This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Stephen Douglas, Head of Market Strategy, Spirent, a Keysight company

Most of the energy conversation in our industry right now is about consumption. How much power AI data centers will pull, where the chips go, whether the models can run cheaper. Fair questions. But there’s a quieter shift underneath them that I think matters more for telecom operators, and it has nothing to do with how much energy they use. It’s about energy they could supply. … [visit site to read more]

Press Release

BT Group and Verizon Communications Inc. have announced the signing of an agreement to combine their respective international enterprise operations into a 50:50 joint venture – in a move that is set to transform international connectivity.

The new joint venture will focus on serving multinational organisations. It is expected to serve more than 3,000 customers across more than 180 countries, representing approximately $4 billion in combined annual revenue. This breadth of operations will unlock significant scale efficiencies across the combined global network and service operations following completion.

Designed specifically for a cloud-first world in the age of AI, the joint venture brings together BT International, which serves multinational customers with secure and resilient communication and network services around the world, with Verizon’s international enterprise wireline arm, which provides secure connectivity to enterprises worldwide. Both BT and Verizon will hold equal voting rights and Verizon has agreed to pay BT an equalisation payment of $625 million.

By combining global scale with infrastructure designed and built to support local compliance and sovereignty needs, the joint venture will create a stronger platform for growth and accelerate the rollout of next-generation connectivity platforms. Customers will benefit from secure and resilient connectivity designed to meet data, operational and regulatory requirements.

At the same time, the parent companies will be better able to focus on their domestic markets, while providing support to the new joint venture as equal shareholders.

BT and Verizon have also today confirmed that Martijn Blanken has been appointed Chief Executive Officer-designate of the new joint venture, conditional on the completion of the transaction. Martijn has almost three decades in senior leadership positions across telecommunications, technology and digital infrastructure at Telstra, Openwave Systems, EXA Infrastructure and KPN, and a career spanning four continents. From 01 September he will join BT and will work with both parent companies, while observing relevant regulatory requirements, as they prepare for the launch of the proposed joint venture.

Clive Selley will continue to lead BT International as CEO, ensuring continuity of BT International’s ongoing transformation in readiness for the creation of the joint venture. Verizon’s leadership remains unchanged.

Allison Kirkby, Chief Executive of BT Group, said: “The world’s leading brands and international organisations trust BT International to connect them across the world. Bringing together this expertise and heritage with Verizon’s deep relationships with multinationals will create a stronger, scaled connectivity partner – one that has the reach, innovation and investment to succeed. Customers will benefit from new, secure and resilient connectivity platforms, which are designed for the age of AI and sovereign where it matters. It will create new opportunities for our people and long-term value for our owners. Today’s announcement marks a major milestone for BT International, and an important step forward for BT as a whole, as we deliver on our UK-focused strategy.”

Dan Schulman, CEO of Verizon, said: “Our international customers require secure, flexible connectivity that works seamlessly across borders and cloud environments. When we thought about how to best support them, this joint venture was the clear answer: a cutting-edge, AI-ready and secure platform run by a single global organization dedicated to their needs. At the same time, our relationship with those customers will stay equally strong as we continue to directly provide them with the connectivity they need in the U.S.”

The transaction is subject to regulatory clearances and consultation with employee representations in countries where required. BT and Verizon’s international businesses will continue to operate independently until the transaction officially closes with a full commitment to their respective customers.

Also in the news
TELUS and L-SPARK give Canadian startups access to AI supercomputer
Belden to acquire RUCKUS Networks for $1.85bn
VMO2 taps Suffolk solar farm for 10 years of clean energy

Four expansion projects in four parts of the world to catch up with. … [visit site to read more]

« One of the most transformative deals in the space industry. » That’s the claim of Rocket Lab Corporation, a major name in launch and space systems, and satellite services provider Iridium Communications after the announcement of a definitive agreement under which Rocket Lab will acquire Iridium.

Rocket Lab will acquire all the outstanding shares of Iridium common stock for US$54 per share in a cash and stock transaction. This represents an enterprise value for Iridium of approximately US$8.0 billion.

While the acquisition joins together two innovative American companies to play a leading role in the US space economy, there is a global relevance too.

It merges Rocket Lab’s launch capabilities and satellite manufacturing with Iridium’s global satellite communications network, spectrum, and 500-plus strong partner ecosystem to create what is described as a competitive, vertically-integrated space company that designs, builds, launches and operates its own constellations, delivering critical communications capability to millions of users worldwide.

The transaction will give Rocket Lab an immediate foothold in space-based applications, including both proprietary and standards-based satellite Internet of Things (IoT) and direct-to-device (D2D), positioning, navigation and timing (PNT), and critical safety-of-life services, creating a formidable challenger in the global telecom market.

Rather than simply continuing the Iridium network, Rocket Lab says it will build upon it to scale into untapped markets and pioneer new space-based services to the benefit of global customers.

But will this deal affect developing markets? Possibly not directly, but it may well be relevant to international companies operating in such markets and requiring reliable communications in remote areas.

The SatNews website points out that Iridium brings an active network of approximately 80 cross-linked LEO satellites utilising globally harmonised L-band radio frequency spectrum. This specialised frequency allocation, it notes, offers weather-resilient, low-latency connectivity for voice, data, and Internet of Things (IoT) applications across remote maritime, aviation, and defence sectors.

The asset base also includes a dedicated PNT layer, which serves as an alternative encryption-safe PNT reference architecture in environments where traditional Global Positioning System (GPS) or Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) frequencies are jammed, degraded or otherwise unavailable.

There are cost implications too. The website highlights a structural shift projected to eliminate external third-party launch procurement costs, internalise launch service profit margins, and secure long-term manifest certainty for constellation replenishment as global launch availability tightens.

Sir Peter Beck, founder and CEO of Rocket Lab explains: “By marrying Iridium’s deep heritage, trusted infrastructure, and highly sought-after spectrum with Rocket Lab’s extensive and proven launch and manufacturing capabilities, we have the capability to unlock entirely new markets. We will go far beyond maintaining a legacy; we are going to build upon it to pioneer next-generation space applications and deliver sought-after capabilities to existing and new customers.”

This announcement comes only a matter of days after satellite operators Amazon, Iridium, Telesat and Globalstar launched a new trade association representing the non-geostationary (NGSO) satellite economy: the SpaceConnect Association. It’s not clear how or whether the new grouping will be affected by this news.

Press Release

[Copenhagen, Denmark, June 26, 2026] At Digital Transformation World (DTW 2026) hosted by TM Forum, the joint project submitted by China Telecom and Huawei—”To AN Level 4 and Beyond – How 900+ AI Agents Have Transformed China Telecom’s Operations”—was honored with the 2026 Excellence in Autonomous Networks Award. This marks the second consecutive year the partners have taken home a heavyweight industry award, following their success at the 2025 TM Forum Excellence Awards. This latest win underscores high industry recognition for their breakthrough progress in the evolution of autonomous networks.

Booming services, including mobile AI, live streaming and mobile gaming have raised consumer expectations for mobile network quality. To address this demand, China Telecom and Huawei have co-developed a domain-specific large model dedicated to radio network experience improvement: the Network Experience Improvement Large Model. Built on China Telecom’s proprietary network large model foundation and powered by SRCON 2.0 (Simulated Reality of Communication Networks 2.0) as its core engine, the model identifies poor-QoE events network-wide and translates complex user experience anomalies into precise, readily actionable network optimization solutions. Combined with large language models to enable end-to-end autonomous operation, the solution effectively improves network quality, mitigates potential customer complaints and consistently boosts user satisfaction.

The solution has been rolled out across 21 cities with remarkable results: grids suffering from poor user experience have been cut by 20%, while network-related customer complaints have dropped by 10%. The deployment successfully converts AI computing power into tangible, high-quality network experiences for end users.

Looking ahead, China Telecom and Huawei will further deepen their strategic partnership to drive technological innovation and standards development. Committed to building AI that truly “understands networks and users,” the two parties will keep injecting robust momentum into the intelligent transformation of the global communications industry, and translate the requirements for developing new quality productive forces into concrete industrial practices.

Press Release

[Copenhagen, Denmark, June 24, 2026]‌ At the DTW 2026, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison (IOH), in partnership with Huawei, won the “Excellence in AI & data for business impact” award for the new Generation intelligent operations solution AUTINOps based on the AI-Native Framework for Intelligent Operations. Leveraging cutting-edge technologies such as Digital Twin Network (DTN), Multi-agent collaboration, and Domain Specific Model (EDNS 2.0), the solution addresses the complex challenges of network operations in Indonesia, establishing a benchmark for AI-Native-driven operations transformation in the global telecom industry.

IOH and Huawei are committed to joint innovation centered on value and technology, pioneering the deployment of the AUTINOps solution across IOH’s network. This initiative elevates technology, processes, and organization through comprehensive intelligent transformation. By applying data governance framework of “Identify-Analyze-Optimize-Retain,” along with full-domain DTN and EDNS 2.0. These enable real-time, network-wide visibility, supporting fault management and predictive risk prevention. Through core capabilities such as multi-agent collaboration, dynamic chain-of-thought, and domain knowledge management, the solution achieves an 80% one-hop closure rate for fault-handling and reduces mean time to repair (MTTR) by 15%. In terms of network quality, availability improved from 99.3% to 99.7%, and site traffic loss decreased by 15%.

Simultaneously, both parties redefined the operations model, streamlining the original nine-step manual process into a two-step intelligent closed loop. This transformation facilitated the skill upgrade of over 400 operations personnel and cultivated 65 “digital employees,” establishing a new intelligent operations paradigm characterized by “humans supervising/enhancing AI Agents to execute and close tasks.”

The solution has been deployed at scale across all IOH network domains, including wireless, microwave, IP, transport, and energy, with annual agent calls exceeding 2 million, supporting communication services across more than 17,000 islands in Indonesia. Furthermore, based on project practices, IOH and Huawei have contributed 15 new standards, protocols, and methodologies to TM Forum, providing reusable practical experience for the digitization operations transformation of global operators.

IOH and Huawei Win “Excellence in AI & Data for business impact” Award

This TM Forum Excellence Award reaffirms Huawei’s technical strength and deployment capabilities in intelligent operations. Huawei will continue to explore and practice Agentic Operations together with leading operators like IOH, accelerating the journey towards ANL4 and implementing a new operations paradigm driven by value.

Cambodian telco Cellcard (a.k.a. CamGSM) announced a strategic partnership on Saturday with auto manufacturer ZDG to launch a new connected electric vehicle from Chinese auto maker Lynk & Co.

The new Lynk & Co Z20 vehicle uses Cellcard’s 4G and 5G network to support features such as streaming music, live HD video for passengers, hands-free Bluetooth voice calling and real-time route navigation and vehicle services, as well as over-the-air updates.

Cellcard said the Lynk & Co Z20 smoothly connects to its 5G and 4G networks in Cambodia’s main market centres, including Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville and Siem Reap, as well as along the highways that connect those cities.

“At Cellcard, our vision is to keep our customers connected no matter where they live, work, play, or study. Today, we’re expanding that experience to travel,” said Cellcard CEO Yap Kok Leong in a statement. “With Cellcard’s 5G and 4G networks, customers can enjoy a seamlessly connected driving experience in major market centres and highways.

As part of the promotion, Cellcard and ZDG said that they will also install electric vehicle charging stations at selected Cellcard locations to support Cambodia’s growing electric vehicle community. While the charging stations will be accessible to all electric car owners, Cellcard customers will be able charge their cars for free.

Hu Tong, president and CEO of ZDG (Cambodia) Co, Ltd, said the announcement marks the beginning of a comprehensive collaboration between Cellcard and ZDG to develop connected travel solutions, customer experiences and digital services.

“The Lynk & Co Z20 car is designed for the era of connectivity. Together with Cellcard we are offering an electric car that combines advanced technology, luxurious design and seamless connectivity to create a new and safer driving experience for Cambodian consumers,” he said.

ZDG received approval from the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) in March this year to establish a vehicle assembly plant in Kandal province that will specialise in assembling Lynk & Co vehicles.

Lynk & Co is a joint venture established in 2016 by Chinese auto makers Zeekr and Geely Auto, with Zeekr holding a controlling 51% stake.