What’s up with… SpaceX, Deutsche Glasfaser, Tele2

• SpaceX files FCC complaint against Amazon Leo
• Deutsche Glasfaser is offered extra funding from investors
• Tele2 boasts revenue and EBITDAaL boost

In today’s industry news roundup: SpaceX has filed a complaint to the FCC over Amazon Leo’s deadlines; backers of German FTTH company Deutsche Glasfaser could be set to stump up more cash after a failed refinancing deal; Swedish operator Tele2 is reaping the benefits from major organisational changes in 2025; and much more. 

SpaceX has filed a complaint with US regulator the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over Amazon Leo’s looming obligation to launch at least 50% (1,616) of its planned low-earth orbit (LEO) fleet by July – a goal the Jeff Bezos company looks increasingly likely to miss. Amazon Leo is around 1,300 satellites short of its target, the SpaceX complaint gleefully points out, alleging that Amazon has made a never-ending cascade of extension requests “seeking different deadlines for a different number of satellites”. The letter (helpfully posted on LinkedIn here) also accuses Amazon of refusing to agree to any of the proposed compromises which, it says, could quickly solve its dilemma. SpaceX, which owns Amazon Leo rival Starlink, claims the company’s troubles were the “result of entirely foreseeable factors”, arguing any extension or changes to the agreement would harm competitors. SpaceX summed up its stance adding that it does not oppose Amazon’s desire to deploy additional satellites into its first-generation system, “but that any satellites it deploys after the milestone date must be deferred to a subsequent processing round”.

The Financial Times (FT) reports that investors are offering to increase funding in Deutsche Glasfaser, which competes with Deutsche Telekom (DT) on the German fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) market. The provider was jointly acquired by EQT Infrastructure and Omers for €2.8bn in 2020, but is said to have racked up gross debt of around €7bn as it continues its fibre buildout. Quoting unidentified sources, the FT said EQT and Omers have already invested around €4bn in Deutsche Glasfaser and are now offering to stump up an additional €850m in preferred equity, with lenders also injecting €400m of debt. The report notes that EQT and Omers have so far failed to find another backer for the provider, while a €1.7bn refinancing deal they proposed in December was rejected by creditors. Meanwhile, Deutsche Glasfaser is said to have significantly scaled back its fibre rollout plans from passing 6 million premises by 2030 to 3.2 million by the end of 2032. Its network currently passes around 2.6 million homes. Nevertheless, it remains one of the biggest fibre challengers in Germany, along with other providers, such as Unsere Grüne Glasfaser (a joint venture between insurance firm Allianz and Telefónica Deutschland), OXG Glasfaser (a JV between Altice and Vodafone Germany) and Tele Columbus. As part of an open access approach, it has also formed a number of wholesale relationships with partners including 1&1, HTP, NetCologne, Nexiu, Telefónica, Vodafone and Wobcom.

Changes made at Tele2 in the past year or so are paying off for the Swedish operator, if its first-quarter results are anything to go by. Organic service revenues grew by 3% year on year to 5.5bn Swedish krona ($600m) while underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation after leases (EBITDAaL) ramped up by 11% to SEK 2.9bn ($316m) “driven by sharp cost control across all operations and end-user service revenue growth”, the operator noted in this announcement. Jean Marc Harion, president and group CEO of Tele2, stated: “The foundation and momentum we built in 2025 are reflected in our solid first-quarter results, with growth in service revenue, profitability and equity free cash flow. We continue to apply strict discipline and constant optimisation of our organisation – in terms of size, focus and capabilities – while investing in customer experience. During the quarter, we made significant progress in our ability to offer the right product at the right time through the right channel. This has been driven by what might seem like two extremes: physical retail and AI."

Render Networks, which has developed a software-as-a-service (SaaS) that helps network builders allocate and manage resources, has raised $20m Australian dollars (US$14.3m) from existing shareholders and acquired existing partner mPower Innovations for an undisclosed sum. Render’s software has been used to date to help alternative and local broadband network operators in the UK, US and other markets to more efficiently roll out their networks, and now the acquisition of mPower takes it into the adjacent market of electric utilities. “Billions of dollars are moving into infrastructure deployment in the next five years, and the demand on infrastructure leaders leaves no margin for error,” stated Render’s CEO, Stephen Rose. “Our existing shareholders are doubling down on what we’ve built and the market we’re moving into. With mPower, we extend our system of execution across both sectors, ensuring every asset is rapidly monetised, and the entire asset and deployment lifecycle is verifiable, visible and de-risked.”

The 5G market is moving out of its difficult early years and into a more mature, dignified phase with fewer reports of disruptive behaviour, according to the latest State of the Market report from the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) that tracks 5G networks, devices, spectrum and services. As noted by Joe Barratt, president of the GSA, the global 5G market “is entering a more selective and strategic phase of development”. While the first years of 5G were defined by launch momentum and a race to switch on services, Barratt said, the industry is now “moving into a period shaped less by headline launches and more by network quality, architectural maturity and service differentiation”. For instance, 5G standalone (5G SA) deployments that add additional service creation and delivery firepower to mobile operators are finally becoming a reality. Some 95 operators have launched a 5G SA service, up 42% since the first quarter of 2025. Moreover, 35 operators are investing in 5G-Advanced, an increase of 71% since last year. Of these, 11 operators have launched a service, the report said. The GSA is also increasingly tracking direct-to-device (D2D) satellite launches, noting that 97 operators are investing in D2D connectivity and eight available chipsets are compatible with the technology. Overall, 392 operators have launched 5G networks to date, up 14% from March 2025, reflecting 44% of total LTE and 5G networks. You can find out more details from the GSA report.

Back in January, London-based billing, charging and customer relationship management (CRM) system developer Cerillion announced its largest ever single contract, a deal worth £42.5m over five years with Omantel, the national telco in Oman. Cerillion notes in this announcement to the London Stock Exchange that the software implementation remains on track, and said the contract is expected to contribute significantly in the second half (H2) of the financial year ending 30 September 2026. Cerillion also provides an update for the first six months of its current financial year, noting that the full-year results are expected to be strongly weighted to H2. H1 revenue is estimated at around £18m (compared to £20.9m for the first half of 2025) and EBITDA about £6.2m (compared to £9.9m for H1 2025). “New orders have doubled to £39.6m as at 30 March 2026 (compared to £19.6m for H1 2025), driven principally by the January win, but also by demand from existing customers,” the company said.

– The staff, TelecomTV