"As you all know, 2020 will have been a pivotal year as we have validated the merger of Rezopole with France-IX, and we are now France-IX Lyon.

This choice has been carefully considered throughout the year 2020, with you, our members, the Rezopole team and the Board of Directors.

This choice will allow us to pursue and develop our know-how around the Internet network, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region and throughout France.

I would like to thank in this last "Annual Review" all those who believed in the Rezopole project and supported us despite the difficulties:

• Thanks to the founders of Rezopole, all pioneers and passionate about the Internet!
• Thanks to the members of the office (volunteers) who spent many evenings all these years to help us grow,
• Thank you to the team in Lyon, who kept Rezopole running 24/7,
• Thanks to the public authorities for their indispensable financial support,
• And thank you to all of you, our members, for whom we have created Rezopole in order to develop the industry.

See you at a future event."

Philippe Duby,

Former President of Rezopole

Vice President of France-IX

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In parallel with the takeover bid for Polish operator Play in the fall of 2020, Iliad intended to apply in Poland the strategy already adopted in France with Cellnex.

The agreement with the European mobile infrastructure operator, which covers 7,000 sites, was aimed at transferring 60% of the company's structure to Cellnex, and was designed to manage the passive telecoms infrastructure of the French operator's new Polish subsidiary.

It also included a collaboration with Cellnex to build at least 1,500 additional sites over 10 years for €400 million.

On April 1st, Iliad announced that it had finally finalized the extension of its industrial partnership with Cellnex through the sale to the latter of 60% of the company managing passive mobile telecommunications infrastructures in Poland, for the sum of €804 million before tax. This will enable its Polish partner to strengthen its investment capacities and enter a new development cycle with the deployment and acquisition of 5G frequencies, the densification of its mobile network, but above all the desire to enter the fixed-line market on a European scale.

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Source : freenews

 "This text is written in Covid-19 confinement, which shows the enormous impact of the Internet in our daily lives, and its importance in helping us to continue our activities in telework or tele-education.

Exchange nodes such as those managed by Rezopole have a very important role in these periods of increased traffic. The first 100 Gbps client was set up on LyonIX at the very beginning of the Covid-19 crisis.

Looking back at 2019, the following highlights, detailed in the report, are worth noting:

• Migration of the core network to a new, latest-generation 100 Gb infrastructure,
• Securing links (redundancy) and BGP routing,
• Opening of new POPs related to their potential for new members,
• Reinforcement of the interconnection with the Swiss IXPs (CIXP & SwissIX),
• Survey on Telecom needs in the Alps with local players,
• First 24/7 BGP outsourcing services.

The IXP market is transforming towards increased service provision, and Rezopole will continue its transformation in 2020 to adapt to this evolution.

Thank you for your interest in our activities, I hope you enjoy reading. »

Philippe Duby,

President of the Rezopole Association

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After Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Ireland, the European telecommunications infrastructure giant Cellnex is setting out to conquer Portugal. On January 2, the company announced the acquisition of 100% of Portuguese tower operator OMTEL, valued at EUR 800 million, 25% of which was owned by Altice Europe, SFR's parent company.

The Portuguese company heads 25% of the tower network in Portugal and its main customer is PT Portugal, the operator owned by Altice Europe.

"With OMTEL, we are not only integrating one of the leading independent operators of telecommunications infrastructure in Portugal. We are also committed to consistent growth in Europe, integrating an eighth market - which naturally extends the current geographical coverage of the seven countries in which we are already present", says Tobias Martínez, CEO of Cellnex.

The management of the Spanish company has also indicated that it wants to strengthen OMTEL's network with an additional 350 sites by 2027, for an investment of 140 million euros.

An investment outburst that does not seem to frighten Cellnex. Since its IPO in 2015, the company has announced that it has committed no less than 12 billion euros of investment for the acquisition or construction until 2027 of around 48,000 telecommunications infrastructures in addition to the 10,000 or so that the company had at its disposal at the time. Its portfolio thus amounts to a total of 58,000 sites.

Cellnex's appetite also extends to France. After acquiring no less than 3,000 sites belonging to Bouygues Telecom in 2017 for a total of 800 million euros, the Spanish ogre finalised at the end of last year the acquisition of 70% of Iliad TowerCo, which operates some 5,700 mobile telecommunications sites in France, for a deal valued at 2 billion euros.

2 billion. The transaction with Free, which also included the sale of 100% of Free's Italian infrastructure subsidiary and 90% of Salt's antennas, enabled Cellnex to increase its number of masts from 3,000 mobile telecommunications sites to more than 8,000 sites in France.

This is enough to make the competition shudder, given that Hivory claims a fleet of more than 10,000 sites and TDF's fleet peaks at 13,900 sites.

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Source : ZDNet

Free's parent company has just sold its passive mobile telecommunications infrastructure in France and Italy to Cellnex. This Spanish operator is acquiring all the Italian pylons and more than 70% of the French infrastructure for $2 billion.  That is nearly 10,000 sites in both countries.

Iliad and Cellnex will be partners in the management and development of Iliad Tower Co for the French business. This service contract includes a construction program for 4,500 custom-built sites.

Iliad's Chief Executive Officer, Thomas Reynaud, explains that "this operation is part of an industrial logic that accelerates the deployment of 4G and 5G networks and increases Iliad's investment capacity. It will enable the efficient deployment of tomorrow's infrastructures for the benefit of all operators and also aims to better meet the challenges of territorial coverage".

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Source : Le Monde Informatique

After Altice at the end of November, it is Cube Infrastructure's turn to put its shares up for sale according to several sources. Covage's 50% shareholder paid 66 million euros in 2012 to buy back its shares from Vinci. However, Morgan Stanley Bank was mandated to find a buyer on the basis of a valuation of €1 billion.

The group's EBITDA would now reach €35 million for a turnover of around €100 million. "These ratios are not relevant. We are talking about an activity in full explosion with a very low maturity. In reality, the main driver is rarity," points out a good connoisseur of the file.
Charged by several departments with deploying optical fibre, Covage has already connected 630,000 of the planned 2.2 million households. The company still hopes to win a few more contracts to reach 3 million catches, which would represent just under 10% of French households.
When all the cables are pulled, Covage will be one of the few players to have such a digital infrastructure in a significant portion of the country. Indeed, once this task is completed, operators will have to pay a fee to use their networks.

€1.8 billion to acquire half of the optical lines that SFR must deploy outside major cities. But this deal is criticized in the industry because many believe that the infrastructure has been oversold. Indeed, the line rental prices highlighted could not be applied.

On paper, there are many candidates for the acquisition of Covage: investment funds, other RIP players, in particular Altitude or major operators...

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Source : Les Echos.fr

Created under the protection of the State following the break-up of the ORTF, the group with 14,000 pylons and flat roofs decided to sell its shares in the telecoms equipment provider. To this end, the group's current shareholders - Brookfield, APG, PSP, Arcus and Crédit Agricole Assurances - have mandated Morgan Stanley and BNP Paribas banks. If in 2014, TDF had been sold for approximately €370 million, its results having stabilised since then, the transaction would now exceed €3.5 billion.

With 13,900 sites, TDF infrastructure funds are keen on this type of long-term asset. Indeed, such opportunities are rather rare " It is an asset for infrastructure funds, family offices and pension funds. Manufacturers in the sector have few synergies to generate from a possible merger. " says one source.

After difficulties in 2008 following the financial crisis, the group has strengthened its financial structure with debt leverage now below 4 times EBITDA. Especially since the most important deadlines are 2022 and 2026.

At the end of 2018, TDF continued its strategy of refocusing with the sale of Médiamobile and by accelerating in optical fibre. The company was entrusted with the installation of several tens of thousands of sockets by the territories. In addition, several hundred new pylons on transport routes and in rural areas were built last year.

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Source : Les Echos.fr