Five network and infrastructure items from around the globe to catch up with: … [visit site to read more]

NEC and its subsidiary Netcracker Technology have completed the acquisition of US software company CSG Systems International, strengthening their telecoms software and digital services portfolio.

The deal combines Netcracker’s OSS, BSS and AI-driven automation capabilities with CSG’s customer engagement, payments and business support software business.

Following the acquisition, Netcracker will oversee the integration and operations of CSG, while NEC will provide strategic and governance support. Netcracker chair and CEO Andrew Feinberg has been appointed chairman and CEO of the combined business.

The companies said the merged platform will focus on AI-driven automation, cloud-native software and digital service management aimed at telecoms, broadband and digital service providers.

NEC CEO Takayuki Morita said the acquisition strengthens the company’s global digital services business and enhances its ability to provide end-to-end solutions for operators undergoing digital transformation.

Netcracker CEO Andrew Feinberg added that the combined business would create a more integrated platform spanning customer engagement, monetisation and operations, while helping operators adopt more AI-driven business models.

The Kenyan government has given social media platform X, formerly Twitter, three months to establish a physical presence in the country.

Cabinet Secretary for the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy William Kabogo has explained that X is currently operating under temporary authorisation while compliance talks continue.

According to ITWeb Africa, Kabogo told senators on Wednesday that the requirement forms part of broader efforts to enforce child protection and content moderation standards on platforms with large audiences in Kenya.

The argument appears to be that if a company has offices in Kenya and is accused of issues arising from its platforms, it can then be held accountable in that country.

In addition, it seems that an expanded framework has been granted to the regulator the Communications Authority of Kenya, which can now suspend the operations of digital platforms that breach local rules or fail to comply with directives issued through the country’s communications governance structure.

Other social media platforms are apparently facing heightened scrutiny, including TikTok and Meta.

There is a wider context to this; the growing influence and reach of social media in Kenya. In fact in early May the Media Council of Kenya, an independent national institution established for the purposes of setting, and ensuring compliance with, media standards, published its State of Media 2025 Survey (available at the MCK website) which revealed that social media has overtaken television as Kenyans’ primary news source. Indeed, 39% of respondents cite it as their main platform.

Television followed at 31%, radio at 19% and other sources made up the remainder. Overall, 74% of Kenyans now use social or digital media platforms for news.

Access to social media is dominated by mobile phones; the figure here is 91%. WhatsApp (19.8%) and Facebook (18.2%) are still the most popular platforms, followed by TikTok (14.9%) and YouTube (12.3%).

More than half of Kenyans do not regularly visit news websites, underscoring the fact, as the survey puts it, that social platforms have become the primary gateway to news.

Ericsson, China Mobile and Chinese handset maker Oppo revealed on Wednesday they have successfully tested network slicing at the consumer device and app level on a live 5G Standalone (SA) network.

The test – which was carried out on China Mobile’s commercial 5G SA network in the city of Dezhou in Shandong province – leveraged existing network capabilities, and covered application scenarios including uplink for livestreaming, short video download and upload, multiple functionalities with AI-powered glasses, and providing a robust connection for mobile gaming.

For example, the application-level slicing test detected when short videos or uplink livestreams were buffering on Oppo devices, which then automatically notified the user and offered to switch the traffic to a dedicated slice for better connectivity if the user agreed to do so. Combined with radio resource partition, network resources were prioritized and allocated to short-video or uplink livestreaming apps.

China Mobile said slicing option enables uplink livestreaming and short-video to achieve a more than a twofold improvement in network performance, while latency for gaming scenarios was reduced by at least 30%.

For Oppo’s AI glasses – which use cloud-based AI agents and sport an object recognition feature – China Mobile and Ericsson leveraged user-level slicing and latency-priority scheduling technologies for the uplink and downlink to reduce round-trip time latency for object recognition by at least 30%.

Ericsson said the test successfully achieved fine-grained resource allocation and isolation at both the user and application levels, delivering validated results for typical services in terms of guaranteed throughput and latency optimization on the existing 5G network.

That said, Ericsson added that the commercial deployment of these slicing capabilities “still requires further ecosystem maturity and broader support from commercial terminals.” Ericsson, China Mobile and Oppo said they will collaborate to jointly advance that ecosystem.

Rome, 14^th of May 2026

Sparkle, the first international service provider in Italy and among the top global operators, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with NaiTel, the telecom arm of Aqaba Digital Hub, and iLevant Ltd, to extend the GreenMed submarine cable system through the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, supporting the development of a new digital connectivity corridor linking Europe and Asia.

Under the agreement, the parties will work to integrate the GreenMed subsea with terrestrial fiber networks and regional interconnection platforms in Jordan, strengthening connectivity resilience across the Mediterranean and supporting the development of diversified digital infrastructure connecting Europe and Asia.

Jordan, through Aqaba Digital Hub, already serves as a landing point for the BlueMed and the Blue & Raman submarine cable systems, further reinforcing its role as a strategic terrestrial gateway on the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC).

Eyad Abu Khorma, Founder and CEO of Aqaba Digital Hub, said: “Jordan is uniquely positioned at the intersection of major global connectivity routes linking Europe and Asia. The extension of GreenMed toward Jordan represents a natural next step in strengthening diversified and resilient digital infrastructure across the region. We are pleased to continue our collaboration with Sparkle, a leading global operator, on advancing a new digital corridor that integrates subsea and terrestrial networks, further reinforcing Jordan’s role as a strategic gateway connecting Europe, the Middle East and Asia.”

Enrico Bagnasco, CEO of Sparkle, commented: “This agreement marks a further milestone in the development of GreenMed and confirms the strength of our long-standing collaboration with NaiTel and iLevant. Expanding the system across Jordan enables the connection of strategic digital ecosystems and fosters new development opportunities across the Mediterranean region and beyond.”

GreenMed has received funding from the European Commission under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) programme.

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 NaiTel

NaiTel is the telecom arm of Aqaba Digital Hub and a licensed telecom operator in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. NaiTel focuses on the development of telecommunications infrastructure and connectivity platforms, including fiber networks, peering services through AqabaIX, and international connectivity solutions, supporting regional digital ecosystems. Through its infrastructure and strategic initiatives, NaiTel enables carriers, digital platforms, and enterprises to access resilient connectivity across Jordan and the wider region.

Find out more about NaiTel by following its LinkedIn profile or visiting the website naitel.jo

About Aqaba Digital Hub
Aqaba Digital Hub is MENA’s leading digital infrastructure provider and the home of Jordan’s largest carrier-neutral, AI-ready data center. Its services include fiber internet, Jordan’s fastest-growing Internet exchange point (IXP), cloud platforms, VSAT, and subsea cable landing facilities, among others. ADH enables enterprises and technology providers to scale operations, accelerate digital services, and expand their regional impact.

Through its platform, ADH connects businesses to key partners and opportunities, ensuring competitive advantages in a dynamic digital landscape. Its commitment to innovation and sustainability drives forward-looking solutions, reinforcing Aqaba’s role as a premier connectivity hub. Find out more about ADH by following its LinkedIn profile, emailing us at info@adh.jo, or visiting our website at http://www.adh.jo.

About iLevant Limited

iLevant Limited is an international consultancy and advisory firm specializing in digital infrastructure, connectivity strategy, and technology-driven solutions. The company supports telecommunications operators, infrastructure providers, and investors in the planning, development, and implementation of large-scale connectivity and digital infrastructure projects across global markets.

Sparkle Media Contacts:

sparkle.communication@tisparkle.com

X: @TISparkle

Naitel Media Contacts:

info@adh.jo

The continued expansion of Lightpath is now taking the company beyond its metro roots and into the longhaul fiber business. The New York-based fiber builder and operator has announced plans to build out a new diverse route between Columbus, Ohio and Chicago, Illinois. … [visit site to read more]

Press Release

Investors including Canalink, GUILAB, International Mauritania Telecom, Orange Group, Orange Côte d’Ivoire, Sonatel, Silverlinks, announce the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to initiate the Via Africa submarine cable project, confirming a shared ambition to develop international connectivity, to support traffic growth and to strengthen the resilience of networks across the African continent.

This brand-new system aims to connect Europe to South Africa — including landing points in the United Kingdom, France and Portugal — with destinations along the Atlantic coastline such as the Canary Islands, Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria, with extensions further south supporting increased connectivity diversity and improved resilience for countries along the route.

A consortium-based subsea infrastructure

The Via Africa system is managed as a consortium, enabling participating partners seeking autonomy and sovereignty to co-invest in the infrastructure and take part in its governance. This robust and proven model allows investors to participate directly in the decisions regarding the design, deployment and exploitation of the system and contribute to decisions that best meet their needs. The initial telco and digital player partners are open to additional partners potentially joining the project in the future.

Enhancing resilience and connectivity diversity across Africa

The new open cable project is designed to contribute to greater diversity and resilience of international connectivity serving Africa, by providing a different subsea route than existing infrastructure and strengthening the robustness of regional connectivity.

Next steps for the project

As part of the initial phase of the project, consortium members will jointly finance a cable route study to identify the optimal cable route that balances resilience, technical feasibility and overall economic efficiency.

In parallel, the consortium is preparing the procurement process for selecting a cable supplier, marking the next step in the development of the system.

Heirs Insurance Group has announced the launch in Nigeria of its multi-language generative AI assistant, Prince AI, which, it says, marks a major milestone in its digital transformation journey and reinforces its commitment to making insurance simple, accessible and inclusive.

With Prince AI, Heirs Insurance, which describes itself as Nigeria’s fastest-growing insurance group, says it becomes the first insurer in Nigeria to deploy a multi-language generative AI assistant. The AI-powered assistant delivers instant, intelligent responses not only to customer requests about Heirs Insurance products, but also to broader insurance enquiries, helping users understand coverage options, assess their needs, and identify the right policies for their unique situations.

Language is a key part of this offering. Prince communicates fluently in multiple local and international languages, including English, Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese and many more.

Beyond handling enquiries, the AI assistant enables customers to purchase and renew policies, and initiate and track claims. The chatbot is available across WhatsApp, the SimpleLife Mobile App, and the Heirs Insurance website, delivering seamless, always-on service experience across multiple digital touchpoints.

Peace Okhianmhense-Philips, Chief Digital Officer, Heirs Insurance Group, explains: “By embedding generative AI into our customer experience, we are not only improving speed and efficiency but also humanising insurance. This innovation allows us to connect more meaningfully with our customers, anticipate their needs, and deliver support that is instant, intelligent and accessible.”

Built on adaptive intelligence, the AI Assistant continuously refines its capabilities through every interaction. Personalised counsel is also offered if required.

Heirs Insurance Group, the insurance arm of Heirs Holdings, a leading pan-African investment company, serves both corporate and individual customers across Nigeria.

If there’s one part of the continental US that it’s been particularly hard to build out new intercity fiber, it’s what they call the Northern Tier. The lack of population density always made the business case hard to justify.  But in the era of hyperscalers and AI, that route is finally getting attention, and Lumen Technologies is looking to expand across it. … [visit site to read more]

Press Release

New single voice communication layer reduces complexity and costs for multinational organisations as they evolve their AI-powered workplace collaboration strategies.