• Antarctica in line for subsea connectivity 
• ZTE’s computing sales are growing rapidly
• Vodafone Ireland uses Hiya for branded calling

In today’s industry news roundup: Plans are being drawn up to lay subsea cables between Chile and Antarctica; ZTE’s computing product portfolio now accounts for more than a third of its total revenues; Vodafone Ireland is the latest mobile operator to enable branded calling for enterprises; and much more!

Chile’s Undersecretariat of Telecommunications has carried out a pre-feasibility study, which concluded a subsea cable system linking the South American country with Antarctica would be viable. The assessment paves the way for the deployment of the first cable of its kind, and identified two possible routes of differing lengths and cost, reported El Mercurio. The shorter option would run from Punta Arenas and Puerto Williams to three points on the Antarctic Peninsula, costing an estimated $370m. The second option would extend to around 4,100km but reach nine Antarctic locations, adding bases operated by the US, UK, Argentina and Brazil and costing around $621m. Telecommunications undersecretary Romina Garrido said Chile could begin with the shorter version and expand it later, but added that the country would not finance either option alone, as any build would require international or private capital participation. There are currently no subsea cable systems in Anartactica, making it the only continent without direct subsea access to the rest of the world, which limits communication to high-latency satellite links. Chile said any build could take up to eight years, due to the complexity involved.

The first half financial report from ZTE revealed an interesting trend in its portfolio sales as well as highlighting that the Chinese vendor continues to grow despite a number of trade restrictions in certain territories. The company, which is increasingly focused on delivering “full-stack AI capabilities to drive synergy across networks, computing and terminals” reported “record high” revenues of 78bn renminbi ($12bn) for the first six months of 2026, up by 9% compared with the same period a year earlier, despite reduced telecom network infrastructure spending by the three major telcos in China, which is ZTE’s main sales market (64% of total sales). Revenues from its computing product lines (including servers, storage and datacentre switching systems) grew by 55% compared with H1 2025 to about RMB27.3bn ($4.06bn), accounting for 35.1% of total revenues during the first six months of this year. That makes its computing portfolio nearly as large as its networks portfolio (41% of total sales) in terms of revenues and much bigger than its home and personal devices portfolio (23.9% of total sales).  

Branded calling platform specialist Hiya has announced that its technology is now “available to eligible Vodafone customers in Ireland,” just a few months after its system was deployed by Vodafone in the UK. “Using Vodafone’s Camara-based Branded Calling platform, Hiya Connect allows approved businesses to display their name when they call an eligible Vodafone customer, giving legitimate businesses a clearer way to identify themselves before a customer answers,” noted the vendor. Vodafone Ireland already uses Hiya’s Voice Firewall system “to protect customers by categorising fraud and spam calls”. The vendor noted in its announcement that its research (based on feedback from more than 12,000 people in six countries) found that “86% of consumers do not answer calls from unknown numbers, illustrating the broader trust challenge facing all businesses,” including critical service and support organisations, such as banks, healthcare providers, delivery services and public services.

STC Group has partnered with Huawei to deploy what it claims is the world’s first deployment of multi-band multi-beam (MB²) microwaves on a commercial network. The solution uses a single MB² antenna, which covers eight frequency bands ranging from 13GHz to 38GHz, to support up to 10 concurrent beams. This, claims Huawei, can help carriers reduce their antenna count by as much as 90% in their wireless backhaul networks. STC opted to deploy the solution because as 5G has grown across Saudi Arabia, base station density and mobile traffic have also surged, meaning the operator needs to carry more data across its network and connect sites in multiple directions, without adding more complexity. The project in Saudi – which was completed on 20 June – was deployed with three initial transmission directions, and it took around 20 minutes to deploy subsequent links once the initial link had been established. This compares with around three hours per link on conventional microwave solutions. Up to 10 links can be added in total before another antenna is required, should STC need to increase capacity. The technology was also tested in harsh conditions, including temperatures of up to 50C and strong winds.

UK-based enterprise services specialist Gamma Communications has confirmed it is in takeover talks with Dutch buy-out firm Waterland Private Equity Investments following a report from Sky News late last week that a £1bn deal was under discussion. In its confirmation announcement, Gamma noted that managed comms and IT services specialist Giacom Group “is acting in concert with Waterland in connection with the possible acquisition, whereby Giacom will acquire certain business divisions of Gamma” should a takeover deal be agreed and that Waterland has until 18 September to make a formal bid or withdraw from negotiations. Gamma’s shares are currently trading at £10.89, giving it a market value of about £965m. Gamma, which has been engaged in M&A talks with various parties for months, also noted that discussions with “other potential offerors remain ongoing,” with Sky News noting that London-based private equity firm Epiris is also interested in Gamma and that it has until 2 September to make a bid or walk away. Gamma, which provides a range of communications, security and support services mainly to enterprises in the UK and Germany, reported full year 2025 revenues of £646m, up 11% on last year’s figures, and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of £142m, up 13%.    

Swiss telecom operators Sunrise and Xavier Niel’s Salt Mobile have struck a memorandum of understanding that will see them explore a mobile infrastructure sharing deal to boost coverage in rural areas of the country. The two operators already co-operate on fibre-to-the-home infrastructure following a deal struck in 2020, but this latest MoU will see them explore more ways to share mobile sites and look at opportunities to coordinate parts of their radio access networks, in order to improve coverage outside of Switzerland’s urban areas. Approximately 70% of all Salt and Sunrise mobile-network sites are located in medium-density and rural areas. The companies said models such as multi-operator core networks could be explored, with the aim of reducing costs and allowing investment to be focussed in more areas. Any agreement would be subject to regulatory approval, and the Swiss Federal Communications Commission has already been informed of the potential move, the duo noted.

– The staff, TelecomTV