- SoftBank and Ericsson apply AI to massive MIMO
- French state blocks Eutelsat deal
- Sparkle seals subsea deal for Barracuda
In today’s industry news roundup: Japanese operator and vendor partner show mobile broadband gains with AI-enabled optimisation tech; Eutelsat’s plan to sell its ground antenna business has been scuppered; Sparkle broadens its subsea base with Barracuda connection.
Japanese operator SoftBank Corp. and Ericsson have trialled an AI-powered externally controlled optimisation system for massive MIMO at Japan’s World Expo, ahead of a wider trial deployment in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. The trial achieved a 24% increase in downlink throughput, from 76.9 Mbit/s to 95.5 Mbit/s during periods of rapid traffic fluctuation, by measuring user distribution on a minute-by-minute basis, which enables the AI to determine if an event is occurring and how the network needs to respond. The system dynamically alters both the horizontal and vertical coverage patterns from the massive MIMO base station, which helps avoid “packet stalling”, where congestion causes data transmission to stagnate. The trial is described in detail in this press release from Ericsson.
Bad news for satellite provider Eutelsat after the French government intervened to block the sale of its ground antenna division to private equity firm EQT, citing its position as a strategic asset to rival Starlink. French finance minister Roland Lescure said he was blocking the deal because the antennas “are used for civil communication and military communication” and is the only European competitor for Elon Musk’s satellite project. The French state is Eutelsat’s largest shareholder, with a 29.6% stake in the satellite operator, which has confirmed that the €550m deal with EQT, initially struck in August 2024, is now off.
Sparkle Communication has struck an agreement with Valencia Digital Port Connect (VDPC) to land the Barracuda Subsea Cable at its Genoa subsea cable landing station. Barracuda is a 1,070km cable system linking Italy with Spain featuring 12 fibre pairs, each with a capacity of 32 Tbit/s and due for completion in 2028. The deal will see Sparkle – the international arm of Telecom Italia (TIM) – take a share in Barracuda, which will connect into its Genoa Digital Hub colocation facility, also giving VDPC access to major European hubs.
– The staff, TelecomTV
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