Today's Telecom Pulse
Deutsche Telekom mulls full takeover of T‑Mobile US
German telecom giant Deutsche Telekom, valued at roughly $167 billion, is exploring a full acquisition of its U.S. subsidiary T‑Mobile. The proposal would create a new holding company that owns both the German parent and T‑Mobile US and would require approvals from the FCC and German regulators.
Also developing:
Play Offers Cashback on Premium Smartphones
Polish mobile operator Play, owned by Iliad, has launched a limited‑time cashback program on high‑end smartphones. Customers receive up to PLN 1,000 (≈ $250) on the Motorola Signature, PLN 600 (≈ $150) on the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and S26+, and PLN 500 (≈ $125) on the Galaxy S26. Additional rebates include PLN 300 (≈ $75) on the Realme 16 Pro+ 5G. The offers run through late April and early May, expiring between April 29 and May 10.
Amazon Leo Targets Commercial LEO Launch by Mid‑2026
Amazon Leo promises commercial LEO service by mid-2026: “They all work with the same physics." https://t.co/CNO04otphl @FierceNetwork_ @lindahardesty https://t.co/CNO04otphl
Ericsson CEO: North America’s Mix Importance Will Decline
"While I think North America will always be important, from a mix point of view it will be less important going forward," said Börje Ekholm, Ericsson's CEO https://t.co/x7vq53PjRy via @iainwmorris
Telefonica Germany Expends 5G in Heidersdorf, Luebberstedt, Oettersdorf
Telefonica Germany has added 5G service to the municipalities of Heidersdorf, Lübberstedt and Oettersdorf, deploying a new mobile site in each location. The rollout is part of a broader effort that saw 2,000 network‑expansion measures implemented across Germany in Q1...
Verizon Fios Lures New Customers with Free Meta Ray‑Ban Glasses on 1‑2 Gbps Plans
Verizon Fios is bundling a pair of Meta Ray‑Ban smart glasses with its new 1 Gbps and 2 Gbps home internet plans, priced at $75 and $95 per month. The promotion includes a whole‑home Wi‑Fi system, a five‑year price lock, and free...
Amazon Eero Signal Review: 4G LTE Internet Backup for Your Eero Mesh Network
Amazon has introduced the Eero Signal, a $99 4G LTE backup device for existing Eero mesh networks. The unit plugs into an Eero satellite via USB‑C and automatically takes over when the primary broadband fails, typically within 20 seconds. Amazon...
PKP PLK Completes GSM-R Deployment on Central Railway Line
Polish rail infrastructure manager PKP PLK announced the completion of the final tower installation for a GSM‑R communications system along its 224‑km Central Railway Line. The deployment, executed by a consortium of Nokia Solutions and Networks, Fonon and SPC‑2, positions the...
Lycamobile Wins Appeal Against Regulatory Fine in Belgium
Lycamobile Belgium successfully appealed an administrative fine imposed by the Belgian telecom regulator Bipt for allegedly inadequate procedures to refund unused prepaid credit to customers who left the service. The Brussels appeals court ruled that the regulator failed to conduct...
Weekly Wrap: More Countries Look to IMT Bands for Emergency Networks
Norway's regulator Nkom has signed a binding pact with Telenor, Telia and Lyse to upgrade the national Nødnett emergency network to a 5G‑based platform, with full rollout slated for 2029, making it the first country to run a multi‑operator 5G...
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...
Very Mobile Hikes Data Bundles by up to 100GB at No Extra Cost
Very Mobile, the discount brand of Italy’s WindTre, is expanding its prepaid data bundles without raising prices. Customers on the €4.99 (≈ $5.50) plan now receive 100 GB instead of 30 GB, the €5.99 (≈ $6.60) plan jumps to 150 GB from 50 GB, and the...
The Direct-to-Device Dream Collides With a Fractured Satellite Reality
Direct‑to‑device (D2D) satellite services dominated Mobile World Congress, but analysts warn the market is splintering as each operator builds proprietary interfaces across multiple constellations. No single satellite network can deliver the full suite of voice, broadband and IoT services at...
United Extends Free In‑Flight Wi‑Fi to All Planes
United Quietly Expanded Free Inflight Wi-Fi Beyond Starlink Aircraft - View from the Wing https://t.co/6qep8aHjk1
Broadband Shorts April 2026
Congressional leaders announced a hearing to assess the 1996 Telecommunications Act three decades after its passage, signaling potential regulatory modernization. Lawmakers expressed concern that SpaceX’s Starlink could abandon its BEAD broadband grant obligations, prompting scrutiny of reporting waivers. AT&T warned...
Full Fibre Availability Increases to 84% of UK Premises
Full‑fibre (FTTP) availability in the United Kingdom rose to 84 % of premises, marking the fastest quarterly jump in a year—just 40 days to move from 83 % to 84 %. The surge was driven primarily by Openreach’s aggressive rollout, which overlapped with alternative‑network...
Ericsson Q1 Profit Plunges 79% as Revenue Drops 10% Amid Telecom Slowdown
Ericsson posted a first‑quarter profit of SEK888 million ($98 million), a 79% decline from the prior year, while revenue slipped 10.3% to SEK49.3 billion ($5.4 billion). The results reflect weaker demand for network gear as operators delay 5G rollouts and grapple with cost pressures.
ITWeb TV: Google on Localisation Quest, Says SA Boss
Google South Africa director Kabelo Makwane outlined the company’s multi‑year push to deepen digital infrastructure on the continent. The launch of the first Africa‑based Google Cloud region follows a $1 billion investment in the Equiano subsea cable, which has boosted bandwidth...
The Friday File: Amazon Globalstar; Anthropic; Orbital
Amazon agreed to acquire satellite operator Globalstar for $11.6 billion, gaining its fleet, ground infrastructure and MSS spectrum licences. The deal positions Amazon Leo to launch direct‑to‑device services by 2028 and strengthens an exclusive partnership with Apple, making Amazon a formidable...
Bouygues, Free-Iliad and Orange Team up in $22 Bn Bid for SFR
Bouygues Telecom, Free-iliad and Orange have submitted a joint offer worth €20.35 bn (about $22 bn) to buy Altice France’s SFR assets. The consortium, which splits the purchase 42‑31‑27, has an exclusivity window until May 15, 2026, and will reshape the French telecom...
How a Connectivity Levy Became a Tax on Telecoms
South Africa’s universal service levy, a 0.2% charge on telecom licence revenue, is being funneled through Icasa and the national treasury, effectively turning it into a general tax rather than a dedicated fund. The Universal Service and Access Agency (Usaasa)...
United Airlines Quietly Rolls Out Free Wi-Fi, Even On Non-Starlink Planes
United Airlines is quietly extending free in‑flight Wi‑Fi to aircraft equipped with Viasat and Panasonic systems, even though the rollout lacks an official press release. The move aligns with United’s broader plan to install Starlink satellite internet across its entire...
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...
Vuma’s Fibre Initiative Connects 1 000 SA Schools
South African fibre operator Vuma has linked 1,000 schools to broadband, giving roughly 860,000 learners and 40,000 teachers online access. The rollout, launched in 2020, is part of parent company Maziv’s broader push to expand digital infrastructure nationwide. Officials at...
India Strengthens Role in Ericsson Revenue Mix: Q1-2026 Growth Driven by 5G Scale and AI-Led Telecom Expansion
Ericsson reported India generated SEK 3.944 bn (≈$434 m) in Q1 2026, accounting for 8% of its global revenue and making India its second‑largest market after the United States. The Indian market drove a 7% organic rise in Ericsson’s Networks segment, supported by accelerated...
Ericsson Q1-2026 Revenue Dips 10% to SEK 49.3 Bn: Sales Trends Highlight Growth in India, Japan, and EMEA
Ericsson posted Q1 2026 revenue of SEK 49.3 billion (≈ $5.4 billion), a 10% year‑on‑year decline from SEK 55 billion despite 6% organic sales growth, as currency headwinds and weak North‑American spending weighed. Networks revenue fell 8% to SEK 32.9 billion, Cloud Software and Services dropped 9% to SEK 11.8 billion,...
Resilience by Design: Building a National Network for Ambulance Services
The Ambulance Radio Programme (ARP) has built a national, dual‑data‑centre network that links 35 NHS trust sites, ensuring 24/7 availability of mission‑critical ambulance communications. Partnering with Vysiion, ARP introduced a dedicated Network Operations Centre and managed services to monitor, patch,...
French Telcos Plan SFR Acquisition
Bouygues Telecom, the Free‑iliad Group and Orange have submitted a joint €20.35 billion offer (≈ $22 billion) to acquire Altice France’s SFR assets, entering an exclusive negotiation period that runs until May 15. The consortium plans to split the purchase price roughly 42% Bouygues,...
0G IoT Solutions Scales to 500,000 Endpoints in Mexico with Hybrid LPWAN Strategy
0G IoT Solutions announced it now monitors over 500,000 IoT endpoints and processes more than 8 million messages daily across 200+ Mexican cities, covering roughly 60% of the population. The bulk of deployments are smart electricity meters, which use a concentrator‑based...
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...
Lab: Integrated Routing and Bridging (IRB) with EVPN MAC-VRF Instances
The article introduces a hands‑on lab that walks network engineers through Integrated Routing and Bridging (IRB) using EVPN MAC‑VRF instances with anycast gateways. It shows how to attach IP addresses to VLAN interfaces in a controlled, step‑by‑step environment. The lab...
UTOPIA Fiber Laid over a Million Feet of Conduit and Fiber Last Year
UTOPIA Fiber reported installing over 1.03 million feet of conduit and fiber across Utah in 2025, including 13,728 feet of aerial strand and 3,331 new handholes. The rollout enabled more than 9,000 homes and 968 businesses to connect, adding 6,355 new...
IPv8 Draft Proposes Backward-Compatible IPv4 Evolution with Integrated Routing and Security
The IPv8 draft introduces a 64‑bit addressing scheme that nests IPv4 addresses, aiming for a seamless evolution of the current Internet architecture. It proposes a new routing metric called Cost Factor, which weighs congestion and physical distance to optimize path...
Establishing 5G Connectivity to Enable a Smart Regional Health System
Singapore’s National University Health System (NUHS) has signed a strategic agreement with GSMA Foundry to embed private 5G across its hospital cluster. The partnership will integrate 5G private networks with digital twins, XR, IoT and ambient AI to accelerate remote...
Fibre Break Hits Vocus Customers Across Two States
Vocus reported a fiber break about 32 km north of Melbourne at Broadford, disrupting inter‑capital and regional transmission for customers in Victoria and New South Wales. The fault was announced at 10 am AEST, with field technicians on site by 11:15 am. Approximately...
Bharti Airtel Advises Customers to Opt for This Instead of AirFiber
Bharti Airtel, India’s second‑largest telecom, is urging customers to choose traditional fiber over its AirFiber service whenever fiber is available. AirFiber, a 5G‑based Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) offering, provides 1 TB of data at the same price that fiber delivers more...
Ericsson and Proptivity Deploy World’s First Fully Digital Indoor 5G in Oslo Office Building
Ericsson and Proptivity have completed the world’s first fully digital indoor 5G deployment at a commercial building in Oslo, using the Host Management Control feature and Ericsson Radio Dot System. The shared‑infrastructure model lets multiple mobile operators connect to a...
Telecom News: Tejas Networks, COAI, Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea
Tejas Networks’ shares fell about 6% after reporting a Q4 FY26 loss of ₹211 crore (≈$25 million) and an 82% revenue drop to ₹333 crore (≈$40 million). The company has now logged five consecutive quarterly losses, with full‑year losses near ₹909 crore (≈$110 million). Meanwhile, India’s...
Telecom News: Zayo, Starlink, Blue Origin, SpaceX, AST SpaceMobile
Zayo secured an anchor customer to fast‑track an 8,000‑mile AI‑centric fiber build, adding six long‑haul routes across high‑traffic U.S. corridors. A Starlink outage briefly disabled more than two dozen autonomous Navy vessels, spotlighting the Pentagon’s growing dependence on commercial satellite...
Telecom News: InCoax Networks, LF Networking, Hubble Network, InPlay
InCoax Networks secured its first U.S. deployment order with CTI Connect to support Underline’s fiber expansion, targeting over 100,000 new broadband connections. The company’s MoCA‑based solution reuses existing coaxial lines, delivering multi‑gigabit speeds while lowering capex and installation complexity. LF...
OQ Technology Secures ESA Contract to Bring 5G Beamforming to Satellite‑to‑Phone Services
OQ Technology, the Luxembourg‑based satellite operator, was awarded an ESA ARTES contract to adapt terrestrial 5G beamforming for space‑based direct‑to‑device services. The project, dubbed BEAMSAT‑5G, builds on a recent €25 million (≈$27 million) venture debt round and targets commercial‑scale satellite “cell towers”...
The Zero Touch Future: Enabling Telstra’s Path to a Fully Autonomous, Self-Healing Network
At MWC 2026, Telstra showcased a proof‑of‑concept that automatically detected and healed an unplanned infrastructure outage within minutes, leveraging Red Hat’s OpenShift AI and Ansible Automation Platform. The AI agent unified multivendor data, reasoned about the fault, and executed remediation through policy‑as‑code...
Telecom Sales Platform CableFinder Announces Partnership with Fiber Carrier Lightpath
CableFinder, a telecom sales platform, announced a partnership with fiber carrier Lightpath that will enable single‑session contracts and real‑time serviceability checks via an API‑driven marketplace. Lightpath contributes over 12,000 miles of AI‑grade fiber, owned by Optimum and Morgan Stanley, to...
FCC’s Carr Concerned About Verizon-Contractor Commitments
FCC Chair Brendan Carr voiced concern that Verizon may be breaching its post‑merger commitments to contractors, a condition of the FCC’s approval of the $20 billion Frontier acquisition. The agreement with NATE requires transparent procurement and inflation‑adjusted pricing, but contractors allege...
THEY BURIED IT. NOW WE DIG IT OUT.
Congress is preparing to embed the core provisions of H.R. 2289 into a must‑pass appropriations bill, sidestepping open debate. The measure would strip cities and counties of authority over the placement, review and compensation for wireless infrastructure such as small‑cell towers....
Dycom Industries Acquires Data‑Center Assets, Raises Backlog Forecast by 37%
Dycom Industries announced the purchase of data‑center focused assets, expanding its telecom infrastructure portfolio. The deal helped lift the company's fiscal fourth‑quarter backlog by 23% and prompted a revised outlook that expects a 37% backlog increase, underscoring accelerating demand for...
5G Slicing Turns Concept Into Real-World Experiences
5G network slicing is moving from concept to operational reality. The real value lies in enabling new experiences and tailored operational models: • T-Mobile’s 5G SA slices support live broadcasting & photojournalism in dense crowds • T-Priority for first responders under congestion •...
B4DE Reprise: Following the Money on Digital Equity and AI Data Centers
On Tax Day, the Institute for Local Self‑Reliance and the National Digital Inclusion Alliance hosted the Building for Digital Equity livestream to examine how public funding intersects with the rapid expansion of AI hyperscale data centers. Speakers highlighted that promised...
China Tests New Subsea Cable‑cutting Ship, Raising Military Concerns
China successfully tests a new subsea cable cutting vessel - will it be used by the military? https://t.co/VpZj6fZY6R