• Nokia spins out space tech unit
• Launch setback for AST SpaceMobile
• Global connectivity market grows to $1.3tn – Omdia

In today’s industry news roundup: Nokia’s Bell Labs is spinning out its space communications unit and giving it a new name – Modul8; AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 must be “de-orbited” after being placed in the wrong orbit at launch; research firm Omdia reckons the global connectivity services sector grew by just 4% last year and is struggling to generate returns from new investments; and much more!

Nokia’s space communication solutions venture, which is currently part of Nokia Bell Labs, is set to be spun out as an independent company called Modul8, with $40m in funding ready to back the standalone venture, noted Nokia in this blog. According to the vendor, the move will “give Nokia’s space venture the dedicated structure and funding to move faster, turning breakthrough ideas into real-world capabilities for the growing space economy, while still building on the Nokia engineering excellence behind the work.” A funding syndicate, led by Scotia Capital, has lined up $40m in funding for the Modul8 team, which in March 2025 deployed and operationalised the first cellular communications network on the Moon as part of the IM-2 mission: Currently, the team is “engaged with Axiom Space to integrate its lunar surface communications system into the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU), the next-generation spacesuit designed for lunar exploration as part of NASA’s Artemis programme,” noted Nokia. 

Direct-to-device (D2D) satellite constellation hopeful AST SpaceMobile has been hit by a setback after it lost its new BlueBird 7 satellite due to a launch error over the weekend. The Bluebird 7 took off aboard the Blue Origin (Jeff Bezos-owned rocket company) New Glenn rocket, but was placed into “a lower-than-planned orbit” that is too low to sustain operations, meaning the satellite will have to be de-orbited, noted the company in this announcement. AST stated that the cost of the satellite is expected to be recovered through insurance, but has not yet said whether it will have any delay on its plans to place around 45 satellites in orbit by the end of the year, or impact the launch of D2D services by its direct telco partners and via Satellite Connect Europe, the joint venture wholesale D2D service provider set up with Vodafone Group, one of AST’s key investors. BlueBird 7 would have been the company’s eighth satellite deployed in low-earth orbit, with several more expected to be ready in the next 30 days.

The value of the global connectivity market, including mobile, fixed broadband and fixed voice services, increased by 4% to be worth $1.3tn in 2025, according to industry research firm Omdia. The analyst firm noted that companies from the US and China dominated the connectivity revenue ranking for last year, accounting for eight of the top 10 positions, with Japan accounting for the other two. The results highlight ongoing challenges for the telecom industry, which “remains reliant on a slow growing core business while still working to establish new revenue streams.” In a telling analysis of the challenges facing the telco sector, Ari Lopes, Omdia practice leader for service provider markets, stated: ”Overall, the 2025 results show that the telecom industry’s core business remains highly relevant but is facing strong headwinds, including slow growth, while the sector has yet to realise meaningful returns from investments in new technologies.” Do you think he’s mainly talking about 5G?

A group of Japanese companies, dubbed the xIPF Consortium, wants to make it easier for AI to access distributed data by developing a new distributed computing platform. According to the consortium’s members, which include SoftBank Group, NTT Data, NEC and Fujitsu, “the data and computing resources that are prerequisites for AI utilisation are geographically and organisationally dispersed, and conventional centralised data linkage platforms have limitations in terms of flexible data utilisation and cross-organisational collaboration. In order to safely and appropriately utilise the vast and diverse data generated daily from the activities of local governments, companies and individuals, across industry and organisational boundaries, it is essential to develop a new social infrastructure that can flexibly link AI and data in a distributed environment from the edge to the cloud,” so the aim of the new group is to “link data dispersed across companies and organisations on a common platform”. 

The Association of Mobile Telecom Operators (AMTOB) in Bangladesh has warned that the country is facing a widespread shutdown of mobile services due to fuel shortages sparked by the war in Iran and the Middle East. In a letter to Bangladesh’s Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (published here), the AMTOB said operators in the country of 170 million people have already started to see the impact of shortages, with some “experiencing severe operational distress due to the prolonged unavailability of commercial power” as facilities such as datacentres across Bangladesh run low on fuel. Reports from the Agence France-Presse claim Bangladesh imports around 95% of its oil and gas, mostly from the Middle East, and blockades on the Strait of Hormuz are hitting the country hard. The AMTOB said Bangladeshi datacentres consume around 500 to 600 litres of diesel per hour and the lack of supply could see a partial or complete network blackout for operators including Bangalink, Grameenphone, Robi and Teletalk.

US B2B service provider Comcast Business has partnered with Dell Technologies, Digital Realty and Expedient to launch an innovation lab aimed at fast-tracking enterprise solutions at scale. The Comcast Business Innovation Lab is a dedicated environment where the US cable network giant and its partners can work with business customers to co-develop, test and scale enterprise solutions ready for deployment. It will initially launch with three programmes, with more to come later, according to Comcast. The programmes are: Managed edge compute for AI and real-time operations, in association with Dell; seamless hybrid and multi-cloud connectivity, in association with Digital Realty; and managed critical infrastructure services for AI and mission critical workloads, with Expedient.

– The staff, TelecomTV