• T-Mobile US appoints ex-AT&T exec to senior role
• Telenor to acquire Swedish ISP
• Virgin Media O2 fined £28m following damning investigation

In today’s industry news roundup: T-Mobile US appoints former senior AT&T exec Chris Sambar to head up its enterprise services division; Telenor is bulking up its broadband presence in Sweden; UK operator Virgin Media O2 is fined following an Ofcom investigation that uncovered ‘systematic and repeated failings’ in its broadband contract termination procedures; and much more!

T-Mobile US has appointed former AT&T executive Chris Sambar as its new chief enterprise officer, starting mid-October. Samber will join the un-carrier from Public Storage but previously spent more than two decades at AT&T, “where his accomplishments included building the company’s 5G mobile network, developing corporate strategy and leading enterprise sales, including the design and deployment of the FirstNet public safety network,” noted T-Mobile US in this announcement. He will head up the US telco’s enterprise and government businesses and is set to “focus on expanding the company’s SMB and business customer portfolio and help scale emerging growth opportunities such as T-Ads and Physical AI,” noted T-Mobile US. The appointment will advance the operator’s strategy to “disrupt and strengthen its presence in industries beyond core wireless, while redefining customer experiences in the enterprise market with the same spirit and focus that built T‑Mobile’s position as the industry’s leader in wireless customer growth. Sambar brings extensive experience in scaling new business segments, with a track record of designing, engineering and operating next-generation mobile and fibre networks, including from his tenure as President, Network of AT&T.”

In other moves that will shape the senior T-Mobile US management team to suit his strategic needs, the operator’s CEO Srini Gopalan also announced that the operator’s network, technology, product engineering and cyber operations will be integrated under the leadership of CTO John Saw, “positioning the company to advance seamless connected experiences for consumers and build the next generation of AI and 6G experiences.” In addition, André Almeida, currently chief broadband, enterprise & emerging business officer, is taking on the expanded role of chief marketing, brand & broadband officer. “Almeida will partner with chief operating officer Jon Freier to oversee T‑Mobile’s consumer wireless and broadband businesses, focusing on capturing new growth segments and continuing to win with customers.” 

Telenor has agreed to buy a controlling stake in Swedish broadband firm Bahnhof in a deal that will almost double its share of the fixed market in the country and which values Bahnhof at around 6.1 billion kronor ($628m). The Norwegian operator is to acquire the 50.8% stake jointly held by the company’s co-founders, Jon Karlung and Andreas Norman, as well as the 6.7% stake held by Oresund Investment. Once the acquisition is complete – which is expected to be within four to eight months – Telenor will increase its broadband market share from around 15% to 27%, although Bahnhof will continue to operate under its own brand. Launched in 1994, Bahnhof has around 500,000 consumer customers and approximately 15,000 enterprise lines, as well as its own network infrastructure and five colocation facilities. Telenor has been doubling down on its core Nordics market in recent years and, just last month, the telco agreed to buy Norwegian fibre operator Enivest for $264m (as we reported here).

It’s the walk of shame for Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) today… UK regulator Ofcom has hit the operator with a £28m fine after finding the British telco had put customers through “unreasonable effort, hassle and difficulty” when trying to switch to another provider. Following an investigation into VMO2’s handling of broadband customers looking to terminate their agreements, the company was found to have breached the regulator’s general conditions, which say operators must not have in place procedures that act as a disincentive for switching. The regulator’s statement was damning, accusing VMO2 of running a commission scheme that effectively encouraged and financially rewarded call centre agents for mishandling complaints. The investigation uncovered “systemic and repeated failings in Virgin Media’s contract termination procedures”, including deliberate call-dropping tactics, excessive and unnecessary call transfers, and agents putting customers on hold for no reason, all in an effort to prevent or delay customers from terminating their agreements. Millions of calls made between January 2022 and September 2024 were likely to have been mishandled, Ofcom found, leading the regulator to impose a £28m penalty, which was reduced by 30% because the operator admitted its failings and agreed to settle the case. VMO2 has also agreed to change its commission scheme and implement training and quality assurance as part of the settlement, which is the very least it can do! 

Orange is close to selling off a minority stake in its datacentre operations as part of a move to raise funds for AI investments, according to French business news site L’Informe. The telco, which has enlisted the help of investment bank Evercore to find a buyer, is understood to be looking to raise €500m from the transaction. 

The European Commission has presented its Action Plan on Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence to “support the safe and responsible use of AI while strengthening Europe’s cybersecurity.” Building on the EU’s existing legal framework on AI and cybersecurity, the “action plan sets out a coordinated approach to help member states, businesses and public authorities benefit from the opportunities offered by AI while addressing the new risks it creates” by focusing on three complementary objectives: Promoting the safe and responsible use of advanced AI; reinforcing the EU’s cybersecurity and resilience; and scaling up Europe’s AI capabilities for cybersecurity. The EC added that to “promote the safe use of advanced AI, the commission will strengthen Europe’s capacity to evaluate AI models before they are placed on the EU market, in line with the AI Act. It will also work with the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) to develop a European Blueprint for secure access to advanced AI systems for cybersecurity purposes and establish a secure testing platform to help organisations in critical sectors, such as energy, transport, health, finance and public administration, safely test and deploy AI solutions.” For further details and to access the full plan, check out this EC announcement. 

Cloud infrastructure firm Vultr has partnered with SUSE to launch a full-stack Nvidia enterprise AI platform. The SUSE AI Factory with Nvidia on Vultr Infrastructure platform combines enterprise-grade AI software, advanced GPUs and global AI infrastructure into a platform for enterprises looking to move AI workloads from experimentation into production. It leverages SUSE’s sovereign AI factory, which includes Nvidia’s AI enterprise software and solutions, as well as Vultr’s global AI infrastructure. SUSE launched its sovereign AI platform in April, but the partnership with Vultr adds a turnkey, validated infrastructure stack that can speed up enterprise deployment of AI solutions, the partners claimed. 

US regulators have added another company to a list of firms that allegedly pose a risk to national security over their alleged links to Chinese telecom operators. Los Angeles-based IT firm Digitalsystem Technology has been added to a prohibited list due to concerns over its partnerships with Hong Kong-based PCCW, the majority owner of HKT, as well as China Mobile and China Telecom, according to a report from Reuters. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) also denied the managed services provider permission to provide international interconnection services, claiming it could be exploited by China. It comes amidst a major crackdown on Chinese companies operating in the US. The Trump administration has taken a strong line, having previously barred China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom from providing international services in the US, while it has also restricted HKT’s ability to operate there. The Chinese operators have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

– The staff, TelecomTV