News

Ocean Networks, the Hawaii-based telecom development and service company, has moved a step closer to delivering the Hawaiian Islands Fiber Link (HIFL) by naming Prysmian and International Telecom (IT) as its partners for the new inter-island cable.

The HIFL is part of Hawaii’s Connect Kākou broadband initiative, aimed at expanding access to high-speed connectivity across the state. The system will span roughly 740km between Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi, Maui, Kauaʻi, Lānaʻi, and Molokaʻi, and include 24 fibre pairs.

Prysmian will supply approximately the cable itself while IT will provide essential engineering and installation services for the HIFL system. Ocean Networks is responsible for the supply, construction, operations and maintenance of the system, under the oversight of the University of Hawaiʻi System Office for Information Technology with support from the Research Corporation of the University of Hawaiʻi.

“We are thrilled to be working with industry leaders like Prysmian and International Telecom, whose expertise is crucial to achieving our goal of enhancing high-speed broadband access across Hawaiʻi,” said David Blau, Chief Operating Officer of Ocean Networks. “Securing these contracts represents a major step forward in the construction timeline for the HIFL project, bringing us closer to fulfilling the promise of improved connectivity for all of Hawaiʻi’s residents, businesses, education, and government entities.”

The project’s funding and governance were first laid out in 2024, including a $120 million funding package, partially drawn from federal grants and private equity.

The system is expected to be ready for service in late 2026.

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Press Release

Building on its ongoing cloud transition with Amazon Web Services (AWS), BT Group is expanding this relationship with a new five-year strategic agreement that will deliver more agile, responsive, and customer-focused digital experiences. This agreement aligns with BT’s “Build, Connect, Accelerate” strategy and is designed to elevate BT’s customer solutions by modernising its technology from the inside out.

Transforming Technology to Transform Customer Experience

BT Group’s extension with AWS will push BT Group’s cloud journey forward from simple workload migration to cloud-native upgrades that customers will experience firsthand. Working with AWS Professional Services (ProServe), BT will shift its legacy systems into modern, customer-centric microservices. Developed in line with the TM Forum’s Open Digital Architecture (ODA), BT’s focus on cloud-native systems will enable faster innovation and more personalised, reliable customer experiences.

“This isn’t just a technology upgrade – it’s a customer promise,” said Tom Meakin, Chief Strategy and Change Officer at BT Group. “By modernising our systems with AWS, we’re creating the agility to respond to customer needs faster, deliver more reliable services, and introduce new features that make everyday interactions with BT simpler and more secure.”

How Customers Benefit

• Working with AWS enables BT to deliver more value to customers:
• Scalability: Services that grow with customer demand and are adaptable to changing business needs.
• Resilience: More reliable connectivity and service availability.
• Agility: Faster rollout of new features and improvements based on customer feedback.
• Cost Efficiency: Lower long-term operational costs.
• Security: Enhanced data protection and compliance, giving customers peace of mind.

“BT Group is putting customers at the centre of its continued cloud transformation,” said Jan Hofmeyr, VP, Telecommunications at AWS. “By working with AWS, BT is innovating faster, resolving issues more quickly, and delivering smarter, more secure services that better serve today’s digital-first consumers.”

A Smarter Network for a Smarter Future

BT’s new agreement with AWS marks a major leap forward for its business transformation. By adding AWS capabilities into its Mobile Network for both Core operations and its Radio Access Network (RAN), BT is laying the foundations for a distributed, AI-ready data platform that supports autonomous network operations. BT is also automating several operations processes in its Network Operations Centre (NOC) powered by AWS’s machine learning and Generative AI technologies. This is a critical step in BT’s journey toward a self-healing network—one that can anticipate, detect, and resolve issues in real time, dramatically improving resilience and customer experience.

“Our ambition is to build a network that thinks ahead – one that can fix itself before customers even notice a problem,” said Meakin. “We’re in the early stages of this process, but through our work with partners like AWS, we’re one step closer to making it a reality.”

This new agreement represents a bold transformation of how networks are run. By combining BT’s telecom leadership with AWS’s cloud and AI innovation, the two companies are redefining what’s possible in telecom: a more autonomous, reliable, and customer-centric future.

Real-World Improvements Already Underway

BT Group’s use of AWS will also support transformational work already in progress:

• Simplified Payments: BT is redesigning its customer payments system to make setting up and managing direct debits easier and more secure. With reusable, tokenised data across brands and channels, customers will experience less friction and more confidence in how their information is handled.
• Smarter Service Delivery: A new engineering workflow platform is streamlining how BT manages customer orders and field engineer visits. By integrating order tracking, task management, and subcontractor coordination into one interface, BT can deliver engineering operations faster and with greater accuracy.

News

The UK’s roll‑out of full‑fibre broadband continued to gather pace in the first half of 2025, with independent research showing the share of premises passed by fibre‑to‑the‑premises (FTTP) networks closing in on four‑fifths of homes and businesses. Industry data from a Q2 update shows overall FTTP coverage at around 77.8% of UK premises – just over 26 million premises – and an annual expansion running in the mid‑teens percentage range.

The industry update records FTTP passing approaching 80% during Q2 2025 and annual growth of about 15.3%, while the regulator’s Connected Nations report for spring 2025 put full‑fibre availability at 74% of homes as of January 2025 and gigabit‑capable coverage at about 86%.
Openreach remained the single biggest driver of nationwide roll‑out in the quarter, adding roughly 980,000 full‑fibre premises and taking its FTTP footprint to about 18.7 million premises – equivalent to around 55.6% of the UK. At the same time Openreach’s legacy copper and hybrid networks continued to shrink: the number of premises served only by ADSL, FTTC or G.fast fell markedly during the quarter. Nationwide, non‑fibre networks now cover significantly fewer premises than FTTP networks, reflecting the transition from copper to fibre.

Overbuild continues to be a growing issue, with some 10.9 million premises that can now choose between two or more FTTP providers and about 1.75 million premises have access to three or more fibre networks.

Regional and local patterns of deployment remain highly uneven. Openreach continues to post its strongest coverage outside London and the Southeast, with Belfast reported as the leading local authority for Openreach FTTP availability at about 96% of premises passed. In Q2, Barnet and Barnsley added the largest numbers of FTTP premises, while some more rural local authorities recorded very large percentage increases from smaller bases – examples include the Shetland Islands and West Dunbartonshire. Those disparities underline the continuing policy and commercial challenge of ensuring equitable access across dense urban, suburban, and remote rural communities.

For more in-depth insight into the future of UK fibre and the evolution of the altnet model, make sure you attend Connected Britain in London on 24-25 September 2025. Get your tickets at www.totaltele.com/connectedbritain

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News

Attackers reportedly hacked into an order management system from TPG’s subsidiary, the broadband provider iiNet

Australia’s TPG has become the latest telco to suffer a major cybersecurity breach this weekend, with data having been exfiltrated from its ISP subsidiary, iiNet.

The breach occurred on August 16, where reports suggest it was quickly detected and contained. Nonetheless, the attack reportedly compromised around 280,000 active email addresses; 20,000 active landline phone numbers; 10,000 iiNet customer names, street addresses, and phone numbers; and 1,700 modem setup passwords.

“We unreservedly apologise to our iiNet customers impacted by this incident,” TPG said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange. “We will be taking immediate steps to contact impacted iiNet customers, advise of any actions they should take and offer our assistance. We will also contact all non-impacted iiNet customers to confirm they have not been affected.”

No sensitive customer information, like bank details or personal identity documents, was impacted by the breach, as this data was not stored in the iiNet order management system.

“We do not currently have any evidence to suggest an impact to our broader systems or other customers,” TPG said.

TPG says it is working closely with the Australian Cyber Security Centre, National Office of Cyber Security, Australian Signals Directorate, and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner to better understand the breach and take appropriate action.

Investigations into how the attackers gained access to these systems are underway, with early indications suggesting that account credentials had been stolen from an employee.

The first half of this decade has not been kind to TPG when it comes to cybersecurity. The company’s Hosted Exchange service, which provides email hosting for iiNet and Westnet business customers, was notably hacked at the end of 2022, impacting around 15,000 business customers. The attackers appeared to be accessing customers’ cryptocurrency and financial information.

Investigations into this attack are still ongoing.

Both attacks combined, however, still pale in comparison to that experienced by TPG’s rival Optus in 2022, when bad actors gained access to the data of up to 10 million of the company’s current and former customers. Illegally obtained information included customers’ names, dates of birth, home addresses, and more.

While a ransom of $1.5 million was initially demanded for the return of the data, the attacker ultimately backed down, allegedly deleting the stolen data due to the unwanted attention it garnered from law enforcement.

Keep up with all the latest telecoms news with the Total Telecom newsletter

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News

The operators had a duty to ensure customer data was not misused by third parties, the judges reiterated

This week, the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has sided with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), upholding a fine against T-Mobile for illegally selling customer location information (CLI).

The ruling relates to an FCC decision last year, which saw the regulator issue fines totalling almost $200 million to T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon for sharing customer data to ‘aggregators’ without prior consent. These data aggregators, such a LocationSmart and Zumigo, then resold or syndicated this data to third parties.

At the time, the FCC summarised its findings by saying the carriers had failed to take “reasonable measures” to protect their customers’ data from unauthorised use.

“The FCC Enforcement Bureau investigations of the four carriers found that each carrier sold access to its customers’ location information to “aggregators,” who then resold access to such information to third-party location-based service providers,” explained the FCC in its findings. “In doing so, each carrier attempted to offload its obligations to obtain customer consent onto downstream recipients of location information, which in many instances meant that no valid customer consent was obtained. This initial failure was compounded when, after becoming aware that their safeguards were ineffective, the carriers continued to sell access to location information without taking reasonable measures to protect it from unauthorized access.”

The regulator was first made aware that the mobile network operators were sharing location data to these aggregators in 2018. Fines were first proposed in 2020, but disagreements within the Commission led to delays in their implementation until 2024.

T-Mobile faced the lion’s share of the fines, with the FCC ordering it to pay roughly $80 million, plus a further $12 million on behalf of Sprint, with whom they merged in 2020. AT&T and Verizon were fined $57 million and $47 million, respectively.

All three of the operators have contested the ruling, arguing that the sales did not break the law and that the FCC did not have the authority to impose such penalties. AT&T’s fine was ultimately overturned in April, in part due to the process denying the operator the option of a jury trial.

T-Mobile’s appeal, however, has been less fruitful, with court judges rejecting the company’s calls to overturn or reduce the fines.

“[T-Mobile and Sprint] argue that the undisputed facts do not amount to a violation of the law,” U.S. District Court Judge Florence Pan  wrote in the court’s opinion. “The carriers also argue that the commission misinterpreted the Communications Act, miscalculated the penalties and violated the Seventh Amendment by not affording them a jury trial. Because the carriers’ arguments lack merit, we deny the petitions for review.”

In addition, the judges claimed that the operators continued to sell CLI, even after becoming aware of its misuse.

“Several bad actors abused Sprint and T-Mobile’s programs to illicitly access CLI without the customers’ knowledge, let alone consent. And even after Sprint and T-Mobile became aware of those abuses, they continued to sell CLI for some time without adopting new safeguards,” said the judges in their ruling.

T-Mobile has not yet indicated whether it will continue to appeal the decision.

With AT&T’s fine overturned and T-Mobile’s now upheld, eyes will now turn to Verizon, which is currently contesting its $47 million fine in a separate court.

Keep up with all the latest telecoms news with the Total Telecom newsletter

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Press Release

Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), the world’s digital infrastructure company^®, announced it is working with leading energy companies that are developing innovative approaches to generating reliable and sustainable electricity to support the needs of Equinix data centers worldwide. This is part of Equinix’s diversified portfolio power strategy to help mitigate potential power constraints in the future, by expanding traditional power arrangements with utilities and combining new on-site power generation technologies and exploring next generation nuclear energy. These agreements reflect Equinix’s focus to support the scale, efficiency and resiliency customers need through a comprehensive approach to power.

According to a report from the International Energy Agency, the world’s electricity consumption is projected to grow 4% annually through 2027, marking the fastest pace in recent years. This surge is driven by a perfect storm of factors: unprecedented electrification, data center expansion driven by artificial intelligence, and a resurgence in industrial manufacturing. This rising demand can put a strain on utility providers to generate enough power and is already putting pressure on aging electrical grids to distribute it. To help meet demand and support continued growth, the world’s energy grid will require new sources of electricity.

Equinix is taking a diversified portfolio approach to the global energy challenge by tapping into innovative power technologies and working directly with utilities to strengthen the grid. As of today, Equinix is funding and supporting advanced transmission system upgrades with utility partners, including new substations that will enhance grid reliability and emergency backup solutions that aim to benefit all ratepayers during power interruptions. Equinix is also investing in power solutions such as fuel cells and natural gas that are expected to enhance operations while adding capacity resources to the grids where it operates. Looking ahead, the company is supporting the development of advanced nuclear technologies that can deliver reliable, clean power in the future.

“Access to round-the-clock electricity is critical to support the infrastructure that powers everything from AI-driven drug discovery to cloud-based video streaming,” said Raouf Abdel, Executive Vice President of Global Operations at Equinix. “As energy demand increases, we believe we have an opportunity and responsibility to support the development of reliable, sustainable, scalable energy infrastructure that can support our collective future. By working with our energy partners, we believe we can support the energy needs of our customers and communities around the world by helping to strengthen the grid and investing in new energy sources.”

Next generation nuclear technologies can offer a pathway to faster nuclear deployments due to their simplified design and robust safety features. Equinix sees safe, efficient and reliable nuclear energy as a promising solution to help power both data centers and the broader grid. The company is working with:

• Oklo: In 2024, Equinix became the first data center operator to sign an agreement with a small modular reactor (SMR) company. Equinix signed an agreement to procure 500MW of energy from Oklo’s next-generation fission Aurora powerhouses. Oklo’s fast reactors incorporate inherent safety features and can be fueled by nuclear waste.
• Radiant: Today Equinix announced a preorder agreement for the purchase of 20 of Radiant’s Kaleidos microreactors. Kaleidos offers a reliable, long-lasting energy source that can be transported anywhere it’s needed, installed in days, and deployed safely alongside existing equipment and integrated with on-site transmission infrastructure.
• ULC-Energy with Rolls-Royce SMR: Equinix today announced it has signed a Letter of Intent with ULC-Energy for a PPA up to 250 MWe to power data centers in the Netherlands. ULC-Energy is an Amsterdam based nuclear project developer that in 2022 selected Rolls-Royce SMR as its preferred technology solution for deployment of SMRs in the Netherlands. Rolls-Royce SMR is developing a 470 MWe light water small modular reactor. In June, Rolls-Royce SMR was selected as the preferred bidder to partner with Great British Energy – Nuclear to deploy the UK’s first small modular reactors.
• Stellaria: Equinix announced a pre-order power agreement for 500 MWe to expand data centers across Europe. Stellaria, incubated by Schneider-Electric, and the CEA (French Atomic Energy Agency), offers the very first molten salt Breed & Burn reactor in the world. It will breed 100% of its liquid fissile fuel inside the reactor without refueling, while recycling spent fuels and burning long life waste.

Advanced fuel cells are another technology that can be used for scalable, efficient and cleaner onsite energy. Equinix has been using fuel cells for more than 10 years in collaboration with:

• Bloom Energy: Equinix has an agreement to expand its deployment of solid-oxide fuel cells to more than 100MW at over 19 data centers in six states to provide onsite power generation. Fuel cells are highly efficient and enable Equinix to avoid 285,000 MTCO2e emissions and 382 billion gallons of embedded water use.

“The potential challenges to powering reliable and sustainable digital infrastructure are considerable,” said Ali Ruckteschler, Senior Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer at Equinix. “However, Equinix has always been at the forefront of energy innovation, signing the data center industry’s first agreement with a SMR provider and pioneering the use of fuel cells a decade ago. Powering AI infrastructure responsibly is a global priority. With Equinix’s operational expertise, trusted supply chain, and close partnerships with the U.S. and global governments and utilities, we are poised to deliver safe, secure and reliable AI solutions for our customers and the communities we serve.”

Equinix is committed to being part of the creative and sustainable solutions that help address the world’s growing energy needs. As data centers continue to provide the crucial infrastructure powering AI and the global economy, it is essential to develop and deploy the energy infrastructure required to power them. The company remains committed to sourcing 100% clean and renewable energy across its global portfolio by 2030 and has already achieved 96% renewable energy coverage globally, with 250 sites operating with 100% renewable energy coverage in 2024.

Equinix also designs highly efficient data centers aimed at optimizing energy use. Since 2022, the company has phased in the adoption of industry best practice ASHRAE A1 Allowable (A1A) standards at new sites worldwide. This enables the flexibility of wider operating temperature ranges, which can optimize energy used for cooling without compromising performance. In 2023, Equinix announced plans to expand support for highly efficient advanced liquid cooling technologies—like direct-to-chip—to over 100 data centers across 45 metros around the world.

News

Geopolitical instability across the globe is seeing European spending on defence technology surge

According to a report from Bloomberg, Deutsche Telekom and Porsche Automobil Holding SE are discussing the formation of a new venture capital fund aimed at investing in defence technology.

Anonymous sources say the companies are looking to raise €500 million, though the size and composition of the fund have yet to be confirmed.

The fund will reportedly be run by DTCP, an investment unit of Deutsche Telekom created back in 2015. Then known Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners, DTCP replaced the company’s older venture capital unit T-Venture, investing in various tech companies over the past decade. According to reports, the unit has “backed over 60 digital transformation companies in Europe, Israel and North America”, as of last year.

DTCP already has a preexisting relationship with Porsche, having co-created a $120 million fund called Incharge Capital, aimed at funding mobility and connectivity software startups, in summer last year.

For both Porsche and Deutsche Telekom, the creation of this found represents a growing desire to capitalise on the global political instability that is driving the European defence sector towards rapid growth. In a press release from Porsche, the company said the move would help it grow more diversified, seeing “considerable development potential in the defense and security sector”.

“On our way to becoming a diversified investment platform, we are closely monitoring the areas of defense capability, security and European resilience. With regard to portfolio investments, our aim is to increase our involvement in the defense and defense-related sectors while maintaining our core focus on mobility and industrial technology,” explained Hans Dieter Pötsch, chairman of the board of management of Porsche SE.

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News

Two pilot projects will see Openreach’s fibre network turn into real-time leak detection grid

The UK’s largest fibre network operator, Openreach, has announced a pair of trials with water companies and tech partners, aiming to use their network to quickly identify costly leaks.

In the first trial, in partnership with Arcadis, Thames Water, and Cadent, Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) technology from FiberSense will be used to pinpoint leaks in both water and gas pipes.

The DAS technology works by measuring the impact of nearby acoustic vibrations on the fibre optic cable’s signal quality. This data is then analysed using machine learning to exclude expected acoustic interference (such as that caused by a car traveling overhead) and identify genuine anomalies like leaks or blockages in nearby pipes.

This technique gives utility companies specific location data about network issues and functions largely as an early warning system, allowing them to tackle problems in a less disruptive manner, before they become emergencies.

According to Cadent, unplanned engineering work to repair these issues costs the UK roughly “£750m every year in terms of economic and social impact”.

The initial trial is running for six months in Hounslow, London, with the potential to expand the project into a London-wide pilot in future.

“Openreach were the obvious choice of telecoms partner for this project. We want to create a model that can be adopted in other UK cities, not just in London. Openreach have the national reach we wanted,” said Sam Bright, Innovation Manager for Thames Water.

FiberSense’s technology is already being used in similar projects worldwide, most notably for monitoring submarine cables such as the upcoming SMAP cable in Australia and the Southern Cross Cable Network in the Pacific.

Openreach’s second, similar project will see the operator partner with Affinity Water, who supplies drinking water to parts of London, eastern and south eastern England, and infrastructure monitoring company Lightsonic. This trial will use Lightsonic’s Distributed Fibre Optic Sensing (DFOS) tech to identify leaks, also through acoustic sensing and subsequent analysis.

The details surrounding this project were more limited, with the location and scope of the trial not yet announced. Nonetheless, it should hopefully contribute to reducing the roughly 3 billion litres of water lot through leakage in the UK each year.

“This is a transformative moment for our leakage strategy. By harnessing Lightsonic’s advanced fibre optic sensing technology and Openreach’s extensive network, we’re unlocking a new era of proactive leak detection,” said James Curtis, Head of Leakage at Affinity Water. “This will help us meet our ambitious leakage reduction targets and deliver a more resilient service to our customers.”

Fibre networks are not the only telco assets that can help to monitor utility infrastructure. In Germany, for example, T-Mobile recently announced a new partnership with Fluid Conservation Systems, using their mobile network to connect to the latter’s acoustic water monitoring sensors.

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Press Release

Zen Internet and Sky Business Wholesale have announced a strategic partnership that will see Zen’s partners and direct business customers gain access to Sky’s Ethernet-enabled exchange footprint.

Spanning over 2,800 exchanges, with more than 80 per cent enabled for 10 Gb services, the collaboration marks a significant step forward for Zen in delivering high-performance, scalable connectivity solutions to businesses across the UK.

The partnership lays the foundation for a long-term strategic relationship, with growth and innovation at its core. By aligning API strategies and automation capabilities, both organisations aim to accelerate quoting, ordering, and service delivery bringing greater speed and efficiency to its partners and direct business customers.

The partnership further strengthens Zen’s partner portal, ‘The Fibre Hub’, after its launch in May. The Fibre Hub already offers access to a full fibre (FTTP) footprint of nearly 20 million premises via infrastructure providers Openreach, CityFibre, ITS and Freedom Fibre, with Trooli products coming soon.

Zen will now also provide its channel partners and direct business customers access to Sky Business Wholesale’s Ethernet-enabled exchange footprint and 10 GB Ethernet services. This builds on Zen’s offering of Ethernet over FTTP and business-grade connectivity products from CityFibre and ITS.

David Barber, Strategy Director at Zen Internet, said:

“Sky’s network reach is a strong strategic fit for Zen. This partnership expands choice and flexibility for our channel and UK businesses we serve directly, enabling us and the channel to compete more effectively on price, coverage and service. It is another significant step in bringing genuine infrastructure competition to the UK market.

“As we continue to build relationships with more key network providers, we’re on track to offer the widest geographic reach and the best commercial advantage for the channel and for direct business customers.”

Damian Saunders, Managing Director at Sky Business Wholesale, added:

“We’re excited to partner with Zen, a business that shares our focus on innovation and customer choice. This is just the beginning of a broader collaboration that will bring real value and better outcomes for the channel and business customers alike.”

The move is in line with Zen’s ambitions to bringing better value connectivity to UK businesses while also offering greater choice to Partners through The Fibre Hub.

How is the UK connectivity ecosystem changing in 2025? Join the discussion at Connected Britain, the UK’s largest digital economy event

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News

The planned listing on the Nasdaq would make the operator the first Ukrainian company to be floated on an American stock exchange

This week, the shareholders of US-based special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Cohen Circle Acquisition Corp have approved the merger with Ukrainian telco Kyivstar.

The merger, first agreed in March this year, will see the creation of a $2.2 billion company that is expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker ‘KYIV’ as early as Friday.

Kyivstar’s parent company VEON has been looking to list the Ukrainian operator on the Nasdaq since late last year, with the merger with Cohen Circle helping to alleviate some of the most challenging parts of the process.

According to VEON’s CEO Kaan Terzioglu, the listing of Kyivstar – Ukraine’s largest telco and key player in the country’s reconstruction – “will be appealing to international investors”.

“Kyivstar Group’s listing on Nasdaq will be a landmark development, bringing a Ukrainian company with a market-leading position in telecommunications and digital services to the world’s premiere listing venue for technology companies,” said Terzioglu upon filing a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in June. With today’s filing, we continue to advance towards this historic moment, which we believe presents U.S. and global investors with a compelling opportunity to invest in Ukraine and become a stakeholder in its economic growth and resilience through a robust Ukrainian company.”

He has since called the listing “the people’s IPO”, claiming strong support from US authorities, Ukraine, and the European Union.

Earlier this week, sources speaking to Reuters said that Kyivstar expects to raise between $50 million and $200 million from the initial public offering, with VEON retaining a minimum of 80% of the company’s shares.

Kyivstar has been diversifying considerably in recent years, moving to capture new revenue streams in healthcare, ride-hailing, entertainment, and more. The shift is backed by a $1 billion investment plan, which aims to grow the company’s non-telco revenue to more than 50% of the company’s business by 2030.

In other related news, Kyivstar has this week reported the successful completion of its first direct-to-device testing with satellite giant Starlink. The operator says the successful test is a first for Eastern Europe, with messaging services over the satellite constellation expected to launch commercially later this year.

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