What’s up with… Orange & Skylo, Iliad, OpCore

• Orange launches ‘Message Satellite’ with Skylo
• Iliad’s Scaleway unveils trio of cloud developments 
• OpCore and EDF plot multibillion-euro datacentre

In today’s industry news roundup: Orange has hooked up with non-terrestrial network (NTN) specialist Skylo for the launch of its direct-to-device service in France; Iliad’s cloud unit is expanding with multiple new deals and rollouts; OpCore, the digital infrastructure joint venture of Iliad and InfraVia, is teaming up with French energy giant EDF to build a giant datacentre outside Paris; and more!

Orange is laying claim to being the first European operator to offer a direct-to-device (D2D) – aka satellite-to-smartphone – service in Europe with the launch of Message Satellite. The service, enabled in partnership with non-terrestrial network (NTN) operator Skylo, will enable Orange’s 5G customers based in mainland France and (initially) using a Google Pixel 9 or 10 smartphone “to send and receive SMS messages as well as their geolocation via satellite when mobile or Wi-Fi coverage is unavailable”. It will be made available to consumers from 11 December, and to enterprise users next year, as a free option for the first six months and then charged at €5 per month. The operator says the offering will be “enriched in terms of services and compatible handsets” in the future, but provided no timescales or other details. The launch “consolidates Orange’s leadership position in networks and in France by offering the most comprehensive and high-performance range of connectivity solutions on the market. It also illustrates the group’s commitment to continuing its strategy of providing a complete portfolio of mobile, terrestrial, satellite and submarine connectivity solutions, leveraging its innovation and technological diversification capabilities,” the operator boasted. Jérôme Hénique, CEO of Orange France, added: “The ‘Message Satellite’ offer addresses the fundamental need to stay connected with loved ones, even when away. With this new offer, Orange provides a useful and simple innovation that strengthens service continuity for our customers, wherever they are. Being the first operator in France to launch this option demonstrates our leadership and our ambition to provide high-quality connectivity everywhere and for everyone”. 

If Orange is indeed first, it will likely be just ahead of Vodafone, which has long been testing its planned service with AST SpaceMobile, the specialist low-earth orbit (LEO) operator in which Vodafone has invested, while the UK’s Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) plans to launch its Starlink-enabled service in early 2026.

Scaleway, the cloud services subsidiary of France-based pan-European service provider Iliad Group, has announced “three new milestones in its European expansion: The opening of a new cloud region in Germany, a public tender award with the City of Copenhagen, and Scaleway’s contribution to the Digital Euro projects, as selected by the European Central Bank (ECB).” Combined, these developments “illustrate Scaleway’s continued expansion across Europe and its growing role in supporting public administrations and institutions seeking sovereign, sustainable and European-operated cloud infrastructure.” For further details on each of those developments, see this announcement. The news came just as European leaders met in Berlin to discuss digital sovereignty matters and Deutsche Telekom and Orange called for action to further develop Europe’s sovereign digital infrastructure. Sovereign cloud is not a new topic for Scaleway, which earlier this year acquired French DataOps platform Saagie to support its “vision to build a fully sovereign European platform that brings together cloud infrastructure, data and AI under one roof.”  

News of the “three new milestones” came just a day after OpCore, the digital infrastructure joint venture of Iliad Group and InfraVia Capital Partners, announced it is in exclusive negotiations with French state-owned energy giant EDF. The aim is to develop a “datacentre of several hundred megawatts on the site of the former Montereau-Vallée-de-la-Seine thermal power plant, located in the municipalities of Vernou-La-Celle-sur-Seine and La GrandeParoisse,” which is in the “wider Paris metropolitan region”. If the plan comes to fruition, it would represent an investment by OpCore of approximately €4bn. Iliad Group CEO Thomas Reynaud stated: “With this project, we’re going much further than just building a datacentre. We’re creating one of the largest strategic facilities that France and Europe, as a whole, need to retain control of their digital destiny. Thanks to EDF’s commitment and support from the public authorities, the Montereau site will become a site of excellence as an AI computing centre and for European innovation. This marks a key step towards strengthening our technological sovereignty and generating sustainable value for our country.” 

SoftBank Group, the Japanese technology and investment giant founded and run by its chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son, has been given the green light by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for its planned $6.5bn acquisition of Santa Clara, California-based chip developer Ampere Computing, a deal that was initially announced in March this year. Financial news site Seeking Alpha reports that the FTC has issued an “early termination notice”, which is a signal it has completed its review of the planned acquisition and that SoftBank Group is clear to proceed with the deal. Ampere, which develops central processing units (CPUs) for cloud servers, has been seeking a buyer for some time as it came under increasing competitive pressure from the likes of Intel and AMD.

– The staff, TelecomTV