• Telia retrenches, cuts 900 jobs
• Broadband tech advances are on show at Network X
• StarHub snaps up MyRepublic’s mobile operation

In today’s industry news roundup: Telia is further reducing its headcount, this time by more than 6%, as it targets annual opex savings of $100m; fixed broadband technology advances and capabilities are in the spotlight, with Nokia and Vodafone leading the news charge as the Network X event takes place in Vienna; Singapore’s StarHub snaps up minor mobile service provider MyRepublic as it continues talks to acquire the island nation’s third-largest operator, M1; and much more!

Scandinavian telco Telia is axing 900 jobs, more than 6% of its current workforce, by the end of this calendar year as part of a cost-cutting effort that will reduce the company’s annual operating expenditure by 1bn Swedish krona (SEK) ($100m). The telco is to reduce its headcount (including employees and “resource consultants”) in all of its markets – Sweden, Finland, Norway, Estonia and Lithuania: A table included in its press release announcing the move shows how many jobs will be cut in each market. As part of the same reorganisation, Telia plans to transfer approximately 220 positions, primarily from its common technology unit, to the country units in an effort to “localise its operations further and strengthen the role of its country units in meeting evolving customer needs and delivering profitable growth”. (The operator has been implementing a cost-cutting and decentralisation strategy since late 2024.) Telia expects to record restructuring charges associated with the latest changes of SEK600m ($60m): The telco believes the changes will make it a “simpler, faster and more efficient company”. This isn’t Telia’s first headcount reduction of this year – in January it announced it was cutting 600 jobs, but hiring 150 new roles. Telia president and CEO Patrik Hofbauer stated: “We’re building the future Telia. Our efforts so far have put us on the right track, and further localisation means doubling down on what we know gets results. We must always become even simpler, faster and more efficient in everything we do.​ We want to empower our countries more, get the utmost from our common technology unit and other group functions, and sharpen Telia’s edge in a very competitive market. Crucially, we want to continue investing in great products and experiences for our customers. We are committed to constant improvement, and this proposed next step is made from a position of strength. We recognise it will involve difficult decisions and will require support for all our people. We believe that Telia can perform even better, and we see an opportunity to become a leading European telco,” added the CEO. For the first six months of 2026, Telia reported a 2.5% increase in service revenues to SEK35bn ($3.5bn) and a 3.6% increase in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to SEK16.32bn ($1.63bn). 

Expect to hear quite a bit about fixed broadband technology advances this week as the annual Network X event (13-15 Oct) – which is the successor the Broadband World Forum shows of yesteryear – opens its doors in Vienna. To start the week, Nokia has unveiled a new passive optical network (PON) line card, based on its Quillion chip and optical PON modules, that “supports GPON, 10G, 25G and 50G PON on every port, together with a variety of multi-PON optical modules. This now allows operators to deploy the technology, or combination of technologies, in a flexible way that’s best suited to each market, service or business case. Operators can add or change PON generations on the same port and fibre as demand evolves,” claims the vendor. 

Meanwhile, visitors to the Network X event can see how Vodafone and its technology partners, working with industry body the Broadband Forum, are combining L4S (low latency, low loss, scalable throughput) with app-aware QoE (application-aware quality of experience) capabilities to give home and business broadband users greater control over service levels for specific applications”. Vodafone explains in this announcement: “When deployed over fibre-based PON equipment… L4S can improve the performance of latency-sensitive applications, such as cloud gaming, videoconferencing and immersive services. App-aware QoE is a network management and optimisation technique that measures, prioritises and improves the performance of individual applications, rather than applying a one-size-fits-all approach. Together, these technologies can reduce internet delays for time-critical applications, especially during busy periods, and deliver a more personalised service. They can turn an operator’s fibre access network from a pure high-speed connection into an intelligent, application-aware platform tailored to the performance needs of individual applications.” A year ago, Vodafone and Nokia showed how L4S technology can be “used to reduce lag (the time it takes for data to be sent and received over a network) by up to 94%, paving the way for a significant boost in the quality of interactive online experiences”, the operator added. 

Singapore’s second-largest mobile operator, StarHub, is acquiring the mobile operation of MyRepublic for a yet-to-be-determined sum: StarHub previously acquired MyRepublic’s fixed broadband operation. In its announcement to investors about the deal, StarHub noted that MyRepublic has 85,000 mobile customers and that the mobile service provider generated a net profit of 2.4m Singapore dollars (SDG) (US$1.87m) during the 12 months to the end of June 2026. During the first six months of this year, StarHub, which has 2.2 million mobile customers, generated an operating profit of SDG 27.2m (US$21.2m) from revenues of 969.7m Singapore dollars (US$757.4m). StarHub CEO Nikhil Eapen stated in this announcement: “Our acquisition of MyRepublic Mobile completes a multi-year journey that began with our investment in MyRepublic Broadband in 2021, culminating in full ownership of MyRepublic across both broadband and mobile. With ongoing consolidation, we are bringing greater scale to invest more effectively in the networks, resilience and innovation that Singapore will increasingly depend on. This transaction strengthens those foundations while continuing to give consumers meaningful choice in how they connect.” The acquisition comes at a time when all three telcos in Singapore – Singtel, StarHub and M1 – are feeling the competitive squeeze on their domestic telecom service operations, with revenues and margins on the decline. As a result, they are all seeking ways to gain greater scale: Singtel has built a significant international portfolio and is investing heavily to position itself as a major AI infrastructure and services player in the Asia-Pacific region; while investment firm Keppel revealed in September that it is in talks to sell M1 to StarHub to create a larger single operator, though there is no guarantee that a deal will be agreed.

Industry veteran and regular contributor to TelecomTV debates Andrew Coward has joined security tech specialist F5 to run strategic alliances (which includes relationships with telecom sector firms). Coward, whose networking career has included stints at Juniper Networks, Brocade, Lumina Networks and, most recently, IBM (where he was general manager of software networking), unveiled his new role in this LinkedIn post. Coward used the post to explain why he believes F5 is well placed to help companies scale and secure their digital infrastructure to deal with agentic AI traffic. The news that Coward has joined the company comes only days after Indonesian AI-native telco Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison (IOH) announced it is working with F5 to provide enterprises with “a trusted and governed environment that simplifies how businesses access and deploy AI, without requiring them to build and manage complex infrastructure themselves.” 

Vodafone Spain is offering agentic AI solutions, which were until now only pitched to large enterprises in the country, to more than 100,000 SMEs. The Zegona Communications-owned operator has adapted its AI agents to suit the needs of small- and medium-sized businesses using “a scalable and flexible model that allows businesses to add users as needed and pay only for actual technology usage, without requiring large upfront investments,” it noted in this recent announcement (in Spanish). Carlos Ortiz, director of SMEs at Vodafone Spain’s B2B unit, noted: “In SMEs, we see the greatest opportunity for artificial intelligence to help people. The goal is to free employees from low-value tasks so they can dedicate their time to what truly improves customer relationships and drives business growth.” 

Worldwide quantum computing revenue is projected to reach $869.9 in 2026, up 22.9% year on year, and grow again to hit $1.1bn in 2027, according to a forecast from tech research firm Gartner. “Nations and businesses have scaled spending in quantum literacy, patents, partnerships and early use-case exploration,” stated Gaurav Gupta, chief of research for the emerging market dynamics team at Gartner in this announcement. “While the market still faces challenges, advancements in algorithm development, gate speeds and scaling indicate that breakthroughs are happening more rapidly than initially expected. The early quantum advantage era has arrived because noisy intermediate-scale quantum processors now have enough qubits to do limited complex tasks with improved error reduction,” added Gupta.

SoftBank Group, the global tech and infrastructure investment firm and parent company of Japanese telco SoftBank Corp, is reportedly looking to raise $100bn from Middle East investors for a new AI investment fund. SoftBank Group recently completed its three-stage $64.6bn investment in OpenAI.  

– The staff, TelecomTV