Today's Telecom Pulse
EE fast‑tracks UK 5G+ rollout, leveraging $51 bn BT network upgrade
EE, owned by BT, is accelerating its 5G+ deployment across the UK, using Advanced RAN Coordination to boost download speeds by up to 20% without adding new masts. The rollout will activate 5G+ at more than 25 major events and 30 tourist destinations, extending coverage to 75% of the population, and is part of BT’s roughly $51 bn network‑upgrade programme.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Optimum raises $300M in preferred equity
O2 Plugs in Surrey to 5G+
O2 has activated its 5G Standalone (5G+) network across Surrey, reaching up to 1.2 million people in 275 locations. The deployment is a key element of the operator’s £700 million (≈$890 million) Mobile Transformation Plan, which also includes new masts, small cells and spectrum upgrades. The launch follows similar rollouts in East Sussex and 20 Scottish counties earlier this year. O2 also highlighted its satellite‑to‑device service, built with Starlink, that extends connectivity to remote areas.
RF-Design Launches FiberLink CompactLine FCLR1811S4 for Ground Segment Optimization
RF-Design GmbH unveiled the FiberLink CompactLine FCLR1811S4, a 1RU 19‑inch modular platform that merges RF‑over‑Fiber transmission and system monitoring. Designed for teleports, satellite earth stations and broadcast facilities, it handles frequencies up to 2.5 GHz and links up to 20 km. The...
Vietnam Requires Face Re-Verification When SIM Users Swap Phones
Vietnam’s Ministry of Science and Technology enacted Circular 08/2026/TT-BKHCN on April 15, 2026, mandating facial biometric re‑verification whenever a mobile subscriber swaps devices. Carriers must suspend outbound calls and SMS within two hours if the verification is not completed, with...
Iran Alleges US Cyberattacks; China Amplifies Claims
Iranian state media alleges that the United States exploited hidden backdoors or a botnet to disable networking equipment from vendors such as Cisco, Juniper, Fortinet and MikroTik during recent hostilities. The claim suggests the sabotage could be triggered by a...
SoftBank Tests Tech to Enable NTNs to Share Spectrum with Mobile
SoftBank showcased a dynamic null‑forming system on a high‑altitude platform, using a light aircraft at roughly 3,000 meters altitude and 200 km/h to transmit on the 1.7 GHz band. The technology creates a steerable null that suppresses aerial emissions toward nearby terrestrial base...
CISA Confirms Exploitation of 3 More Cisco Networking Device Vulnerabilities
CISA added three Cisco networking device vulnerabilities—CVE‑2026‑20122, CVE‑2026‑20128 and CVE‑2026‑20133—to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, confirming they are being used in the wild. This brings the total of exploited flaws to four of the six Cisco issues disclosed in February....
LG Innotek Secures Automotive Wi-Fi 7 Supply Agreement
LG Innotek has landed a $68 million supply deal to provide its automotive Wi‑Fi 7 communication module to an unnamed European parts maker, with mass production slated for 2027. The compact module, roughly one‑sixth the size of a credit card, supports a...
Airtel and Jio Lead Network Performance in Varanasi, Hardoi and Railway Routes
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released drive‑test results for Varanasi, Hardoi, Shahjahanpur and the Varanasi‑Prayagraj rail corridor, measuring 2G‑5G performance across 426 km of city routes and 123 km of railway lines. Reliance Jio topped every metric, posting a perfect...
AST SpaceMobile Loses $2 B Market Cap After BlueBird‑7 Fails Orbit
AST SpaceMobile’s stock fell about 5% on April 20, erasing roughly $2 billion in market value after BlueBird‑7 was placed into an off‑nominal orbit by Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket. The setback intensifies pressure on the company’s 2026 satellite‑deployment schedule and its...
New SMA Pigtail Assemblies on 0.085-In. Conformable Cable From Amphenol RF
Amphenol RF has added a 0.085‑in. conformable cable to its SMA‑to‑unterminated pigtail assembly line. The new assemblies let engineers terminate the cable with any connector or terminator, delivering greater design flexibility. Rated to 18 GHz, the units feature a stainless‑steel gold‑plated...
Sultan Bin Ahmed Witnesses Signing Agreement Between SCTA and Syska Hennessy Group
His Highness Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, Deputy Ruler of Sharjah, witnessed the signing of a cooperation agreement between the Sharjah Communications Technologies Authority (SCTA) and global engineering firm Syska Hennessy Group. The pact creates an integrated framework for...
TP-Link Seeks to Secure Conditional Approval From FCC Following Router Import Ban — Company Stresses It Is No Longer Chinese-Owned
TP‑Link is petitioning the Federal Communications Commission for a conditional approval that would let it import new router models despite the FCC’s blanket ban on foreign‑made consumer routers. The company argues it is now a U.S. entity after separating from...
DISH Customers Can Now Get Starlink Internet for Just $50 a Month With Unlimited Data
DISH Network is now selling Starlink satellite internet for $50 a month with unlimited data, adding professional installation for its TV subscribers. The plan promises speeds up to 400 Mbps across most of the continental United States, targeting rural and underserved...
Deutsche Telekom Adds Video Calling to Network Slicing Offer
Deutsche Telekom has expanded its 5G+ Ultra portfolio by adding a dedicated video‑calling slice, offered free to customers with compatible iPhone, iOS, and Apple Vision Pro devices. The new service builds on the operator’s earlier 5G+ Gaming slice launched 18 months...
The FCC Opens the 900 MHz Band
The FCC voted to open the full 10 MHz of the 900 MHz band (896‑901 MHz and 935‑940 MHz) for licensed broadband services. The move expands bandwidth for utilities that use the spectrum for smart‑metering and enables private 5G and LTE networks. Anterix, which...
Sentech Urges Investment in SA’s Digital Infrastructure
Sentech CEO Tebogo Leshope urged South Africa to accelerate investment in digital infrastructure, emphasizing data‑centre capacity as a catalyst for economic growth and AI adoption. The government’s Operation Vulindlela 2.0 programme now lists data‑centres alongside electricity, ports and transport as priority...
T‑Mobile to Cut 326 Jobs in April, Expanding 2026 Workforce Reductions
T‑Mobile filed WARN notices for 326 positions in April, including 200 cuts at its Chattanooga call center, 75 in Austin and 51 in Denver. The layoffs follow a 2023 reduction of 5,000 staff and come as the carrier confronts slowing...
Nigerian Banks Will Now Verify Fraud-Linked Mobile Numbers Under New CBN–NCC Agreement
Nigeria’s Central Bank and the Nigerian Communications Commission signed a memorandum of understanding that gives banks real‑time access to telecom data through the Telecom Identity Risk Management System (TIRMS). The system lets financial institutions verify whether a mobile number linked...
Ooredoo Ignites IoT Scale with Qatar’s First LTE-M Launch
Qatar’s Ooredoo has become the first operator in the country to launch LTE‑M (Cat‑M1), a low‑power wide‑area network built for massive IoT deployments. The rollout follows extensive testing and adds to Ooredoo’s portfolio of 4G, 5G and NB‑IoT services, with...
Arrow Electronics Reference Design Board Features Bourns, Microchip, Amphenol Technologies
Arrow Electronics has released a 10BASE‑T1S reference design board co‑developed with Microchip, Bourns and Amphenol. The platform centers on Microchip’s LAN8670 PHY, an IEC 63171‑6‑compliant Amphenol connector, and Bourns’ SM91081AL isolation transformer and common‑mode choke. It lets engineers evaluate signal integrity,...
NAB 2026: Cadena Tres Selects Eutelsat for Television Signal Distribution in Mexico
Cadena Tres, a division of Grupo Imagen, has signed a distribution agreement with satellite operator Eutelsat to carry its television signals on the EUTELSAT 117 West A satellite. The partnership places Cadena Tres in Eutelsat’s 117° West video neighbourhood, enabling content delivery to cable...
Ofcom Investigations Started for Telegram and Two Teen Chat Sites
Ofcom has opened formal investigations into Telegram and two teen‑focused chat services, Teen Chat and Chat Avenue, to assess compliance with the UK Online Safety Act 2023. The probe into Telegram follows a tip from the Canadian Centre for Child Protection...
Chard, Somerset Now Has Nexfibre Full Fibre with 2 Gbps Options
Chard, Somerset has gained nexfibre full‑fibre service offering 2 Gbps symmetric speeds for an extra £6 per month (≈$7.70). The village already hosts Openreach fibre, but nexfibre adds XGS‑PON technology to the mix. Across the UK nexfibre now covers nearly 2.5 million...
How to Achieve Reliable Communication in Emergency Scenarios
When disasters strike, traditional communication networks—cell towers, landlines and commercial broadband—often fail first, leaving responders disconnected. Recent events like Hurricane Helene, which knocked out over 3,400 cell sites, and a FirstNet outage in February 2024 illustrate the vulnerability of infrastructure‑dependent...
Seacom Takes Aim at Regional Peering Costs
Seacom has introduced PeeringReach, a new connectivity service that extends South Africa’s internet exchange point (IXP) infrastructure into smaller towns and municipalities. The offering runs over Seacom’s national fibre backbone and provides 1 Gbps to 10 Gbps layer‑2 links into the Jinx,...
Broadband Restored In Orkney Islands After Fibre Repairs
Broadband service was restored to Orkney’s North Isles after BT Group repaired a damaged subsea fibre cable. The outage, declared a major incident, began on 16 March and left Westray, Sanday, Stronsay and nearby islands without broadband and, in some cases,...
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...
Airtel Expands 5G to Villages and Towns in Maharashtra & Goa with 3,400 New Sites
Bharti Airtel has added more than 3,400 new 5G sites across Maharashtra and Goa over the past year, extending coverage to 36 districts and over 22 million users. The expansion targets both major cities and remote districts such as Gadchiroli, Nandurbar...
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...
Cisco Launches Sovereign Critical Infrastructure Across EMEA
Cisco announced the launch of its Sovereign Critical Infrastructure (SCI) portfolio for customers across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The offering bundles Cisco’s networking, security, compute, collaboration, AI and Splunk solutions into configurable, air‑gapped or hybrid on‑premises environments. It...
SoftBank Trial Enables Spectrum Sharing Between HAPS and Terrestrial Networks
SoftBank has completed a field trial of a dynamic null‑forming system that mitigates interference between high‑altitude platform stations (HAPS) and terrestrial mobile networks. The technology creates directional nulls that can be continuously adjusted as airborne base stations move, allowing both...
Doodle Labs Introduces New Nano² Mesh Rider Radio
Doodle Labs has unveiled the Nano² Mesh Rider radio, delivering the full capabilities of its Mini Mesh Rider platform in a dramatically reduced form factor. The new unit tackles the longstanding size‑weight‑power (SWaP) trade‑off that has limited small UAVs, ground...
China Unicom, Huawei Elevate E-Town Race-Day Experiences with 5G-A GigaUplink
China Unicom and Huawei deployed a 5G‑A GigaUplink network for the Beijing E‑Town Half‑Marathon, using 3.5 GHz and 2.1 GHz bands to guarantee 20 Mbps uplink reliability exceeding 99.6 % and a peak speed of 677 Mbps. The high‑capacity link supported 4K/8K live broadcasting, real‑time...
Inside SatEnlight's Spiral Staircase of Lasers: Interview with Startup Space Winner Matteo Vismara
In this episode, Jeffrey Hill interviews Matteo Vismara, CEO and co‑founder of Italy‑based SatNlight, the winner of the Sat Show’s 10th annual Startup Space Entrepreneur Pitch Contest. Vismara explains how his team’s optical‑communication terminal uses stacked vortex beams—visualized as a...
Brightspeed Reaches over 100,000 Locations with Fiber in Arkansas
Brightspeed announced that more than 101,000 homes and businesses in Arkansas now have access to its fiber network, marking the halfway point of its statewide deployment. The company aims to serve over 202,000 locations once the buildout is complete. Service...
Global Telecom Capex and Revenue Trends 2025: Omdia Highlights $1.3 Trillion Market with Slowing Investment
Omdia’s 2025 report shows global telecom revenues reaching $1.3 trillion, a 4% year‑on‑year rise, while capital expenditure slipped to $303 billion, down 2%. The industry added 3 billion 5G connections—a 34% jump—and expanded fiber broadband, yet operators are tightening overall spend to protect...
Paper on Terahertz-Band ISAC Receives Coveted IEEE Mimno Award
The episode explores the upcoming 6G paradigm shift toward Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC), where terahertz‑band radio waves will simultaneously transmit data and act as radar. It explains the physics challenges of terahertz frequencies—severe atmospheric absorption, massive path loss, and...
Airline Wi‑Fi Overpriced, Unreliable—Passengers Demand Upgrade
On my flight to and from London last week I paid $30 PER LEG for an “ultra” internet pass (NOT starlink) that didn’t work 80% of the flight and when it did, couldn’t load a web page with images on...
Starlink Launches Drive 24.5% Rise in Global D2D Connections
The number of global D2D connections recorded by Ookla increased roughly 24.5% between July 2025 and March 2026. This growth coincides with the launch of Starlink services in a number of countries, including Chile, Ukraine, Peru, and the U.K. MORE: https://t.co/PajgLybGDh...
House Approves FirstNet Authority Reauthorization Bill
The U.S. House approved H.R. 7386, reauthorizing the FirstNet Authority through September 2037 and tightening oversight by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The bipartisan bill, passed by voice vote, amends the 2012 law to require NTIA pre‑approval for most FirstNet...
Huawei Secures 19 Critical‑Sector Certifications, Outpacing Spanish Firms
CNI certifies 19 Huawei products for use in critical sectors such as defense With more than 70 devices in April, it far exceeds the certifications obtained by Spanish companies Clean network? https://t.co/tWRMNbiOR6
Chile Tops D2D Satellite Usage; Japan Lags Behind
During March 2026, 0.46% of Speedtest® users in the U.S. recorded a connection to a D2D satellite. In Chile, that figure was 1.26% (the highest). In Canada, it was 0.70%. In Japan, it was 0.11% (the lowest). MORE: https://t.co/PajgLycesP https://t.co/P2SNF9H8Zr
FCC Commissioner Trusty Explores `That Elusive Angel of the Public Interest’
At the 2026 NAB Show, FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty delivered a measured speech titled “Finding the Angel of Public Interest,” reaffirming the broadcaster‑specific public‑interest obligations that set TV stations apart from streaming services. She highlighted long‑standing duties such as localism,...
2026 Direct-to-Device Marketplace Forecast Unveiled
THIS IS THE BIG ONE I've been working on this report for a while. Like, it took A LOT of work. But here it is. Phew 𝐌𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭-𝐭𝐨-𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 (𝐃𝟐𝐃) 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞: 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔 MORE: https://t.co/PajgLycesP https://t.co/VbUXomv7fP
5G Speed Tests Show Network Quality No Longer Matters
.@verizon 's Dan Schulman nails it: best networks matter less now. They are all good enough. Speed tests are 5G's only killer app. Time to ditch the network fetish. 🧵📉 #Telecom #5G
Vodafone Idea Data Vouchers with Handset Insurance
India’s third‑largest telecom, Vodafone Idea (VIL), has launched two prepaid data vouchers that bundle 10 GB of data with handset insurance worth up to ₹25,000 (≈ $300). The vouchers are priced at ₹201 (≈ $2.40) and ₹251 (≈ $3.00) and each provides 30 days of...
Gigabit 5G Hype Fades as Consumers Ignore Speed
The 5G speed wars are pretty much over. Carriers bragging about gigabit networks are aggressively selling a vanity metric many consumers completely ignore. 🚨📉
2025 Marks Worst Year Yet for Digital Freedom
Access Now's latest report on internet shutdowns reveals that 2025 was the worst year on record for digital freedom. With VPNs and satellite internet increasingly under fire, we recap the year’s biggest threats and look at what’s next for global...
European Telcos Redefine Services Beyond Connectivity in AI Era
I’m in the first plenary session at @FuturenetW in London, listening to a panel of European operator CTOs + a vendor talking about #telcos “beyond connectivity” in the AI era. Quick comments: https://t.co/uzObx4Clwf
Networking at FuturenetW London: Automation, AI, Direct Connections
Kicking off at @FuturenetW in London Big event, with main focus on network automation & AI Message me here or on LinkedIn to meet, as obviously I don’t use the hideous SwapCard event app https://t.co/XYjLRM9TvX