What’s up with… T&M M&A, GTT, Telia

• Keysight completes $1.46bn Spirent acquisition  
• GTT builds AI factory
• Regulator probes Telia’s planned acquisition of Bredband2 

In today’s industry news roundup: Keysight has completed its acquisition of fellow test and measurement vendor Spirent, but Spirent has to sell chunks to Viavi; GTT is building a Dell- and Nvidia-powered AI factory; Swedish watchdog initiates probe into Telia’s planned purchase of Bredband2; and much more!

Keysight Technologies has completed its £1.16bn ($1.46bn) acquisition of fellow test and measurement (T&M) vendor Spirent Communications. The deal was first announced in March 2024, and Keysight has since had to jump through many hoops to get the deal over the line. For example, as a result of conditions imposed by regulators, Keysight and Spirent have agreed to sell Spirent’s high-speed Ethernet, network security and channel emulation business lines to Viavi for $425m. (That part of the deal is somewhat ironic as Viavi was Keysight’s rival in the bidding war for Spirent.)  “Today marks a milestone for Keysight as we officially welcome Spirent into our company,” gushed Satish Dhanasekaran, Keysight’s president and CEO. “By combining Keysight’s leading design, emulation and test expertise with Spirent’s strengths in satellite emulation, positioning and network automation, we are expanding the breadth of our portfolio to better serve our customers. This acquisition accelerates our strategy and positions us to deliver even greater value in a rapidly evolving technology landscape,” added Dhanasekaran. 

Arlington, Virginia-based GTT Communications, a multinational provider of managed network and security services, has been collaborating with the Arizona-based AI-enabled solutions integrator Insight Enterprises to design and deploy an AI factory built on Dell PowerEdge servers and exploiting the benefits of Nvidia’s accelerated computing platform. The powerful solution gives GTT a new, scalable infrastructure and architecture that will be applied to bolster product innovation, improve customer experience and boost employee productivity. Formerly known as Global Telecom and Technology, GTT spent big on expansion and acquisitions between 2015 and 2019, got too large too quickly and was eventually forced to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection while it undertook a root-and-branch reorganisation. In 2021, GTT sold its infrastructure division, which included European, North American, and subsea fibre networks, to I Squared Capital, which used the assets to launch network operator EXA Infrastructure. Then, in September 2023, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged the company with failing to disclose material information about adjustments that increased its reported operating income in previous years. Since those low points, GTT has aspired to re-invent itself and, along with every other communications service provider, is seeking to take advantage of AI. As a result of its partnership with Insight Enterprises, GTT is fast-tracking “the journey from software-defined to AI-powered networking and security as a service with Nvidia-accelerated computing and software”. Fletcher Keister, CTO of GTT, commented: “The three pillars of our AI strategy are driving a paradigm shift for networking and security as a service. Insight’s Nvidia expertise and integration capabilities were critical in accelerating our journey. They ensured we had the right solution in place to scale our AI initiatives on Nvidia’s industry-leading platform of enterprise solutions.” Joyce Mullen, president and CEO of Insight Enterprises, added: “True digital transformation isn’t about technology alone; it’s about integrating the right tools into a strategic framework that delivers tangible business outcomes. Our collaboration with GTT, Dell and Nvidia is a prime example of how we help clients accelerate their ambitions. With our support in integrating a complex ecosystem of hardware, software and services, GTT is rapidly moving from AI-enabled vision to production-ready value, creating a powerful competitive advantage.” GTT says the strategic initiative has enabled it “to build a clear roadmap for embedding AI throughout both its product development process and end-to-end customer experience lifecycle. GTT is now positioned to continuously evolve and deploy AI-driven experiences to both its customers and employees.” The announcement is upbeat and bullish, GTT’s financial restructuring has been a success, recent financial results have shown marked improvement and debt has been reduced by 80%. Let’s see if an AI factory can help take GTT to the next stage of its revitalisation. 

The Swedish Competition Authority has initiated a “special investigation” into the planned SEK3.1bn (€281m) acquisition of broadband network operator Bredband2 by Telia, a deal that was first announced in July (see the final item in this news roundup). The authority notes in this announcement (in Swedish) that Telia and Bredband2 are two of the five largest providers of fixed broadband services in Sweden and that, following an initial investigation into the deal, “it cannot be ruled out that the transaction may impede effective competition.” It added: “In order for the Swedish Competition Authority to be able to take a final position on the concentration, further investigation and an analysis of the effects that the concentration may entail are required.” That investigation will take up to three months and, as a result, Telia has extended the acceptance period for its offer for Bredband2 until 30 January 2026. 

Scientists in Sydney, Australia, have made an important advance in the race to protect today’s critically important data against cyber threats and attacks in the none-too-distant future when quantum computers will be robust enough to quickly break the most sophisticated cryptography. AARNet, the country’s national research and education network that provides internet services to educational establishments and research communities, is working with Canberra-based QuintessenceLabs and the Commonwealth Scientific and Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia’s national science agency, to demonstrate a novel and massively secure quantum key distribution (QKD) system that runs over standard optical fibre. The Australian experiment brought together local expertise in quantum cybersecurity, digital science and advanced fibre infrastructure and is further proof of the importance of the Australian government’s policy to build the nation’s own sovereign quantum capability and embed quantum-secure infrastructure across essential services. The intent is to protect data that is being stolen today by bad actors, then archived by them and held ready for decoding later once sufficient quantum computing power becomes available. The experiment used a new AARNet fibre loop at CSIRO’s Marsfield site in Sydney over which QuintessenceLabs deployed its qOptica continuous variable QKD system (CV-QKD.) The experimental network provided a 12.7 kilometres-long live link and demonstrated that it is ready for practical use with real data. The next step for the team is to extend the live link for longer distances to cover towns, cities, states and partnering countries. The primary focus will be on proving the feasibility of constructing an inter-city data route between Canberra and Sydney, together with pilot programmes demonstrating integration with virtual private networks (VPNs) and cloud-key management. Dr Seyit Camtepe, a cyber and quantum security expert at the CSIRO, commented:  “Our ambition was to enable the nation to develop and test future-proof cybersecurity innovations using the laws of physics – and we’ve achieved an important milestone.” True enough, Dr Sebastian Kish, another CSIRO boffin, said, “If someone tries to tap the line, the quantum signals change and the alarms go off. It’s like giving Australia’s everyday internet an in-built security alarm, powered by the laws of physics.”

According to a new report, the Datacenter Services & Infrastructure Market Monitor by 451 Research (an arm of S&P Global Market Intelligence), the US hyperscale companies (you know who they are) are currently sourcing 22% more power from America’s national electricity grid than they did at the start of this year. As if that’s not bad enough, forecasts are that by the start of 2030, the ever-expanding rollout of huge datacentres will require three times as much energy to power them as they are consuming today. According to the report, the demand on America’s already highly stressed electricity utility companies for energy to power and cool hyperscale datacentres will rise by 11.3 GW over the course of this year to hit a new record of 61.8 GW. Next year, electricity demand from US hyperscale datacentres will rise to 75.8 GW for IT equipment, cooling, lighting etc, and grow again to 108 GW in 2028 and then to 134.4 GW in 2030. That astonishing figure excludes the energy required by enterprise-owned datacentres other than the hyperscale giants, such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Google, Meta et al. The huge increase in demand for electricity is the direct result of the massive investments being made in new hyperscale datacentres. For example, Amazon will spend $100bn on capital expenditure (capex) projects during the course of 2025 while Microsoft is spending $80bn on extending its infrastructure. Google is spending $85bn and Meta some $66-$72bn. The demand is causing parts of the already creaking US electrical grid to break down and demands are growing such that ordinary domestic and commercial power supply should be legally protected from the rolling brown-outs and total power cuts that seem increasingly inevitable if the demands of the hyperscalers are to be met. Lest we forget, a gigawatt (GW) is equal to one billion watts or 1,000 megawatts (MW). One little generating plant providing a single gigawatt can power about 1 million homes and premises.

– The staff, TelecomTV