What’s up with… Sovereign cloud in Italy, Nokia, China

• Italian telco turns to open source for cloud sovereignty smarts
• Nokia bolsters its NSP with agentic AI
• China gears up for nationwide network automation

In today’s industry news roundup: Fastweb + Vodafone updates its cloud platform with OpenStack to enable greater sovereign service flexibility for its B2B customers; Nokia is praised for its approach to multivendor IP network automation; China unveils a plan for nationwide, low-latency, AI-enabled automated network infrastructure; and much more!

Fastweb + Vodafone, which is part of the Swisscom empire, has upgraded its FASTCloud platform – designed for customers “looking to develop or manage workloads, including AI workloads, within a localised cloud environment that meets governance, security and sovereignty requirements” – with “the introduction of a new open-source-based architecture designed to strengthen organisations’ sovereignty and prevent technological lock-in,” the Italian telco noted in this announcement. The OpenStack-based upgrade ensures “high standards of security, reliability and operational continuity, while at the same time enabling access to cloud-native solutions qualified in accordance with the guidelines of the Italian National Cybersecurity Agency (ACN) and hosted within proprietary datacentres located in Italy,” according to the operator, which adds that “the new platform expands the options available to organisations by enabling more flexible, modular and technology-independent hybrid and private cloud models”. Augusto Di Genova, chief B2B officer at Fastweb + Vodafone, stated: “With this evolution, Fastweb + Vodafone strengthens its position as a leading cloud provider, capable of offering a portfolio of secure, diversified and sovereign proprietary solutions. FASTCloud Open Source already meets the objectives outlined by the European Commission in its proposed regulation [Cloud and AI Development Act, or CADA]: Physical infrastructure located in Italy, open and auditable technologies, independence from individual providers and full workload portability.” Fastweb + Vodafone is clearly keen to position itself as a leading provider of sovereign services to the Italian B2B sector – it has already invested in its own AI factory and launched a sovereign AI service dubbed FastwebAI Suite. 

Nokia, one of the leading suppliers of IP routing platforms to telcos, has added an “agentic AI framework” to its Network Services Platform (NSP), the vendor’s management and automation system designed for multivendor IP transport networks, in a move that will enable network operators to “deploy AI agents that can reason over real network context and take guided actions within defined policy and security boundaries.” According to the vendor, its approach counters concerns related to the perceived risks associated with introducing AI-enabled automation in IP network operations by “embedding agentic AI capabilities directly into the platform that already serves as the authoritative controller for IP networks,” an approach that makes sense to Grant Lenahan, partner and principal analyst at Appledore Research. “Appledore has been advocating for operators to focus on the primary importance of quality data and ontological relationships, which are proving far more important than specific AI models for efficient and accurate AI reasoning. Nokia’s NSP embraces this approach with extensive AI-native infrastructure built on trusted data and operating norms, providing a solid and secure foundation for a myriad of AI use cases. Domain expertise is likely the most critical quality in designing effective automation for complex networks,” noted Lenahan. The first use case offered as part of this enhancement to NSP is an AI-driven troubleshooting agent, “aimed at helping operators identify root causes faster, reduce operational noise, and resolve complex IP network issues with greater confidence,” according to Nokia.

China is putting its AI infrastructure and operations ducks in a row, it seems. In the same week that news emerged of a major AI datacentre rollout plan that had China Mobile, China Telecom and Huawei Technologies as significant participants, the country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has unveiled a  three-year plan to “accelerate the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) with the country’s information and communications sector, setting targets for more autonomous networks, wider low-latency computing-power coverage and expanded AI applications by 2028,” according to this report from state news agency Xinhua. Included in the guidelines are targets for communications networks to “reach an initial stage of high-level autonomous intelligence by 2028”, something that the country’s main telcos have been working towards for years already. The move is clearly geared towards developing nationwide digital infrastructure that can support AI-enabled automation across multiple vertical sectors (industrial robotics and driverless vehicles, for example) while also preparing the country for the arrival of 6G. 

In the same week that regulators approved the sale of its Norwegian residential fibre business to Telenor, GlobalConnect has agreed to offload its consumer fibre-to-the-home network in Germany to NordConnect for an undisclosed sum. The deal means that going forward, GlobalConnect will focus exclusively on its business customers and carrier partners in Germany, with migration and transfers planned for the second half of the year, and all affected customers due to be informed in writing about their options. NordConnect is a fibre access network operator owned by German municipal utilities Stadtwerke Neumünster (SWN) and Stadtwerke SH, that offers services using the GIGA brand.

Philippines telco PLDT is looking to raise between $300m and $400m by listing a real estate investment trust (REIT) for its datacentre business, according to documents filed with the stock exchange. As reported by Bloomberg (subscription required), the company’s board of directors has approved plans to list a REIT for assets currently owned by PLDT subsidiary Vitro, one of the largest datacentre operators in the Philippines. The listing will initially include eight of Vitro’s 11 datacentres, which provide a combined capacity of around 27 megawatts. According to the report, PLDT said it will use the proceeds from the listing – expected to take place in Q4 – to pare down existing debts.

UK operator Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) has teamed up with Mavenir to carry out a proof-of-concept trial that aims to improve voice calls for customers with hearing loss. The trial used call optimisation technology to boost clarity by tailoring each call to the hearing profile of each participant in real time. The customers completed a short, automated hearing test to identify how they hear different frequencies to help generate a personalised hearing profile, which was linked directly and securely to their own mobile number. They then used their existing handset and numbers to carry out test calls, in which nearly 90% of participants reported improvements in call clarity.

The European Union has ordered Meta to allow rival AI chatbots to operate on its over-the-top (OTT) messaging service WhatsApp as it continues an antitrust investigation into the tech giant. In December 2025, the European Commission launched its antitrust investigation into a Meta policy that blocked access to WhatsApp for rival AI providers, and said that to “prevent serious and irreparable harm to competition in this space” Meta must restore access while the investigation takes place. Meta has hit back, accusing the EU of “regulatory overreach” and adding that it plans to appeal the decision, according to the BBC. The tech giant has been given five working days to reinstate access for third-party general-purpose AI assistants to the WhatsApp for Business API, and faces a fine of up to 10% of its total turnover if it fails to comply.

– The staff, TelecomTV