Page 91 - SAMENA Trends - March 2020

WHOLESALE UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

WHOLESALE NEWS

Operators Face $25B Roaming Hit – Report

Juniper Research predicted severe travel However, given roaming revenue accounts company expects more than half of all
restrictions prompted by the COVID-19 for about 6 per cent of their total revenue, operators’ roaming revenue for 2020 will
(coronavirus) pandemic would lead to after dropping sharply from a decade ago, be affected, with a loss of up to $12 billion
roaming revenue plunging by as much the overall impact will be minimal. Its high- during the peak international travel period
as $25 billion over the next nine months. impact scenario assumes severe disruption between June and August. It highlighted
After studying the possible outcomes, the to international travel will continue until trips cancelled due to the outbreak are
research company believes a low-impact the end of 2020, estimating more than 650 unlikely to be rebooked, so operators won’t
scenario is now not possible and stated million passenger trips will be cancelled, be able to recover the revenue after travel
there is no strategy available for mobile some 80 per cent of the previously forecast returns to normal.
operators to mitigate the anticipated loss. international passenger bookings. The

Chorus Postpones Annual Wholesale Broadband Price Increase

New Zealand-based wholesale fixed stressed that its network continues to as daytime consumption remains lower
line provider Chorus has announced the have ‘significant capacity headroom’ to than the usual peak experienced at 9pm.
postponement of its annual regulated support widespread working from home,
price increase for broadband products as it
works to address the impact of the ongoing
coronavirus pandemic. The company also
indicated in a statement to shareholders
that it will continue with plans to reduce
the price of its gigabit connection from
NZD60 (USD34) to NZD56 on 1 July 2020
as originally planned, to help support home
working. Moreover, Chorus said it will work
through additional options to provide
support for customers, retailers and
service companies to ensure as many end
customers as possible can stay connected
to essential infrastructure as the country
enters lockdown conditions. The company

UPC Poland Signs Wholesale Deal with Nexera

Polish cableco UPC has signed an Cyfrowa, POPC), which is partly funded Orange and T-Mobile. The POPC project
agreement which allows it to use fiber by the EU under its Digital Agenda 2020 aims to give all households access to at
infrastructure deployed by wholesale initiative. Nexera expects to cover 670,000 least a 30Mbps internet connection by
network operator Nexera. The infrastructure households by end-2021 as part of a end-2020, while 50% of households should
has been deployed by Nexera under the PLN1.5 billion (USD396 million) rollout. have access to networks with download
government’s Operational Program Digital The firm has previously signed wholesale speeds of at least 100Mbps by that date.
Poland (Programu Operacyjnego Polska deals with other Polish telcos, including

91 MARCH 2020