What’s up with… Nokia, NTT, SpaceX

• Nokia lands ISAC project deal with US DoW
• NTT Group develops robot controller
• SpaceX gets FCC approval for spectrum purchase

In today’s industry news roundup: Nokia is helping the US Department of War figure out how to use 5G and 6G networks to detect and track drones; NTT Group builds a robot controller aimed at boosting physical AI; the FCC gives SpaceX the thumbs up for its deal to buy 800MHz spectrum from Grain Management and much more!

Nokia’s Federal Solutions unit has been awarded a contract under the US Department of War (DoW)’s Real-World Application Prototyping for ISAC Demonstration (Rapid) project to figure out how 5G and 6G infrastructure can best be used for the detection and tracking of objects (mainly, we imagine, drones). Under the contract, Nokia Federal Solutions will “develop, build and test integrated sensing and communications (ISAC) capabilities and demonstrate an end-to-end solution for the DoW’s Rapid project,” which is being managed by the FutureG Office within the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering, or OUSW(R&E). The project will aim to demonstrate “how 5G and future 6G networks can be leveraged to improve threat detection and situational awareness, helping protect critical infrastructure against emerging threats”. Built on Nokia’s AI-RAN platform, which is underpinned by Nvidia technology, the project will “integrate Nokia and third-party applications for sensing and spectrum threat awareness,” noted Nokia. “It will combine multiple sensing modalities and sensor fusion to help provide a more comprehensive picture of potential unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) threats.” Subcontractors supporting the effort include Nokia affiliates, Texas Tech University, DeepSig, Hidden Level and Future Technologies. Steve Vogelsang, CTO at Nokia Federal Solutions, stated: “The unmanned system threat is real. Integrated sensing and communications provides the opportunity to help protect critical infrastructure by leveraging the existing cellular networks to identify the threat. This project, in partnership with the Department of War, is helping to advance the technology and the ecosystem to make that a reality.”

As expectations grow for the capabilities of physical AI, the R&D engine room at Japan’s NTT Group has “developed technology that enables robots to predict and evaluate the likelihood of load collapse or object drops across multiple candidate actions before moving, and then select an action likely to succeed,” the operator announced. “As a foundation for physical AI, NTT developed a world model that explicitly handles physical quantities, such as an object’s mass, orientation and velocity, and predicts changes in state based on equations of motion. By integrating a proprietary ‘physics control adapter’ into a video-generation model, the technology predicts interactions between objects, including load collapse and drops, with high accuracy.” In news that will interest regular travellers, NTT said the “first envisioned application is the automated loading and unloading of airport baggage with varying shapes and weights”. The operator plans to advance field trials in collaboration with Mujin, before expanding the technology to physical AI applications across logistics and warehousing, manufacturing, construction and retail.

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has given Elon Musk’s mobile networking ambitions a boost by approving SpaceX’s application to acquire Grain Management’s nationwide 800MHz spectrum. At the beginning of October, investment firm Grain Management announced it had reached a deal with the Starlink Mobile parent company for a purchase price of around $8bn, according to reporting at the time. Grain had acquired the spectrum from T-Mobile US in August in a deal that saw the mobile operator take over Grain’s 600MHz spectrum holding. The approval from the FCC isn’t the final step, though, as the regulator has invited interested parties and organisations to submit comments as to why they might be for or against the deal, with a deadline of 1 December for those backing the deal and 8 December for opponents. You can read much more about the spectrum acquisition deal, and SpaceX’s mobile ambitions, in this news analysis. 

Ooredoo’s international connectivity arm, Ooredoo Fibre Networks (OFN), has been given approval to establish an international fibre optic transit network across Iraq, which will create a high-speed fibre corridor linking the Gulf to Europe via Turkey. According to the Qatar News Agency, Ooredoo said it had received authorisation from Iraq’s Informatics and Telecommunications Public Company (ITPC), which builds upon previous approvals that OFN (launched in February) was granted to land the Fibre in the Gulf (FIG) subsea cable system in Iraq. The new terrestrial network project will leverage OFN’s international connectivity infrastructure alongside GCTI’s domestic network, which runs up to the Turkish border. OFN said it plans to add new geographic paths to its network, diversifying routes running between Asia, the Gulf and Europe. Ooredoo Group regional CEO Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad bin Nasser Al-Thani stated that international connectivity represents a long-term investment in regional economic potential. He noted that Iraq plays a central role in this domain, adding that partnering with the GCTI expands Ooredoo’s capacity to support enterprise digital growth across the region.

Sticking with Iraq, Vodafone Qatar has also struck an infrastructure co-operation agreement with state-owned telecom arm ITPC that will see the two firms explore ways to boost telecom and digital connectivity between the two countries. The projects could include internet transit in Iraq, internet exchanges and international connectivity, as well as the establishment of interconnection services between Vodafone Qatar’s network and ITPC’s own infrastructure. The two partners will also hold technical and commercial discussions to assess potential joint projects, the Qatar News Agency reported from the agreement signing ceremony. Mohamed Mohsin Alyafei, enterprise business unit director, said, “At Vodafone Qatar, we remain committed to advancing connectivity solutions that support the evolving needs of businesses and organisations. We are pleased to explore opportunities that support connectivity between Iraq, Qatar and the wider region. Through this agreement, we look forward to combining our expertise and capabilities to explore ways to enhance the efficiency of regional and international data exchange.”

Rakuten Mobile’s numbers are still heading in the right direction. The Japanese operator reported third-quarter revenues of 111.4bn yen ($691m), up by 17.1% year on year, while its operating loss (after one-time items) narrowed slightly to 30.3bn yen $185m) and EBITDA hit 8.7bn yen ($54m), up by 11.4%. The operator ended September with 11.05 million customers, 1.72 million more than a year earlier. Rakuten Mobile is investing significantly in its network – it is on course to hit its planned full year capex total of 200bn yen ($1.22bn). “To improve network quality, the company continues to accelerate base station construction by concentrating internal human resources and reforming construction processes, including bringing certain operations in-house,” noted the operator’s parent company, Rakuten Group, in its third-quarter earnings press release. 

Cisco has clearly positioned itself well to benefit from the current AI investment cycle, with the networking, security and analytics giant reporting fiscal first-quarter revenues of $18.5bn, up by 24% year on year and better than expected, while its operating profit for the three months to 24 October 2026 leapt by 66% to $5.6bn. Cisco now expects full fiscal year revenues in the range of $74.8bn to $75.8bn, up from its previous range of $72.2bn to $73.4bn. CEO Chuck Robbins noted: “In Q1, we delivered the strongest revenue and non-GAAP earnings per share growth rates for Cisco in over 15 years. Organisations are turning to Cisco for our trusted, market-defining technology and our expertise to help them scale, secure and optimise their environments for the agentic AI era. We are in the very early stages of a multi-year networking supercycle, and we’re confident in our ability to continue capturing the multibillion-dollar opportunity it represents for Cisco.” The vendor also noted that it expects “AI infrastructure revenue from hyperscalers” to hit $9bn in this financial year (FY27), more than double the total for FY26.

The week keeps on getting worse for former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who has stepped down from his role at the AI tech giant he co-founded after reports emerged of his affair with an alleged Chinese spy and his relationship with a senior Nvidia executive. Now, Huang has been summoned to appear before a US Senate committee, with reports suggesting he is willing to do so. Senator Tim Scott sent letters on Thursday to Huang and US Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick requesting their testimony over reports about Huang’s behaviour and whether it could have jeopardised national security. “Recent reports raise serious concerns about our national security and the protection of sensitive US technology,” South Carolina Republican Scott posted on X. “The American people deserve answers,” he added. Scott asked Huang to voluntarily appear before the Senate Banking Committee on 3 December, according to the BBC, which later reported that sources close to the tech executive said he’d be willing to appear. The focus of Senator Scott’s concerns are Nvidia’s advanced AI tech product exports to Chinese companies, which have been subject to restrictions for several years. Nvidia is playing an increasingly key role in the telecom sector as an investor – it has taken a $1bn stake in Nokia as well as investing in multiple optical network developers – and is an important supplier of technology to network operators that are adopting AI-RAN platforms and/or developing their own AI factory infrastructure.  

– The staff, TelecomTV