A media fightback is emerging, as the creative industries respond to two years of AI disruption, and leading labs issue dire warnings against a laissez-faire approach.
A renewed push against tech’s “capture” of the value chain is visible across sectors from music to publishing.
Big tech earnings continue to blow past expectations. Those with credible gatekeeper roles and diversified revenues are benefitting this quarter.
Ofcom is curtailing Openreach’s price discounting for now, effectively setting a price ceiling based on theoretical altnet economics as opposed to Openreach’s own (much lower) fibre costs.
This restriction is however likely to prove time-limited, with VMO2-only areas and those with high altnet market share likely to be de-regulated first, and within the current regulatory cycle.
VMO2 and the altnets need to be prepared to compete on a more even footing, and would be wise not to hasten deregulation through their own actions, such as focusing on market share grabs as opposed to building a sustainable business model.
Service revenue reversed its slight improvement last quarter, worsening 0.2ppts to -0.9%, as all markets except Spain were flat or in decline.
Incumbents in Europe are increasingly trending towards outperforming peers on net adds, despite higher (and more stable) ARPUs.
EE and Vodafone’s recent launches of premium tiers using 5G slicing are the boldest moves in this direction we have seen in Europe, and present challenges and opportunities going forward.