• California gives go-ahead for Cox and Charter merger
• Deutsche Telekom strikes €1bn deal for Polish fixed operator
• Globalstar launches eight new satellites

In today’s industry news roundup: California’s utilities regulator approves the $34.5bn cable megamerger between Charter and Cox; Deutsche Telekom agrees a €1bn deal to buy Poland’s Fiberhost and Inea; Globalstar launches eight new LEO satellites following a four-month delay; and much more!

California’s regulators have given the thumbs up for US cable companies Charter Communications and Cox Communications to complete their proposed $34.5bn merger. The deal, which will create the world’s largest cable operator, could be finalised this week after it was granted conditional approval by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on Friday. The Federal Communications Commission had already approved the deal – which will establish a combined cable footprint passing more than 70 million homes and businesses – earlier this year. To close negotiations with the CPUC, the cableco has agreed to several conditions, including offering new affordable broadband packages to Californians and investing $30m in digital inclusion initiatives, as well as committing to invest at least $275m in network upgrades in the state within three years. The CPUC said it plans to create a compliance programme to enforce the conditions. The combined unit will adopt the Cox Communications name and Charter’s Spectrum branding. It will be led by current Charter chief Chris Winfrey, while former Vodafone UK and Frontier Communications CEO Nick Jeffery is also set to join the firm next month as chief operations officer.

Deutsche Telekom (DT) has agreed a €1bn deal to buy Polish fixed operator Fiberhost together with retail broadband and TV provider Inea from Macquarie Asset Management. The transaction will add Inea’s 300,000 customers and Fiberhost’s fibre network, which passes more than 1.4 million homes, to T-Mobile Polska’s portfolio. DT said it is a “new step” in T-Mobile’s transformation from a mobile operator into a converged operator in Poland. According to its latest financial report, DT has around 13 million mobile customers in the country, but the acquisition of Inea and Fiberhost adds to its much smaller fixed base, which sat around 346,000 at the end of June. Dominique Leroy, CEO for Europe at Deutsche Telekom AG, commented: “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.” Macquarie has owned Inea since 2018, through its European Infrastructure Fund. The sale to Deutsche Telekom is expected to close by the end of 2026, subject to approval from Poland’s authorities.

Globalstar has announced the successful launch of eight new low-earth orbit satellites, as part of its $327m agreement with Canada-based MDA Space. SpaceX launched the satellites from a site in Florida on Saturday, and Globalstar – which is subject to an $11.57bn takeover bid from Amazon – confirmed all of its satellites had been dispensed from the Falcon 9 rocket. The newly launched HIBLEO-4 satellites will now undergo commissioning, including system testing and calibration, before they are integrated into Globalstar’s 25-strong second-generation constellation. The launch of the replacement satellites, which will provide mobile voice and data services, had initially been delayed in May as the space company sought more time to build the new satellites.

A new study from VodafoneThree has claimed a lack of consumer confidence in connectivity  is costing the UK economy up to £115bn in productivity gains. Based on a survey carried out by Censuswide, the UK telco claims Brits lack confidence in mobile networks, which stunts their willingness to work effectively on the go. Around a third of those surveyed said they were unable to leave their home or office Wi-Fi, with 46% spending most of their working day at their desk as a result. This, according to a bit of mathematics wizardry, costs the UK economy up to £115bn in productivity, found VodafoneThree, and is also costing workers free time and flexibility on their weekends. Of course, the telco has a reason for promoting this: VodafoneThree is quick to point out that it is currently investing around £11bn in upgrades to its UK network, a figure that was agreed upon when Vodafone and Three UK merged in 2025. The survey, which took responses from a sample of 2,000 UK adults, also offers some global context, revealing that Brits spend more than 10 hours a week on “unproductive time”, which includes things like commuting and waiting to pick up dependents. This is more than France, Germany, Spain, Australia, Singapore, Hungary and South Korea, the study found. Hungary is the most productive on-the-go country in the study and, were Brits to match their Hungarian counterparts’ mentality, they could “claw back” 22 days a year.

UK telco Virgin Media O2 has renewed its partnership with the Good Things Foundation charity as part of its goal to connect 500,000 low-income households. VMO2 first partnered with the Good Things Foundation five years ago and together they launched the National Databank, which acts like a foodbank for mobile data and has provided free O2 data to more than 550,000 people experiencing financial hardship since it launched in 2021. As part of VMO2’s Responsible Business Plan, the operator pledged to connect a further 500,000 low-income households and has agreed to extend its commitment to the National Databank, which is available at O2 stores nationwide. On top of this, the operator has provided 8.5 million people with digital skills training and online safety advice – exceeding its goal of 6 million people.

Unifi Communications has struck an agreement with authorities in Cyprus and Syria to build a new subsea communications cable linking the Mediterranean island with Syria and Lebanon. The Ugarit 2 cable will span 240km, linking Pentaskhinos in Cyprus with Tartous on Syria’s Mediterranean coast. It will come with 24 fibre pairs and a launch capacity of 31Tbit/s, though this could be expanded up to 370Tbit/s. The cable will replace Ugarit 1, which has connected Syria since 1995, and will include onward terrestrial connections into the Gulf states and Jordan. The deal was signed by US-based Unifi, the Syrian Telecommunications Establishment (STE), and the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (CYTA) in Damascus at the end of July and includes an agreement to build and maintain the system.

– The staff, TelecomTV