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London, UK, 4 March 2025 – Exabeam,  a global leader in intelligence and automation that powers security operations, has partnered with CSE Connect, a national cybersecurity education network, to provide advanced cybersecurity education to UK students. The partnership will see Exabeam deliver lectures and interactive Exabeam Capture the Flag (CTF) exercises to support cybersecurity talent, promote awareness, and work towards addressing the industry skills gap.

Through its collaboration with CSE Connect, Exabeam aims to drive greater cybersecurity resilience in the UK by helping students identify ever-advancing threats in the digital world. It will provide knowledge and insights on the principles of a modern security operations platform based on the innovative threat detection, investigation, and response (TDIR) capabilities of the Exabeam New-Scale Security Operations Platform. Exabeam CTF exercises provide students with hands-on educational experiences to learn how to effectively identify and mitigate modern threats with AI-driven cybersecurity solutions.

“Collaborative innovation between education and technology is key to tackling the ever-evolving threat landscape. As threats become more complex and targeted, investment in future cybersecurity talent is essential to stay ahead of evolving risks,” said Kev Eley, Vice President UK & Ireland at Exabeam. “Our partnership with CSE Connect is all about nurturing skills, inspiring innovation, and expanding the impact of cybersecurity education. We’re focused on making cybersecurity more accessible in the UK with the end goal of strengthening national security.”

CSE Connect, supported by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), networks government, industry, and academia collaborators, to inspire current and future generations of cybersecurity professionals. Its goal is to connect the cyber education community and advocate innovation in UK cyber education through events and community problem-solving initiatives.

“Strong collaborative partnerships between industry and academia in cybersecurity education are essential. They help to bridge skills gaps and better align graduate competencies with employer needs, ultimately strengthening our national cyber security capabilities,” said Dr. Charles Clarke, Co-Founder at CSE Connect. “We are delighted to be working with Exabeam as an industry collaborator and look forward to broadening the scope of cybersecurity education through their innovative Capture the Flag platform.”

The partnership with CSE Connect is part of the continued investment from Exabeam into education to inspire future generations to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). It follows its sponsorship of The National Museum of Computing (TNMoC) to promote inclusion in the cybersecurity industry.

About CSE Connect

CSE Connect is a national cyber security education network. Our mission is to promote innovative and impactful cyber security education practice across the UK academic landscape. We network Government, Industry and Academia collaborators, to inspire current and future generations of cyber security professionals. Learn more at  https://www.cseconnect.org/.

About Exabeam

Exabeam is a leader in intelligence and automation that powers security operations for the world’s smartest companies. As a global cybersecurity leader, Exabeam provides industry-proven, security-focused, and flexible solutions for faster, more accurate threat detection, investigation, and response (TDIR). Cutting-edge technology enhances security operations center performance, optimizing workflows and accelerating time to resolution. With consistent leadership in AI innovation and a proven track record in security information and event management (SIEM) and user behavior analytics, Exabeam empowers global security teams to combat cyberthreats, mitigate risk, and streamline operations. Learn more at www.exabeam.com.

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The Regional Government of Madrid is strengthening its commitment to quantum communications with an investment of 16 million euros in research projects on quantum communications and cybersecurity within the framework of the International Year of Quantum Science and Technologies declared by UNESCO. Among the initiatives the regional government is promoting stands out MadQuantum-CM, which aims to expand the largest quantum communications network in Europe, MadQCI, positioning itself as a strategic initiative for the development of secure quantum communications in Europe.

At IMDEA Networks, as one of the project participants, we lead the development of next-generation quantum communication protocols. ‘Our work is focused on creating solutions that extend the reach and functionality of quantum networks, ensuring their integration with current communications infrastructures’, explains Albert Banchs, IMDEA Networks’ principal researcher on the project.

Meanwhile, 5TONIC, the open research and innovation laboratory created by Telefónica and IMDEA Networks, plays a fundamental role together with the Universidad Carlos III of Madrid (UC3M), as a validation and testing centre of new technologies for the control of quantum communication networks. As such, a solution has been developed for secure end-to-end key distribution based on cloud native and QKD (quantum key distribution) technologies, which has been evaluated by means of a digital twin for QKD networks, also developed in the context of the project. This solution will be experimentally validated on a hybrid PQC/QKD (Post-Quantum cryptography/QKD) multi-domain testbed deployed in the 5TONIC laboratory. ‘Our facilities allow us to evaluate quantum communications protocols and equipment in real operating conditions, a crucial step for its future commercial implementation,’ explains Carlos J. Bernardos, vice-president of 5TONIC and full professor at UC3M.

With the purpose of extending the largest quantum communications network in Europe, the deployment of the MadQuantum-CM project relies on Telefónica’s fibre optic infrastructure, over which quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols are implemented. This combination of cutting-edge telecommunications infrastructure with quantum technology will guarantee inherently secure communications based on the principles of quantum mechanics.

The MadQuantum-CM consortium, coordinated by the Universidad Politécnica of Madrid, includes the participation of leading institutions such as the National Institute for Aerospace Technology, the Spanish Metrology Centre, the Fundación Vithas, the Universidad Autónoma of Madrid and the Universidad Complutense of Madrid. The project is funded by the European Union through NextGenerationEU funds, by the Community of Madrid and by the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR) in the framework of the Complementary Quantum Communication Plan, with a total investment of 73 million euros.

The project’s key objectives include the development of new, more efficient and secure quantum communication protocols, the integration of QKD technologies into conventional communications networks, the training of specialised researchers to boost the national industry, and the creation of use cases in critical sectors such as healthcare, energy and public services.

5TONIC, as a laboratory of reference in the development of 5G and 6G technologies, facilitating collaboration between academia and industry, also contributes to technological development in the field of quantum communications. ‘The synergy between the different ecosystem players, from operators such as Telefónica to research centres such as UC3M and IMDEA Networks, is fundamental to the success of the project,’ adds Bernardos.

The development of quantum communications has become a strategic priority for both Europe and Spain, with Madrid being a reference hub for the research and development of these fundamental technologies for the security of future communications. The collaboration between 5TONIC, Telefónica (which is deploying the MadQCI fibre network) and IMDEA Networks in the framework of MadQuantum-CM exemplifies the innovation model needed to lead this technological revolution.

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Press Release

The EY organization today announced the launch of EY Telecom.ai agentic solution, a suite of artificial intelligence (AI) agents for telecommunication providers that will operate across the critical functions of finance, network, customer service and content life cycle management. Telecom.ai is an AI-powered solution that leverages the full-stack NVIDIA AI platform. EY Telecom.ai is built on NVIDIA AI Enterprise, and includes NVIDIA NIM microservices, NeMo Retriever, NeMo Guardrails and NVIDIA Blueprints leveraging RAG.

Within the EY Telecom.ai suite, Contract Intelligence (CI) agent is designed to enhance the efficiency, accuracy and effectiveness of extracting insights from telecommunications network vendor contracts. By automating contract analysis, CI enables enterprises to save time, reduce risk and improve decision-making.

Addressing a critical industry challenge: Telecommunication providers are in the process of modernizing their networks to take advantage of new technologies to provide better, more reliable service and to reduce their operating costs. To do this, providers need to manage thousands of vendor contracts that define service levels, technical requirements and cost structures – elements crucial for network operations. Traditional contract management systems often lack the depth needed for efficient analysis, making contract review a time-consuming and error-prone process. EY CI agent addresses this challenge by offering a structured and repeatable approach to extract, analyze and report on key contract terms.

Announced at MWC Barcelona 2025, EY Telecom.ai CI agentic solution leverages NVIDIA AI Enterprise software to automate and enhance contract retrieval and analysis. By utilizing the NVIDIA AI platform, the solution efficiently handles large volumes of contracts, providing real-time visibility into contractual obligations and performance metrics. This approach helps reduce operational overhead, improve compliance and enhance financial forecasting capabilities. The solution features:

• Conversational AI interface for querying procurement contracts.
• Automated contract analysis, pinpointing key financial and legal terms.
• Performance data processing to evaluate service vendors.
• Scenario planning for financial modeling of potential suppliers.
• Customizable reporting metrics to refine model accuracy and adapt to evolving contractual requirements.
• Real-time vendor insights for engineering teams to enhance negotiations.
• Built to run on NVIDIA infrastructure, leveraging the NVIDIA AI Enterprise software platform.

Paolo Canale, EY Americas Consulting Telecommunications Sector Leader, says:

“EY Telecom.ai Agentic Solution is a game-changer for the telecom industry, representing an immediate opportunity to simplify operations, enhance customer experience and drive innovation. With its ability to streamline the extraction, analysis and reporting of essential structured and unstructured data, it transforms a traditionally time-consuming data gathering into a more informed structured and efficient AI-powered decision-making process, through a workflow and user interface easy to use and navigate.”

Chris Penrose, Global VP of Business Development for Telco, NVIDIA, says:

“Telcos face an increasing need to modernize business operations to best meet the needs of their customers. The EY Telecom.ai, powered by NVIDIA AI, empowers telcos to operate their business more effectively, enhance customer experiences and reduce operational costs.”

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News

The Federal Communications Commission has unanimously approved an early step towards bringing unused 5G-grade spectrum to market

By: Brad Randall, Broadband Communities

New proposed rules approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) represent the first step towards bringing a slate of unused 5G-grade spectrum licenses to the market.

The proposed rules, approved unanimously by FCC commissioners, will update rules around AWS-3 spectrum licenses, the FCC announced Thursday.

According to the FCC, the AWS-3 band refers to spectrum between 1695-1710 MHz, 1755-1780 MHz, and 2155-2180 MHz.

Around 200 licenses for AWS-3 spectrum were returned to the FCC’s inventory following a 2014 auction.

“Certain winning bidders defaulted on their payment obligations,” the FCC’s press release stated. “As a result, approximately 200 licenses were returned to the FCC’s inventory.”

Additionally, proceeds from a new auction will fund the FCC’s rip and replace program, the release explained.

The rip and replace program, known formally as the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program, aims to “remove untrustworthy technology” from communications networks in the United States.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said the action was “essential to promoting our national security.”

In a statement on the matter, published on the FCC’s website, Carr said failing to close a funding gap in the FCC’s rip and replace program “would have left America’s networks needlessly exposed to security risks.”

‘Time for the FCC to get back to auctioning spectrum’

Carr’s statement also celebrated the vote, saying the time had come for the FCC to auction spectrum once again.

“It is time that we free up airwaves for 5G and other next-gen services,” Carr’s statement read. “Of course, conducting auctions at the FCC has been a bit of a challenge in recent years because the FCC’s general spectrum auction authority lapsed back in 2023.”

He continued.

“But late last year, Congress came together and on a bipartisan basis authorized the FCC to auction our inventory of AWS-3 spectrum,” Carr stated. “This was a good step forward, and I want to commend Chairwoman (Jessica) Rosenworcel and her leadership team for moving quickly to prepare a document that allows the FCC to conduct this auction.”

FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks also issued a statement, thanking Carr and fellow FCC Commissioner Anna M. Gomez for approving language that would explore whether or not a priority window for tribal nations could be leveraged to boost connectivity on tribal lands.

“While there are legal and procedural issues at play, I’m glad that we’ll be building a public record,” Starks stated. “I appreciate the crucial engagement from the Navajo Nation and other advocates that brought this issue into focus.”

Click here to learn more about Connected America 2025, happening March 11-12 in Dallas.

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News

“We are becoming an AI company,” said Deutsche Telekom board member Claudia Nemat, speaking on stage at MWC

If Mobile World Congress in Barcelona has had a theme this year, it’s been mobile operators trying to cram AI into every facet of their operations.

Only Deutsche Telekom, however, seems to be pushing that ethos directly down the value chain into hardware creation, revealing plans for their own ‘AI phone’ in partnership with US AI startup Perplexity.

A Silicon Valley GenAI company, Perplexity has seen rapid growth over the past year, soaring to a valuation of over $9 billion.

With Perplexity’s AI fully “baked in” to new AI phone, customers will be able to leverage AI across their entire mobile experience, even accessing the AI assistant from the phone’s lock screen.

“The trusted AI companion, our AI Phone, will help you in many situations: find reliable answers with reference to the source. Conveniently book a restaurant or taxi. Let an AI assistant do your shopping. All without having to switch between apps. Intuitively and preferably by voice. This is the future of AI innovation for consumers,” said Nemat. “The days of the confusing app jungle are over.”

Specific details about the phone’s capabilities were not revealed but are expected to be formally announced in the second half of this year.

Google Cloud AI, ElevenLabs and Picsart are also partners in the phone’s development.

Commercial launch for the AI phone is targeted at next year in Europe and will come with a price tag of less than $1,000.

In addition to this AI phone, Deutsche Telekom is already working on its own AI assistant app called ‘Magenta AI’, which will be available for download for any of the company’s subscribers.

“We are becoming an AI company,” explained Nemat in a press conference, telling the audience that the company was not focussed on developing its own large language models but rather leveraging partners to create AI experiences and assistants.

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Also in the news:
Huawei ICT Services & Software Enable Digital Intelligence Acceleration
AllPoints Fibre Networks and Daisy Communications announce fibre deal
SMBs’ cybersecurity woes could be opportunity for telcos

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News

For the second day in a row, Wall Street stocks fell sharply after tariffs and sanctions were announced by governments around the world

This article was originally written by our sister publication Broadband Communities

Canada and China have announced retaliatory measures after President Donald Trump announced tariffs on both countries, beginning today.

On Tuesday, the Dow Jones fell by over 670 points. The plunge follows another dip Monday, when the Dow fell 1.5 percent.

Also on Tuesday, according to CNN, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Canada would place tariffs on over $20 billion of U.S. goods.

China, along with their own retaliatory tariffs, has also added U.S. firms in the defense and technology sector to an “unreliable entities list,” and implemented import controls, according to BBC News.

Additionally, reporting has revealed that the back-and-forth with tariffs may impact the cost of consumer goods like smartphones.

“In the lead-up to January’s CES, the massive expo held every year in Las Vegas, the Consumer Technology Association put out an eye-popping estimate: smartphones could soon cost Americans about $213 more, on average — a hike of more than 25 percent,” reported Lily Jamali, a BBC News North American technology correspondent.

Trump’s tariffs began at midnight, March 4, and have targeted imports from Canada, Mexico, and China.

According to a fact sheet put out by the White House Tuesday, tariffs on Canada and Mexico were implemented under an act known as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act “to combat the extraordinary threat to U.S. national security, including our public health posed by unchecked drug trafficking.”

Critics meanwhile have said tariffs will drive up prices for U.S. consumers and have pointed out that only minor amounts of fentanyl, 43 of the 21,889 pounds of fentanyl seized by U.S. authorities in 2024, have been sourced from Canada.

Latest developments cause growing concern

Previously, experts like Brian Hendricks, VP of Policy and Public Affairs for Nokia Americas, have questioned Trump’s approach.

When describing the state of affairs in Washington D.C. last month, Hendricks said there’s “nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept.”

He called Trump’s tariff tendencies “extremely difficult to predict” and said they could counterproductively impact stated policy objectives of Trump’s own presidency.

“Manufacturing coming back to the United States is certainly something we support,” he said.

However, Hendricks said a lot of manufacturing will require a high degree of automation to justify various business cases.

“For that to happen, you need high-quality, reliable networks that are available with massive throughput, low latency, and high reliability,” he said. “And if it becomes difficult to build those, then you’re actually pulling both ends of the rope and making it very difficult to achieve your aims.”

In the days since, some have gone even further, like Andrew Wilson, the deputy secretary-general of the International Chamber of Commerce, who told the Wall Street Journal that the tariffs “could be the start of a downward spiral that puts us in 1930s trade-war territory.”

This Sunday, the Mexican government has additionally pledged to announce further details about their response to American tariffs, according to BBC News.

Click here to learn more about Connected America 2025, happening March 11-12 in Dallas

Also in the news:
VEON looks to local language LLM creation for revenue growth
Huawei ICT Services & Software Enable Digital Intelligence Acceleration
BT urges SMEs to go digital

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New customers looking to sign-up with broadband ISP Virgin Media (O2) might like to know that the provider has just introduced some bigger discounts across their range of standalone broadband and bundle packages. For example, Virgin’s 1Gbps package is now just £36.99 per month on an 18-month minimum term (price increases to £40.49 from April 2026).

The discounted broadband plans, which include a wireless router and free setup, generally start at £23.99 per month for their 132Mbps service (rising to £27.49 from April 2026), then £29.99 for 362Mbps (rising to £33.49 from April 2026), £33.99 for 516Mbps (rising to £37.49 from April 2026) and £36.99 for 1130Mbps (rising to £40.49 from April 2026). A 2Gbps tier also exists in nexfibre areas, which is priced at £69.99 (rising to £73.49 from April 2026); people in nextfibre areas can also access symmetric speeds, if they so wish.

The new prices are expected to be available to order until the end of March 2025. But just remember that Virgin Media’s packages also apply sharp price increases once you reach the end of your contract, which are currently listed in the small print as £54 for the 132Mbps tier, £66 for 362Mbps, £72 for 516Mbps, £78 for 1Gbps and £90 for 2Gbps. This is why, if you intend to stick with Virgin at the end of your term, it’s critical to renegotiate.

The operator has also introduced various discounts across their TV bundles too.

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Press Release

[Barcelona, Spain, March 3rd, 2025] During MWC 2025, Ms. Pilar Puerta Galvan, Transmission Director of MasOrange, delivered a keynote speech at the Green All-Optical Network Forum on “Leading Optical Network Accelerates Digitalisation.” As one of the largest telecom operators in Spain, MasOrange has built a leading optical network to deliver the premium experience for consumers, enterprises, and home broadband users, while accelerating digital and intelligent transformation.  

 As the new leader of the Spanish telecoms market, MasOrange has over 39 million mobile lines and more than 7.1million broadband users. MasOrange is committed to (re)connecting people by putting technology to work to provide the best experience, and high-quality networks ensure No.1 customer satisfaction. With the emergence of 5G, 4K/8K Video, digital service and AI new application, the network traffic is expected to triple in the next five years. Therefore, the construction of fibre infrastructure and evolution of innovative technology must make strides to cope with the challenges of digital floods towards AI era.  

Ms. Pilar shared the cooperation between MasOrange and Huawei to build the present optical network empowered by three leading pillars. First is leading capacity with 400G Mesh backbone. The 400G/800G speed rate enlarges network capacity by 2 times and reduces cost per bit by 30%, and 1.2Tbps innovative field trials over 320km for the longest distance milestone. What is more, unified mesh architecture is like a 3D bridge to balance traffic without congestion, and supports network evolution in 10 years. Second is premium experience with widely coverage metro optical network. E2E OXC can greatly reduce the power consumption by 40% caused by optical-electrical conversion in the transparent sites, and guarantees service bandwidth and latency for better video experience to customer, and accelerates digitalisation and AI new services development. Third is leading network automation. Enabled by AI technologies in the network like traffic prediction/fibre cut prediction/service interruption prediction, network O&M efficiency can be improved by 20%, and service TTM can be improved by 30%. 

Ms. Pilar emphasised, “With this leading optical network, we look forward to empowering digital world that will enhance the quality of life and customer experience within the future digital society.” 

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Abingdon-based rural UK ISP Gigaclear has confirmed the completion of their gigabit broadband roll-out across the large South Oxfordshire (England) village of Sonning Common. The work to deploy their full fibre network across the village started in 2023 and a total of over 2,000 premises can now access the new service.

New customers of the Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network can expect to pay from £19 per month for symmetric speeds of 300Mbps on an 18-month minimum term (£46 thereafter), which rises to £34 per month for their top 900Mbps tier (£82 thereafter). But we should point out that both Airband and Openreach also have some FTTP coverage in the same village, albeit not much.

Glynn Richardson, Gigaclear’s Senior Project Manager, said (Oxford Mail): “Taking our full fibre to rural communities that might otherwise have copper or an inferior part fibre broadband connection fundamentally changes them for the better because it creates choice for the people in those communities about how they work and how they live their lives.”

The operator previously held an ambition to cover “over” 1 million UK premises by 2027, but it’s unclear how much this was impacted after last year’s job cuts (here). This came as part of “planning for the next stage of its development” and a “re-focus on ultra-rural areas“. Gigaclear is reportedly now on the hunt for fresh funding in order to continue their full fibre deployments (here).

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Telecoms giant BT migrated 300,000 UK business customers away from legacy phone lines and on to digital broadband and phone solutions in 2024. But the provider claims that 22% of small businesses still see themselves as “analogue“, relying on tools like traditional landlines, paper contracts and fax machines, which must change before the old service is switched-off.

In case anybody has forgotten, the big switch-off was recently delayed to 31st January 2027 in order to give broadband ISPs, phone providers, telecare providers, councils and consumers more time to adapt (details). But the main focus of this delay was the 1.8 million people who use vital home telecare systems in the UK (e.g. elderly, disabled, and vulnerable people), which often aren’t compatible with the replacement VoIP / IP-based digital phone services (i.e. for everybody else the deadline is still technically Dec 2025).

However, it’s not only consumers that will be impacted by this, with businesses also needing to make the switch. A national survey of small businesses, which was commission by BT and conducted via Censuswide with over 1,500 senior decision-makers, claims to have found that 22% still define themselves as “analogue”, primarily using traditional processes such as physical filing systems, paper contracts, and older technology such as fax machines. By contrast, 80% that have invested in new technology say it has given them a competitive advantage, with 79% saying it had helped them to find new customers.

The UK is estimated to be home to 5.5 million small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), thus there are still likely to be quite a few organisations that are behind in their preparations for the change. BT warns that businesses failing to migrate sooner than the cut-off date will also be at risk of “increased outages” as the ageing network becomes more fragile. Ofcom’s recent Connected Nations report highlights that the number of incidents on the legacy PSTN increased by 45% in 2024.

Kerry Small, Chief Operating Officer for Business at BT, said:

“The UK’s analogue copper telephone network has a proud history, but it’s no longer up to the task for businesses. It’s simply too risky to build the economy on a shaky foundation, and we’re calling on all businesses to move before the end of 2025 – well ahead of the switch-off.

Analogue companies making the move now can benefit from rock-solid digital connectivity to help keep them in business for years to come. We’re supporting customers small and large through the move, so no business is left behind. Whether you’re a tech start-up or a family firm passed down through generations, when it comes to going digital – BT’s got your back.”

Any technology still relying on the PSTN will stop working when the network is retired.