News

Attackers reportedly hacked into an order management system from TPG’s subsidiary, the broadband provider iiNet

Australia’s TPG has become the latest telco to suffer a major cybersecurity breach this weekend, with data having been exfiltrated from its ISP subsidiary, iiNet.

The breach occurred on August 16, where reports suggest it was quickly detected and contained. Nonetheless, the attack reportedly compromised around 280,000 active email addresses; 20,000 active landline phone numbers; 10,000 iiNet customer names, street addresses, and phone numbers; and 1,700 modem setup passwords.

“We unreservedly apologise to our iiNet customers impacted by this incident,” TPG said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange. “We will be taking immediate steps to contact impacted iiNet customers, advise of any actions they should take and offer our assistance. We will also contact all non-impacted iiNet customers to confirm they have not been affected.”

No sensitive customer information, like bank details or personal identity documents, was impacted by the breach, as this data was not stored in the iiNet order management system.

“We do not currently have any evidence to suggest an impact to our broader systems or other customers,” TPG said.

TPG says it is working closely with the Australian Cyber Security Centre, National Office of Cyber Security, Australian Signals Directorate, and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner to better understand the breach and take appropriate action.

Investigations into how the attackers gained access to these systems are underway, with early indications suggesting that account credentials had been stolen from an employee.

The first half of this decade has not been kind to TPG when it comes to cybersecurity. The company’s Hosted Exchange service, which provides email hosting for iiNet and Westnet business customers, was notably hacked at the end of 2022, impacting around 15,000 business customers. The attackers appeared to be accessing customers’ cryptocurrency and financial information.

Investigations into this attack are still ongoing.

Both attacks combined, however, still pale in comparison to that experienced by TPG’s rival Optus in 2022, when bad actors gained access to the data of up to 10 million of the company’s current and former customers. Illegally obtained information included customers’ names, dates of birth, home addresses, and more.

While a ransom of $1.5 million was initially demanded for the return of the data, the attacker ultimately backed down, allegedly deleting the stolen data due to the unwanted attention it garnered from law enforcement.

Keep up with all the latest telecoms news with the Total Telecom newsletter

Also in the news:
US judge rules Huawei must face charges of fraud and racketeering
Optus ditches football rights to focus on telecoms
Nokia launches digital twin platform Enscryb to digitalise energy sector

News

The operators had a duty to ensure customer data was not misused by third parties, the judges reiterated

This week, the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has sided with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), upholding a fine against T-Mobile for illegally selling customer location information (CLI).

The ruling relates to an FCC decision last year, which saw the regulator issue fines totalling almost $200 million to T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon for sharing customer data to ‘aggregators’ without prior consent. These data aggregators, such a LocationSmart and Zumigo, then resold or syndicated this data to third parties.

At the time, the FCC summarised its findings by saying the carriers had failed to take “reasonable measures” to protect their customers’ data from unauthorised use.

“The FCC Enforcement Bureau investigations of the four carriers found that each carrier sold access to its customers’ location information to “aggregators,” who then resold access to such information to third-party location-based service providers,” explained the FCC in its findings. “In doing so, each carrier attempted to offload its obligations to obtain customer consent onto downstream recipients of location information, which in many instances meant that no valid customer consent was obtained. This initial failure was compounded when, after becoming aware that their safeguards were ineffective, the carriers continued to sell access to location information without taking reasonable measures to protect it from unauthorized access.”

The regulator was first made aware that the mobile network operators were sharing location data to these aggregators in 2018. Fines were first proposed in 2020, but disagreements within the Commission led to delays in their implementation until 2024.

T-Mobile faced the lion’s share of the fines, with the FCC ordering it to pay roughly $80 million, plus a further $12 million on behalf of Sprint, with whom they merged in 2020. AT&T and Verizon were fined $57 million and $47 million, respectively.

All three of the operators have contested the ruling, arguing that the sales did not break the law and that the FCC did not have the authority to impose such penalties. AT&T’s fine was ultimately overturned in April, in part due to the process denying the operator the option of a jury trial.

T-Mobile’s appeal, however, has been less fruitful, with court judges rejecting the company’s calls to overturn or reduce the fines.

“[T-Mobile and Sprint] argue that the undisputed facts do not amount to a violation of the law,” U.S. District Court Judge Florence Pan  wrote in the court’s opinion. “The carriers also argue that the commission misinterpreted the Communications Act, miscalculated the penalties and violated the Seventh Amendment by not affording them a jury trial. Because the carriers’ arguments lack merit, we deny the petitions for review.”

In addition, the judges claimed that the operators continued to sell CLI, even after becoming aware of its misuse.

“Several bad actors abused Sprint and T-Mobile’s programs to illicitly access CLI without the customers’ knowledge, let alone consent. And even after Sprint and T-Mobile became aware of those abuses, they continued to sell CLI for some time without adopting new safeguards,” said the judges in their ruling.

T-Mobile has not yet indicated whether it will continue to appeal the decision.

With AT&T’s fine overturned and T-Mobile’s now upheld, eyes will now turn to Verizon, which is currently contesting its $47 million fine in a separate court.

Keep up with all the latest telecoms news with the Total Telecom newsletter

Also in the news:
US judge rules Huawei must face charges of fraud and racketeering
Optus ditches football rights to focus on telecoms
Nokia launches digital twin platform Enscryb to digitalise energy sector

Press Release

Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), the world’s digital infrastructure company^®, announced it is working with leading energy companies that are developing innovative approaches to generating reliable and sustainable electricity to support the needs of Equinix data centers worldwide. This is part of Equinix’s diversified portfolio power strategy to help mitigate potential power constraints in the future, by expanding traditional power arrangements with utilities and combining new on-site power generation technologies and exploring next generation nuclear energy. These agreements reflect Equinix’s focus to support the scale, efficiency and resiliency customers need through a comprehensive approach to power.

According to a report from the International Energy Agency, the world’s electricity consumption is projected to grow 4% annually through 2027, marking the fastest pace in recent years. This surge is driven by a perfect storm of factors: unprecedented electrification, data center expansion driven by artificial intelligence, and a resurgence in industrial manufacturing. This rising demand can put a strain on utility providers to generate enough power and is already putting pressure on aging electrical grids to distribute it. To help meet demand and support continued growth, the world’s energy grid will require new sources of electricity.

Equinix is taking a diversified portfolio approach to the global energy challenge by tapping into innovative power technologies and working directly with utilities to strengthen the grid. As of today, Equinix is funding and supporting advanced transmission system upgrades with utility partners, including new substations that will enhance grid reliability and emergency backup solutions that aim to benefit all ratepayers during power interruptions. Equinix is also investing in power solutions such as fuel cells and natural gas that are expected to enhance operations while adding capacity resources to the grids where it operates. Looking ahead, the company is supporting the development of advanced nuclear technologies that can deliver reliable, clean power in the future.

“Access to round-the-clock electricity is critical to support the infrastructure that powers everything from AI-driven drug discovery to cloud-based video streaming,” said Raouf Abdel, Executive Vice President of Global Operations at Equinix. “As energy demand increases, we believe we have an opportunity and responsibility to support the development of reliable, sustainable, scalable energy infrastructure that can support our collective future. By working with our energy partners, we believe we can support the energy needs of our customers and communities around the world by helping to strengthen the grid and investing in new energy sources.”

Next generation nuclear technologies can offer a pathway to faster nuclear deployments due to their simplified design and robust safety features. Equinix sees safe, efficient and reliable nuclear energy as a promising solution to help power both data centers and the broader grid. The company is working with:

• Oklo: In 2024, Equinix became the first data center operator to sign an agreement with a small modular reactor (SMR) company. Equinix signed an agreement to procure 500MW of energy from Oklo’s next-generation fission Aurora powerhouses. Oklo’s fast reactors incorporate inherent safety features and can be fueled by nuclear waste.
• Radiant: Today Equinix announced a preorder agreement for the purchase of 20 of Radiant’s Kaleidos microreactors. Kaleidos offers a reliable, long-lasting energy source that can be transported anywhere it’s needed, installed in days, and deployed safely alongside existing equipment and integrated with on-site transmission infrastructure.
• ULC-Energy with Rolls-Royce SMR: Equinix today announced it has signed a Letter of Intent with ULC-Energy for a PPA up to 250 MWe to power data centers in the Netherlands. ULC-Energy is an Amsterdam based nuclear project developer that in 2022 selected Rolls-Royce SMR as its preferred technology solution for deployment of SMRs in the Netherlands. Rolls-Royce SMR is developing a 470 MWe light water small modular reactor. In June, Rolls-Royce SMR was selected as the preferred bidder to partner with Great British Energy – Nuclear to deploy the UK’s first small modular reactors.
• Stellaria: Equinix announced a pre-order power agreement for 500 MWe to expand data centers across Europe. Stellaria, incubated by Schneider-Electric, and the CEA (French Atomic Energy Agency), offers the very first molten salt Breed & Burn reactor in the world. It will breed 100% of its liquid fissile fuel inside the reactor without refueling, while recycling spent fuels and burning long life waste.

Advanced fuel cells are another technology that can be used for scalable, efficient and cleaner onsite energy. Equinix has been using fuel cells for more than 10 years in collaboration with:

• Bloom Energy: Equinix has an agreement to expand its deployment of solid-oxide fuel cells to more than 100MW at over 19 data centers in six states to provide onsite power generation. Fuel cells are highly efficient and enable Equinix to avoid 285,000 MTCO2e emissions and 382 billion gallons of embedded water use.

“The potential challenges to powering reliable and sustainable digital infrastructure are considerable,” said Ali Ruckteschler, Senior Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer at Equinix. “However, Equinix has always been at the forefront of energy innovation, signing the data center industry’s first agreement with a SMR provider and pioneering the use of fuel cells a decade ago. Powering AI infrastructure responsibly is a global priority. With Equinix’s operational expertise, trusted supply chain, and close partnerships with the U.S. and global governments and utilities, we are poised to deliver safe, secure and reliable AI solutions for our customers and the communities we serve.”

Equinix is committed to being part of the creative and sustainable solutions that help address the world’s growing energy needs. As data centers continue to provide the crucial infrastructure powering AI and the global economy, it is essential to develop and deploy the energy infrastructure required to power them. The company remains committed to sourcing 100% clean and renewable energy across its global portfolio by 2030 and has already achieved 96% renewable energy coverage globally, with 250 sites operating with 100% renewable energy coverage in 2024.

Equinix also designs highly efficient data centers aimed at optimizing energy use. Since 2022, the company has phased in the adoption of industry best practice ASHRAE A1 Allowable (A1A) standards at new sites worldwide. This enables the flexibility of wider operating temperature ranges, which can optimize energy used for cooling without compromising performance. In 2023, Equinix announced plans to expand support for highly efficient advanced liquid cooling technologies—like direct-to-chip—to over 100 data centers across 45 metros around the world.

News

Geopolitical instability across the globe is seeing European spending on defence technology surge

According to a report from Bloomberg, Deutsche Telekom and Porsche Automobil Holding SE are discussing the formation of a new venture capital fund aimed at investing in defence technology.

Anonymous sources say the companies are looking to raise €500 million, though the size and composition of the fund have yet to be confirmed.

The fund will reportedly be run by DTCP, an investment unit of Deutsche Telekom created back in 2015. Then known Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners, DTCP replaced the company’s older venture capital unit T-Venture, investing in various tech companies over the past decade. According to reports, the unit has “backed over 60 digital transformation companies in Europe, Israel and North America”, as of last year.

DTCP already has a preexisting relationship with Porsche, having co-created a $120 million fund called Incharge Capital, aimed at funding mobility and connectivity software startups, in summer last year.

For both Porsche and Deutsche Telekom, the creation of this found represents a growing desire to capitalise on the global political instability that is driving the European defence sector towards rapid growth. In a press release from Porsche, the company said the move would help it grow more diversified, seeing “considerable development potential in the defense and security sector”.

“On our way to becoming a diversified investment platform, we are closely monitoring the areas of defense capability, security and European resilience. With regard to portfolio investments, our aim is to increase our involvement in the defense and defense-related sectors while maintaining our core focus on mobility and industrial technology,” explained Hans Dieter Pötsch, chairman of the board of management of Porsche SE.

How is the German connectivity market changing in 2025? Join the discussion at Connected Germany live in Munich

Also in the news:
US judge rules Huawei must face charges of fraud and racketeering
Optus ditches football rights to focus on telecoms
Nokia launches digital twin platform Enscryb to digitalise energy sector

News

Two pilot projects will see Openreach’s fibre network turn into real-time leak detection grid

The UK’s largest fibre network operator, Openreach, has announced a pair of trials with water companies and tech partners, aiming to use their network to quickly identify costly leaks.

In the first trial, in partnership with Arcadis, Thames Water, and Cadent, Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) technology from FiberSense will be used to pinpoint leaks in both water and gas pipes.

The DAS technology works by measuring the impact of nearby acoustic vibrations on the fibre optic cable’s signal quality. This data is then analysed using machine learning to exclude expected acoustic interference (such as that caused by a car traveling overhead) and identify genuine anomalies like leaks or blockages in nearby pipes.

This technique gives utility companies specific location data about network issues and functions largely as an early warning system, allowing them to tackle problems in a less disruptive manner, before they become emergencies.

According to Cadent, unplanned engineering work to repair these issues costs the UK roughly “£750m every year in terms of economic and social impact”.

The initial trial is running for six months in Hounslow, London, with the potential to expand the project into a London-wide pilot in future.

“Openreach were the obvious choice of telecoms partner for this project. We want to create a model that can be adopted in other UK cities, not just in London. Openreach have the national reach we wanted,” said Sam Bright, Innovation Manager for Thames Water.

FiberSense’s technology is already being used in similar projects worldwide, most notably for monitoring submarine cables such as the upcoming SMAP cable in Australia and the Southern Cross Cable Network in the Pacific.

Openreach’s second, similar project will see the operator partner with Affinity Water, who supplies drinking water to parts of London, eastern and south eastern England, and infrastructure monitoring company Lightsonic. This trial will use Lightsonic’s Distributed Fibre Optic Sensing (DFOS) tech to identify leaks, also through acoustic sensing and subsequent analysis.

The details surrounding this project were more limited, with the location and scope of the trial not yet announced. Nonetheless, it should hopefully contribute to reducing the roughly 3 billion litres of water lot through leakage in the UK each year.

“This is a transformative moment for our leakage strategy. By harnessing Lightsonic’s advanced fibre optic sensing technology and Openreach’s extensive network, we’re unlocking a new era of proactive leak detection,” said James Curtis, Head of Leakage at Affinity Water. “This will help us meet our ambitious leakage reduction targets and deliver a more resilient service to our customers.”

Fibre networks are not the only telco assets that can help to monitor utility infrastructure. In Germany, for example, T-Mobile recently announced a new partnership with Fluid Conservation Systems, using their mobile network to connect to the latter’s acoustic water monitoring sensors.

Also in the news:
US judge rules Huawei must face charges of fraud and racketeering
Optus ditches football rights to focus on telecoms
Nokia launches digital twin platform Enscryb to digitalise energy sector

Press Release

Zen Internet and Sky Business Wholesale have announced a strategic partnership that will see Zen’s partners and direct business customers gain access to Sky’s Ethernet-enabled exchange footprint.

Spanning over 2,800 exchanges, with more than 80 per cent enabled for 10 Gb services, the collaboration marks a significant step forward for Zen in delivering high-performance, scalable connectivity solutions to businesses across the UK.

The partnership lays the foundation for a long-term strategic relationship, with growth and innovation at its core. By aligning API strategies and automation capabilities, both organisations aim to accelerate quoting, ordering, and service delivery bringing greater speed and efficiency to its partners and direct business customers.

The partnership further strengthens Zen’s partner portal, ‘The Fibre Hub’, after its launch in May. The Fibre Hub already offers access to a full fibre (FTTP) footprint of nearly 20 million premises via infrastructure providers Openreach, CityFibre, ITS and Freedom Fibre, with Trooli products coming soon.

Zen will now also provide its channel partners and direct business customers access to Sky Business Wholesale’s Ethernet-enabled exchange footprint and 10 GB Ethernet services. This builds on Zen’s offering of Ethernet over FTTP and business-grade connectivity products from CityFibre and ITS.

David Barber, Strategy Director at Zen Internet, said:

“Sky’s network reach is a strong strategic fit for Zen. This partnership expands choice and flexibility for our channel and UK businesses we serve directly, enabling us and the channel to compete more effectively on price, coverage and service. It is another significant step in bringing genuine infrastructure competition to the UK market.

“As we continue to build relationships with more key network providers, we’re on track to offer the widest geographic reach and the best commercial advantage for the channel and for direct business customers.”

Damian Saunders, Managing Director at Sky Business Wholesale, added:

“We’re excited to partner with Zen, a business that shares our focus on innovation and customer choice. This is just the beginning of a broader collaboration that will bring real value and better outcomes for the channel and business customers alike.”

The move is in line with Zen’s ambitions to bringing better value connectivity to UK businesses while also offering greater choice to Partners through The Fibre Hub.

How is the UK connectivity ecosystem changing in 2025? Join the discussion at Connected Britain, the UK’s largest digital economy event

Also in the news:
US judge rules Huawei must face charges of fraud and racketeering
Optus ditches football rights to focus on telecoms
Nokia launches digital twin platform Enscryb to digitalise energy sector

News

The planned listing on the Nasdaq would make the operator the first Ukrainian company to be floated on an American stock exchange

This week, the shareholders of US-based special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Cohen Circle Acquisition Corp have approved the merger with Ukrainian telco Kyivstar.

The merger, first agreed in March this year, will see the creation of a $2.2 billion company that is expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker ‘KYIV’ as early as Friday.

Kyivstar’s parent company VEON has been looking to list the Ukrainian operator on the Nasdaq since late last year, with the merger with Cohen Circle helping to alleviate some of the most challenging parts of the process.

According to VEON’s CEO Kaan Terzioglu, the listing of Kyivstar – Ukraine’s largest telco and key player in the country’s reconstruction – “will be appealing to international investors”.

“Kyivstar Group’s listing on Nasdaq will be a landmark development, bringing a Ukrainian company with a market-leading position in telecommunications and digital services to the world’s premiere listing venue for technology companies,” said Terzioglu upon filing a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in June. With today’s filing, we continue to advance towards this historic moment, which we believe presents U.S. and global investors with a compelling opportunity to invest in Ukraine and become a stakeholder in its economic growth and resilience through a robust Ukrainian company.”

He has since called the listing “the people’s IPO”, claiming strong support from US authorities, Ukraine, and the European Union.

Earlier this week, sources speaking to Reuters said that Kyivstar expects to raise between $50 million and $200 million from the initial public offering, with VEON retaining a minimum of 80% of the company’s shares.

Kyivstar has been diversifying considerably in recent years, moving to capture new revenue streams in healthcare, ride-hailing, entertainment, and more. The shift is backed by a $1 billion investment plan, which aims to grow the company’s non-telco revenue to more than 50% of the company’s business by 2030.

In other related news, Kyivstar has this week reported the successful completion of its first direct-to-device testing with satellite giant Starlink. The operator says the successful test is a first for Eastern Europe, with messaging services over the satellite constellation expected to launch commercially later this year.

Also in the news:
US judge rules Huawei must face charges of fraud and racketeering
Optus ditches football rights to focus on telecoms
Nokia launches digital twin platform Enscryb to digitalise energy sector

Cartex, an emerging fintech leader in global payment solutions, has appointed Deepak Gusain as Chief Operating Officer. A senior leader with over 20 years of cross-sector experience in global digital infrastructure, Deepak joins Cartex’s C-suite to execute the company’s long-term growth strategy across financial services, embedded ecosystems and digital commerce.

As COO, Deepak will be responsible for scaling Cartex’s core business lines across card issuing, payment gateway infrastructure, telecom services, anti-fraud and embedded financial tools. His leadership will be central to building Cartex’s multi-sector ecosystem, enabling cross-border commerce, digital connectivity, and financial inclusion across key markets in GCC, Europe, India, Africa and Asia-Pacific.

Before joining Cartex, Deepak held senior leadership positions at Tata Communications, where he spent 17 years architecting large-scale digital transformation programs. His career spans high-impact roles in business development, global sales, and mobility and IoT infrastructure, driving consistent revenue growth and long-term strategic partnerships across telecom, aviation, manufacturing, government, and media sectors.

Widely recognized for his customer-first approach and ability to align technology, teams, and market needs, Deepak has repeatedly led first-of-their-kind initiatives with lasting impact. He has played a pivotal role in onboarding complex, enterprise-grade clients across diverse cultures and geographies while consistently delivering high growth and operational resilience.

“Cartex is building the operating backbone for the digital economy – where fintech and telecom converge to drive real-world impact,” said Deepak Gusain. “I am excited to scale this vision forward by developing regionally anchored teams, enabling scalable infrastructure, and building partnerships that unlock value for our clients and users worldwide.”

Cartex’s long-term roadmap includes deepening its B2B/B2C integration across e-commerce, embedded finance, and the creator economy as the company is investing in vertical-specific solutions that blend payments with connectivity, from virtual cards for travel and creator platforms to enterprise-grade telecom services for financial services, travel tech, hospitality industry. Under Deepak’s leadership, the company will drive both organic and inorganic growth, including strategic mergers and acquisitions, while forging key partnerships across enterprise ecosystems. His cross-sector expertise will be critical in scaling Cartex’s go-to-market execution across regions.

About Cartex

Founded in 2022, Cartex is a one-stop shop for financial solutions for Consumers, B2C and B2B. The company caters to multiple industries, including e-commerce, fintech, telecom, and the growing creator economy, offering innovative tools that simplify payment processing and improve user experience. Headquartered in Limassol, Cyprus and Dubai Internet City, Cartex is actively expanding its footprint across APAC, MENA, and Europe to serve a diverse global customer base. As the core business is to provide solutions to the content creator economy, Cartex is a hub for creators to produce content and make connections.

News

The latest breakthrough represents a significant boost for AI inferencing, reducing pressure on memory hardware

Today, Huawei has revealed a software breakthrough in high‑bandwidth memory (HBM) technology, a milestone that could see the company’s reliance on US chips dramatically reduced.

Revealed at the 2025 Financial AI Reasoning Application Landing and Development Forum in Shanghai, Huawei’s Unified Cache Manager (UCM) reportedly represents a significant advance in inference efficiency. According to speakers at the event, the UCM algorithm works by distributing data based on the different latency requirements for different types of memory. This shifts some memory‑heavy functions away from conventional HBM usage, allowing for greater efficiency.

According to Zhou Yuefeng, vice-president and head of Huawei’s data storage product line, and reported by the South China Morning Post, UCM can reduce AI inference latency by up to 90%t and increase system throughput up to 22-fold.

Huawei says it will open-source UCM in September.

The news is highly significant for the Chinese tech market, which is currently heavily reliant on imports for high-end HBMs, notably from SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics in South Korea, and Micron Technology in the US.

China’s access to these imports has been severely hampered by US sanctions in recent years, with the US Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) notably tightening restrictions on HMB exports to China eve further last summer. Under these new restrictions, second generation HBM chips (i.e., HBM2), first introduced in 2016, may still be exported to eligible end-users but more advanced models, such as HBM2e, HBM3, HBM3e, and HBM4, are entirely restricted.

These restrictions extend to HBMs made by third parties (for example, Samsung) if they are produced using US tech, ensuring China cannot easily circumvent these sanctions.

As such, the Chinse government has been heavily pressuring the country’s domestic memory chip players – like Yangtze Memory Technologies, Changxin Memory Technologies, and Tongfu Microelectronics – to catch up with their foreign rivals, with limited success. Until now, China’s HBM capabilities have been broadly limited to HBM2, while market leaders abroad are already advancing to HBM4.

Huawei’s announcement today could relieve some of this pressure on China’s domestic chip industry, with the software allowing the performance of lower quality chips to be greatly improved. However, it is far from a long-term fix to US sanctions on the most advanced HBM technology.

Also in the news:
US judge rules Huawei must face charges of fraud and racketeering
Optus ditches football rights to focus on telecoms
Nokia launches digital twin platform Enscryb to digitalise energy sector

News

Virgin Media O2 has today announced it is creating a new £1 million talent fund to help charities, local authorities, small businesses and social enterprises train apprentices — removing financial and structural barriers that have long held smaller organisations back from investing in early careers talent

This initiative will allow organisations to access Virgin Media O2’s apprenticeship levy fund, using this to cover the full cost of apprenticeship training for eligible roles. The programme is specifically designed to support women and people from global majority backgrounds looking to progress in a STEM-based role and will help build a diverse talent pipeline and leaders of the future.  

The fund, which will provide the full cost of training for eligible apprenticeships, has been developed in response to significant barriers identified in recent research. More than 3 million SMEs say hiring apprentices is simply not financially viable right now, with 35% citing cost pressure, 30% complexity of training programmes and over 800,000 (15%) saying insufficient levy funds are their key challenges.  

With nearly four in five employers (79%) saying they would be more likely to hire apprentices if additional financial support was available, the scheme could unlock hundreds of retraining opportunities for young people and career-changers. 

Clare Smyth, three-star Michelin chef and social mobility advocate, is backing the initiative. A former apprentice herself, she has risen to the top of her profession and is passionate about the role apprenticeships can play in giving everyone the opportunity to succeed. 

Commenting on the initiative, Clare said: “Doing an apprenticeship changed the course of my life and accelerated my career, giving me the building blocks that got me to where I am today. I’m proud to support a programme that’s breaking down barriers and creating opportunities for everyone by showing that success isn’t dependent on where you come from—it’s defined by where you can go. By tackling access and affordability constraints, and targeting underrepresented groups, this scheme can make a huge difference to communities across the country.”

Apprenticeship levy rules allow large employers to share up to 50% of their levy funds with other organisations. Virgin Media O2 is proactively using these funds to empower organisations looking to hire apprentices but struggling with the upfront cost or complex process.

Philipp Wohland, Chief People Officer, Virgin Media O2, said: ”We’re committed to backing the next generation of talent and creating opportunities for people to access the value of apprenticeships. By creating a £1 million fund to turbocharge these schemes, we’re investing in people as they build their skills and helping create a more inclusive, skilled workforce. We know apprenticeships change lives, and we’re proud to be opening doors and backing the next generation to create meaningful, long-term opportunities in the communities we serve.”  

Organisations can apply now to draw down funding from Virgin Media’s levy pot to fully cover the cost of apprenticeship training. Opportunities are available in areas such as digital, engineering, and data analysis — with an emphasis on social impact, inclusion, and skills for the future. 

How is the UK connectivity ecosystem changing in 2025? Join the discussion at Connected Britain, the UK’s largest digital economy event

Also in the news:
US judge rules Huawei must face charges of fraud and racketeering
Optus ditches football rights to focus on telecoms
Nokia launches digital twin platform Enscryb to digitalise energy sector