Welcome again to a different version of M&A Month-to-month, the place TeleGeography’s GlobalComms staff tracks the offers that preserve the world linked. This is all the pieces you might want to learn about mergers and acquisitions throughout the worldwide telecom panorama.
(Learn final month’s M&A Month-to-month right here.)
Europe
On this month’s most eye-popping transaction, UAE-based e& Group introduced the signing of an settlement to promote its total stake in British telecoms large Vodafone Group for $5.95 billion. e& confirmed the binding settlement with Vega—an acquisition automobile wholly owned by the Niel household group—to divest its total shareholding which represents round 16.21% of Vodafone’s share capital and 17.13% of its complete voting rights. The e& shares have been transferred to mediators on 17 July whereas the deal awaits regulatory clearance. As soon as authorized, French billionaire Xavier Niel would be the largest shareholder on the UK-based telecoms group.
Mr. Niel—a person by no means afraid of splashing the money—has had a busy few weeks, having additionally boosted his shareholding in Latin America-focused telecoms group Millicom Worldwide Mobile (MIC). Niel-backed Atlas Investissement and associated events raised their collective stake in Millicom to 46.7%, with that curiosity encompassing 78.320 million frequent shares, of which 77.070 million have been already beneficially owned and an extra 1.250 million have been bought on 29 June underneath Amended Fairness By-product Transaction Agreements with an unnamed financial institution. TeleGeography notes that Atlas acquired an preliminary 6.99% stake in Millicom in October 2022, earlier than steadily growing its shareholding.
Niel can also be energetic in his native France, the place his Iliad unit has teamed up with rival gamers Orange France and Bouygues to plot a €20.35 billion ($23.24 billion) joint bid for home telecoms operator SFR. The deal will come underneath French antitrust scrutiny after the European Fee acceded to Iliad’s request to refer the transaction to the native watchdog. The Competitors Authority (Autorite de la Concurrence) famous that its investigation is predicted to final no less than 18 months attributable to the complexity of the instances and the traits of the markets concerned. Underneath the phrases of the takeover deal inked in June 2026, Bouygues would purchase the most important share of SFR’s property, accounting for about 52% of the carved-out income, with Iliad taking 27% and Orange 21%.
The board of Telecom Italia (TIM) has unanimously authorized Poste Italiane’s voluntary public tender and alternate provide for all the firm’s shares. Poste made its €10.8 billion ($12.3 billion) provide again in March, providing €0.167 in money plus 0.0218 newly issued Poste shares for every TIM share.
Consolidation within the Swedish fastened broadband sector continues, with Telenor Group agreeing a deal to take management of Bahnhof, which supplies fiber broadband to simply underneath 500,000 households. The transaction values Bahnhof at round SEK6.1 billion ($631 million) and can see the enlarged Telenor Sweden take second place within the nation’s fastened broadband market. The deal is topic to customary regulatory approvals and is predicted to be accomplished inside 4 to eight months. Bahnhof will proceed to function underneath its personal model ought to the takeover conclude efficiently.
Within the UK, different fastened broadband supplier Airband, which has deployed a mix of full fiber and glued wi-fi entry (FWA) networks throughout elements of England and North Wales, is searching for a purchaser after concluding an examination of its enterprise. The ISP acknowledged: ‘Following a strategic overview of the enterprise and its future possession, Airband has commenced a proper sale course of to establish the precise long-term proprietor for the corporate. Airband continues to function and commerce as regular all through the method. Our community stays absolutely operational and there’s no impression on buyer providers or day-to-day operations.’
Americas
Over in South America, Claro Peru has agreed to amass 100% of native fiber supplier WOW Tel from Liberty Latin America (LLA) and Narvik Capital Companions for an undisclosed payment. The sale is topic to closing circumstances, together with regulatory approvals. Asserting the settlement, LLA famous that the settlement displays its ‘continued give attention to rationalizing its working portfolio and optimizing capital allocation’. WOW Tel was Peru’s third-largest ISP, after Claro Peru and Integratel Peru (previously Movistar) at end-2025.
Brazil’s Administrative Council for Financial Protection (Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Economica, CADE) has authorized the R$189 million ($36.7 million) takeover of Oquei Telecom by bigger rival Alares Web ‘with out restrictions’. In its evaluation, the antitrust company highlighted that the 2 ISPs wouldn’t have energetic purchasers or infrastructure in the identical cities and cities, that means the tie-up doesn’t generate horizontal overlap or vertical integration between the businesses. Going ahead, the deal nonetheless requires approval from the Nationwide Telecommunications Company (Agencia Nacional de Telecomunicacoes, Anatel).
Mexican MVNO Diri Telecomunicaciones has introduced the takeover of rival gamers Newww and Mi Movil, with the twin acquisition set to extend its consolidated person base to round half one million. Diri, which first launched MVNO providers over the Pink Compartida community in April 2020, additionally owns the PilloFon and House Movil manufacturers, and co-owns Buzz Movil with brewery large Grupo Modelo. Whereas the Mi Movil model might be phased out by the brand new proprietor, the Newww model might be retained.
Remainder of the world
Elsewhere, Viva Armenia has closed its beforehand introduced acquisition of native ISP GNC-ALFA, which operates underneath the OVIO model. The closing of the deal got here a matter of weeks after the Competitors Safety Fee (CPC) rubberstamped the transaction in June. The deal—estimated to be price round USD40 million—was agreed again in Could 2025, with Viva’s father or mother firm, Cyprus-registered Fedilco Group, spearheading the takeover. OVIO was beforehand owned by Rostelecom of Russia.
The Islamabad Excessive Courtroom (IHC) has confirmed the merger of Telenor Pakistan into Pakistan Telecommunication Cellular Restricted (PTML, Ufone), ruling that each one property, property, rights and liabilities of Telenor stand transferred to PTML following which the previous can be deemed dissolved. The courtroom famous that the scheme had been unanimously authorized by the collectors of each corporations and that the monetary pursuits of collectors have been safeguarded, including that the operators had complied with all statutory necessities. Ufone’s father or mother Pakistan Telecommunication Firm Restricted (PTCL) finalized its takeover of Telenor in late 2025, having initially inked the deal again in December 2023.
Lastly, Israel’s Bezeq has confirmed that its cellular unit Pelephone has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the acquisition of 100% of the shares of cellular community operator (MNO) WeCom Cellular. Issuing a press release relating to the matter to the Israeli inventory alternate, Bezeq confirmed that the entire consideration for the transaction is roughly ILS265 million ($88 million) on a money and debt free foundation, topic to changes.
Can AI assist me keep up-to-date with M&A exercise?
We’re glad you requested. If you happen to’re in search of a fast overview and background info on a market, AI is a helpful approach to get an thought of what’s occurring there. Nevertheless it’s a good suggestion to double verify these findings, as AI typically cites sources that aren’t authoritative and are out-of-date, incomplete, or simply plain fallacious.
AI instruments are nice at skimming the web and sourcing knowledge at lightning velocity, however relating to telecom knowledge, we regularly discover that the articles cited by AI and fed into its solutions are a number of years outdated—which suggests the details, figures, and context to that info can also be outdated.
And as individuals who’ve devoted our careers to sourcing, collating, and analyzing telecom knowledge, we’d be remiss if we didn’t point out AI’s tendency to hallucinate and make up fallacious solutions (after which backtrack while you name it out).
Check out how this performs out in market analysis.
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