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In a statement to the House of Commons, Minister Al Carns declared that the United Kingdom is committed to defending “every inch” of its territory, including its critical undersea networks and coastal security.

The comments came after the Russian spy ship Yantar entered UK waters earlier this week and was accused of shining lasers at military pilots. The vessel is being closely monitored by the Royal Navy, having previously been accused of attempting to map the UK’s submarine cable infrastructure,

The incident follows growing concerns about foreign interference and potential sabotage to the UK’s undersea infrastructure, which forms the backbone for the nation’s energy supplies and communications.

The parliamentary exchange was prompted by warnings from MP Nick Timothy, who outlined the escalating threats posed by Russia and China targeting subsea cables. Timothy highlighted disquieting reports suggesting Russian devices had allegedly been placed on offshore infrastructure to monitor British submarines. He went on to press the government as to why responsibility for the security of this infrastructure remains fragmented across different ministries.

Minister Carns acknowledged these past shortcomings in coordination but insisted that recent reforms had begun addressing these gaps. According to Carns, a recent review has established “very clear lines of accountability” for the security of submarine infrastructure.

The ongoing Strategic Defence Review also notably includes expanded capabilities dedicated to offshore security.

“Be in no doubt. We will defend every inch of this country and our territorial waters,” said Carns.

The security of submarine cable infrastructure has been thrust into the limelight in recent years by rising geopolitical tensions between East and West. In late 2024, cuts to cables in the Baltic Sea demonstrated the vulnerability of this critical infrastructure, as well as highlighting the threat posed by so-called ‘shadow fleets’ – state-run ships, often masquerading as commercial vessels, that are being used to evade trade sanctions and conduct surveillance and covert operations.

A report by the China Strategic Risks Institute (CSRI) examining 12 incidents between January 2021 and April 2025 found that most suspect vessels involved in undersea cable interference were linked to China or Russia.

Both Russia and China deny any involvement in state-sponsored subsea sabotage.

How is the submarine cable security landscape changing? Join our inaugural Subsea Security Summit in May 2026

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Contributed article

by Giles Rowbotham, General Counsel & CDO, nexfibre 

Our digital infrastructure has never been more critical to supporting our modern economy. Digital connectivity is our growth engine and bedrock: how students learn, companies scale, services are provided, and opportunities shared. In a competitive world, we need to be digital leaders, not laggards. 

In just a few years, a telecoms revolution has taken place in the UK, with millions more homes and businesses now able to access full fibre broadband. 

Since Ofcom’s last major review in 2021, the UK has come a long way. With full-fibre now available to over 80% of UK premises available, and gigabit connectivity to almost 89%,  the UK is on track to meet government targets of extending gigabit-capable broadband to 99% of premises by 2032. 

However, this progress cannot be taken for granted, as momentum can easily stall.  

The next phase of the UK’s fibre journey is not just about building that critical infrastructure; it’s about driving take-up and helping households and businesses benefit from a sustainable marketplace that offers them real choice, and with that, competitive prices. 

We’ve reached a fork in the road, and policymakers and regulators have a pivotal role to play in helping consumers access full-fibre broadband: build on the last decade’s momentum and secure a sustainable future for innovation, or a risk a return to a single-entity dominance? 

To ensure we get a better broadband network with investment, choice and innovation for the long-term, here are five steps policymakers need to take: 

Maintain regulation on BT Openreach, as the dominant operator: BT Openreach holds a dominant position in the fixed wholesale market, which means it must continue to be regulated to ensure other network providers have opportunity to compete and grow. Consistent regulation is essential to keep attracting the investment needed to continue rolling out full fibre broadband across the country. 

Keep a close eye on BT Openreach’s behaviour: Big players set the tone. Prices and the small print of their deals can quietly shut out challengers. Ofcom should scrutinise Openreach’s behaviour carefully. 

Make access to BT Openreach’s ducts and poles fair and transparent: Being able to use existing BT Openreach underground ducts and street poles keeps costs (and dig time) down. Rules should be long-term, fair and transparent. 

Progress the copper switch-off without creating disadvantage: The process for upgrading people from old copper lines to full fibre must be neutral and must not enable BT Openreach to recapture its dominance in copper into fibre. 

Be pragmatic about consolidation in the broadband market: There are currently too many fibre operators to be sustainable in the long-term. Ofcom, the CMA and other decision makers should support sensible consolidation to create a stronger and more stable broadband market. 

By addressing these five steps, the UK will get the broadband infrastructure it deserves. 

Whilst technical and regulatory frameworks can sometimes be complicated, the outcomes for households and businesses up and down the country are simple: long-term, sustainable competition equals better broadband at fairer prices. 

Full fibre infrastructure is the backbone of the UK’s digital ambitions, driving growth and innovation across every sector and region – and in turn an important enabler of a stronger, more inclusive economy. 

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Microsoft has unveiled Project Gecko, a research-driven initiative aimed at producing cheaper, localised generative AI systems for populations under‑represented in current models , starting with smallholder farmers in Kenya and India.

The project, led by Microsoft Research with contributions from Microsoft Research Africa in Nairobi, Microsoft Research India, the Microsoft Research Accelerator in the US and partners including agri‑tech NGO Digital Green, seeks to tackle the language, cultural and infrastructure barriers that limit AI uptake in low‑resource settings.

At the centre of the effort is the MultiModal Critical Thinking Agent (MMCTAgent), a multimodal system that ingests speech, images, and video to produce context‑rich, locally grounded answers. Microsoft says MMCTAgent can break complex queries into sub‑questions, verify its own outputs, and anchor responses in community‑generated practice captured in videos and transcripts.

The system is available on Azure AI Foundry Labs and its code has been published on GitHub.

Agriculture is Project Gecko’s first focus because of its economic weight in countries such as Kenya and India, where millions of smallholders work plots of under five acres. Microsoft and partners argue that existing AI tools often fail farmers because models are trained predominantly on English data, do not handle local dialects, and do not reflect region‑specific agronomic terms or practices. Farmers commonly rely on oral instruction and video demonstrations, both of which are channels that conventional text‑centric models struggle to exploit.

Project Gecko builds on Digital Green’s FarmerChat platform, which already serves millions of farmers and holds more than 10,000 agricultural videos in over 40 languages and dialects. Microsoft says Project Gecko enables a farmer in Nyeri County, for example, to ask a question verbally in Kikuyu and receive a text, audio, or video response, including a jump to the precise timestamp in a training clip. Field studies in Kenya and India reportedly show improved accuracy, usability and trust compared with generic AI systems.

A key technical strand of the work is creating speech infrastructure for under‑served languages. The team has collected roughly 3,000 hours of crowd‑sourced Kenyan speech and expanded support to Swahili, Kikuyu, Kalenjin, Dholuo, Maa, and Somali. To run on the low‑cost devices typical in rural areas, the project uses small language models (SLMs) and is preparing a public leaderboard to benchmark African language performance.

Microsoft plans to broaden Project Gecko beyond agriculture into healthcare, education, and retail, and will publish a multilingual playbook for developers.

While major challenges still remain for the project, including limited connectivity for the target consumers and sparse datasets for many languages, Project Gecko represents a significant attempt to bridge the rapidly growing digital divide.

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The move comes as part of long-term restructuring underway since 2023

According to reports, Nokia is set to close its site in Munich by 2030, a move that will see 700 jobs cut or relocated.

Around 300 of these jobs are to be cut in 2026, with the remainder taking place by the end of 2030.

The closure is part of Nokia’s major restructuring announced back in 2023, aimed at streamlining the company and reducing costs. Part of this plan is a reduction of the company’s workforce by between 9,000 and 14,000 jobs cut by the end of 2026. This, the company said, will help it cut costs by between €800 million and €1.2 billion. Around €400 million of these savings were planned to be reached in 2024, and a further €300 million in 2025.

Nokia currently employs 2,500 people across Germany, including its additional sites in Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, Ulm, and Nuremberg. All these sites, Nokia says, will be affected by the nationwide headcount reduction in 2026, but will not be closed.

“This will strengthen our capacity for long-term growth and customer loyalty, while ensuring that our teams have the framework conditions necessary for their success,” said the company in a statement.

The trade union IG Metall, however, has described the decision to close the Munich site as ‘disastrous’.

“Especially in times of geopolitical challenges, it is a fatal signal when a key company scales back its presence in Germany,” said Daniele Frijia, managing director of IG Metall Munich and member of Nokia’s German supervisory board, speaking to heise online.

“Instead of cutting jobs, Nokia should invest in the future,” she added.

But it is not all doom and gloom for Munich’s relationship with tech giants.

Earlier this month, Deutsche Telekom announced a deal with Nvidia to build a new ‘AI factory’ in Munich, seeking to meet not only Europe’s demand for AI computing but also its desire for data sovereignty. Similarly, AI company Anthropic has shown interest in the city, announcing plans to open a new office in Munich, alongside another in Paris.

It would appear that Munich’s position as a European tech hub is not at risk just yet.

Connected Germany 2025 is taking place right now! Get your ticket here

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Amazon Leo will face fierce competition from SpaceX’s Starlink, which has a considerable headstart, both in terms of satellites launched and commercial partnerships

With Amazon inching ever closer to its commercial satellite service launch, the company has this week rebranded its satellite initiative from Project Kuiper to Amazon Leo.

The new name finds its origin in the low Earth orbit (LEO) in which its operational satellites will sit, discardng the original codename “Project Kuiper,” which was a nod to the Kuiper Belt, a distant asteroid region beyond Neptune.

According to Amazon, Project Kuiper was always intended only as a working title during the early development phases of their satellite programme, which began back in 2019. Since then, Amazon Leo has launched 153 satellites into orbit, with plans for over 80 further launches and a target constellation size around 3,000 satellites.

The company has completed six launches, with three notably using its rival SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets. United Launch Alliance (ULA) has also played a crucial role, successfully launching the first 27 operational Kuiper satellites aboard an Atlas V rocket back in April 2025, a significant step marking the beginning of full-scale deployment for Amazon’s satellite array. Amazon also contracts with Arianespace and Blue Origin.

Amazon has said roughly 578 devices will be required to achieve global coverage, with commercial services expected to be launch in five markets – the UK, France, Germany, Canada and the US – by the end of Q1 next year.

Once deployed, these satellites will be used to provide broadband services to unserved and underserved communities, as well as backhaul for mobile operators and enterprise connectivity.

Amazon Leo will be a direct competitor of SpaceX’s Starlink, which has already launched roughly 8,800 satellites and serves millions of users globally. Despite this, Amazon remains bullish on its prospects, highlighting the strength of its R&D.

“Our long-term mission remains the same, and we’re making good progress against it,” said Rajeev Badyal, Vice President of Amazon Leo in a company blog post. “We now operate one of the largest satellite production lines on the planet. We’ve invented some of the most advanced customer terminals ever built, including the first commercial phased array antenna to support gigabit speeds. And we now have more than 150 satellites in orbit, and customers and partners like JetBlue, L3Harris, DIRECTV Latin America, Sky Brasil, and NBN Co., Australia’s National Broadband Network operator, already signing up to deploy the service.”

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The operator’s largest private shareholder, Vodacom Group, says the carve out would harm Safaricom’s value proposition for customrs

Kenya has a debt problem.

As of June 2025, the country’s public debt stood at KES 11.81 trillion (around $ 91.3 billion), roughly 67.8 % of the country’s GDP. As a result, debt servicing is regularly consuming a huge amount of public funds; in the 2025 financial year, debt servicing cost the country more than healthcare or education.

Loath to increase taxes, the government’s solution to this challenge has been to sell down its stakes in various enterprises, announcing plans earlier this year to raise KES 149 billion (around $1.1 billion) through this method. The most significant of these stake sales relates to Safaricom, the country’s most profitable business, in which the government holds a roughly 35% stake.

By August, the Kenyan government said it was considering a push to split Safaricom into three distinct entities: a telecoms operator, a tower company, and a mobile money business centred around Safaricom’s M-Pesa platform. This, the government said, would allow each unit to be evaluated separately, potentially driving up their value for a potential stake sale.

“We are discussing whether to offload more shares as an entity or split them and then get the fresh valuation, and then get to that direction,” said Treasury Secretary John Mbadi in a Bloomberg report.

The government’s suggestion of spinning off M-Pesa is nothing new. The mobile money platform is one of the world’s most successful, having grown over almost two decades to become a key economic enabler in Kenya. With nearly 38 million users, as of September 2025, and reportedly handling around 59% of the country’s GDP, M-Pesa is a huge moneymaker for Safaricom – and a regulatory headache for the country.

Kenya’s central bank has pushed for the nation’s telcos to separate out their mobile money units for regulatory clarity since at least 2022. Safaricom’s local rivals, Telkom Kenya and Airtel Kenya, have both complied with this directive, but M-Pesa’s carve out has been delayed by a disputed tax liability of around KES 75 billion ($580 million).

Safaricom itself has been reluctant to split off M-Pesa, which today represents almost half of its revenue. This week, the company’s largest private shareholder, Vodacom Group (35% stake), reiterated this sentiment, with CEO Mohamed Joosub highlighting M-Pesa’s synergistic value to Safaricom’s telecoms customers.

“We do not want to list the financial services companies separately because we believe they are closely related to the value proposition we offer to our clients,” he said. “Actually, we envision a closer connection between it and loyalty in the future. We position ourselves as having something quite distinct from a typical telecom company.”

Safaricom’s refusal to carve out M-Pesa underscores the platform’s centrality not only to the operator’s business model but also to Kenya’s wider digital economy. The Kenyan government has a difficult task ahead of balancing its urgent fiscal needs without negatively impacting a service that has become financial crucial infrastructure for millions of people.

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The telco will also resell Starlink’s services to enterprise customers

Today, African mobile operator Vodacom has announced a new deal with SpaceX’s Starlink, aiming to use the latter’s satellite constellation to improve connectivity in rural Africa.

The partnership will see Starlink satellites provide backhaul services for Vodacom’s mobile networks, helping to enable better service to customers in remote regions and support the expansion of terrestrial network infrastructure.

In addition, Vodacom will also resell Starlink’s services directly to enterprise customers.

Starlink currently has around 8,900 satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO), which it primarily uses to connect consumers and enterprises in rural locations.

“Starlink is already serving people, businesses, and organizations in 25 African countries,” SpaceX Vice President Chad Gibbs said. “By collaborating with Vodacom, Starlink can deliver reliable, high-speed connectivity to even more customers.”

Vodacom itself serves roughly 223 million customers across its African footprint, which includes the DRC, Egypt, Lesotho, Mozambique, Tanzania, and its home market of South Africa. The company is also active in Kenya and Ethiopia as a part-owner of Safaricom.

“Low-Earth orbit satellite technology will help bridge the digital divide where traditional infrastructure is not feasible, and this partnership will unlock new possibilities for the unconnected,” said Vodacom Group CEO Shameel Joosub.

The operator will require specific national regulatory approvals to use Starlink services in each of these markets. The timeline for these approvals has not been announced.

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Press Release

London, 12 November 2025 – Cellnex, Europe’s leading operator of telecommunications infrastructure, today announced it has delivered its first VodafoneThree consolidated mast, five months ahead of schedule.

Containing both software and hardware improvements, the site – located in Burnley – is now delivering fast and reliable 4G and 5G coverage to both Vodafone and Three customers.

The project involved a full baseband modernisation to boost capacity and performance, alongside the swapping of multiple antennas and radio units. It is the first of a number of sites, scheduled to be upgraded to directly support VodafoneThree’s recent merger commitment to build the UK’s best network.

The upgrade also comes at a critical time as demand for reliable, high-speed connectivity continues to surge, essential for improving the UK’s digital competitiveness. The site is designed to proactively meet this demand by creating a resilient and efficient shared infrastructure model that is sustainable by design.

Gianluca Landolina, CEO, Cellnex UK, comments: “We are honoured and committed to be supporting VodafoneThree in their journey to delivering the biggest privately funded telecom investment in the UK. The successful delivery of this first site in Burnley, ahead of schedule, is a powerful demonstration of this collaboration in action. Our role is to provide the stable, adaptable infrastructure, leveraging our neutral host solutions and national portfolio of sites. This builds the foundation for the UK’s digital future and gives VodafoneThree the confidence to execute ambitious, nation-building projects like this one.”

Andrea Donà, Chief Network Officer, VodafoneThree, said: ”Cellnex’s delivery of this first site ahead of schedule is fantastic news. VodafoneThree is investing in critical digital infrastructure to reach 99% population coverage with 5G Standalone by 2030 and 99.96% by 2034, laying the foundation for a more connected, innovative, and future-ready Britain. Having trusted partners such as Cellnex, who share our ambition, is essential to us achieving our mission to build the UK’s best network, and we look forward to continuing to work together.”

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According to reports, the American tech giant is working on five new satellite features for iPhone, including greater support of third-party apps and “natural usage” improvements

According to a report from Bloomberg, Apple is working on five new satellite features for the iPhone, recognising the increasingly prominent role satellite connectivity will play in mobile connectivity.

Back in 2022, during the release of its iPhone 14 lineup, Apple announced a new partnership with satellite operator Globalstar, which would allow customers to send emergency SOS messages via satellite. Since then, these Emergency SOS capabilities have been gradually expanded, including messaging for roadside assistance and location tracking in remote areas. Perhaps the most significant advance, however, was announced as part of the release of iOS 18 in 2024, which allowed for text-only iMessages and SMS to be sent via satellite.

Now, Apple is reportedly preparing to significantly expand the iPhone’s satellite connectivity capabilities, exploring five major satellite-backed features.

Some of these new features are the natural evolution of existing services. This includes an upgrade to satellite messaging, allowing users to send photographs, as well as closer integration of satellite with Apple Maps, aimed at facilitating navigation in remote areas where phone signals and Wi-Fi are unavailable.

Another area of focus is improving availability of the satellite connectivity itself, with the company working towards what it calls improved “natural usage,” where satellite connectivity can function even when the iPhone is indoors or in a user’s pocket. Current usage of satellite services requires a largely unobstructed view of the sky to use even simple services, but Apple’s work suggests technical measures can remove, or at least reduce, these limitations.

In fact, overcoming these transmission hurdles will be crucial for another of these nascent features: building a next-generation iPhone that can support 5G over non-terrestrial networks. This would allow users to continue using traditional 5G mobile services seamlessly, even when passing beyond the range of terrestrial infrastructure.

Finally, Apple is also allegedly developing an API that will enable third-party app developers to incorporate satellite communication into their applications. This could have open the door to a wide range of emerging use cases, with particularly broad implications for communication apps like WhatsApp, allowing them to function more reliably in off-grid scenarios.

For now, all of these services would be supported by the company’s partnership with Globalstar. However, Globalstar’s future is uncertain, with SpaceX reportedly eyeing its acquisition.

If these developments come to fruition, satellite communication could become a central pillar of iPhone connectivity, greatly enhancing users’ ability to remain connected in emergencies and remote locations. This shift would mark a significant step forward in mobile connectivity, blending traditional cellular networks with space-based communications to overcome current limitations.

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AST SpaceMobile and Vodafone have selected Germany as the location for their principal Satellite Operations Centre to serve their satellite joint venture, SatCo

The centre will be responsible for allocating and mapping satellite connectivity used by SatCo to serve mobile network operators across the continent. It will also host one of several ground gateway stations that link the planned satellite constellation to terrestrial 4G and 5G networks.

The site is expected to be near either Munich or Hannover, with the final choice subject to negotiation.

Commercial launches are planned from 2026, and operators in 21 EU member states and other European countries have expressed interest in adopting the service.

Vodafone and AST SpaceMobile first announced their intention to for the SatCo joint venture back in March, with Vodafone chief executive Margherita Della Valle suggesting the company would “deliver a sovereign satellite solution to the whole of Europe”. It is planned to deliver mobile operators throughout Europe a scalable satellite mobile broadband capability to cover underserved areas and provide resilient back-up for public services.

A central feature of the EU-targeted constellation will be a so-called “command switch” providing European oversight and security controls. This capability is described by the partners as supporting the updating of telemetry, tracking and control (TTC) encryption keys for S‑Band, the frequency used for direct-to-handset connectivity, and Q/V‑Band links between satellites and earth stations. It will also allow modification of service encryption keys, and the activation, deactivation and steering of satellite beams over Europe.

SatCo is also positioned as an enabler for public protection and disaster relief (PPDR). The partners say the constellation will support PPDR radio frequencies, notably bands around 698–703/753–758 MHz and 733–736/788–791 MHz, to provide emergency responders with broadband connectivity in locations where terrestrial networks are unavailable or compromised.

AST SpaceMobile has submitted filings to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) through Germany to manage potential signal interference and coordinate integration with existing mobile networks.

The project is also a candidate for access to EU 2GHz Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) spectrum, which, if granted, would facilitate a pan‑European, sovereign service that uses national spectrum bands to reach consumers directly on standard smartphones.

How is satellite connectivity reshaping the European telecoms landscape? Join the discussion at Connected Germany, live in Munich!

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