What’s up with… AI security, Iliad, Starlink

• Deutsche Telekom adds voice to AI security wakeup call 
• Growing Iliad aims for Europe’s #3 spot
• Starlink gets green light for broadband service provision in UAE

In today’s industry news roundup: Deutsche Telekom is just one of dozens of big name tech companies calling for a greater focus by governments and major companies on AI security; Iliad believes it will soon be the third largest telco (by subscribers) in Europe; the United Arab Emirates is the latest to welcome Starlink’s broadband services to its comms market; and much more!

Deutsche Telekom is among a group of 100 companies, including some of the world’s biggest tech firms such as Google, Microsoft and OpenAI, to have signed an open letter challenging governments and organisations to strengthen their cybersecurity in order to mitigate future AI threats. The letter warns that AI-based cyber-attacks will become more widespread and more sophisticated in just a matter of months, but current security measures “won’t be enough” to tackle them. The signatories - which also include the likes of Amazon Web Services (AWS), Equinix, IBM, NTT Data and IBM/Red Hat - write “We have a limited window to improve cyber defences” and call on governments to provide “capable, defensive AI” for critical facilities and infrastructure including hospitals and water utilities. Collectively, tech and government "should bring the full weight of their technology, resources, and expertise to this effort", according to the letter. It comes after a number of reports around breaches carried out by AI tools from OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta, the latter who did not sign up to the letter, in which AI agents went rogue. This included an attack on Hugging Face, which has been linked to a takeover by Nvidia, also a signatory to the letter.

Speaking of AI warnings, Microsoft founder Bill Gates also warned this week about the dangers of AI, calling for “human-reserved” jobs in certain sectors. In a 6,000 word document titled The turbulent AI era is here. The choices we make are critical, the billionaire expressed concern that governments are not prepared for the impact AI will have on society, and likened the need to spare roles from digital encroachment to a nature reserve, which protects the environment.

“Many jobs will disappear forever,” he said, in his first lengthy piece on AI in three years. “I believe that as AI and robots improve, we’ll set aside certain things for only people to do. I’ve started calling this domain human reserved.” He pointed to industries such as healthcare as areas that should have “human reserved” roles and called on governments to create a “domestic and international framework for dealing with AI” which will need to consider national security, employment, education, taxation, energy, elections and public health. He concluded: “It is fair to wonder whether the world’s institutions are up to the task of designing and implementing this new architecture.”

Xavier Niel’s Iliad Group continues to prove itself as a well-oiled communications services machine and AI-native telco challenger: The  operator, which has telco operations in France, Italy and Poland (as well as a stake in Sweden’s Tele2 and Latin American operator group Millicom) and a growing cloud and AI services division in the form of Scaleway, has reported consolidated group revenues of €5.24bn for the first six months of 2026, up by 3% compared with the equivalent period in 2025, and EBITDAal (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and leases) of €2.09bn, up by 2%. Earnings growth was very strong in Italy (20.2%) and creditable in Poland (5.8%) but declined by 1.9% in France. The company ended June with 52.5 million customers for its mobile and fixed broadband services across its three core markets, including 23.4 million in France, 13.3 million in Italy and 15.8 million in Poland. The operator claims it will become the third largest telco in the European Union once the joint €20.35bn acquisition of Altice France (SFR) by Orange, Bouygues Telecom and Iliad is completed, when it should gain about 8 million additional customers, though that is some way off yet (H2 2027 at the earliest). Meanwhile, Iliad claims that it is the fastest growing telco in Europe (in terms of organic services revenues), boasting a 3.4% growth rate for H1, ahead of Telia (2.5%) and Deutsche Telekom (2.4%).  

Iliad also reported that Scaleway “enjoyed very strong commercial momentum in H1 2026,” though that boast wasn’t supported by any specific numbers. The operation, which last year formed the AION European AI consortium to accelerate sovereign service and infrastructure developments, “secured a major European ‘Trusted Cloud’ services contract with Airbus, was selected as the future host for France’s Health Data Hub, and was chosen by the European Commission to deliver a sovereign public cloud & AI platform,” and entered into partnerships with several major European companies during the period, including MAIF, Ouest-France and ChapsVision, noted Iliad. “This strong momentum clearly demonstrates the growing demand among major European corporations for ‘home-grown’ European cloud services,” the operator added. The operator’s datacentre assets come in the form of Opcore, a 50/50 joint venture set up in 2025 with private equity firm Infravia. It has facilities in France (Lyon and Marseille as well as five datacentres in Paris) and Poland, and has plans to develop at least four more of its own sites that will add 120 megawatts of capacity in the Paris region. OpCore is also involved in a major sovereign AI infrastructure development near Paris following a recent collaboration with French state-owned energy giant EDF. Thomas Reynaud, CEO of the Iliad Group, noted: “For the fifth year running, the iliad Group is the growth leader among Europe's leading telcos. This performance isn’t a question of luck, nor is it a cyclical effect. Instead, it’s underpinned by a vital asset: the trust of our subscribers, which has reached record levels, and a solid financial position, enabling us to invest in the digital infrastructures of the future – networks, cloud solutions, datacentres and AI. The planned acquisition of SFR’s assets is an opportunity for us to change scale while at the same time growing the Free model, for the benefit of consumers.”

The United Arab Emirates has granted Starlink a 10-year licence to provide satellite broadband services across the Gulf country. The Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority said the licence will allow Starlink to build, operate and manage a public satellite-based network after meeting the required regulatory and technical standards, according to reports in the country. The licence means the SpaceX-owned company will be eligible to offer satellite internet services to consumers, businesses and government entities, and it also covers connectivity for the maritime and aviation sectors. It adds to Starlink’s reach in the Middle East, which already includes eight countries, while it is awaiting regulatory approval for broadband services in Saudi Arabia.

Nvidia, which recently reported astounding financial results, isn’t the only chip vendor riding the AI infrastructure wave: Data infrastructure processor vendor Marvell Technology has just reported fiscal second quarter revenues of $2.74bn, up by 37% year on year and the company’s record quarterly sales. Operating profit for the three months to 1 August increased by 58% to $459.7m. Chairman and CEO Matt Murphy stated: “AI-related bookings remain exceptionally robust, andbbbb we expect our revenue growth to accelerate further through the remainder of fiscal 2027. Given this strength, we are again raising our revenue outlook for both fiscal 2027 and fiscal 2028 compared with the guidance we provided last quarter. We are seeing broad-based strength across our Data Center portfolio, including strong demand in Connectivity and a significant acceleration in our Custom business beginning in the second half of fiscal 2027.” The company now expects its full fiscal year revenues to grow by 45% to about $12bn, up from its prior outlook of $11.5bn, while its FY28 sales are expected to grow by 50% year on year to $18bn, about $1.5bn higher than previously forecast.  

As the new football season kicks off in Germany, Deutsche Telekom has revealed details of its involvement in a network upgrade at the stadium of Bundesliga football club Bayer 04 Leverkusen. DT has installed 41 new antennas directly above the stands of the BayArena in order to boost mobile coverage at the 30,000-capacity stadium. The operator has split the arena into 14 mobile sectors which allows available capacity to be distributed specifically to individual stands, with the antennas aligned with the respective spectator areas. This, DT claims, ensures high-performance even when the BayArena is packed. DT began the installation immediately after the final game of the 25/26 season in May: 15 antennas cover the lower tier, while 26 cover the upper tier. Both LTE and 5G are used on mobile frequencies between 800 and 3,600 MHz, and this is all supported by 5km of high-frequency cable which was laid during the summer. DT also boosted coverage outside the stadium, adding three additional microcells along key routes that see high footfall during a match day, with further network upgrades to come in the near future, the telco noted in a blog about the deployment.

– The staff, TelecomTV