Today's Telecom Pulse
Australia's $5.25B spectrum fee sparks industry backlash
The Australian Communications and Media Authority announced a A$7.32 billion (≈US$5.25 billion) fee for renewing mobile spectrum licences held by the three major operators and NBN Co. Industry bodies AMTA and ATA denounced the charge as a "short‑sighted spectrum stealth tax" and warned it could force operators to curb investment.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Optimum raises $300M in preferred equity
Are Market Shaping Measures Effective?
Recent PolicyTracker research notes evaluate three common market‑shaping tools—coverage obligations, spectrum caps, and licence duration—used to steer efficient spectrum use. An EU Commission study found coverage obligations and caps had no statistically significant impact on rollout speed or market competition. A separate CRA report for Ofcom suggests longer licence terms could boost investment certainty, yet empirical evidence remains thin. Experts caution that short‑term metrics may understate the broader strategic value of these measures when combined with policies like MVNO access obligations.
Making Resource Holders Easier to Identify: Introducing Reg-Nr: In the RIPE Database
RIPE NCC has introduced a new "reg‑nr:" attribute to organisation objects in the RIPE Database, publishing official company registration numbers alongside existing name and country data. Approved under Numbered Work Item 21, the change now covers more than 32,000 objects,...
Afghanistan Starts First 5G Trial in Kabul
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has launched a pilot 5G service in Kabul, upgrading 74 city antennas to the new standard. The trial is being run by domestic carrier Afghan Wireless (AWCC) and marks the country’s first foray...
Safaricom Increases Home Fibre Internet Speeds to Fend Off Low-Cost Rivals
Safaricom, Kenya’s leading telco, has boosted speeds on its home fibre plans without raising prices, lifting the entry tier to 40 Mbps and mid‑tier packages to 60 Mbps and 150 Mbps. The price‑per‑Mbps improves dramatically, positioning the operator against low‑cost rivals such as...
O2 Looks To Boost Sunderland 5G Service
Telefonica UK, operating as O2, and infrastructure firm Cornerstone have submitted a planning application to Sunderland City Council to install new rooftop antennas and upgrade fiber at the Sunderland Telephone Exchange. The upgrade aims to boost 5G capacity in response...
Vodafone Approach to AI Driven Networks Built on APIs
At FutureNet World 2026 in London, Vodafone’s Víctor Fernández highlighted the shift from AI models to AI‑driven actions via APIs. He argued that for AI agents to deliver operational value, network capabilities must be exposed through standardized, discoverable interfaces designed...
TfL Selects Partners for Emergency Services Network
Transport for London (TfL) has teamed with Boldyn Networks and mobile operator EE to install a 4G mobile network for the Emergency Services Network (ESN) throughout the London Underground system. The rollout will cover 137 Tube, Docklands Light Railway and...
IPv4 Exhaustion and the Slow Reality of IPv6 Adoption: What the Data Actually Shows
IPv4’s 4.3 billion address pool is officially exhausted, yet the protocol remains vital through a secondary market and carrier‑grade NAT workarounds. IPv6 offers a 128‑bit space and technical gains, but its rollout is uneven, with many ISPs stuck on dual‑stack configurations....
Generate Partial Device Configurations with Netlab
At ITNOG 10 the author used netlab to automate a complex, multi‑vendor lab consisting of a leaf‑and‑spine fabric, BGP route reflectors, and edge devices. By defining the topology in a YAML file, netlab produced a wiring diagram, an IP‑addressing plan, and...
Rajant Health & Videosoft Global Expand Cowbell Platform for Scalable Mobile Edge Intelligence
Rajant Health and Videosoft Global have deepened their partnership to upgrade the Cowbell distributed edge‑execution platform with ultra‑efficient video streaming. The enhanced system leverages Rajant’s Kinetic Mesh networking and Videosoft’s compression tech to cut video bandwidth needs by 10‑ to...
T‑Mobile, Starlink Aim to Reinvent Business Internet From Ground up, Sky Down
T‑Mobile announced SuperBroadband, a hybrid 5G‑satellite service with Starlink aimed at business broadband. The solution combines T‑Mobile’s nationwide 5G network with SpaceX’s Starlink low‑Earth‑orbit satellites to deliver redundant, high‑availability connectivity for enterprises, especially in remote or underserved areas. It includes...
Uttar Pradesh Broadband Policy 2026: RoW Reforms, Smart Power Tariffs and National Portal Shift to Accelerate 5G Rollout
Uttar Pradesh’s new broadband policy, approved by the State Broadband Committee, positions the state as a 6G‑ready digital hub by overhauling right‑of‑way (RoW) processes and aligning power tariffs with telecom needs. The shift to the national RoW portal eliminates duplicate...
How T-Mobile’s Private 5G Network Is Changing the Game for Major League Baseball
T‑Mobile rolled out a dedicated private 5G network to power MLB’s Automated Ball‑Strike (ABS) Challenge System across all 29 U.S. ballparks for the 2026 season. The network uses 20 MHz of the carrier’s N41 (2.5 GHz) spectrum and Ericsson EP 5G cores, delivering...
Viasat and SpaceX Announce Successful ViaSat-3 F3 Launch
Viasat and SpaceX announced the successful launch of the ViaSat‑3 F3 satellite aboard a Falcon Heavy from Kennedy Space Center’s historic LC‑39A. The satellite is now on its trajectory to geostationary orbit, roughly 35,786 km above Earth. Once operational later this year,...
The New Travel Essential: Why eSIM Is Becoming as Important as Your Passport
Business travelers now view seamless connectivity as essential, putting eSIM on par with a passport. Global business travel spending is forecast to hit $1.57 trillion in 2025 and grow 8 % in 2026, while Juniper Research expects 1.5 billion eSIM‑enabled devices by 2026....
CTIA Names Kurt Schaubach Senior VP and Chief Technology Officer to Lead U.S. Wireless Strategy
CTIA announced that Kurt Schaubach will join as Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, bringing over 30 years of wireless expertise. Schaubach will drive the association’s agenda on 5G, 6G, spectrum policy and AI integration, positioning the U.S. as...
Ariane 6 Lifts Off 32 Amazon Kuiper Satellites, Expanding LEO Broadband Push
Ariane 6 launched 32 Amazon Leo satellites from Kourou on April 30, advancing Amazon's Project Kuiper toward its 3,200‑satellite goal. The launch underscores the growing rivalry with SpaceX’s Starlink and highlights Europe’s emerging role as a launch hub for commercial LEO constellations.
DoT Commences Nationwide Trial of Mobile-Based Disaster Alert Systems
India’s Department of Telecommunications, together with the National Disaster Management Authority, has launched a nationwide trial of mobile‑based disaster alerts. The system uses the UN‑backed Common Alerting Protocol and combines SMS with Cell Broadcast technology to deliver geo‑targeted warnings across...
Jio vs Airtel: Whose Rs 355 Plan Is Better
Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel each sell a Rs 355 (≈ $4.30) prepaid plan that lasts 30 days and includes 25 GB of data and unlimited voice calls. Jio’s version adds a three‑month JioHotstar Mobile subscription, 50 GB of JioAI cloud storage and a Google...
India's TRAI Mandates ₹20 (≈$0.24) Minimum Balance to Stop SIM Deactivation
India's telecom regulator TRAI has clarified that a minimum balance of ₹20 (about $0.24) will keep any inactive SIM card from being deactivated. The rule applies to all operators and extends a dormant number for 30 days as long as...
Telecom Bubble: $20B CLEC Revenue, yet Massive Losses
I was directly involved in the telecom bubble. It wasn't a pleasant experience especially when it popped. In 2000, the collective revenue for Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs) in the US was ~$20 billion. A typical CLEC then operated with a...
Starlink vs OneWeb
OneWeb, now under Eutelsat, finished deploying a 648‑satellite low‑Earth orbit constellation plus six trial units in 2024. By contrast, SpaceX's Starlink runs more than 10,000 satellites and plans to expand beyond 15,000. OneWeb’s satellites sit in a slightly higher orbit...
Cisco Launches Universal Quantum Switch, Paving Way for Scalable Quantum Fabric
Cisco introduced its Universal Quantum Switch, a research‑grade device that routes entangled photons at room temperature over standard telecom fiber. The switch, paired with an entanglement source chip that creates 200 million photon pairs per second, demonstrates multi‑kilometer entanglement swapping with...
There Was an FCC Meeting?
The FCC voted on six agenda items in April, with five receiving unanimous approval. Commissioner Anna Gomez partially dissented on a report that creates a competitive bidding portal and document repository for the E‑Rate program, citing concerns about filing complexity...
Optimum’s New Business WiFi Solution
Optimum Business introduced “Whole Office Wi‑Fi,” a smart Wi‑Fi solution that eliminates dead zones and ensures continuous coverage as employees move around the workplace. The service bundles advanced extenders with adaptive technology, offering seamless roaming for users. It is priced...
SpaceX Launches 24 Starlink Satellites on Falcon 9 Rocket From Vandenberg SFB
SpaceX lifted off a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base on April 29, delivering 24 Starlink broadband satellites as part of its 17‑36 mission. The launch, the 42nd Starlink deployment of the year, used booster B1093 on its 13th...
Eero Signal Keeps Your Business Online During Internet Outages
Internet outages in the United States surged 178% in late 2025, putting small‑to‑medium businesses at risk of costly downtime. Eero’s new Signal 4G LTE device plugs into an existing Eero mesh network and automatically switches to cellular backup when the...
Older Adults Technology Gap Persists Despite Gains: Broadband Breakfast Panelists
A recent Broadband Breakfast panel highlighted that about one in three Americans over 65 still lack a home broadband connection. The disconnection rate fell from 42% five years ago to 32% today, but remains far behind the 18‑64 age group,...
Cisco Bolsters Security, AI Support in Latest SD-WAN Release
Cisco released SD‑WAN software version 26.1.1, introducing a suite of security hardening and AI‑focused capabilities. The update adds a centralized Insecure Configurations dashboard, blocks legacy CLI commands by default, and enables organization‑wide firewall policies for Meraki sites. Enhanced TLS decryption...
![[Podcast] CIDR Inside](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://blog.apnic.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/CIDR_FT.jpg)
[Podcast] CIDR Inside
In the latest episode of APNIC’s PING podcast, chief scientist Geoff Huston revisits the origins of Classless Inter‑Domain Routing (CIDR) and the two‑decade‑old CIDR Report that monitors routing announcements. He explains how CIDR shattered the rigid Class A‑C model, enabling flexible...
Telstra Not Seeking to Lock Rivals Out of Mobile-to-Satellite Bands
Telstra announced it will not seek to exclude rivals from the 2 GHz mobile‑to‑satellite (MSS) spectrum needed for next‑generation satellite‑to‑mobile services. SpaceX warned that if Telstra secured the remaining frequencies, it could effectively lock out other satellite operators and Australian mobile...
Arkansas Legislature Approves $176 Million Broadband Grant to Reach 23,000 Underserved Locations
The Arkansas Joint Budget Committee unanimously approved $176.5 million in grant funding for the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program, targeting 23,000 homes and businesses. The award designates $88 million to Hometown Internet, $69 million to Aristotle Unified Communications, and $18.5 million to Premier...
Verizon Charts AI‑Driven Turnaround with Churn Below 85 Bps and 55K Net Adds
Verizon announced that its AI‑driven transformation has delivered its first positive post‑paid net adds since 2013—55,000 new subscribers—and pushed consumer churn below 85 basis points in Q1. The metrics, highlighted by CEO Dan Schulman, signal early progress on a multi‑year operational...
Shares of Extreme Networks Jump 28% on Strong Third-Quarter Results
Extreme Networks' shares surged over 28% after the company delivered Q3 results that beat expectations and lifted its full‑year outlook. Revenue reached $316.9 million, an 11% year‑over‑year increase, while net income jumped to $10.6 million, roughly three times the prior‑year figure. Adjusted...
Supreme Court Weighs Cisco Liability in Falun Gong Torture Lawsuit
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on whether Cisco Systems can be held liable for aiding the Chinese government's torture of Falun Gong practitioners. The justices were divided, highlighting a potential precedent that could expand corporate exposure to overseas human‑rights...
The Era of Chatbot AIOps Is Fading as Agentic AI Gains Traction
Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) surveyed 458 IT professionals and found that only 15% still prioritize chatbot‑style AI, marking the decline of the first AI wave in network operations. Respondents favor agentic AI environments—collaborative workspaces and proactive agents—that continuously analyze data,...
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...
Worth Reading 042926
Recent research highlights five emerging networking trends. Automated BGP leak detectors often flag brief convergence artifacts rather than genuine routing attacks. Long round‑trip times continue to strain TCP’s acknowledgment loop, while ultra‑high‑speed datacenter links push host‑side packet processing energy to...
ABC Can Beat Trump FCC's License Threat if Owner Disney Is Willing to Fight
The FCC ordered Disney to file early renewal applications for ABC’s eight broadcast stations, citing possible violations of anti‑discrimination rules. Legal experts note that the 1996 Telecommunications Act makes license denial extremely difficult unless a broadcaster commits willful or repeated...
Half of Phones to Gain Satellite Connectivity by 2030
“Nearly one in two smartphones is expected to support satellite connectivity by 2030. Apple, Google and Samsung will lead in terms of overall penetration, but Android brands ... will see less penetration." https://t.co/u3SHMINmnZ via @CounterPointTR
AT&T Might Look Beyond AST SpaceMobile for D2D
AT&T’s CEO John Stankey said the carrier will explore additional low‑Earth‑orbit partners beyond its current AST SpaceMobile deal to deliver direct‑to‑device (D2D) connectivity. He cited SpaceX, Amazon Leo and possibly a fourth LEO provider as potential wholesale partners. AST SpaceMobile...
Feds Include Telecommunications Competition Roadmap in Economic Update
The Canadian federal government unveiled a Telecommunications Competition Roadmap in its spring economic update, pledging a national strategy to lower internet and mobile prices. The plan builds on recent CRTC actions, including mandatory wholesale fibre‑to‑the‑home access and the elimination of...
Timing Module Enables vRAN Synchronization
Microchip introduced the MD-990-0011-B, an M.2 plug‑in timing module built with Intel for Xeon 6‑SoC server platforms. The module delivers sub‑microsecond synchronization across GNSS, SyncE and PTP networks, targeting 5G virtualized RAN (vRAN) and low‑latency AI workloads. Integrated components include dual...
Wire 3 Eyes Albany as Its Second Target Market in Georgia
Wire 3, a 100% fiber‑optic ISP, announced Albany, Georgia as its second target market in the state after a $60 million rollout in Macon. The company is committing $37 million to bring symmetrical 10‑gigabit service to more than 37,000 households and businesses,...
Auvik Bets Agentic AI Can Fill the Networking Skills Gap
Auvik introduced Aurora, an agentic AI platform that moves network management from passive alerting to automated remediation. The system prioritizes alerts, tracks device lifecycle, monitors CVEs, and generates remediation scripts via natural‑language queries. Aurora draws on Auvik’s 15‑year data set—over...
DoT Begins Pan India Testing of Real Time Disaster Alerts on Mobile Networks
India’s Department of Telecommunications has launched a pan‑India test of a Cell Broadcast‑based emergency alert system, supplementing the existing SMS‑driven SACHET platform. The trial will send multilingual test messages in English, Hindi and regional languages to mobile devices across all...
The Waiver Was the Policy. Thursday Is the Paperwork.
On April 30, 2026 the FCC will vote to retire the 1990s Equivalent Power Flux Density (EPFD) framework and replace it with a performance‑based coordination regime for non‑geostationary satellite operators. The agency projects a $2 billion economic benefit and up to...
Visible Launches $50 5G Home Internet Intro
"Visible now offers 5G Home Internet for an introductory price of $50, which includes all necessary equipment and two months of service." $VZ https://t.co/VcgKYINKrS via Android Authority
Police Charge Two Men over 5G Telecom Tower Arson Attacks in Northern Ireland
The Police Service of Northern Ireland has charged two men for a series of arson attacks on 5G telecom towers in the Belfast area. The 45‑year‑old faces eight counts of arson and conspiracy, while the 46‑year‑old is charged with arson...
Telefónica and Sateliot Join Forces to Bring Satellite 5G Connectivity to Strategic Sectors
Telefónica España and satellite IoT operator Sateliot have signed a collaboration to bring 5G New Radio to low‑Earth‑orbit satellites, creating a hybrid network that merges terrestrial 5G with satellite coverage. The partnership will develop NR‑NTN solutions, pilot critical‑service use cases and...