Nokia announced on Wednesday that it has been selected by Thai telecoms and digital infrastructure provider Symphony Communication to upgrade the optical equipment of the Malaysia-Cambodia-Thailand (MCT) subsea cable system.

The project will see MCT’s legacy optical gear replaced with Nokia’s Submarine Line Terminal Equipment (SLTE), powered by its sixth-generation Photonic Service Engines (PSE-6) coherent optics. The resulting upgrade will enable up to 30 Tbps of capacity per fiber pair, three times that of legacy systems, delivering low-latency connectivity between Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.

Nokia’s Thailand country manager Ajay Sharma said the upgrade enables MCT to support real-time use cases such as AI inference, cloud bursting and mission-critical enterprise applications, as well as reduce its carbon footprint by lowering network power consumption by 60%.

“This upgrade will help deliver advanced, trusted connectivity across Southeast Asia and support Thailand’s ambition to become a regional hub for AI and cloud-driven digital services,” Sharma said in a statement.

The 1,300-km MCT cable – which began operatons in 2017 with an initial capacity of 1.5 Tbps – lands in Sihanoukville in Cambodia, Cherating in Malaysia and Rayong in Thailand. Along with Symphony, MCT is co-owned by Telcotech (a subsidiary of Cambodia’s Ezecom) and Telekom Malaysia.

MCT is the only subsea system landing in Rayong, which sits in Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor (ECC), the country’s main hub for AI-driven data centre investment. Symphony CEO Alex Loh said that Thailand’s emergence as a regional digital infrastructure hub is attracting several global hyperscalers seeking trusted, high-capacity connectivity routes in Southeast Asia.

“With Nokia’s submarine network solution, we will deliver unmatched capacity and reliability and become the connectivity partner of choice for hyperscalers and enterprises, building next-generation digital infrastructure hub in Southeast Asia,” he said.

Four bits of US network infrastructure new: a major wavelength deployment, some new backbone PoPs, and dueling FTTx rollouts in the southwest: … [visit site to read more]

News

The operator has partnered with the tower giant to extend its mobile coverage across the busy train line

This week, O2 has sign a new agreement with tower operator Cellnex to join the Brighton Main Line (BML) connectivity project.

The partnership will see O2 deploy mobile network equipment on Cellnex’s infrastructure along the BML, improving connectivity for thousands of passengers.

The BML connectivity project began in 2021, when Cellnex won a contract with Network Rail to deploy neutral host infrastructure across the 108km BML.

Cellnex subsequently deployed a wide range of neutral host infrastructure including: 130 km of high-capacity fibre; four Base Station Hotels to host mobile network operator equipment; 39 Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS) within tunnels and along trackside locations; a dedicated station DAS at London Bridge, London Victoria and Clapham Junction; and 16 macro sites along the railway route.

Mobile operators leveraging this infrastructure will be able to provide coverage across 99% of the 108km route, which serves over 300,000 rail passengers every weekday.

In addition to boosting mobile coverage, the infrastructure will also eventually support the Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRMCS), an international wireless standard that will deliver connectivity services for the railway operators themselves, including the management and interoperation of signalling.

In partnering with Cellnex, O2 joins its rival Three (now VodafoneThree), which signed up to the project in 2023.

“Regular railway passengers will understand the frustration of losing signal mid-conversation or spending whole journeys with buffering videos. With O2 now on board, many more passengers are going to notice the difference on one of the UK’s most important commuter routes,” said Steve Cray, Managing Director of Cellnex UK.

The timeline for the improvements to O2’s network was not specified, but Professor Robert Joyce, Director of Mobile Access Engineering at O2, said that coverage and capacity will be improved “in the coming months”.

How is connectivity for the UK’s critical infrastructure evolving? Join the discussions at Connected Britain 2026

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The regulatory architecture of the U.S. voice network is undergoing a structural renovation. On October 29, 2025, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted a sweeping multi-part item at its October Open Meeting, releasing a consolidated Ninth Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) and Public Notice.

While the headline goal remains the ongoing battle against illegal robocalls, … [visit site to read more]

Vietnamese state telco VNPT announced on Thursday it has signed a comprehensive agreement with PVcomBank to expand cooperation in the areas of digital finance, digital payments and digital transformation between now and 2030.

Under the agreement, VNPT and PVcomBank will jointly research and develop new products and services, and implement many of VNPT’s digital technology solutions in banking operations such as eKYC, biometric identification, digital signatures, electronic contracts, AI, cloud, data centre and information security solutions.

In a Facebook post, VNPT said the combination of its technological capabilities and PVcomBank’s experience in the finance and banking sector “is expected to bring smarter, more convenient, and safer transaction experiences to customers, while contributing to promoting cashless payments and the development of the digital economy in Vietnam.”

According to state news site Vietnam Plus, the two firms will also develop co-branded products, services and new distribution models on digital platforms, as well as explore ways to cooperate in “non-banking finance, investment and business development”.

Press Release

O2 has carried out a proof-of-concept trial using cutting-edge technology designed to improve phone calls for customers with hearing loss.

The operator partnered with cloud-native network software provider, Mavenir, to test the capability which works seamlessly in the background. Participants use their existing phone and number as usual, with the technology working to improve call clarity by tailoring the call audio to their individual hearing needs in real time.

Participants first completed a short, automated hearing test to identify how they perceive different sound frequencies. This generated a personalised hearing profile, securely linked to their mobile number, enabling the technology to adapt how speech is delivered during calls, so conversations are clearer and easier to follow.

Unlike device-based accessibility features or third-party apps, the optimisation took place within O2’s network, allowing participants to make and receive calls as normal while benefiting from clearer, more intelligible audio.

Following the trial, nearly 90% of participants reported improvements in call clarity, helping conversations feel easier to follow and leading to fewer misunderstandings. Participants also noted reduced listening effort and a more natural calling experience.

While still at an early stage, the proof-of-concept trial demonstrates how network-based technology could help improve accessibility and everyday communication for people with hearing loss.

Mary Higgins, who is profoundly deaf and took part in the trial, said: “I usually find phone calls tiring and stressful, even with hearing aids. Making a call without them is almost impossible. Using the technology was a completely different experience, as I could hear clearly without my hearing aids and didn’t need to keep asking people to repeat themselves.”

Jorge Ribeiro, Director of Core Networks, Virgin Media O2, said: “For many people with hearing loss, making a phone call can be a difficult and frustrating experience. This trial is about using the intelligence within our network to improve that experience without asking customers to do anything differently. We are encouraged by the early results from this proof-of-concept and are excited to explore how this type of technology could support more accessible services for our customers in future.”

Brandon Larson, SVP & General Manager, Cloud, AI & IMS Business Strategy, Mavenir, said: “Core networks are a powerful platform for innovation of services and delivering new value to customers. Our partnership with Virgin Media O2 in improving the call experience for their customers with hearing loss is a great example of that”.

ow is AI supercharging the UK’s digital economy? Join the discussions at Connected Britain 2026

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The Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) has said it has surpassed 241,000 active .ng domain names, less than a quarter of the one million active-domain target that NiRA set in 2019 for achievement by 2024.

The figure does, however, mark a recovery in registrations since  2022, when the number of active .ng domains fell to 179,420. Over the last 12 months, the association recorded 98,285 new registrations, 71,470 renewals and 1,970 restored domains.

However, as NIRA President Akinsola Adesanya pointed out earlier this week during an internet governance forum, Nigeria’s domain name penetration remains significantly below its potential despite more than two decades of managing the .ng registry.

Indeed, as the Ecofin news agency points out, for a country of an estimated 242 million people, 241,000 active .ng domains is a fairly modest total.

South Africa, by contrast, has about 1.4 million active country-code domains, while Kenya, with less than a quarter of the population of Nigeria, has 115,000 active domains. 

However, low domain name adoption has thrown up other problems, according to local news resource Punch, which reports that Nigeria is losing an estimated US$850 million annually due to weak adoption of its national digital identity infrastructure.

At the third edition of NiRA’s Tech Convergence conference, held in Abuja in early June, speakers warned that Nigeria’s continued reliance on foreign domains, offshore hosting and non-indigenous digital platforms is not only exporting revenue but also weakening jurisdictional control over citizens’ data and, one assumes, undermining data sovereignty.

NiRA backed this up, saying the losses stem from Nigeria’s limited use of local digital infrastructure, including domain registration, data hosting and digital services, which instead route economic value to foreign jurisdictions.

The association said expanding adoption of .ng could help retain revenue, improve data security, reduce latency and stimulate domestic cloud and digital infrastructure industries. NiRA has in fact set a new objective of achieving annual growth of 30%.

How this will happen is still not clear. Stakeholders at the conference called for policy reforms to deepen local digital adoption, including proposals to mandate .ng domains for businesses and integrate them into national education and public service systems.

Beyond registration growth, NiRA has implemented Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC), a technology designed to improve the security, authenticity and resilience of domain-name services.

NiRA is also modernising its internal systems and revising its governing framework to align its operations with international standards. These measures aim to improve trust in the .ng ecosystem while creating a stronger foundation for future growth.

There are also plans for a new .ng Ambassador Programme aimed at driving awareness and adoption of Nigeria’s national domain across government, industry and academia.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has signed a global partnership with AI company Anthropic to help enterprises deploy generative AI at scale, with a particular focus on highly regulated industries.

As part of the deal, TCS will establish a dedicated business unit focused on developing industry-specific solutions and services based on Anthropic’s Claude family of AI models. The partnership will target sectors including financial services, healthcare, life sciences, telecoms, aviation and public services.

TCS said the partnership is aimed at helping enterprises move AI projects beyond the pilot stage, particularly in industries where strict requirements around accuracy, governance and regulatory compliance have slowed adoption.

The Indian IT giant will also deploy Claude internally, providing access to 50,000 employees across engineering, finance, legal, marketing and sales functions. The company said the experience gained from its own AI transformation will be used to support customer deployments.

Beyond enterprise services, the partnership will extend to several TCS platforms and business units. TCS iON, which conducts more than 75 million assessments annually across India, will introduce training and certification programmes focused on Claude AI models.

The companies also plan to develop AI solutions for domain-specific workflows, software development, IT operations, customer experience and business modernisation projects.

TCS CEO K Krithivasan said the partnership combines Anthropic’s AI capabilities with TCS’ industry expertise and large-scale implementation experience to help enterprises deploy AI in production environments rather than limited pilot projects.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said the agreement strengthens the company’s presence in India, its second-largest market, while expanding access to Claude across global enterprises.

KKR, Nvidia, the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) and power company Vistra have launched Helix Digital Infrastructure, a new company backed by more than US$10 billion in capital to build AI infrastructure for hyperscalers.

The company aims to simplify the deployment of AI infrastructure by acting as a single provider for data centres, power generation, connectivity and related infrastructure. Helix will target growing demand from hyperscalers as AI workloads drive a surge in investment across digital infrastructure.

Former Amazon Web Services CEO Adam Selipsky will lead Helix as CEO, while KKR’s Global Head of Digital Infrastructure, Waldemar Szlezak, will serve as chief investment officer.

The company plans to invest across hyperscale data centres, power generation, transmission infrastructure and fibre networks. Nvidia will act as a strategic technology partner, supporting deployments based on its AI factory architecture, while Vistra will serve as Helix’s preferred power supplier.

The launch comes as AI is driving what KKR described as one of the largest infrastructure buildouts in history, with demand for data centres and electricity increasing rapidly. Industry estimates suggest trillions of dollars will be required over the next decade to support AI-related infrastructure globally.

Helix said it will provide hyperscalers with a more integrated approach to infrastructure deployment, reducing the complexity of coordinating multiple suppliers across power, connectivity and data centre construction.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said demand for AI infrastructure continues to accelerate as cloud providers race to expand AI capacity.

The company is backed by KKR’s infrastructure platform, which manages more than US$100 billion in infrastructure assets globally. Following the initial funding round, Helix said it is open to additional institutional investors.