• TalkTalk Business seals merger deal
• Memory vendor Micron unveils $250m AI fund
• Semtech offloads cellular module business at a big loss

In today’s industry news roundup: UK enterprise services firms TalkTalk Business and ARO are merging to form a company with an annual turnover of £200m; memory chip vendor Micron Technology wants to invest $250m in AI developers; chip vendor Semtech is selling its cellular module business at a significant loss; and much more!

TalkTalk Business, the UK B2B services company that spun off from former broadband services parent TalkTalk Group earlier this year, is to merge with enterprise services specialist ARO to “create one of the UK's largest independent connectivity and managed technology services providers.” The resulting company will have approximately 650 employees, annual revenues of around £200m and a combined customer base of more than 70,000 organisations. “The merger brings together leading expertise in connectivity, cloud, cyber security and managed IT services to create a major new force in the UK technology market,” noted TalkTalk Business in this announcement. It added: “For TalkTalk Business, the merger marks another significant milestone in its evolution into a managed technology services provider following its separation from TalkTalk Group. It builds on the recent acquisition of Planet IT and brings together complementary expertise that further strengthens its ability to support customers with integrated connectivity, cloud, cyber security and managed IT services.” The news comes only days after speculation emerged that TalkTalk Group might be about to offload PlatformX Communications (PXC), its wholesale division, to Octopus Investments.

Micron Technology, the world’s third largest memory chip vendor (22% share), has launched the Micron Ventures Paradigm Fund, a “$250m investment vehicle built to partner with the companies shaping the future of AI,” the Boise, Idaho-based company announced. The Paradigm Fund, which is MIcron’s third and largest fund to date, will “invest across the full AI technology stack, from model architectures and compute infrastructure to enterprise applications and physical AI,” with the aim of providing Micron with “deeper partnerships with the innovators shaping these shifts and earlier insight into the technologies that will define the future of AI infrastructure,” the vendor noted. Rene Hartner, VP of corporate development at Micron, stated: “We’re in an exciting era of paradigm shifts, each one redefining what AI can do and what it requires,” said Hartner. “These advancements converge on one common need: high-performance memory and storage solutions. Micron’s Paradigm Fund will invest in and partner with startups driving these innovations and strengthen our ability to deliver leading memory and storage solutions to meet the growing AI demands.” The news comes only weeks after Micron reported a 346% year on year increase in fiscal third quarter revenues to $41.46bn.  

The announcement by Camarillo, California-based chip vendor Semtech that it is to sell its cellular module business to Taiwan’s Compal Electronics for just $62m in cash has prompted a very interesting LinkedIn post from IoT sector analyst Matt Hatton, who remarks bluntly – “How to lose a billion dollars”. Hatton, who is the founding partner at Transforma Insights, noted that Semtech acquired Sierra Wireless for $1.2bn in 2023 and that the divestment, even if it doesn’t include the connectivity part of the former Sierra Wireless operations, still represents a loss of about $1bn. Semtech, naturally, saw a silver lining in the deal. “This divestiture sharpens our focus on the product portfolio where we have the strongest conviction in growth and industry leadership: datacentre and LoRa connectivity,” state president and CEO Hong Hou. “It reflects the broader discipline we have been applying across the portfolio, concentrating our resources and our technology leadership where we believe we can create the most value over time,” he added. 

Talking of companies linked to M&A activity…. Finnish BSS vendor Tecnotree, which is currency evaluating its second takeover offer of the year (the first did not receive enough investor support), has announced a $17.5m multi-year deal with an  unidentified telco in the Americas. That news came only days after the telecom business support services software developer reported a 10% year on year increase in revenues for the first half of the year (at constant currency levels) to €37.6m., while its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) grew by 38.1% to €13.2m. Commenting on the results, CEO Padma Ravichander stated: "Our H1 2026 results demonstrate that disciplined execution and AI-native innovation can grow together. Operating margin expanded by 800 basis points and net income rose by more than 70%, while we delivered eight go-lives across the North America, Africa and the Middle East — converting order book into live operations for our customers. What gives me the most confidence is the balance of this performance: new logos in Latin America and Africa, deeper DevOps partnerships in Africa and the Middle East, and MVNX expansion across the African market, all underpinned by a platform recognized across five Gartner Hype Cycle reports through July 2026. I am proud of our teams and partners, and we enter the second half of 2026 with strong momentum and a clear focus on sustained, profitable growth."

Telstra reported a 0.8% decline in full fiscal year group revenues to A$22.94bn (US$16.24bn) but managed to increase its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) by 1.7% to A$4bn (US$2.83bn). The operator said its mobile service revenue grew across all products – postpaid, prepaid and wholesale handheld, mobile broadband and IoT – and that it managed to increase its average revenue per user (ARPU) across all categories, brands and segments during the year, as well as boosting its overall mobile user base by 270,000 or 1.9%, during the year to 30 June. 

SB Telecom Vietnam, a subsidiary of Japanese telco SoftBank Corp., has teamed up with industrial park developer Shinec, tech consultancy Litehouse and VietABank, to develop an integrated solution package that combines technology, finance, and implementation/operation for manufacturing enterprises in industrial parks developed and operated by Shinec, starting with Vietnam’s Nam Cau Kien Industrial Park. “The collaboration aims to improve the operational efficiency of industrial parks, support the achievement of ESG goals, and particularly expand the attraction of high-quality Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from Japan,” noted the partners. “The main solutions being considered for introduction in the industrial park include smart factories and IoT systems, real-time equipment monitoring, early anomaly alerts, network/server/cloud infrastructure, access control and data leak prevention, AI and System automation, energy consumption monitoring, CO2 emissions visualization, and industrial park operations data analysis platforms,” noted SB Telecom Vietnam.

– The staff, TelecomTV