KKR makes nonbinding offer for Telecom Italia; Ericsson to acquire Vonage

TOP NEWS IN TMT

* U.S. private equity firm KKR & Co. Inc. made a nonbinding and indicative offer aimed at taking operator Telecom Italia SpA private. Telecom Italia expects the offer price to be worth 50.5 euro cents per ordinary and/or savings share, anticipated to be paid fully in cash, and conditional upon a minimum level of acceptance of 51% for both classes of shares.

* Ericsson agreed to acquire cloud communications company Vonage Holdings Corp. for $6.2 billion, or $21 per share, after Vonage's board unanimously approved the deal. The acquisition, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals, is expected to close in the first half of 2022.

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TECHNOLOGY

* Nokia Corp. is weighing the possibility of producing base stations in Russia and is in the final stage of preparing to localize the production of long-term evolution base stations in the country, Telecompaper reported, citing Cnews.ru.

* Russia's Ministry of Internal Affairs will get 36.54 billion Russian rubles from the federal budget for developing its own IT systems and to deploy its own data center, according to Telecompaper, citing Cnews.ru.

* Vodafone Portugal's business unit launched a new portfolio of services intended to assist companies in identifying and responding to risk scenarios originating from cyberattacks, Telecompaper reported. Vodafone Group PLC owns Vodafone Portugal.

* Belgium's ConXioN Bvba acquired IT specialist De Volder for an undisclosed amount.

INTERNET & OTT

* Sports streamer DAZN Ltd. will introduce full high-definition video quality in Italy by the end of the month in a bid to improve its services in the country, Advanced Television reported.

* Netflix Inc. reduced its monthly subscription rates in Ukraine, Telecompaper reported, citing TechLigaNet.

* Security researchers spotted a security flaw in Sky Ltd.'s internet routers that made 6 million customers susceptible to a cyberattack, The Daily Telegraph (London) reported. The Comcast Corp. unit said it had remedied the flaw in October.

* Russian internet company Yandex NV is testing new servers produced in Russia on its infrastructure, Telecompaper reported, citing Telecomdaily.ru.

* Vodafone Portugal signed an agreement to provide its VBox 4K and VBoxPro 4K TV box users with access to online movie platform Filmin, Telecompaper reported. Access to Filmin will be offered for free for a month and will cost €6.95 thereafter.

* Spanish broadcaster Atresmedia Corporación de Medios de Comunicación SA's streaming platform Atresplayer became available on Apple Inc.'s Apple TV, Advanced Television reported.

MEDIA

* Former Daily Mail (London) Editor Paul Dacre will not proceed with the application to be the new chair of U.K. media regulator Ofcom despite ministers clearing the way for another attempt, The Guardian (London) reported.

* Polish broadcast infrastructure company EmiTel Sp. z o.o.'s CFO, Aleksander Skolozynski, resigned from the position, Telecompaper reported, citing Telko.in.

* German broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE's chairman of the executive board, Rainer Beaujean, rejected an alliance of European TV broadcasters as there was no added value for programming or products, reported FAZ.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

* Norwegian telco Telenor ASA and Thailand's Charoen Pokphand Group Co. Ltd. are in talks to explore a potential merger between the telecom operations of Total Access Communication PCL, or dtac, and True Corp. in Thailand, Dow Jones Newswires reported. The potential transaction will comprise a voluntary tender offer price of 47.76 Thai baht for dtac and 5.09 baht for True, with an agreed exchange ratio of 10.221 True shares per dtac share.

* Telecom Italia will hold a second extraordinary board meeting on Nov. 26 amid an escalating dispute after top investor Vivendi SE questioned the role of CEO Luigi Gubitosi, Reuters reported, citing sources. Vivendi is reportedly not selling its stake in the company, Les Échos reported.

* Italian tower infrastructure company Infrastrutture Wireless Italiane SpA signed a three-year memorandum of intent with utility company Enel SpA unit Enel Italia Srl to meet sustainability targets.

* Altice Europe unit SFR secured approval from the inter-regional labor agency DRIEETS for its voluntary redundancy plan, Le Figaro reported. The company plans to cut up to 2,000 jobs.

* Telco Open Infra said almost 4,000 homes in Germany are connected to its fiber network.

FILM & TV

* Warner Media LLC is launching CNN Portugal on Nov. 22 and will be available in 4.3 million households in the country through pay TV, Advanced Television reported.

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Phoebe Magdirila, Anne Freier, Sylvia Edwards Davis, Charlotte van Hek and Esben Svendsen contributed to this report.

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