What’s up with… BT International, Stackit, Nokia

• BT extends its sovereign tentacles into Europe 
• Stackit adds to its growing digital service provider presence 
• Nokia unveils 5G solution for the US DoW

In today’s industry news roundup: BT International hooks up with the Schwarz Group’s cloud unit, Stackit, to offer a sovereign cloud solution to multinationals; Stackit is emerging as an important playmaker in Europe’s digital sovereign services sector; Nokia unveils a 5G solution designed for the US Department of War (DoW); and much more!

BT International, the branch of the UK national telco that is currently seeking a new investor/partner/owner now that BT Group is firmly focused on UK operations, has teamed up with Stackit, the cloud platform unit of German retail giant Schwarz Group, to offer multinational companies with operations inside and outside the European Union zone to access a private European sovereign cloud service in a way that complies with the region’s strict data and security regulations. “Initially, BT will provide internet connectivity (peering) from its existing global network into Stackit’s EU-based sovereign cloud,” noted the telco in this announcement. “Later, this will be complemented with the option of private connectivity. In future, both private and internet connectivity will be delivered by BT’s new Global Fabric network-as-a-service (NaaS) platform. This will enable on-demand, flexible and resilient connectivity to Stackit and other cloud services,” added BT. It’s quite a complicated arrangement so we recommend you read the full announcement to get all the details, but it certainly seems to be dealing directly with the challenges faced by large enterprises that want/need to use sovereign services while operating in multiple regulatory jurisdictions. News of the BT International/Stackit partnership came only days after BT unveiled its sovereign services portfolio for enterprises in the UK and a partnership with UK-based neocloud Nscale to develop sovereign AI datacentres in the UK.  

The BT announcement is also interesting as it once again highlights the growing international role of Stackit, which is branching out in multiple directions as it seeks to build new business opportunities using the datacentre facilities and cloud platform that are used by the Schwarz Group. Only days ago, Schwarz Group announced that as part of a broader partnership and investment deal with Cohere, which will see the Canadian AI giant merge with German AI company Aleph Alpha (in which Schwarz Group is an investor), it is set to collaborate with Cohere/Aleph Alpha to develop a sovereign AI service offering based on Stackit. And earlier this year, Schwarz Group announced that as part of plans to expand the MVNO operations of its international supermarket operation Lidl via a partnership with eSIM platform operator 1Global, “innovative telco solutions” would be developed on Stackit.  

Nokia, via its Nokia Federal Solutions unit, has expanded its relationship with Lockheed Martin to develop a plug-and-play 5G solution for the US and allied defence forces that “enables military vehicles and platforms to use commercial-grade 5G in operational environments, aligned to the Department of War (DoW) open architecture standards and its commercial-first strategy.” Nokia noted that by combining its commercial 5G technologies with Lockheed Martin’s 5G.MIL solutions, “the companies are delivering a hybrid network that allows mission‑critical systems to connect with high‑speed, cost‑effective, commercially driven 5G while maintaining the security and resilience required by defence forces.” The move follows on from the partners’ initial integration of Nokia’s military-grade 5G solutions with Lockheed Martin’s hybrid base station: “Together, the companies are moving beyond integration demonstrations to deliver a field‑ready, modular 5G capability aligned with DoW open architecture standards and deployable across military vehicles and platforms.” Nokia, as well as its traditional radio access network tech rivals, sees the defence sector as one of the key vertical growth sectors in the coming years.   

As the hurricane season looms in the US, Verizon is “introducing a suite of technological innovations designed to restore connectivity faster and more safely than ever before”, including the deployment of its digital twin technology, which it describes as “a revolutionary virtual modelling system that is changing the face of emergency restoration”. The operator noted in this announcement that it “leverages high-resolution 3D imagery captured by tens of thousands of drone missions and artificial intelligence in its detailed digital network modelling. Immediately after a storm passes, specialised drones can take to the skies to capture ‘after’ imagery of the same cell sites and equipment. By comparing the ‘before’ and ‘after’ models, advanced software can instantly and automatically identify the exact location of any damage to antennas, cables or other equipment with pinpoint accuracy.” Joe Russo, executive VP of global networks and technology at Verizon, noted: “In an emergency, every second counts. Whether it’s a family checking in on a loved one or a first responder coordinating a rescue mission, we understand the responsibility that comes with the work we do. We don’t just build a network; we build a resilient ecosystem designed to withstand the harshest conditions, so our customers can trust they are never alone when a storm hits – and after.”

AT&T is excited about the findings of a new Converged Experience report from Opensignal that is based on service data gathered in the US market during the first three months of this year, with a focus on the five-largest providers in the US – AT&T, Spectrum (Charter), T-Mobile US, Verizon and Xfinity (Comcast). Opensignal, which gathers “real-world” subscriber data, examined the experience of users who “purchase both mobile and broadband services from the same provider (‘converged subscribers’)” and looked at “their combined connectivity experience across both cellular and Wi-Fi connections – this is what we refer to as the ‘combined experience’ for each metric,” noted the data-gathering company. AT&T is by far the leader for combined upload speed experience, recording a score of 109 Mbit/s, way ahead of second-place Verizon (48 Mbit/s) it noted in this announcement, though it should be pointed out that Xfinity came out top for ‘consistent quality’ (ahead of Verizon and then AT&T), while Xfinity also came out on top for download speed experience (ahead of Spectrum and AT&T). AT&T is pumped about its upload performance because, according to Jenifer Robertson, executive VP and GM at AT&T Mass Markets, “Fast upload speeds are indispensable as customers game, stream, share, and rely more on AI‑enabled experiences.”

The GSMA is once again piling the pressure on European lawmakers by calculating that the region requires total investments of €475bn over the next decade to bring its mobile network infrastructure up to the same level as the leading nations in North America and Asia (including China and India), but notes that current spending plans mean the region faces a mobile network investment shortfall of €205bn. According to the GSMA, this shortfall is mainly due to “more favourable investment conditions in these non-European markets.” Discuss!    

– The staff, TelecomTV