• BT to blow final whistle on its sports TV stake 
• More UK fibre altnet M&A speculation bubbles up
• Nvidia talks up telecom traction for its CPU

In today’s industry news roundup: BT looks to be sprinting to the sports broadcasting tunnel; CityFibre eyes further fibre buyouts, but AllPoints Fibre Network’s owner insists it isn’t for sale; Nvidia rocks into Computex with a welter of announcements; and much more!

UK national telco BT Group is reportedly on the cusp of selling its 50% stake in TNT Sports to Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), which already owns the other half of the business, at a knock-down price, according to The Financial Times (subscription required). In May 2022, BT agreed to form a 50:50 sports joint venture with WBD that combined the assets of its loss-making BT Sport unit and WBD’s Eurosport UK – the combined operations were later rebranded and currently operate as TNT Sports. As part of the deal, WBD had first dibs on buying out BT until the end of 2026 and, according to the FT’s sources, that’s what it’s about to do. Such a deal makes strategic sense for both parties: For WBD, it will gain total ownership of TNT Sports ahead of the launch of its HBO Max streaming service in the UK next year; for BT, the move ties in with its laser focus on its core communications services competencies under CEO Allison Kirkby. However, BT isn’t likely to get anywhere near the £750m-plus valuation it currently assigns to its 50% stake in TNT Sports, according to the FT’s report. Some kind of announcement is expected soon and with BT set to announce its full financial year results on 22 May, news of BT’s exit from the sports broadcasting sector might arrive sooner rather than later.   

M&A speculation continues to swirl around the UK fibre broadband altnet sector, with Fern Trading stating that its wholesale fibre access network operation AllPoints Fibre Network (APFN) is not for sale following a report in The Times (subscription required) that CityFibre has been holding discussions about the potential acquisition of AFPN. Whether such talks have taken place or not – CityFibre and APFN have a network access partnership and are, therefore, in constant communication – CityFibre is certainly at the heart of the UK’s ongoing fibre consolidation process. As it switches its expansion strategy to a ‘buy’ rather than ‘build’ approach, it has recently struck a deal to acquire network infrastructure assets from Connexin and is believed to be in exclusive takeover talks with a number of other altnets that, between them, pass some 850,000 UK premises. CityFibre currently passes about 4.3 million UK premises while APFN, which has just officially launched its Aquila wholesale platform, is believed to reach about 568,000 homes in areas not currently covered by CityFibre’s network. In the meantime, CityFibre, which broke even (at an EBITDA level) for the first time last year, is still in the process of trying to secure an additional £1.5bn in funding (£500m in equity and £1bn in debt) to help it achieve its goal of passing 8 million UK premises in the next few years. 

The APFN speculation came just days after another of the UK’s larger fibre altnets, Netomnia, announced that it’s on course to have 3 million UK homes ready for service by the end of 2025 and break even at an EBITDA level this year. It ended March with 2.32 million homes ready for broadband service and 288,000 paying customers (up by 50,000 during the first three months of this year). The operator, which looks set to be one of the handful of players with a long-term future in the UK fibre broadband market, also recently secured £160m in new debt facilities to help fund its network rollout, a move that allowed it to set a new target of having 5 million UK homes ready for service by the end of 2027. “This £160m junior debt facility represents resounding market confidence in our execution and financial discipline,” stated Jeremy Chelot, group CEO of Netomnia and its retail broadband units YouFibre and Brsk (with which it merged last year). “As we connect thousands more homes and businesses with the UK’s most powerful internet, this funding ensures we can sustain our growth trajectory while delivering strong, long-term value.”    

Still in the UK… The government has announced it is to put in place a number of 10-year funding programmes for “vital R&D” work across multiple sectors, including tech (in the form of AI, quantum computing) and critical infrastructure. The new funding criteria “will enable and support government departments and other public bodies to fund R&D over a 10-year period – giving certainty to world-class research organisations that their work will continue over the long term, helping to attract greater private investment, grow the UK economy and deliver on our Plan for Change,” with specific funding to be determined in the coming weeks. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has “worked with the Treasury and other stakeholders to develop the principles of 10-year funding and the process by which public bodies will select specific activities or institutions for long-term funding to provide transparency for the R&D sector.” 

AI chip giant Nvidia has arrived at the annual Computex trade show in Taipei, Taiwan, with a digital briefcase brimming at the seams with announcements about partnerships and tech advances. There are too many to list here, but among the most compelling are its claim that its Grace CPU (central processing unit) C1 product is gaining significant traction for telecom, edge and storage use cases “where maximising performance per watt is paramount” and that it is “delivering significant efficiency and performance gains for major enterprises tackling demanding AI workloads”. The company noted: “Leading manufacturers like Foxconn, Jabil, Lanner, MiTAC Computing, Supermicro and Quanta Cloud Technology support this momentum, developing systems using the Grace CPU C1’s capabilities.” In telecom, in particular, Nvidia notes that its Compact Aerial RAN Computer, which combines the Grace CPU C1 with an Nvidia L4 GPU and Nvidia ConnectX-7 SmartNic, “is gaining traction as a platform for distributed AI-RAN, meeting the power, performance and size requirements for deployment at cell sites.” In the wake of the MWC25 show in Barcelona earlier this year, TelecomTV reported that network operators were sharing concerns about the energy consumption challenges they might face with AI-RAN deployments. 

Meanwhile, in the quantum computing sector, Nvidia noted it is working with partners across the Taiwan supercomputing ecosystem to advance quantum computing toward accelerated quantum supercomputers. “Leading hardware developers are working with Nvidia to equip quantum researchers with tools to make significant contributions in the field. Atlantic Quantum, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Oxford, Quantum Circuits Inc, QuEra Computing and Yale University anticipate receiving Nvidia Grace Hopper Superchips from Supermicro to explore and refine the intersections between AI supercomputing and quantum computing,” the vendor noted in this announcement.

And, of course, there had to be some AI factory action… Nvidia and Hon Hai Technology Group, better known as Foxconn, announced they are working with the Taiwan government to build an AI factory supercomputer that will deliver state-of-the-art Nvidia Blackwell infrastructure to researchers, startups and industries. “Foxconn will provide the AI infrastructure through its subsidiary Big Innovation Company as an Nvidia Cloud Partner. Featuring 10,000 Nvidia Blackwell GPUs, the AI factory will significantly expand AI computing availability and fuel innovation for Taiwan researchers and enterprises,” noted Nvidia. “AI has ignited a new industrial revolution – science and industry will be transformed,” stated Nvidia CEO and founder Jensen Huang. “We are delighted to partner with Foxconn and Taiwan to help build Taiwan’s AI infrastructure, and to support TSMC [Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company] and other leading companies to advance innovation in the age of AI and robotics,” he added. 

– The staff, TelecomTV