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
Cisco Grows High-End Optical Support for AI Clusters
Cisco unveiled a suite of high‑end optical solutions aimed at powering distributed AI workloads, including the Open Transport 3000 multi‑rail line system and an upgraded NCS 1014 chassis with a 12.8 Tbps, 800 GE line card. The new hardware delivers up to 3.2 Tbps per fiber pair, improves power density, and adds MACsec encryption for secure point‑to‑point links. Cisco also introduced a QSFP‑DD protection switch with sub‑50 ms fault recovery and a Bright QSFP28 100ZR pluggable for edge and campus deployments. The company projects AI optics to generate a $20 billion annual market by 2030.
Vodafone Greece Waives Roaming, International Calling Fees for Subscribers in Middle East
Vodafone Greece announced a limited‑time support package that eliminates roaming and international calling charges for its Greek subscribers traveling to or residing in the Middle East. The waiver applies to ten countries, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates...
Total Wireless Expands Store Count as Verizon Pushes Harder Into Value Wireless Retail
Total Wireless, Verizon's prepaid value brand, now operates over 2,000 stores nationwide, adding 1,100 locations in 2025 and averaging three new openings per day in 2026. The company aims to reach 4,000‑5,000 stores as part of a long‑term growth plan....
TOTSCo Consults on Monitoring and Improvements to One Touch Switching
TOTSCo, the operator of the One Touch Switch (OTS) platform, has opened a consultation to address performance gaps after 18 months of operation and roughly 2.5 million broadband switches. The body highlights four problem areas – hub match success, failed messages,...
Debating Zoom Phone versus a Traditional Business Handset?
Does anyone use Zoom Phone as their business phone? I don't know if I want to continue with a physical work phone.
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CloudMosa's Cloud-Based Phones Are Gaining Traction in SA
CloudMosa's Cloud Phone, a cloud‑powered solution that turns 4G feature phones into app‑capable devices, has seen four‑fold growth in South Africa, now representing 76% of the company's African user base. The rapid expansion is driven by deep partnerships with local...
Iridium Communications' Ascent Means It's Time For A Downgrade
Iridium Communications was downgraded from Strong Buy to Buy after a 35.6% rally and signs of fundamental softness. Q4 2025 revenue held steady at $212.9 million while government subscribers dropped 14.2%, with growth driven mainly by low‑value commercial IoT data customers....
Iran’s Digital Arsenal: When Invisible Fences Rise in the Conflict
On 28 February 2026, coordinated cyber operations drove Iran’s internet traffic to just 1‑4 % of normal levels, coinciding with US‑Israeli air strikes that killed the Supreme Leader. Analysts attribute the blackout to a hybrid mix of regime‑imposed whitelisting, large‑scale DDoS attacks,...
Lifecell Reaches 29% of Voice Traffic over LTE Network
Ukrainian mobile operator Lifecell reported that voice traffic carried over its LTE network now accounts for 29% of total calls. The carrier’s VoLTE subscriber base reached almost 1.5 million in January, a 2.5‑fold increase year‑on‑year. About 4.5 million smartphones – roughly 66%...
Tower Company Pilar Targets Expansion in Media Sector
Pilar, a Russian tower operator owned by mobile carrier T2, is expanding its presence in the media sector. The firm manages over 33,500 telecommunications towers nationwide, with broadcasters accounting for 25 % of its customer base. In the past year it...
Life Belarus Increases 4G Speeds with LTE Network Expansion
Life Belarus has rolled out 587 new antennas across 300 LTE base stations, boosting its network capacity. The operator completed upgrades on 139 sites by March 10, with roughly 85% of them now operating on the 1,800 MHz band. These enhancements have...
Wider Consultations Urged on Mobile Data Rollover Bills
CitizenWatch Philippines urges lawmakers to broaden consultations on pending mobile data rollover bills, supporting the consumer‑protection goal but warning that rules designed for fixed monthly plans may not fit the country’s promo‑driven prepaid market. They highlight risks such as loss...
Helios Towers Powers Ahead for Another Five Years
Helios Towers unveiled its five‑year IMPACT 2030 strategy, targeting a tenancy ratio above 2.5× by 2030 after already surpassing the 2.2× goal in 2025. The towerco now operates 14,746 sites across eight African markets and Oman, with adjusted EBITDA projected at...
What Makes a Smart Community? Here’s Why Connectivity Matters
Maz Khan, president of Vitalis Smart Communities, argues that connectivity—not just isolated gadgets—is the essential foundation of a true smart community. He warns that without a robust network, IoT devices and AI applications frustrate residents rather than enhance their lives....
Rostelecom Upgrades Telecom Infrastructure at Evraz Plant in Yekaterinburg
Rostelecom has finished the second phase of modernising the telecommunications infrastructure at Evraz’s Kachkanar mining and processing plant in the Yekaterinburg region. The rollout adds a private LTE network, expanding on nine base stations installed in the first phase with...
Benchmark Telecom Introduces Ranger XL Mobile Mast for Temporary Coverage
Benchmark Telecom, a Belgian telecom infrastructure provider, launched the Ranger XL, a mobile transmitter designed for temporary network capacity. The telescopic mast extends up to 30 meters and can be operational in just 30 minutes. It targets high‑traffic events such as festivals and...
Officials Worry Salt Typhoon Apathy Is Killing Momentum for Tougher Telecom Security Rules
Two years after Chinese‑state linked group Salt Typhoon breached at least ten U.S. telecoms, officials say the public remains largely indifferent. The hack gave attackers access to call‑detail records for millions of Americans, yet most citizens cannot see a direct impact...
EXCLUSIVE March 2026 Update on Openreach Full-Fibre Roll-Out
Openreach added 363,513 full‑fibre premises in the past four weeks, bringing its total database to 21.75 million sites – 65.1 % of UK premises. In the last quarter the company passed FTTP to another 1.06 million locations and is on track to hit...
CAG's BSNL Loss Estimate From Reliance Jio Deal Misinterpreted; Rectified Now: Pemmasani
The Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report claimed that BSNL lost ₹1,757.76 crore by not billing Reliance Jio for add‑on technology on shared tower infrastructure between 2014 and 2024. Minister of State for Telecom Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani clarified that the loss estimate stemmed from...
HyperLight Introduces 145 GHz Reference Modulators to Enable 448Gbps per Lane Datacom and 260GBaud Telecom Development
HyperLight Corp unveiled a 145 GHz packaged intensity modulator that delivers over 145 GHz electro‑optical bandwidth, enabling 448 Gbps per‑lane IMDD and 260 GBaud coherent links. The device is offered in O‑, C‑, L‑band configurations with a 1 µm pre‑order option, featuring a compact 0.8 mm...
Every Wireless Generation Hides Unexpected, Game‑changing Surprises
Text messaging was an afterthought—a way to use leftover #network capacity that nobody thought anyone would want. Then billions of people proved that wrong. Every #wireless generation has produced a surprise that nobody saw coming. By Mallik Tatipamula (Ericsson) and...
Eurobites: Openreach Trials Fiber-Based Leak-Detection System
Openreach’s three‑month trial of a distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) system turned its fibre‑broadband network into a leak‑detection array, preventing the loss of 2 megalitres of water. In parallel, Antevia Networks partnered with Benetel to deliver a plug‑and‑play outdoor private‑5G solution for...
Open‑source MCP Servers Give AI Agents Real‑world Call Control
AI agents need hands to get things done. That's exactly what the open-source MCP servers bring to VoipNow. 🧠 AI decides. 🤖 MCP acts. 📞 VoipNow connects it to real communications. Watch the step-by-step installation of the VoipNow MCP servers necessary to connect AI...
Astound‑GFiber Merge Threatens AT&T, Comcast, Charter
Data from New Street Research shows that the proposed combination of Astound Broadband and GFiber will have the biggest competitive overlap with AT&T, Comcast and Charter. @Light_Reading https://t.co/jUVW6Uq9gE
FCC Alert on Cybersecurity Risks
The Federal Communications Commission issued an unprecedented cybersecurity alert for telecom operators, noting a fourfold rise in ransomware attacks from 2022 to 2025. The agency urges carriers to patch systems promptly, enable multi‑factor authentication, segment networks, and monitor vendor security...
Zero Broadband Funding Shows Power of Effective Oversight
"Today, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) approved $0 in federal broadband deployment funds for the District of Columbia. Why? Because effective oversight matters." via NTIA https://t.co/jwFvQUvmBe
Telus Tweaks Rates, Signaling Competition, Not Price War
As noted by the KeyBanc analysts, $T released a new mobile rate card today: -Premium 2.0 is more expensive than before -Value 2.0 is cheaper than before Is this a #pricewar? Not quite, but it is a signal of competition in the space. https://t.co/qmhZx9UeS7
‘Major’ SmartCape Upgrades in the Works
Cape Town’s SmartCape programme is set for a major technology refresh, with a R15 million budget earmarked for modernising computer hardware and public Wi‑Fi across the city’s libraries. The upgrades will roll out over the next two financial years, adding token‑less,...
AI Data Demand Will Outpace US Spectrum by 2029
"without additional licensed spectrum, a third of data traffic from AI-enabled devices is projected to go unmet by 2029, undermining U.S. competitiveness in next-generation technologies." via @CTIA https://t.co/k9gWeYKA9j
1984 Federal Preemption Turned Cable Rights-of-Way Into Monopolies
This. Folks might want to go back and see how localities leveraged access to ROWs for cable to get franchise fees and PEG (and how fed preemption in '84 created cable monopolies with crap service.)
EXMAR Deploys Inmarsat's NexusWave Connectivity Service Across Fleet
Inmarsat Maritime, a Viasat company, is deploying its NexusWave connectivity service across EXMAR’s global gas carrier fleet. The managed solution bonds GX Ka‑band, LEO, LTE and L‑band underlays to ensure uninterrupted ship‑to‑shore communications and crew internet. EXMAR reports faster collaboration,...
AI RAN Allocates Exact Resources, Eliminating Waste
Ankur Kapoor @TMobile on service-aware RAN. "If you only need X number of physical resource blocks [for the] application you're using, it will automatically allocate you only that. You'll have a fantastic experience, but there'll be no wastage".
Qualcomm X105 6G-Ready 5G Modem to Deliver 14.8 Gbps Download and 4.2 Gbps Upload Peak Data Speeds
Qualcomm unveiled the X105, the industry’s first 3GPP Release 19‑ready modem‑RF system, capable of 14.8 Gbps downlink and 4.2 Gbps uplink peak speeds. Built on a 6 nm RF transceiver, it delivers 30% lower power consumption and a 15% smaller footprint than the X85....
Cisco Patches High-Severity IOS XR Vulnerabilities
Cisco issued its semiannual IOS XR security advisory, addressing four high‑severity vulnerabilities. Two CVEs (CVE‑2026‑20040 and CVE‑2026‑20046) each score 8.8 and enable privilege escalation to root via crafted CLI commands. A third flaw (CVE‑2026‑20074) can cause an IS‑IS process restart,...
Cities Look to Boost Stadium WiFi as Fan Demand Surges
Cities hosting major sporting and entertainment events are under pressure to upgrade stadium Wi‑Fi as fan demand for real‑time sharing surges. Conventional antenna arrays often cause interference and require dozens of units to handle thousands of simultaneous connections. MatSing’s Wi‑Fi 6E...
China Designates Satellite Broadband as Top Priority
China’s premier Li Qiang has elevated satellite broadband to a national priority, placing it alongside semiconductors and cloud‑computing in the government work report. The National Development and Reform Commission will treat satellite Internet as a "large‑scale major project," unlocking hundreds...
SoftBank Eyes Operations Gains From Multi-Agent Platform
SoftBank Corp unveiled a multi‑AI agent platform that automates telecom operations, from policy formulation to base‑station integration. The system passes analysis results between specialized agents, enabling end‑to‑end decision‑making and execution without human intervention. SoftBank plans to extend the automation to...
Make 'No Wi-Fi' An Airline Sales Pitch
Air India launched domestic in‑flight Wi‑Fi in January 2025, positioning itself as a tech‑forward carrier. A year later, the article questions whether the service truly adds value for business travelers. It argues that the enforced disconnection of a flight provides a...
IPv4 ECMP Works on Arista cEOS Release 4.35.2F
Arista’s cEOS 4.35.2F release finally supports IPv4 ECMP, allowing forwarded traffic to be balanced across multiple equal‑cost paths in an anycast topology. The lab test shows packets alternating between two downstream nodes, confirming functional ECMP. However, locally originated traffic still...
Intel Rules Out RAN Exit and Champions Granite Rapids over Nvidia
Intel confirmed it will not spin off its Network and Edge (NEX) unit, reaffirming its commitment to the 5G/6G RAN market with the Granite Rapids processor. The decision follows a $7 billion funding infusion from Nvidia and SoftBank that helped the...
Vodacom Claims African First with 254Mbit/S 5G Uplink Test
Vodacom South Africa announced a 254 Mbit/s uplink test using its new “SuperUpload” 5G feature, marking what it claims as the first African achievement of this speed. The technology aggregates two separate uplink channels and dynamically selects the faster path, delivering...
Rowboats and Solar Panels: The Reality of Connecting Rural Africa
Satellite provider SES is scaling managed communications sites across sub‑Saharan Africa, using solar‑powered towers linked to LEO, MEO and GEO satellites. The company handles everything from design to long‑term operation, serving remote villages where roads are impassable and diesel generators...
Kaniz Mahdi Joins TM Forum’s AI and Data Mission Board
TM Forum announced that Kaniz Mahdi, AWS Industries Director of Technology, has joined its AI and Data Mission Board. The board will steer the AI‑Native Blueprint, which debuted three core projects—Model as a Service, Data Products Lifecycle Management, and Agentic...
Turris Omnia NG Wired Dual 10GbE, Quad 2.5GbE Router Drops Wi-Fi for Cost Savings
Turris has launched the Omnia NG Wired router, mirroring the feature set of its Wi‑Fi 7 model but stripping out built‑in wireless to cut costs. The device offers dual 10 GbE SFP+ cages, four 2.5 GbE RJ45 ports, a Qualcomm IPQ9574 SoC, 2 GB...
APNIC Routing Security SIG at APRICOT 2026: Social Engineering, RPKI, ASPA, & TA Constraints
At APRICOT 2026, APNIC’s Routing Security SIG highlighted six RPKI‑related initiatives, most notably Indonesia’s rapid climb to over 90% RPKI coverage driven by the IIX’s drop‑invalid policy. The session introduced the Autonomous System Provider Authorization (ASPA) object for path validation and...
Letter: A Sharp-Toothed FCC Is Needed More Than Ever
James B. Potter’s letter rebuts calls to dismantle the Federal Communications Commission, arguing that deregulation has already weakened the agency’s stewardship of the public spectrum. He points to shrinking engineering staff, the abandonment of the Local Studio Rule, and relaxed...
Centre Acts to Prevent Damage to Underground Utilities During Telecom Cable Laying: Scindia
Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia announced that the government has rolled out multiple safeguards to protect underground utilities, including drinking water pipelines, during telecom cable installations. The 2024 Telecommunication Right of Way Rules empower public entities to set conditions and claim...
Breeze Connect Launches Operator Connect for Teams Direct Voice Calling
Breeze Connect has rolled out Microsoft Teams Operator Connect for direct voice calling across Australia. The offering bundles a Microsoft 365 + Teams Phone licence from Leader Cloud with handsets, headsets, MTR systems and Teams Calling plans, all managed by Breeze. It...
Catalyst Announces Integration with FirstNet Fusion From AT&T
Interoperability provider Catalyst Communications announced that its Catalyst Dispatch platform will be integrated into AT&T’s FirstNet Fusion MCX ecosystem, the next‑generation public‑safety broadband solution. The integration delivers native 3GPP‑compliant dispatch with built‑in LMR interworking, allowing dispatchers to operate across legacy...
Google Fiber Merges with Astound, Astound Becomes Majority Owner
If you were listening to my podcast you knew something like this was coming. @google 's @googlefiber merged with @astoundconnects with Astound being the majority owner. GFiber was on the market for quite some time. https://t.co/Ux7k40VGTJ