitable within 3 1/2 years, Joseph said Ethiopia is “probably a 10-year journey.”Regulatory ChangeOpening up the telecommunications industry is part of a raft of reforms to liberalize Ethiopia’s economy as Abiy looks to increase foreign-capital inflows. Other carriers, including Orange SA and MTN Group Ltd., have expressed interest in expanding in the nation of more than 100 million people, which has a relatively low level of data penetration and internet access.In December, Ethiopia’s investment-promotion agency released proposed regulations that would reserve banking and micro-finance for local investors, which would prevent Safaricom from providing such services via its M-Pesa payments platform.“We cannot go in there as Safaricom and provide mobile-money services if we have to give it all away to somebody else just under some sort of technical support,” Joseph said. “We will if we have to, but in the end we want to have a license to provide those services, so the regulations will have to change.”(Updates with analyst comment from fifth paragraph)To contact the reporter on this story: Bella Genga in Nairobi at bgenga2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: David Malingha at dmalingha@bloomberg.net, Helen NyamburaFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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(Bloomberg) -- Walt Disney Co. is pressing ahead with the March 24 launch of its new video streaming service, Disney+, in Europe, with some minor changes in light of the coronarvius.The debut in France will be delayed until April 7 at the request of the French government, Disney said in a statement. The CEO of Orange SA, the Paris-based telecommunications giant, had called for it to avoid overloading its networks.Disney also said it would take measures to reduce its bandwidth utilization by at least 25% in the markets in which it is launching.“We will be monitoring Internet congestion and working closely with Internet service providers to further reduce bitrates as necessary to ensure they are not overwhelmed by consumer demand,” Kevin Mayer, the chairman of the company’s direct-to-consumer division, said in the statement.Countries around the world are seeing a surge in Internet usage as residents, cocooned in their homes, go online to chat, read the news, shop or watch videos.Disney last week delayed the launch of the service in India, in part due to the virus-related postponement of professional cricket.The world’s largest entertainment company is particularly hard-hit by the virus, which has closed movie theaters and theme parks around the world and canceled sporting events that are the mainstay of its ESPN channels.Disney has delayed a number of movie debuts in theaters and pushed up the dates on which “Frozen 2” and the new Pixar film “Onward,” appear on the streaming service. That business costs $7 a month in the U.S.The company last week filed papers to raise as much as $6 billion in borrowings, partly to refinance existing debt as interest rates decline.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

AkzoNobel has expanded its agreement with Orange Business Services to transform its global network and security infrastructure, converge information technology/operational technology (IT/OT) and enhance security. The partnership will enable AkzoNobel to scale up its innovation budget and drive digital transformation.

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(Bloomberg) -- Huawei Technologies Co. is in talks about investing in European tech startups and contributing to research in a bid to secure its supply chain as tensions with the U.S. escalate, people familiar with the matter said.In the final weeks of 2019, Huawei executives visited startups and venture capital firms in countries including Germany and France, they said. The companies discussed business collaborations and potential cash injections in exchange for equity stakes, the people said, asking not to be identified because the talks were private.No final decisions have been made and Huawei may decide against making any investments, the people said. A spokesman for Huawei didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.Huawei has rapidly shifted toward self-reliance as American sanctions jeopardized a carefully orchestrated global supply chain. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly railed against China and its companies, including Huawei, citing industrial espionage, national security and intellectual property theft. He has limited their access to the U.S. market and to American suppliers, while also pressing allies from Japan to the Netherlands to review policies toward the Asian giant.The company has been open about its desire to work closely with researchers in Europe. But any larger investment may face scrutiny. The U.K. this week revealed partial bans for Huawei equipment in high-speed 5G networks. Orange SA, the former French phone monopoly, said on Friday it would leave Huawei out of future wireless infrastructure.Under President Emmanuel Macron’s watch, the French state has added AI and semiconductors to the list of sectors under the foreign investments regulation act. The law allows the state to review, block or demand government reviews in any investment in entities that are part of the list, which spans communications to space.U.K. merger rules introduced in 2018 increased scrutiny of technology deals on national security grounds. Germany’s economy ministry also said in November that it planned to tighten regulation covering the takeover of high-tech firms by non-EU companiesStill, Huawei already has a collection of small investments in Europe. In 2014, the Chinese company made its first investment in the U.K., buying a stake in semiconductor company XMOS, while in 2010 Belgian wireless technology firm Option sold semiconductor company M4S to Huawei for 8 million euros ($8.9 million).The company’s also said it will put 20 million pounds ($26 million) behind British app developers to encourage them to write software for its in-house smartphone platform, HarmonyOS. It’s part of a $1.5 billion global developer program announced last year.Huawei is also building up its European research and development arm after deciding in November to move its U.S. research business to Canada. It’s currently building a new lab in Cambridge -- a U.K. tech hub -- that would house 350 staff.\--With assistance from Nate Lanxon.To contact the reporters on this story: Helene Fouquet in Paris at hfouquet1@bloomberg.net;Giles Turner in London at gturner35@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Giles Turner at gturner35@bloomberg.net, Amy Thomson, Nate LanxonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

It's nice to see the Orange S.A. (EPA:ORA) share price up 14% in a week. But that doesn't change the fact that the...