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
Telecom News: SIMPL Wireless, HDPE, Edgecore Wi‑Fi
SIMPL Wireless launched the Compass Dashboard, a unified IoT connectivity platform that lets users buy SIMPL service, integrate existing carrier contracts, and manage eUICC profiles with real‑time visibility, cutting deployment from months to hours. Allied Market Research projects the global smoothwall HDPE conduits market to grow from $2.57 bn in 2024 to $4.66 bn by 2034, driven by telecom and government fiber‑optic infrastructure spending. Edgecore introduced the Wi‑Fi 7 EAP115 access point, delivering up to 3.6 Gbps aggregated throughput and built‑in BLE/Zigbee for dense indoor environments. Together, these developments signal accelerating digital infrastructure and IoT management trends.
T-Mobile US Readies AI Live Translation Trial
T‑Mobile US will begin beta testing AI Live Translation, a real‑time language conversion service that runs natively on its standalone 5G core and agentic AI platform. The feature works over Wi‑Fi and all mobile technologies except 2G, allowing any T‑Mobile...
Samsung Networks Boss Wonders if AI-RAN Is Too Hot to Handle
Samsung Networks CEO Woojune Kim warned that Nvidia‑style GPUs run so hot they could "cook a steak," raising doubts about their suitability for AI‑enabled radio access networks (AI‑RAN). He argued that RAN hardware must become cheaper and low‑power, a market...
Gigaclear Lenders Take Control of Indebted Altnet
Gigaclear, the UK’s largest rural fibre altnet serving about 160,000 customers across 26 counties, has been taken over by its lenders after its debt neared £1 billion (≈$1.25 billion). The National Wealth Fund now holds the biggest share, alongside NatWest and Lloyds,...
BSNL Surpasses Jio, Airtel as Top Fixed-Line Internet Operator in FY26: Report
BSNL has overtaken Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel to become India’s top fixed‑line internet operator in FY26, according to nPerf’s performance barometer. The state‑run carrier posted an overall score of 89,174 nPoints, driven by a 21% year‑on‑year rise in download...
3GPP Release 19 Description and Summary of Work Items
3GPP has published technical report TR 21.919, offering a high‑level snapshot of Release 19 work items that define the emerging 5G‑Advanced era. The report, now about 50 % complete, already contains more than 60 concise summaries covering energy efficiency, non‑terrestrial networks, AI/ML, IoT,...
NCSC Warns of Russian Cyber Hijack Threat
The UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) warned that Russian state‑linked group APT28 is hijacking popular routers such as TP‑Link and MikroTik to reroute internet traffic through malicious DNS servers. By compromising these devices, the group conducts man‑in‑the‑middle attacks that...
IEC Welfare Connects Crew, Cuts Complaints, and Advocates Offshore Wellbeing
IEC Telecom UAE has rolled out its IEC Welfare System across offshore energy sites, delivering structured satellite connectivity for crew members. The platform supports over 5,000 rotating users each month, cuts user complaints by 85%, and trims troubleshooting time by...
Major Boost for Starlink
The FCC will vote on April 30 to lift longstanding power caps on satellite spectrum, a move that could boost Starlink’s capacity up to seven times and generate about $2 billion in economic benefits. Existing 1990s rules limit transmission power, restricting speeds...
Ethio Telecom Picks Ericsson to Drive Network Expansion
Ericsson and Ethiopia’s state‑owned operator Ethio telecom signed a deal at Mobile World Congress 2026 to modernise and expand the country’s mobile network. The agreement covers deployment of remote and Massive MIMO radios, microwave links and RAN transport across 1,500 sites,...
Setting up Akvorado: A NetFlow Analyser for Your IPv6-First Network
Terry Sweetser details how to deploy Akvorado, an open‑source NetFlow/IPFIX collector, on a modest SOHO server using Docker Compose. The guide walks through enabling SNMP on a router, configuring NetFlow v9 export, and launching the Akvorado stack with ClickHouse and...
Network Giant Taps Controversial Line to Expand Mobile Coverage
Network giant uses contentious new transmission line to boost regional mobile coverage #energysky -- via Renew Economy: https://t.co/sBFy3HFlKV https://t.co/Kzll4uowdT
Vi Progressing Positively in Subscriber Growth, Financially: Abhijit Kishore
Vodafone Idea (Vi) reported a modest subscriber gain of 21,927 in February, lifting its total base to 198.4 million. The company highlighted a 26.7% year‑on‑year rise in average data usage to 19.2 GB per month and a 2‑million increase in its 4G/5G...
Networks Now Make Real‑Time Business‑Driven Decisions
How are networks becoming smarter on their own? At #MWC26, I captured how telecom networks are starting to make real-time decisions based on business needs. 🎥 Watch here: https://t.co/eVJL3S8Dlc #AI @ericsson #EricssonAmbassador #EricssonMWC @MWCHub @GSMA @tmforumorg @techiemats @OneLinders via @YouTube
TRAI Weighs Direct Satellite-to-Mobile Communication Services
India’s telecom regulator TRAI has issued a consultation paper on Direct‑to‑Device (D2D) satellite services, which would let ordinary mobile phones receive signals directly from satellites. The regulator is weighing two models – using Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) spectrum or repurposing...
Russia's Forest Blizzard Nabs Rafts of Logins Via SOHO Routers
Russian GRU‑backed APT28, also known as Fancy Bear, has been exploiting long‑standing bugs in consumer‑grade SOHO routers such as MikroTik and TP‑Link to intercept web traffic worldwide. By reconfiguring DNS settings on compromised devices, the group silently siphons email credentials and...
Aria Networks Secures $125M, Proving Network Equals Profit
The Network Is the Profit Margin: Aria Networks Raises $125M on a Single Bet https://t.co/3b0ZMPLTTe
C Spire Connects 14k Homes, Finishes CPF Work in Mississsippi
C Spire announced it has completed Mississippi’s share of the federal Capital Projects Fund, delivering fiber‑to‑the‑home service to more than 14,000 residences and connecting 18,530 undeveloped lots across six counties. The work, funded by a $164 million state allocation from the $10 billion...
Russian State‑Backed Hackers Hijack 18,000 Routers in Global Campaign
Russian intelligence‑linked group Fancy Bear infiltrated thousands of MikroTik and TP‑Link routers, affecting 18,000 victims across 120 nations. The intrusion enabled credential theft and traffic redirection, prompting coordinated takedowns by the FBI and allied agencies.
Satellite Set to Headline FCC’s April Open Meeting
The FCC’s April 30 open meeting will spotlight a proposed overhaul of satellite spectrum‑sharing rules, aiming to replace the decades‑old EPFD framework with performance‑based protection criteria. SpaceX’s Starlink petition and Amazon’s Project Leo stand to benefit from higher speeds and...
Community Fibre — Double the Speed Promotion Returns
Community Fibre has relaunched its Double the Speed promotion, doubling advertised download rates for its standard broadband packages while keeping monthly fees fixed through April 2026. Customers can lock in 200 Mbps for £19/month (~$24), 600 Mbps for £21/month (~$26), up to 2 Gbps...
AI on Edge: Are You Believer?
The telecom sector, long chasing the elusive promise of the edge, is now confronting a shift as real‑time Physical AI and stateful AI agents demand ultra‑low latency. Hyperscalers such as AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure have dominated centralized cloud...
Pole Attachment Disputes Over Costs, Timelines and Safety at Broadband Breakfast Event
Broadband providers and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association clashed at a Broadband Breakfast event over who should foot the bill for pole replacements, the speed of make‑ready work, and safety liabilities. The utility group warned its members’ poles are...
Korean Air Charts Future of Inflight Connectivity with Starlink Integration
Korean Air announced a partnership with SpaceX to equip its long‑haul 777‑300ER and A350‑900 fleet with Starlink satellite‑based Wi‑Fi, promising up to 500 Mbps speeds. The airline, which earned a Five‑Star Global rating for the ninth year, aims to replace its...
WavKong's DPD
WavKong introduces a router using Digital Pre-Distortion to improve Wi-Fi consistency, questioning whether industry focus on peak speeds addresses real-world performance. https://t.co/aQwvDkOWp0
FCC to Vote on Order to Update EPFD Framework
The Federal Communications Commission will vote on a Report and Order to replace the existing Equivalent Power Flux Density (EPFD) framework with performance‑based protection criteria for geostationary (GSO) satellites. The change is intended to modernize spectrum‑sharing rules between GSO and...
Pennsylvania’s Claverack Cooperative Passes 100 Mile Fiber Milestone
Pennsylvania’s Claverack Rural Electric Cooperative has completed a 100‑mile fiber‑optic rollout, bringing high‑speed broadband to roughly 1,300 previously unserved homes and businesses in Bradford and Wyoming counties. The project was financed by a $4.7 million grant from the American Rescue Plan...
Northrop Grumman to Build HUGEO Satellite for Hungary’s 4iG
Hungarian firm 4iG Space and Defense Technologies signed a contract with Northrop Grumman to build HUGEO, a Ka‑band communications satellite based on the GEOStar‑3 platform. The deal, worth several hundred million dollars, targets delivery by 2030 and marks Hungary’s first...
COMMENT: Should the Ceasefire Fail, We Could Expect a ‘Digital Hormuz’ Scenario
In less than three years GCC states have assembled the world’s largest non‑US digital infrastructure, with data‑centre capacity slated to triple to 3.3 GW by 2030 and projects like the UAE’s Stargate AI campus backed by $15 bn from Microsoft and partners....
Banning New Foreign Routers Mistargets Products to Fix Real Problem
On March 23 the FCC updated its Covered List to ban all new consumer routers made abroad unless granted a Department of Defense or Homeland Security exception. The agency says foreign‑made routers create supply‑chain vulnerabilities that could threaten the U.S....
Anterix Inks Contracts Worth $10.9M, Including First 5x5 MHz Deal
Anterix announced $10.9 million in utility contracts, expanding its 900 MHz private broadband footprint in Texas and the Mountain West. The deal with NorthWestern Energy is the first to secure the newly approved 5×5 MHz spectrum, while Texas‑New Mexico Power will receive an initial...
MODA Calls for Reinforced Undersea Cables
Taiwan’s Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) announced a push for more resilient undersea cables, recommending deeper burial and steel jacketing to curb sabotage and accidental damage. The agency’s first assessment identified anchor‑related incidents as the leading cause of disruptions, prompting...
Nebraska Tops Starlink Speeds, 58% Meet 100/20 Mbps
Update: @Speedtest said Nebraska led the nation for @Starlink performance, with 58.31% of Starlink users meeting 100/20 Mbps in the second half of 2025, up from 32.16% in the first half. https://t.co/VXH7nlVrW4
Delta and Amazon Leo Collaborate to Deliver Next Era of Tech-Enabled Travel Experiences
Delta Air Lines and Amazon have signed a long‑term deal to equip Delta’s fleet with Amazon’s Leo low‑Earth‑orbit satellite network. The partnership will roll out high‑speed, low‑latency inflight Wi‑Fi on an initial 500 aircraft starting in 2028, leveraging AWS and...
FCC to Boost Satellite Internet Speeds by Raising Power Limits
The FCC will vote this month to supercharge your Internet. Lifting outdated power limits on satellite Internet means faster speeds and more capacity. 🚀 🛰️ 🛜 https://t.co/Qy7yuHv8Mx
Haircut for UK Taxpayers After Lenders Take Control of Struggling Broadband Provider
UK taxpayers face a financial haircut after a consortium of banks took control of struggling broadband provider CityFibre. The lender-led restructuring follows the firm’s inability to service a £1.2 billion loan that was partially underwritten by the UK government’s state‑backed guarantee...
Equatorial Guinea Considers Accessing Medusa Subsea Cable
Equatorial Guinea is evaluating a connection to the Medusa subsea cable, a 480‑terabit system spanning the Mediterranean, Atlantic and Red Sea. The proposal, estimated at €20‑60 million (US$23‑69 million), targets a 2029‑2030 rollout with a likely landing in Bata. Joining Medusa would...
Arelion Employs NETSCOUT Arbor DDoS Protection Products
Arelion, a Tier‑1 IP backbone provider serving 129 countries, has deepened its partnership with NETSCOUT to modernize its DDoS defense. After 16 years using Arbor Sightline and the Threat Mitigation System, Arelion added three NETSCOUT offerings—Sentinel, ATLAS Intelligence Feed, and...
Stingray, Anuvu Partner to Bring Audio and Video Content to Cruise Passengers
Stingray announced a partnership with maritime connectivity specialist Anuvu to distribute its curated audio and video channels across the global cruise market. Anuvu’s MTN‑TV platform, which serves more than 300 ships and commands over 80% of the cruise entertainment market,...
NAN119: Adapting Core Automation Practices to Challenging Environments with Matt Campbell
In this episode, host Eric Cho talks with network engineer Matt Campbell about adapting core network automation practices to the ultra‑high‑stakes environment at Blue Origin. Campbell shares how his unconventional background in psychology and a hands‑on telecom systems program shaped...
US Mobile Says New Cell + Home Plan Uses Starlink for Now, Will Cost ‘Less than $50 a Month’
US Mobile announced a teaser for a hybrid mobile and home‑internet plan that pairs its cellular service with Starlink satellite broadband. The combined offering is priced at less than $50 per month and promises unlimited data for both mobile and...
Aria Networks Raises $125M and Debuts Its Approach for AI-Optimized Networks
Aria Networks, founded by former Apstra CEO Mansour Karam, announced the general availability of its Deep Networking platform and disclosed a $125 million funding round led by Sutter Hill Ventures, Atreides Management, Valor Equity Partners and Eclipse Ventures. The platform...
Telefónica Sells Mexican Assets for $450M, Refocuses on Europe
"Spain's Telefónica said on Tuesday it will sell its Mexican businesses to a consortium in a deal that values the operations at $450 million, as the telecom operator looks to exit its non-core businesses and focus on consolidating in Europe." via...
Ericsson, Orange Maroc Promote Private 5G
Ericsson and Orange Maroc have teamed up to build a private 5G laboratory in Marrakech, showcasing advanced radio and core technologies for B2B use cases. The testbed will demonstrate connectivity solutions for logistics, utilities, energy, mining and port operations, supporting Morocco's...
Russian State‑Backed Fancy Bear Hijacks 18,000 Routers in 120 Countries to Steal Passwords
Russian intelligence‑linked group Fancy Bear infiltrated at least 18,000 MikroTik and TP‑Link routers in roughly 120 countries, rerouting traffic to harvest passwords and access tokens. The campaign, uncovered by Black Lotus Labs, the U.K. NCSC and Microsoft, underscores the vulnerability of...
Vishay Intertechnology 2-Way Wilkinson Divider/Combiner Increases Efficiency, Saves Space in Aerospace, Defense and Connectivity Applications
Vishay Intertechnology has launched the WLKN-000, a 2‑way Wilkinson power divider/combiner targeting aerospace, defense and high‑frequency connectivity markets. The component covers 15‑20 GHz, delivering insertion loss below 0.5 dB and return loss of 10‑15 dB in a compact 1817 surface‑mount package. Its integrated...
Media Links to Focus on IP Transport Solutions at 2026 NAB Show
Media Links will unveil its latest IP transport solutions at the 2026 NAB Show in Las Vegas, highlighting the Hitless Protection technology and the Xscend gateway platform. The company emphasizes standards‑based redundancy that prevents packet loss during live broadcasts. Recent...
Telenor Facing Legal Action over Myanmar Claims
Telenor is facing a Norwegian class‑action lawsuit filed by the Justice and Accountability Initiative on behalf of Myanmar customers, accusing the telecom of handing over user data and surveillance technology to the military junta. The suit alleges that at least...
Telenor Sued Over Claims It Exposed Myanmar Customers to Junta Repression
A Swedish non‑profit has filed a class‑action lawsuit in Norway on behalf of more than 1,200 Myanmar citizens whose call‑log and location data were allegedly handed to the military junta by Telenor’s local subsidiary. The complaint seeks €9,000 (about $10,500)...
TRAI Launches Consultation on Satellite Communication Network Authorisation and Spectrum Framework
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released a consultation paper outlining a new licensing and spectrum framework for Satellite Communication Networks (SCNs). The proposal defines eligibility, authorisation periods, technical and security standards, and introduces a Satellite Communication Network‑as‑a‑Service (SCNaaS)...