News 

The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2025, subject to regulatory approval

Equinix has announced it will acquire BT Group’s datacentre business in Ireland for €59 million. The deal includes two datacentres in Dublin, located in CityWest and Ballycoolin, covering a total of 150,000 square feet.

This acquisition follows BT’s strategic review of its international operations and is part of the company’s shift toward an asset-light model. By stepping away from owning and operating datacentres, BT aims to focus more on its core strengths in cloud, networking, and security, while partnering with global companies like Equinix to deliver scalable datacentre services to its customers.   

Shay Walsh, Managing Director of BT Ireland, explained that this deal marks an exciting new phase for the company’s datacentre business in Ireland. “This announcement with Equinix marks an exciting new chapter for our datacentre business in Ireland. The deal builds on our existing successful partnership with Equinix and ensures that customers will benefit from top-tier datacentre services nationally and globally, allowing BT to specialise in our core strengths in cloud, networking, and security,” he said in a press release. 

Equinix a digital infrastructure company, has a long-established presence in Ireland. With this acquisition, Equinix will strengthen its position in the Irish market, offering customers more robust interconnection services through its vast global platform.  

“This acquisition of assets from our existing facility enables us to continue to offer exceptional interconnection services from our unique global platform, augmenting the €35 million annual contribution to national economic output arising from Equinix’s direct and indirect spend, measured in 2022,” added Peter Lantry, Managing Director of Equinix Ireland. 

In the coming months, Equinix will work closely with BT to ensure a smooth transition of the datacentres, with minimal disruption for customers. The two facilities will soon be fully integrated into Equinix’s global network. 

Keep up to date with the latest international telecoms news direct to your inbox from Total Telecom 

Also in the news:
Part 1: Some US broadband industry predictions as we approach 2025
Part 2: More US broadband predictions as we approach 2025
Europe is the top target for hacktivists, Orange Cyberdefense report reveals 

Contributed Article 

This month, at the Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit 18th edition in Dubai, the world’s first 5G-A region in the mobile AI era was launched. Under the theme ‘Global. Regional. Digital.’ the Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit spotlit the industry’s main trends, including 5G, cloud, data centers, and digitilisation

The launch followed a panel discussion, in which a group of ten industry professionals gathered to discuss the challenges and opportunities in advancing 5G technology in the Middle East. Key points included the need for cross-industry collaboration, open APIs, and spectrum utilisation.  

The panelists included: 

Fayez Abu Awad, Policy Director, MENA, GSMA 

Khalid Al Awadi, Manager, Broadcasting and Space Services, TDRA UAE 

Hasan Alshemeili, Head of Technology Planning, du 

Dr. Ayman Elnashar, VP of Technology Strategy, Architecture & Innovation, e& 

Ramy Boctor, Chief Technology Officer, Vodafone Qatar 

Stelios Savvides, Chief Technology Officer, Vodafone Oman 

Hicham Siblini, Chief Technology and Infrastructure Officer, Ooredoo Qatar 

Allen Tang, President of ICT Marketing & Solution Sales Dept, Huawei MECA 

Zoran Lazarevic, Chief Technology Officer, Ericsson MEA 

Mohamed Samir, VP Middle East Market, Nokia 

Etisalat and du highlighted their 5G network coverage and speed achievements, with Etisalat covering 99% outdoor populated areas. The discussion emphasised the importance of AI in network management and the potential for 5G to enhance digital transformation across different sectors. 

“We believe that 5G advanced influence in the Middle East will help accelerate digital transformations by enhancing connectivity across different sectors like healthcare, manufacturing, and transportation,” said Hasan Alshemeili, Head of Technology Planning at du. 

“When moving to 5G Advanced, we are more in need of cross industry collaboration, an aspect which the GSMA is actively working on,” said Fayez Abu Awad, Policy Director, MENA at the GSMA. 

5G Advanced, also known as 5.5G, is the next evolution of 5G technology, designed to enhance current networks while paving the way for 6G. This upgrade will deliver even faster speeds, lower latency, and improved coverage, making it ideal for applications like connected vehicles, industrial automation, and immersive technologies such as AR and VR. By integrating AI, 5G Advanced networks will be smarter and more efficient, capable of handling more devices and optimising performance in real time. 

The Middle East is already becoming a world leader in 5G-A, having become a global leader in 5G already. According to the GSMA, 5G networks now cover 75% or more of the population in the GCC states, whilst also increasing investment in 5G standalone (SA) and 5G-Advanced use cases. 

For example, earlier this month, UAE-based operator du launched its 5G-Advanced Commercial Innovation Centre in Dubai, aimed at exploring how the capabilities of 5G-A can create innovative new services.  

The Innovation Centre will work to develop new services in the consumer, home, and enterprise segments, leveraging 5G-A’s improved capabilities over traditional 5G, including speeds of up to 5Gbps, lower latency, and greater capacities. 

The event finished with the launch ceremony celebrating the joint efforts of regulators, operators, and vendors, and in positioning the Middle East as a global leader in 5G-Advanced technology. 

The launch “symbolises a new era of connectivity and innovation. Everyone here’s presence underscores the collaboration and technological strides that have made this milestone possible.” 

Looking ahead, the launch of the world’s first 5G-A region marks a major step forward in next-generation connectivity. With the Middle East leading the way, the focus will now be on expanding 5G-Advanced applications, from smart cities to immersive digital experiences. 

The milestone highlights the power of collaboration between regulators, operators, and vendors. As investments and innovation continue to grow, the region is set to play a key role in shaping the future of mobile AI and advanced connectivity worldwide. 

Viewpoints

The broadband industry is poised for significant change as we move forward into 2025

By: Bob Bartz, VP of Engineering at CHR Solutions

To read the Part 2 of this viewpoint series, click here.

New technologies and evolving challenges are driving innovation and adaptation with respect to how we expand connectivity, especially in rural and underserved areas. As a result, and based on my three decades of experience in telecommunications and broadband engineering, I thought I’d share some key predictions for the year ahead — from the rise of satellite solutions like Starlink to advancements in engineering tools and the ongoing challenges of permitting.

1. Starlink’s expanding influence on wireline broadband

We’re seeing Starlink make more of an impact on the broadband landscape than initially expected, particularly in rural and remote areas. The company’s constellation of low-earth orbit satellites has become a viable alternative to traditional wireline builds, which have become cost-prohibitive. Starlink’s reach into underserved regions will not only change the way we think about connectivity but also how federal funding is allocated.

The implications here are profound. As Starlink continues to evolve, government agencies may begin re-evaluating their funding priorities to better support a hybrid broadband model. By blending satellite and wireline solutions, broadband needs can be addressed in a more balanced way, focusing resources where they’re most effective. I anticipate that in 2025, federal funding will increasingly accommodate this hybrid approach, thus reshaping the landscape of rural broadband builds.

2. Enhanced imagery: The next frontier in broadband engineering

The role of imagery in broadband engineering is evolving, with enhanced and high-resolution imagery becoming a crucial tool for efficient project planning and risk mitigation. In the past, we relied on imagery mainly for initial assessments and mapping, but I see it becoming indispensable for real-time decision-making.

Drone technology, in particular, is a game-changer – even in this space. Drones provide high-resolution aerial images that allow engineers to capture data about terrain and vegetation with exceptional precision. With the ability to conduct aerial surveys over hard-to-access or expansive areas, drones eliminate the need for time-intensive, costly ground inspections, speeding up the design process and minimizing risks from changing environmental factors.

This combination of enhanced imagery and drone technology allows us to address challenges more efficiently, as it reduces the need for repeat site visits and cuts down on project costs, all of which accelerates the deployment of broadband infrastructure. In 2025, I anticipate that drones and high-quality imagery needs to be standard tools in broadband engineering, helping us streamline projects and build networks that are resilient to environmental changes.

3. The permitting process: A rising challenge

In my view, permitting is now the second biggest roadblock to broadband deployment, right behind funding. Submitting a permit application is usually just the start of a long, complex process. The real challenges come with tracking its status, adjusting designs to accommodate permit requirements, and managing communications with permitting authorities—all of which can drive up costs for providers.

This ongoing permitting process also adds significant overhead, particularly for projects where multiple layers of bureaucracy can lead to delays. In 2025, I believe we’ll see a renewed push to simplify permitting processes at local, state, and federal levels. However, until those reforms take effect, providers should prepare for the increased time and costs associated with permit management and compliance.

Left to right: By: Bob Bartz, VP of Engineering and By: Jason Malmquist, EVP, Head of Software and IT Services Business at CHR Solutions.

Moving forward

The broadband industry is on the brink of transformative change. Starlink’s expanding role, the rise of enhanced imagery in engineering, and the complex permitting landscape each bring their own challenges and opportunities.

By leveraging these insights, broadband providers can make informed decisions, overcome obstacles, and help bridge the digital divide. We’re on a path toward broader, more accessible connectivity, and 2025 promises to be a year where we see meaningful strides in that direction.

Click here to read the Part 2 of this viewpoint series, by Jason Malmquist, EVP and head of software and IT services business at CHR Solutions.

Join the conversation about connectivity in North America. Click here to learn more about Broadband Communities Summit 2025.

News 

Orange Cyberdefense, cybersecurity arm of Orange Group, has published its Security Navigator 2025 report, a strategic guide to understanding changes in the cyber threat landscape 

Now in its sixth year of publication, this year’s report reveals a stark increase in politically motivated cyberattacks across Europe since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.  

At a launch event this month in London, Char van der Walt, Head of Security Research at Orange Cyberdefence, and Sara Puigvert, EVP of Global Operations, discussed one of the report’s themes: the geopolitical hacktivist threat to Europe.  

A hacktivist is defined as a hacker who engages in attacks on computer systems based on political motivations but is not state sponsored. 

The report focuses on one (unnamed) pro-Russian hacktivist group, which has conducted over 6,600 attacks since 2022. A staggering 96% of these incidents were directed at European countries such as Ukraine, Czech Republic, Spain, Poland, and Italy. 

These groups have shifted focus to “cognitive warfare,” aiming to manipulate public trust and perception rather than solely causing technical disruptions. Whilst not directed by the Russian government, the groups are often what van der Walt described as ‘government tolerated’, using the Russian state playbook of societal disruption to portray the West, NATO, an those supporting Ukraine as morally degenerate.  

By attacking election systems and other symbolic institutions, these hackers seek to spread disharmony and discontent, undermining the fabric of trust that our societies are built on. A lot is unknown about such groups, but typically their activities are triggered by geopolitical events, such as European elections, protests, or the Russian Invasion of Ukraine.  

Hacktivist activity is also extending to operational technology (OT) systems, which are critical for infrastructure in sectors like energy, manufacturing, and healthcare. Nearly 23% of OT-targeted attacks in 2024 were linked to hacktivists, and 46% of these incidents resulted in the manipulation of control processes. The utilities sector has been particularly affected, underscoring the vulnerabilities of essential infrastructure. 

AI continues to play a key role in the ongoing transformation of the cybersecurity sector, being used both defensively and offensively. Threat actors are using GenAI to produce realistic phishing attacks and deepfakes, while cybersecurity teams are deploying AI-driven tools to detect advanced threats faster. However, vulnerabilities within GenAI systems pose additional risks, the report warns. 

In addition to the report, Orange Cyberdefense has also released its Cybercrime Now tool, a free to use interactive platform to provide education on the criminal ecosystem of hacktivists. Find it here. 

Join us to discuss the topic of Cybersecurity at next year’s Submarine Networks EMEA, 18-19 February in London. Get discounted tickets here! 

Also in the news:
TalkTalk to cut hundreds more jobs in effort to save £120m
Heavily delayed ADC submarine cable system finally goes live in East Asia
World Communication Awards shine a light on AI Excellence

Contributed Article

The need for speed – high-speed internet – along with greater bandwidth capacity will continue to be critical for communities everywhere in 2025 and beyond

By: Tony Thakur, Chief Technology Officer of Great Plains Communications

Network operators should anticipate demand for more and more bandwidth, as network traffic growth shows no sign of slowing down.

What’s driving all the bandwidth consumption? We rely on the internet for products, services, and applications we use continuously more and more. Smartphones, smart watches, other wearables, smart TVs, streaming services, real-time events (e.g. concert, sports), online gaming, along with virtual and augmented reality are some of the products and applications growing network traffic and consuming bandwidth.

As a fiber optic network provider, Great Plains Communications sees a continued rise in network traffic as an ongoing trend. Knowing there is a critical need for increasing bandwidth, network operators must implement best network practices in key areas to meet demand, improve productivity, and minimize disruption of customers’ everyday lives.

Here are key factors to support the demand.

AI plus good data = best customer experience

AI means different things to different groups. Transferring information between data centers for AI applications consumes high bandwidth. Yet, AI is now part of the pit crew that keeps the network running. For network operators, AI means automation to drive greater efficiency across organizations and supply bandwidth on demand.

We view AI evolving as an enabler to enhancing the customer experience. In the past, operators were reactive: a customer alerted the operator when something broke and they fixed it. Currently, most are more proactive, deploying technologies in a ring topology with redundant equipment to mitigate downtime. With AI, events can be more predictive: for example, a problem is detected and fixed before the issue can be customer affecting.

Thanks to AI’s prediction ability, potential network disruptions can be averted. It stands to reason that a network will need more bandwidth during a live Thursday night football game. AI can calculate if the network has the necessary capacity and redundancy to ensure the audience never misses a play through buffering or other hiccups.

Network operators must leverage AI to create a better experience for their customers. However, along with the right tools and systems, AI must leverage reliable data to make the right decisions.

Timely network services

We’ve come to expect real-time services like Amazon Web Services model, which is available 24/7/365. We shop online, press a button, and our purchase arrives the next day. That has become consumers’ standard. So, they expect other products and services to be simpler and faster to obtain as well.

People rely on cell phones to do almost everything, and when we pull up all the applications we’re using, we’re consuming more bandwidth than we realize. Hyperscalers that want more and higher bandwidth to connect their data centers are another driver of increased network traffic. At Great Plains Communications (GPC), we see more demand for 400 Gig services, especially between key markets.

As a result, network providers must become more agile, monitor services more effectively, and add more products and services that work in tandem to meet current and future customer needs. One of the biggest challenges network operators face is predicting demand and growth trends and then planning and updating networks accordingly to be ready. To accomplish this, it is vital to have flexible architecture to scale the network capacity to meet changing bandwidth requirements in metro and rural areas.

Data to the cloud

Over the past decade, most businesses have either already done so or are planning to migrate most of their data from their own private onsite servers to cloud storage, such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, and others. It’s a big shift from how data used to be stored in private clouds to public clouds and a multi-cloud environment.

It is critical for businesses (and all of us) to have real-time access to data. We don’t want to wait or have the data lag. The cloud data warehouses offer virtually unlimited space with the ability to compute capacity and storage to scale up and down at greater cost savings. This is a tremendous advantage, which does require more bandwidth.

As consumers, we also rely on cloud storage. After all, we can’t store all our videos in our phone. We want to view a video and interact immediately. This requires reliable connectivity to the cloud, so we have immediate access to our data, wherever it’s stored. Reliable connectivity — to the internet and to cloud providers — is essential.

Future runs on higher bandwidth

From my point of view, both as a telecom network operator and as a consumer, having bandwidth infrastructure optimized to support current and future rising network traffic is a must-have. There are many considerations, but here are factors I consider essential.

First, the network infrastructure has to deliver adequate speeds. Speed alone is not enough. We also need reliable connectivity we can trust day in and day out. This calls for careful planning and best-in-class architecture when designing the network. And, most important, we need to provide the best possible customer experience in our digital age. We should take advantage of AI and other technologies to anticipate network demands, automate processes to drive efficiencies, and provide the best possible solutions for our customers.

Join the conversation about connectivity in North America. Click here to learn more about Broadband Communities Summit 2025.

SAN FRANCISCO, 12th of December 2024 – Gigs, the operating system for mobile services, today announced that it has raised a $73M Series B led by Ribbit Capital. All existing investors, including Google’s Gradient, YC and Speedinvest participated in the round. Gigs will use the funding to expand its geographical footprint and invest in an expanded suite of products and services for tech companies. This will enable more tech brands to meaningfully innovate in telecom, provide more value to their customers, and tap into a new recurring revenue stream.

The Walled Garden Of Telecom

Before Gigs, high barriers to entry kept the telecom industry closed-off to innovators. New entrants faced years of tough commercial negotiations with carriers and had to pour tens of thousands of engineering hours into navigating the messy patchwork of single-purpose vendors with archaic, fragmented operating systems. Engineering teams had to wrestle with clunky, unstable and inconsistent APIs from multiple carriers—like building tech from the early 2000s—all just to enter one market. 

On top of that, businesses were forced to commit more than $100 million upfront in order to achieve competitive rates from networks and get priority network access, all before selling a single subscription. These operational and capital expenses were hard to recoup and tied businesses to network-specific investments, ultimately hampering scalability and eroding margins. 

Even businesses capable of managing these burdens still faced the slow and bureaucratic processes of carriers, which hindered their ability to optimize in the long-run. Moreover, any plans to expand internationally required repeating the entire effort with each network operator—an untenable challenge for technology platforms that don’t consider telecom their core business. 

As a result, the internet economy lacks the infrastructure and tools to connect to the global telecom grid, something tech companies take for granted in areas like hosting and payments.

Democratizing Access To The Mobile Service Market

Gigs is radically democratizing access to the mobile service industry. The company’s mission is to reduce the cost of setting up a mobile service in one or multiple markets, as well as lowering operational and service costs to near zero. Without Gigs, it would take new entrants to the mobile service market years to develop and refine their service.

The company’s operating system empowers tech players to launch their own mobile service on premium networks globally within weeks, all through a single integration—eliminating the need to hire large teams of telecom engineers, navigate compliance hurdles, or manage multiple vendors and platforms. By providing everything you need to launch your own mobile service in one platform—including premium wholesale connectivity, a best-in-class connectivity API, a hosted checkout, a multi-currency payments suite, a tax engine, a subscription and analytics platform, and AI-powered customer service—Gigs removes the complexity, time-to-market, and costs for tech brands wanting to embed their own mobile services into their digital products and services.

To ensure customers maintain a competitive edge and operate state-of-the-art services with the highest customer satisfaction and lowest cost to serve globally, Gigs continuously productizes every aspect of its business and automates every customer support ticket. For the first time, this makes telecommunications accessible to tech companies that expect to work with modern tools and high-performance platforms.

Hermann Frank, co-founder and CEO at Gigs: “We believe that getting a phone plan should be as easy as ordering an Uber, not as complicated as leasing a car at a  dealership. The truth, however, is that phone plans are stuck in the past: analog, uniform, and, frankly, unloved. Extremely high barriers to entry have kept innovation out of the industry for too long. Now, the world’s leading product companies can bring this innovation to their users. Gigs breaks down these hurdles by empowering any tech company to distribute phone plans directly through their apps, transforming connectivity from a standalone commodity into a core, customizable feature of every digital product experience. Ribbit has a proven track record of upending markets burdened by incumbent lethargy. We were impressed by the team’s vision so when the offer came to lead our Series B, it felt very natural to lean in.”

Dennis Bauer, co-founder and President at Gigs: “Since our launch in 2020, Gigs has significantly increased its annual recurring revenue, cementing its position as one of the fastest-growing B2B companies globally. Leading tech brands with large, highly engaged audiences—ranging from high-growth neobanks like Nubank and Wealthsimple to major HR platforms, travel companies and phone manufacturers—are leveraging Gigs’ connectivity platform to integrate phone plans into their core services, delivering unique and seamless product experiences. With exciting new product launches and lighthouse customer announcements in 2025, Gigs is set to inspire even more innovative tech companies to launch their own mobile services.”

Jordan Angelos, General Partner at Ribbit Capital: “Mobile connectivity, like banking, is one of the most widely used consumer services globally. Yet, it consistently ranks among the lowest in customer satisfaction. Gigs is seizing a once-in-a-decade opportunity to revolutionize the $1T+ annual mobile subscription market, empowering innovators and trusted brands to digitize and enhance customer experiences, with phone plans serving as the ultimate superglue. We are impressed by the team’s vision, execution, and global momentum, and we’re excited to partner with them on this journey.”

About Gigs

Gigs, the operating system for mobile services, empowers tech companies to seamlessly embed connectivity into their offerings in weeks. By bundling phone plans and travel data with their core services, Gigs’ customers can increase stickiness and unlock a new recurring revenue stream with digital mobile experiences that meaningfully create value to consumers. Gigs’ end-to-end platform provides everything brands need to launch and operate their own multi-market mobile service: premium wholesale connectivity, a hosted checkout, billing, subscription management, analytics, and AI-powered customer service. Backed by Ribbit Capital, Google, Y Combinator, Speedinvest and BoxGroup, Gigs was founded by Hermann Frank and Dennis Bauer in 2020 and now employs over 90 people across the US and Europe. For more information, visit gigs.com. 

About Ribbit

The mission of Ribbit Capital is to transform the world of finance by backing visionary entrepreneurs. For over a decade, Ribbit has partnered with founders challenging the status quo to make money more transparent and accessible around the world. Ribbit has invested in exceptional teams across six continents, including at Brex, Bridge, Chainalysis, Coinbase, Coalition, Credit Karma, Fireblocks, Groww, Imprint, NEXT Insurance, Nubank, ONE, Parafin, Razorpay, Revolut, Robinhood, and others.

PRESS RELEASE

Independent Power Transmission Operator and Serverfarm Join Forces to Spearhead Hyperscale Data Center Development and Operations in Greece   

Athens, 16^th December 2024

The Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO) of Greece and Serverfarm, a global data center developer and operator, announced today the signing of a Heads of Agreement regarding the formation of Gemini, a Joint Venture with the objective of developing and operating state-of-the-art, hyperscale-ready data center facilities in Athens and elsewhere in Greece, on sites owned by IPTO.

This strategic alliance marks a significant milestone in advancing Greece’s digital infrastructure and fostering sustainable growth in the data-driven economy.

Gemini will combine the collective expertise and resources of two leading entities in their respective fields. IPTO, as a crucial pillar of the Greek energy sector, plays a pivotal role in managing the country’s electricity grid, ensuring stability, and embracing renewable energy solutions.

Leveraging its extensive experience, IPTO will be providing reliable and sustainable power supply, essential for supporting data center operations along with strategically located sites with access to power and optical fiber networks, as well as other operational resources. Serverfarm, as an expert in data center development and operations globally, with a strong track record in commercial real estate ventures, will be bringing unparalleled industry experience and advanced design and operational know-how, ensuring that the Joint Venture will become a point-of-reference for data center services in Greece.

Gemini plans to construct and operate hyperscale-ready data center facilities in the Greater Athens Area, leading initially with a campus with committed power of 130MW, creating the foundations for establishing a robust digital ecosystem to meet the escalating demands of cloud service providers, content delivery networks and enterprises.

The data centers will be designed with a focus on energy efficiency, utilizing state-of-the-art cooling technologies and renewable energy sources to minimize their environmental impact, creating an unparalleled platform for hyperscale computing in Greece. The Joint Venture envisions Athens as a prominent digital hub, offering secure, reliable, and low-latency data center facilities to national and international clients, bolstering Greece’s position in the global data economy.

The Founder and CEO of Serverfarm, Avner Papouchado, said:

“As leading tech and hyperscale organizations continue to expand into Greece, we see a great opportunity to leverage our expertise in this region. Our strategic partnership with IPTO, underscores our mission to invest in transformative projects that create long-term value. The Greek data center market is still one of the most under-served in Europe, but at the same time, its geographical location makes it ideal to serve as a data gateway between continents. Our collaboration with IPTO in creating Gemini and our shared commitment to excellence and sustainability, will enable us to leverage this immense potential to offer high quality, data center services in Greece. Our goal is to cater to the growing needs of hyperscale customers in the area and elevate Athens as a major hub for the industry, shaping the digital landscape in the broader region.

The Chairman and CEO of IPTO, Manos Manousakis, said:

“IPTO is building critical infrastructure for tomorrow’s electricity and telecommunications backbone networks throughout Greece and beyond, interconnecting the future. We are delighted to partner with Serverfarm, through Gemini, to deliver world-class data center facilities in Greece. Serverfarm’s vast experience in developing state-of-the-art data centers, coupled with IPTO’s robust energy infrastructure and its strategic location at the crossroads of continents, will create an unparalleled platform for hyperscale computing in Greece, catering to the escalating demand for digital services in the region. This alliance symbolizes a significant milestone for Greece’s digital transformation, which is poised to build the foundation for a flourishing data-driven economy in Greece. In this way, we fully exploit synergies and create win-win business opportunities, transforming Greece into a critical energy and data hub of high geopolitical value, at the crossroads of Europe, Africa and Asia.”

– End –

About IPTO:

  The Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO) is responsible for the operation, monitoring, maintenance, and development of the “Hellenic Electricity Transmission System”, aiming to ensure safe and undisrupted power supply across the country. IPTO’s “Ten Year Network Development Plan” provides for the electrical interconnection of major Greek islands in the High Voltage System by 2029, the strengthening and modernization of the continental power grid as well as the facilitation of Greece’s transition towards a cleaner energy mix. IPTO’s investment program, includes the Crete-Attica power link, supplemented with dual optical fiber cables, the completion of Cyclades as well as the interconnections of the Dodecanese and the NE Aegean islands. IPTO is developing new international interconnections to Italy, Bulgaria, Albania, North Macedonia and Turkey, and supports new subsea electricity interconnectors to Cyprus, Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, with Greece as the main hub. IPTO is the project promoter of the “Great Sea Interconnector” between Greece, Cyprus and Israel and is currently maturing the “Green Aegean Interconnector”, a new electrical corridor between Greece and southern Germany, for the transmission of clean energy originating from Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean region to the large consumption centers of Central Europe.

For more information, contact:

Email: pressoffice@admie.gr

About Serverfarm:

Serverfarm is an established multi-regional data center platform that provides data center solutions to key hyperscale, webscale, technology & network customers. These data center solutions include Colocation, Data Center Design, and IT Infrastructure Management, through Serverfarm’s proprietary InCommand DMaaS technology. For more information, visit serverfarmllc.com.

For more information, contact:

Email: media@sfrdc.com  

News

The satellites will be built at Airbus’ facility in Toulouse, with production set to begin in 2026

Airbus Defence and Space has been awarded a contract by Eutelsat to expand its OneWeb Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellation. The contract will see Airbus build the first 100 satellites of the extension, with deliveries expected to begin at the end of 2026.

Airbus has previously manufactured the current OneWeb fleet, and the company is now set to continue its role in supporting Eutelsat’s efforts to enhance and expand its satellite services. Alain Fauré, Head of Space Systems at Airbus, commented: “We are committed to the successful continuation of the OneWeb constellation and to keep serving the business of Eutelsat as we have done over the past decades.”

The new satellites will offer several key technology upgrades, including integration with 5G networks and improved compatibility with Europe’s planned IRIS2 multi-orbit constellation, which is expected to become operational in 2030. This expansion aligns with Eutelsat’s strategy to grow its LEO capacity in response to increasing demand for global connectivity.

“We are relying on our long-standing partner, Airbus, to begin building the first batches of the Next Generation of our OneWeb LEO constellation, which will ensure we deliver continuity of service of the existing constellation with enhanced service features, as we move towards an architecture in line with the European IRIS2 constellation in 2030. Our in-market experience shows us that the appetite for low Earth orbit capacity is growing rapidly, and we are excited to embark on the next stage of our journey to satisfy that demand,” added Eva Berneke, CEO of Eutelsat in a press release.

Keep up to date with the latest international telecoms news direct to your inbox from Total Telecom

Also in the news:
Softbank to invest $100bn in US AI
Japanese telcos unite to strengthen disaster response
BT’s network wrapped reveals how Brits connected with the biggest cultural moments of 2024

News

The cash injection follows a $50 billion investment in 2016

SoftBank Group, led by CEO Masayoshi Son, has announced plans to invest $100 billion in the US over the next four years, a move that will focus on advancing AI and its related infrastructure. This investment aims to create 100,000 new jobs.

Son made the announcement alongside President-elect Donald Trump, who praised the deal as a strong sign of confidence in the future of the US economy. Trump said that the investment shows “monumental confidence in America’s future.”

Trump welcomed the new investment as part of his broader strategy to boost the US economy and tackle inflation in his second term. “It will help ensure that artificial intelligence, emerging technologies and other industries tomorrow are built, created and grown right here in the USA,” he continued.

The new pledge echoes a similar commitment made in December 2016, when Son promised a $50 billion investment and 50,000 jobs. While that money was deployed, the impact on job creation was unclear.

Although the $100 billion is set to be deployed over the next four years, the funding sources remain uncertain. SoftBank reported $27 billion in cash reserves as of September 30, and the company’s Vision Fund 2 still has $3 billion left to invest. It’s also possible that SoftBank could use funds from its recent acquisition of chipmaker Arm Holdings to help support this ambitious pledge.

This year, SoftBank also invested $960 million in Japanese AIto upgrade its computing infrastructure to deliver a Generative AI  platform in the Japanese language. Over the next two years, SoftBank will purchase GPUs (graphics processing units) from US based chip company Nvidia, using them to train and power its own large language models (LLMs), and then loan access to them to other firms.

Join us at next year’s Connected America, 11-12 March in Dallas. Get discounted tickets here!

Also in the news:
Congress boosts funding for drive to replace Chinese equipment
BT’s network wrapped reveals how Brits connected with the biggest cultural moments of 2024
Talking the language of sustainability

Interview

Ahead of the recent World Communication Awards, we spoke with Sandra Klackenborn, Head of Sustainability at Arelion, to discuss the growing energy challenge and how the industry must do more to tackle the issue collaboratively

The growing energy challenge

With networks spanning hundreds or even thousands of miles, it is no surprise that energy consumption has always been a key concern for telcos when it comes to sustainability. Operating these massive networks not only generates a significant carbon emissions footprint, but also incurs a huge energy bill – both of which will only grow further as data demand increases and network density increases.

As a result, making these networks more energy efficient and sustainable is a huge focus for telcos like Arelion, which view the issue as both an environmental and financial imperative.

“Energy is such an interesting area. It’s a melting pot of issues,” explained Sandra Klackenborn, Head of Sustainability at Arelion. “You have concerns about energy costs, the challenge of sourcing renewable energy, and, of course, you have the environmental impact. These are all important topics that we focus on here at Arelion.”

Innovation to the rescue?

With data usage continuing to climb, energy costs sky high, and additional infrastructure being deployed every day, it can feel like telcos are fighting a losing battle against the energy curve.

In reality, however, innovation related to energy efficiency has proven surprisingly resilient in minimising the growth of network energy demand year-on-year.

“Improved energy efficiency can be somewhat built into the equipment upgrade cycle,” explained Klackenborn. “We are in an industry where technology moves really, really fast and things evolve all the time. For us to be able to provide the quality of data transfer that our customers expect from us, we need to develop and deploy more advanced technology, which, of course, is more energy efficient.”

“In our experience, we have been able to really curve that energy consumption, keeping it relatively flat despite ever growing demand,” she added. “In the ever-growing need for data capacity, this focus is important to keep striving for.”

Of course, regularly upgrading your hardware for better efficiency carries its own sustainability burden. The materials used to build these new components are finite and harvesting them can be carbon emission intensive.

As such, Arelion seeks to safeguard these natural resources by repurposing, reusing, and recycling old equipment wherever possible.

“We try to circulate the components we dismantle into a second life internally or resell to an external partner, so the resources can be utilized for as long as possible before being recycled back into original material,” explained Klackenborn, noting that circularity was a key element of the company’s sustainability approach.

Better understanding your sustainability footprint

At the heart of winning the technological race against an ever-growing energy demand is an increasingly precise understanding of exactly where your energy usage is coming from. Network infrastructure (both fixed and mobile) typically accounts for around three-quarters of a telco’s energy consumption – making it the prime candidate for improved energy efficiency – but granular data of each component’s energy footprint is a relatively recent development.

“Today, we probably have more data available than ever before, in terms of understanding, seeing, measuring, and predicting our sustainability footprint,” explained Klackenborn. “We know exactly how much energy a certain piece of technology consumes or how it transfers data.”

Beyond allowing for more targeted equipment refreshes, the wealth of data also allows for a much more accurate forecasting of energy consumption.

“There are the cost savings, of course, but in many ways the main driver behind this data is stability,” said Klackenborn. “It’s really important to know what your electricity bill will be for the next few years – that’s a really underrated benefit of measuring your sustainability footprint more carefully.”

The trouble with sustainability metrics

But while more data is available than ever before, collating and communicating it effectively, both internally and externally, remains a challenge. Sustainability metrics are far from standardised, making collaboration between telcos and partners far more complicated.

“It’s not always the easiest assignment to translate all the data into something as broad as a sustainability value, if you will,” said Klackenborn. “Sustainability is very difficult to report on accurately, particularly across different industries. With so much varied data, there is always a certain level of interpretation with top-level figures. While there are some standards, most companies are reliant on their own metrics to measure performance. That makes it very difficult to compare and share learnings.”

Regulations surrounding sustainability reporting, such as the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), are gradually helping to build usable frameworks, but there is still much work to be done.

“Currently, a lot of the reporting regulations don’t require you to break down the figures,” said Klackenborn. “For example, I don’t actually know exactly how much CO2 is generated at our colocators or per external site. If I had that information, I could make better decisions on how we can work together. We could discuss the topic in more detail and so better learn from each other.”

A team effort to build a greener future

Ultimately, making the telecoms sector more sustainable and energy efficient is a collaborative effort, requiring the formation of effective partnerships across borders.

“The focus for us is very international and collaborative when it comes to sustainability,” said Klackenborn. “There is a really strong awareness that we can’t do this by ourselves. We are part of a value chain and a bigger ecosystem. After all, our Scope 2 emissions are someone else’s Scope 3.”

“At Arelion we have the goals of achieving Net Zero carbon emissions for Scope 1 and Scope 2 by 2030, and for Scope 3 no later than 2040. To do this, we need to make sure we’re joining hands internally as well as across borders with other companies. Sustainability is everybody’s business,” she concluded.

Arelion were proud to sponsor the The Sustainability Award at this year’s World Communication Awards. Check out the full list of winners here.