The multi-use fiber deployment will accelerate broadband expansion for homes and businesses while building the national long-haul backbone required by AI hyperscalers.

“Securing this volume of fiber allows us to continue building the network of the future at an unprecedented scale,” said Kyle Malady, CEO of Verizon Business.
“We are deploying a single, converged architecture that unites mobile connectivity and broadband into one seamless experience for millions of families and businesses, while simultaneously building the high-capacity, low-latency backbone AI hyperscalers demand. With Corning as our partner, we are securing the physical foundation of America’s AI economy,” he added further.

The latest fiber supply deal with Corning will accelerate Verizon’s push toward 40-50 million broadband passings.

“Expanding fiber-to-the-home and local business connectivity ensures communities across the nation gain access to ultra-fast, reliable internet and the power to choose how they connect,” Malady noted.

“Cell towers, enterprise data centers, and residential neighborhoods will connect to the exact same high-capacity backbone. For customers, this converged architecture delivers a frictionless digital experience—ensuring continuous, seamless connectivity whether they are at home or on the move,” he added further.

Beyond enabling convergence, this multi-use fiber foundation serves as the physical engine for the AI era. Because heavy AI workloads demand near-zero latency and massive throughput, high-density fiber is essential to support the ever-growing scale of large language models (LLMs).

Through Verizon’s “AI Connect” strategy, the company is deploying ultra-dense cables across major long-haul corridors to directly connect data centers.

By expanding this critical interconnectivity, Verizon cements its position as the premier infrastructure partner for the world’s leading AI hyperscalers, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Importantly, as per Malady, these fiber networks also help ensure that AI’s benefits can reach consumers, businesses, schools, and communities.

“Verizon’s single, multi-use architecture addresses this need, seamlessly connecting customers while advancing the national backbone of technology,” the senior official remarked.

An undertaking of this magnitude requires absolute supply chain certainty. To power this buildout, Verizon is deepening its 30-year strategic partnership with Corning, the worldwide leading innovator and manufacturer of advanced glass and fiber optic technology.

The agreement is designed to enable Corning to continue to scale its U.S. manufacturing footprint to help ensure Verizon has the physical materials needed to execute its convergence strategy and expand its long-haul AI corridors.

These include Corning’s “Contour Flow Cable,” which enables Verizon to deploy significantly more optical fiber within conduit pathways. The flexible ribbon cable maximizes the value of Verizon’s infrastructure investments while substantially increasing network capacity and bandwidth.

“Corning is thrilled to deepen our three-decade partnership with Verizon as we provide our latest optical innovations in fiber, cable, and connectivity to link AI data centers together while ensuring more Americans have access to AI with high-speed fiber connections at home,” said Mike O’Day, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Corning Optical Communications.

“This partnership demonstrates that Gen AI and broadband expansion are part of the same transformative opportunity. Corning is proud to build on our 175-year legacy of supporting our customers’ growth with breakthrough innovations that we manufacture at scale here in the United States,” he added further.

The post Verizon signs optical fiber deal with Corning to support its broadband, AI push appeared first on International Finance.

Nokia shares hit a near-18-year high in June before declining. However, the telecom major’s stocks are still more than double their price seen at the ⁠same time in 2025, helped by the company’s shift in focus to selling fibre-optic equipment to companies building AI data centres.

Shares of Volkswagen, meanwhile, have dropped nearly 27% so far this year, as Europe’s largest automaker struggles against Chinese competition and pushes ahead with a restructuring.

French utility Engie will also join the index, while ‌Dutch ⁠information-services group Wolters Kluwer will be removed.

Nokia’s return to the Euro STOXX 50 index will be a significant achievement, as the company reported a larger-than-expected increase in its quarterly comparable operating profit in July, with AI and cloud customers emerging as new growth avenues for the Finnish telecom venture.

While comparable operating profit jumped 18% to 434 million euros (USD 496.11 million) in Q2 2026, Nokia, under its new CEO Justin Hotard, has shifted its focus to selling fibre-optic equipment to big tech companies that are building AI data centres.

The company, however, has not been immune to the sudden increase in memory chip prices due to AI companies cornering the market and impacting telecom equipment makers.

“Demand remains strong, while supply continues to be the main industry constraint, prompting our customers to place longer-term orders,” Hotard said in a statement in July.

Since ‌joining ⁠Nokia in 2025, Hotard, who came from leading Intel’s Data Center & AI Group, has focused on expanding the Finnish group’s data centre business. He even made a billion-dollar deal with chipmaker Nvidia.

While Nokia’s Q2 comparable net sales reached 4.82 billion euros, net sales from AI and cloud customers doubled in the quarter to 446 million euros, as the Finnish venture booked 2.8 billion euros in new orders.

Nokia is also expanding its presence in the Gulf region by setting up a new research and development centre in Saudi Arabia to accelerate AI-powered network automation.

The centre will create software that enables communications networks to self-configure, self-heal, optimise performance, reduce energy consumption and operate with greater autonomy.

Apart from that, the centre will also specialise in Service Management and Orchestration (SMO), Self-Organising Networks (SON), Autopilot and rApps for automation and energy efficiency.

Teams at the centre will create AI-powered tools for communication service providers and businesses in the Kingdom, while also looking into new AI-based 6G technologies and creating “Made in Saudi” software for Nokia customers worldwide.

The launch followed an agreement announced earlier in 2026 between His Excellency the Minister of Communications and Information Technology of Saudi Arabia and Hotard.

As per the Saudi administration, aligned with the Kingdom’s digital transformation agenda, the centre will create high-value engineering and research roles while offering advanced training programmes, boot camps, and AI and automation certifications for Saudi talent.

The post Euro Stoxx 50 return, Saudi expansion extend Nokia’s stunning comeback appeared first on International Finance.

In connection with the spin-off, SKT has entered into a definitive agreement with funds managed by leading global investment firm KKR and the IMM Investment-Stonebridge consortium (IMM Consortium) for a combined KRW 3.08 trillion equity investment in SK Horizon.

“The surviving company will focus on innovation in its fixed-line, media, and enterprise businesses, while the newly established company will aim to expand Korea’s leading AI data center (AIDC) infrastructure. Based on the book value of net assets, the spin-off ratio has been set at 0.8351323 (approximately 0.84) for the surviving company and 0.1648677 (approximately 0.16) for the newly established company,” SK Telecom said.

SK Horizon will be responsible for expanding its infrastructure to a total capacity of 318 MW, encompassing eight data centers already in operation, Seocho, Ilsan (two locations), Bundang, Gasan, Centum, Yangju, and Pangyo, along with the new AIDCs currently under construction, including those in Ulsan and Guro. The new subsidiary will also pursue the phased expansion of its submarine cable infrastructure, essential for global AI businesses.

“SKT plans to strengthen its AIDC operational expertise through SK Horizon and expand into a range of AI infrastructure businesses going forward. In particular, its streamlined decision-making structure is expected to enable the company to more effectively secure funding for key business areas, including through external investment,” the South Korean business noted.

Kim Seong-soo, CEO of the surviving company SK Broadband, is expected to concurrently serve as CEO of the new company, SK Horizon. The appointment will be finalized through a resolution of the Board of Directors following the company’s establishment in early 2027.

“As investors in the newly established company, KKR and the IMM consortium will provide capital to support SK Horizon’s expansion as an AI data center infrastructure platform. Upon completion of all phases of the investment under the transaction, KKR and IMM will hold 29% and 20% stakes in SK Horizon, respectively, while SKT will retain management control as the largest shareholder with a 51% stake,” SK Telecom remarked.

KKR is one of the most active infrastructure investors globally, with over USD 100 billion in infrastructure assets under management and more than USD 70 billion invested in digital and power assets. The investment giant is pumping this capital as part of its Asia-Pacific infrastructure strategy.

The IMM Investment-Stonebridge Consortium, on the other hand, comprises two leading South Korean investment firms, IMM Investment and Stonebridge Capital.

IMM Investment, founded in 1999, is a leading South Korean alternative investment firm with over USD 7.5 billion in assets under management across venture capital, growth equity, and infrastructure.

Stonebridge Capital, founded in 2008, is a South Korean private equity company with approximately KRW 3.6 trillion (USD 2.5 billion) in cumulative assets under management, investing in market-leading ventures in structurally growing sectors.

“With this governance restructuring, SKT has completed the establishment of a full-scale AIDC business structure together with SK Horizon and SK Hyper, a specialized company established last July,” the group noted.

“SKT will oversee the Group’s overall AIDC business, setting business strategies and directions and collaborating with global big tech companies. Building on its expertise and capabilities in data center operations, SK Horizon will be responsible for expanding infrastructure, including existing key AIDCs and submarine cables. SK Hyper will focus on business development for new AIDC projects, with 5 GW of capacity targeted for phased opening in 2029 and expansion toward a total capacity of 15 GW in 2035,” it added further.

The surviving company, SK Broadband, is looking to strengthen the competitiveness of its fixed-line, media, and enterprise businesses through AX-driven innovation in products and services while sustaining solid growth. It also plans to accelerate future growth by actively identifying new business models.

“With the aim of completing the spin-off and establishing the new company in the first quarter of 2027, the necessary procedures, including an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders and government approvals, will be carried out,” said Kim Seong-soo, CEO of SK Broadband.

“This governance restructuring is a proactive measure aimed at strengthening expertise and enabling faster execution in the AIDC business. As an AIDC infrastructure company, we will continue to scale up SK Horizon and grow it into Korea’s leading data center operator,” the senior official stated further.

“We are pleased to support SKT as it establishes SK Horizon and expands its AI data center infrastructure platform in Korea. SK Horizon brings together an established operating platform, capacity under development, and a strong strategic partner. Korea’s advanced digital ecosystem and growing demand for AI capacity provide a strong foundation for SK Horizon’s next phase of growth,” said Keith Kim, Partner at KKR.

“AI data centers and submarine cables will be among the core infrastructure assets shaping Korea’s digital sovereignty and industrial competitiveness going forward. By investing in SK Horizon with long-term funds from Korea’s top institutional investors, the IMM Investment-led group hopes to create a stable growth system that blends the financial power of our global partner with the reliability of local funds,” said Kim Byung-hun, Head of Infrastructure at IMM Investment.

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The transaction, announced on Monday (August 17), will give T-Mobile Polska more than 300,000 Inea customers and access to Fiberhost’s fibre network, which passes more than 1.4 million homes. The acquisition’s completion is expected by the end of 2026, subject to customary Polish competition approvals.

“Together, the businesses will be better positioned to offer a high-quality convergent proposition and compete more effectively with operators that already own substantial fixed infrastructure to the benefit of Polish customers. The acquisition also strengthens T-Mobile Polska’s role as an investor in critical infrastructure supporting Poland’s digitalisation,” said Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile Polska.

The deal represents a major expansion of Deutsche Telekom’s fixed-line footprint in Poland, where its local business has been increasing its broadband presence alongside its established mobile operations. Deutsche Telekom said the acquisition would accelerate T-Mobile Polska’s growth by combining its mobile network and customer base with fixed broadband infrastructure and television services.

Inea provides fibre internet, television, fixed and mobile telephony, as well as services for businesses and data centres. The company says it serves more than 300,000 individual customers and nearly 3,000 schools and has been expanding its fibre reach.

Fiberhost, meanwhile, operates as a wholesale fibre infrastructure provider, offering network access to internet service providers. Poland’s telecoms regulator has previously identified Fiberhost as one of the country’s major open-access wholesale operators. At the end of 2022, its network covered about 9,800 localities and 769,000 buildings, according to the Office of Electronic Communications.

The businesses have also attracted significant infrastructure investment under Macquarie ownership. In 2024, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development provided a PLN 450 million (100 million euro) sustainability-linked loan to support Fiberhost’s network expansion and modernisation, as well as Inea’s commercial development. Part of the financing aimed to extend fibre services to rural and peri-urban areas.

The acquisition also builds on an existing relationship between T-Mobile Polska and Inea. The companies signed agreements in 2019 and 2020 allowing T-Mobile to use Inea’s fibre network, expanding its fixed broadband reach by hundreds of thousands of households.

For Deutsche Telekom, the purchase reflects a broader European strategy of expanding high-speed fixed networks and bundling mobile, broadband and entertainment services. The company said its European broadband business reached 7.4 million customers at the end of 2025, while 11.3 million households had access to its gigabit-capable fibre network.

Dominique Leroy, CEO Europe, Deutsche Telekom AG, commented on the acquisition, “This is an important milestone in T-Mobile Polska’s continuous growth story. By bringing together strong mobile and fibre capabilities, we are creating an even better foundation for simple, reliable services for our customers. At the same time, it will allow T-Mobile Polska to extend its contribution to the digitalisation of Poland and its economy. Investments like this matter beyond one market. Strong digital infrastructure is essential for Europe’s competitiveness, resilience and future growth. I am proud that Deutsche Telekom continues to play an active role in making that happen.”

“We are opening a new chapter in T-Mobile Polska’s journey. We will now complement our award-winning mobile network, nationwide backbone, data centres, and fibre infrastructure with our own fibre-to-the-home network, reaching 1.4 million households. Owning an FTTH network will allow us to further develop our already successful portfolio of convergent products. Technological excellence, combined with our strong customer service, our key differentiators in the market, will strengthen our operations in Poland and help us build an even more attractive, quality-driven portfolio for both business and private customers at a greater scale,” said T-Mobile Polska CEO Andreas Maierhofer.

Macquarie Asset Management said it was pleased with the partnership between the two businesses and expressed confidence that they would continue developing under Deutsche Telekom’s ownership and expanding Poland’s digital infrastructure base.

“For over 20 years, Poland has been a key market for Macquarie, from the Gdansk deepwater container terminal to Fiberhost and INEA. Over the past eight years we have partnered with management to support the development of Fiberhost and INEA, helping to create one of Poland’s leading fibre infrastructure platforms. Together, we expanded network coverage, increased wholesale access, and improved connectivity for communities and businesses across the country. We thank both management teams for their partnership and look forward to seeing both businesses continue to build on this strong foundation under Deutsche Telekom’s stewardship. We are proud to have supported development of important infrastructure, helping to drive Polish economic growth and positive societal impact,” Cord Von Lewinski, Macquarie’s Managing Director, said.

The post Deutsche Telekom to buy Fiberhost and Inea from Macquarie Asset Management appeared first on International Finance.

The win matters less for its immediate revenue than for what it signals. Japan’s largest mobile operator has committed the processing brain of its radio network to Ericsson’s in-house silicon at precisely the moment the industry is trying to work out how artificial intelligence will reshape mobile traffic. For a company whose core radio business has been shrinking, that is a useful anchor.

What the deal actually covers
RAN Compute is the baseband layer of a mobile network, the computing hardware that sits behind the antennas and handles signal processing, scheduling and the software logic that determines how efficiently spectrum is used. Radios get the attention. Baseband determines what those radios can actually do.

Ericsson says the purpose-built platform uses its latest in-house silicon and is optimised for 4G, 5G and 5G Advanced, as well as for artificial intelligence and machine learning workloads running inside the radio access network. The company describes the result as an AI-native and programmable platform capable of supporting long-term software evolution.

That phrase is doing heavy lifting. It means DOCOMO is buying hardware it expects to keep upgrading through software for years rather than replacing at the next generational step. In an industry where full network swaps are financially painful, longevity is a selling point in its own right.

The numbers behind the pitch
The commercial case rests on two figures. Ericsson claims the platform delivers up to twice the capacity of the previous generation of baseband products while consuming less than half the energy, which it says enables more efficient site operations and lower costs in centralised radio access network deployments where compute units are installed in aggregated fashion.

Both halves of that claim land hard in Japan. The country’s post-Fukushima dependence on imported liquefied natural gas keeps power costs high by international standards, and network energy is one of the few operator expenses that scales directly with traffic growth.

The post Ericsson wins NTT DOCOMO RAN Compute deal in Japan appeared first on International Finance.

Noting that the three biggest operators, AT&T, Verizon Communications and T-Mobile US, generate hundreds of billions of revenue per year, SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell, while presenting the earnings data, said, “I anticipate us being able to acquire quite a few of their customers, because I think our service will be better. I’m quite excited about Starlink Mobile going forward.”

After Shotwell’s comments, shares of AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile each fell more than 4% in post-market trading.

SpaceX’s satellite internet business already beams data directly to mobile phones, shoring up service in so-called “dead zones” for existing ground-based networks. While adding land-based components, such as cell towers, would better position Starlink to compete with the big names of the American telecom sector, doing so will be costly. As per the analysts, constructing and operating nationwide networks will require billions of dollars in physical infrastructure, along with scarce government-regulated airwaves.

“We definitely intend to build out the terrestrial component. So you will have not only the capacity from the satellites themselves, but you will have a build-out of the hardware and systems necessary to make a true mobile service,” Shotwell remarked, while making the SpaceX’s telecom roadmap public.

ALSO READ | SpaceX: From history’s biggest IPO to Wall Street’s most crowded short

SpaceX’s plans to lure customers away from longstanding operators will require a network of upgraded Starlink satellites. Along with this, it needs to acquire rights to more spectrum, the radio waves needed to beam coverage, and last but not the least; securing access to thousands of cell towers and small cell nodes. All of these could take years.

SpaceX most likely won’t have access to network rental partnerships, an indutsry practice under which companies including Charter Communications and Comcast Corp have become what’s known as mobile virtual network operators. The mobile carriers have already declared that they won’t give SpaceX access to their networks in an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) capacity.

“Unless Starlink can secure an MVNO agreement from one of the carriers, which would provide a baseline of coverage, it’s extraordinarily challenging to imagine a direct-to-consumer service from Starlink that could be competitive with carrier services in the next five years,” said Craig Moffett of MoffettNathanson, while interacting with the Reuters.

An MVNO provides wireless service without owning a nationwide cellular network. Instead, it leases network capacity from an existing carrier and sells service under own brand.

The companies, as part of the defensive move against the Musk-led venture, have already announced a rare three-way joint venture that aims to make satellite capabilities more readily available to mobile phone customers.

To deal with this, SpaceX has adopted a creative path. As per the reports, in July, it held talks with Charter about running some of its phone traffic through the largest home-internet provider’s ground-based infrastructure.

Also not to forget SpaceX’s strategic acquisition of 65 megahertz of wireless spectrum licenses from EchoStar for a total of USD 19.6 billion through two deals announced in 2025, that gave Starlink airwaves to expand into mobile services.

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“The spectrum that we purchased from EchoStar does have terrestrial components, so we definitely intend to build out terrestrial,” Shotwell said.

Shotwell said the company will build the infrastructure needed to make Starlink “a true mobile service” and expects to ⁠win “quite a few” customers from the “Big Three” wireless carriers.

SpaceX, as per the reports, intends to disrupt the American telecom industry by pairing its satellite network with ground-based infrastructure to offer a broader wireless service, moving beyond the current direct-to-device service for areas without cellular coverage.

Starlink and SpaceX’s broader connectivity operations remain the company’s primary financial engine, underpinning Musk’s expensive push into AI, data centers and next-generation rockets.

“It makes no sense for SpaceX to try to replicate what terrestrial players have built ⁠over 30 years with 1000 MHz between them, with 65 MHz,” said David Barden from New Street Research.

A section of the investors still sees market underestimating the potential disruption.

ALSO READ | Verizon to sell 274 retail locations, reduce 500 jobs in fresh cost-cutting push

“I definitely think what Elon said on the call about investors undervaluing that side of the business is ⁠absolutely correct in my mind,” said David Wagner, portfolio manager at Aptus Capital Advisors.

For Wagner, SpaceX’s willingness to innovate, along with Musk’s high-risk appetite, may end up disrupting the market beyond the imagination of the so-called “Big Three.”

Under its partnership with T-Mobile, SpaceX uses Starlink satellites to provide direct-to-cell connectivity for compatible smartphones outside traditional cellular coverage, complementing rather than competing with the carrier’s network.

The post Disruption coming to US telecom sector? SpaceX announces ‘mobile ambitions’ appeared first on International Finance.

The closing of AT&T’s roughly USD 23 billion purchase of wireless spectrum licences from EchoStar ends a 15-year attempt to build a fourth national mobile network in the United States, hands the American regulator a powerful new precedent, and resets the competitive arithmetic in the world’s most profitable wireless market.

What actually changed hands
AT&T has acquired around 30 MHz of nationwide 3.45 GHz mid-band spectrum and around 20 MHz of nationwide 600 MHz low-band spectrum. Together the licences cover close to 99% of the American population. The deal was announced in August 2025, cleared by the Federal Communications Commission in May 2026 and completed last week.

Mid-band is the part that matters commercially. It carries far more traffic than low-band while still travelling reasonably well through walls, which is why engineers call it the sweet spot for 5G.

AT&T had been deploying the 3.45 GHz airwaves under a leasing arrangement since late 2025 and already has them live on roughly 23,000 cell sites, where download speeds have risen by as much as 80%.

The 600 MHz holdings are a slower story. Network and device work means customers are unlikely to feel much benefit for more than a year, and the FCC has told AT&T to move faster on that build than it had originally planned.

The end of the fourth carrier
The bigger story is what EchoStar has given up. Charlie Ergen spent well over a decade assembling spectrum with the stated aim of turning Dish into a facilities-based rival to AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile.

Project Genesis, the USD 30 a month unlimited offer built on Dish’s own 5G core, was the visible end of that ambition. It stops serving customers on August 31. Dish filed for Chapter 11 protection on June 30, its finances squeezed in part by the delay in closing this very transaction.

What survives is Boost Mobile, which now runs as a hybrid mobile virtual network operator on AT&T’s physical network under a long-term wholesale deal that the FCC made a condition of approval. Boost keeps its cloud-native core and its brand, and AT&T charges it favourable rates.

But a reseller with a good wholesale contract is not a fourth network. The United States is back to three infrastructure competitors, and analysts have been open about what that means.

T-Mobile’s shares climbed sharply after the Dish bankruptcy filing, on the straightforward logic that nobody is left to undercut the big three on price.

For anyone covering telecoms outside America, this is the point worth dwelling on. Regulators in Europe and Asia have spent years arguing about whether four networks are necessary for healthy competition.

The American experiment in manufacturing a fourth player through merger conditions and spectrum set-asides has now formally failed. That will be quoted in consolidation arguments from Brussels to Delhi for years.

A regulator that got exactly what it wanted
EchoStar did not sell willingly. The chain of events began when FCC chairman Brendan Carr opened an investigation into whether the company was meeting its 5G build-out obligations.

EchoStar has argued since that the inquiry created a force majeure event, which it used to justify halting payments to tower companies and contractors. American Tower, Crown Castle and SBA Communications all ended up in litigation.

The regulator’s approval in May came with an unusual string attached. EchoStar was required to establish a USD 2.4 billion escrow account to cover claims from the vendors and infrastructure partners left unpaid when the Dish build was abandoned. EchoStar publicly called the condition unprecedented and involuntary while accepting the approvals themselves.

Strip away the detail and a use-it-or-sell-it doctrine has been enforced successfully against a major licence holder for the first time at this scale.

Carr’s team has framed it as part of a plan to move roughly 300 MHz of low and mid-band spectrum into active use by the end of 2027. Every regulator sitting on a hoarder’s portfolio has now seen a working template.

The competitive reset
AT&T needed this spectrum for a specific reason. Its fixed wireless business was capacity constrained in a way its rivals’ were not, because mobile and home broadband customers share the same mid-band capacity.

AT&T entered 2026 with about 1.2 million fixed wireless subscribers against roughly eight million at T-Mobile and 5.4 million at Verizon.

It has since said AT&T Internet Air has passed two million, doubling its base in about half the time it took to reach the first million. The EchoStar spectrum is what allows that growth to continue without degrading the mobile network.

The timing is pointed. Ookla and Opensignal both recently confirmed T-Mobile as the American speed leader.

AT&T has bought itself a serious shot at closing that gap, and the alternative route was waiting for the upper C-band auction due by July 2027, an event with price estimates running anywhere from USD 30 billion to USD 75 billion and no certainty about when cleared spectrum would actually be usable.

The balance sheet question
AT&T reiterated the financial outlook and capital allocation plan it gave with its second-quarter results, which is the sentence institutional investors were reading for.

Net leverage stood at 2.68 times adjusted earnings at the end of the second quarter and is expected to rise to around 3.2 times following the close, before returning to the roughly 2.5 times target within three years.

That is a substantial temporary stretch for a company that spent years rebuilding credibility on debt reduction, and management is signalling it does not consider the dividend or the fibre build at risk.

What to watch next
Three threads remain live. EchoStar is still evaluating its response to the escrow condition. Its Hughes Network Systems unit was reported to be preparing a Chapter 11 filing ahead of a USD 1.5 billion maturity due on August 1, and receipt of the AT&T cash may or may not change that calculation.

And SpaceX, which is paying about USD 17 billion for 65 MHz of EchoStar’s satellite-adjacent spectrum, now holds exclusive nationwide airwaves for direct-to-device Starlink service, with FCC waivers allowing terrestrial, space-based or hybrid use.

That last point deserves its own article. A satellite operator outbidding terrestrial carriers for licensed spectrum, and winning permission to use it either way, is a genuinely new fact about how this industry will be structured.

The post Why AT&T’s USD 23 billion EchoStar deal matters far beyond Dallas appeared first on International Finance.

The bank said it was acting jointly with the state, which owns a separate stake through public ⁠shareholding agency APE. As per Bpifrance, the financial entity and the French government will hold a combined 20.4% stake in the telecoms operator after the deal, remaining the largest shareholder.

Despite the stake sale, Bpifrance has maintained its confidence in ⁠Orange’s leadership and the strategy announced back in February 2026.

“France can reduce its Orange stake because French law grants double voting rights to ⁠shareholders who have held registered shares for at least two years,” one of the sources told Reuters.

BPifrance and APE will keep about 27% of voting rights in Orange, with board representation unchanged.

Orange has reported solid financial performance for the H1 2026, with revenue rising 3.5% year-on-year to 20.9 billion euro. The company’s Africa and Middle East (MEA) business emerged as its strongest-performing region, delivering double-digit revenue and profitability growth.

Revenue from the region increased by 13.9% compared to the same period in 2025, supported by the addition of 10 million new mobile data customers. Orange has maintained a sustained financial momentum in Africa and the Middle East, which has now delivered double-digit EBITDAaL growth for 10 consecutive quarters.

The strong commercial performance also translated into higher profitability, with EBITDAaL for the MEA region growing 16.1%, making it the largest contributor to Orange’s overall EBITDAaL growth of 5.0% during the H1 2026.

Realising the growth potential from this region, Orange has already increased infrastructure investments across its MEA operations. Group eCAPEX reached 3.2 billion euro, representing 15.2% of total revenue, with the company attributing the increase primarily to accelerated network deployment across the region, under Yasser Shaker’s leadership as CEO of Orange MEA. Excluding investments in Africa and the Middle East, the group’s overall capital expenditure declined during the period.

In MEA, Orange also reported continued progress in its digital inclusion and sustainability initiatives, apart from expanding its 4G population coverage by two percentage points to reach 80% of the population. The cumulative number of people benefiting from the telecom venture’s free digital training programmes, delivered in part through its network of Orange Digital Centers across the continent, rose to 3.8 million since 2021.

In H1, Orange further accelerated its transition to greener network infrastructure as part of its ambition to achieve net-zero status by 2040.

“The number of solar-powered network sites across the Africa and Middle East region increased by 24% year-on-year, with solarised sites now accounting for 31% of the region’s total network footprint,” the business noted.

“This semester marks a significant milestone in the execution of our ‘Trust the Future’ strategic plan. Our record first-half results confirm that our ambitions are rooted in solid execution: record growth in Africa & the Middle East, with 10 million new mobile data customers and near 14% revenue growth,” said Christel Heydemann, Orange Group CEO.

Orange has now upgraded its full-year outlook. It expects EBITDAaL growth of more than 4% for 2026, apart from forecasting organic cash flow of approximately 4.3 billion euro.

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Diluted earnings per share came in at USD 2.99, up 5% on the year and comfortably ahead of a consensus sitting at around USD 2.60. Total service revenues rose 9% to USD 19.0 billion, with postpaid service revenues up 13% to USD 15.9 billion. Core adjusted EBITDA reached USD 9.54 billion, up 12%. Adjusted free cash flow was USD 4.8 billion on a margin of just over 25%, and net cash from operating activities hit USD 7.5 billion.

Total revenue told a less flattering story. At USD 22.79 billion it was up from USD 21.13 billion a year earlier, but it fell short of the USD 22.94 billion the Street had modelled. Net income rose just 1% to USD 3.2 billion, carrying the weight of costs tied to the UScellular acquisition, including USD 146 million of accelerated depreciation after tax.

T-Mobile added 277,000 postpaid accounts in the quarter, clearing the 259,000 to 264,000 range analysts had modelled but sitting 13% below the 318,000 added in the same period last year. Total postpaid accounts reached 34.7 million against 31.5 million, though much of that jump is the UScellular base rather than organic wins. Postpaid account churn came in at 0.99%, up from 0.92% a year ago.

The widening gap between slowing additions and accelerating revenue is not accidental.

Postpaid average revenue per account reached USD 152.91, up 2% on the year. Chief financial officer Peter Osvaldik tied the company’s approach to pricing and volume to customer lifetime value, and pointed past the headline number to the effect of earlier deals.

“If you look ex M&A, postpaid ARPA actually grew 3.7% on a year-over-year basis,” he said.

Behind that number sits a large and contentious exercise the company calls rate plan modernisation, under which customers on older, cheaper plans are being moved onto current tiers that bundle premium data with device upgrade benefits. Trade reporting puts the figure above eight million, though T-Mobile has published no number of its own. Chief operating officer Jon Freier told Reuters that around 60% of new customers are now choosing the most expensive plans on offer.

Management was candid that this will cost them in the near term. Osvaldik guided to roughly 250,000 postpaid account additions in the third quarter, a clear step down from the second, and attributed the dip to a temporary churn spike as legacy customers digest their new bills. He expects the damage concentrated in accounts with fewer lines, limiting the hit to phone churn.

Analysts covering the sector argue the pain will be short-lived, on the grounds that even after the increases T-Mobile’s pricing still sits below comparable front-book rates at AT&T and Verizon. Whether that holds through the autumn is the open question of the year.

For the full year, T-Mobile reaffirmed postpaid account net additions of 950,000 to 1.05 million, service revenue of about USD 77 billion representing 8% growth, and core adjusted EBITDA of USD 37.1 billion to USD 37.5 billion. First half additions came in at close to 500,000, which puts the company on track without much room to spare.

The one upgrade was cash. Adjusted free cash flow guidance moved to a range of USD 18.4 billion to USD 18.8 billion from USD 18.1 billion to USD 18.7 billion, and net cash from operations to USD 28.4 billion to USD 28.8 billion. Osvaldik credited efficiencies in cash income taxes alongside working capital gains from the company’s AI tooling. Capital expenditure guidance held at roughly USD 10 billion, and shareholders took USD 3.3 billion out of the quarter, USD 2.2 billion in buybacks and USD 1.1 billion in dividends.

Chief executive Srini Gopalan leaned on customer satisfaction, pointing to a net promoter score of 46, the highest the company has recorded and, on HarrisX data, the highest among the three major US carriers. He framed the whole approach as a single combination of network quality, value and customer experience.

“Our strategy is simple, but truly powerful. Give customers the best network, the best value, and the best experience all in one place,” he said.

Fixed wireless remains the growth engine that gets least attention. Broadband additions landed in the upper 400,000s, and the company is still targeting 15 million subscribers by 2030, a figure that assumes no new spectrum. Asked about the load that business places on the network, Gopalan pushed back on the premise.

“FWA does consume a fair amount of our capacity, but this is where the numerator-denominator issue comes in. It consumes a fair amount of our traffic today, which is not the same thing as a fair amount of our capacity,” he said.

T-Mobile also stopped publishing postpaid phone net additions this year, reporting accounts, ARPA and churn instead. It is a defensible framing given where the value now sits, but it removes the single cleanest number for measuring the three US carriers against one another, in the same year the company pushed through its largest price migration to date.

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Comparable operating profit jumped 18% to 434 million euros (USD 496.11 million) in Q2 2026. That was above the average estimate of 382 million euros from analysts polled by LSEG. Comparable net sales reached 4.82 billion euros in the quarter, above market estimates. Net sales from AI and cloud customers doubled in the quarter to 446 million euros, as it booked 2.8 billion euros in new orders.

While the uptick in profit numers validates the venture’s shift in focus to sell fibre-optic equipment to big tech companies building AI data centres, Nokia has not been immune to the sudden increase in memory chip prices, as AI companies keep on cornering the market and impacting telecom equipment makers.

“Demand remains strong, while supply continues to be the main industry constraint, prompting our customers to place longer-term orders,” CEO Justin Hotard said, while addressing the analysts and the investors.

Since ‌joining ⁠Nokia in 2025, Hotard, a veteran of Intel’s Data Center & AI Group, has focused on expanding the Finnish venture’s data center business. He even made a billion-dollar deal with chipmaker Nvidia. AI and cloud business now account for 8% of the group’s sales, and the company expects that addressable market to grow by 27% annually until 2028.

Despite the increase in chip prices, Nokia has increased its full-year comparable operating profit guidance range to between 2.1 billion euros and 2.6 billion, from 2 billion euros and 2.5 billion euros. Rival Swedish telecoms equipment maker Ericsson, on the other hand, has been under severe pressure from rising memory chip costs driven by surging AI demand, fanning investor worries that margins would be hit and sending ⁠its shares tumbling.

Hotard-led Nokia’s AI pivot comes at a time when Europe is facing constraints at the regulatory and energy fronts. As per Nokia’s assessment, the continent also lacks the infrastructure needed to build up AI data centers. The policymakers have also been incapable of preventing businesses from moving to China ‌and the United States.

“The issue today is Europe doesn’t ⁠have the infrastructure,” Hotard told in his recent interview with Reuters, while praising some of the European Union’s moves, such as the establishment of AI gigafactories.

“But I think when you look at the relative pace of investment, I’m not sure it’s enough. And it’s not just about putting these factories in. You need connectivity. You need data center capacity,” he remarked, while adding that data centers, which account for 3% of the EU electricity demand, will see a rapid consumption uptick ‌due ⁠to the AI expansion.

Amazon, for example, has been facing long delays to get power grid connections, which are challenging the company’s data center expansion in Europe.

“We’ve seen ⁠the movie before, right? If you don’t build that infrastructure, then ultimately the business and the developers will move to where that is. The reality is right now, that’s in China and in the U.S. for the large part,” Hotard said.

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