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Cineworld completes Regal deal; Spotify files for US IPO

TOP NEWS

* The U.K.'s Cineworld Group plc completed its acquisition of Regal Entertainment Group, according to a Form 8-K. Cineworld paid about $3.6 billion, excluding related transaction fees and expenses and repayment of certain company debt.

* As expected, Spotify AB filed for an initial public offering of up to $1 billion of its ordinary shares. The company, which applied to list its ordinary shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SPOT, will be offering a direct listing. As of Feb. 22, the company had 176,976,280 ordinary shares outstanding.

* ITV Plc profits tumbled as U.K. economic and political uncertainty slashed marketing spend, but the commercial broadcaster said dwindling confidence in online advertising would benefit traditional TV revenues in 2018.

MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS NEWS

* Partnerships between tech companies and telecom operators are crucial for the uptake and implementation of artificial intelligence technology, industry leaders said at the annual Mobile World Congress.

* Telecom operators, tech firms and a number of other companies have teamed up to set up 5G Slicing Association, a new industry body that will work to tackle requirements and potential applications for 5G network slicing.

PAN-EUROPEAN

* A group of Google Inc.'s rivals wrote a letter urging EU antitrust regulators to step up action and ensure that the Alphabet Inc. unit fairly treats its competitors offering shopping services, Reuters reports. The competitors claims that Google's remedy proposal to allow its rivals to bid for ads at the top of a search page is, "on its face, noncompliant" with the EU's earlier prohibition order.

UK AND IRELAND

* Ireland's Office of the Data Protection Commissioner said WhatsApp Inc. has yet to submit proposals to address concerns from EU regulators over the sharing of its user data with parent company Facebook Inc., Reuters reports. The Irish watchdog thus insisted that WhatsApp should not share the personal data of its EU users with Facebook until it is satisfied that such an act has a lawful basis, according to the report.

* Facebook told the U.K. House of Commons' digital, culture, media and sport committee that it has not found any new evidence that Russia used social media platforms to interfere in the June 2016 Brexit referendum, Reuters reports.

GERMANY, SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA

* Vodafone Group Plc unit Vodafone Deutschland GmbH said it has integrated Netflix Inc. into its GigaTV platform. This will enable TV customers to access content from the streaming service on both GigaTV 4K set-top boxes as well as on the GigaTV app for smartphones and TV sets.

* Deutsche Telekom AG and Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. completed what is touted as the world's first 5G high mmWave technology over-the-air field tests. The technology can achieve fiber-like speeds for mobile broadband access.

* Smartphone and DECT manufacturer Gigaset AG will resume manufacturing smartphones in Germany beginning in March, Telecompaper reports, citing Inside Handy.

* EWE TEL, a unit of the German utility EWE AG, has selected ADTRAN Inc. for a broadband network project including equipment swap, project management and data migration services. Adtran's services are expected to maximize existing network assets and expand bandwidth potential for EWE.

FRANCE

* Bouygues Telecom SA will broadcast SFR Sports, Electron Libre reports. The channel will be renamed as part of a rebranding effort by Altice NV unit SFR Group. Bouygues Telecom will also broadcast SFR's film and series channels.

NETHERLANDS, BELGIUM AND LUXEMBOURG

* Luxembourg-based pay TV provider M7 Group SA has extended its partnership with AMC Networks International – Central and Northern Europe, according to a news release. The deal includes the extension of the carriage agreement for the Film+, AMC, Sport1, Sport2, JimJam, Minimax, TV Paprika and Spektrum channels. AMC Networks International is an operating unit of AMC Networks Inc.'s AMC Networks International.

* Chinese technology company ZTE Corp. signed a partnership agreement with VOO for the provision of full virtualized mobile core and digital transformation services. VOO, a brand owned by Belgian cable operators Nethys and Brutele SC, provides communications services to customers in Brussels and Wallonia.

* The Dutch Consumers Authority said it is happy with the proposal of the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets to open up fixed networks owned by KPN NV and VodafoneZiggo. The authority noted that giving others access to the networks would provide consumers with more choice.

* Chango Eersel has been appointed the new general director of Dutch cloud service provider ITON Beleggingen NV from March 1. Eersel will succeed Pim de Joode.

NORDIC COUNTRIES

* The consortium bidding to buy TDC A/S plans to reorganize the telco by splitting it into three separately managed businesses, namely TDC's networks, the company's Danish customer business and its Norwegian operations, according to the offer document. The consortium also plans to retain the company's existing corporate management team. The takeover offer values TDC at about 40.5 billion Danish kroner.

* Swedish telecom regulator PTS said it has made a frequency block of 200 MHz within the 3.5 GHz band available for 5G service testing in Stockholm county. Around 2 million people live within the block area.

SOUTHERN EUROPE

* Telecom Italia SpA struck a cooperation agreement with Qualcomm Inc. unit Qualcomm Technologies Inc. on business innovation and 5G services. The deal will see the two companies work together to test 5G cases for internet of things-related services as well as mobile and landline products.

* Portuguese telecom regulator ANACOM has given telecom operators MEO, NOS Comunicações SA and Vodafone Portugal 40 working days to change some of their internet offers, which allegedly distinguish between caps on general traffic and caps for certain applications. ANACOM said such internet packages violate prevailing EU rules on net neutrality and roaming.

* Orange SA unit Orange España unveiled plans to conduct 5G trials in four yet-to-be-named cities across Spain in 2019, Telecompaper reports, citing Xataka Movil.

EASTERN EUROPE

* Ericsson AB said it will establish a 5G research center jointly with Mobile TeleSystems PJSC in Tatarstan, a republic within Russia. Ericsson and MTS plan to open the research center in the tech city of Innopolis in the second quarter.

* Sony Corp. unit Sony Pictures Television has tapped Russian satellite TV operator Orion to become its main technology partner in Russia, Telecompaper reports, Tdaily.ru. Orion agreed to take charge of transferring the TV signals of Sony Channel, Sony Sci-Wi and Sony Turbo from its London-based headquarters to end-users in Russia via satellites.

FEATURED RESEARCH

Global Multichannel: EPL auction: Sports subscriber slowdown driving rights value decline: Final valuations for the new English Premier League TV deal looks likely to fall due to a slowdown in premium U.K. sports subscriptions, a spike in the number of available live games and irresolute tech giants during the auction.

Economics of TV & Film: Cineworld completes acquisition of Regal Entertainment Group: U.K.-based Cineworld completed its acquisition of Regal Entertainment Group, the second-largest exhibitor in the U.S., offering up $23.00 per share for Regal's 157.7 million fully diluted shares.

Wireless Investor: Mobile World Congress: 5G moves from concept to deployment, US and Asia leading: This year at Mobile World Congress, Kagan finds the talk is all about the actual deployment and technical systems to support 5G.

Technology: Comcast and Sky share similar technology goals: Yesterday, Comcast announced an offer of £22 billion for pay-TV provider and programmer Sky plc of the U.K., which is also being courted by both Disney and Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox.

Daniela Latini, Sylvia Edwards Davis, Charlotte van Hek and Gerard O'Dwyer contributed to this report. The Daily Dose has an editorial deadline of 7 a.m. London time. Some external links may require a subscription.