TOP NEWS
* Antitrust regulators in the European Union and Mexico approved Nvidia Corp.'s proposed acquisition of semiconductor company Mellanox Technologies Ltd., Reuters reports, citing a regulatory filing. The deal now awaits regulatory clearance in China.
* ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE's sale of its unit, Red Arrow Studios International GmbH, has been postponed until the first quarter of 2020, with the German company considering options for the unit, TBI Vision reports. While AMC Networks Inc. and All3Media Ltd. are considered as the final contenders to acquire the unit, ProSiebenSat.1 is said to be reconsidering the sale.
* Vodafone Group PLC, through its indirect unit Vodafone Europe BV, agreed to sell the whole of Vodafone Malta Ltd. to Monaco Telecom SAM for an enterprise value of €250 million. The transaction's completion is expected in the first quarter of 2020, subject to approval by the Malta Communications Authority.
* Mobile gaming continues to transition into a more connected and service-based industry, and technological advancements offered by the next-generation 5G wireless standard are set to play a major role in this evolution. Although 5G deployments are still in the very early stages, some gaming companies and wireless carriers are already capitalizing on the technology to get a head start on the competition.
PAN-EUROPEAN
* Advocate General Henrik Saugmandsgaard Øe told the Court of Justice of the European Union that he considers standard contractual clauses for data transmission to be effective. However, data protection specialist Max Schrems criticized that data protection guaranteed by the U.S. did not meet EU requirements, Süddeutsche Zeitung reports.
UK AND IRELAND
* Investment firm 3i Infrastructure PLC is selling its 93% stake in Wireless Infrastructure Group Ltd. to Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP, in a deal that values the stake in the wireless infrastructure operator at about £387 million. The deal's completion is expected "very shortly," according to a statement.
* Divitias Bidco Ltd., an indirect unit of funds managed by Mayfair Equity Partners LLP and its affiliates, agreed to acquire Nasstar PLC for 12.88 pence in cash. The deal values the entire share capital of Nasstar, a managed hosting and cloud computing services provider, at about £79.4 million.
* Telefónica UK Ltd., or O2, struck a deal with transport authority, Transport for London, to enable 4G connectivity on London's Jubilee Line railway. The agreement involves a 4G pilot that will go live in March 2020.
* CityFibre Infrastructure Holdings Ltd. will deploy its fiber network on public sector sites across Portsmouth, as part of the fiber network operator's £3.8 million deal with the Portsmouth City Council.
* All3Media's distribution arm All3Media International Ltd. agreed to manage global sales of original productions from Southeast Asian streaming service HOOQ, TBI Vision reports.
* Comcast Corp. unit Sky Ltd. unveiled a new original film titled "Four Kids and It," which is based on a children's book by Jacqueline Wilson. The film will be released on the same day during Easter 2020 in theaters and on the Sky Cinema channel.
GERMANY, SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA
* The European Court of Justice ruled that used digital media are not allowed to be sold second-hand, Boersenblatt reports. The decision will reportedly help secure fair copyright for digital media.
FRANCE
* Digital services company Aubay SA fully acquired cloud and DevOps infrastructure specialist Quantic SA for an undisclosed cash amount. The companies will be consolidated from Jan. 1, 2020.
* French telecom regulator Arcep started a public consultation on the terms of the allocation of 700 MHz frequencies in Réunion and Mayotte and the 3.4 GHz to 3.8 GHz frequency in Réunion, which are considered as pioneer frequencies for 5G networks. Contributions are due Feb. 28, 2020.
* Spain-headquartered Mediapro acquired French principal rights to games from the UEFA Europa League and the new UEFA competition, Europa Conference League, for three seasons, beginning 2021. The coverage includes over 260 matches per season.
* Canal Plus SA on Dec. 26, will launch dedicated digital channels for the English Premier League and French rugby union's Top 14 games, Sports Business reports. The channels will be available on the MyCanal streaming service for the Vivendi SA unit's subscribers.
* France Télévisions SA's 2020 budget foresees break-even operating results, Les Échos reports. However, the public broadcaster anticipates a net loss due to the launch of video-on-demand platform Salto.
* Iliad SA announced the resignation of Alexis Bidinot as deputy CEO for personal reasons.
NETHERLANDS, BELGIUM AND LUXEMBOURG
* Figures from Belgian regulator BIPT show that 97% of Belgian households have access to fixed internet with speeds at 100 Mbps. Outdoor 4G connectivity is reportedly available to 97% of the Belgian territory, with indoor coverage at 87%.
* Ziggo NV will revamp the content roster on its Ziggo Movies & Series package in the coming weeks, TotaalTV reports. The Dutch operator will reportedly remove more than 100 films and series on offer due to the expiry of distribution rights, with new titles to be added.
NORDIC COUNTRIES
* Ericsson and Microsoft Corp. are integrating their technologies to advance the delivery of connected car services globally. As part of the partnership, Ericsson is building its Connected Vehicle Cloud as-a-service on top of the Microsoft Connected Vehicle Platform.
* Greenland's state-owned operator TELE Greenland A/S selected Ericsson as its supplier for its 5G network build-out, Reuters reports, citing KNR's interview with CEO Kristian Reinert Davidsen.
* Belgium-based company AKKA Technologies SE plans to submit a recommended voluntary cash offer to acquire Norwegian-listed company Data Respons ASA's entire share capital for 48 Norwegian kroner per share. The offer values the company at 3.7 billion kroner on a fully diluted basis.
* Nordic Entertainment Group AB entered into a multiyear agreement with the Ultimate Fighting Championship for the extension of its rights to air UFC matches on streaming service Viaplay. The deal also covers airing selected UFC events on NENT's free TV channels and through pay-per-view.
* Ericsson launched industrial 5G research network, 5G-Industry Campus Europe, in partnership with the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology. The network will be used by companies and research partners to find areas in which 5G can be used in production.
* Nokia Corp. signed its first end-to-end 5G deal in Latin America with Aruba-based telco SETAR. The Finnish company will provide full end-to-end 5G network transformation to SETAR.
* Elisa Oyj is launching a 5G network in the city of Pori, Finland. The network is limited to the city center and will be gradually expanded.
SOUTHERN EUROPE
* Facebook Inc. acquired Spanish cloud gaming company PlayGiga SL, a spokesperson of the social media company confirmed to CNBC. While financial terms of the deal were undisclosed, CNBC cited an earlier report from Spanish business newspaper Cinco Dias to note that the deal price was about €70 million.
* Infrastrutture Wireless Italiane SpA shareholders approved the proposed transaction to incorporate Vodafone Towers Srl into the company. The Telecom Italia SpA-controlled company will appoint a new set of board of directors in 2020, following the resignation of all members of the board on the merger's effective date.
* A parliamentary security committee of the Italian government recommended to consider hampering Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and ZTE Corp. from the country's 5G development plans, Reuters reports, citing a document submitted to the Italian government.
* Spanish broadcaster RTVE introduced channels TVE Internacional and Canal 24 Horas in HD using the DVB-S2 standard, Advanced Television reports.
EASTERN EUROPE
* The Russian government will conduct stages of examination on the reliability of its domestic internet infrastructure on Dec. 23, Reuters reports, citing the country's communications ministry. The move follows the government's enactment of the sovereign internet bill in November. The report, however, cited a statement from President Vladimir Putin that Russia does not intend to move away from the global internet network.
* Cyfrowy Polsat SA intends to acquire up to 18,221,000 shares in IT company Asseco Poland SA. The shares represent 21.95% of Asseco's share capital, with an aggregate value of up to 1.18 billion Polish zlotys, Broadband TV News reports.
* Representatives of Polish TV broadcasting companies formed an organization that aims to stand for the interests of union members in the media sector, Broadband TV News reports. The group, called Media Owners Committee, appointed a supervisory board that is composed of representatives from broadcaster TVN SA, Telewizja Polska SA and Polsat Media Sp zoo, as well as three representatives for smaller broadcasters.
* Poland may implement tighter security demands for the core elements of its incoming 5G network, compared with other parts of the system, Reuters reports, citing Minister of Digital Affairs Marek Zagorski. Poland submitted its proposals regarding the matter with the European Commission.
FEATURED NEWS
Hires and Fires Europe: Tele Columbus CEO stepping down; Eleven Sports names new chief: Timm Degenhardt is resigning as CEO of German operator Tele Columbus, and Eleven Sports Network Ltd. hired Luis Vicente as its new chief.
FEATURED RESEARCH
Economics of Networks: Cable Program Investor: Table of contents for Issue No. 265, published December 2019.
Technology: Fixed broadband forecast: steady FTTH growth while DSL declines: Following a global downturn in fixed network investment during 2019 as many operators redirected investment to upgrades of their wireless infrastructure, Kagan now expects investment in wireline fiber access infrastructure to ramp up moving forward.
RECENT EARNINGS
Accenture raises EPS, growth outlook as fiscal Q1 profit beats estimates: Net income for the fiscal first quarter ended Nov. 30 came in at $1.36 billion, or $2.09 per share, compared with the S&P Global Market Intelligence consensus estimate for EPS of $1.99.
Anne Freier, Sylvia Edwards Davis, Marieke Pijnappels and Esben Svendsen contributed to this report.
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