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Vodafone said the deal came at the “right time”, noting that the “significant progress” had already been made in integrating the two businesses

Vodafone has announced it will purchase CK Hutchison’s 49% stake in VodafoneThree for £4.3 billion, giving the UK-based mobile giant full control of the joint venture.

The deal, which values VodafoneThree at £13.85 billion including debt, will be facilitated by a cancellation of shares.

Max Taylor will remain a CEO of the company and Vodafone will retain the use of the Three brand.

CK Hutchison said the deal provided an “attractive” valuation, while Vodafone said deal will allow for continued simplification of operations, with the company aiming to achieve around £700 million in annual capex by the 2030 financial year.

VodafoneThree was formed by the merger of Vodafone UK and CK Hutchison’s Three UK in 2025, following around two years of regulatory scrutiny. The move immediately created the largest mobile operator in the UK, with around 27 million subscribers.

VodafoneThree has pledged to invest £11 billion in upgrading the company’s mobile network over the coming decade, ultimately aiming to reach 99.95% coverage with standalone 5G by 2034.

“A year on from the merger, the team has made remarkable progress, as we maximise the full potential of VodafoneThree and capture the significant synergies. I’m delighted that we will now have full ownership of VodafoneThree as we roll out one of Europe’s most advanced 5G networks, provide the UK’s best customer experience and drive long-term value for our shareholders,” said Margherita Della Valle, Chief Executive of Vodafone Group.

The move itself should not come as a surprise – the terms of the joint venture aways gave Vodafone the option of buying out CK Hutchison after three years, and analysts had regularly speculated that full ownership would be sought after the initial integration had proved successful. However, the speed at which the deal has materialised is notable.

“This deal was always on the cards but comes sooner than expected, with the joint venture still in its first year,” said CCS Insight analyst Kester Mann in a LinkedIn post.

“It also reinforces a wide-held industry view that the Vodafone brands will eventually prevail over the Three brands,” he added.

The deal is subject to regulatory approvals, including those in relation to the UK National Security and Investment Act.

It is expected to close in the second half of this year.

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Contributed Article

By Martha Galley, Chief Sustainability Officer, Calix 

In the race to show sustainability progress, companies often spotlight renewable energy, carbon offsets, or high-profile product launches. These are important, but one of the most effective and measurable ways to deliver both financial and environmental results often goes unnoticed: durability. 

Durability happens when sustainability is built into the design itself. It changes how a business operates, influencing materials, maintenance, and customer trust. When products and systems are built to last, they cut waste, reduce operating costs, and show that a company is thinking for the long term. 

In broadband, this principle has transformed how networks are built and maintained. For years, competition focused on speed, reliability, and upfront cost. Hardware was replaced frequently, and short product cycles were considered standard. But as broadband became essential for education, healthcare, remote work, and community connection, this short-term model began to show its limits. 

Every replacement cycle adds expense to equipment, labor, and training while creating more electronic waste. Providers have begun to realize that acquisition cost, or what you pay on day one, tells only part of the story. The real measure is the total cost of ownership and what it takes to run, maintain, and replace a system over its lifetime. 

Durability looks different across the broadband ecosystem. In the core and access network, systems are designed to operate for decades, but upgrades can require large infrastructure investments. At the premises level, the gateways, routers, and Wi-Fi systems inside homes and businesses turn over much faster, creating a greater environmental impact. That is where design innovation matters most. Software-enabled platforms extend product life and functionality through continuous updates instead of full hardware replacement. This is an evergreen innovation approach that keeps systems capable and efficient while reducing energy use and electronic waste. 

Research supports the importance of designing for longevity. The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) found that increasing a product’s lifespan by 50 percent can reduce replacement needs and environmental impact by about one third. The Fiber Broadband Association reports that retiring copper networks in favor of fiber reduces both costs and emissions because copper requires far more energy to operate and maintain. 

The total cost of ownership perspective makes the value clear. When businesses account for energy use, maintenance, and replacement, durable systems often prove to be the smarter financial choice. Broadband providers discovered this when comparing copper and fiber, and the same holds true across industries, from automotive to consumer electronics. 

Durability may not grab headlines, but it makes sustainability real. It connects environmental responsibility with financial performance and builds long-term confidence among customers, communities, and investors. As more industries adopt sustainable design principles, durability will remain one of the strongest measures of both performance and resilience.

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The new system will connect the Iceland to Scotland, providing additional resilience and support for digital services

Icelandic telco Farice is planning to build a new submarine cable dubbed AUÐUR, aiming to better connect the island to European data hubs.

The AUÐUR cable system will span roughly 1,300km from Iceland’s south coast to Glasgow, Scotland, and will comprise 16–24 fibre pairs, with a capacity of up to 480 Tbps.

The system will provide a new low-latency route between Iceland and Europe‘s key network hubs, particularly with the Nordic region, which is seeing a boom of data centre investment.

Four submarine cable systems currently connect to Iceland: the Greenland Connect system, linking to Canada via Greenland; the IRIS system connecting to Ireland; DANICE, linking to Demark; and the FARICE-1 cable, which connects to the Faroe Islands and the north of Scotland.

The new AUÐUR is expected to function largely as a replacement for FARICE-1, which has been in operation since 2004 and will likely be retired over the coming years.

Source: Farice

A marine survey to plan the route in detail is expected to take place next year, with the system expected to be deployed and operational by 2030.

“The time has come to further strengthen Iceland’s telecommunications infrastructure by building a new high-capacity cable. Through the new cable we will create a new low latency route between Iceland and Europe’s key network hubs as well and further strengthen the digital bridge within the Nordics. Icelandic data centres can be seamlessly integrated into network topologies, bridging the US and Nordic markets. The Nordic region is rapidly emerging as a major data centre hub, making interconnectivity with the Nordics ever more important,” said Thorvardur Sveinsson, CEO of Farice.

The cable is named for Auður the Deep-Minded (Auður djúpúðga Ketilsdóttir), a setter who sailed from Scotland to Iceland in the 9^th century.

The submarine cable industry is evolving rapidly. Join the discussion at Submarine Networks EMEA, the world’s most important subsea cable event

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The project saw a self-driving vehicle successfully operate in a live commercial setting

The P-CAL (Port-Connected and Automated Logistics) project has been completed at the Port of Tyne, bringing a major UK deep-sea port one step closer to autonomous operations.

The project saw a fully autonomous terminal tractor deployed on a working quayside for the first time, as well as the handling of commercial containers.

The project was carried out by a consortium including the North East Automotive Alliance (NEAA), autonomous vehicle specialist Oxa, and various industry and academic partners, alongside the Port of Tyne itself.

The pilot builds upon the consortium’s previous connected and automated mobility (CAM) projects, as part of the UK government’s £150 million CAM Pathfinder programme. These projects include 5G CAL, which showed that a 5G network could be used to support autonomous driving and teleoperation of a heavy goods vehicle (HGV), and the V-CAL project, which saw four autonomous HGVs operating in real-word scenarios.

The completed P-CAL project represents the next logical step towards commercial operations by integrating the autonomous HGVs with existing terminal systems, real-time coordinating with live cranes, deploying a mesh communication network, and implementing security protocols to enable secure remote and autonomous operations.

“Delivering autonomous logistics in a live port environment has been a major step forward for the sector,” said Graeme Hardie, operations director at the Port of Tyne. “P-CAL has shown what’s possible when innovation is applied to real operational challenges, improving safety, efficiency and sustainability.”

“Through the project, we’ve demonstrated that existing work vehicles can be turned into a digital workforce – successfully completing autonomous container movements in a dynamic quayside environment, while providing worksite intelligence necessary for real-time industrial optimisation,” added Oxa founder and CEO Paul Newman. “P-CAL provides a blueprint for how ports and industrial hubs worldwide can deploy autonomous technology to drive productivity, efficiency and safety.”

The next phase of the project will involve multiple vehicles working simultaneously in a live environment.

Autonomous vehicle operations have long been a goal for ports and other large scale industrial operations, potentially providing improved operational efficiency and reducing staff exposure to dangerous working conditions.

In the most advanced markets, these projects are already being launched commercially. In China, for example, the world’s largest autonomous mining fleet has been operational for almost a year.

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Press Release

Belden Inc. (NYSE: BDC) (“Belden” or the “Company”), a leading global supplier of specialty networking solutions, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire RUCKUS Networks (“RUCKUS”), a global provider of intelligent network solutions, from Vistance Networks (Nasdaq: VISN) (“Vistance”) for approximately $1.85 billion. The acquisition establishes Belden as a leading provider of complete, end-to-end IT/OT networking solutions.

RUCKUS is a leading provider of enterprise networking solutions delivering purpose-built connectivity for high-density, mission-critical environments, serving more than 48,000 customers globally. RUCKUS offers an integrated portfolio of Wi-Fi, enterprise switching and an AI-driven cloud networking platform that enables organizations to optimize performance, simplify operations and securely connect users and devices. RUCKUS is known for its differentiated technology, strong channel ecosystem and focus on reliability and user experience at scale.

“The addition of RUCKUS brings a leading provider of purpose-driven enterprise networks to Belden and accelerates our transformation into a full-stack networking solutions provider,” said Ashish Chand, President and CEO of Belden. “RUCKUS offers proven, differentiated Wi-Fi and enterprise switching technology that our customers in hospitality, education and healthcare are actively demanding, allowing us to deliver a more complete, end-to-end networking solution. Equally important, these same capabilities create a powerful opportunity to bring high-performance wireless and switching to our industrial customers, who are increasingly looking to converge their IT and OT environments. Together, Belden and RUCKUS will deliver a broader, higher-value networking solution for customers across enterprise and industrial environments, while strengthening our financial profile, generating strong free cash flow that supports rapid de-levering, and creating meaningful long-term value for stockholders.”

Compelling Strategic and Financial Opportunities:

• Significant Growth Catalyst: Adds industry-leading Wi-Fi and enterprise switching capabilities that directly strengthen the Company’s solutions offering across core enterprise growth verticals, including hospitality, education and healthcare.

• Expands Total Addressable Market: RUCKUS adds Wi-Fi and enterprise switching technology, product categories Belden does not currently offer, to markets where Belden already operates, meaningfully expanding the combined organization’s addressable opportunity. The combination positions Belden to deliver a more complete, higher-value active networking solution spanning enterprise campuses, high-density public venues and industrial facilities.

• Capitalizes on Industrial Opportunity: RUCKUS’ proven high-performance networking platform creates a compelling opportunity to extend best-in-class wireless and switching into Belden’s industrial customer base, where demand for converged IT and OT connectivity is accelerating.

• Delivers Compelling Financial Profile: RUCKUS’ high-margin profile is expected to drive accretion to Belden’s gross margins, Adjusted EBITDA margins, and Adjusted Earnings Per Share, representing a meaningful enhancement in Belden’s financial profile.

• Clear Path to Rapid De-levering: Combined with Belden’s strong free cash flow generation and RUCKUS’ high cash conversion, the Company expects to reduce net leverage to below 3.0x within the first full year following close, and to reach its long-term target of approximately 1.5x by 2029. Belden will prioritize debt paydown while maintaining its commitment to disciplined capital allocation.

At approximately 13x projected 2026 Adjusted EBITDA, the transaction reflects a disciplined and attractive entry point for a high-margin, high-growth asset. RUCKUS brings a high-quality financial profile to the combined company, with high-single-digit revenue growth, gross margins above 60%, and Adjusted EBITDA margins above 20% in the first full year of ownership, each meaningfully above Belden’s current profile. As a result, the transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to Adjusted Earnings Per Share. The acquisition is also expected to serve as a growth accelerator, further advancing Belden’s long-term financial framework.

Transaction Details

The acquisition was approved by both companies’ Boards of Directors and is expected to close in the second half of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions, and the receipt of certain regulatory approvals.

Belden has obtained fully committed debt financing from J.P. Morgan that provides the Company flexibility to optimize its permanent capital structure between signing and closing based on market conditions.

Belden’s disciplined capital allocation and strong free cash flow generation support a clear path to de-levering post-close. With a combined Adjusted EBITDA base of approximately $650 million and RUCKUS’ high free cash flow conversion, Belden expects net leverage (a non-GAAP measure) to decline below 3.0x within the first full year after close, and to reach its long-term target of approximately 1.5x by 2029. Consistent with this priority, Belden intends to temporarily pause share repurchases until leverage returns closer to our long-term target.

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We caught up with Amol Gadre, Founder and CEO of Sarathi Softech, to discuss why flexibility is an integral feature of the company’s AI-enabled telco billing platform, EarnBill,  and how it is helping telecom operators and MVNOs stay ahead in an increasingly complex market.

From 5G and the IoT, to AI and personalised services, each year the telecoms sector continues to grow more complex. This offers a huge challenge for telco billing systems, particularly for those largescale telcos with slow-moving legacy systems that can act as bottlenecks for innovation.

For Gadre, these limitations were front-of-mind when developing Sarathi’s EarnBill platform, a core billing engine focussed on fast implantation and flexibility. Backed by over 13 years of Enterprise jBilling partnership and more than $2 billion in processed billing and payments, EarnBill has been built and battle-tested for precisely this moment.

“The big legacy systems for Tier 1 telcos mean implementations can be multi-year,” Gadre said. “We try to cut such implementation times by as much as half through our own agility.”

This agility is not just a matter of project management and efficiency in deployment. As the market moves towards increasingly complex data models and products, the billing system must be as flexible as the network itself.

“Take the data bank offering in Australia, for example, where unused monthly data allowance is ‘banked’ for use in later months,” said Gadre. “These kinds of offers are gaining popularity because they give customers a lot of flexibility. However, introducing innovative offerings like this requires a backend that is quickly customisable”.

Of course, building a billing system with this level of flexibility is no easy task, particularly given legacy constraints. EarnBill, however, benefits from the fact that it did not originate in the telco sphere, but rather enterprise billing through the jBilling platform. This gives it a level of flexibility not typically seen in more specialised telco billing systems.

“EarnBill is a ‘no assumptions made’ core billing engine,” explained Gadre, noting it can be applied to various domains, from mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) to software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers. “It’s not a platform that we have inherited from an existing telco system. Instead, it was built from the ground up to meet the needs of various domains including telcos, SaaS, IoT and IaaS amongst others.”

“Telcos are offering innovative plans in a competitive market. It’s EarnBill’s job to ensure they can come up with innovative offerings in a short amount of time,” he added.

Leveraging AI to plug leaking revenue

Naturally, AI plays a key role in EarnBill’s ongoing evolution in the telco sector. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) has long been a core feature of efficient and autonomous billing systems, allowing them to handle complex operational workflows  with limited human intervention.

The recent development of agentic AI is showing a lot of promise of making this automation more intelligent. The autonomous AI agents can analyse data, make decisions, and execute tasks across workflows with minimal human intervention – this development marks a significant shift towards a more fluid and intelligent model. Specialised AI agents can dynamically review tariffs, suggest dispute resolution options in real time, and help personalise charges based on individual usage patterns and context, providing the much-needed agility.

“AI has sped up this automation process, with agentic AI taking over certain aspects of daily operations,” said Gadre. “Today, these processes are somewhere in the middle, where you have part automation, part human handling. We will see more and more of these processes handed over to AI agents as the technology matures. EarnBill would help operators make this transition.”

With telco complexity growing rapidly, stemming revenue leakage is emerging as a key initial target for these agents.

“We’re using automation to report billing errors in real time,” he said, emphasising that this not only saved telcos money but ultimately improved the end customer’s experience.

From services to full stack BSS

Ultimately, Gadre’s goal is for Sarathi to leverage AI to move up the value chain and begin offering a full stack BSS solution for telco customers.

Crucially, Gadre emphasizes that this platform must remain service oriented. In an industry where vendors often force operators to change their business processes to fit the software, EarnBill intends to remain the inverse.

“We don’t want to make our clients learn our platform and use it in a way where they need to change how their business operates,” Gadre concludes. “We have a very flexible system and a platform that is still evolving to cater to their needs as seamlessly as possible.”

For telcos looking to innovate and differentiate themselves from their competition, flexible, intelligent billing will only grow in importance.

Sarathi Softech is a Pune-based billing and revenue management specialist with over 15 years of deep expertise in Enterprise jBilling. 

  →  Visit earnbill.com/contact-us/

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The European Commission accused Meta of “failing to diligently identify, assess and mitigate the risks of minors under 13 years old accessing their services”

The European Commission has released its preliminary findings into whether Meta had breached the Digital Services Act (DSA), claiming the company had failed the adequately prevent under-13s from accessing its Instagram and Facebook platforms.

In a press release, the Commission said that Meta’s measures to prevent access by minors “do not seem to be effective”.

“Despite Meta’s own terms and conditions setting the minimum age to access Instagram and Facebook safely at 13, the measures put in place by the company to enforce these restrictions do not seem to be effective,” said the statement. “The measures do not adequately prevent minors under the age of 13 from accessing their services nor promptly identify and remove them, if they already gained access.”

It further stated that there are “no effective controls in place to check the correctness of the self-declared date of birth” and that Meta’s tools for reporting minors on the platform were “difficult to use and not effective”.

The first launched its investigation into company in 2024 following the implementation of the DSA, a broad legal framework covering how online platforms handle content and manage risks to customers online.

If the Commission’s preliminary findings are confirmed, Meta could face a fine of up to 6% of its total worldwide annual turnover.

Meta’s turnover in 2025 was roughly $201 billion, suggesting a fine could be in the region of $12.6 billion.

“Meta’s own general conditions indicate their services are not intended for minors under 13. Yet, our preliminary findings show that Instagram and Facebook are doing very little to prevent children below this age from accessing their services,” said Henna Virkkunen, the European Commission’s Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy. “The DSA requires platforms to enforce their own rules: terms and conditions should not be mere written statements, but rather the basis for concrete action to protect users – including children.”

In a statement to the New York Times, Meta said it disagreed with the findings, claiming its methods of preventing access by under-13s were effective. It nonetheless says that it is rolling out additional measures “soon”, adding that “understanding age is an industry-wide challenge”.

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Press Release

• Safe Email: providing 24/7 proactive scam protection for email inboxes, scanning and flagging suspicious messages so customers know if something is a scam before they even open it.
• Safe SMS: using advanced AI to detect sophisticated scams in text messages, giving customers real-time protection and peace of mind every time they check their messages.
• Safe Web: harnessing AI to protect customers from scams while shopping or browsing online, blocking malicious sites before they cause harm.

Scam Assistant and Call Labelling: real-time analysis across every channel

New Scam Guard also introduces Scam Assistant, a tool that allows customers to upload screenshots of texts, emails, websites, social media messages or even QR codes to receive instant advice on whether they are safe. Alongside this, Call Labelling delivers automatic, network-level screening of every incoming call, giving customers the information they need before they pick up.

Monitoring, security and password management: complete digital protection

Social Media Monitoring and Dark Web Monitoring watch for suspicious activity across a customer’s online footprint, sending quick notifications so they can take action without delay. Mobile Device Security provides real-time protection against ransomware, viruses and other online threats, automatically blocking dangerous attachments before they can cause damage. Additionally, Password Manager creates, stores and auto-fills strong, secure passwords, removing one of the most common vulnerabilities in personal online security.

Malcolm Cubitt, Director of Product, Mobile, EE, said: “Fraud in the UK is at a record high, with AI making scams more convincing and harder to detect. As these threats evolve, we continue to adapt as the UK’s best network—constantly seeking new and innovative ways to protect and support our customers. This includes leading industry alliances, investing in network-level controls, and employing a dedicated team of security experts. And now with our newly enhanced Scam Guard service, we’re providing customers with an even greater level of cyber security protection.”

EE is committed to helping customers enjoy the benefits of the digital world with confidence through practical protections like Scam Guard. This is underpinned by BT Group’s purpose to connect for good and its wider work to help people with the digital skills, tools and support they need to connect, stay safe and succeed.

EE Scam Guard forms part of a number of cyber security solutions offered to BT Group, which collectively over the last 12 months (Jan-Dec 2025) saw:

• Blocked 1.6 billion attempts to access malicious domains
• Stopped 200 million scam SMS messages
• Blocked 61 million scam calls
• Flagged a further 175 million nuisance and fraud calls to keep customers protected

The new Scam Guard is now available to all EE pay monthly mobile customers and will be available to purchase as an add on.

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The deal with Egg Power will supply roughly 5% of the company’s energy demands

Today, Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) is expanding its renewable energy usage, signing a new 10-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with solar power provider Egg Power.

The deal will see VMO2 source power from Egg’s new solar farm  70MW solar farm in Suffolk, which is currently under construction and is expected to begin power generation in 2027.

In total, the agreement is expected to cover around 5% of VMO2’s total energy demand.

Egg Power is a natural energy partner for VMO2, with both companies being owned by Liberty Global.

The deal is expected to significantly contribute to VMO2’s Net Zero carbon emissions goals, with the operator currently aiming for neutrality across its entire value chain by 2040.

“This agreement with egg Power is the latest step in Virgin Media O2’s journey to achieve net zero emissions by the end of 2040,” said Mark Hardman, Director, Finance Operations at VMO2. “We’re committed to growing and operating our business in a way that’s good for people and the planet, where we’re cutting carbon, securing renewable energy on a long-term basis, and sourcing renewable energy generation from the UK.”

The deal builds on a similar 10-year agreement for wind power that VMO2 signed with The Renewables Infrastructure Group last year. Combined, the two deals mean around 20% of VMO2’s energy usage will come from renewable PPAs.

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