Papua New Guinea’s National Executive Council (NEC) – essentially its cabinet – has approved the Pukpuk Connectivity Initiative, which it has described as one of the most important digital infrastructure approvals in the nation’s recent history.

The approval relates to the Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific (AIFFP) proposal for a USD$120 million package of three new international submarine cable connections for Papua New Guinea.

Called the Pukpuk (a word meaning crocodile) Connectivity Initiative, the project is structured around a multi-route undersea cable solution, designed to bring three additional international cable connections to serve different parts of Papua New Guinea – specifically to improve redundancy and reduce single points of failure.This proposal will apparently come at no direct cost to the Papua New Guinean state.

The advantages the government cites include better reliability – there will be fewer disruptions when faults occur on any single route – along with improved service quality and stronger, more stable connectivity.

Improved affordability over time is another claim for the initiative as well as better access to essential services; the stronger backbone connectivity should be able to support education, health, banking and digital government.

This initiative is also about positioning Papua New Guinea as a credible digital investment destination with stronger redundancy and predictable wholesale capacity, notably by boosting a data centre economy, all of which would also create new employment opportunities.

The country’s Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) will work closely with AIFFP and national stakeholders to undertake the preparatory phase, including preliminary technical and economic assessments, identification of suitable cable landing sites, and coordination with central agencies, regulators, and prospective private sector participants. There will also be a focus on strengthened planning for security, resilience and operational continuity, consistent with national obligations and treaty-aligned commitments.

Related to this will be comprehensive consultation with the telecommunications industry and private sector on how best these new assets should be structured and managed – consistent with competition principles that support open and fair wholesale access; strong reliability and resiliency standards; long-term affordability for consumers and businesses; and investment certainty for future expansion.

A press conference has been promised for the last week of February to outline the implementation roadmap.

Although this is not directly referenced by the government announcement, the origin of the initiative appears to lie in a mutual defence agreement between Papua New Guinea and Australia, something we reported in December last year.

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The app provides GPS location tracking and an SOS button to quickly contact the police

Today, Openreach has announced the launch of a new worker safety app aimed at tackling the rampant abuse its engineers face while on the job.

The app, created in partnership with Peoplesafe, includes various safety features designed to support staff in the field. These include an SOS button and fall alarm connecting to a 24/7 control centre, GPS tracking for accurate emergency response, two-way audio and direct police dispatch, and commute monitoring and critical event alerts.

The app will be installed on all devices carried by Openreach engineers and will be optional for office staff.

“Fall alarms are activated by sensors in the person’s mobile phone, while the SOS alarms can be set off with a simple press of the handset. Emergency services can be on their way within minutes which is just incredible,” said Adam Elsworth, Safety Director at Openreach. “While Peoplesafe will only be mandatory for our field teams (due to the nature of their work) we hope all of our people will use the app to have peace of mind and support if and when they need it.”

Openreach recorded 700 incidents of either physical or verbal abuse since April last year. These include “being spat at, pushed down stairs, threatened with dogs and knives, punched and kicked and even barricaded into homes and vans”.

The company also says it has seen an increase in racially motivated incidents.

“The Peoplesafe app gives our people an added layer of safety while on the job and particularly for many of our colleagues that work alone for long periods of the day. It also helps us to address an area we have less control: attacks by members of the public,” said Elsworth.

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The move seeks to capitalise on Southeast Asia’s booming date centre market

This week, media reports suggest that a consortium led by KKR and Singtel is closing in on a deal to acquire ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC).

Negotiations, which are already at an “advanced stage”, would value the data centre business at around $10.22 billion.

“Singtel, as part of a consortium, continues to have discussions in relation to STT GDC. While these discussions are at an advanced stage, there is no certainty that such discussions will lead to any definitive or binding agreement,” said Singtel in a statement on Sunday.

STT GDC owns and operates around 100 data centres in over 20 markets, including Singapore, Malaysia, India, Germany, Italy, and the UK, according to the company website

Rumours that KKR and Singtel were in discussions to acquire STT GDC were first reported in July last year.

Both companies already hold stakes in the business, having jointly invested  $1.3 billion in 2024, with KKR owning 14.1% and Singtel 4.2%. The remaining majority stake in STT GDC is held by ST Telemedia, itself owned by Singapore’s state-owned holding company Temasek.

For Singtel, the deal would represent the operator’s latest step in its drive to become a regional AI data centre powerhouse.

The company’s Digital InfraCo unit was rebranded as Nxera in 2024, with the company aiming to expand its data centre capacity in Southeast Asia to 200MW by the end of 2027 in partnership with Nvidia.

By combining Nxera’s existing and planned data centre assets in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia with those of STT GDC, Singtel would immediately become one of the region’s largest digital infrastructure players.

KKR, on the other hand, already owns roughly 155 facilities with a pipeline of 12-gigawatts of capacity. The company has been on a spending spree in recent years to grow this capacity even further, most recently including a $1.5 billion investment in Global Technical Realty, a company specialising in building bespoke facilities for hyperscalers like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google.

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Telekom Srbija Group and its subsidiary Mtel are upgrading fibre connectivity between Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina using Ciena’s coherent optical technology, as the operator looks to boost cross-border capacity and prepare its network for rising data demand.

The upgrade will see Ciena’s 6500 packet-optical platform deployed on a new 150km fibre route between the two countries, enabling transmission speeds of up to 800Gb/s. Telekom Srbija said the higher-capacity, lower-latency link will support growing traffic from 5G services and hyperscale customers, while strengthening regional connectivity in Southeast Europe.

The project is being delivered in partnership with local systems integrator IGMAKO Smart Solutions.

Katarina Subotić, Chief Sales Officer at Telekom Srbija, said this is a “significant upgrade” to the operator’s network and enables it to launch “cutting edge technologies”.

Global smartphone revenues climbed to a record US$135 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025, rising 7% year-on-year as higher prices and strong demand for premium devices offset ongoing pressure on shipments.

Counterpoint Research said the quarter marked the first time the average selling price (ASP) of smartphones crossed the US$400 mark, driven by consumers increasingly opting for higher-end models and rising component costs for manufacturers.

The analyst house said premiumisation remained the main growth engine for the market, with vendors benefiting from consumers upgrading to more expensive devices despite shortages of memory chips pushing up production costs. Demand for silicon from AI servers and accelerators has tightened supply, feeding through into higher handset prices.

Counterpoint senior analyst Shilpi Jain said the combination of higher ASPs and resilient consumer demand delivered a “positive quarter” for the industry. “Consumers continued to upgrade to higher-priced devices in both developed and emerging markets, where year-end promotions, financing options and trade-in offers helped drive value growth,” she said.

Apple was the clear standout, delivering its strongest fourth quarter since 2021 and generating US$76 billion in revenue, up 11% year-on-year. Research director Jeff Fieldhack said growth was largely driven by the iPhone 17 series, with the Pro Max variant posting the strongest year-on-year performance. Demand remained strong across North America, Latin America and Asia-Pacific.

Apple accounted for 57% of total smartphone revenue in the quarter, up from 54% a year earlier. Samsung followed in second place with an 11% share, unchanged year-on-year, while Oppo and Vivo each captured 5%. Xiaomi accounted for 4% of total revenues.

Looking ahead, Counterpoint warned that rising component costs could weigh on volumes in 2026. Research director Tarun Pathak said ASPs are expected to continue climbing as premiumisation deepens and demand grows for AI-enabled features, but elevated memory prices and broader cost pressures will likely squeeze shipments. “Vendors will increasingly need to focus on value growth

and portfolio optimisation rather than chasing volume,” he said.

News

Starlink, a subsidiary of SpaceX, is trying to change the government’s broadband playbook, a new leaked document reportedly reveals.

By Brad Randall, Broadband Communities

States are being sent riders from Starlink that list caveats to the service the company will eventually give to broadband serviceable locations (BSLs) under government’s massive broadband push, known as the BEAD program.

The revelation comes after several “concerned states” reached out to broadband.io, according to Doug Adams, an admin for the website.

Adams said the riders, which he posted a copy of online, were marked as confidential.

His post describes the brewing conflict the riders signal, which also demand that Starlink be paid 50% upfront.

“Even though the rider insists that Starlink is paid 50% upfront, Starlink isn’t required to increase capacity before it is requested by BSLs,” Adams wrote. “This flies in the face of the NTIA’s June 6 guidance”

In his post, Adams also said multiple contacts at state broadband offices told him NTIA was urging states not to sign the riders.

His analysis of the rider continued.

“Starlink is asking to be paid (in arrears) for BSLs already subscribed and if at any point in time, a BSL tried service but cancelled, Starlink still wants these locations to be considered ‘served’.”

SpaceX, which operates Starlink as a wholly owned subsidiary, has thus far been granted more than any satellite provider in the program, according to Connected Nation’s BEAD tracker.

As has been previously reported, revised guidance to BEAD last year ordered bureaucrats to find more cost-efficient means of delivering broadband. As a result, the attractiveness of low-Earth orbit satellite connectivity has boosted for states seeking cheaper alternatives to fiber.

Of proposals analyzed by Connected Nation so far, Starlink has thus far been awarded over $733 million.

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Rome/Valencia, 30 January 2026

Sparkle, the first international service provider in Italy and among the top global operators, and Valencia Digital Port Connect (VDPC), the Spanish telecommunications infrastructure company developing the Barracuda submarine cable project in collaboration with private equity firm Teset Capital, announce a strategic agreement to land the Barracuda submarine cable at Sparkle’s Genoa Landing Platform.

The Barracuda project will establish the first direct high-capacity, low-latency submarine route between Spain and Italy, creating a 1,070 km digital bridge between Valencia and Genoa. Designed with an “open cable system” architecture, Barracuda will feature 12 fibre pairs, each with a capacity of 32 Tbps (Terabits per second). The project has an estimated total investment of €100 million and is scheduled to be completed in three years, with operations expected to begin in 2028.

Under the agreement, Barracuda will land at Sparkle’s Genoa Landing Platform, a scalable infrastructure designed to offer a turnkey, highly resilient and secure submarine cable landing on the Western European coastline. Through this infrastructure, the cable will reach Sparkle’s Genoa Digital Hub in Lagaccio, an open and neutral colocation facility and interconnection point with other submarine cables and European terrestrial networks as well as Internet Exchange Points already present in the facility. By landing in Genoa, VDPC will gain immediate access to major European hubs, avoiding the cost, time and administrative complexity of deploying a proprietary landing infrastructure.

As part of the broader agreement, Sparkle will also acquire infrastructure assets on the Barracuda submarine cable system between Valencia and Genoa and colocation in Valencia Cable Landing Station, a fully neutral, scalable infrastructure designed for Barracuda and up to three additional submarine cable systems. This additional capability will strengthen Sparkle’s connectivity in the Iberian Peninsula, serving the local as well as the growing West African market, thus further reinforcing its strategic footprint in the Mediterranean region.

“This agreement represents an important step in our strategy to position Genoa as a key gateway to Europe,” said Enrico Bagnasco, CEO of Sparkle. “The landing of Barracuda will strengthen and expand the city’s digital ecosystem, while the additional capacity on the system allows us to further expand our resilient, high-performance Mediterranean network and better serve international connectivity demand”.

Enrique Martín, CEO at Valencia Digital Port Connect said “This agreement with Sparkle marks a key milestone in the Barracuda project and confirms that we are advancing in line with our strategic roadmap. Securing Genoa as our landing point and welcoming Sparkle as a long-term customer reinforces Barracuda and Valencia Cable Landing Station as strategic assets for international partners confirming the credibility of. our ambition to have the system fully operational by 2028”.

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. A major player in the submarine cable industry, Sparkle owns and manages a network of more than 600,000 km of fiber spanning from Europe to Africa and the Middle East, the Americas and Asia. Its sales force is active worldwide and distributed over 32 countries.

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

About Valencia Digital Port Connect, S.L.

VDPC is a Spanish telecommunications infrastructure company headquartered in Alicante. Its mission is to establish a next-generation, neutral, and sustainable international connectivity hub in the Valencian Community through the deployment of advanced colocation infrastructure, terrestrial interconnection networks, and submarine connectivity solutions. VDPC is leading the development of the Barracuda submarine cable connecting Valencia with Genoa, including a data center and neutral cable landing station on the Valencian coast. The team is composed of seasoned professionals with executive backgrounds in telecom multinationals, the industrial sector, and academia.

Find out more about VDPC following LinkedIn profiles or visiting the website valenciadigitalport.com 

Sparkle Media Contacts

sparkle.communication@tisparkle.com

X: @TISparkle

Valencia Digital Port Connect Media Contacts

Pablo de Santiago

34. +34.679.607.604
35. pablo@desantiago.com

Indian telco Bharti Airtel announced on Thursday it is giving all of its 360 million customers free access to Adobe Express Premium for a year.

Adobe Express (formerly Adobe Spark) is Adobe’s content creation tool with AI-powered features like instant background removal, custom image generation, and one-tap video editing, premium Adobe Stock assets, over 30,000 professional fonts, 100GB cloud storage, and advanced features like auto captions and instant resize, with seamless sync across devices.

Airtel said its partnership with Adobe enables its customers to produce professional-quality content, regardless of their design experience. The offer targets everyone from creators, influencers and students to SMEs, entrepreneurs and marketers, as well as ordinary consumers. Adobe Express supports English, Hindi, Tamil and Bengali.

The Adobe Express Premium subscription – which Airtel says normally costs INR4,000 (US$43.50) a year – will be available to all Airtel customers, including mobile, Wi-Fi and DTH customers. Customers can access the subscription by logging on to the Airtel Thanks App, with no credit card requirement.

« This partnership is about more than technology. It is about empowering millions of Indians with cutting-edge AI tools to create and innovate,” said Siddharth Sharma, CEO of connected homes and director of marketing at Bharti Airtel, in a statement. “From a student crafting their first resume to a small business owner designing a poster or a creator editing videos for followers, we want to empower every Airtel customer with the tools for self-expression.”

News

The launch means all African nations on the Mediterranean have now launched 5G

This week, Libya’s second largest state-owned telco, Almadar Aljadid, has announced the launch of 5G in parts of the capital, Tripoli.

For now, the launch is limited to just central parts of the city, but citywide coverage – and, indeed, nationwide coverage – will take place in stages, according to the company.

The company said the launch represents a significant boost in service quality for customers, as well as noting the technology’s potential to support key industries like healthcare and education.

2025 was a remarkable year for North Africa’s mobile markets, with Tunisia launching 5G in February, Egypt in June, Morocco in November, and Algeria in December. Now, with Libya’s launch, the entire region has formally entered the 5G era.

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Despite efforts to expand capacity, semiconductor players are struggling to keep pace with demand

As the AI boom continues to gain momentum, two of the world’s leading chipmakers, SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, are warning that their expansion plans will not move fast enough to ease supply chain bottlenecks.

The companies, both which reported their latest financial results this week, said that the memory chip supply crisis would be unlikely to alleviate for the next two years despite their best efforts.

“We are planning a substantial increase in our capital expenditure in 2026 as AI-driven demand is likely to continue,” said Kim Jae-june, executive vice-president of Samsung’s memory business, as reported by the Financial Times. “But supply shortages are likely to worsen as capacity expansion is expected to be limited this year and next.”

SK Hynix has plans to invest 19 trillion won ($12.9bn) in the construction of a semiconductor packaging facility in Cheongju, while Samsung is investing 60 trillion won ($41.5 billion) in its P5 factory in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, which broke ground in November last year.

Both investments are driven by the surge in demand for High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), a crucial part of AI accelerators and data centre GPUs, as well as other memory chip technology; SK Hynix says it expects the HBM market to continue to grow significantly between 2025 and 2030, with projections indicating a compound annual growth rate of 33% until 2030.

However, the additional capacity being generated from these new facilities will take time to realise.

“Demand is growing sharply, but it takes time to expand capacity, so the mismatch in demand and supply is worsening, pushing chip prices higher,” added Song Hyun-jong, president of SK Hynix, in the same FT report.

The extent of the memory bottleneck is already being felt acutely across the world. The cost of dynamic random access memory (DRAM), for example, has skyrocketed since 2024, and is set to double again this year.

At the same time, the industry is also in the midst of a significant shift, moving from the current HBM3E technology to the more advanced HBM4. These next generation memory chips will offer higher data transfer speeds (exceeding 1 TBps per stack) and more than double the bandwidth of HBM3E, making them ideal for AI data centres.

SK Hynix is currently the global leader in this latest memory design, accounting for roughly 60% of the overall market, according to Macquarie Equity Research. Samsung, however, is expected to soon challenge this position, beginning production of its own HBM4 chips next month.

Needless to say, this memory bottleneck is making both SK Hynix and Samsung very rich.

SK Hynix reported a net profit of 97.15 trillion won ($67.9 billion), up 46.8% year-on-year, while Samsung saw profits rise to 45.21 trillion won ($31.6 billion, up 31.2% year-on-year.

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