What’s up with… STC, Telenor IoT, Telus

• STC lands $800m deal in Syria
• Telenor boasts IoT growth
• Telus claims green credentials

In today’s industry news roundup: Saudi telco STC is to build a major political transport network that will help Syria get connected regionally and internationally; Telenor is one of the telcos that has managed to develop a meaningful IoT business; Canada’s Telus is pleased with its environmentally friendly energy sourcing; and more!

STC has landed a 3bn Saudi riyal ($800m) deal from the Syrian Sovereign Fund to build the 4,500km “Silklink” optical transport network that will connect Syria “regionally and internationally”, as well as develop datacentre facilities and international submarine cable landing stations. “The Silklink project represents an extension of STC’s strategy to expand its investments in cross-border digital infrastructure and to build a regional connectivity system linking Arab, Asian and European markets, which reinforces STC’s position as a leading digital enabler in the region and supports its plans to achieve sustainable growth in the telecommunications and digital services sectors,” the Saudi telco stated in an announcement to investors. The project will be “a partnership with the Syrian Sovereign Fund, in which STC will hold a 75% stake, while the fund will hold 25%,” the telco added. 

Telenor is celebrating a landmark for its internet of things (IoT) division after revealing it now manages more than 30 million connected units worldwide. Telenor IoT credited the achievement to a number of key factors, including expanding its global reach in the US and Asia; adding new features to its Connectivity Management Platform, such as AI analytics, the adoption of eSIM SGP.32 and a new automotive service called IoT Drive; and a strong focus on customer satisfaction. In announcing the achievement, Telenor also pointed to its inclusion on a number of analyst lists, such as Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for IoT and Frost & Sullivan’s recognition for IoT Innovation. But it is still some way off market leader Vodafone IoT, which reports to have 220 million connections worldwide and was recently recognised as the global leader in IoT connectivity by Transforma Insights in its Communications Service Provider IoT Peer Benchmarking 2025 report.

Canadian telco Telus is beating its environmental chest over the claim that it is the first telco in the country to “achieve its target of sourcing 100% of electricity for [its] global operations from renewable or low-emitting sources as of December 31, 2025.” Building on this bragging right, Telus has unveiled its new Climate Transition Framework, which it describes as “a comprehensive roadmap to reach net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2040 while helping to enable Canada’s own transition to a low-carbon economy.” Darren Entwistle, president and CEO of Telus, stated: “At Telus, we believe that business success and environmental stewardship go hand in hand. Our achievement of our 2025 target to source 100% of electricity from renewable or low-emitting sources is a reflection of our team’s unparalleled commitment to improving the health of the planet in combination with enabling a more robust economy.”

Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) has partnered with connectivity infrastructure provider Ontix to use small cell sites to boost mobile capacity in rural North Wales. VMO2 and Ontix have deployed 4G and 5G small cells, in partnership with the local county council and Ambition North Wales, on streetlight columns in the region, looking to improve connectivity for residents and businesses. Ambition North Wales has been working with councils in Wales through its 4G+ project to introduce open access agreements that sees them make infrastructure available to telcos in order to drive mobile upgrades.

Australian AI datacentre company Firmus Technologies has secured US$10bn in debt financing from asset management giant Blackstone and investment firm Coatue to help fund “the next phase of Project Southgate – the national rollout of Firmus’ AI factory platform, based on the Nvidia DSX reference architecture – to help meet accelerating global demand for high-performance compute.” The financing “builds on Blackstone’s global strategy to finance large-scale AI compute and datacentre infrastructure platforms and reflects strong institutional conviction from Coatue’s deep experience in large-scale technology and infrastructure platforms,” noted Firmus. The company’s AI factories are already under construction across multiple Australian sites, with thousands of graphics processing units (GPUs) planned for deployment, while Project Southgate is expected to scale up to 1.6 gigawatts (GW) of infrastructure by the end of 2028.

– The staff, TelecomTV