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Fox 'remains committed' to Sky offer; Comcast open to share Sky with others

TOP NEWS

* 21st Century Fox Inc. said it "remains committed" to its offer to acquire Sky plc for about £11.7 billion, or £10.75 per Sky share, after Comcast Corp. announced a £12.50-per-share offer for the British pay TV giant, valuing it at about £22 billion. Analysts expect Comcast's offer to spark a bidding war for Sky.

* Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said the company is open to co-owning Sky with Fox or Walt Disney Co. on the condition that it owns a 50% plus 1 share stake in the British company, Reuters reports. Comcast also plans to maintain the Sky headquarters in the U.K. if its offer goes through. The U.S. cable company intends to request regulators in Brussels to review its offer for Sky, according to a separate Reuters report, citing a company spokesman.

MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS NEWS

* Telecoms leaders attending Mobile World Congress have warned that too much regulation in the industry is undermining operators' ability to invest in future networks. Industry bosses argue that declining revenues in a highly capital-intensive market has made it challenging to fund costly infrastructure projects and develop 5G networks.

* Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and Bouygues Telecom SA signed an agreement to collaborate on 5G innovation. Bordeaux, France, will be the first test city with the launch of multiple sites in 2018.

* Deutsche Telekom AG unit T-Mobile US Inc. unveiled plans to build out a 5G network in 30 cities in 2018. As part of the plan, the U.S. operator has tapped Ericsson AB and Nokia Corp. to provide the necessary technology. The U.S. carrier will introduce the 5G services first in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas and Las Vegas.

U.K. AND IRELAND

* Conal Henry has stepped down as CEO of Irish fiber operator Enet, weeks before the state awards the National Broadband Plan to the company, Dublin's The Irish Times reports. Enet became the sole bidder in the country's broadband project after eir's withdrawal.

* Ireland's Industrial Development Authority is attempting to persuade U.K.-based broadcasting companies to relocate to a European Union country, such as Ireland post-Brexit to maintain their operations in the EU countries, London's The Guardian reports. IDA's Martin Shanahan said that it will be in talks with the companies "in the near future."

* Sky said it will roll out new features for its home entertainment service Sky Q, including the addition of Spotify AB's streaming service on its platform for its U.K. and Ireland users.

* Ofcom announced that Airspan Spectrum Holdings Ltd., British Telecom's EE Ltd., Connexin Ltd. Hutchison 3G UK Ltd., Telefónica SA's Telefónica United Kingdom Ltd. and Vodafone Group Plc are the operators that have qualified to join the upcoming spectrum auction. The spectrum to be auction includes 40 MHz in the 2.3 GHz band and 150 MHz in the 3.4 GHz band. SoftBank Group Corp. is said to be one of the investors in Airspan Spectrum, U.K.'s The Daily Telegraph reports.

GERMANY, SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA

* Germany's Federal Court of Justice ruled that Google Inc. is not compelled to filter websites' content before including them in search results, Reuters reports. The Alphabet Inc. unit may only be required to take action when it has been informed about a clearly recognizable violation of individuals' rights.

* Prosecutors in Germany said they will not open a formal investigation against Facebook Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg and its managers, Telecompaper reports, citing Reuters. The news follows a complaint accusing the company of violating Germany's anti-hate speech laws.

* Global cross-industry players have inaugurated the 5G Slicing Association, Deutsche Telekom said. The initiative will study key technical issues, cooperate with slicing-related standards development organisations and foster test beds and trials to verify 5G network slicing capabilities.

* Vodafone Deutschland Gmbh and Nokia are aiming to bring LTE into space in 2019. The two companies are planning to build an ultracompact network weighing less than a bag of sugar and aim to live-stream HD video from the surface of the Moon to a worldwide audience in a project called "Mission to the Moon."

* A1 Telekom Austria AG has appointed Alexander Kuchar as its director for technology and future services, effective Feb. 1. He will be responsible for the new groupwide technology strategy and future services.

FRANCE

* Vivendi SA's Canal Plus Group SA filed a claim against TF1 Group and its subsidiary TF1 Distribution before the Paris Commercial Court over the broadcast of TF1 on the CanalSat bundle and MyCanal app, BFM TV reports. The current agreement for Canal Plus to distribute TF1 expires on Feb. 28.

* In the wake of Altice USA Inc.'s six-week standoff with Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.'s Starz premium cable networks, the Altice NV unit expects its first-quarter results to be the "low point of growth" in 2018, according to Altice USA CFO Charles Stewart. Altice USA expects to record total revenue growth of about 2.5% to 3% in 2018 as compared to 2017, when the company recorded full-year revenue of $9.33 billion, according to Stewart.

* Disney is planning a €2 billion expansion for Disneyland Paris. The multiyear development will add three areas based on Marvel, "Frozen" and "Star Wars" themes.

* FremantleMedia Group Ltd. appointed Bruno Fallot as president of FremantleMedia France effective March 1. Fallot is currently executive producer of France's Got Talent.

NETHERLANDS, BELGIUM AND LUXEMBOURG

* Dutch regulator the Authority for Consumers and Markets proposed in its draft market analysis for wholesale fixed access to regulate the fixed networks from both KPN NV and VodafoneZiggo to ensure sufficient competition in the market. ACM, which already regulates KPN's copper and fiber-optic network, states that alternative providers should also be granted access to VodafoneZiggo's cable network, among others.

* In response to ACM's draft market analysis, KPN announced that it has submitted a proposal to the regulator to safeguard long-term access for service providers to its fixed network via a commitment to and under supervision of the regulator. According to KPN, they are taking this initiative to prevent ACM from introducing further regulation concerning their network which "will create uncertainty in the market, affecting investments and innovation, against the interest of consumers." VodafoneZiggo also reacted critical to ACM's proposal, stating that the Dutch market is already very competitive and might not need extra regulation.

* Kerlink SA, a French provider of internet of things solutions, and Dutch technology firm MCS will extend their partnership to a value-added distribution agreement to offer Kerlink's internet of things network and solutions portfolio. The aim of the development of the partnership is to extend Kerlink's business reach to new markets.

NORDIC COUNTRIES

* Telia Co. AB wants to expand internet-based services in Norway, writes Berlingske Tidende. Telia would likely bid for Get AS if Danish owner TDC A/S decides to divest. Telia wants to acquire a company that is able to deliver both TV and broadband services.

* Enea AB said it will pay US$90 million to acquire Openwave Mobility. The California-headquartered Openwave Mobility delivers scalable NFV platforms to mobile operators. The firm's core business is traffic management-based mobile video solutions.

SOUTHERN EUROPE

* Telecom Italia SpA and Huawei have teamed up for the development of solutions and business models based on the various segments of the internet of things. As part of the partnership, the companies will be putting up a facility in Italy for the testing and development of internet of things solutions.

* Altice Portugal SA will jointly develop and implement 5G in Portugal, Telecompaper reports. The agreement will see the use of Huawei's hardware and software to conduct live 5G environment and to test potential applications.

EASTERN EUROPE

* Polish broadcasting company Kino Polska TV has appointed Malgorzata Golinska as the board's proxy for terrestrial channels, Broadband TV News reports. Golinska will be in charge of the development of Zoom TV and Stopklatka TV.

* Rostelecom PJSC has cancelled its plans to develop a gaming platform in partnership with LoudPlay, Telecompaper reports, citing Tdaily.ru. The Russian operator will instead enter discussions with NVIDIA Corp. on supplies of technological solutions.

* Russian operator Federal Antimonopoly Service alleged that LG Corp. inflated smartphone prices in Russia, Telecompaper reports, citing Cnews.ru. The said action by the company is in violation of the competition law in the country.

FEATURED NEWS

Kwesé acquires stake in iflix; OSN, Netflix team up: Kwesé buys a stake in iflix, while OSN and Netflix have entered into a content partnership.

FEATURED RESEARCH

Global Multichannel: Comcast's Sky bid at 12.7x forward EBITDA roils M&A landscape: Comcast's proposed $40.36 billion acquisition of Sky would create the world's second-largest pay TV distributor while sharpening its content.

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.