• MásOrange seals energy business deal with Endesa
• Verizon linked to Echostar 5G spectrum deal
• Dell unveils new cloud RAN server

In today’s industry news roundup: Spanish telco MásOrange is selling its energy unit to utility giant Endesa to form a broader go-to-market alliance; Verizon is the latest operator to be linked to an Echostar spectrum licence acquisition; Dell develops a server designed to meet the exacting needs of cloud and Open RAN deployments; and much more!

Spanish telco MásOrange has struck a strategic go-to-market deal with one of Spain’s largest electricity providers, Endesa, that will see the partners pitch each other’s services. Endesa will offer the telco’s mobile and fibre broadband services to its 7 million customers, while MásOrange will offer Endesa’s electricity services to its customer base of more than 30 million users. As part of the agreement, Endesa is to acquire MásOrange’s existing digital energy retailer, Energía Colectiva (which has 350,000 electricity and gas supply customers), for €90m. MásOrange CEO Meinrad Spenger stated: “We are very satisfied with the agreement reached with Endesa. This alliance will allow us to accelerate our growth with a green energy offer for our users at attractive prices, and to sell our telecommunications services in Endesa’s distribution channels, creating value for our customers, society and both companies”. José Bogas, CEO at Endesa, added: “This alliance represents a natural step in our strategy to put technology at the service of the customer. We combine the best of two worlds: MásOrange’s connectivity, with Endesa’s experience, trust and innovation in the energy field. Together, we will offer personalised and sustainable value propositions that respond to new consumer expectations. This agreement reinforces our commitment to lead the energy transition from proximity, efficiency and digitalisation.” The full announcement about the deal can be found in a downloadable PDF file available via the MásOrange media page. 

Verizon is reportedly in discussions with Echostar to acquire its AWS-3 (advanced wireless spectrum-3) licences, according to Bloomberg. AWS-3 1800MHz spectrum is particularly suitable for 5G service delivery: According to reports, Echostar has valued its AWS-3 holdings at $9.8bn. AT&T has already struck a deal to acquire several chunks of Echostar’s spectrum (not AWS-3) for $23bn as part of a broader arrangement that will see Echostar’s Boost Mobile business offer its services over AT&T’s infrastructure instead of trying to build out its own radio access network infrastructure – you can read all about that deal and relationship in this article from late August. Soon after that deal, Elon Musk’s SpaceX announced it had struck a purchase agreement with Echostar to acquire 50MHz of exclusive S-band spectrum in the US alongside global mobile satellite service (MSS) spectrum rights for about $17bn. Now it seems Verizon is interested in some of the licences that Echostar hasn’t already agreed to sell. 

Dell Technologies has unveiled a new server, the Dell PowerEdge XR8720t, which has been designed for cloud RAN and Open RAN deployments. “Traditionally, the need for multi-server deployments has hindered the adoption of cloud RAN and advanced edge computing, burdening organisations with higher costs, operational complexity, space issues and power demands,” stated Dell in this announcement. “Inefficiencies and scalability limitations make it difficult to meet the real-time performance needs of next-generation applications,” the vendor added, before noting that its new design “eliminates these barriers as the industry’s first single-server solution for cloud RAN, streamlining infrastructure, boosting performance and efficiency, and significantly reducing total cost of ownership for modern network and edge deployments.” And, of course, there’s an AI angle, as the server is designed to “support performance-intensive applications, reduce costs and conduct AI at the edge. Enterprises across telecom, retail, defence and manufacturing will find this useful to drive AI, ML [machine learning] and other compute-intensive workloads, as well as precision-driven tasks that require advanced synchronisation,” boasted Dell. Mobile network operators and major enterprises will, of course, be the ones to verify all such claims. 

IBM has unveiled IBM Network Intelligence, which it describes as a “network-native AI solution that addresses the escalating complexity of modern telecommunications and enterprise networks”. According to the tech giant, the solution, developed in collaboration with IBM Research, “pairs advanced time-series foundation models with LLM-powered reasoning agents to create a network-aware AI collaborator. We believe this approach is critical to addressing the complexity of modern networks where network teams struggle to manage through tools and manual processes; these complex issues represent only a subset of total issues, however, and consume the vast majority of a network team’s effort. It is in both the time and resources spent reacting to, understanding, and resolving critical issues where there is untapped value. This reactivity can be a major barrier to accomplishing scalable automation.” Read more. 

Afghanistan is cut off from the broader digital world after the ruling Taliban severed links to the internet on Monday, stating that the decision, for which it has given no reason, stands until further notice, reports the BBC. The move has brought Kabul’s airport to a standstill and shut off the country’s population from banking and payments apps, as well as access to online education tools. 

– The staff, TelecomTV