Eurobites: French Consortium Given More Time for SFR Bid
Altice has extended the exclusivity window for the proposed joint acquisition of SFR by Orange, Iliad and Bouygues to June 5, pushing back the original May 15 deadline. The consortium’s initial €17 bn (≈$19.7 bn) offer was quickly rejected, falling short of founder Patrick Drahi’s €30 bn valuation target. Meanwhile, BT secured a five‑year secure connectivity contract with BAE Systems covering 40 countries, and TIM’s credit rating was lifted to BB+ by Fitch on the back of improving cash flow. CISPE has also accused Broadcom of antitrust‑blocking tactics following its VMware purchase.
AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Form D2D JV for Rural Coverage
AT&T, T‑Mobile and Verizon announced an agreement in principle to launch a joint venture that will deliver direct‑to‑device (D2D) satellite services across the United States. The three carriers plan to pool spectrum and build a unified platform that lets satellite...
Wireless Now Comcast's Top Priority, CEO Says
Comcast has declared wireless its top priority, with Xfinity Mobile hitting 9.73 million lines after a record Q1 addition of 435,000. The company is shifting toward premium mobile offerings, launching the $45 Mobile Plus plan and seeing a 30% uptake on...
Worldwide RAN Market Remained Stable in 1Q 2026 – Dell'Oro
Dell'Oro’s Q1 2026 report shows the worldwide Radio Access Network (RAN) market staying within a narrow –4% to +4% year‑over‑year band for the fifth straight quarter. Revenue, excluding services, rose at a low‑single‑digit pace, extending the modest growth seen in 2025. Growth...
AOI Expects Cable Revenues to Accelerate in 2026
Applied Optoelectronics Inc. reported a 4% year‑over‑year rise in Q1 cable‑TV revenues to $66.8 million, placing the result at the top of its $61‑$67 million guidance. The company now expects Q2 cable revenues of $75‑$80 million and a full‑year 2026 cable revenue run‑rate...
Skylo Seeks FCC Approval for Big D2D Device Expansion
Skylo, Verizon’s direct‑to‑device partner, has filed an FCC request to increase its authorized satellite device limits from roughly 1‑6 million per band to 10 million, 10 million and 50 million units across the ANT‑1, ANT‑2 and ANT‑3 categories. The company already supports 16 million devices...
Your Carrier's Price Lock May Not Lock Your Price
In 2025 five major U.S. carriers rolled out multi‑year price‑lock or guarantee programs to stem rising post‑paid churn as the market added 10 million new wireless lines. Verizon, T‑Mobile, Comcast and Charter each offer a three‑ to five‑year lock on the...
Here's the Latest on US Efforts to Find Spectrum for 6G
The NTIA reported steady progress in reallocating four key spectrum bands for future 6G use, with the 7 GHz band closest to completion. A White House memo mandates identifying at least 600 MHz of exclusive licensed spectrum between 1.3 GHz and 10 GHz, and...
BT Preps 5G Network Slicing Services This Summer
BT announced it will roll out 5G network slicing services across the UK by the end of summer 2026, aligning the launch with its role as the official telecommunications partner for UEFA Euro 2028. The carrier’s 5G+ (standalone) network already reaches...
Tower Companies Bullish on Spectrum, AI and the Edge
Despite Dish Wireless defaulting on tower payments, U.S. tower operators remain optimistic, citing AI‑driven edge computing, upcoming 6G spectrum, and rising fixed‑wireless demand as growth engines. American Tower unveiled its first edge data center in Raleigh and plans further expansion....
The Divide: How Permitting Problems Delay Broadband Builds
The $42 billion BEAD program will pour roughly $21 billion into U.S. broadband builds over four years, but providers warn permitting bottlenecks threaten timely deployment. Executives from Brightspeed, Ziply Fiber, and CentraCom describe costly, inconsistent permit fees—up to $30,000 for a 200‑home...
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Eurobites: Vodafone Entrusts 'Sovereign' Cloud to AWS
Vodafone has signed a multi‑year agreement with Amazon Web Services to deliver a sovereign, Europe‑only cloud using Skaylink’s expertise, ensuring all data stays within the EU. Telecom Italia reported a 1.7% drop in Q1 EBITDA to €1 bn, with domestic earnings...
Deutsche Telekom Made Cloud Jump From Ericsson to Mavenir in 5G
Deutsche Telekom is replacing Ericsson’s 5G packet core with Mavenir’s solution as part of its Horizontal TelCo Cloud (HTC) initiative. The HTC platform consolidates more than 50 core‑network applications onto a common bare‑metal and Kubernetes‑based container‑as‑a‑service (T‑CaaS) layer. By standardising...
Askey and pureLiFi Take Aim at an FWA Nemesis: Windows
Askey and pureLiFi announced a two‑box solution that uses infrared LiFi to bypass the long‑standing problem of windows attenuating fixed wireless access (FWA) signals. The system pairs an indoor unit that connects to the home network with an outdoor unit...
Eurobites: GSMA Shines Spotlight on Networks 'Investment Gap'
Europe’s mobile operators face a €475 bn ($560 bn) investment need over the next decade to achieve world‑class connectivity, yet only €270 bn ($318 bn) is expected to be available, leaving a €205 bn ($241 bn) shortfall. The GSMA’s report urges EU regulators to adopt more...
Lumen to Acquire Alkira, Establishing the Control Plane for Cloud Connectivity
Lumen Technologies announced a deal to acquire Alkira, a cloud‑native networking platform that provides a programmable control plane for enterprise connectivity. The integration will marry Alkira’s software‑defined orchestration with Lumen’s extensive fiber backbone, accelerating Lumen’s digital platform roadmap. The combined...
Charter Taps Rodrian to Lead New Connectivity Products Team
Charter Communications promoted Dave Rodrian to senior vice president of connectivity products, giving him oversight of internet, Wi‑Fi and voice offerings across both wireline and wireless. Rodrian, a Charter veteran since 2009, previously led Wi‑Fi product development and introduced innovations...
AirTrunk and PDG Expand Data Center Footprint in Southeast Asia
AirTrunk announced a $3 billion investment to build two hyperscale data centers, JHB3 and JHB4, in Johor, Malaysia, pushing its total Malaysian IT load above 700 MW and its regional commitment to $6.8 billion. The existing JHB1 and JHB2 campuses are nearly 100%...
India's 6G Ambition Faces a 5G Monetization Reality Check
India’s drive toward 6G leadership is being eclipsed by the struggle to monetize its 5G network, despite covering over 90% of the population and deploying half a million base stations. Operators like Airtel report an average revenue per user of...
Cable One Seeing Inconsistent Competition From Starlink
Cable One lost 13,500 broadband customers in Q1, exceeding expectations, while facing uneven competition from SpaceX's Starlink, whose pricing and offers vary by market. Starlink is expanding beyond rural areas and has partnered with Comcast, GCI and T‑Mobile on business...
The Buildout: Michigan WOWed by More Fiber Connections
WideOpenWest (WOW) is extending fiber service to more than 17,000 homes and businesses in East Central Michigan, bringing its regional footprint to 27,000 locations by early fall. The expansion follows WOW’s 2025 $1.5 billion takeover by DigitalBridge and Crestview Partners, underscoring...
Eurobites: Turbulence Continues for VMO2 as Revenue Slips 6.5%
Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) reported a 6.5% decline in Q1 revenue to £2.4 billion (≈US$3.26 billion), driven by the loss of 6,900 fixed‑line customers and 311,800 mobile connections. Adjusted EBITDA fell 3.4% year‑over‑year after accounting for the recent merger with Daisy Group....
Render Networks Broadens Vision Beyond FTTH
Render Networks, under CEO Stephen Rose, is expanding beyond its original fiber‑to‑the‑home (FTTH) construction‑management niche to become an end‑to‑end platform for critical infrastructure. The company secured $14.3 million USD in growth funding and acquired GIS specialist mPower Innovations, adding 260 utility...
South Korea Invests $49M in AI Research to Transform Broadcasting Industry
South Korea’s Korea Communications Commission (KCC) is committing $49.3 million over the next four years to AI‑driven research aimed at modernising its broadcasting and media sector. Eight new projects have already secured $5.36 million to develop core technologies for intelligent media production,...
Eurobites: Telefónica, Sateliot Combine on 5G IoT
Telefónica Spain and satellite‑connectivity specialist Sateliot have teamed up to roll out 5G New Radio non‑terrestrial network (NR‑NTN) IoT services, blending Sateliot’s low‑Earth‑orbit satellites with Telefónica’s private 5G “tactical bubbles.” The collaboration builds on a 2023 ESA‑validated test that proved...
AI-Mad Verizon to Continue with Cuts After CEO's Jobs Warning
Verizon has completed a 13,000‑person layoff, leaving the workforce at roughly 99,600 after absorbing Frontier Communications' 13,000 employees. CEO Dan Schulman is positioning AI as the engine for further cost reductions, citing that 85% of network issues are now resolved...
Optimum Eyes Virtualization to Bridge the FTTP-HFC Reliability Gap
Optimum Communications is testing network virtualization to narrow the reliability gap between its fiber‑to‑the‑premises (FTTP) and hybrid fiber‑coax (HFC) infrastructures. In West Virginia the company is rolling out a distributed access architecture (DAA) paired with Harmonic’s virtual CMTS (vCMTS), which...
Starlink D2D Use Is Less than Expected, Says T-Mobile
T‑Mobile disclosed that its T‑Satellite direct‑to‑device service, built on Starlink Mobile’s 650‑satellite LEO constellation, is seeing far lower usage than anticipated, with most activity limited to national parks. The carrier ruled out an MVNO partnership with Starlink, saying it would...
Why the Grain Management Spectrum Swap with T-Mobile Deserves a Closer Look
The FCC is reviewing Grain Management’s swap of its 800 MHz low‑band licenses for T‑Mobile’s 600 MHz spectrum. Grain, a private‑equity‑backed buyer, has no wireless build‑out history and proposes using the 800 MHz band for satellite‑to‑device service, a use that does not meet...
USTelecom Wants Feds to Align on Permitting Reforms
USTelecom is urging the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture to adopt the White House’s new CEQ guidance that expands categorical exclusions under NEPA for broadband projects on federal lands. The telecom CEO highlighted specific exclusions from the NTIA and...
AI Boosts Costs as Pricing Power Lags, Say Indian Telcos
Indian telecom operators are grappling with soaring AI‑related operating expenses while their ability to raise prices remains limited. Executives from Airtel and Vodafone Idea warned that AI workloads are driving up costs for memory, servers, network gear and energy, yet...
Verizon Surpasses 6M FWA Subs as Priority Shifts to Fiber
Verizon reported a mixed broadband performance in Q1 2026, adding 127,000 new fiber subscribers to reach 10.75 million and pushing its fixed‑wireless access (FWA) base to 6 million despite slower growth. The company highlighted a strategic shift toward expanding fiber, leveraging the recent...
The only Convergence Lever that Works Is the One You Buried
Roger Entner’s Recon Analytics study shows that owning the fiber network, not marketing bundles, is the primary driver of wireless market‑share gains. Across nearly 1.4 million consumer surveys, carriers with substantial fiber footprints enjoy a 14‑point average lift in wireless share,...
Household Gigabit Subscribers to Reach 60% by 2030 – Omdia
Omdia projects that by 2030 roughly 60% of North American households will subscribe to gigabit‑or‑faster broadband, as fiber‑to‑the‑home deployments catch up with cable DOCSIS. Passive optical network (PON) equipment is expected to expand at a 14.3% CAGR for OLTs and...
Midco Reveals Mobile Pricing and Packaging
Midco has officially launched its Midco Mobile service, offering two plans—a $30 unlimited option and a $15 flex plan—across its 1.2 million‑home footprint in the Upper Midwest. The mobile lines must be bundled with Midco broadband, with a $15 monthly surcharge...
The Buildout: Wire 3 Grows Its Georgia Footprint
Wire 3 is expanding its Georgia footprint with a $37 million investment to bring fiber service to more than 37,000 homes and businesses in Albany, with construction slated to begin this summer and first customers online as early as fall 2026. The...
Equinix's AI Discovery Hub Set to Accelerate AI Deployment in Hong Kong
Equinix has teamed with HPE to launch an AI Discovery Hub in Hong Kong, providing an open testing environment that blends Equinix’s AI‑ready interconnection fabric with HPE’s AI factory‑at‑scale and Nvidia’s GPU stack. Hosted in the liquid‑cooled HK6 facility, the hub...
How the SpaceX-EchoStar Relationship Extends Beyond Spectrum and D2D
EchoStar is transferring roughly $20 billion of spectrum to SpaceX, enabling Starlink’s next‑generation direct‑to‑device (D2D) service with 5G‑like performance. The deal includes a fee‑based referral program that lets EchoStar steer HughesNet and new Starlink customers toward SpaceX offerings. Boost Mobile has...
Eurobites: BT Sets Out Its 'Sovereign' Stall
BT announced a partnership with Nscale to install up to 14 MW of AI‑focused data‑centre capacity across three existing UK sites, powered by Nvidia infrastructure. The rollout is part of BT Business’s claim of delivering the UK’s first full suite of...
Deutsche Telekom Flirting with T-Mobile Takeover – Report
Deutsche Telekom (DT) is weighing a full merger with its U.S. subsidiary T‑Mobile, where it currently holds a 53% stake. The plan would create a new holding company that could list on both U.S. and European exchanges, consolidating ownership under...
Ericsson, the Best a RAN Can Get, Still Lacks a Growth Story
Ericsson’s enterprise unit, built on the $6.2 billion Vonage purchase and the $1.1 billion Cradlepoint deal, posted a 30% year‑over‑year revenue drop to SEK 4.2 billion (≈$460 million) in Q1 2026, contributing to a cumulative operating loss of nearly $7 billion since the segment’s 2022 launch. The...
Telcos Showing Limited Aspiration for RAN Autonomy Benefits
Recent STL Partners polls reveal telcos’ aspirations for autonomous RAN are only marginally higher than the modest benefits they currently perceive. While cost‑reduction and reliability dominate both "actuality" and "aspirations" surveys, only about 11‑13% of respondents view new revenue generation...
Broadband Permitting Bill Delights Industry, Dismays Local Governments
The House is reviewing H.R. 2289, the American Broadband Deployment Act of 2025, which would streamline permitting for modifications to existing wireless towers by exempting certain projects from environmental and historic reviews and imposing federal shot‑clock deadlines. The bill, introduced by Rep....
Eurobites: EU Nails Down Sovereign Cloud Suppliers
The European Commission has awarded a €180 million (US$212 million) sovereign‑cloud contract to four European providers—Post Telecom (with CleverCloud and OVHcloud), Stack IT, Scaleway and Proximus—for a six‑year rollout across EU institutions. The winners were selected based on the Commission’s Cloud Sovereignty Framework,...
The Buildout: Comcast Connects The Villages
Comcast announced a major milestone, extending its Xfinity network to an additional 13,000 homes and businesses in The Villages, Florida, and 7,000 in Wilton, Connecticut. GoNetspeed is investing $4 million to bring fiber to 3,300 Bristol, Connecticut customers and $7 million for...
Satellite D2D Moving Into the Mainstream for Mobile Players – GSA
Direct‑to‑device (D2D) satellite connectivity is moving from hype to mainstream as operators worldwide announce partnerships to extend 5G coverage to remote areas. The Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) reports that 97 operators in 70 countries have committed to satellite D2D...
Vodafone Beats BT and VMO2 to SLA-Backed 5G Network Slicing in UK
Vodafone Business announced the UK’s first commercially available 5G network slicing service backed by a service‑level agreement, positioning it ahead of rivals BT’s EE and Virgin Media O2. The “5G+ Local Slicing” offering guarantees dedicated slices of up to five...
Singapore's Circles Targets Nasdaq Listing as It Doubles Down on US Expansion
Circles, the Singapore‑based digital telecom platform provider, is targeting a Nasdaq listing within the next 18‑24 months as it accelerates its U.S. expansion. The company says the United States represents roughly 40% of its total addressable market and is close...
Fragmented Regulation Complicates Telco Sovereignty Agenda – Omdia
A new Omdia report highlights that more than 100 countries now enforce data‑sovereignty or localization laws, creating a patchwork of regulations for telecom operators. The fragmented landscape forces telcos to incur higher compliance costs, redesign networks, and train staff to...
NTT Research Debuts Scale Academy to Drive Research Commercialization
NTT Research has launched Scale Academy, an incubator designed to turn its internal R&D breakthroughs into commercial products. The first offering, SaltGrain, is a zero‑trust data‑security suite built on attribute‑based encryption and ready for post‑quantum deployment. Scale Academy will draw...