Three metro expansion projects and one bit of M&A news: … [visit site to read more]

Sri Lankan telco Dialog Axiata announced on Tuesday it has launched Dialog Pay, a unified payments and financial services ecosystem designed to boost adoption of digital payments.

Dialog Pay – which is an integrated platform within the MyDialog App, but also available as a standalone app – enables customers to make LankaQR payments, transfer funds, access their digital wallet, open savings accounts and fixed deposits, and apply for loans powered by Dialog Finance, without having to switch between multiple applications.

Customers can activate Dialog Pay with their eZ Cash accounts, or link their preferred bank account to the app.

Dialog Axiata said it is also rebranding its existing Genie digital wallet as Dialog Pay as part of the new launch.

Dialog Axiata group CEO Supun Weerasinghe said Dialog Pay supports the government’s recently launched Lanka QR Payment Promotion Programme to drive adoption of digital payments in Sri Lanka, and aims to make it easier for customers to manage payments and financial services.

“We are thankful to our partners for joining us in this national initiative and look forward to working alongside all stakeholders to accelerate digital payment adoption across the country,” he said in a statement.

News

The Thai telco is questioning the validity of a newly reported $1 billion stake in the business

The Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is under scrutiny this week after individual investor, identified as Supaporn Pimphong, has reported a trade bringing her ownership of telco True Corporation to 7% – but the telco says it has doubts the trade really took place.

The discrepancy came to light when True asked the SEC to verify a filing showing Supaporn had acquired a roughly a 3.2% stake from UBS Group AG on June 15.

This acquisition would raise Supaporn’s position to around 7.1%, worth around 32.5 billion Baht ($1 billion), making her one of True’s largest stakeholders.

Further confusing matters, Supaporn’s filing claimed the purchase included both ordinary shares and a block of ‘preferred shares’. True Corp, however, says it has never issued preferred shares and have none outstanding in their capital structure.

The SEC has subsequently launched a probe into the matter.

An individual investment of this scale is always noteworthy, but the lack of information surrounding Supaporn’s identity makes the apparent mistakes in this filing particularly concerning.

Initial investigations into her identity by Thai media outlet Khao Hoon uncovered no information regarding her business background, investment track record, or preexisting wealth portfolio. What they did find, however, was that since 2018 Supaporn had filed massive ownership positions in major Thai blue-chip companies, including a 49% stake in GJS Steel and positions over 5% in Bangkok Bank, Kasikornbank, an Asia Aviation. Combined, these stakes would be worth around $1.5 billion, not including Supaporn’s supposed $1 billion stake in True.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) and the respective companies’ shareholder registries have since confirmed that none of these positions officially exist.

So, what exactly is going on here? It seems highly likely that Supaporn does not really exist, but what is the point of the deception?

One theory is that this is a form of stock market ‘pump and dump’, with the fake positions being filed to artificially inflate stock prices before the sale of the owner’s real shares.

Another theory, proposed by Kasikorn Securities, suggests that the transfer of shares may have indeed taken place, with the Supaporn filing used to conceal the identity of the real final owner and mask financial restructuring.

The report notes that the True transaction perfectly aligns with UBS AG London Branch acquiring shares from Charoen Pokphand Group, a billionaire conglomerate and True Corp’s largest shareholder.

Regardless of the whether the transaction in fact took place here, the finding severely undermines the viability of the SEC’s reporting mechanism. The filing of a Form 246-2 requires encrypted user registration, identity verification against a national database, and validation of the underlying assets being traded by a brokerage; if these guardrails are somehow compromised, the validity of all the SEC’s public financial disclosures could be at risk.

The SEC is currently working with the SET for an emergency overhaul of their combined data infrastructure to address any weaknesses, but it could be some time before the extent of these systemic issues are fully revealed.

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Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison (IOH) will extend the tenure of President Director and Chief Executive Officer Vikram Sinha for another five years, subject to shareholder approval at the company’s upcoming Annual General Meeting.

The operator said the decision reflects the board’s confidence in Sinha’s leadership as IOH moves into the “next phase of its transformation”, with artificial intelligence becoming a key focus of its business strategy.

Sinha has been with Indosat Ooredoo since 2019 and oversaw the operator’s massive merger in 2022, in which Indosat joined up with Hutchison 3 Indonesia.

Looking ahead, the company plans to increase investment in AI across its network, enterprise offerings and digital services, while supporting the development of Indonesia’s domestic AI ecosystem.

The board also reaffirmed its support for IOH’s long-term financial target of doubling EBITDA, signalling confidence in the company’s growth strategy.

“Indosat has demonstrated the value of consistent execution and long-term strategic focus,” said President Commissioner Nezar Patria. “As the company enters its next stage of growth, the Board remains confident in Vikram Sinha’s leadership and the management team’s ability to deliver sustainable value for shareholders and contribute to Indonesia’s digital development.”

IOH claimed that AI is already being deployed across Indosat’s operations to improve network performance, automate internal processes, optimise capital investment and enhance customer engagement through more personalised digital services.

The operator is also expanding beyond connectivity by building capabilities in cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity and enterprise digital solutions. As part of this strategy, IOH  developed its sovereign AI initiatives, including open source LLM Sahabat-AI, NeoCloud and GPU cloud services, supported by partnerships with technology companies such as Nvidia.

Another priority is the development of a distributed AI computing infrastructure using Indosat’s nationwide network and data centre assets. The company says this will provide enterprises, developers and public sector organisations with greater access to AI computing resources across Indonesia.

Press Release

VodafoneThree is trialling a new process to help the banking sector block scams

VodafoneThree has helped develop a proof of concept to help banks tackle fraud and protect their customers.

Created with Barclays, and in partnership with Mobile Ecosystem Forum* and Cyber Defence Alliance, the proof of concept has since expanded to include The Co-operative Bank, now part of the Coventry Building Society, and TSB.

Since August 2025, more than 2 million fraudulent messages have been blocked from reaching participating banks’ customers. This marks an estimated 25% increase in blocked scam messages on VodafoneThree’s network.^[1]As UK banks lose £1.17 billion a year due to fraud^[2], this process helps stop fraudulent SMS messages before they reach banking customers, while ensuring legitimate messages still get through.

Building on the success of VodafoneThree’s existing scam prevention tools, which blocked 139+ million fraudulent SMS in 2025 alone, the process sees VodafoneThree working closely with banks to build bespoke rules to the existing SMS firewall. This intelligence can differentiate between fraudulent SMS content and legitimate communications from banks to their customers.

Recent malicious SMS messages focus on impersonating banks and asking customers to share their personal or financial information urgently via scam phone numbers or phishing links included in the messages.

Rachel Andrews, Director of Corporate Security and Fraud, VodafoneThree, said: “Preventing fraud on our network and protecting trust in the UK’s digital economy is a huge priority. With fraud now accounting for 44% of all crime^[3], no single organisation can tackle it alone. We’re working closely with banks, government, law enforcement, and industry partners to stay ahead, evolving our capabilities as quickly as fraudsters change their tactics. What’s clear is that we need to innovate as well, scaling new solutions like this is crucial in making the UK one of the toughest places in the world for fraudsters to operate.”

Nick Gliddon, Business Director, VodafoneThree, said: “Banks sit at the frontline of the UK’s fight against fraud, and their role has never been more critical. Together, we’re leading the way by stepping up our work with banks to strengthen protections and accelerate new solutions. And we’re challenging partners across the sector to match that ambition by working with us to raise the bar and better protect customers at scale.”

Paul Davis, Head of Economic Crime, Barclays, said: “Protecting our customers’ money and data is our highest priority. With reports of APP scams originating via SMS increasing by around 40% in 2025 compared with 2024, it is essential that we continue to work together to stay ahead of new threats. By sharing intelligence across banks, telecoms providers and industry bodies, we can help stop suspicious messages before they reach customers, while ensuring our customers still receive genuine messages from us. VodafoneThree’s work is a strong example of how collective action can help tackle fraud at source and better protect consumers.”

Garry Lilburn, Operations Director, Cyber Defence Alliance, said: “At the CDA, we seek to bring our banking members, Telecommunication, Law Enforcement and Tech partners together to problem solve on cross-sector problems. This project, initiated at such a cross-sector meeting, with MEF, Vodafone Three and Barclays bank, is an excellent example of cross-sector collaboration. Working with MEF, collectively, we will scale this project and its success to protect a wider number of banking and telecom customers.”

Dario Betti, CEO, Mobile Ecosystem Forum, said: “For many years, MEF has been at the forefront of the fight against smishing, continuously evolving our strategy to keep pace with the changing tactics used by fraudsters. We are very pleased to have supported VodafoneThree in this successful initiative, which shows what can be achieved when industry partners work together in a practical and targeted way to tackle fraud. The results are significant, and we look forward to seeing this approach adopted more broadly across the industry.”

Chris Gray, CISO, The Co-operative Bank, said: “Our customers’ safety is our top priority. Alongside our Cyber Fraud Fusion Cell – where we bring together expertise to spot and stop scams fast – this initiative helps tackle fraud at source. By partnering across sectors to block fraudulent messages before they reach customers, together, we’re strengthening everyday banking security and keeping people’s money safe.”

George Hulland, Fraud Prevention Manager, TSB, said: “For too long, UK households have lost life-changing sums to cruel fraudsters posing as their bank, so this much-needed intervention with Vodafone should help cut scams off at source. Fraud can only be tackled with different businesses coming together, and this is a great example of cross-sector collaboration to protect consumers. Banks will never ask you for personal information, or to transfer money to them – so if you’re ever asked, hang up, it’s fraud.”

VodafoneThree urges customers and members of the public to remain vigilant and report any suspicious messages or voice calls to our dedicated 7726 SPAM reporting link, either by clicking on the SPAM icon or forwarding to 7726 at no extra cost. This valuable intelligence is then shared with other mobile network providers and anti-scam organisations, helping to protect customers.

Keep up to date with the latest news with the Total Telecom newsletter

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News

The South Korean giant is betting heavily on both chip production and data centre growth

South Korean conglomerate SK Group has announced a massive 2,100 trillion won ($1.36 trillion) investment roadmap targeted at domestic semiconductor manufacturing and AI data centre deployments.

The strategic push focuses heavily on securing upstream supply chain dominance and scaling computing infrastructure to reposition South Korea on the global AI stage.

“We should not simply export AI products. We need to export intelligence itself while building a domestic market for AI-driven intelligence,” said SK Group’s chairman Chey Tae-won, as reported by Yonhap News Agency.. “To achieve that, we will rapidly build AI factories in the form of large-scale AI data centers.”

SK Hynix plots memory chip production expansion

The group’s semiconductor division, SK Hynix, is spearheading the hardware allocation by committing 1,100 trillion won ($706 billion) to scale production capacity for High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM) and next-generation DRAM and NAND flash components critical for AI workloads.

Key capital projects within the chip investment include:

• Cheongju: 100 trillion won ($65 billion) allocated for site expansion.
• Southwest Cluster: 400 trillion won ($261 billion) earmarked to construct an entirely new semiconductor production hub.
• Yongin Mega-Cluster: 600 trillion won ($392 billion USD) dedicated to fast-tracking the deployment of its primary semiconductor hub. The group has pulled forward the completion timeline for this project to 2033, moving it 12 years ahead of its original 2045 deadline.

The broader long-term vision outlines a sustained capital expenditure of approximately 100 trillion won ($65.3 billion) annually in South Korea over the next decade, according to Chairman Chey.

SK Telecom pivots to GPUaaS and regional infrastructure

In tandem, telecom unit SK Telecom will deploy 1,000 trillion won ($642 billion) to build out physical AI data centres. The operator intends to establish 15 GW of AI data centre capacity across South Korea by 2035, with an interim target of 5 GW operational by 2029.

The initial phase involves a 140 trillion won ($91.5 billion) investment targeting the southeastern Yeongnam region to create a localised AI hub. This rollout begins with a 100MW hyperscale AI data centre in Ulsan, scheduled to begin operations in Q4 2027. SKT plans to expand this site by an additional 900MW, alongside another 1GW deployment elsewhere in the region.

“The massive AI data centers could transform the region into a hub for the verification and expansion of manufacturing AI, when combined with the manufacturing capabilities in the region,” SK Telecom’s CEO Jung Jai-hun announced during a public briefing with South Korean president Lee Jae Myung last week.

SK Group’s multi-year investment plans arrive amid unprecedented infrastructure spend across the global technology landscape; US hyperscalers, including Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Oracle, are forecast to spend a combined $600 billion to $750 billion USD in 2026 alone. While SK Group’s investments pale in comparison to these true giants, it nonetheless places the organisation firmly as a regional competitor.

For a telco, on the other hand, the scale of these AI investments is broadly unrivalled. SK Telecom has long signalled its intent to shake off its role as a traditional telco and embracing a new persona as an ‘AI factory’. Backed by architectural alignment with NVIDIA, the operator aims to leverage this massive footprint to position itself as a major GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) provider in the Asia-Pacific region.

SK Group has interntional AI ambitions too.  Last month, SK Telecom said it would invest 738 billion won ($480 million) into the newly formed ‘AI Co.’, a US-based subsidiary of memory giant SK Hynix created in January by repurposing its US flash memory firm Solidigm. The business, which is intended to operate as a strategic investment and ecosystem vehicle, is backd $10 billion from SK Hynix and a further $250 million and $380 million from SK Inc. and SK Innovation, respectively. 

By unifying upstream chip manufacturing via SK Hynix with mega-scale data center infrastructure from SK Telecom, SK Group is establishing a strong foundation for global AI development. This multi-trillion-won capital strategy effectively shifts the conglomerate from a regional component supplier into a high-margin, full-stack intelligence powerhouse capable of reshaping the Asia-Pacific tech landscape.

Keep up to date with the latest news with the Total Telecom newsletter

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Papua New Guinea saw movement on the 5G front on Friday after Digicel PNG announced its mobile network is now officially 5G-ready, while the country’s regulator released two draft plans for 5G spectrum bands.

Digicel PNG announced it has completed end-to-end 5G readiness testing on its network, with the results validating its network’s capability to deliver 5G connectivity.

Digicel PNG said its network achieved peak download speeds of up to 1.2 Gbps during the trials.

Digicel PNG’s interim CEO Brett Goschen said the test results demonstrate that its network will be able to deliver 5G benefits to customers, including HD and ultra-HD streaming, enhanced mobile gaming and real-time experiences via lower latency, and more reliable connectivity for businesses, whilst also paving the way for future digital services and innovation across industries.

“The successful completion of our 5G readiness testing marks a significant milestone for Digicel PNG and for the country’s digital evolution,” Goschen said in a statement. “It confirms that our network is fully prepared to support the next generation of mobile technology, delivering faster speeds, improved responsiveness, and greater reliability for our customers.”

That said, Goschen added that while the network is ready to launch 5G, commercial availability is still some time away, saying only that details of a commercial launch “will be shared at a later stage.”

Papua New Guinea’s National Information and Communications Technology Authority (NICTA) has yet to issue definite plans to assign 5G spectrum and allocate new licences, having been focused on expanding the reach of 4G and enabling Starlink services in unserved areas.

However, also on Friday, NICTA issued a public consultation notice on two draft papers proposing to use the 2300-MHz and 3500-MHz spectrum bands for 4G and 5G services.

Under the proposals, telcos would need to acquire a spectrum licence, which will be good for between five and 15 years, and an apparatus licence for the base stations, which would be valid for five years.

Comments are due on July 15, but no timeline has been given on when NICTA plans to award licences for either band.

Chile telecoms regulator Subtel has this week announced plans to expand competition in satellite services in Chile and to incorporate new bands to improve connectivity.

Subtel – the country’s Undersecretariat of Telecommunications – has published a modification to the technical standard that regulates the fixed satellite service, incorporating new frequency bands for its operation in the country.

This means that as well as established bands such as Ku and Ka for satellite service, the ruling has expanded to incorporate new frequency ranges that include the W band (ranging from 75 to 110GHz). In the coming days Subtel says it will publish plans to incorporate the V band (40 to 75GHz).

In practice, this will permit an expansion of the capacity of satellite networks, improve data transmission and strengthen satellite connectivity, especially in remote and rural areas or areas with less access to terrestrial infrastructure such as fibre optics or 5G.

Subtel says this change is also part of its agenda aimed at facilitating the deployment of infrastructure and accelerating the adoption of new technologies, particularly in rural and remote areas, with the aim of promoting investments that improve the quality of networks, and thus the quality of life of people.

The measure applies in general to all operators and satellite internet service companies that already operate in Chile – including Starlink and HughesNet – as well as to new companies that may join the market in the future. The hope is that the updated ruling will attract more investment and strengthen the regulatory framework by making it more modern and competitive.

The Undersecretary of Telecommunications, Romina Garrido, explains that with more radio spectrum “satellite services can operate more efficiently, support a greater volume of traffic and offer better services to people”. This will show itself, he says, “in more stable connections, higher speed and shorter network response time, in addition to more resilient connectivity against emergencies or interruptions, complementing the telecommunications infrastructure that already exists in Chile, especially for isolated and rural areas”.

Contributed Article

By Ferris Adi, Chief Information Security Officer, Trans Americas Fiber System

Subsea cables have long been viewed as physical infrastructure, fiber on the ocean floor, landing stations, and cable ships. That view is no longer sufficient. Today’s subsea systems are defined less by steel and fiber, and more by the digital operating ecosystem that surrounds them. As these environments become more automated, remotely managed, and vendor-integrated, they are quietly transforming into critical cyber systems, and expanding the attack surface in ways many organizations have yet to fully recognize.

The risk has shifted, but the narrative hasn’t

Public discussion still focuses on physical risks: anchor dragging, fishing activity, and geopolitical disruption. These threats remain real and visible.

But the more immediate risk is less visible, and more scalable: What happens if the systems used to operate, monitor, or restore subsea infrastructure are compromised? In modern environments, the cable itself is no longer the most vulnerable point. The management plane is.

From passive asset to digital ecosystem

A subsea system is no longer a single asset. It is an interconnected service model that includes:

• Network operations platforms and control systems
• Vendor access and remote support pathways
• Identity, privileged access, and monitoring infrastructure
• Cloud-connected services and customer platforms
• Restoration, assurance, and operational workflows

This ecosystem drives performance, but it also defines the attack surface. A compromise in any one of these layers can escalate quickly from a technical issue into an operational, regulatory, or customer-impacting event.

The hidden critical layer: The management plane

The most important systems in subsea cybersecurity are often the least visible to executives. The management plane governs how infrastructure is configured, accessed, monitored, and restored. If compromised, it provides attackers not just with disruption capability, but with the ability to operate the network itself.

This risk is amplified in environments with:

• Heavy reliance on vendor support
• Weak identity controls or shared credentials
• Limited segmentation between IT, OT, and operational systems
• Unmonitored or poorly governed remote access

If the management plane is not secured, resilience is largely theoretical.

Why geographic diversity is not enough

The subsea industry has historically defined resilience through route and bare metal servers in a 1+1 config for the NMS, multiple paths, landings, and restoration options. That assumption no longer holds in a cyber context. Cyber threats are not constrained by geography. A globally distributed network can still fail in a correlated way if it shares:

• Identity vulnerabilities
• Common vendor access models
• Centralized management dependencies
• Untested recovery processes

Geographic diversity reduces physical risk. It does not address systemic cyber risk. True resilience requires design diversity, access control, and operational discipline.

The greenfield advantage, and responsibility

New subsea programs have a rare opportunity: the ability to build security before operations begin. This is the point where decisions are most impactful—and least expensive to implement. Organizations that succeed treat cybersecurity as a core design function, embedding it into:

• Architecture: Segmentation, controlled access pathways, separation of operational and corporate environments
• Supplier models: Clearly defined access controls, accountability, and oversight
• Operational readiness: Logging, monitoring, and validated recovery capabilities
• Emergency access: Structured, time-bound, and auditable “break-glass” processes

If these controls are not built early, they become significantly harder, and often incomplete, once operations are underway.

Supplier risk is now an operational risk

Subsea infrastructure depends on specialized suppliers. That dependency is unavoidable. What must change is how it is governed. Supplier assurance can no longer sit within procurement processes alone. It must be operationalized daily, through:

• Controlled and monitored remote access
• Session visibility and auditability
• Defined roles in incident response and recovery
• Clear ownership and accountability

If a supplier is critical to restoring service, they must be part of the resilience model before an incident, not during it.

Resilience is defined under pressure

The true test of subsea cybersecurity is not policy; it is behavior during disruption.

Marine repair events illustrate this clearly. Under pressure:

• Access controls are often relaxed
• External actors are introduced
• Decisions are accelerated
• Standard processes are bypassed

These conditions increase cyber risk at precisely the moment when operational dependency is highest.

Leading operators recognize that repair windows are also cyber events, and plan accordingly, with predefined access controls, approval mechanisms, and validation processes.  Resilience is not theoretical. It is controlled execution under stress.

From compliance to operational readiness

Cybersecurity frameworks provide structure but they do not guarantee resilience.

Resilient organizations are defined by their ability to:

• Detect meaningful anomalies across identity, access, and management systems
• Make informed decisions quickly under pressure
• Coordinate effectively across internal teams and suppliers
• Restore services with confidence, and evidence

The shift required is from control presence to operational confidence.

The board-level question that matters

Executives do not need detailed technical expertise, but they do need clarity. The most important question is not whether controls exist, but whether they work when needed.

“If a critical management system or supplier access path were compromised today, how quickly would we know, and how confidently could we restore service?”

This question forces alignment across governance, technology, operations, and supplier management. It also exposes the difference between compliance and resilience.

The next decade will raise the stakes

Subsea infrastructure is becoming increasingly strategic and increasingly contested.

It underpins:

• Cloud and hyperscale platforms
• Financial and digital economies
• Government communications and national security
• AI-driven workloads and global data exchange

At the same time, advances in AI, automation, and supply chain complexity will accelerate both attacker capability and operational dependency.

Technology alone will not determine the outcome. The differentiator will be governance and operational discipline.

Redefining the asset

The future of subsea cybersecurity will not be secured by protecting the cable alone. It will be secured by protecting the operating model around it, identity, access, vendors, monitoring systems, and recovery processes. Subsea infrastructure has always connected continents. But in a digital-first world, the real challenge is no longer connectivity.

It is trust. And trust, in this context, is built on one thing: Proven resilience before it is needed.

The submarine cable industry is evolving rapidly. Join the industry in discussion at Submarine Networks EMEA 2027