News

The move seeks to capitalise on Southeast Asia’s booming date centre market

This week, media reports suggest that a consortium led by KKR and Singtel is closing in on a deal to acquire ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC).

Negotiations, which are already at an “advanced stage”, would value the data centre business at around $10.22 billion.

“Singtel, as part of a consortium, continues to have discussions in relation to STT GDC. While these discussions are at an advanced stage, there is no certainty that such discussions will lead to any definitive or binding agreement,” said Singtel in a statement on Sunday.

STT GDC owns and operates around 100 data centres in over 20 markets, including Singapore, Malaysia, India, Germany, Italy, and the UK, according to the company website

Rumours that KKR and Singtel were in discussions to acquire STT GDC were first reported in July last year.

Both companies already hold stakes in the business, having jointly invested  $1.3 billion in 2024, with KKR owning 14.1% and Singtel 4.2%. The remaining majority stake in STT GDC is held by ST Telemedia, itself owned by Singapore’s state-owned holding company Temasek.

For Singtel, the deal would represent the operator’s latest step in its drive to become a regional AI data centre powerhouse.

The company’s Digital InfraCo unit was rebranded as Nxera in 2024, with the company aiming to expand its data centre capacity in Southeast Asia to 200MW by the end of 2027 in partnership with Nvidia.

By combining Nxera’s existing and planned data centre assets in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia with those of STT GDC, Singtel would immediately become one of the region’s largest digital infrastructure players.

KKR, on the other hand, already owns roughly 155 facilities with a pipeline of 12-gigawatts of capacity. The company has been on a spending spree in recent years to grow this capacity even further, most recently including a $1.5 billion investment in Global Technical Realty, a company specialising in building bespoke facilities for hyperscalers like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google.

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News

Starlink, a subsidiary of SpaceX, is trying to change the government’s broadband playbook, a new leaked document reportedly reveals.

By Brad Randall, Broadband Communities

States are being sent riders from Starlink that list caveats to the service the company will eventually give to broadband serviceable locations (BSLs) under government’s massive broadband push, known as the BEAD program.

The revelation comes after several “concerned states” reached out to broadband.io, according to Doug Adams, an admin for the website.

Adams said the riders, which he posted a copy of online, were marked as confidential.

His post describes the brewing conflict the riders signal, which also demand that Starlink be paid 50% upfront.

“Even though the rider insists that Starlink is paid 50% upfront, Starlink isn’t required to increase capacity before it is requested by BSLs,” Adams wrote. “This flies in the face of the NTIA’s June 6 guidance”

In his post, Adams also said multiple contacts at state broadband offices told him NTIA was urging states not to sign the riders.

His analysis of the rider continued.

“Starlink is asking to be paid (in arrears) for BSLs already subscribed and if at any point in time, a BSL tried service but cancelled, Starlink still wants these locations to be considered ‘served’.”

SpaceX, which operates Starlink as a wholly owned subsidiary, has thus far been granted more than any satellite provider in the program, according to Connected Nation’s BEAD tracker.

As has been previously reported, revised guidance to BEAD last year ordered bureaucrats to find more cost-efficient means of delivering broadband. As a result, the attractiveness of low-Earth orbit satellite connectivity has boosted for states seeking cheaper alternatives to fiber.

Of proposals analyzed by Connected Nation so far, Starlink has thus far been awarded over $733 million.

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Rome/Valencia, 30 January 2026

Sparkle, the first international service provider in Italy and among the top global operators, and Valencia Digital Port Connect (VDPC), the Spanish telecommunications infrastructure company developing the Barracuda submarine cable project in collaboration with private equity firm Teset Capital, announce a strategic agreement to land the Barracuda submarine cable at Sparkle’s Genoa Landing Platform.

The Barracuda project will establish the first direct high-capacity, low-latency submarine route between Spain and Italy, creating a 1,070 km digital bridge between Valencia and Genoa. Designed with an “open cable system” architecture, Barracuda will feature 12 fibre pairs, each with a capacity of 32 Tbps (Terabits per second). The project has an estimated total investment of €100 million and is scheduled to be completed in three years, with operations expected to begin in 2028.

Under the agreement, Barracuda will land at Sparkle’s Genoa Landing Platform, a scalable infrastructure designed to offer a turnkey, highly resilient and secure submarine cable landing on the Western European coastline. Through this infrastructure, the cable will reach Sparkle’s Genoa Digital Hub in Lagaccio, an open and neutral colocation facility and interconnection point with other submarine cables and European terrestrial networks as well as Internet Exchange Points already present in the facility. By landing in Genoa, VDPC will gain immediate access to major European hubs, avoiding the cost, time and administrative complexity of deploying a proprietary landing infrastructure.

As part of the broader agreement, Sparkle will also acquire infrastructure assets on the Barracuda submarine cable system between Valencia and Genoa and colocation in Valencia Cable Landing Station, a fully neutral, scalable infrastructure designed for Barracuda and up to three additional submarine cable systems. This additional capability will strengthen Sparkle’s connectivity in the Iberian Peninsula, serving the local as well as the growing West African market, thus further reinforcing its strategic footprint in the Mediterranean region.

“This agreement represents an important step in our strategy to position Genoa as a key gateway to Europe,” said Enrico Bagnasco, CEO of Sparkle. “The landing of Barracuda will strengthen and expand the city’s digital ecosystem, while the additional capacity on the system allows us to further expand our resilient, high-performance Mediterranean network and better serve international connectivity demand”.

Enrique Martín, CEO at Valencia Digital Port Connect said “This agreement with Sparkle marks a key milestone in the Barracuda project and confirms that we are advancing in line with our strategic roadmap. Securing Genoa as our landing point and welcoming Sparkle as a long-term customer reinforces Barracuda and Valencia Cable Landing Station as strategic assets for international partners confirming the credibility of. our ambition to have the system fully operational by 2028”.

About Sparkle

Sparkle is TIM Group’s Global Operator, first international service provider in Italy and among the top worldwide, offering a full range of infrastructure and global connectivity services – capacity, IP, SD-WAN, colocation, IoT connectivity, roaming and voice – to national and international Carriers, OTTs, ISPs, Media/Content Providers, and multinational enterprises. A major player in the submarine cable industry, Sparkle owns and manages a network of more than 600,000 km of fiber spanning from Europe to Africa and the Middle East, the Americas and Asia. Its sales force is active worldwide and distributed over 32 countries.

Find out more about Sparkle following its X and LinkedIn profiles or visiting the website tisparkle.com

About Valencia Digital Port Connect, S.L.

VDPC is a Spanish telecommunications infrastructure company headquartered in Alicante. Its mission is to establish a next-generation, neutral, and sustainable international connectivity hub in the Valencian Community through the deployment of advanced colocation infrastructure, terrestrial interconnection networks, and submarine connectivity solutions. VDPC is leading the development of the Barracuda submarine cable connecting Valencia with Genoa, including a data center and neutral cable landing station on the Valencian coast. The team is composed of seasoned professionals with executive backgrounds in telecom multinationals, the industrial sector, and academia.

Find out more about VDPC following LinkedIn profiles or visiting the website valenciadigitalport.com 

Sparkle Media Contacts

sparkle.communication@tisparkle.com

X: @TISparkle

Valencia Digital Port Connect Media Contacts

Pablo de Santiago

34. +34.679.607.604
35. pablo@desantiago.com

News

The launch means all African nations on the Mediterranean have now launched 5G

This week, Libya’s second largest state-owned telco, Almadar Aljadid, has announced the launch of 5G in parts of the capital, Tripoli.

For now, the launch is limited to just central parts of the city, but citywide coverage – and, indeed, nationwide coverage – will take place in stages, according to the company.

The company said the launch represents a significant boost in service quality for customers, as well as noting the technology’s potential to support key industries like healthcare and education.

2025 was a remarkable year for North Africa’s mobile markets, with Tunisia launching 5G in February, Egypt in June, Morocco in November, and Algeria in December. Now, with Libya’s launch, the entire region has formally entered the 5G era.

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News

Despite efforts to expand capacity, semiconductor players are struggling to keep pace with demand

As the AI boom continues to gain momentum, two of the world’s leading chipmakers, SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, are warning that their expansion plans will not move fast enough to ease supply chain bottlenecks.

The companies, both which reported their latest financial results this week, said that the memory chip supply crisis would be unlikely to alleviate for the next two years despite their best efforts.

“We are planning a substantial increase in our capital expenditure in 2026 as AI-driven demand is likely to continue,” said Kim Jae-june, executive vice-president of Samsung’s memory business, as reported by the Financial Times. “But supply shortages are likely to worsen as capacity expansion is expected to be limited this year and next.”

SK Hynix has plans to invest 19 trillion won ($12.9bn) in the construction of a semiconductor packaging facility in Cheongju, while Samsung is investing 60 trillion won ($41.5 billion) in its P5 factory in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, which broke ground in November last year.

Both investments are driven by the surge in demand for High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), a crucial part of AI accelerators and data centre GPUs, as well as other memory chip technology; SK Hynix says it expects the HBM market to continue to grow significantly between 2025 and 2030, with projections indicating a compound annual growth rate of 33% until 2030.

However, the additional capacity being generated from these new facilities will take time to realise.

“Demand is growing sharply, but it takes time to expand capacity, so the mismatch in demand and supply is worsening, pushing chip prices higher,” added Song Hyun-jong, president of SK Hynix, in the same FT report.

The extent of the memory bottleneck is already being felt acutely across the world. The cost of dynamic random access memory (DRAM), for example, has skyrocketed since 2024, and is set to double again this year.

At the same time, the industry is also in the midst of a significant shift, moving from the current HBM3E technology to the more advanced HBM4. These next generation memory chips will offer higher data transfer speeds (exceeding 1 TBps per stack) and more than double the bandwidth of HBM3E, making them ideal for AI data centres.

SK Hynix is currently the global leader in this latest memory design, accounting for roughly 60% of the overall market, according to Macquarie Equity Research. Samsung, however, is expected to soon challenge this position, beginning production of its own HBM4 chips next month.

Needless to say, this memory bottleneck is making both SK Hynix and Samsung very rich.

SK Hynix reported a net profit of 97.15 trillion won ($67.9 billion), up 46.8% year-on-year, while Samsung saw profits rise to 45.21 trillion won ($31.6 billion, up 31.2% year-on-year.

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News

Government tax relief could open the door for Idea to find fresh funding

Vodafone Idea could finally be primed for ‘revival’ following the government’s adjusted gross revenue (AGR) relief, according to chairman of Aditya Birla Group, Kumar Mangalam Birla.

Aditya Birla Group currently owns a roughly 9.5% stake in Vodafone Idea.

“For the first time in years, the fog has cleared, allowing the business to look beyond survival and focus on sustainable growth,” wrote Birla in a recently published ‘Annual Reflections’ note.

“A healthy, competitive telecom industry is essential to India’s digital future. India deserves 3 private telecom players. India deserves a successful Vodafone Idea. And this is, once again, an idea whose time has come,” he added.

On December 31, 2025, the Indian government announced that it had frozen Vodafone Idea’s adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues at ₹87,695 crore (~$9.5 billion), following a ruling by the Supreme Court.

The decision means Idea must repay repay just ₹124 crore (~$135 million) per year for the next six years, with further repayments then staggered until 2042.

The government is also reviewing the total owed by Idea, suggesting it could yet be reduced.

The decision not only has huge implications for Idea’s long-term survival, but also for its immediate cash flow, removing a ₹16,400 crore (~$1.78 billion) payment previously due in March 2026.

Vodafone Idea has been struggling to compete under the weight of AGR repayments since they were first announced in 2019. At that time, revised taxes meant the players across the telecoms sector owed roughly a combined $11 billion combined, with Vodafone Idea’s debt the lion’s share.

India’s largest telco, Reliance Jio – then still a relative newcomer to the market – paid off its AGR dues quickly, leaving Idea and rival Bharti Airtel to begin a years-long saga to have the debt reassessed and deferred.

Airtel continued to grow in the years that followed, but Idea was essentially crippled, seeing revenue slide and a steady decline in subscribers as it struggled with cash flow. It also notably hindered the company’s 5G launch; Idea launched 5G in 2025, roughly three years after Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel.

Finally, last year, after years of Idea failing to find additional funding to pay its debts, the Indian government converted a portion of its debt into equity, becoming Vodafone Idea’s largest stakeholder.

Now, with long-term tax relief secured and the immediate liquidity crisis over, Idea may finally be able to seek fresh external investment and plot a path to sustainable growth.

Naturally, this is great news for Idea – and arguably the competitiveness of the Indian telecoms sector at large. However, Idea’s rivals, Bharti Airtel and Tata Group, are frustrated, arguing that they too should receive equitable debt relief from the government. They have even threatened not to pay the latest tranche of repayments.

Their please appear to be falling on deaf ears, however, with Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia saying the companies must first receive a directive from the Supreme Court and should not approach the government directly.

Airtel and Tata owe around ₹48,103 crore ($5.24 billion) and ₹19,259 crore ($2.1 billion), respectively, with repayments due in March.

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Intracom Telecom, a global technology systems and solutions provider, and Greece’s largest network infrastructure manufacturer, announces the expansion of its collaboration with Nova, a member of United Group the leading telecommunications and media provider in Southeast Europe and a pioneering provider of mobile, internet, and video services. Nova will begin deploying Intracom Telecom’s WiBAS™ G5 Smart and WiBAS™ G5 GigaConnect FWA platforms to deliver reliable high-speed enterprise connectivity over Nova’s 5G mmWave spectrum at 26.5–27.5 GHz.

This deployment marks an important step in Nova’s ongoing investment in high-speed access infrastructure, aimed at supplying business customers with highly reliable broadband services. Operating in the 26.5–27.5 GHz band, the WiBAS™ G5 platform enables Nova to unlock substantial network capacity and deliver consistent performance, ensuring robust connectivity even in demanding enterprise environments.

Since 2021, Intracom Telecom and Nova have been engaged in a multi-year network modernization program utilizing Intracom Telecom’s field-proven WiBAS™ Point-to-Multipoint (PMP) technology. This nationwide initiative has focused on expanding coverage and capacity across Greece’s major metropolitan areas, connecting thousands of business customers with next-generation wireless access solutions. The ongoing expansion reinforces Nova’s strategy to deliver resilient, ultra-fast connectivity to enterprises of all sizes.

“Our collaboration with Nova continues to grow stronger as we jointly build the foundation for a high-capacity enterprise connectivity network in Greece,” commented Ioannis Tenidis, Director for Wireless Product Line Management at Intracom Telecom. “The deployment of our WiBAS™ G5 platform will enable Nova to deliver unmatched performance and reliability to its business subscribers on valuable 5G mmWave spectrum.”

Thanos Theodoropoulos, Access & Transmission Senior Manager at Nova, added: “Intracom Telecom has been a trusted technology partner in our multi-year effort to modernize and expand our enterprise wireless services. The new WiBAS™ G5 solutions enable us to offer even higher speeds and resilient connectivity to our customers, supporting Greece’s digital transformation.”

News

According to a report from ISPreview, UK ISP Gigabit IQ has opened a crowdfunding round seeking £270,000 to accelerate its expansion.

The company carries a pre-money valuation of £5 million and is offering 5.12% equity to new investors, as seen on the campaign page.

At the time of writing, the company has aready seen £243,650 committed by 40 investors.

Gigabit IQ is a retail ISP combining full-fibre connectivity with safety and device-protection services, such as FamilyGuard+ and CyberGuard+.

The company says it has an addressable reach of 1.5 million homes via various wholesale partners, including Full Fibre and F&W Networks’ networks.

The company first announced it would seek to raise cash via crowdfunding in October last year, saying the strategy reflected their community-centre approach to broadband. At that time, the company was aiming to raise £500,000.

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Press Release

Open Cosmos, the company building satellites to understand and connect the world, has today launched the first satellites in its new proprietary low-Earth-orbit (LEO) telecom constellation, just one week after securing high-priority Ka-band spectrum.

The two satellites, launched by Rocket Lab from Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand on its Electron rocket for the mission named ‘The Cosmos Will See You Now’, represent the first activation phase of Open Cosmos’ future-ready satellite network – a programme designed to deliver scalable, resilient and coordinated space-based services for Europe and the world.

Lift-off took place as scheduled at 10:52 (GMT) / 11:52 (CET) / 23.52 local time (NZDT) on 22 January, ushering Open Cosmos from constellation design and manufacturing into on-orbit validation – sitting at 1050km circular Earth orbit.

Beyond the technical achievement, the launch serves as a powerful proof point for Open Cosmos’ constellation readiness. It confirms that the system design, manufacturing processes and operational model are flight-ready – laying the groundwork for the phased roll-out of the wider network in the months ahead.

Commenting on the launch, Rafel Jordà Siquier, Founder and CEO of Open Cosmos, said:
“This launch is a major milestone for Open Cosmos and a critical step in our mission to provide secure, sovereign connectivity for Europe and the world. Moving from spectrum to satellites in-orbit demonstrates not only the maturity of our system, but our ability to turn strategic ambition into operational capability extremely fast.

“These first satellites lay the groundwork for a resilient network designed to support governments, institutions and commercial partners with dependable space infrastructure when it matters most.”

The first two satellites are the result of a truly pan-European effort, with teams across the UK, Spain, Portugal and Greece contributing to the programme. Together, they showcase Open Cosmos’ vertically integrated approach – from mission design and satellite production to operations. The satellites will operate under Spain’s regulatory framework for satellite registration and operational licensing.

Rocket Lab Founder and CEO, Sir Peter Beck, said: “What a great way to start off the year, by welcoming a new customer and launching a mission tailored just for them. We’re proud to deliver their payload to orbit and with Rocket Lab’s proven track record of consistent quality and 100% mission success in recent years, I’m confident to say they made the right choice. Partnering with Open Cosmos is an exciting opportunity, and we look forward to supporting our European partners in achieving their launch goals.”

From spectrum to space
The launch follows Open Cosmos’ recent (14th January) award of scarce High-Priority Ka-band spectrum filings from the Principality of Liechtenstein, a critical enabler for the company’s constellation ambitions. With the satellites now in orbit, Open Cosmos can begin testing and validating the system performance in real operational conditions.

In orbit, the satellites will be used to:

• Test satellite operations and first testbed demonstrations
• Validate system developments across the wider future network
• Demonstrates proof-of-concept for Open Cosmos constellation readiness

Together, they form the foundation for a scalable, multi-satellite architecture designed to meet growing global demand for reliable space-based capabilities.

By combining in-house manufacturing, European engineering talent and access to strategically valuable spectrum, Open Cosmos is positioning itself as a new kind of constellation builder: agile, collaborative and focused on delivering practical, deployable space infrastructure providing secure connectivity and critical data.

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News

With the sale of its stake in True, Telenor is left with just two mobile businesses in Asia

This week, Norwegian telco giant Telenor has announced the sale of its 30.3% stake in Thailand’s True Corporation for NOK 39 billion ($3.9 billion).

The deal will see Telenor immediately offload a 24.95% stake to Arise Digital Technology, a holding company owned by Thai billionaire Khun Suphachai Chearavanont.

The remaining 5.35% stake is to be sold in two years’ time via a mutual put/call option, allowing Telenor to sell the shares at the original deal price or the prevailing market price, whichever is greater.

Telenor gained its stake in True via the merger of their local mobile operator DTAC (Total Access Communications) was merged with True Corporation in 2023.

Since then, Telenor has faced significant headwinds in key Asian markets, often leading to rapid divestments at considerable loss.

In 2022, the company wrote off its business in Myanmar following coup. One year later, rapid currency devaluation in Pakistan ravaged Telenor’s, leading to its sale.

Now, with the sale of their stake in True, Telenor has just two major telco businesses in Asia: Grameenphone, the largest company in Bangladesh, in which Telenor holds a majority stake (55.8%); and CelcomDigi in Malaysia, in which it holds a 33.1% stake.

Outside of Asia, Telenor operates major operators in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland.

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