Deutsche Telekom announced on Tuesday it’s combining national and international wholesale businesses into a single entity -- T Wholesale. “This move is intended to provide clients with streamlined solutions that address needs both within Germany as well as globally, reflecting the growing demand for integrated telecommunications services,” the company said. The wholesale parts of Deutsche Telekom serve more than 250 telecom providers and resellers in Germany with 900 international customers and partners, the company said.

Ukrainian mobile operators will begin shuttering their 3G networks this year, freeing space for 4G and improved services, regulator NCEC announced on Facebook, according to an unofficial translation. To ensure that customers are treated fairly during the transition, NCEC ordered that operators provide "maximum information and attractive offers" and notify subscribers before 3G ceases in their areas. It recommended that people with 4G/LTE-enabled phones switch now to 4G and that those without them consider upgrading. The shutdown won't affect calling, SMS texting or other basic services, the regulator said. In November, NCEC auctioned (in Ukrainian) 2.1 GHz, 2.3 GHz and 2.6 GHz spectrum to pave the way for 4G and, ultimately, 5G services.

Swisscom completed its acquisition of Vodafone’s Italian operations in an $8.71 billion deal, announced last year (see 2403150022). Swisscom will combine Vodafone Italia with Fastweb, its Italian network provider (see 2402280045). “Fastweb and Vodafone Italia bring together complementary high-quality mobile and fixed infrastructures, competencies, and capabilities to create a leading converged challenger in Italy,” Swisscom said last week: The deal “is a key step for Swisscom to achieve its strategic objective of profitable growth in Italy.”

Nokia announced Friday that it has finalized the sale of its Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) to the French government for approximately $360 million. Nokia will retain a 20% interest “to ensure a smooth transition until targeted exit, at which point it is planned for the French State to acquire Nokia’s remaining interest,” said a news release. ASN is “a successful, non-core standalone business,” Nokia said. The sale “allows Nokia to focus the portfolio of its Network Infrastructure business group while positioning ASN strongly to build on the transformation achieved while part of Nokia,” the company said.

The FCC Office of International Affairs in a public notice Monday released circuit capacity data for U.S.-international submarine cables as of Dec. 31, 2023. The data includes capacity information from submarine cable landing licensees and common carriers that owned or leased capacity on a cable in the covered period.

Kyivstar and Starlink will bring direct-to-cell satellite connectivity to Ukraine, Kyivstar's parent company Veon announced Monday. When the system launches, it will make Ukraine one of the first countries to have the service and will boost the resilience of the country's connectivity, they said. The mobile operator, Ukraine's largest, expects to launch services with SMS and over-the-top messaging in Q4 2025 and later expand to voice and data.

Fifty-nine percent of people surveyed in seven countries, including the U.S., plan on upgrading to a generative AI-enabled smartphone within the next year, Counterpoint said Monday. Besides those from the U.S., people from Canada, the U.K., France, Germany, Poland and Japan were among the 3,535 surveyed. Counterpoint said demand for GenAI-enabled smartphones was particularly heavy in the U.S., followed by Germany and France. More than 66% of respondents indicated readiness to pay extra for AI-enabled smartphones.

Canada is narrowing its rural digital divide via "a clearly articulated and well-funded connectivity strategy," Ookla said Wednesday, with satellite broadband playing a key role in closing that digital divide. Rural Canadian Speedtest users reported a 23% increase in those with broadband speeds in the first half of 2024 over the same six months in 2023. It said 83.8% of urban and 60% of rural users meet Canada's standard for broadband service (50/10 Mbps).

Indonesian carriers XL Axiata and Smartfren agreed to merge, creating XLSmart, a company with a combined value of $6.5 billion. The deal would reduce to three the number of major providers there, down from five in 2021. XLSmart would have a mobile subscriber base of 94.5 million customers. “This merger brings together complementary capabilities to create a robust entity serving a significant portion of Indonesia’s telecommunications market,” said a Wednesday news release: “XLSmart will have the scale, financial strength, and expertise to drive investments in digital infrastructure, expand service coverage, and foster innovation for customers while contributing to a healthier and more competitive market.”

As part of Bell Canada's planned acquisition of Ziply Fiber (see 2411040056), the two are petitioning the FCC to allow foreign ownership of Ziply. In a petition for declaratory ruling posted Monday, they said the deal won't create national security or foreign policy issues. Instead, Ziply will benefit from having Bell Canada's resources and expertise, but the transaction won't affect Ziply's business plans or management and will be largely transparent to its customers, they said.