The cyber security solutions will be added to Orange Cyberdefense to protect European customers
Orange has announced a strategic partnership with Helsinki-based cyber security firm F‑Secure for the provision of cyber security solutions, which the operator wants to use to protect its customers from an ever-evolving landscape of cyber threats. The capabilities will be rolled into Orange Cyberdefense, which provides cyber security services in Europe, and will be used to develop innovative in-house solutions.
The unit boasts a community of more than 3,100 multidisciplinary experts, and 36 detection centers located around the world. Building upon the initial announcement of the agreement on 1 April, this partnership means Orange will include F‑Secure’s Total solution in its value proposition to provide to its millions of subscribers across Europe.
The services developed by Orange Cyberdefense will get extra technical features like: Device Security; Scam Protection; Privacy Protection; Identity Monitoring; and Parental Controls.
“This partnership with F‑Secure means we will be making the highest level of security accessible to customers in Europe,” said Orange Europe EVP and CEO Mari-Noëlle Jégo-Laveissière (above). “Not only is F-Secure truly a partner-first company, but their state-of-the-art threat protection, combined with Orange Cyberdefense’s threat intelligence and Orange’s innovation expertise, will ensure that Orange customers across Europe can navigate the digital landscape with confidence, security, and peace of mind.”
“Orange Cyberdefense combines an intelligence-led managed services approach with best-of-breed technologies, experts, and processes to help customers stay ahead of threats,” said Orange Cyberdefense EVP and CEO Hugues Foulon. “The partnership with F-Secure, a European-based technology provider, will allow to extend to Orange European countries a holistic protection, with the expertise and the simplicity of F‑Secure end users’ features.”
“Securing significant strategic partnerships is a cornerstone of F‑Secure’s ongoing mission to make every digital moment more secure for everyone, as well as our growth strategy.” said F-Secure president and CEO Timo Laaksonen. “Our partnership with Orange is one that we are immensely proud of and will be crucial in ensuring more consumers globally are protected against scams and other cyber threats.”
F‑Secure said its newest scam protection capabilities block digital threats around-the-clock for its customers, with collected data showing: 500,000 per day detections and blocks of malware; 700,000 per day AI-driven detections and blocks of suspicious activity; 1,000,000 per day banking transitions protected; and 8,000,000 per day breached personal records detected.
According to Global Anti-Scam Alliance managing director Jorij Abraham the scale of online scams is staggering. “Nearly $1.026 trillion was lost by consumers worldwide last year,” said Abraham. “In our global study, 78% of participants experienced at least one scam in the last 12 months. However, 59% didn’t report the scam to authorities – 24% believed reporting it wouldn’t make a difference”.
According to F-Secure data, 77% of people worry about their online safety, with 7 in 10 unsure whom to trust. And there’s good reason for this: GASA found that 45% of people experienced more scams in the last 12 months than the year before.
“An important step forward in being able to offer commercial 5G SA roaming, supporting high quality voice calls…picture messaging, video streaming and fast data services”
Vodafone, A1 Group and Ericsson carried out what they say is the first 5G Standalone (5G SA) international roaming connection between two operator groups. The connection was between Vodafone in Germany and A1 Bulgaria.
The parties say the demo is “an important step forward in being able to offer commercial 5G SA roaming, supporting high quality voice calls and picture messaging, video streaming and fast data services.
‘It also opens the door to new applications like dedicated network slices to control industrial robots and autonomous vehicles at factories and warehouses, as well as simultaneously connecting many AR/VR headsets for use at major events, whether in-country or across multiple markets.”
Indeed, just last week, the Nokia, Telia and the Finnish Defense Forces conducted what they claimed to be the first seamless 5G Standalone (SA) slice handover between countries in a live network demo across national boundaries.
Bulgaria to Germany
This new collaboration allowed a mobile subscriber to A1 Bulgaria roaming on Vodafone Germany’s 5G SA network using a standard device, supported by generally available core network software that complies with the latest 3GPP standards.
The teams also demonstrated that “superior voice roaming” was possible. The parties apparently expect this plus immersive surround sound will be supported by smartphones in future.
Alberto Ripepi, Chief Network Officer, Vodafone Group, said: “Vodafone Germany was the first operator to launch a commercial 5G SA network in Europe. Now, we are taking our expertise overseas with the world’s first 5G SA roaming demonstration.
“Ultimately, 5G SA roaming will enhance the customer experience at international events like football championships and provide the same consistent fast connectivity at a company’s warehouses and factories across many markets.”
Roaming in so many words
Todor Tashev, Senior Director Competence Delivery Center for A1 Group, A1 Bulgaria, added, “The world first international 5G SA roaming connection between two operator groups is a key technological milestone and we are proud to partner with Vodafone and Ericsson to achieve this.
“A1 is investing resource and expertise in delivering the best experience to our customers across all A1 Group countries, and the completion of this initial connection is an important step toward providing European citizens and tourists’ high-quality connectivity on the go. We are looking forward to working with our joint teams to bring this capability to subscribers in a live network environment.”
Monica Zethzon, Head of Solution Area Core Networks, Ericsson, noted, “There are now over 60 live or deployed 5G standalone networks worldwide, with Ericsson Core and radio solutions supporting more than 40 of them. As more 5G SA networks go live, users globally will expect the superior service and high standard of security they receive on their home network to be offered seamlessly when travelling.
“Roaming for 5G standalone is an essential part of the future of telecoms in a world where service quality expectations are high, and we are looking forward to working with collaborators like Vodafone and A1 Group to make it happen.”
The Saudi Arabian-based towerco has been working for a while with Nokia on shared connectivity infrastructure
Saudi neutral-host provider Tawal and Nokia have completed what they claim is the world’s first live demonstration of a multi-tenant, shareable Open RAN edge-cloud platform, allowing mobile operators and large enterprises to launch high-performance 5G services. The announcement follows the two companies’ work in March which saw them partner up with Zain KSA, and conduct the a 5G standalone (SA) millimetre wave (mmWave) spectrum-sharing trial.
In that trial, utilising 800MHz bandwidth in the 26 GHz band, the trio demonstrated the feasibility of multiple operators sharing the same active radio network infrastructure without compromising performance, reliability, or security. The work comes on the back of Tawal’s significant partnership with Nokia to expand its 5G network infrastructure. The partnership encompasses comprehensive turnkey services provided by Nokia, covering project management, civil engineering tasks, power supply enhancements, and the relocation and reinforcement of towers.
The two claim the showcase proves how Tawal can offer active infrastructure as a service while operators enjoy significant savings and futureproof their networks with open, cloud native flexibility.
Across Saudi Arabia, demand for widespread 5G connectivity is increasing as smart city giga projects gather pace. Yet traditional single operator rollouts risk duplicating infrastructure, driving up capex and delaying service availability. By adopting a neutral host model, Tawal reckons it can pool spectrum agnostic, Open RAN baseband and radio assets so multiple service providers share the same edge cloud platform, reducing energy consumption, freeing spectrum and shrinking the digital divide.
“Neutral hosts must add value beyond steel and concrete,” said Tawal chief commercial officer Abdulrahman Al Moaiqel. “By partnering with Nokia, we can offer Saudi operators an on demand, pay as you grow 5G platform that cuts their TCO and accelerates digital transformation for the Kingdom’s giga projects.”
Open interfaces
Nokia said its anyRAN solution, built on open interfaces, cloud agnostic software and high performance AirScale radios, is designed precisely to unlock these efficiencies. “Moving from a tower company model to a fully-fledged network company demands technology that combines openness with proven performance,” said Nokia SVP Middle East and Africa Mikko Lavanti. “Our anyRAN approach lets Tawal mix and match vendors at the cloud layer while still guaranteeing the ultra-reliable, low latency experience operators and end users expect.”
During the live demonstration at LEAP 2025 in Riyadh, Nokia 5G AirScale Indoor Radios were connected to Dell PowerEdge XR8000 servers hosting virtualized CU/DU software in Nokia’s anyRAN framework. The open, cloud‑native platform supports multi‑operator RAN sharing and can host third‑party RAN software, giving Tawal full vendor flexibility while “maintaining carrier‑grade performance”. Nokia argues the solution’s compact footprint and reduced power draw make it ideal for smart‑city edge nodes and enterprise campuses.
Road and rail tunnels can be difficult areas to cover with 5G so the operator has tried some new multi-band antennas to help out
Vodafone Germany has commissioned a new type of conical multi-band mobile antenna for more stable 5G coverage in tunnels. The operator has deployed five of these antennas in the 1,400-meter-long Arlinger Tunnel near Pforzheim, improving mobile reception. Ericsson’s mobile antenna supports multiple frequency bands and is specifically designed for use in tunnels.
Interestingly, the antennas are cone-shaped and the form factor makes it particularly wind-resistant and therefore robust, according to the operator. The antenna covers all low band and midband spectrum for all mobile generations and is quite unique with respect to the 2×2 MIMO capability (XPol) which is required for 5G services. They also transmit multiple 5G and LTE frequencies simultaneously, reducing the need for multiple antenna types and improving efficiency.
“Closing dead spots in tunnels is particularly challenging for structural reasons alone. Passing cars and trains set large air masses in motion in tunnels, which can cause vibrations in the antenna technology and thus impair the transmission and reception performance of mobile phone antennas,” said Vodafone head of network development Marc Hoelzer. “This places special demands on the wind resistance of the antennas used and their installation.”
He added: “For drivers and passengers, the commissioning of the new antenna generation will result in fewer dropped calls and more stable data rates.”
In Germany, there are over 270 road tunnels with a total length of 270 km on federal highways. There are 420 tunnels on rural, district, and urban roads with a total length of over 350 km. The Deutsche Bahn rail network comprises 761 tunnels with a total length of more than 600 km. Vodafone plans to use the wind-resistant conical antenna in construction projects in an initial 20 additional tunnels.
In smaller tunnels, mobile phone antennas at the entrances and exits are often sufficient for mobile phone reception along the tunnel route. In deeper and longer tunnels, optical amplifiers (repeaters) are used, which transmit the mobile phone signal to numerous tunnel antennas installed in the tunnel and then return the signal to the mobile phone cell at the end.
Implementation also presents many challenges. Cables must be laid and technology installed. This usually requires the tunnels to be closed by Deutsche Bahn or the Autobahn GmbH. Therefore, network expansion in mobile phone tunnels usually takes place as part of renovation or maintenance work.
To avoid every mobile network operator having to install its own cables and technology, there is usually a responsible network operator for each tunnel and the other providers connect their technology to the infrastructure.
Boldyn’s hold-my-beer
Overcoming the unique radio propagation characteristics in tunnels has been a conundrum for operators and vendors alike. In places like the Nordics and Australia, it has resulted in some interesting developments in underground mines.
While Vodafone’s deployment of this antennas is helping over what you could argue is shorter distances, spare a thought for Boldyn Networks which signed a 20-year partnership with Transport for London (TfL) to provide high-speed mobile coverage across the London Underground network. Once done, customers of all the UK’s mobile network operators (MNOs) Three UK, EE, Vodafone and Virgin Media O2, will be able to access high-speed mobile connectivity while travelling on the Tube.
To overcome the lengths and twists of the Tube, specially designed radio units will be installed throughout the stations and concourses to beam the cellular signal to phones. Meanwhile, a 175mm-diameter radiating cable is installed on the tunnel walls at train window height to provide signal to passing Tube services.
This is known as a leaky feeder as it has gaps or slots in its outer conductor to allow the radio signal to leak into or out of the cable along its entire length – both are compliant with current regulations. For longer tunnels, a high-power radio unit is installed every 500m to amplify the signals.
The operator despatched 10,000 employees from all functions to meet 15,000 customers in 120 cities and villages, on the same day, to gain a better understanding of what they want
Orange has launched an initiative called My Customer, My Boss simultaneously in its 17 subsidiaries in Middle East and Africa. The intention is to improve listening to customers at all levels of the organisation, by sending more than 10,000 employees from all functions to meet 15,000 customers in 120 cities and villages, on the same day.
The initiative was piloted in Sierra Leone and, Orange says, “marks a new stage in the management culture of Orange Middle East and Africa, making every employee an actor of customer satisfaction, whatever their role in the company”.
Employees listened to customers in large cities and more remote areas, including individuals and companies, Orange Money users and partners “to better understand their expectations and uses”.
The initiative is set to become an annual event. How successful it proves to be depends on how well the telco acts on the feedback it garnered, which will, of course, be analysed using AI and “transformed into concrete actions during internal hackathons organized in each country”.
There’s an app for that
The Gofiled app was used for data collection, developed by a startup from Orange Digital Centre in Tunisia. According to the press statemet, this “collaboration illustrates Orange’s desire to combine local innovation, social impact and business performance, by mobilizing its entrepreneurial ecosystem to meet the needs of the field”.
Brelotte Ba, Deputy CEO of Orange Middle East and Africa, comments, “Customer experience is everyone’s business, every employee, without exception, is committed to meeting our customers’ expectations with excellence.
“With My Customer, My Boss, we demonstrate that our commitment to serve is collective, concrete and forward-looking by organizing for the first time, on a continent scale, a collective mobilization of this magnitude. I would like to thank all the employees who volunteered to meet our customers and partners with professionalism, listening and enthusiasm.”
Regulations in Elon Musk’s native country insist overseas firms must have 30% South African ownership, which the US-based billionaire says are “a barrier”
Starlink, the satellite-based internet service created and run by the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, has so far failed to strike a deal in South Africa where he was born. Starlink’s parent company is SpaceX and South Africa is the continent’s most industrially advanced nation. Its President, Cyril Ramaphosa, also seems keen to strike a deal, meeting Musk in New York last year.
The sticking point is that South African regulation stipulates that an oversea company must grant 30% ownership by groups that have been historically disadvantaged, which overwhelmingly means South Africa’s black population. In March Musk claimed via his social media platform X, “Starlink can’t get a license to operate in South Africa simply because I’m not black”.
This has been rebutted, most notably by Clayson Monyela, a spokesperson for South Africa’s foreign ministry, who replied in a post also on X, “Starlink is welcome to operate in South Africa provided there’s compliance with local laws. This is a global international trade and investment principle. There are over 600 US companies investing and operating in South Africa, all complying and thriving. Microsoft just announced additional investments yesterday.”
Success elsewhere in Africa
Nigeria was the first African country to grant Starlink an operating licence in January 2023 and it now operates in about 20 African countries, having recently added Guinea-Bissau, Somalia and, earlier this month, Lesotho.
Lesotho granted Starlink a 10-year licence to operate a satellite network and provide satellite internet services. This was in the wake of Lesotho being hit by a 50% tariff on imports to the US by President Donald Trump. The President backtracked and said the tariff would be lowered on a temporary basis.
On 5 March 5, the US President suggested in a speech to Congress that Lesotho is a country “no-one has heard of”. SpaceX submitted its application for an operating licence in Lesotho a year ago but it was opposed by a number of civil activist groups. One of their chief objections was relying on a service that was entirely owned by an overseas company.
Aljazeera has drawn a parallel with another larger-than-life South African, Joshua Norton, who was determined to be part of the US’ story. In 1859 Norton declared himself “Emperor of the United States”. He made zero progress in his bid to assume power, but he didn’t provoke a backlash either. Instead “he was way ahead of his time on human rights issues,” according to John Lumea, founder of the Emperor Norton Trust.
The tech sector shock looks set to rumble on as supply chains realign and European companies rethink cloud suppliers
Global smartphone shipments in the first quarter of 2025 grew 3% YoY, according to preliminary data from Counterpoint Research’s Market Monitor service. The global smartphone market, which grew in 2024 after a dip in 2023, started off on a positive note in 2025 as well, driven by growth in markets like China, Latin America and Southeast Asia.
“The Q1 growth fell short of our earlier projection of 6% as uncertainty started building up around tariffs towards the end of the quarter and as a cautious inventory buildup was seen at OEMs,” said Counterpoint senior analyst Yang Wang. “Uncertainty still looms in the market, which will affect the situation going forward. As a result, our previous forecast of 4% growth in 2025 seems hard to achieve. We may even see zero to negative growth this year.”
Taiwanese analysts TrendForce revealed today that the implementation of the US “reciprocal tariffs” on 9 April – followed by a 90-day grace period for most regions – has prompted semiconductor memory chip buyers and suppliers to adjust their strategies in response to policy uncertainty. Senior research vice president Avril Wu noted that with both sides rushing to complete transactions and shipments within the grace period to mitigate future policy risks, memory market activity is expected to pick up notably in 2Q25.
She said the grace period has temporarily eased concerns about demand loss due to new tariff barriers. However, lingering uncertainty over the direction of US trade policy has driven memory buyers to adopt a more defensive stance—actively raising DRAM and NAND Flash inventory levels as a buffer against supply risk.
Wu concluded that ultimately, the future course of US tariffs will be the key factor shaping memory supply-demand dynamics and pricing trends in the second half of the year. Needless to say, anyone in the tech industry could substitute the word memory with whatever flavour of tech the US policies will impact this year.
Clouds on the horizon
In the latest FAFO news, OVHcloud CEO Benjamin Revcolevschi said, in a quarterly earnings statement: “In the current geopolitical context, we are seeing a shift in the concerns of private companies and public organisations in Europe. Questions of strategic autonomy are now on CEOs’ agendas.”
He added: “The choice of a cloud provider is no longer just a technical matter, but also a strategic issue.” The sentiment will no doubt be noticed by the three US-based hyperscalers: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, which dominate the market. OVHcloud competitor Iliad, via its subsidiary OpCore that operates the group’s 13 data centres, is set to invest €3 billion in AI infrastructure and data centres. With OVHcloud pointing out the obvious, the next phase in Europe’s data centre investments may involve a dose of schadenfreude-as-a-service.
Back at the global handset market
Outside the whacky world of tariffs, Counterpoint said the global smartphone market’s shipments grew 3% YoY during Q1 2025, driven by growth in markets like China, Latin America and Southeast Asia. Samsung secured first place, beating Apple by a narrow margin. Unsurprisingly, Huawei was the fastest-growing brand due to its strong growth in the Chinese market.
Based on preliminary data, Xiaomi continued its momentum and held on to its third place with 2% YoY growth. This performance largely came from a strong comeback in its home market China, supported by the brand’s retail and portfolio expansion. OPPO and vivo captured fourth and fifth positions respectively, separated by a narrow margin. Both brands gained from their strong performance in the mid-tier price band and from government subsidies in China.
The fallout from weaponising tariffs and trade restrictions is a series of unexpected consequences, which don’t look likely to benefit the US ultimately
Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA (pictured) which is one of the world’s most valuable companies, has made a well-publicised trip to Beijing after losing billions his company’s lost billions.
Note that Huang’s firm accounts for the lion’s share of AI chips, which ever assessment you believe: reports from Mizuho Securities the investment bank, stated Nvidia’s AI accelerators account for between 70% and 95% of the market for AI chips. Tech Insights reckons it ‘owns’ 65% of the data centre chip market.
Images of Huang meeting tech leaders, including DeepSeek’s founder, and China’s Vice-Premier, are a refreshing contrast with more usual ones of the coterie of US tech billionaires acting like a Trump fan club. Reportedly, Huang discussed new chip designs to meet Chinese customers’ needs during his visit.
Sudden changes damage commerce
NVIDIA’s multi-billion losses arise from turmoil in stock markets, triggered by President Trump’s tariff ‘policy’ and the escalating trade war with China. A new, surprise restriction prevents NVIDIA from exporting its H20 chip to China – the H20 was designed specifically to accommodate previous trade restrictions by the US Administration. Also, it seemed the H20 would remain exempt from restrictions after Huang had a meeting with Trump earlier this month.
On Tuesday, NVIDIA warned that it could lose as much as $5.5 billion in earnings as a result of the restrictions that ban it from selling to major Chinese clients such as Alibaba, Tencent and ByteDance. Last year NVIDIA’s sales in China were $17 billion.
Nigel Green, CEO of deVere Group, an independent financial advisory organisation, stated Trump’s actions are “a masterclass in the law of unintended consequences”. He added, “This is a stark example of how the current US trade stance is pushing countries and companies further toward China, not away from it – financially, economically, politically and diplomatically.
“Trump’s aggressive and often unpredictable trade policies are eroding trust, triggering realignments, and accelerating the shift to a multipolar economic order that is likely to increasingly sidelines the US.”
Dropping a brick
In response to this unpredictability, countries are diversifying reserve holdings, expanding local settlement networks and establishing bilateral trade deals to bypass the dollar.
According to deVere, China’s yuan is being adopted in more cross-border transactions and the BRICS nations are increasingly settling trade outside the US dollar. BRICS is an intergovernmental organisation comprising 10 countries: Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.
Collectively BRICS represents around 45% of the world’s population and 35% of global GDP (based on purchasing power parity) and it seems likely more countries will join. deVere found Brazil and Saudi Arabia, which is yet to formally accept its invitation to join BRICS, have expanded their holdings of Chinese currency
Green claims, “By weaponising trade controls and blindsiding key US firms, the administration is encouraging global actors to build parallel systems and deepen ties with Beijing. We’re seeing a steady, serious pivot. Business leaders are making pragmatic decisions to maintain access to the world’s second-largest economy – with or without Washington’s blessing.
“Jensen Huang showing up in Beijing with a smile, just after taking a multibillion-dollar hit from a White House directive, speaks volumes. It’s not defiance – it’s realism. Business is being done where there’s opportunity and continuity. Right now, that’s increasingly outside the US sphere,” Green concluded.
New Asian powerhouse?
Due to the West’s preoccupation with the Trump Administration’s antics, the meeting on 22 March between top diplomats from Japan, China, South Korea attracted less attention that it would otherwise have done.
As Reuters said, they seeking common ground on East Asian security and economic issues amid escalating global uncertainty, although there is also some more localised horse trading going on. While China said the countries together can exert international influence, Japan asked China to lift its ban on Japanese food imports, and Seoul and Tokyo asked for Beijing’s help to ‘denuclearise’ North Korea.
“Given the increasingly severe international situation, I believe we may truly be at a turning point in history,” Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said at the start of the meeting in Tokyo with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul.
Partner content: Celfocus follows TM Forum’s model and Gartner’s guidelines to help CSPs reach Levels 4 and 5, integrating AI and automation for better customer experience and operational efficiency
Communication Service Providers (CSPs) have been undergoing a paradigm shift towards autonomous networks, aiming to increase operational efficiency, service reliability and cost-effectiveness. TM Forum’s Autonomous Networks (AN) framework provides a structured model for this evolution, categorising automation maturity into five levels – from basic manual operations (Level 0) to fully autonomous and self-governing networks (Level 5).
However, the transition to higher levels of autonomy is not only a technological challenge, but it also requires a strategic transformation of Operations Support Systems (OSS). As Gartner highlights in its research on The 4 Phases of OSS Transformation for Autonomous Network Operations, achieving full autonomy demands a multi-phase approach, addressing system modernisation, AI integration, and closed-loop automation.
TM Forum’s Autonomous Networks Levels
TM Forum defines five levels of autonomous networks:
Level 0 – Manual Operations: Processes are fully manual, therefore human intervention is required for all network management tasks.
Level 1 – Assisted Operations: Basic automation is introduced, but humans are still responsible for all important decisions.
Level 2 – Partial Autonomous Operations: AI and automation begin handling repetitive tasks, reducing human workload.
Level 3 – Conditional Autonomous Operations: The network predicts and resolves certain issues with minimal human oversight.
Level 4 – High Autonomous Operations: Self-optimising capabilities emerge, but human intervention is still available as a fallback.
Level 5 – Full Autonomy: The network operates independently, self-configuring, self-optimising, and self-healing in real-time.
For many CSPs, the goal is to achieve Level 4 or 5. Nevertheless, Gartner’s analysis states that most of them are still in Level 1 or 2, struggling with fragmented legacy systems and limited AI readiness. To progress, CSPs must rethink their OSS strategies, following a structured transformation process.
Gartner’s Model for OSS Evolution
Gartner outlines a four-phase transformation model for evolving OSS into Autonomous Operations Systems (AOS), a critical step in achieving network autonomy.
Phase 1: Clean-up and Modernisation
In this phase, before automation can scale, legacy OSS systems must be streamlined.
It involves:
Eliminating redundant applications and consolidating OSS functionalities.
Upgrading outdated systems to cloud-native architectures.
Creating a target OSS blueprint that enables closed-loop automation at multiple levels (network, service, and order).
For TM Forum, this phase is essential for CSPs moving from Level 1 to Level 2.
Phase 2: Building the AI Foundation
Once OSS systems are modernised, the next step is to integrate AI and automation.
It involves:
Establishing a centralised data platform for real-time analytics.
Developing Machine Learning models to detect patterns and optimise performance.
Mapping full network topologies to support AIOps (AI-driven operations).
For TM Forum, thisaligns with CSPs aiming for Level 2 to Level 3, where AI-driven predictive capabilities become viable.
Phase 3: Closed-Loop Automation
With AI models in place, the focus shifts to implementing automated and self-regulating processes.
It involves:
Domain-level closed-loop automation (e.g., optimising radio access networks).
Resource and service-level automation, aggregating key performance indicators (KPIs) for real-time decision-making.
For TM Forum, this corresponds to Level 3 to Level 4, where networks can proactively detect and resolve issues.
Phase 4: Full AI-Driven Autonom
The final step is enabling self-configuring, self-healing and self-optimising capabilities, transforming networks into truly autonomous systems.
It involves:
Expanding automation to order management and service experience.
Integrating Digital Twins to simulate network behavior and predict failures.
Continuously refining AI models through business process reengineering.
For TM Forum, this phase supports CSPs reaching Level 5, where the network functions without requiring human intervention.
The Role of AI and Digital Twins in Enabling Autonomy AI enables predictive maintenance, real-time traffic optimisation, and automated fault resolution, ultimately forming the backbone of autonomous networks. Gartner emphasises that Digital Twins – virtual replicas of physical networks – are becoming a key enabler of self-governing networks.
As Gartner states, “Transforming OSS into an Autonomous Operations System (AOS) will revolutionise network automation, orchestrating complex processes with minimal human oversight.” This aligns with TM Forum’s vision that higher automation levels require intelligent, AI-driven OSS architectures.
What should CSPs do?
So, to successfully transition towards fully autonomous networks, CSPs should focus on the following strategies:
Develop a structured automation roadmap: align network automation goals with business objectives and customer needs.
Invest in AI-ready OSS platforms: adopt cloud-native, API-driven OSS architectures that support real-time analytics.
Leverage Digital Twins: use network simulation models to improve decision-making and reduce operational risks.
Adopt closed-loop automation: shift from reactive to proactive network management, ensuring better service quality.
Collaborate with technology partners: engage with leading AI and cloud providers to accelerate OSS modernisation and AI adoption.
The journey towards autonomous networks is complex but achievable. By integrating TM Forum’s automation maturity model with Gartner’s phased OSS transformation, CSPs can create a structured and AI-driven roadmap to achieve full autonomy. As AI and Digital Twins continue to evolve, CSPs that strategically modernise their OSS will gain a competitive edge, enabling seamless and intelligent network operations.
At Celfocus, we have been helping clients progress to Level 4 and Level 5 for several years now, integrating AI and automation to enhance customer experience and operational efficiency. However, as networks become increasingly complex, achieving full autonomy requires greater visibility into network resources and new approaches to data representation.
Celfocus approaches digital network transformation by first tackling process and solution design with an E2E holistic perspective covering the entire CSP lifecycle (from planning to assurance). To do this, we focus not only on the network-centric process itself but also on business interactions and their value by using our proprietary facilitation maps technology, bringing all the information together to be discussed by multiple teams. This approach allows us to break existing silos and increase synergies between business, engineering, and operations teams, while also working towards reducing the complexity and overlapping of solutions. With the process and solution design in place, our vision is to achieve a fully digital network experience for customers powered by a digital network management platform that contains all the right technological foundational capabilities to boost teams’ efficiency and TTM while delivering automated processes that return value to both business and operations.
Our approach is inspired and refined from our long-term collaboration with CSPs, including deployments in 12+ countries on a global level. It leverages large amounts of data produced by CSPs, combining advanced analytics, Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning (AI & ML) and orchestration & automation solutions combined, to enable operators to automate planning, readiness, fulfilment, and assurance with minimum human intervention.
Following TM Forum’s model as well as Gartner’s guidelines, we are embracing a new wave of innovation, collaborating with partners and clients to bring greater intelligence to network operations and management. Our solutions have already proven instrumental in enhancing service impact analysis and root cause identification. Yet, this is just the beginning – Digital Twins unlock new possibilities that will drive even greater value for operators in the future.
Learn more about Celfocus’s Autonomous Networks Approach here.
About the author
Inês Rocha is a Marketing Consultant at Celfocus with over seven years’ experience in content strategy and creation. With a strong focus on Technology, Artificial Intelligence, and Digital Transformation, she specialises in crafting impactful narratives that inform, inspire, and support business impact. She holds a degree in Communication Sciences from NOVA University Lisbon and a postgraduate qualification in Storytelling.
The transaction includes data centres in key metropolitan regions including Frankfurt, Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Düsseldorf and Amsterdam
Colt announced the divestment of six of its data centres in major cities across Europe to regional data centre provider NorthC, headquartered in the Netherlands and majority-owned by funds managed by DWS Group. Colt said it will also divest two of its data centres in London to a UK-based data centre business, also owned by funds which are managed by DWS Group.
The sale expands NorthC’s European data centre footprint in the Benelux and DACH regions and enables Colt to focus on its core business strategy. This acquisition further increases NorthC’s capabilities to serve customers in multiple regions in the Benelux and DACH and establishes nationwide coverage in Germany. It also adds significant available capacity in Amsterdam, one of NorthC’s core markets.
The divestment is expected to complete later this year. The data centres were part of the assets Colt gained with its acquisition of Lumen EMEA in 2023. The data centres collectively have a power availability of over 25MW. The colocation business of approximately 400 customers will transfer from Colt as part of the divestment. The majority of these customers also purchase network products from Colt and will remain Colt customers.
Colt will enter into a long-term partnership agreement with NorthC and will retain network equipment in the divested data centres as part of its global digital infrastructure. Colt will remain an important customer in the to be acquired data centre facilities.
“This represents another major milestone in our journey to operate the leading platform of regional data centers in northwestern Europe,” said NorthC Group CEO Alexandra Schless (above). “Germany, as Europe’s largest economy, is a key strategic market for us. With this acquisition, we will strengthen our presence across key economic regions in Germany, which will unlock further growth and new opportunities.”
She added: “We’re also pleased to further expand our partnership with Colt as one of the major network providers within the rich connectivity eco-system in each facility.”
Colt CEO Keri Gilder said: “For Colt, the sale enables us to focus on building our strengths in key strategic areas, driving growth, committing to an outstanding customer experience and building sustainable digital infrastructure.”
Colt made that point that the sale by Colt Technology Services was entirely separate and unrelated to Colt Data Centre Services, which has operated as a separate entity to Colt since 2023. Colt Data Centre Services designs, builds and operates data centres for global hyperscalers and large enterprises.
NorthC has been advised by Evercore, acting as M&A advisor and Latham & Watkins serving as legal counsel on this transaction.
