Australian telecom giant Telstra announced plans to eliminate 2,800 jobs as part of a significant reorganisation aimed at revitalising its enterprise division. The company has been conducting a thorough review of Telstra Enterprise since February, responding to economic pressures that have impacted its corporate clientele.
Ericsson has announced an additional $50 million investment in its USA 5G Smart Factory in Lewisville, Texas, adding to an initial $100 million invested in 2020. This expansion aims to increase local production to meet the rising demand for US-made 5G infrastructure, aligning with the Build America Buy America Act (BABAA).
New research conducted by consultancy Cluttons in collaboration with YouGov has revealed significant doubts among Conservative MPs regarding the UK’s ability to achieve government targets for nationwide standalone 5G coverage by 2030. The study, which surveyed 104 MPs and 556 local councillors, found that only one-third of Conservative MPs (34%) expressed confidence in meeting the ambitious targets set by the government.
Spain’s top three mobile operators have struck a deal to share spectrum in the 700 MHz band, aiming to improve rural coverage and secure government funding. This agreement involves Telefonica’s Movistar, the newly formed MasOrange, and Vodafone’s Spanish division.
Sparkle, the subsea cable subsidiary of TIM, has announced the successful completion of its first international VPN test secured with quantum encryption. This milestone was achieved in collaboration with Arqit Quantum, a leader in quantum-safe encryption, and Telsy, TIM’s cybersecurity-focused company. The proof of concept (PoC) involved establishing a secure Internet Protocol (IPsec) tunnel between Italy and Germany using Arqit’s Symmetric Key Agreement (SKA) Platform.
BT Group has reported a slight revenue increase to £20.8 billion, a 1% rise from last year, driven by price hikes for broadband customers, robust sales of fibre products in Openreach, and growth in the consumer division. However, the company’s pre-tax profits dropped sharply by 31%, falling to £1.18 billion, despite a 2% rise in adjusted EBITDA, which reached £8.1 billion.
Quickline, the UK broadband operator, has successfully connected the initial homes to its Project Gigabit-funded full fibre network in Yorkshire, achieving this milestone less than three months after securing the contract. This achievement, although modest in scale, signifies a promising acceleration in the UK government’s fibre broadband initiative.
In a significant move to bolster its presence in Europe, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced a substantial investment of €7.8 billion into the AWS European Sovereign Cloud project, extending through 2040. This initiative, unveiled last October, aims to establish an autonomous cloud infrastructure within the European Union (EU), operated independently to ensure data sovereignty for European customers.
At Avaya Engage, its premier customer experience event, Avaya, a global leader in Customer Experience solutions, unveiled a series of important enhancements to the Avaya Experience Platform™ (AXP),that further Avaya’s leadership in Enterprise CX as well as its commitment to delivering Innovation without Disruption. Avaya’s robust and comprehensive CX platform, trusted by large Enterprises globally, empowers customers to maintain their core capabilities while evolving through flexible innovation paths, including on-premises, private cloud, public cloud, or hybrid deployment models.
In a strategic move to bolster its network reach, alternative fibre builder CityFibre has successfully acquired Lit Fibre, marking the first step in its plan to consolidate within the UK’s burgeoning altnet sector. Lit Fibre, known for its vertically integrated model encompassing both network construction and ISP services, currently serves over 220,000 premises across more than 20 towns in several regions.
