Rome, 2 April 2026

Sparkle, the first international service provider in Italy and among the top global operators, announces a new collaboration with EdgeNext, a global Content Delivery Network (CDN) and Intelligent Edge Cloud Platform, for the provision of International IP Transit services in Europe. Through this agreement, Sparkle enables EdgeNext to expand its network presence beyond Asia, providing its European clients with faster, more reliable connectivity.

EdgeNext is a leading provider of edge cloud services, offering networking, security, and computing solutions to enterprise clients. The company operates over 1,500 edge nodes across more than 290 cities worldwide, supporting its goal of delivering reliable, high-performance digital access globally, with a focus on Africa, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, with plans to expand further internationally.

Under the agreement, Sparkle will provide IP Transit via its Tier 1 global IP backbone, Seabone, offering reliable, low-latency IP transit services in Europe with throughput in the range of Terabits per second. Both companies aim to replicate this success in Africa and South America, expanding global digital access and enabling the next generation of cloud services.

“We are pleased to partner with EdgeNext in their expansion to Europe,” said Enrico Bagnasco, CEO of Sparkle. “Through our Seabone network, we are able to provide reliable, high-performance connectivity to support their cloud and CDN services, helping them deliver optimal experiences to their clients.”

“Partnering with Sparkle allows us to rely on a Tier 1 global operator, extending our network capabilities beyond Asia,” said Terence Wang, CEO of EdgeNext. “Through this collaboration, we can offer faster and more reliable services to our European clients, marking an important step in our international expansion.”

With 89 PoPs in Europe and a comprehensive suite of IP solutions, including DDoS Protection and Virtual NAP, Sparkle positions itself as a partner of choice for cloud providers and network operators worldwide, delivering ultra-fast, low-latency, high-performance connectivity across Europe and beyond.

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. As a leading player in the submarine cable industry, Sparkle owns and manages a network of more than 600,000 km of fiber stretching across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Americas, and Asia. Sparkle’s sales team has a global presence, with representatives in 32 countries.

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

About EdgeNext

EdgeNext is a prominent leader in the global edge cloud services industry, with a robust infrastructure of over 1,500 edge nodes spanning more than 290 cities worldwide. The company has established strong interconnection partnerships with over 100 key operators worldwide, enabling it to deliver comprehensive edge cloud services, including networking, security, and computing, to meet the diverse needs of its enterprise clients. As part of its ongoing commitment to expanding its presence and capabilities, EdgeNext has been actively growing its infrastructure throughout the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. This expansion allows EdgeNext to provide tailored, high-performance solutions for major Internet Service Providers (ISPs), local businesses, international organizations, and strategic partners, ensuring their specific needs are met with precision and efficiency.

Sparkle Media Contacts:

sparkle.communication@tisparkle.com

X: @TISparkle

EdgeNext Media Contacts:
marketing@edgenext.com

Telecoms infrastructure provider Helios Towers has unveiled a plan to invest US$100 million to expand its telecoms infrastructure in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with backing from the National Agency for the Promotion of Investments (ANAPI).

Under an agreement between Helios Towers DRC and ANAPI, Helios’ expansion program will cover all 23 provinces including Kinshasa, Upper Katanga, Kongo Central, Maniema, Ituri, Kasai Central, Eastern Kasai, Kwilu, Mai-Ndombe, Mongala, North Kivu, North Ubangi, Sankuru, South Kivu, Lualaba, Tanganyika, Tshopo, Ecuador, Upper Uélé, South Ubangi, Upper Lomami and Kasai.

Helios said it aims to significantly strengthen network coverage throughout the DRC and meet growing demand for connectivity and digital services.

ANAPI said it has been supporting Helios Towers projects in the DRC since 2011, injecting more than US$200 million across several phases of investment.

ANAPI director general Rachel Pungu Luamba said that apart from the telecoms infrastructure gains, the latest expansion project will also create around a hundred direct jobs and thousands of indirect jobs for young Congolese.

« This investment illustrates the renewed confidence of international partners in the economic potential of the DRC, as well as the effectiveness of the reforms undertaken to improve the business climate, » she said at a press event in Kinshasa announcing the investment plan on Tuesday.

She added that the Helios investment also serves the government’s National Digital Plan « Horizon 2025 » and the « DRC Digital Nation 2030 » vision, which aim to make digital tech a pillar of economic and social development.

BDx Data Centers, an owner and operator of data centres in Asia, has announced the successful close of a US$320 million loan facility, marking what it calls a major milestone in the company’s commitment to building world-class digital infrastructure across Asia.

The transaction is led by Bank Permata, BCA, and KB Bank.

This facility will support several strategic initiatives, including the further development of CGK3, BDx’s AI-focused data centre campus in Jakarta’s emerging central business district, which went live in September 2025.

Purpose-built to meet the rapidly growing demand for high-density compute infrastructure, CGK3 is among the first liquid-cooled campuses in Jakarta, which is designed to support the most advanced and power-intensive AI workloads being adopted by enterprises and hyperscalers.

In addition, the loan proceeds will be used to refinance existing debt on more favourable terms and to fund investments to increase the high-voltage grid capacity at BDx’s Jatiluhur (CGK4) and Suryacipta (CGK5) campuses, also in Indonesia, to 1.2 GVA. BDx says these campuses are being developed to cater to the increasing demand from US and regional hyperscaler and AI customers.

The focus on Indonesia appears to be no coincidence. BDX says Indonesia represents one of Southeast Asia’s most dynamic digital growth markets, and BDx’s investments in energy-efficient facilities designed for long-term resilience and sustainable growth are aligned with the region’s accelerating AI and cloud adoption.

Mayank Srivastava, CEO of BDx Data Centers, adds: “By investing in AI-optimised liquid-cooling infrastructure, high-voltage power platforms, and scalable campuses, we are developing the next generation of infrastructure for ‘AI factories’ with ultra-high-density GPU workloads.”

News

The transaction is designed to accelerate Nxtra’s buildout of large-scale and edge facilities to serve enterprises, hyperscalers, and government customers across India.

Bharti Airtel has secured a $1 billion equity infusion for its data centre arm Nxtra Data from a consortium led by Alpha Wave Global, with participation from The Carlyle Group, Anchorage Capital and Airtel itself, the company said.

Under the terms disclosed, Alpha Wave Global will contribute $435 million, Carlyle $240 million, Anchorage Capital $35 million, with Airtel investing the remainder. Final investor stakes will be subject to post-closing adjustments and customary approvals.

According to reporting, the deal will see Nxtra valued at roughly $3.1 billion, with Airtel remaining the controlling shareholder.

The capital will be applied primarily to capacity expansion, with Nxtra planning to grow from about 300 MW today to a targeted 1 GW, aiming t control roughly a quarter of India’s data centre market.

Headquartered in New Delhi, Nxtra already operates 14 major data centres and more than 120 edge facilities across India, with recent openings in Pune and active development of AI-ready campuses in Chennai, Mumbai, and Kolkata.

As always, the deal is subject to typical regulatory approvals.

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The rumor mill went from zero to 60 late yesterday afternoon after a report by TMT Finance. Uniti Group might be getting an offer soon, with T-Mobile and TPG looking to divide things up. T-Mobile is interested in the last mile, while TPG would be looking at the wholesale and enterprise fiber. … [visit site to read more]

African ministers and partners have adopted a declaration agreeing to develop telecoms infrastructure as a strategic pan-African foundation for sovereignty, resilience, inclusion and economic transformation.

The Algiers Declaration on African Telecommunications Sovereignty and Integrated Connectivity (2026–2030) was adopted on Sunday in Algiers at the end of a ministerial summit during the first Global Africa Tech event, which wrapped up on Monday.

The declaration lays out a shared commitment to deliver meaningful and affordable connectivity for all, with priority to rural and underserved communities.

The declaration also calls for building integrated continental infrastructure that links terrestrial, subsea and satellite networks; strengthening local digital infrastructure such as data centres, internet exchange points and trusted cloud capabilities; and protecting critical telecoms infrastructure and enhancing resilience and cybersecurity.

Signatories also pledged to promote trusted, secure, and interoperable digital ecosystems, and invest in human capital and local industry to anchor long-term digital sovereignty.

William Kabogo Gitau, cabinet secretary for Kenya’s Ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy (MICDE), said in a Facebook post on Sunday that the Algiers Declaration recognises that the digital divide is not only a development challenge, but a question of sovereignty and that inclusion and sovereignty must advance together.

“As a continent, we must now focus on implementation, coordination, and measurable progress ensuring that this shared vision translates into tangible outcomes for our citizens,” Gitau said. “Africa is moving with clarity and purpose towards a connected, resilient, and sovereign digital future.”

Five priorities for the work ahead

Selma Malika Haddadi, deputy chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), said in a keynote address at Global Africa Tech on Saturday that while various countries across Africa have made individual progress in developing their own digital infrastructure and striking interconnectivity agreements, more needs to be done to unify those efforts for Africa as a whole to reach its full digital potential.

“No matter how interoperable our systems become, no matter how advanced our networks grow, no matter how many platforms, protocols and networks we develop, they will remain incomplete if they are not underpinned by a shared continental and political will,” Haddadi said. “We cannot build systems that connect Africans if we remain disconnected in vision. We cannot build a trusted continental infrastructure without also building trust in one another. We cannot speak of interoperability while tolerating fragmentation of purpose. Pan-Africanism reminds us that Africa rises most strongly when it acts in coherence.”

Haddadi illustrated the scope of the work ahead with statistics from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) showing that mobile broadband covered 86% of Africa’s population at the end of 2024, yet 14% still had no way of connecting at all, especially in rural areas where that figure rose to 25%.

“Even more telling is the usage gap: millions live within network coverage, yet remain excluded by the cost of devices, the cost of data, limited digital skills, and low trust in digital systems,” she said. “This is not a marginal issue for the Africa we are building.”

Haddadi outlined five priorities that should guide work going forward: a resilient and diversified connectivity architecture across land, sea, and emerging space-based systems, closing the usage gap with affordable services and digital literacy, localisation of compute and data capacity, interoperability and reduction of regulatory fragmentation, and cross-border spectrum and technical coordination.

“The moving pieces are already in place,” she said. “What is now required is disciplined alignment, deliberate investment, and collective resolve.”

News

TIM follows its rival Fastweb+Vodafone in refusing to renew its contact with Italy’s largest tower company

On Monday, Italy’s largest mobile operator Telecom Italia (TIM) announced that it will not renew its Master Service Agreement (MSA) with tower giant Infrastructure Wireless Italiane (INWIT) in 2030, based on a change-of-control clause exercised by INWIT in 2022.

The move follows news last week that TIM’s local rival Fastweb+Vodafone is also seeking to terminate its agreement with INWIT. In this case, the operator says that INWIT did not exercise its change-of-control clause, which would allow it to terminate the agreement in March 2028. If this claim is found to be true, TIM has clarified that it will also terminate the agreement at this earlier date.

INWIT, currently Italy’s largest tower operator, was founded in 2015 via the spinning-off of TIM’s passive mobile infrastructure. The company subsequently merged with Vodafone Italia’s tower unit and continued to grow, with its infrastructure footprint today spanning around 26,000 towers across the country.

In recent years, both TIM and Fastweb+Vodafone have complained that INWIT’s fees are too high, driving them to seek alternative options.

As such, TIM and Fastweb+Vodafone recently announced their commitment to launch a new infrastructure joint venture, which aims to deploy up to 6,000 towers across Italy. This business, the companies claim, will allow the operators to improve operational efficiency and align costs with the European average.

INWIT, however, contests the legality of the MSA terminations and arguing that its fees are in line with international benchmarks.

“This action is unlawful and lacks industrial rationale,” INWIT said. “The contract remains valid and effective until 2038; it is in line with market conditions and creates value for all parties involved.”

“Any attempt to terminate the contract early must be considered instrumental and aimed at exerting undue pressure on Inwit to renegotiate the terms of the MSA,” the company added in response the Fastweb+Vodafone announcement, saying it “has instructed its lawyers to take action in all appropriate venues, including seeking injunctive relief, to fully protect its interests and those of all stakeholders.”

INWIT also argues that the decision to shift to a new tower provider will cause unnecessary overbuild and be bad for the nation’s digital development.

“Infrastructure duplication has no industrial, economic or environment logic, requires biblical implementation time and would slow down much-needed development of 5G,” said INWIT in a statement.

If the cancellations do progress, both operators say will seek to negotiate a migration plan with INWIT to ensure that customers will be unaffected by the decision.

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Partner Article

Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison CEO Vikram Sinha is positioning the company as a key enabler in the island nation’s AI renaissance

Speaking to journalists at MWC 2026, Indosat CEO Vikram Sinha reiterated the company’s ambition to pivot from a traditional telco to an “AI-native” powerhouse, saying success could help ‘fast track’ the nation towards its Golden Indonesia 2045 Vision goals.

“Our purpose is to empower Indonesia. The country is on a journey to become a developed nation […] and we believe that AI can be a great enabler,” said Sinha.

Calling AI Indosat’s “North Star”, Sinha explained the company’s approach to the technology as being built on three distinct pillars: first, embracing AI within its telco operations; second, evolving into an AI TechCo providing sovereign cloud services; and, finally, acting as a “nation shaper” for Indonesia’s future.

Indosat is already wholeheartedly embracing this first step, with Sinha emphasising that the company must first transform itself with AI before setting its sights further afield.

“We want to become an AI-native telco and embed AI into everything we do,” he said.

Indonesia perfectly positioned to become an AI leader

While many nations are racing to adopt AI, Sinha argues that Indonesia possesses unique structural advantages that make it ideal for AI development. To demonstrate this, he presented the “AI five-layer cake” – a model encapsulating five key foundational elements for AI success (Energy, Chips, Infrastructure, Models, and Applications), first made popular by NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang.

When it comes to the first of these elements – energy – Indonesia is very well positioned, generating substantial surplus power each year.

“When you talk about building AI factories and sovereign AI, a lot of countries struggle on energy, water, land. Indonesia has it in abundance,” said Sinha.

Moving up the ‘cake’ to chips and infrastructure, Indosat has already begun deploying GPU-based AI infrastructure and is scaling its data centre ambitions alongside global technology partners.  Sinha highlighted the country’s efficient cost structure as a significant competitive advantage, with Indosat currently building data centres at roughly half the cost of those in Europe or the US.

“Because we are a low-ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) market, we have to be efficient. This makes our cost structure one of the best in the world for global customers,” he said, adding that the country’s unique geopolitical position also made it an attractive location for investment. “Indonesia has a clear philosophy of ‘friends to all’, with trade agreements with both the US and China.”

Partnerships with companies such as NVIDIA and Google Cloud are intended to accelerate the build-out of the ecosystem while ensuring local control over data and applications.

“In early days, when you talk about building infrastructure, you’re talking about building roads and highways. Now it is all about building digital infrastructure,” said Sinha. “This mission-critical for Indonesia.”

Finally, when it comes to AI models and applications, Indosat is building its own solution: the Sahabat AI platform.

Building sovereign AI infrastructure and ecosystems

Launched in 2024 and powered by NVIDIA GPUs, Sahabat AI is an open-source LLM designed specifically for Bahasa Indonesia and regional languages. Unlike general-purpose global models, Sahabat has been created as a “sovereign AI” ecosystem for Indonesia.

“We are not trying to compete with ChatGPT or Gemini,” said Sinha. “We want to focus on sovereign sensitive data and local language and cultural nuances.”

By providing the necessary compute power and infrastructure for Sahabat domestically, Indosat is fostering a local ecosystem for startups and innovators to co-create applications in essential sectors like agriculture, healthcare, and education.

Sinha is particularly adamant about the importance of keeping data and innovation within national borders to avoid “digital colonisation,” a risk he views as the greatest threat to emerging economies.

“We want to move from being a consumption market to a country which is into infrastructure and co-creation,” he said.

AI: The great equaliser

Beyond the commercial opportunity, Indosat is positioning AI as a driver of broader economic and social development. With a population of around 280 million spread across more than 17,000 islands, Sinha believes AI can play a critical role in addressing structural challenges in Indonesia.

“AI is a great equaliser,” he said. “We are looking at AI from a growth mindset – how it can empower humans.”

That philosophy shapes the company’s early use cases. One initiative uses AI to detect fraud and scam activity across the network. According to Sinha, the system has already blocked more than two billion suspicious communications and flagged millions of potential scammers.

“Our job is not only to connect, but also to protect,” Sinha said.

Other applications are focused on healthcare and agriculture, two sectors where digital tools could help bridge gaps in access and expertise. AI-enabled services could help doctors make faster diagnoses or provide farmers with more precise insights.

Crucially, Indosat says it is prioritising deployment beyond major urban centres.

“It has to help the most deserving,” Sinha said, describing how early AI initiatives were piloted in rural eastern Indonesia rather than the metropolis of Jakarta.

Ultimately, Sinha sees the operator’s AI strategy as closely tied to Indonesia’s long-term development ambitions. By combining connectivity, compute and local innovation, he believes the country can evolve from a digital consumer to a global creator economy.

“If the country is doing well, all of us will do well,” he said.

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