Three weeks ago the two formed Europe’s largest fibre network operator
The Spanish newspaper Expansion reports that Masorange and Vodafone Spain are exploring the possibility of forming a mobile joint venture. The newspaper says this would result in “multimillion-dollar synergies in towers, equipment, transmission and workforce,” and make an attractive proposition for a financial partner should the partners wish to sell a stake.
Last week Carlos Cuerpo, Spain’s Economy Minister, told the Financial Times [subscription needed] at Davos that the government, STC and other shareholders had a “common” long-term strategy for Telefónica, adding the Spanish incumbent is valued at €21 billion.
stc has just short of a 10% stake in the Spanish operator group via an investment vehicle based in Luxembourg, Luxco. It acquired the stake in 2023 and became the operator’s single biggests shareholder. Its request to have a representative on Telefónica’s board came to light in a filing with the the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), reported by Reuters.
In response to stc acquiring this stake, the Spanish government bought a 10% stake via the state’s investment company, Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales (SEPI). It also gained a seat on the board which was the lever used to oust Alvarez-Pallete in a board meeting on 19th January. He was replaced by Marc Murtra, former chair of Spanish defence and tech firm Indra who has is seen as having close links to the state.
Reuters also points out that Telefónica’s share price has fallen almost 5% on the Madrid exchange to €3.78. It seems investors are spooked by political interference.
The network at the the research laboratory of the Technical University of Rosenheim will be used to deliver its research projects
German telecom network infrastructure provider and integrator Mugler SE has teamed up with Slovenia’s Kontron d.o.o (ex-Iskratel) to implement a 5G campus network at the proto_lab research laboratory of the Technical University of Rosenheim (TH Rosenheim). The network serves as the foundation for the university’s advanced research projects and offers students an interactive learning platform to unlock the potential of 5G technology, particularly with industrial use cases.
“The connectivity of increasingly mobile value chain participants will become a crucial competitive factor in a highly flexible production and logistics architecture focused on individualisation,” said professor Oliver Kramer, initiator, co-founder, and head of the research and development platform proto_lab@TH Rosenheim. “Our 5G campus network provides the optimal foundation for implementing and further developing our R&D projects in the proto_lab.”
The network supports a wide range of use cases, including: efficient tracking in warehouses; automated Robots and AGVs; flexible workspaces; real-time process automation; and voice and video communication. The dedicated 5G campus network enables industries and enterprises to revamp their operations, drive automation, enhance security, and achieve “unprecedented indoor and outdoor connectivity”.
With its high speed, low latency, and increased capacity, Kramer said the 5G network enables the seamless integration of AI algorithms and real-time server applications in edge and cloud layers. He added that by ensuring optimal process control and minimal latency for mobile participants, 5G paves the way for innovations in production, logistics, and other sectors. Additionally, it provides students with practical experience in handling 5G connectivity.
“At Kontron, we are proud to be part of a project that not only advances pioneering research but also provides invaluable learning opportunities for the next generation of innovators,” said Kontron executive director of communications solutions Janez Öri. “The implementation of our 5G campus network underscores our commitment to supporting industry and academic institutions with reliable, high-performance connectivity solutions that drive transformation and progress.”
“This network marks the starting point for a comprehensive four-year collaboration during which various industry-related use cases will be tested,” said Mugler SE director of local networks Dr Markus Dod. “Our focus is on delivering reliable and future-oriented telecommunications solutions. This partnership with Kontron and TH Rosenheim demonstrates how 5G technology, combined with practical integration expertise, can achieve real progress. Our goal is to show how tailored 5G networks can effectively support both industry and academia in advancing connectivity and automation.”
Kontron expansion
The 5G network is the latest German win for Kontron d.o.o. which offers software-defined access solutions, develops and manufactures OLTs and CPEs in its innovation and production centres, including its headquarters in Slovenia, and supports customers in over 50 countries worldwide.
Last November, the company – part of the Kontron AG Group – announced a restructure and an expansion into the UK, US and German markets. This followed the company’s partnership with network equipment supplier Euroroute that is providing service providers with a more streamlined and faster deployment process of Kontron’s CPE in the UK and Ireland.
At the time, the IT segment of Kontron has been separated from its overall offering. As part of the company restructure, alongside Slovenia’s Kontron, Kontron SI (Systems Integration), d.o.o. was established to focus on managed IT services in the Slovenian market. Slovenia’s Kontron was previously known as S&T Iskratel, which was born when S&T Slovenija and Iskratel previous merged in September 2022.
The internet exchange operator and carrier intend to boost connectivity for regional data centres; Fujairah to host biggest submarine cable landing station in the region
e& has opened multiple DE-CIX SmartHub IX data centres providing what it says are “cutting-edge” services. DE-CIX runs interconnection services and is a leading operator of carrier and data centre-neutral internet exchanges (IX).
DE-CIX provides interconnection services in more than 40 cities in Europe, Africa, North America, the Middle East and Asia. They can be accessed from data centres in more than 600 cities around the world. The company connects thousands of network operators, ISPs, content providers and enterprise networks from more than 100 countries. It also offers peering, cloud and interconnection services.
The collaboration between e& and DE-CIX is designed to enhance the Middle East’s IX ecosystem, expanding SmartHub IX’s reach through direct connections to DE-CIX’s global network and international internet exchanges.
To this end, SmartHub IX has introduced a remote peering service in collaboration with multiple internet exchanges in the region with the intention of scaling it to a global level to reduce costs, expand network reach, offer scalability, better performance and more flexibility.
In addition, Fujairah (pictured) will host the largest submarine cable landing station in the region, which again will interconnect global customers, content providers and ISPs. The new locations in Dubai will aim to keep the IX business on a steady growth trajectory. Fujairah is the seventh-largest city in UAE, located on the Gulf of Oman, which is part of the Indian Ocean.
Remote peering service
e& said its remote peering service will position SmartHub IX as a strategic gateway to global markets, providing customers with seamless cross-border connectivity and enhanced data exchange.
Nabil Baccouche, Group Chief Carrier and Wholesale Officer at e&, said, “This strategic collaboration aligns perfectly with our vision of building a dynamic and interconnected digital infrastructure.
“By leveraging DE-CIX’s global expertise and extensive network, we continue to deliver exceptional value to our customers and foster innovation across various industries. With low-latency connectivity, SmartHub IX will ensure that information is transmitted and processed with minimal delay, enabling a more agile and efficient digital ecosystem.”
The CEO of DE-CIX, Ivo Ivanov, added, “Our common goal is not only to provide the digital economy in the Gulf region with the infrastructure it needs to forge closer local, regional and international ties, but also to strengthen the entire Middle Eastern interconnection ecosystem.
“In addition, direct connectivity between SmartHub IX powered by DE-CIX and DE-CIX’s IXs in India unites two highly valuable markets and connects the UAE even more strongly with global interconnection ecosystems.
“Together with UAE-IX, also powered by DE-CIX, the Middle East will benefit from the best IX ecosystem in the area. This agreement positions the UAE as the hotspot of interconnection for the entire region, taking the Middle East to the next level.”
Dell’Oro says for the 5G MCN and MEC market segments, the EMEA region is projected to have the highest CAGR rate and China the lowest
Given the money flying into the data centre industry right now, the mobile industry could be forgiven for thinking they have become the stars of yesteryear. According to a newly published forecast report by Dell’Oro Group, the Mobile Core Network (MCN) market 5-year compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) (2024-2029) remains in negative territory. Economic headwinds, competitive price pressure, and slow migration to 5G Standalone (5G SA) and Voice over New Radio (VoNR) plague the market.
“The only bright spots are the segments that will grow during the forecast period. They are the EMEA region, 5G MCN, and MEC. However, these segments are not growing enough to offset the decline in the 4G MCN and VoLTE/VoNR market segments,” said Dell’Oro research director Dave Bolan. “The MCN market is projected to peak in 2025 and slide lower throughout the remainder of the forecast period. Unfortunately, it is a bleak outlook.”
He added: “Only eight new 5G SA eMBB networks were launched in 2024, bringing the total to an estimated 61 launched by MNOs in 34 countries.”
Bolan said the 5G SA market, which is the growth driver for the market, has had difficulty finding the right path to scale the market dramatically upward. “New hope is being promoted with 5G-Advanced networks, common application programmable interfaces (APIs), non-terrestrial networks (NTN), artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML), and the newest Generative AI and Agentic AI,” he said “MNOs are exploring all these options, but it could be difficult because investment capital is going into AI data centres and semiconductors supporting AI. It remains to be seen if MNOs can compete for investment dollars.”
The CAGR is negative for all technology segments—packet core, policy, signalling, subscriber data management, and IMS core – in the MCN market. For the 5G MCN and MEC market segments, the EMEA region is projected to have the highest CAGR rate, and China the lowest.
RAN stabilises and FWA shines
Core aside, Dell’Oro delivered slightly better news for the RAN market in 2025, Global RAN revenues are expected to hold steady, with 5–10% growth anticipated outside China, driven by improved conditions in India, Japan, and North America. Private wireless RAN revenues – albeit a small part of the market – are forecast to grow over 20%, fuelled by robust adoption in manufacturing and industrial verticals.
Surprisingly, Open RAN is poised for “rapid growth”, says Dell’Oro, potentially accounting for 8–10% of total RAN revenues. But as with the core market, monetization struggles and slowed 5G expansion remain significant obstacles for operators, even as regional markets show uneven recovery.
One further bright spot is the rise of fixed wireless access in the product mix. Preliminary findings suggest total FWA revenues, including RAN equipment, residential CPE, and enterprise router and gateway revenue remain on track to advance 7% in 2024, driven largely by residential subscriber growth in North America and India, as well as growing branch office connectivity more globally.
Earlier this month some operators had asked the regulator for permission to raise prices by up to 100% after they had been held at the same level for 11 years
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said operators in the country can increase their tariffs by up to 50% for the country’s 210 million mobile customers. Earlier this month, some operators had lobbied the regulator to allow increases of up to 100% on the grounds that price rises has not been allowed in 11 years, despite inflation and some radical moves by the government intended to jump start growth of the economy.
They claimed that they could not remain financially viable unless the NCC allowed them to put up their charges in Africa’s most populous country.
Ongoing industry reforms
The NCC stated, “The adjustment, capped at a maximum of 50% of current tariffs, though lower than the over 100% requested by some network operators, was arrived at taking into account ongoing industry reforms that will positively influence sustainability… Tariff rates have remained static since 2013, despite the increasing costs of operation faced by telecom operators.
“The approved adjustment is aimed at addressing the significant gap between operational costs and current tariffs while ensuring that the delivery of services to consumers is not compromised. These adjustments will support the ability of operators to continue investing in infrastructure and innovation, ultimately benefitting consumers through improved services and connectivity, including better network quality, enhanced customer service, and greater coverage.
“Recognising the concerns of the public, this decision was made after extensive consultations with key stakeholders across the public and private sectors. The NCC has prioritised striking a balance between protecting telecom consumers and ensuring the sustainability of the industry, including the thousands of indigenous vendors and suppliers who form a critical part of the telecommunications ecosystem.
“The NCC recognises the financial pressures faced by Nigerian households and businesses, and remains deeply empathetic to the impact of tariff adjustments. To this end, the commission has mandated that operators implement these adjustments transparently and in a manner that is fair to consumers. Operators are also required to educate and inform the public about the new rates while demonstrating measurable improvements in service delivery.”
State of the nation
MTN Nigeria is the country’s biggest mobile operator and a subsidiary of MTN Group. Its shares jumped by about 10% after the NCC’s decision was announced. MTN Nigeria said in a note to the stock exchange, “This development is a significant milestone in ensuring the long-term sustainability of the telecoms industry in Nigeria, supporting the country’s critical infrastructure and services, while empowering millions of people and businesses and contributing to the country’s overall economic development.”
Nigeria’s other mobile operators are Airtel Nigeria, Globalcom (generally known as Glo) and 9mobile.
Consumers have reacted less enthusiastically with the National Association of Telecoms Subscribers (NATCOMS) is reportedly threatening court action. It had proposed tariff rises should be between 5% and 10%.
The leading mobile operators, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone, e& Egypt and Orange, have already launched the service for customers
Egypt’s minister of communications and information technology Amr Talaat announced the official launch of the wi-fi calling services in Egypt. According to the National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA), Wi-Fi calling allows users to make voice calls, send text messages, and access other communication features over a wi-fi network, bypassing the traditional mobile network. Telecom Egypt, Vodafone, e& Egypt, and Orange, have already launched the service.
The minister said the service is designed to improve call quality in areas with poor coverage, assisting users in staying connected without relying solely on mobile networks. He noted that launching this service took over a year of continuous effort, with close cooperation between telecom companies and regulatory bodies.
Tough challenges
“We faced challenges, but through collaboration with the four mobile operators, we were able to overcome them and successfully launch this service,” Talaat told Ahram. Mohamed Shamroukh, chairman of the NTRA, noted that the first phase of the wi-fi calling service will focus on residential homes, with plans to expand to commercial and public areas afterwards. He added that, by 30 June 2025, 4G will cover 99.5% of the population.
“We are consistently engaged in developing innovative communication solutions to enhance the customer experience,” said e& Egypt director Samer Murad. “The Wi-Fi calling service is a key component of this initiative, providing seamless and high-quality connectivity whether customers are at home or in any location with reliable wi-fi access.”
Wi-Fi Calling is available at no additional cost, operating under users’ current mobile plans, and can be activated directly through phone settings. Initially available to most iOS devices and some Android phones, Orange Egypt said it plans to expand the service to more Android models in the future, with a goal to eventually include all phones running on various operating systems.
New initiatives
The Minister also highlighted recent efforts to improve connectivity, including the rollout of 5G technology and virtual mobile SIM cards. eSIM technology was launched in Egypt in December after the four mobile operators completed all the necessary technical tests. The NTRA also contracted with ‘Sci Shield’ to establish and operate the eSIM data centre.
Talaat added that by mid-year, the government plans to complete the installation of mobile network coverage across all highways and villages included in the Haya Karima (Decent Life) initiative, which aims to improve living conditions in rural and underserved areas.
According to Brand Finance Global 500 report, DT beats Verizon and AT&T, while e&’s brand increased eight-fold in the last 12 months, but techcos rule the roost
Deutsche Telekom (DT), owner of the Magenta brand, has the most valuable telco brand in Europe and the world. According to the annual Brand Finance Global 500 report, the brand’s value increased by 16.4% since last year to $85.3 billion, which is also the highest in the company’s 30-year history, according to DT.
DT’s brand value has more than doubled in the last five years. The operator boasted in a statement [translated from German] that it “plays in the same league as Apple, Microsoft, Google and Amazon”. Well, not quite – see table below. The gap between the top 4 and #11 is in orders of magnitude.
DT is just outside the top 10 and only has Verizon for company from telecoms in the top 20, ranked 15.
Brand Finance highlight DT’s “consistent brand management and the positive economic and technological development of DT as special success criteria”. The study cites the high quality of its networks and sustainable investments in the networks, plus high levels of customer satisfaction.
Although DT’s brand value rose it was nudged out of the top ten by NVIDIA, which catapulted from thirtieth place last year to ninth: NVIDIA has the highest like for like growth at 98%, making it the second fastest growing brand value for 2025. The State Grid Corporation of China also eased DT out of the top 10, rising to tenth from twelfth in 2024.
The research house said e& is the fastest growing brand value in the world this year, posting an eight-fold increase in brand value to $5.3 billion and ranking 146 after “the final stage of a 3-year group rebrand, staged to transition brand equity from Etisalat to e& as a platform for international growth”. The like for like brand value growth is 13% versus the combined value of the brands in 2024.
As for other major operators, AT&T was third after Verizon, China Mobile is at 27, Orange at 118, stc at 136 and Vodafone at 192.
Partner content: The scale of management-plane data has become a challenge which SS8 addresses using ‘a network within a network’ for operators and law enforcement agencies
Networks of all kinds are awash in management-plane data, from SNMP traps to platform telemetry. Real-time and batch analytics on that data can yield insights that hold the potential to drive up performance and security while reducing costs. Fine-tuning network configurations, detecting cyber threats, performing complex troubleshooting, and determining root cause for degradations and outages are all opportunities for applying operational analytics to drive toward business goals.
The sheer scope of the data available for network usage models is a critical challenge. From network operation center (NOC) technicians to law enforcement analysts, alert floods and data fatigue are becoming common. Effectiveness and efficiency are compromised because of increased human error, lack of understanding of the alerts, and the simple inability to process and make use of data beyond human scale. AI and machine learning offer the potential to consume massive network datasets on repetitive tasks and return insights based on them, producing value that would otherwise be lost by automating operations and improving efficiency, performance, and productivity.
SS8’s lawful and location intelligence environment operates as a network within a network for both communication service providers (CSPs) and law enforcement agencies (LEAs). As such, it offers network services such as certificate authentication as well as both generating and consuming its own set of key performance indicators (KPIs) to maintain a dynamic, self-healing cloud network. It interoperates with, draws from, and contributes to overall network operations and management. As AI and machine learning play a larger role in lawful and location intelligence, that interoperation with a complete end-to-end view will provide a growing opportunity for increased efficiency and productivity gains, as well as other business opportunities.
Network and Operational Efficiencies for CSPs and LEAs
AI and machine learning also play a growing role in the rapid evolution of monitoring and management tools that consume the data streams being emitted by thousands of network elements. Operations workflows assist network analysts with algorithms to identify patterns and anomalies of interest, correlate related events into actionable composite incidents, and generate value from network data.
These workflows often feed visualizations, reports, and dashboards for oversight and metrics tracking. They also target more action-oriented apparatus such as security information and event management (SIEM) tools or AI operations (AIOps) platforms.
As algorithms and the corresponding insights become more sophisticated, they become more capable of driving automated maintenance and self-remediation of network issues. AI excels at assembling large numbers of clues to understand availability, stability, and performance issues, as well as to make maintenance predictions.
AI workflows can apply that information to drive self-healing measures on the network, from restarting a service to changing a reporting threshold without human involvement. They can also incorporate human expertise without consuming staff resources, such as by automated selection and execution of resolution scripts and configuration files.
Bringing similar workflow automation to bear on the lawful and location intelligence domain promises efficiency enhancements as well as the ability to identify insights that would otherwise have been overlooked. Automated agents can poll live information sources to investigate a subject of interest, for example, making conclusions about where to look next and pursuing their own dynamic investigative paths. By gathering, collating, and drawing possible conclusions from all available information, AI can act as a resource multiplier for lawful and location intelligence, just as it does for network operations.
Empowering Analysts with Evolving AI
The historic focus of deep learning and AI on machine-to-machine workflows is rapidly expanding, as generative AI (GenAI) adds the ability to produce and understand human language. GenAI is being rapidly adopted across industries—including by CSPs and LEAs—for its ability to drive new usage models, create efficiencies, and reduce costs.
Chatbot attendants provide a growing proportion of customer contact, while human support agents often collaborate with AI assistants for better effectiveness.
In the lawful and location intelligence domain, GenAI agents will help researchers and analysts streamline and improve the process of digesting and drawing value from massive datasets, surfacing insights to accelerate investigations. The semantic nature of GenAI allows system resources to assess and interpret information in novel ways, then communicate conclusions back to investigators using natural language.
For example, an operator could prompt the system to summarize relationships and hierarchies within a criminal organization, automatically producing a report with new insights. Law enforcement analysts could augment their queries with bots that intelligently interpret and learn from available data to uncover insights they weren’t explicitly instructed to seek.
The mission-criticality of lawful and location intelligence argues against early adoption of new paradigms; as AI matures, these platforms will benefit from collective learnings across the industry. Software engineering will more seamlessly integrate GenAI capabilities into human workflows, offloading data tasks from analysts to enhance the pace and accuracy of interpretation.
Informed by international telecommunications standards, SS8 is evolving its platform to include automations and optimizations that enhance and extend lawful and location intelligence into the future.
About the author
Dr Keith Bhatia is CEO of SS8 and a Board Member. He is focused on growth, profitability, product development, client service, and strategic acquisitions and combines broad technical and market expertise to advance lawful, location, and data intelligence.
Keith has nearly three decades of experience in public and private telecommunications, technology, and IT sectors both domestically and abroad, including as SVP and General Manager at Comtech Telecommunications. He has also held executive roles at Neustar, Movius, ADC, and IP Unity and has an MBA in International Finance and a Doctor of Business Administration in Technology Forecasting. You can learn more about Keith here.
About SS8 Networks
As a leader in Lawful and Location Intelligence, SS8 helps make societies safer. Our commitment is to extract, analyze, and visualize the critical intelligence that gives law enforcement, intelligence agencies, and emergency services the real-time insights that help save lives. Our high performance, flexible, and future-proof solutions also enable mobile network operators to achieve regulatory compliance with minimum disruption, time, and cost. SS8 is trusted by the largest government agencies, communications providers, and systems integrators globally.
Intellego® XT monitoring and data analytics portfolio is optimized for Law Enforcement Agencies to capture, analyze, and visualize complex data sets for real-time investigative intelligence.
LocationWise delivers the highest audited network location accuracy worldwide, providing active and passive location intelligence for emergency services, law enforcement, and mobile network operators.
Xcipio® mediation platform meets the demands of lawful intercept in any network type and provides the ability to transcode (convert) between lawful intercept handover versions and standard families.
Now enterprises and service providers can flexibly scale bandwidth between 50Mbps and more than 100Gbps
The global connectivity provider Telxius has upgraded its Global Carrier Ethernet (GCE) service with flexible bandwidth options for businesses in the Americas and Europe. The service enables enterprises and service providers “to maximize their investments with more bandwidth flexibility when connecting to key global hubs and cloud service providers,” the press statement claims.
Telxius’ GCE service is supported by its global network spanning more than 100,000 km of submarine cables and terrestrial backhauls throughout the US, Latin America and Europe. It uses almost 100 PoPs in 17 countries, plus 27 data centres.
GCE is powered by Ciena’s optical pluggables instead of traditional transponders. It is a scalable and flexible service with bandwidth options ranging from 50Mbps to more than 100Gbps, designed to meet the needs of markets that require ultra-low latency, and high availability and reliability.
The solution is MEF 3.0 certified and underpinned by 14 high-capacity subsea cables: Firmina, Tikal (in progress), Mistral, Tannat, Junior, Dunant, Brusa, Marea, PCCS, SAm-1, EllaLink, Unisur, Est-Tet and Alpal-2.
In addition to Ethernet services, Telxius provides other capacity, IP, colocation and security services for businesses.
“At Telxius, we are constantly evolving our network with new and enhanced systems to better support our customers and accelerate digital transformation,” said Mónica Martínez, CMO at Telxius. “We offer enterprises and service providers with the flexible, seamless connectivity options they need to thrive in today’s bandwidth-hungry digital landscape, where user experiences have never been so important.”
