• AT&T strikes $3bn+ fibre deal with Corning
• Deutsche Telekom hooks up with Cloudflare
• Telcos in EU countries set for extended rip-and-replace timelines

In today’s industry news roundup: AT&T strikes a multiyear deal with more than $3bn to source optical fibre from fellow US firm Corning; Deutsche Telekom’s T-Systems to add Cloudflare cloud security capabilities to its B2B services portfolio; telcos in European Union markets might not have to rip and replace their Huawei gear within three years once the EC’s new Cybersecurity Act becomes law; and much more!

Just weeks after Verizon announced a multiyear, multibillion-dollar deal to buy optical fibre and connectivity solutions from Corning, AT&T has announced its own deal with the New York state-based fibre-maker  – a multiyear supply contract valued at more than $3bn. “Corning will supply the fibre and cable AT&T needs to expand its network and bring fast, reliable internet to more Americans as AI drives growing data demand,” noted the telco in this announcement, adding that the agreement will help it to “deliver on its commitment to bring fast, reliable internet to 60 million Americans by the end of 2030”. The operator also noted that its fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) customers currently use more than 1 Tbyte (TB) of data per month, five times more than a decade ago, and that average monthly data usage on such lines is expected to reach between 2TB and 2.5TB by 2030. AT&T’s chairman and CEO, John Stankey, stated: “Fibre’s speed, reliability and capacity remain unmatched for any home or business. We deeply value our long and successful relationship with Corning and look forward to continuing our work together as we expand the nation’s largest fibre network and make the long-term investments needed to keep America connected.” Corning’s chairman, CEO and president, Wendell Weeks, added: “Corning and AT&T have worked side by side for generations to connect people across this country, and this agreement is the next chapter in that partnership. By pairing our large, US-based advanced manufacturing with AT&T’s network leadership, we can keep co-innovating to build the dense fibre networks that will drive the future of connectivity – while sustaining thousands of highly skilled American jobs and strengthening domestic supply chains.”

Deutsche Telekom has forged a strategic partnership with Cloudflare that, the telco says, is “designed to strengthen the security and resilience of digital infrastructure for enterprises across Europe”. The telco and the cloud-based cybersecurity and content delivery network (CDN) giant are to interconnect their networks, “giving European organisations access to Cloudflare’s global cloud platform, one of the largest in the world, combined with the expertise and services of Deutsche Telekom”, noted the operator: DT’s B2B division, T-Systems, will subsequently “strengthen its enterprise portfolio with Cloudflare’s connectivity cloud solutions across performance, reliability, and security”. In addition, the partners plan to “collaborate on new approaches to address the evolving security and digital sovereignty requirements of European enterprises”. Kerstin Baumgart, director of wholesale and a Telekom Deutschland board member, noted: “With Cloudflare, we are engaging into a strategic partnership that lays the foundation for reliable and high-performance networks across Europe. What unites us is a clear ambition: To help our customers across Europe advance their digital infrastructure and manage their services with a very high degree of security and resilience. By connecting Cloudflare’s platform directly with our networks and combining our respective technological capabilities, our customers will benefit from the synergies of two highly complementary infrastructures.”

Still with Deutsche Telekom… Titan.ium, a signaling, routing, subscriber data management and security software specialist that is part of the Lumine Group, has deployed its cloud-native, microservices-based Infrastructure Domain Name System (iDNS) on DT’s Horizontal TelCo Cloud (HTC). Christoph Hilz, group senior VP of core network and services at Deutsche Telekom, noted in this announcement: “With Titan.ium’s iDNS on our Horizontal TelCo Cloud, we bring fixed and mobile iDNS services together in one cloud-native solution. This simplifies operations and enables us to introduce innovations faster across both network domains. Combined with the Horizontal TelCo Cloud’s automated infrastructure operations, this allows us to operate more efficiently, respond faster in day-to-day operations and deliver the reliability and performance our customers expect – ultimately creating a better customer experience.”

Telcos in European Union countries are set to be given more time to replace technology from so-called “high-risk” suppliers, such as Huawei and ZTE once the European Commission (EC)’s revised Cybersecurity Act comes into force, according to a document seen by Reuters. The EC unveiled its new cybersecurity proposals in January this year in a move that signalled a stronger clampdown on the two main Chinese telecom equipment vendors, though exactly which suppliers are deemed to be high risk is yet to be specified by the EC. The revision includes mandatory measures to remove technology supplied by “high-risk third-country suppliers” from networks within three years of the Act being passed as law. With telcos in EU markets facing a €40bn bill to rip out and replace technology deemed to be a security risk, Reuters reports that multiple governments have requested that the proposed three-year time period be removed from the legislation: Instead, they have suggested that the “phase-out period should ​depend on factors including the level of risk identified, product and infrastructure lifecycles, ‌equipment ⁠replacement cycles, interoperability requirements and the availability of suitable alternatives”, reported the news agency. 

Chip giant AMD, which is striving to compete with Nvidia in the AI infrastructure technology sector, is to acquire World Labs, an AI model and research lab led by AI pioneer Dr. Fei-Fei Li, in an all-stock deal valued at $8.2bn. “The acquisition will bring a world-class team of researchers and model experts to AMD, strengthening its ability to develop AI hardware, software and systems around the needs of emerging models and applications,” noted AMD in this announcement. It added: “As AI expands into reasoning, robotics, simulation and physical AI, the demands on compute infrastructure become more diverse. World Labs’ expertise in developing advanced models will give AMD deeper insight into how workloads are evolving and help shape its future technology roadmaps. The acquisition advances AMD’s strategy to deliver AI infrastructure for an open ecosystem.”

– The staff, TelecomTV