What’s up with… BT & Microsoft, Meo & Nokia, Charter

• BT tackles cyber threats with Microsoft
• Portugal’s Meo is automating its networks with Nokia 
• New COO Nick Jeffery makes waves at Charter Communications

In today’s industry news roundup: UK national telco BT strengthens its relationship with Microsoft to develop a new managed cybersecurity service; Portugal’s national operator is working closely with Nokia on its AI-native autonomous networking strategy; go-getting telecom exec Nick Jeffrey is shaking up the top team at US cable giant Charter Communications as he kickstarts ‘The Great Cable Comeback’; and much more!

In an effort to position itself as the go-to provider of cybersecurity services for UK enterprises and help protect businesses against “increasingly complex AI-powered threats”, BT Group has “deepened” its relationship with Microsoft to launch the not-very-catchily-named Security Operations Centre-as-a-Service (SOCaaS) for Microsoft Sentinel, “a UK-managed service that combines Sentinel with BT’s advanced security operations expertise, threat intelligence and experience”. BT notes that “AI is rapidly increasing the speed, scale and sophistication of cyberattacks. The Microsoft Digital Defense Report 2026 outlines how AI is changing the physics of cybersecurity and compressing attack timelines, with the average time from discovery to weaponisation of security vulnerabilities having now fallen to well below 24 hours.” BT, in partnership with Microsoft, is well placed to help tackle these threats, as it already has a long history of using AI to underpin its managed security services and is already playing a major role in tackling cyber threats around the clock: The telco says it is currently “blocking around 4 million attempted cyberattacks every day”. Jon James, CEO at BT Business, noted: “AI is transforming the cyber threat landscape at unprecedented speed, and our customers need protection that stays one step ahead. By extending our partnership with Microsoft, we’re combining cutting-edge security technology with BT’s cyber expertise and threat intelligence to deliver stronger, more proactive protection. It’s the latest example of how we’re helping organisations build resilience and defend against the next generation of AI-powered threats.”

Altice Portugal, the Iberian country’s national operator that operates using the brand name Meo, has teamed up with Nokia for a “joint innovation programme dedicated to applying artificial intelligence and automation in real-world network environments,” the telco announced. The AI-native autonomous networks initiative “aims to explore new ways to integrate AI into the design, operation, monitoring and optimisation of networks, making them progressively smarter, more adaptable and more autonomous,” the telco noted, adding that “the goal is to develop and test concrete use cases that enable networks to detect changes, anticipate needs and respond more quickly and efficiently. It noted that the initiative “reflects Meo’s commitment to paving the way for the next generation of communications networks and turning AI innovation into tangible results. AI is becoming a fundamental layer of future networks, enabling them to detect, predict and respond with greater speed, accuracy and autonomy.” Meo’s CTO, José Pedro Nascimento, stated: “Artificial intelligence is transforming the way communications networks are designed, operated and experienced. At Meo, we are developing the capabilities needed to turn this evolution into concrete applications, combining the expertise of our teams with the experience of leading technology partners. This programme allows us to explore new ways to build smarter, more resilient and more efficient infrastructure, creating greater value for our customers and also helping to strengthen Portugal’s position in the digital economy.” Meo is Portugal’s mobile market leader, with about 7 million customers, and fibre access services, and some 4.5 million connections.   

Nick Jeffery is making his presence felt at US cable operator giant Charter Communications (better known by its Spectrum brand), which recently got bigger following the completion of the merger with Cox Communications to create a company that reaches 70 million premises across 45 states and which has about 37 million customers for its video, broadband and mobile services. Having started his new role as its chief operating officer on 1 September with this LinkedIn post declaring that “The Great Cable Comeback starts here”, Jeffery has identified lacklustre performance at the top exec level and has taken action, according to an internal memo that appears to have been leaked to just about every media outlet in the US that might have any interest in Charter’s affairs. In the memo, Jeffery stated: “I am increasingly convinced that our unmatched scale in broadband internet, our distinctive video assets and attractive mobile offer are market advantages. However, in recent years we have failed to marshal those advantages into a winning strategy and have underperformed the markets, and our own expectations.” As a result, Charter’s chief commercial officer, Adam Ray, and chief marketing officer, Sharon Peters, are leaving the company in December as the operator implements a new plan that includes reduced management layers and improved accountability for a management team tasked by Jeffrey to reverse the company’s decline in its broadband customer base and to improve customer service. You can read about the full set of changes and new management responsibilities at Charter, which Jeffery believes has the scale and assets to continue playing a major role in the US communications services and networking sector, in this article. 

More than 100 delegates from across the industry attended the inaugural meeting of the ETSI Technical Committee on Federated Network, Edge, Cloud and AI Technologies (TC NET), which was launched in June and aims to develop “globally applicable standards for a digital infrastructure that integrates computing and AI resources with connectivity technologies, resulting in a highly programmable, intelligent and federated cloud-network-edge-device continuum”. Dr. Ricard Vilalta, chair of ETSI TC NET and research director at the Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC) where he leads the zero-touch management and secure network service orchestration research within the packet optical networks and services (PONS) unit, stated: “TC NET will define how computing, connectivity and AI resources are federated across cloud, network, edge and devices, so that intelligent services can run wherever they are needed.” During the three-day meeting, four working groups were created to focus specifically on: Continuum infrastructure and control; continuum exposure and services; agentic, intelligent and autonomous networks; and ecosystem harmonisation and validation.

Telenor IoT has joined the 5G Automotive Association (5GAA), the cross-industry body that brings together automotive manufacturers, technology companies, telcos and mobility developers to “advance connected and autonomous mobility solutions”. According to Telenor IoT, which has an automotive connectivity offering called IoT Drive, becoming a member of 5GAA “further strengthens its commitment to the automotive industry… [as it] provides a platform for collaboration with industry leaders, participation in standardisation efforts, and access to insights shaping the next generation of mobility services”. Marie Högberg, head of automotive at Telenor IoT, noted: “The automotive industry is evolving rapidly, driven by increasing connectivity, software-defined vehicles and new digital services. Joining 5GAA is a natural step for us as we continue to strengthen and tailor our offering to the advanced needs of automotive manufacturers worldwide. We look forward to exchanging knowledge with other members, contributing our expertise and collaborating across the automotive ecosystem to support the industry’s continued transformation.”

Separately, the 5GAA has been very busy of late. It has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the CAR 2 CAR Communication Consortium, a European industry initiative that brings together stakeholders from across the transport ecosystem to enable interoperable Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) deployment: It also signed a letter of intent with the IOWN Global Forum to “establish a framework for closer collaboration on next-generation communication technologies and their application to connected mobility”, with a focus on “mobile edge computing use cases that are latency sensitive and compute intensive, the performance needs and requirements of the use cases,” and “architecture mapping for automotive use cases between 5GAA and the IOWN Global Forum”. The 5GAA has also published a position paper, Connectivity and V2X for Highly Automated Vehicles, examining the role of connectivity and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technologies in supporting the deployment and operation of highly automated vehicles, and released two technical reports, Post-Quantum Cryptography for Automotive – Impact Assessment, published in partnership with the GSMA, that examines the potential impact of quantum computing on the security of connected vehicles and automotive communications and Defining measures for successful implementation of 3GPP-based automotive satellite connectivity.

We reported last week about ongoing efforts by telcos to make it easier for enterprise users to get the best from AI, and here’s another example… Singtel’s International Digital Services (IDS) unit, which focuses on building new telco-related digital services in the South-east Asia region, and Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) have launched the Singtel Stack-EZ AI Data Enablement Programme, a two-year initiative to help small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) “organise, structure and make better use of their business data, and become data ready to fully utilise AI tools”. Under the programme, the first 10,000 SMEs will receive complimentary access for six months to SPACE, Singtel’s new AI-powered document management solution that, according to the telco, “turns information from everyday business documents into structured, searchable and reusable data”. Derrick Heng, chief commercial officer at IDS, stated: “Many SMEs recognise the potential of AI but may not know where to start. Having a strong data foundation is an important first step. With Stack-EZ and SPACE, we want to make digital and AI capabilities more accessible to SMEs so they can use technology to strengthen their businesses and pursue new opportunities for growth.”

– The staff, TelecomTV