Banglalink to Launch Starlink's Direct-to-Device Satellite Connectivity Service in Bangladesh
Banglalink, Veon's subsidiary in Bangladesh, has signed a partnership with Starlink Mobile to bring direct‑to‑device satellite connectivity to remote parts of the country. The service will initially launch messaging this year, with broader data offerings slated for a later phase pending regulatory clearance. By integrating Starlink’s low‑Earth‑orbit network with Banglalink’s terrestrial towers, the operator aims to extend coverage where traditional infrastructure is limited. The deal positions Banglalink as a pioneer in hybrid satellite‑cellular services within the Bangladeshi market.
Mobile Networks Could Reduce Speed or Introduce Surge Pricing to Help with Energy Costs
UK mobile operators Vodafone Three, Virgin Media O2 and EE warned the government that rising energy costs could force them to curb network performance or introduce surge pricing. They propose measures such as throttling data speeds, reducing signal strength, and rationing access...
You Block NVIDIA. You Build Huawei
Jensen Huang has repeatedly warned that cutting China off from Western AI technology will backfire, pointing to Huawei’s resilience. Despite two decades of U.S. sanctions, Huawei remains the world’s largest telecom equipment vendor, with no American competitor matching its scale....
Polish Tech Industry Group Calls for Greater Flexibility in 5G Private Network Rules
Polish ICT association Cyfrowa Polska warned that the regulator UKE’s draft plan for allocating the 3,800‑4,200 MHz band could stifle private 5G network growth. While the group backs the overall direction and EU‑aligned regulatory framework, it says the proposal imposes unnecessary...
The Third Tier: Scale-Across Like Kriss Kross
NVIDIA introduced the "scale‑across" tier at Hot Chips 2025, defining a new networking layer that connects AI training clusters across buildings, campuses, and even continents. The approach relies on coherent optics and disaggregated WDM to treat distant racks as a...
GSA Survey Finds Less than Quarter of Live 5G Networks Using Standalone Technology
A Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) survey shows fewer than 25% of live 5G networks are standalone (SA). By the end of March, only 95 operators had SA networks, a 42% year‑over‑year increase, while total 5G deployments rose 14% to...
Tele2 Estonia Service Revenues up 3% in Q1
Tele2 Estonia posted Q1 service revenue of €16.7 million (≈$18.2 million), a 3% year‑on‑year increase. Underlying EBITDAaL rose 25% organically to €6.8 million (≈$7.4 million), reflecting strong cost‑efficiency measures. Capital expenditure jumped 78% due to lease investments after the Baltic tower transaction, yet the...
Router Security Hardening Steps for 2026: From Default Credential Audits to Automated Firmware Risk Monitoring
Network edge devices, especially routers, have overtaken PCs as the primary cyber‑attack vector, a trend accelerated by hybrid work in the Netherlands. Threat actors exploit default credentials, unpatched firmware, and exposed management interfaces, making routers the weakest link in many...
Trooli Full Fibre Network Now Available to PXC Residential Partners
PXC, the former TalkTalk Wholesale spin‑off, has added the Trooli full‑fibre network to its portfolio of alternative networks. Trooli covers roughly 450,000 premises across the South East, East England and parts of Scotland, complementing the 300,000 premises already served by...
Virgin Media O2 Announces 5GSA Coverage Across Surrey
Virgin Media O2 has launched 5G Standalone (5G+) across Surrey, delivering coverage to 33 large towns, 48 smaller towns and 194 rural villages – roughly 1.2 million residents – at no extra charge for compatible devices. The rollout is part of...
Raspberry Pi RP2350 Board Offers NB-IoT Cellular Connectivity, GNSS, and Wi-Fi Indoor Location
Challenger+ has released a Feather‑compatible RP2350 board that adds certified NB‑IoT and GNSS connectivity via the ST87M01 modem. The dual‑core RP2350 MCU runs at 150 MHz and includes 8 MB PSRAM, 8 MB flash, and a USB‑C power interface. Cellular performance reaches up...
TELUS PureFibre Brings 5 Gbps Internet Speeds to Calgary-Bonavista
TELUS, together with Fibre Connect and Ledcor, will roll out its PureFibre FTTP service to Calgary‑Bonavista, adding the community to the 1.2 million Alberta homes and businesses already covered. The deployment involves more than 250,000 metres of underground fibre and will deliver...
Ookla: D2D Satellite Connectivity Surged 24.5% During Last 9 Months; Starlink’s Footprint Expansion Leads the Way
Ookla reports that direct‑to‑device (D2D) satellite connections jumped 24.5% between July 2025 and March 2026, driven largely by Starlink’s rollout into Chile, Ukraine, Peru and the UK. Starlink now dominates the market, supplying the bulk of D2D traffic alongside smaller players such...
CentrePort Realises First Operational Benefits of Private 5G Network
CentrePort has rolled out its private 5G network across key equipment, installing Peplink modems on reach stackers, empty container handlers and fully electric internal movement vehicles. The upgrade replaces unreliable public 4G connections that created dead zones, delivering uninterrupted connectivity...
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...
Wadaro Becomes Simphonic, Bags Investment to Drive Deployment
Simphonic, formerly Wadaro, released a white paper showing that 40.5% of device‑side QoE events captured via SIM applets are negative experiences invisible to traditional network KPIs, with 59.4% occurring at subscribers' primary locations. The study proposes a Customer Experience Index...
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...
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...
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...
Vodafone Romania Merges Evotracking, iSYS Units to Boost Fleet Management, IoT Offering
Vodafone Romania has merged its Evotracking and iSYS Professional subsidiaries into a single company operating as EvoGPS powered by iTrack. The consolidation makes Vodafone Romania the sole shareholder of the new entity. This move aligns with Vodafone's broader strategy to...
Bangladeshi Mobile Operators Warn of Network Failure Amid Escalating Energy, Fuel Crisis
Bangladeshi mobile operators warned the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission that a worsening electricity and fuel shortage could trigger a nationwide telecom outage. The Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB) said generators are running low on diesel and power...
Inside Nvidia’s Silicon Photonics Roadmap
Nvidia unveiled its next‑generation scale‑up system, NVL1152 “Kyber,” which will pack 1,152 GPUs—16 times the capacity of the current NVL72 rack. The machine, slated for the 2028 “Feynman” GPU generation, will combine copper interconnects with silicon photonics and co‑packaged optics...
MBRYONICS StarCom Terminal Enables Terabit Per Second Data Transfer
MBRYONICS has won a €18.6 million (≈$20 million) award from the European Space Agency to develop its StarCom optical terminal for a terabit‑per‑second space‑based network. The terminal will be flight‑tested under ESA’s HydRON program, which seeks multi‑orbital interoperability with other laser‑communication providers...
5G Towers, Limoges ... And a Question of Principle?
France’s 5G rollout now includes roughly 47,000‑48,000 sites, but the expansion has sparked a wave of sabotage and civil‑disobedience. Since the pandemic, at least 174 attacks on antennas were recorded in 2021, ranging from burned masts to severed fiber cables....
The End of ReConnect?
The USDA’s FY2025 budget proposal slashes discretionary spending by $4.9 billion, a 19% cut, and proposes eliminating the ReConnect rural broadband grant program. The agency argues that existing BEAD and other federal initiatives make ReConnect redundant, leaving only $230 million for new...
DID Telecom, Cataleya Partner to Bring Flagship Infrastructure in Amsterdam
DID Telecom and Cataleya announced a strategic partnership to launch a flagship telecom infrastructure hub in Amsterdam. The new facility will serve as a high‑capacity, secure platform for voice and number services, reinforcing Amsterdam’s role as a key EU interconnection...
Towards Understanding City-Level Routing Using BGP Location Communities
Researchers have demonstrated a scalable method to infer the city‑level meaning of undocumented BGP location communities using only passive routing observations. By correlating prefix origins with the routers that attach location tags, they correctly identified 1,482 of 1,595 communities, achieving...
SR-MPLS Workshop Materials
The Segment Routing MPLS (SR‑MPLS) workshop kicked off on April 20, 2026 at ITNOG 10 in Bologna. Organizers provided a comprehensive slide deck, lab topologies, and detailed usage guidelines for attendees. All materials are hosted online via IPspace and a public GitHub repository,...
Strengthening Your Network Security with APNIC’s Products and Tools
APNIC held a webinar in late March 2026 on strengthening network security, drawing 211 participants. The session highlighted the evolution from traditional IRR to cryptographic solutions like RPKI ROAs and the upcoming ASPA for path validation. It also showcased APNIC’s...
Verizon CEO: The Network Is Not Enough
Verizon CEO Dan Schulman warned that a superior network alone won’t guarantee market dominance. In the United States, top carriers achieve roughly 300 Mbps on 5G, while most competitors linger around 200‑220 Mbps, according to the latest Ookla report. Although the speed...
Apple and Amazon Partner on Satellite Deal
Amazon announced it will acquire Globalstar, bolstering its Leo low‑Earth‑orbit satellite initiative. The deal also formalizes a partnership with Apple, allowing iPhone and Apple Watch models to tap Globalstar’s existing and planned LEO constellations for connectivity. Apple will continue to...
Ericsson Q1 2026: Where To Go From Here?
Ericsson reported a 6% organic growth rate in Q1 2026, a notable feat in a stagnant global RAN market. However, reported sales slipped 10% due to harsh foreign‑exchange headwinds. The company’s supply chain is strained as AI‑driven data centers compete...
PSA Singapore Taps Motorola Solutions to Drive Safety and Efficiency
PSA Singapore has selected Motorola Solutions’ TETRA digital radio system to boost safety and operational efficiency as it expands the Tuas Mega Port. The network currently supports more than 4,000 users and handles roughly 540,000 voice calls daily, coordinating 24/7...
How Proximus Is Delivering Sovereign Cloud Services for European Institutions
Proximus has been selected in the European Commission’s Cloud III tender as one of four suppliers for a six‑year framework delivering sovereign cloud services to EU institutions. The contract covers the European Commission, Parliament, Council, EEAS and roughly 70 agencies, providing...
Rogers Expands Satellite-to-Mobile Coverage to the US
Rogers announced that its satellite‑to‑mobile service now extends an additional 1.3 million square kilometres into the United States, thanks to a partnership with T‑Mobile’s T‑Satellite network. The expansion lets Canadian subscribers roaming in the U.S. stay connected in areas without traditional...
GSA: 5G Non Terrestrial Networks, 5G SA and 5G Advanced Gain Momentum
GSA data shows rapid growth in non‑terrestrial 5G networks, with 97 operators across 70 countries announcing investments in LEO satellite device‑to‑device (D2D) solutions and aligning with 3GPP Release 17 standards. Major players such as Skylo, Orange, Verizon, Vodafone IoT and Sateliot,...
Weekly Brief – 17th April 2026
Broadband operators reported several key developments this week. In Orkney, the repair ship Pierre de Fermat replaced 8 km of damaged subsea cable and plans to restore service by 18 April, while also rerouting the line to lower future risk. AST SpaceMobile...
Azerbaijan Mobile Servces Market Grows 6% in Q1
Azerbaijan’s mobile services market posted AZN 303.4 million (approximately $179 million) in revenue for the first quarter, marking a 6 percent year‑on‑year increase. The sector’s total value reached AZN 1.291 billion (about $762 million) in FY25, up from a 4.5 percent rise the previous year. Data from the...
Evaluating 6G PHY Evolution: What the Industry Is Really Trying to Solve
The article argues that 6G PHY evolution is shifting from isolated waveform tweaks to a holistic co‑design of the radio layer with system architecture, AI, and non‑terrestrial networks. In 3GPP, Release 20 starts the study phase and Release 21 will embed the...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
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...