With Nvidia’s GTC Berlin event in full swing, the company’s telecoms boss Ronnie Vasishta and Nokia chief technology and AI officer Pallavi Mahajan sit down with the Mobile World Live Podcast in an exclusive interview to reveal the next stage of the pair’s AI-RAN journey, as they team up with European heavyweights to turn networks into distributed intelligence platforms.

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00:00 — AI-RAN explained
7:20 — Operator trials
11:00 — Beyond edge hype
15:05 — AI-RAN economics
17:45 — Sovereign AI
21:10 — Commercialisation and 6G

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Toshiba addressed what it believes is complexity in deploying quantum-safe networks with the release of a platform it stated can lower the need for specific fibre connectivity and equipment.

The Japanese company is targeting the platform at network operators, enterprises, public-sector groups and companies running data centres. It is pitching the set-up as offering more than a bump to security, highlighting potential competitive advantages and revenue opportunities.

Toshiba echoed concerns expressed by many over the potential dangers of quantum computing, noting some nefarious types are already harvesting data to be decrypted when compatible machines come online.

It stated governments, “regulators and standards bodies” are already pressing for action to address potential threats.

The sales pitch for Toshiba’s platform centres on the simplicity of deployment. It states organisations “do not need to rebuild their networks” to use the set-up, which “integrates with existing network infrastructures” and can be run through “a single dedicated connection to large metro, hub-and-spoke, ring, mesh and long-distance networks”.

Andrew Shields, VP of Toshiba Europe and head of its Quantum Technology Division, said the platform should prove cost-effective in deployments “across large-scale networks”.

Toshiba equipped the platform with post-quantum cryptography, quantum key distribution and random number generation, technologies widely regarded as being suitably robust to secure the future computing systems.

Hiroshi Tsukino, VP of Toshiba’s ICT Solutions Division, said the move to quantum-safe technologies is “the largest cryptographic transformation in history” and urged organisations to begin preparing today.

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For much of the last two decades, the digital divide has been viewed primarily as an infrastructure problem. The assumption was if networks were built, people would connect.

Across the developing Asia Pacific (APAC) region, the assumption no longer holds. A new study by GSMA Intelligence and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) reveals this stark reality.

Developing APAC is home to 4.3 billion people, more than half of the world’s population, and 71% of people use mobile internet, equivalent to 3.1 billion individuals.

However, 1.1 billion people live within reach of 4G networks but do not use them. By comparison, 100 million people remain outside mobile broadband coverage altogether.

The region’s connectivity gap is therefore no longer primarily about coverage. It is increasingly about enabling people to access and use mobile internet meaningfully, in a way which improves their lives.

The shift from coverage to usage is important because mobile connectivity has become far more than a communications service. As countries accelerate their digital transformation agendas, connectivity provides the foundation for digital public infrastructure, digital services, data-driven innovation and the adoption of AI across economies.

Countries seeking to become digital nations cannot do so if large segments of their populations remain disconnected from the internet economy.

What stops people from connecting?
The study shows the primary barriers to mobile internet adoption are device affordability, and digital skills and literacy.

For example, the average cost of an entry-level internet-enabled device in the region is more than 60% of the monthly income for the poorest 40% of the population, more than three-times higher than what is considered affordable.

Survey evidence also shows safety and security, particularly scams and fraud, are becoming increasingly significant concerns. This highlights the importance of trust as a broader enabler of digital adoption. As digital services become increasingly AI-enabled, it is also becoming more important to ensure these are accessible and relevant in local languages.

The barriers to adoption remain unevenly distributed. Women across developing APAC remain 12% less likely than men to use mobile internet, while rural populations are 25% less likely than urban populations to do so. These disparities are even wider in certain regions such as the Pacific Islands and South Asia.

These gaps are as much economic issues as they are social. Every individual left offline has limited access to services or opportunities for economic participation. Closing the mobile connectivity gap by 2030 is expected to add $230 billion to the developing APAC economy. And GDP is only part of the story. Universal connectivity would also accelerate progress on poverty reduction, education, healthcare access, financial inclusion, disaster response and environmental sustainability. For many people, particularly in remote regions, connectivity increasingly determines whether essential services and economic opportunities are within reach.

What needs to be done?
The study demonstrates there is a strong economic case for closing the digital divide, but doing so requires coordinated policy reform, investment and implementation.

Countries in developing APAC have made substantial progress to bring more than half a billion people online in the past five years. By 2030, it is expected more than three quarters of adults will be using 4G or 5G mobile internet. To connect the remaining offline populations will require a total investment of $316 billion. The private sector is expected to generate $132 billion of investment, which means there is an investment gap of $184 billion.

At first glance the figure appears daunting. However, the composition of the gap tells a more encouraging story.

More than half of the investment gap relates to improving device affordability and digital skills. In other words, the largest barriers are not engineering challenges but rather policy, financing and development challenges. This calls for holistic multi-stakeholder strategies which look beyond network rollout and address the conditions enabling people to adopt and meaningfully use digital services.

Historically, connectivity strategies and universal service funds have often focused on infrastructure expansion. While infrastructure remains important, particularly in underserved rural areas, a more balanced approach is needed to address affordability and adoption barriers directly. Supporting device financing schemes, reducing sector-specific taxes, reforming universal service funds and investing in digital literacy programmes will generate far greater returns than traditional approaches alone. Importantly, these policies also help crowd in private investment rather than replace it.

From connected to digital nations
Over the next decade, governments across developing Asia Pacific are increasingly expected to focus on AI, digital public infrastructure and national digital transformation strategies. These ambitions are well founded, but they all rest on a common foundation: affordable, safe, meaningful and inclusive connectivity.

Without universal access and adoption, the benefits of AI and digital transformation risk being concentrated among those already connected, further widening existing inequalities.

The good news is developing APAC has already solved much of the challenge. With 98% 4G network coverage, the region has built an extraordinary platform for digital inclusion. The task now is to ensure everyone can actually use it. The next phase of digital inclusion will, therefore, not be defined by network coverage alone. It will be shaped by affordability, skills, trust, accessibility and relevance. Closing these gaps may prove to be one of the most important development challenges and opportunities of the next decade.

The editorial views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and will not necessarily reflect the views of the GSMA, its Members or Associate Members.

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Chipmaker Qualcomm reportedly will cut an undetermined number of jobs following recent annual employee reviews, with impacted staff set to be alerted next month.

Reuters reported CEO ​Cristiano Amon (pictured) sent out a memo outlining the cuts were part of a plan to create “a stronger performance culture” and address areas where the company “has consistently fallen short of expectations”.

The news agency noted the memo did not disclose how many employees will lose their jobs but stated it had roughly 52,000 employees globally, most of them full time, as of September 2025.

While Amon has made a concerted effort to branch the company’s products beyond phone chips, Qualcomm has battled against the impact of a worldwide memory supply crunch.

For fiscal Q3, it posted revenue of $9.9 billion for the quarter ended 28 June, down 4% from $10.4 billion a year earlier while net income during the period was $2 billion, for a 25% year-on-year decrease.

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PHY Wireless and Ubiik teamed up to combine private LTE and 5G connectivity with device-based positioning, offering enterprise and industrial users a 3GPP standards-based alternative to proprietary location systems.

The collaboration combines Ubiik’s private LTE and 5G infrastructure with PHY Wireless’ hellaPHY technology, enabling enterprises, utilities, hospitals, and campuses to run communications and location services on a single network.

Potential applications include tracking assets, vehicles and equipment, improving worker safety and supporting physical AI deployments.

The companies explained GPS and Wi-Fi positioning can struggle in warehouses, containers and factories and may increase battery consumption. HellaPHY calculates location on the device rather than in the cloud, allowing devices to determine when an update is required.

This approach apparently reduces network traffic, data costs and power use, while enhancing privacy.

Because the system operates over standard LTE and 5G, customers could add positioning capabilities to existing private networks rather than deploy separate infrastructure, which the companies said would reduce deployment costs and simplify operations.

The pair also claimed the technology provides metre-level accuracy and can cut device power consumption by up to 10 times compared with alternative approaches. This aligns with emerging 5G-Advanced, eRedCap and 6G sensing standards.

PHY Wireless CEO Tom Horgan said organisations pursuing physical AI and automation require location technology that can scale across thousands of devices at a manageable cost. He stated location awareness is becoming a foundational capability for next-generation enterprise and industrial applications.

Ubiik CEO TH Peng added the collaboration demonstrated how the company could adapt its private LTE platform to incorporate new technology and support changing customer requirements.

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Globalstar secured US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval for its next-generation C-3 satellite system as Amazon prepares to acquire the company.

The FCC granted nationwide authority to operate the system, which is designed to connect hundreds of millions of mobile devices in the US, including through direct-to-device (D2D) links to smartphones. The order also covers ground station antennas in Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico.

The approval strengthens the regulatory position of an asset central to Amazon’s effort to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink for D2D services.

C-3 will comprise 48 low Earth orbit birds at an altitude of 1,414 kilometres, along with six in-orbit spares and about 90 six-metre ground antennas worldwide. MDA Space is building the satellites in Canada, while control centres in Toulouse, France and at Globalstar’s Louisiana headquarters will oversee operations. France filed the system’s notification with the ITU.

CEO Paul Jacobs described the approval as a key step in improving the capacity, performance and flexibility of Globalstar’s services. Regulatory affairs chief Barbee Ponder said it concluded a multi-year licensing process with the FCC’s Space Bureau.

In April, Amazon agreed to acquire the satellite company for $11.6 billion as part of a push to add D2D services to its Amazon Leo constellation. The deal is expected to close in 2027, subject to regulatory approval and Globalstar meeting specified satellite milestones.

In July, Amazon Leo applied to the FCC in July for permission to deploy up to 5,105 satellites for direct-to-device services.

As of October, Amazon communications manager Zack Brown said the company had 396 LEO satellites in orbit and had built more than 1,000 at its 172,000-square-foot production facility in Kirkland, Washington.

Apple is a long-term Globalstar partner and has invested more than $1 billion in the company. Globalstar’s existing fleet supports iPhone satellite features including emergency texting, messaging, roadside assistance and location sharing.

Amazon also signed a separate agreement to provide satellite connectivity for current and future iPhones and Apple Watches, and committed to maintaining those services.

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The National Basketball Association (NBA), Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and AT&T revealed the launch of the fourth generation of the High-Speed Arena Network (HSAN), the latest iteration of the leagues’ connectivity platform built to transport live game content, highlights, replays, in-arena programming and stats to fans and business partners.

With more than 68,000 miles of the operator’s fibre and network infrastructure, the HSAN will be built to transport more than 118 concurrent, high-quality, low-latency streams per game, supporting millions of hours of basketball consumption during the 2027-28 NBA season.

AT&T chief marketing and growth officer Kellyn Smith Kenny stated fans consume basketball across live broadcasts, replays, highlights, social media and NBA digital platforms. She added the companies were building the connectivity needed to distribute game content quickly and reliably, helping viewers stay connected to key moments wherever they watch.

AT&T, the NBA and the WNBA also extended their longstanding marketing partnership, continuing the operator role as the leagues’ Official Connectivity Partner, building on a relationship which began in 2018. The extension also continues AT&T’s partnership with the NBA G League, USA Basketball and NBA Take-Two Media.

As part of the marketing partnership, AT&T and the NBA will create new fan touchpoints across content and retail activations and give them more opportunities to engage with NBA stars and AT&T athletes. The operator will also continue to connect fans with their favourite teams and players through its partnerships with the Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks, Miami Heat and LA Clippers.

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Iris exited stealth with a $43 million commitment from Balesia Group and launched its financial network for telecom operators, with Bolivia-based VIVA the first licensed operator to go live.

Iris helps telecom operators monetise economic activity flowing across their infrastructure rather than allowing hyperscalers and app developers to capture most of the value generated on their networks.

Operators plug their identity, billing and distribution systems into Iris to add revenue-generating services such as advertising, settlement reconciliation and financial services without replacing their existing technology.

Iris operates its own network on Avalanche, which provides the blockchain infrastructure for transactions to settle on-chain.

Payments across the Iris network settle in USDi, a dollar-backed stablecoin issued and redeemed by US-based stablecoin infrastructure company Agora. Businesses use it to pay one another while keeping operating reserves in dollars rather than leaving cash idle.

VIVA CEO Ryan Alvarez stated the company is investing heavily in infrastructure to bring subscribers into the digital economy.

“Iris lets us create more value from what we’ve already built, including new revenue streams that didn’t exist before, and helps transform us into a platform for new products and services,” he stated.

Scalability
Iris cited McKinsey data showing global mobile data traffic grew more than 50% a year between 2012 and 2025, while operator service revenue over the same period grew barely 1% a year, with hyperscalers capturing most of the economic value created by the traffic. The company stated Iris is built to close that gap.

Iris CEO Jules Miller explained operators have spent years watching others get paid for building on top of the infrastructure they operate.

“Now Iris gives them the tools to turn those assets into new products and new revenue streams,” she said. “VIVA saw that opportunity early, and our partnership is already proving the model works and is highly scalable in the real world.”

Balesia Group owns and operates nine operating companies across eight countries in the Americas.

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SES unveiled plans to establish direct-to-device (D2D) satellite manufacturing capabilities and a supply chain in Europe with Elveo Mobile as part of an expanded collaboration aimed at accelerating the delivery of services in the region.

Elveo Mobile is the result of a merger between Lynk Global and Omnispace which included SES becoming a major shareholder of the combined entity.

As part of the expanded collaboration, SES will use Elveo’s patented technology to enable mobile roaming for European consumers, businesses, governments, institutions, and defence users.

SES and Elveo Mobile will collaborate to establish manufacturing capabilities and a robust European supply chain for low Earth orbit (LEO) D2D satellites using Elveo’s satellite bus, payload and software technology stack.

The satellites will form part of a multi-orbit architecture combining Elveo’s network with SES’ geostationary (GEO) and medium Earth orbit (MEO) systems, designed to deliver secure and reliable connectivity to European governments and institutions, including NATO.

SES stated European customers also stand to benefit from its global distribution of Elveo’s offering, which use the latter’s high-priority 2GHz s-band spectrum rights and a global market-access footprint currently covering more than 1 billion people.

SES CEO Adel Al-Saleh stated European consumer, commercial and government users deserve resilient, secure multi-orbit connectivity, adding the company is preparing to deliver it by combining SES’s networks with Elveo’s D2D services.

Elveo chief Ramu Potarazu, a former Lynk Global CEO, described SES as the right partner for bringing D2D services to Europe.

“By working closely with SES, we are confident we can accelerate access to critical D2D connectivity for European mobile operators and governments that depend on them,” Potarazu stated.

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Intel-backed Altera confidentially filed for a listing in the US, adding to a frenzy of IPO-related activity in the technology sector in 2026.

In a short statement, the company disclosed it had submitted the registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The number of shares and the price range for the listing was not revealed. Reuters reported last week the firm was preparing the move, with plans to raise more than $2 billion.

Altera makes programmable chips used in data centres, telecoms networks, AI applications and for aerospace and defence systems.

Intel offloaded a 51% majority stake in the business to private equity company Silver Lake last year, a deal that gave Altera a valuation of around $8.8 billion.

As part of the sale, Intel remained on board as a strategic partner and retained the remaining 49%. It acquired the company in 2015 for $17 billion.

Bloomberg reported US IPO activity has soared on the back of large AI investment.

SpaceX set the pace with a record-breaking IPO that raised $75 billion, while SK Hynix raised $29 billion in what was the largest-ever US listing by a foreign company.

There is also more tipped to come, with AI rivals OpenAI and Anthropic in line for market debuts in the next year.

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Juniper Research predicted a bright future for private mobile network spending due to heightened demand for infrastructure capable of extracting the full benefits of AI in business operations.

The company expects outlay on private LTE and 5G networks to hit $84.7 billion in 2031 compared with $17.3 billion this year.

Juniper Research suggested infrastructure providers may reap the greatest benefits by partnering with companies specialising in enterprise AI systems and positioning private networks “as a natural part” of modernisation initiated by the technology.

It argued private networks “are increasingly becoming the default way” to meet the connectivity requirements of AI.

VP of research Nick Maynard believes differentiation will emerge as the secret of future vendor success.

He highlighted “proven Industry 4.0, operational technology and mission-critical applications” as fields where vendors could fully establish an edge on rivals, pointing to services including automated guided vehicles, machine vision, and predictive maintenance and industrial control operations as prime opportunities.

To capitalise, private network vendors should “develop architecture that is repeatable, but highly tailored to individual sectors”, Maynard advised.

Juniper Research ranked current equipment vendors based on their shift “away from general enterprise connectivity” towards systems specific to industrial use cases.

It did not offer any big surprises in a top-five ranking of vendors in the here and now, with Nokia leading Huawei, Samsung, HPE and Ericsson, respectively.

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Verizon expanded its 6G Innovation Forum (6GIF) with nine new members, broadening the industry group it launched in 2025 to support development of an open and diverse 6G ecosystem.

The new members are Amazon Web Services, Cisco, Intel, Keysight Technologies, MediaTek, Nvidia, Palo Alto Networks, Rohde & Schwarz and Viavi Solutions. They join founding members Ericsson, Samsung, Nokia, Meta and Qualcomm Technologies.

“By expanding our Innovation Forum and refining live edge-AI trials today, we are ensuring the AI-native 6G network is built from day one to scale 5G Advanced capabilities and translate these next-generation technologies into meaningful, real-world experiences for our customers,” stated Verizon’s Yago Tenorio, CTO and SVP of Technology Development.

Tenorio described the forum’s approach as bottom-up and driven by use cases. Its work focuses on 6G support for AI workloads, wearables including untethered smart glasses, and integrated sensing and communication (ISAC).

The forum will trial use cases, test spectrum bands and bandwidth, and coordinate with standards bodies including 3GPP.

Verizon stated the new members bring expertise in cloud services, silicon and computing, automated testing, network security and immersive graphics simulation.

Verizon also highlighted recent ISAC field trials with founding members Samsung and Qualcomm.

ISAC, viewed as an important capability for future 6G networks, enables mobile infrastructure to function as a radar-like sensing platform. Operators and vendors have begun demonstrating the technology in live environments.

Using 5G-Advanced capabilities, the companies showed how ISAC can support public safety, environmental awareness and event management, creating a path to evolve those functionalities with 6G.

Verizon also called out a prototype of AI Sports Companion as part of its work to design infrastructure around future application requirements. It said AI-native devices and wearables such as smart glasses will require ultra-low latency and a more balanced uplink-downlink model because they will upload substantially more data than current devices.

Built on the Verizon Edge Network, the prototype paired Meta AI glasses with a locally optimised small language model, an Nvidia DGX Spark unit and real-time sports data from SportsDataIO.

Users can ask verbally for player statistics, score analysis or win probabilities and receive spoken answers without checking a phone.

Verizon said the prototype explores how future technology could reduce app switching and provide real-time information without distracting fans from the game.

Members of 6GIF will continue sharing findings from demonstrations involving ISAC, digital twins, robotics, AI and advanced wearables.

Verizon identified the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, as an interim test bed ahead of commercial 6G deployments. Its 6G Lab in the city will be used to test network capacity and early AI-native use cases.

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SES launched the final three birds in its 13-satellite O3b mPOWER medium Earth orbit constellation, adding thrust to its connectivity play for enterprise, cloud service providers, governments and mobile operators.

The company is now in the process of commissioning the trio, which it expects to be fully operational by mid-2027.

SES noted the satellites would extend the availability of “high-performance connectivity”; improve the resilience of the O3b mPOWER constellation; advance sovereign data capabilities; and boost the relay of data through space.

CEO Adel Al-Saleh said SES is combining “multiple technologies and orbits” to meet the needs of customers across various sectors.

The satellites support SES’ work to “deliver resilient, secure and scalable connectivity”.

SES’ satellites flew on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket yesterday (13 September). The 10 birds already in orbit can handle data rates “ranging from tens of Mb/s to multiple Gb/s”, the company stated.

The trio run a Boeing software-defined payload technology which the aerospace player separately explained enables them to “dynamically route bandwidth, focus beam power and adjust capacity in real time”.

Boeing stated companies in the cruise line sector, “government organisations, civil entities, mobile operators and commercial airlines” use SES’ existing O3b mPOWER satellites.

“Technology is at its best when it has a direct line-of-sight to human impact,” Ryan Reid, president of Boeing Satellite Systems International, declared.

Reid added SES’ satellites deliver the in-space baseline for a dual-use satellite architecture Boeing developed to work in multiple orbits.

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Samsung Electronics and Verizon turned live 5G radio signals into real-time crowd heatmaps during a large international football fan event, marking a major field trial for 6G-ready Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) on commercial virtualised RAN (vRAN).

The companies stated the trial in Dallas, Texas proved how sensing networks can enable real-time intelligence for large-scale events in venues such as sports stadiums.

While Samsung and Verizon did not say where the test took place, AT&T Stadium in nearby Arlington, Texas hosted an ISAC demo for drone sensing by AT&T and Ericsson in between World Cup games.

To date ISAC has been touted as a flagship capability for future 6G networks that turns mobile infrastructure into a radar-like sensory platform, but real-life demos have started to take-off.

The trial enabled Samsung and Verizon to validate ISAC technology in a live, real-world environment with changing crowd conditions, to streamline gate operations, reduce concession line wait times, and proactively address overcrowding risks. 

Yago Tenorio, CTO and SVP of Technology Development at Verizon, stated the successful trial demonstrated the operator’s early investments in vRAN “are paying off today, giving us the agility to engineer and trial groundbreaking 6G concepts like ISAC over our existing infrastructure”.

“This field trial with Samsung proves that the network of the future will do far more than just transfer data.” he said. “It will actively perceive and interact with its environment to transform venue management and public safety.”

How it works
To capture data, a CBRS radio unit utilising 40 MHz of spectrum was mounted on a Verizon Cell-On-Wheels (COW) to act as a sensing receiver, tracking wireless channel variations caused by commercial 5G devices.

Samsung integrated its commercial AI-powered vRAN and vCore software with an ISAC application on its Network in a Server (NIS) platform, which is an edge-AI system that consolidates compute and network operations into a single server.

The NIS platform processed signal variations in real time to generate a dynamic crowd-density heatmap which measures spatial density only, without identifying individual users or objects. Vendors and operators are aware there are some privacy concerns related to ISAC ahead of it becoming a key element for the upcoming 6G standards.

The real-time spatial awareness serves multiple groups during large-scale gatherings. Event organisers gain visibility into crowd distribution to manage bottlenecks and deploy staff efficiently, while security agencies can spot emerging congestion early to prevent public safety hazards.

Additionally, venue attendees can use live crowd data to identify less congested concession stands, restrooms and exits.

Charlie Zhang, EVP at Samsung Research America, said the trial represents a major step forward in weaving AI-driven sensing into network infrastructure, underscoring the transformative promise of 6G technologies.

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Space42 and Viasat outlined an investment of $1 billion in shared infrastructure platform Equatys, as the pair signed a binding agreement to establish the joint venture.

The funding commitment was announced alongside the signing of a formal deal to form Equatys at the World Space Business Week event, being held this week in Paris.

It represents the next phase in the process to set-up the company after the duo detailed plans in September 2025.

Formation of the venture, constellation procurement and definitive agreements remain subject to closing conditions including regulatory approvals and the appointment of Viasat as the prime technology contractor.

Equatys is pitched as a shared space and ground infrastructure platform which will support the extension of mobile coverage and overlay in places terrestrial networks cannot serve.

Funding is expected to come from a combination of equity from the founders and third-parties, along with debt financing sources.

The company is expected to operate a tower company model, providing what the companies describe as a “neutral, shared layer of both satellites and ground infrastructure”, reducing capital requirements for potential customers while accelerating deployment and increasing serve ability.

Space42 MD Karim Michel Sabbagh said signing the agreement signifies take-off for Equatys.

“For the first time, the satellite industry is building infrastructure the way the mobile industry thinks: shared, interoperable, standards-based and designed for billions of devices rather than millions of subscribers.”

Viasat chair and CEO Mark Dankberg added it is creating a new infrastructure category for global direct-to-device and advanced mobile satellite service connectivity, backed by unique spectrum assets, significant committed capital and a business model proven to scale the mobile industry.

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The European Commission (EC) handed contracts to Thales Alenia Space and Aerospacelab for the buildout of the IRIS2 constellation, as EC president Ursula von der Leyen (pictured) set out the bloc’s priorities for the space sector.

Starting with Aerospacelab, the company stated it was selected as a key prime contractor for the low Earth orbit (LEO) segment of the IRIS2 programme, entrusted with building 264 satellite platforms in a deal worth €2.4 billion.

Benoit Deper, CEO of Aerospacelab, said its selection for IRIS2 “reflects a deliberate industrial choice and a defining moment for Europe as a whole”.

“Institutions are now also placing their trust in a new generation of space manufacturers: companies like Aerospacelab, built from the ground up to deliver satellite infrastructure at scale and speed,” he added.

Meanwhile, Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture owned by Thales and Leonardo, stated it had agreed a deal with Eutelsat to provide governmental payloads dedicated to 330 IRIS2 telecoms satellites in LEO.

The value of the deal is worth around €500 million, while the company expects to gain around €3 billion from the project overall.

Around 66 LEO Ka-only telecoms satellites will be launched in 2029, with Thales Alenia Space developing the payloads and Airbus Defense and Space providing the platforms.

It will also be responsible for the government payloads for a further 264 Ku/Ka telecoms satellites, scheduled to launch from 2030.

Competitive space sector
Speaking at the International Space Summit in Paris, von der Leyen said the IRIS2 programme would ensure resilient communications across Europe, strengthen digital sovereignty and reduce reliance on non-European satellite systems.

During a speech, she also set out a commitment to strengthen Europe’s access to space through greater private investment, while expressing the importance of a “strong and competitive space sector that can grow, scale up and compete globally”.

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Eutelsat and French satellite startup Skynopy officially launched what the pair claim is one of the largest software-defined ground infrastructures for current and future satellite offerings, covering in-orbit, orbital data centres and telecoms services.

Announced at the International Space Summit being held this week in Paris, the joint offering is called Global AKAR and brings together Eutelsat’s global footprint with Skynopy’s software technology and “commercial traction.”

The duo explained the ambition of the project is to utilise Eutelsat’s ground network of base stations to create a data backbone for multi-mission constellations in the S, X and Ka-bands.

The partnership aims to deploy 100 operational antennas by the end of 2029, enabling “a real-time service” at a very high throughput for the fast growing Low Earth Orbit (LEO) services market.

Global AKAR is designed to significantly reduce data latency to less than three minutes compared to the current state of the art standard of one hour, while delivering 10Gb/s throughput.

Partially supported by the French government, the project is now underway after successfully demonstrating the technical feasibility through a three-antenna proof of concept for Earth Observation.

The same infrastructure is designed to support a new generation of in-orbit services, enabling satellites to transfer data more efficiency and interact with in-orbit computing capabilities.

Customers are in line to benefit from access to a secure, high-capacity and globally distributed network without having to build out and operate their own ground infrastructures, said the partners. They further pointed to secure architecture and interfaces, making Global AKAR suitable for defence and other sensitive applications.

Emmanuel Macron, President of France, hailed Global AKAR as an alliance of a European champion in Eutelsat and one of France’s promising startups in Skynopy, “working hand in hand to offer the best service on the missing element of the space economy: the ground segment”.

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A report by Dell’Oro Group found worldwide data centre IT semiconductor and component revenue for servers and storage systems surged 182% in Q2 2026, driven by rising memory prices and continued AI infrastructure investment.

DRAM and storage drive revenue grew at a triple-digit pace, as average selling prices per bit more than doubled year-over-year while continued AI infrastructure investment fuelled broad-based demand across accelerators and complementary server and storage components.

“Data centre component growth accelerated sharply in the second quarter, driven by higher memory and storage prices and continued growth in server demand,” stated Baron Fung, VP of research at Dell’Oro.

He also said Nvidia’s Blackwell platform and custom accelerators from Google and Amazon continued to gain momentum.

Fung added agentic AI is emerging as a meaningful growth driver for general-purpose servers, broadening component demand beyond accelerated computing hardware.

Going forward, Fung stated Dell’Oro expects component revenue growth to maintain momentum through the remainder of 2026, supported by elevated component prices and strong AI infrastructure investment, though supply constraints could limit hyperscaler capital expenditure plans.

The report found accelerated server deployments drove strong demand for complementary components, including high-bandwidth memory (HBM), CPUs, memory and high-speed back-end network interface cards.

General-purpose server demand remained strong across cloud service providers, supported by continued infrastructure expansion alongside emerging agentic AI workloads.

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AT&T Business and Amazon Leo reached a deal to bring satellite broadband to enterprise and public sector customers, with the company becoming the first major US operator to employ the low Earth orbit (LEO) network in a bundled set-up including fibre and 5G.

The operator plans to offer the connectivity as a fully managed service on top of its existing terrestrial networks. Customers would get one bill, one point of contact and round-the-clock customer service.

AT&T is to provide the equipment to connect to the satellites.

Shawn Hakl, AT&T Business SVP and head of product, said enterprise and public sector customers need a platform which delivers reliable connectivity across fibre, 5G and satellite in a single managed architecture.

Chris Weber, VP of Amazon Leo Business and Product, said the satellite network adds resilience to the network.

AT&T stated the companies are “moving through a structured, phased deployment designed to ensure business-grade reliability before broad availability”.

It plans to issue pricing and configuration details in the coming months.

The explosion of a Blue Origin New Glenn rocket in May could put the timeline for the launch of the AT&T Business closer to 2027: the rocket company is repairing damage to a launchpad and aims to restore operations by the end of the year.

Amazon Leo is simultaneously pushing into direct-to-device (D2D) connectivity, seeking regulatory approval to deploy up to 5,105 satellites, with deployment scheduled to begin in 2028.

All three major US operators are involved in various D2D moves through deals with Amazon Leo, SpaceX and AST SpaceMobile, along with collaborating to close coverage gaps.

AT&T Business is bidding to differentiate by bundling the connectivity option.

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The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will vote later this month on two items intended to free up spectrum for next-generation connectivity, according to chair Brendan Carr (pictured).

The first is a satellite spectrum abundance order, which would allow the FCC to unlock more than 1,000 MHz of spectrum across the 12GHz and 42GHz bands. The FCC stated the freed-up airwaves could support a range of connectivity services, including faster satellite broadband.

The second item is a proposal to seek comment on modernising the FCC’s rules governing ultra-wideband (UWB) technology, an unlicensed spectrum category used across IoT, automotive and consumer devices. Carr noted the rules have not been comprehensively updated since their adoption in 2002.

“The FCC’s work to free up more spectrum continues apace this month,” Carr said. “Today, I shared two items with my colleagues that will push more commercial spectrum into the marketplace than ever before. By unlocking these bands, the FCC will give a big boost to American innovation and promote economic growth across a wide range of industries.”

On the satellite order, Carr said the move is designed to ensure consumers continue benefiting from competitive, high-speed internet delivered from next-generation satellite systems.

On the UWB proposal, he said the rule changes would unlock further opportunities for unlicensed devices across a wide swath of spectrum, pointing to UWB’s role in applications from vehicle safety systems to package tracking.

He stated the technology is so deeply embedded in everyday life that most people are unaware of its role, and that the proposal represents the FCC’s first comprehensive modernisation of the rules in over two decades.

Both items are scheduled for a vote at the FCC’s 30 September open meeting. The satellite spectrum move comes as regulators globally weigh how to balance growing demand for satellite broadband capacity, driven by operators including Amazon Leo, SpaceX’s Starlink and others, against existing terrestrial and federal spectrum users. The 12GHz band in particular has been the subject of a long-running dispute between satellite operators and terrestrial 5G proponents over interference risks and competing use cases.

The meeting items build on Carr’s broader push to release more spectrum since taking the chair, which has included restarting the agency’s first spectrum auction in four years. Auction 113, covering AWS-3 licences in the 1695-1710MHz, 1755-1780MHz and 2155-2180MHz bands, forms part of the FCC’s Build America Agenda, targeting 800MHz of new spectrum by 2034.

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