Altice to bring holographic handsets to SFR customers

Media and telecom investor Altice has teamed up with HP Labs technology spin-off LEIA Inc to bring holographic display mobile phone handsets to the European market by the end of next year.

According to Altice, its strategic partnership with LEIA will combine the latter’s Holographic Reality platform with Altice’s own content and media assets to provide users with new digital experiences such as the sharing of 3D selfies, holographic video communication, interactive holographic games and other apps.

LEIA is dedicated to bringing to market mobile screens able to synthesise dynamic 3D holograms and sense users’ fingers to allow them to manipulate virtual objects in mid-air.

Altice will distribute the holographic phone to customers of SFR in France, Belgium and Luxembourg, Hot and Hot Mobile in Israel, Portugal Telecom in Portugal and Orange Dominicana in the Dominican Republic.

“We are very excited to partner with David Fattal. He’s a great innovator and young and talented entrepreneur, whom I have known and admired for a while. This will allow us to offer the best device to our customers who already benefit from the best fiber-based fixed networks and 4G/4G+ mobile networks. This partnership with Leia and David represents a major step in our strategy of innovation to build a new experience for our customers,” said Patrick Drahi, founder and president of Altice.

“We are thrilled to embark on this journey with Patrick Drahi and the Altice group. With the convergence of the cloud, connectivity and artificial intelligence, the world is rapidly evolving under 2 our eyes. Combining LEIA’s holographic platform with Altice’s impressive content, service and media ecosystem, we are poised to give our customers the best possible experience of this new digital age,” said David Fattal, LEIA Founder and CEO. “

“On a personal level Patrick has been an inspiration for my co-founders and myself. He is a true visionary with unrelenting passion for technology and media. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with him and his organisation. We will truly be learning from the best.”