• Euro telcos issue subsea security plea
• Telefónica shareholders welcome new CEO
• T-Mobile US to test 7GHz wireless gear

In today’s industry news roundup: Major European telecom sector players are calling for greater collaboration and focus on the security of subsea cables in the region; Marc Murtra has been approved by most Telefónica shareholders as the new head honcho; T-Mobile US looks to be getting ahead of the game on 6G testing; and much more!

Seven networks operators – GlobalConnect, Orange, Proximus, Sparkle (Telecom Italia), Telefónica, Telenor, and Vodafone – and two subsea network vendors – Alcatel Submarine Networks and cable-maker NKT – have joined forces to issue an open letter to European Union, UK and NATO decision-makers calling for closer collaboration and greater harmonisation in Europe’s subsea cables ecosystem. “At this crucial time for Europe’s security and resilience, we commend your efforts to strengthen collective defence and protect critical infrastructure,” noted the signatories. “Subsea cables play a vital role in Europe’s connectivity, competitiveness, defence readiness, and economic stability. With the rise in hybrid threats, including incidents affecting subsea cables in the Baltic and North Sea, we emphasise the importance of enhanced, coordinated action to safeguard Europe’s cross-border networks. The EU Action Plan on Cable Security provides a clear approach to further increase the resilience and security of subsea cables,” they added, referring to the action plan unveiled in a joint communication to the European Parliament and the European Council in late February. They added: “The challenge now is to ensure a high level of security and resilience across Europe building on existing frameworks, such as the NIS2 Directive, and promoting best practices. The entire subsea cable ecosystem must be regarded as critical infrastructure. It is essential to collectively ensure the appropriate level of security screening, protection and investments into resilience. The repercussions of damage to subsea cables extend far beyond Europe, potentially affecting global internet and power infrastructure, international communications, financial transactions, and critical services worldwide. We urge the EU/EEA, UK, and NATO decision-makers to work together closely with EU/EEA and UK industry stakeholders. Harmonised approaches must be developed for the subsea cables ecosystem, aiming to align security objectives with operational feasibility as well as a viable business model and based on proportionate and risk-based best practices, developed in close consultation with industry. These best practices on security could be spread through public procurement, which can be mirrored across like-minded partners and NATO allies.” The signatories also call for “investment in advanced technologies to detect and mitigate damage to subsea cables” and “the development of additional routes, both terrestrial and subsea, [to] enhance redundancy and reduce vulnerability to single points of failure.” Read the full letter here. 

Telefónica’s Annual General Shareholders’ Meeting has approved the appointment of Marc Murtra as executive director/CEO of the giant Spanish telco and given the all clear for the operator’s 2024 full year accounts. Murtra, who was announced as the new CEO in January when dominant shareholders effectively ousted the former chief José María Álvarez-Pallete, received support from 90.75% of Telefónica’s shareholders. The new CEO didn’t wait for the annual meeting to get stuck in, though: He has already revamped the telco’s top management team, and appointed a new COO as well as new heads for Telefónica Tech, the Spanish telco’s digital enterprise services division, and the company’s digital services division – see Telefónica rings top table changes.

T-Mobile US is set to trial network equipment from Nokia that uses the 7GHz spectrum band in what appear to be pre-6G tests, Light Reading has reported. The US operator and Nokia are already working closely on AI-RAN trials that look like they might also play a role in the telco’s next-generation mobile infrastructure plans. To find out what T-Mobile US, and other telcos, would like to see in the 6G era, read our new free-to-download Defining 6G Networks report, What do operators want? And for the latest on 6G developments, check out TelecomTV’s dedicated channel, Defining 6G Networks.  

At 220 miles, the River Severn is Britain’s longest river and, as the residents of Shrewsbury, the biggest conurbation in the beautiful county of Shropshire (and through which the Severn flows) can tell you, it frequently breaks its banks and floods parts of the medieval city and other towns and villages as it rolls along on its way to the sea. It has been a problem for centuries but now, as part of a major new intervention, mobile comms technologies and networks are being co-opted to provide much more accurate and immediate short-term forecasts of impending rain and possible consequent flooding. Vodafone UK is supporting the River Severn Partnership Advanced Wireless Innovation Region (RSPAWIR), a UK government-funded initiative overseen by Shropshire Council that covers 6,000 square miles in England and Wales. While falling rain (and snow) absorb, scatter and weaken the microwave radio signals that link some mobile base stations and masts, the disruptions also create data that can be processed to “function as a virtual rain gauge”, which (as Peter Piper, the pickled pepper picker, might have said) provides “pinpointed and precise precipitation data”. Vodafone is experimenting with this phenomenon and will monitor and exploit the differences in signal strength to identify those caused by precipitation, using technology developed by Toronto, Canada-headquartered network optimisation specialist Wireless DNA, and will share this data with the River Severn Partnership. The new ‘network-as-a-sensor’ system will supply a dense ground-level layer of extremely accurate data to supplement existing forecasting and recording systems, such as weather radar and the good, old-fashioned rain gauges that for hundreds of years have provided an historical record of rainfall. The data will also be used to enhance the information already being collected by huge numbers of Vodafone’s internet of things (IoT) environmental sensors. Vodafone monitors the performance of microwave links every 15 minutes or so and adjusts its network to compensate for any loss of connection strength, particularly during heavy downpours. Vodafone’s engineers can also monitor the dryness of the air, which when combined with low humidity, high temperature and strong winds, can lead to wildfires. Nick Gliddon, director of Vodafone Business UK, commented: “Storms and extreme weather are becoming more frequent and destructive. Working with River Severn Partnership, we can use our cutting-edge technology to provide greater insight on weather forecasting and help mitigate the impact of extreme events.” 

Given that the International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts that the amount of electricity needed to power the world’s datacentres will double by 2030, the 2025 Data Center Energy Storage Industry Insights Report from ZincFive, a Tualatin, Oregon, US-based company working in nickel-zinc (NiZn) battery technology, is both timely and pertinent. It provides insight from 132 global industry professionals on the changing priorities in datacentres as AI puts massive strain on energy resources. Written in collaboration with Data Center Frontier, a US publishing house that tracks the digital economy and charts the development and likely future path for datacentres and cloud computing, the key findings of the new report are that 55% of respondents interviewed about the huge effect AI is having on power and energy storage said increased energy-efficiency requirements are their most pressing concern, whilst 54% stressed the growing need for higher power density and smaller footprints. Furthermore, 58% cited cost as the primary driver for changes in energy storage technology while 49% are worried about safety and security. Some 42% said cooling requirements are a major headache and 49% referenced problems with product availability (or the lack of it). Reliability issues are of concern to 39% of respondents. Where sustainability is concerned, 87% regard it as a priority, up from 81% in 2024. Additionally, 72% reported significant or moderate cost reductions had accrued from their organisation’s sustainability plans – that’s up from 63% last year. In another significant change, 37% of respondents said they expect their UPS (uninterrupted power supply) battery backup run times to decrease in the future, a big increase on the 26% reported in 2024. Interestingly, 68% of respondents said they use modular power solutions and will continue to do so. About 22% deploy them in all locations but 14%, if you’ll excuse the pun, have no current plans to adopt modular power systems. The IEA is a Paris, France-based autonomous intergovernmental organisation that provides policy recommendations, analysis and data on the global energy sector. It comprises 31 member countries and 13 association countries: Together they represent 75% of global energy demand.

Another day, another remarkable development in the ongoing search to find ways to make computing systems perform more like the human brain. Cortical Labs, a company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, is working on its CL1 machine which, it claims, is the world’s first commercially available biological computer. In its current iteration, the computer is designed to enhance biomedical and pharmaceutical research and help in the development of new drugs to treat neurodegenerative and cognitive diseases. The company says the half organic and half hardware CL1 provides “actual intelligence rather than artificial intelligence” and is already able to deliver faster and much more energy-efficient commercial computing than regular IT systems. The research, and the functioning of the biological computer, is based in and on laboratory-grown brain cells and it is hoped the machine will help unravel the workings of information-processing in the human brain and aid scientists and medics to understand the mechanisms by which neurons process information and how real-time learning works. Other research teams in other parts of the world are developing neuron clusters outside a living organism, usually by exploiting the remarkable properties of stem cells. However, Cortical Labs has gone further by placing these cells in a system where they receive information from a computer program. The information in it is processed by the human cells and the results then interact with an external environment. Interviewed by the Spanish newspaper El Pais, Dr. Hon Weng Chong, founder and director of Cortical Labs, explained that given the proliferation of AI, there is a great need to understand how biological intelligence arises. He said, “When neurons (nerve cells) are cultured, they typically don’t receive data; they’re simply arranged in a dish, emitting and collecting their own electrical activity. But that’s not what happens naturally inside a living being. So, we created a system that allows us to build simulations that neurons can process.” The hybrid organism is kept alive and thriving by an internal support system that regulates temperature and the flow of gases while the cells are fed a nutrient-rich solution via state-of-the-art filtration units. Hon Weng Chong added, “We try to mimic what the body does: Keep them well nourished, eliminate waste and keep them at the right temperature. It shouldn’t be too hot or too cold, around 37C, the normal temperature of the human body. We also have to maintain the correct pH levels, so it’s neither too acidic nor too alkaline.” Operation of the computer is managed through a “biological intelligence system” (bioS) that permits users to run code through neurons to perform computing tasks. The connection between the organic and hardware components of the device is by means of a microprocessor that acts as an interface, receiving and sending electrical impulses to the nerve cells. Analysts calculate that a graphics processing unit (GPU) working in a conventional datacentre to support AI workloads consumes more than 3.7 million watts of electrically power annum. Dr. Chong says the CL1 will consume only 1,000 watts a year. You can buy a CL1 today for $35,000. However, as the company advises, “it is not designed for the average user.” Now there’s an understatement.

– The staff, TelecomTV