Press Release

Vodafone and Ericsson have successfully demonstrated two AI-powered voice services, real-time noise cancellation and language translation, running directly within the mobile network.

Vodafone Group and Ericsson have successfully trialed two pioneering, network-native AI-powered voice services that will transform the experience of a standard mobile phone call. The trial demonstrated real-time noise cancellation for crystal-clear audio, and in-call language translation to break down communication barriers, all without requiring specialized apps or new phone hardware.

The achievement is a key milestone from the companies’ joint “Core Network of the Future” program, an initiative designed to explore how advanced AI capabilities can be embedded directly into a communications service provider’s network, turning it into an intelligent platform for innovation. Delivering these services from within the network, rather than through individual apps or devices, means they can reach any customer on any handset by default, giving Vodafone a scalable route to introduce new capabilities to consumer and enterprise customers over time.

The technical breakthrough was made possible by integrating Vodafone-developed application server and AI engines with Ericsson’s IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), using APIs to seamlessly bridge telecom and AI domains. This architecture allows the network to apply AI-driven intelligence to voice calls as they are processed. The two use cases demonstrated were:

• AI-based noise cancellation: This service intelligently identifies and removes background noise in real time, ensuring call clarity for users in loud environments like busy streets, public transport, or construction sites.
• AI-based real-time language translation: This service translates a conversation between two different languages live during the call, enabling seamless communication between people who do not share a common language.

Marco Zangani, Director of Network Strategy and Architecture, Vodafone, said: “AI is giving the mobile network back its voice. More than 50 years after the first mobile call, innovation is accelerating and shifting back into the network. Over the past few years, we have built the infrastructure, data capabilities and safeguards needed to unlock AI for our customers to converse more clearly.”

Nadine Allen, Head of UK and responsible for Vodafone Group at Ericsson, said: “This successful trial with Vodafone is a critical demonstration of how network-native AI can redefine the mobile experience. By integrating Vodafone’s powerful AI capabilities with Ericsson’s core network and media processing technologies, we are proving that sophisticated services like real-time translation and noise cancellation can be delivered seamlessly. This is a crucial step toward creating more intelligent, programmable networks that unlock new value for customers.”

This successful trial reflects a wider industry shift already underway, as operators increasingly explore how to deliver AI-powered services natively through their networks. By moving intelligence from the device to the network, operators can accelerate innovation, ensure quality of service, and deliver new value to both consumers and enterprises.

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For many years now SUBCO has been busy building out infrastructure connecting Australia to itself and to the rest of the world. So today’s announcement that they plan to build not one, not two, but three new ‘hypercables’ is a surprise only in quantity. The new systems aim to meet the next wave of bandwidth demand from AI-driven growth. … [visit site to read more]

With the Pará and Maranhão branching units now on the seabed, both States are one step closer to a major enhancement of their digital infrastructure as future submarine cable branches are developed.

Dublin, Ireland, 16^th September 2026 – EllaLink, the first high-capacity fibre-optic submarine cable directly connecting Latin America to Europe, announces the two branching units dedicated to the Brazilian states of Pará and Maranhão have been successfully laid on the seabed as part of the Lum@link marine installation campaign.

The two units are now in place and ready to receive the future submarine branches to Salinópolis, in the State of Pará, and São Luís, in the State of Maranhão. They were laid at water depths of 3,920 metres and 3,690 metres respectively. Manufactured and installed by Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), the units form part of the Lum@link system, which connects Cayenne, French Guiana, to the main EllaLink system.

A branching unit is a subsea device that enables a new cable branch to be added to an existing submarine system without disrupting the main route. By installing these units during the Lum@link campaign, EllaLink is ensuring that the future Brazilian branches can be deployed and activated without requiring additional deep-water intervention on the main system.  Planned years in advance, this strategic decision transforms a single route into a scalable network.

The branching units were funded by the governments of Pará and Maranhão, with grant support from the European Union as part of a broader Amazon connectivity programme co-financed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group and the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) Group.

EllaLink has also completed the Cable Route Study (CRS) for both branches, covering offshore and landing routes, as well as preliminary permitting, environmental assessments and engineering activities.

Bringing the Amazon Basin onto the global submarine network

The branch to São Luís is being developed in partnership with ATI (Agência Estadual de Tecnologia da Informação do Maranhão) on behalf of the State of Maranhão.

The branch to Salinópolis is being developed in partnership with PRODEPA (Empresa de Tecnologia da Informação e Comunicação do Estado do Pará) on behalf of the State of Pará.

For two states that have historically relied on long terrestrial backhaul routes to reach Brazil’s international communication gateways, the impact will be transformative. Each branch will provide a dedicated submarine landing point and a high-capacity, resilient connection to Fortaleza, Cayenne, and the wider international network. This represents a significant improvement in both network capacity and reliability.

Together, the two states will benefit from an initial combined capacity of 17 Tbps, with substantial room for future expansion. Beyond increasing bandwidth, the programme aims to extend broadband connectivity to isolated communities and strengthen the resilience of public digital services in healthcare, education, business development  and e-government.

The programme also includes the deployment of SMART sensors capable of collecting environmental and seismic data to support climate and scientific monitoring initiatives, with the support of the European Union.

As with its other dedicated branches, EllaLink acts as an infrastructure operator. The company designs, builds, operates and transfers the ownership of the branch to its customer. The capacity carried on each branch is owned and commercialised directly and fully under the control of the states.

The two branches form the Brazilian component of the “Mais Conectado” project, for the Amazon region,  to be co-financed by the IDB Group and the AFD Group.  This project was showcased during the 2nd EU-Brazil Investment Forum in June 2026. The project is being delivered under the EU Global Gateway strategy and the EU-LAC Digital Alliance with the support of Team Europe.

Lum@link on track for service by the end of 2026

The branching units were installed as part of the Lum@link  marine campaign that began in mid-July 2026, when the cable ship CS Île d’Yeu departed from the ASN manufacturing facility in Calais (France), bound for Cayenne (French Guiana).

Lum@link  is a submarine cable extension of approximately 2,100 km that connects the new cable landing station in Cayenne to the existing EllaLink trunk system off Fortaleza.  The system will provide a direct optical connection between Cayenne, Fortaleza, and Sines (Portugal) and is expected to enter in service by the end of 2026.

Lum@link is being developed by SPLANG, the public company responsible for the digital development in French Guiana. The European Commission is supporting the project with a €29.9 million grant from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Digital programme, managed by the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA). The system is also supported by investment from the Collectivité Territoriale de Guyane (CTG – local Government for French Guiana), and financial support from the Agence Française de Développement (AFD).

Carlos Brandão, Governor of the State of Maranhão, commented : “Maranhão is preparing today to take a leading role in the digital economy of the future. We are investing in high-speed connectivity, fibre optic infrastructure, cybersecurity, data centres and digital inclusion. This is a project that modernises the State, strengthens our economy and creates the conditions to attract investment and generate new opportunities. We want a Maranhão that is more connected, more competitive and, above all, one where technology helps reduce inequality and improve the lives of our people.”

Philippe Dumont, CEO at EllaLink Group, added: “Laying these two branching units is one of those milestones that is invisible from the shore but decisive for everything that follows. They are the physical foundation of the future connections to Salinópolis and São Luís, and they are now in place, on the seabed. The design of the branches is well advanced as well: cable route study is finalised, so marine survey can start as soon as Pará and Maranhão states have finalised their funding. Since its inception, the EllaLink system has been designed to welcome new markets step by step, and this is what that design was for.”

Mozambique’s communications regulatory authority INCM says it is responding to concerns expressed by consumers on social media and elsewhere regarding the rapid exhaustion of mobile data packages.

INCM informs says it is developing what it calls a Tariff Management System, whose start-up is scheduled for November of this year.

This platform will strengthen the monitoring of tariffs and packages offered by operators, compare tariffs, identify the effective price of the service, including conditions and validity, verify the conditions applied to consumers and ensure greater transparency and accountability in the provision of telecommunications services.

In the field of data services in particular, INCM says it intends to ensure that the announced validity of the packages is effective for the consumer and that the depletion of the data volume does not result in an abrupt interruption of service before the scheduled date.

INCM is also conducting a process of restructuring telecommunications packages with a view to adopting fairer and more predictable solutions.

The regulator says it is encouraging operators to provide clear, accessible and verifiable information on consumption, balances and the conditions applicable to each package, explaining the factors that determine the level of mobile data consumption.

INCM says it will continue to monitor the concerns presented and work with operators to ensure greater transparency, better quality of services and more effective consumer protection. Whenever there are indications of irregularities in the accounting of data, the necessary technical checks will be carried out, and the applicable regulatory measures will be adopted.

Consumers are being advised to continue using appropriate complaints channels supplied by operators. If they are not satisfied, they are invited to use INCM channels through its website.

Some IX news, some FTTH, some VoIP, and some cybersecurity: … [visit site to read more]

Indonesian service provider XLSmart has announced that it has begun construction work on the 8,000-kilometre Candle Cable System, a subsea cable linking Southeast Asia and Japan.

The subsea fibre optic network will connect Indonesia with Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Japan. 

The project was launched in late 2025, as we reported at the time. Some big names are collaborating to develop the Candle submarine cable system.including founding members Meta, SoftBank, IPS Inc., TM Technology Services (part of Telekom Malaysia), NEC and, of course XLSmart. Philippines operator Globe joined the consortium in April this year as both investor and landing party.

According to NEC’s release at the time of the launch, this cable system will be one of the first in the Asia-Pacific region to use a 24-fibre pair cable, which will help to support the strong demand for communications in the region. NEC will provide the subsea transmission technology for the system.

The Telecom Review Asia news service explains that the be cable will land in Indonesia at Tanjung Bemban in Batam, providing an international connectivity point close to Singapore. It notes that Batam has also attracted investment in data centre and telecommunications infrastructure.

The new cable will add capacity to the growing network of subsea systems connecting Southeast Asia with major digital markets in East Asia. The additional route is expected to provide more options for international traffic as demand for cloud, data centre, and AI services grows.

XLSmart says the system is scheduled to be commercially ready in 2028.

Zambia’s Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) has cancelled the operator licence of Beeline, which operated under the Z-Mobile brand, for failing to meet several regulatory obligations.

ZICTA announced the decision at a press briefing on Wednesday (September 16), bringing an end to Beeline’s operation five years after it was licensed as Zambia’s fourth mobile operator in 2021.

The licence was intended to increase competition, reduce costs for consumers and expand digital inclusion. However, the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted Beeline’s network deployment, resulting in several extensions to its rollout deadlines before the operator eventually launched commercial services in 2024.

ZICTA said Beeline subsequently failed to meet a number of licence conditions, including network deployment targets and minimum quality of service requirements. The operator also failed to settle outstanding statutory fees.

The regulator said Beeline had been unable to meet the technical and financial requirements of operating a mobile network under its licence. It issued the operator with notice of the cancellation on August 31 and gave it an opportunity to appeal, but found Beeline’s response unsatisfactory.

The licence cancellation took effect on September 15. ZICTA said outstanding fees incurred during Beeline’s period of operation remain payable and will be pursued through legal and administrative measures.

Spectrum and numbering resources allocated to Beeline have also been withdrawn. Z-Mobile customers will be eligible for refunds of unused airtime, while other outstanding financial liabilities will be managed with the Bank of Zambia in the coming days.

African digital infrastructure provider WIOCC is to receive investment of up to $155 million from the US International Development Finance Corporation.

This aid is seen as highlighting Washington’s support for projects it regards as critical to the expansion of US technology companies – and providing alternatives to Chinese technology providers.

As the Reuters news service explains, digital infrastructure such as data centres and fibre networks underpins the deployment of AI services, and the IDFC sees expanding that foundation in Africa as central to US competitiveness.

WIOCC operates undersea cables, fibre networks and data centres in more than 30 African countries. The group operates an open-access and carrier-neutral platform that provides wholesale connectivity and other services.

The Trump administration launched a ‘clean network’ initiative in his first term, aimed at reducing the use of Chinese telecoms technology, apps and carriers from infrastructure in the US and allied nations. It has continued similar efforts during his second term.

Indeed, there was another example of these efforts earlier this week when we reported that pan-African telecoms firm Africell had secured a US$99.6 million direct loan from the US Export-Import Bank (ExIm) primarily to enable the American-owned company to buy only US and European mobile network equipment.

This is the second major investment WIOCC has attracted this month. In early September Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) and Saudi Arabian infrastructure investment and development firm Vision Invest announced plans to invest a combined US$300 million in the company.

Viewpoint Article

Many of the customers who chose Cambium did so for good reason. That’s what makes this sting, says Jack Raynor, president of NetExperience.

Contributed by Jack Raynor, President, NetExperience

This month, Cambium Networks eliminated 53.6% of its global workforce and placed its UK subsidiary into administration, according to the company’s own SEC filing.

Administrators are now searching for buyers for parts of the business, and the company has said it expects the remaining entities to be wound down. For the partners, resellers, and operators who built businesses on Cambium hardware, the practical questions are immediate. Who supports the deployed base? Where do firmware and security patches come from? What happens to margin if a forced re-platform lands on their own timeline and their own budget?

There’s no satisfaction in watching this play out. Many of the customers who chose Cambium did so for good reasons: competitive pricing, solid performance, and a workable margin. That’s what makes this sting: it wasn’t a bad decision. It’s the risk that comes standard with any single-vendor architecture, regardless of which vendor is chosen.

Related news
Sept. 17: Cambium Networks enters administration

That’s the part worth sitting with. This isn’t really a story about one company’s balance sheet. It’s a recurring pattern. In 2020, pandemic-era supply shocks stranded operators standardized on hardware from vendors with concentrated manufacturing. Today, AI-driven demand for memory is pushing component costs and lead times up industry-wide, squeezing margins operators thought they’d locked in. A vendor’s financial distress is just the latest variant of a risk that has always been present: when a network depends entirely on one company’s continuity, one company’s roadmap, and one company’s supply chain, risk management has effectively been outsourced to someone else’s balance sheet.

The instinctive response is to migrate to another proprietary platform. That’s understandable, but it doesn’t resolve the underlying problem: it relocates the same single point of failure to a different vendor’s name. The network is still betting on one company’s solvency, one company’s release calendar, one company’s supply relationships. If this year has proven anything, it’s that “established vendor” is not the same as “safe vendor.”

This is precisely the scenario the OpenWiFi Project was built to address. Rather than bundling hardware, firmware, and controller into one vendor’s decision, OpenWiFi decouples them: certified white-box access points validated across multiple ODMs and silicon vendors, an open, community-governed management protocol (uCentral), and a choice of commercial or private-cloud controllers that can be swapped without touching a single access point. If one hardware supplier exits the market, tightens supply, or runs into financial trouble, the fleet isn’t stranded, because no single company was ever the whole architecture.

For Cambium’s current customers, that flexibility may run deeper than a future buying decision. It’s worth examining, pending the necessary technical and legal groundwork, whether currently deployed Cambium access points could run OpenWiFi firmware. If so, and with Cambium’s cooperation, affected operators would only need to choose an OpenWiFi-compatible controller, not replace hardware already sitting in their sites. That path isn’t confirmed, but it deserves a look before anyone assumes a full rebuild is the only option.

That’s a materially different risk profile than choosing between competing closed platforms. It doesn’t eliminate business risk; it distributes it, the way any resilient supply chain distributes single points of failure, so one company’s setback doesn’t become every customer’s unplanned capital expense.

None of this is said with any pleasure about what Cambium’s employees and partners are going through. Job losses and forced re-platforming decisions are genuinely hard, and they deserve real support, not a sales pitch dressed up as sympathy. But the industry has now watched this pattern repeat across a pandemic, a component shortage, and now a vendor’s insolvency. Each time, the operators most exposed were the ones with the least architectural flexibility.

As the industry absorbs this news, the more useful question isn’t which vendor to move to next. It’s whether that next platform decision recreates the same dependency or removes it. Open, disaggregated architectures like OpenWiFi won’t prevent the next disruption; nothing can promise that. But they change what a disruption costs: a supplier swap, not a forced, unplanned rebuild.

Jack Raynor served as chair of the TIP OpenWiFi Project and currently sits on the OpenLAN Project Steering Committee. He is president of NetExperience, a founding member of the OpenWiFi community. He welcomes questions and discussion at Jack.Raynor@NetExperience.com.

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