What’s up with… Iridium, CK Hutchison, DriveNets

• Iridium preps ‘world-first’ D2D, NB-IoT service 
• CK Hutchison lines up telecom unit IPO
• DriveNets passes $1bn in bookings

In today’s industry news roundup: Iridium puts its best direct-to-device foot forward with bold global claim; CK Hutchison is gearing up for an IPO of its telecom operator business that could be valued at $20bn; DriveNets passes bookings milestone and says it is involved in major AI infrastructure projects; and more!

Satellite operator Iridium says it has successfully tested its NTN Direct capabilities that enable “two-way message transmission over its low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite network. This milestone marks a significant step forward as Iridium prepares for beta testing and commercial service of Iridium NTN Direct in 2026,” the company noted in this announcement. Iridium claims NTN Direct “is being developed as the world's first truly global, standards-based NB-IoT [narrowband IoT] and direct-to-device (D2D) non-terrestrial network (NTN) service,” a claim that will raise eyebrows at the likes of AST SpaceMobile, Starlink and Lynk. It added: “Unlike regional or cellular spectrum-based satellite solutions, Iridium NTN Direct is designed to deliver 100% global coverage, leveraging the existing constellation that already supports mission-critical communications worldwide. This approach reduces technical, regulatory and commercial barriers for partners, accelerating time to market.” The company’s CEO, Matt Desch, stated: “Iridium NTN Direct is no longer a concept, it’s on the air, sending messages, and now being rigorously tested to meet our elite performance standards. This milestone reinforces why mobile network operators and chipset makers are engaging with Iridium. We offer a low-risk, globally coordinated and operational network designed to complement what they do, not compete with what they do.” According to Iridium, 85% of the world’s mobile network operators are considering using services enabled by LEO satellites for global coverage.

Only a day after speculation emerged that it is in talks to sell part of its international telecom operator portfolio, Reuters has reported that Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison is planning to spin off its telecom business and list it on the London and Hong Kong stock exchanges in an initial public offering (IPO) process due to take place during the second half of the year. The move could value the business – which comprises operations in Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Italy and Ireland, as well as a 49% stake in UK operator VodafoneThree and a majority stake in mobile operator 3 Hong Kong – at about $20bn, though that figure would change if CK Hutchison did agree to sell Three Ireland to Liberty Global and/or merge its Italian operation, Wind Tre, with Iliad’s operation in the country, a potential deal that was first reported last October.  

DriveNets, the cloud-native virtual routing platform specialist that has deployments with the likes of AT&T and Japan’s KDDI, “passed the $1bn booking milestone in 2025,” the company’s head of product marketing, Dudy Cohen, revealed in a blog post. “We won large opportunities with top service providers, which will be completed over the next four years. Some of these large-scale network transformations simplify operations by consolidating infrastructure and introduce AI-assisted networking,’ noted Cohen, who also noted that DriveNets has “signed strategic agreements with top [AI] industry players (more details to follow later this year). We’re also participating in proofs-of-concept in some of the largest AI clusters in the world (we’re talking LARGE, very large clusters!),” noted Cohen. 

Tech Mahindra has landed a five-year, $500m deal “with a leading European telco, one of the largest wins in the company’s history,” the giant Indian tech and systems integration firm’s CEO, Mohit Joshi, noted during the company’s recent fiscal third-quarter earnings call. “This multi-year partnership is about a comprehensive modernisation of the client’s application across both the CIO and the CTO domains, aimed at accelerating innovation, strengthening digital resilience and achieving AI-led operational efficiencies enabled by our deep domain expertise and proven transformation capabilities. This win further strengthens our leadership position within the telecom vertical,” he stated. While Tech Mahindra did not name the customer, various reports in the Indian media identified the client as Telefónica.

– The staff, TelecomTV