It’s been another busy week for satcoms, with Agility Beyond Space (ABS), a global satellite operator, and SpaceBridge, a provider of satellite network equipment solutions, targeting managed services in EMEA, while satellite communications service Starlink is reportedly pursuing a Wi-Fi deal with the Emirates airline.

Early this week ABS and SpaceBridge announced an intent to enter into a strategic collaboration to enhance managed data services across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). This partnership aims to leverage both companies’ expertise to expand the availability of satellite-enabled services, including broadband and internet trunking, serving enterprises, government agencies, mobile network operators and other essential sectors.

With experience in VSAT platforms, network optimisation and satellite system integration, SpaceBridge says it brings deep technical expertise to the partnership. The companies say they are jointly reviewing innovative service models that could improve flexibility, performance and coverage across a range of markets.

Meanwhile the Bloomberg news service says that Emirates is in discussions with space technology company SpaceX to overhaul the carrier’s internet service as the airline looks to enhance its in-flight Wi-Fi by fitting its widebody jets with SpaceX’s Starlink internet service.

Emirates apparently has a widebody fleet of about 250 jets and more than 300 on order, so this could be quite a significant contract if agreed, which, of course, is not yet confirmed. Whether the potential deal would be available to all passengers is not clear, but it would bring Starlink to one of the world’s biggest fleets with a highly regarded service.

There could, however, be issues involving regions where Starlink doesn’t yet work and a need for authorisation for use in the UAE itself. Starlink would also need certification for the Airbus A380 double decker and the Airbus A350, although the latter permission is apparently imminent.

Multi-service operator Orange Middle East and Africa (OMEA) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a private sector-led development aid institution and member of the World Bank Group, have signed a partnership to sustainably strengthen digital access in eight African countries.

OMEA and IFC say they are joining forces to develop more inclusive and sustainable digital connectivity in often underserved areas of West and Central Africa, though the announcement does not seem to specify which eight countries will be targeted.

This partnership, agreed at the Africa CEO Forum held in Abidjan on 12 and 13 May, aims to mobilise the complementary expertise of both signatories. IFC says it will bring its expertise in development finance, while OMEA will capitalise on its local roots and strong network in the region.

The promise is that various (again so far unspecified) telecommunications infrastructure construction and deployment projects, involving towers, fibre and more, will be carried out in the target countries in the coming years.

IFC points out that this collaboration builds on initiatives it has already backed, such as supporting the first-ever securitisation in the telecommunications sector in West Africa and providing sustainable funding to Senegalese operator Sonatel. These two operations, for a total amount of approximately US$75 million in 2024, allow Sonatel to strengthen the country’s digital infrastructure and expand 4G coverage and fibre optic connectivity in rural areas of Senegal.

Together, the two partners say they aim to provide a replicable investment model aimed at bridging the digital divide, fostering financial inclusion, strengthening territorial resilience and creating jobs, particularly in the digital economy.

The GSMA has urged governments worldwide to reduce spectrum prices, warning that high fees are choking the telecoms industry and threatening long-term economic development.

In a new report, the industry body revealed that spectrum prices have not fallen in line with operator revenues over the past decade, limiting the ability of mobile network operators to invest in critical infrastructure.

While consumer prices have declined, the overall financial burden on operators has sharply increased. According to the GSMA, cumulative global spectrum costs now account for 7% of operator revenues – a 63% rise over the last ten years.

At the same time, average revenue per megahertz has dropped by up to 75% in some bands since 2014. To meet rising demand for bandwidth, operators have expanded their spectrum holdings by 80% over the same period, further driving up total costs.

Consumers, meanwhile, have benefited from a significant drop in data prices. The GSMA noted that the cost of a gigabyte (GB) of data has plummeted by 96% between 2014 and 2024.

GSMA Director General Vivek Badrinath said: “The mobile industry sits at the heart of the digital economy, enabling services and opportunities that transform lives. But a dollar can only be spent once, and high spectrum costs can choke investment at a time when the need for affordable, reliable connectivity has never been greater.

“Governments and regulators must prioritise spectrum pricing that reflects market realities and fosters long-term digital growth. By ensuring spectrum is affordable, they can unlock faster network expansion, better service quality, and greater digital inclusion for all of their citizens.”

Georgian mobile operator Cellfie Mobile has expanded its partnership with Finnish BSS provider Qvantel to include managed services for its business support systems (BSS), in a move aimed at accelerating its evolution into a digital services provider.

As part of the agreement, Qvantel has established an operations centre in Georgia and assembled a team of BSS experts to provide daily support to Cellfie.

Giorgi Niniashvili, Chief Information Technology Officer at Cellfie Mobile, said: “As the first mobile operator in Georgia to launch 5G services, we are proud to be leading the country’s digital advancement. Having a dedicated team of Qvantel BSS experts working alongside us strengthens our ability to innovate faster, operate more efficiently, and deliver the best possible experiences to our customers.”

The deal builds on Qvantel’s recent contract wins with Perfectum in Uzbekistan and Veon across multiple markets in its global footprint.

Telefónica has reportedly appointed investment bank Citi to advise on the sale of its Chilean unit, as the group continues to scale back its presence in Latin America.

According to Reuters, citing El Confidencial, the sale of its business in Chile would result in a capital loss for Telefonica. Under the leadership of new Group CEO Marc Murtra, the company has aggressively streamlined its portfolio to focus on its core markets in Brazil, the UK, Spain, and Germany.

So far, Telefonica has exited or reached agreements to divest its operations in Colombia, Peru, and Argentina. It has also reportedly hired JP Morgan to advise on the sale of Movistar Mexico, despite it being the country’s second-largest operator.

Telefonica has operated in Chile for 25 years, following its acquisition of a majority stake in Compania de Telefonos de Chile. Over time, the brand transitioned to Movistar and expanded its portfolio to include fixed-line and internet services.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said on Friday it intends to charge satellite internet players up to 4% of their adjusted gross revenue (AGR) over a five-year period to use spectrum allocated to them for satellite broadband services.

According to a statement from TRAI, both geostationary and non-geostationary satellite operators will have to pay a minimum annual fee of INR3,500 (around US$41) per MHz, with a cap of 4% of AGR.

Non-geostationary satellite operators – such as Eutelsat OneWeb and Starlink – will also have to pay an additional INR500 per subscriber per year for urban areas. Rural and remote areas will be exempt from the subscriber fee. TRAI said the government will also consider whether to subsidise satellite terminals in those areas.

TRAI also recommended that the Ku, Ka, Q/V, L, S, and C bands be assigned a period of five years, which the option to extend the assignment by another two years.

The proposal comes after months of consultation and debate that started when TRAI issued a consultation paper on terms and conditions for assigning spectrum for satellite internet services in September 2024.

The proposal still has to be approved by the Department of Telecommunication’s Digital Communications Commission and ratified by the cabinet, but it would officially establish TRAI’s preferred method of assigning satellite spectrum by administrative allocation rather than an auction process.

India’s three main telcos – Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea – had argued that an auction would be more fair, as the administrative allocation process would unfairly enable satellite broadband players to compete with telcos by offering cheaper internet services.

According to a report from ETTelecom on Friday, TRAI chairman AK Lahoti reiterated that the regulator considers satellite broadband to be a complementary service for terrestrial broadband, not a competitive one.

“It’s not factually correct that satcom services are competing with terrestrial services because there is a huge difference between the capacity of the terrestrial network and the satellite network,” Lahoti was quoted as saying.

Ironically, Airtel and Jio signed separate partnership deals with Starlink in March. Jio is also working with LEO satellite operator Eutelsat OneWeb via Orbit Connect India, the JV it established with SES in 2022.

The TRAI recommendations arrived a day after Starlink received a Letter of Intent from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for a satcom licence. The LEO satellite operator still needs clearance from Indian space regulator IN–SPACe before it can officially launch services.

Like Eutelsat OneWeb and Orbit Connect (which have all the necessary licences and regulatory clearances), Starlink is also waiting for the DoT to officially allocate spectrum with which to offer services, although the DoT provisionally allocated satellite spectrum to OneWeb and Orbit Connect in October 2024 for testing their respective satellite broadband services.

All licencees will also be required to comply with long list of security requirements, which the DoT revised last week.

The Indian government has reportedly granted conditional approval for SpaceX’s Starlink to begin offering satellite internet services in the country, according to a report by CNBC-TV18.

The broadcaster said a Letter of Intent was issued to the Elon Musk-owned company on May 7, signalling that a commercial launch is likely imminent. Similar letters were previously issued to Eutelsat OneWeb and Jio Satellite Communications ahead of their full licence approvals, CNBC-TV18 noted.

Starlink has faced several regulatory and political hurdles in its bid to enter the Indian market, which is among the largest in the world for internet connectivity due to its massive population. Its planned rollout encountered opposition from local mobile network operators, as well as national security concerns related to its low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation.

Ahead of receiving the government’s Letter of Intent, SpaceX had signed agreements with major Indian telecom players Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel to support the launch of its Starlink services.

Phase3 and Sonatel have activated a new terrestrial fibre route stretching 3,500km from Lagos, Nigeria, to Dakar, Senegal.

The route will provide scalable, low-latency connectivity, boosting cloud and content capacity across West Africa.

This collaboration marks the next phase of Phase3’s East-West fibre expansion, extending its Lagos-Accra corridor to reach Dakar, one of West Africa’s key digital hubs. This will provide a high-performance, land-based alternative to subsea systems, achieving latency as low as 32ms, and a much-needed layer of resilience for a region heavily impacted by the 2024 cable disruptions.

“This isn’t just a route, it’s a digital spine for West Africa,” said Stanley Jegede, Executive Chairman of Phase 3. “We’ve created a secure, high-capacity terrestrial path linking Dakar to Lagos while interconnecting our major platforms.”

By bridging networks through Benin, Togo, Ghana, and now through to Senegal, the new terrestrial path provides critical redundancy for hyperscalers, content networks, financial institutions, governments, and cloud providers. It also expands the Djoliba network from Ghana into Nigeria, while laying groundwork for Ikasira, Sonatel’s next-generation regional platform.

“We’ve designed this network for hyperscalers, CDNs, and operators that can’t afford downtime,” said Craig Lowe, Chief Growth Officer at Phase 3. “This is about data sovereignty, application performance, and cloud transformation. And most importantly, it’s about building an internet that doesn’t fail when the cables do.”

The route is engineered for financial services, enterprise cloud workloads, public sector digitisation, and media streaming, ensuring cross-border interoperability and local access to cloud zones like AWS Wavelength, hosted by Sonatel in Dakar. It also helps reduce exposure to future subsea outages, supporting national digital strategies across the region.

El Hadji Maty Sene, Managing Director of Sonatel Wholesale and International, added: “Dakar is emerging as a strategic connectivity hub for West Africa. With this route, clients benefit from diversified infrastructure, lower latency, and reliable access to global content.”

Cloud networking and security-as-a-service provider GTT Communications says it has expanded its global Tier 1 IP backbone in nine more countries in the Latin America and Asia Pacific regions.

In a statement on Wedneaday, GTT said its EnvisionCore IP network – which delivers low-latency connectivity for cloud-based applications and enterprise-grade traffic – now reaches key metro markets in Argentina, Chile, China, Colombia, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea and Thailand.

EnvisionCore serves as the backbone for GTT’s Envision platform, which provides access to the company’s suite of managed networking and security services, including Ethernet, SD-WAN, DDoS mitigation, SASE and managed firewall services.

GTT’s COO George Kuzmanovski said the expansion will boost connectivity options for wholesalers and enterprises operating in those markets, offering up to 400G speeds to handle growing demand for AI workloads and other hyperscale cloud apps.

“We’re especially pleased to expand our EnvisionCore platform to serve customers from these new locations, enhancing their network performance and improving network resiliency,” he said in a statement.

Airtel Africa returned to profit in its latest financial year driven by a rise in subscriber base despite a continued hit from currency devaluation across its markets.

In a statement, the operator highlighted an 8.7% year-on-year increase in total customers to 166.1 million, supported by a 4.3 percentage point rise in smartphone penetration to 44.8%. The number of data customers rose 14.1% to 73.4 million, with data usage per customer increasing by 30.4% to 7GB. This helped boost data ARPU by 15.4% in constant currency.

Mobile money users also grew, with Airtel Money reporting a 17.3% increase in subscribers to 44.6 million and an 11.4% growth in ARPU on a constant currency basis.

Key operational highlights for the year included the deployment of 2,583 new mobile sites and the rollout of approximately 3,300km of fibre to expand network capacity across its footprint.

However, full-year revenue fell 0.5% to US$4.96 billion, dragged down by currency devaluation -although in constant currency, revenue increased by 21.1%. Growth was strongest in the final quarter, buoyed by Nigerian tariff hikes and signs of macroeconomic stabilisation.

EBITDA dropped 5.1% to US$2.3 billion, with the margin narrowing to 46.5% from 48.8% the previous year. Capital expenditure totalled US$670 million, below guidance, but the operator plans to raise this to between US$725 million and US$750 million in the coming year.

Net profit reached US$328 million, a sharp turnaround from a US$89 million loss in the previous year, when earnings were hit by significant foreign exchange and derivative losses, particularly in Nigeria.