What’s up with… China’s telcos, Fibercop, SpaceX

• China’s telcos reel from comms services tax hike 
• Italy’s Fibercop is cutting its headcount by about 10% 
• Elon Musk’s SpaceX files orbital datacentre plan

In today’s industry news roundup: China’s three main telcos face a financial hit after the value-added tax levels imposed on communications services are increased by 50%; Italian wholesale broadband operator Fibercop, formerly part of the Telecom Italia empire, is to cut about 1,800 roles this year; SpaceX reveals aspirations to put a network of solar-powered data processing stacks into orbit; and much more!

The Chinese government has increased the value added tax (VAT) rate on communications services from 6% to 9%, much to the chagrin of the country’s main telcos, all of which issued notes to their investors to highlight the negative impact of such a move. In its note, China Mobile, the country’s biggest service provider, stated: “Recently, the Ministry of Finance and the State Taxation Administration of the People’s Republic of China issued the Announcement on Matters Relating to Specific Scope for Assessment of Value-Added Tax (Ministry of Finance and State Taxation Administration Announcement No. 9 of 2026), which provides that, with effect from 1 January 2026, the tax item applicable to business activities conducted within the People’s Republic of China that involve the provision of handset data traffic services, SMS and MMS services and internet broadband connection services using wireline network, mobile network, satellite or the internet shall be adjusted from value-added telecommunications services to basic telecommunications services, and the corresponding value-added tax rate shall be adjusted from 6% to 9%. The adjustment to the applicable scope of tax items will have an impact on the group’s revenue and profit.”  

Fibercop, the wholesale fixed access network operation formerly known simply as NetCo that was acquired from Telecom Italia (TIM) by a consortium of investors led by KKR for €22bn in 2024, is to reduce its headcount by 1,800 staff, about 10% of its workforce. The company has struck an agreement with unions that will see staff take early retirement during 2026, the SLC union noted in this announcement. The Italian government has long supported a plan to merge FiberCop with Italy’s other wholesale fixed broadband network operator, state-owned Open Fiber, but that consolidation plan has been complicated by disagreements over potential valuations and ownership strategies.   

Not content with having the leading low-earth orbit (LEO) communications satellite constellation in orbit, Elon Musk’s SpaceX has applied to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for permission to create a constellation of up to 1 million solar-powered ‘orbital datacentres’ that could provide the data processing needed in the AI era in an energy-efficient way, reports the BBC. “By directly harnessing near-constant solar power with little operating or maintenance costs, these satellites will achieve transformative cost and energy efficiency, while significantly reducing the environmental impact associated with terrestrial datacentres," the company claimed in the FCC filing.  

Vodafone has partnered with internet exchange NetIX to boost capacity and interconnectivity services to and from Greece. The partnership means Vodafone’s Greek network will be available through NetIX’s direct private peering solution, as well as Vodafone’s own carrier transit offering. It comes at a time when Vodafone is investing in infrastructure in the region – including the recently announced Thetis Express subsea cable. Bulgaria-based NetIX offers exchange traffic to more than 10,000 direct peers across 220 points of presence and has more than 200 members spanning telco, ISPs, broadcasters and CDNs (content delivery networks).

French regulator Arcep has launched an administrative enquiry into all operators that assign telephone numbers, in a bid to combat number spoofing, an illegal practice that has skyrocketed in the country. Arcep’s reporting platform has seen logs of number spoofing jump from 531 in 2023 to more than 19,000 last year, making it the most commonly reported complaint with which the regulator deals, despite a 2020 law that was introduced in France to tackle fraudulent calls. Arcep said its enquiry will “seek to identify the operators involved in routing fraudulent calls” but added that due to the complexity of network interconnections, it will investigate any operator authorised to assign telephone numbers from France’s national numbering plan.

Telefónica has inaugurated the Javier Echenique Talent and Technology Center in Bilbao, a facility that “places the Basque Country and Spain at the forefront of applied quantum technologies in Europe”, the operator has announced. The centre, aligned with the Bizkaia Quantum Technology Hub for Industry (BIQAIN), aims to “translate scientific knowledge and advanced research into real-world solutions that boost the competitiveness of businesses. From this centre, use cases will be developed for strategic sectors such as industry, energy, telecommunications, cybersecurity, logistics, banking, pharmaceuticals and public administration, contributing to improved efficiency, security, and innovation capacity for companies and institutions,” noted the telco. 

Telefónica Tech, the Spanish telco’s B2B division, has been named as a leading provider of private 5G networks in the Omdia Market Radar: CSPs Private 5G Networks Strategies and Products 2025-26 report. “Omdia recognises that Telefónica Tech has a solid portfolio and credentials, as well as a more industrial focus than most of its competitors,” noted the operator in this announcement. Telefónica Tech’s private network solution is “vendor-agnostic, as it has the capacity to integrate advanced 4G/5G connectivity with complementary technologies, such as IoT [internet of things], artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and cloud services”, which “enables it to offer a catalogue of associated industrial solutions, including intelligent robotics (autonomous vehicles and drones) and IT-OT integration (digital twin and computer vision),” noted the telco. 

– The staff, TelecomTV