Brendan is a Senior Analyst with GlobalData. With approx. 20 years' experience in working in the telecommunications industry providing market and competitive insights with focus on the global enterprise market.
Telecom Italia’s Sparkle has launched its quantum-safe interconnect (QSI) with Equinix across 20 International Business Exchange (IBX) positioned throughout Europe, the Americas, and Asia.
With the rise of quantum computing, it has highlighted the importance of cybersecurity, with growing concerns around future attacks where sensitive data could be compromised – store now, decrypt later.
The wholesale telecommunications segment has traditionally competed on scale, reach, latency and price. However, as enterprises accelerate the adoption of AI, hybrid cloud, and internationally distributed workloads, another factor is rapidly moving up the priority list: Security. With cyber threats becoming increasingly sophisticated and quantum computing edging closer to becoming able to break traditional encryption, quantum-safe connectivity is emerging as the next major differentiator for wholesale operators seeking to move beyond price-led competition. CSPs that can combine their global reach, low latency, and post-quantum security will be positioned to capture a greater share of the enterprise and hyperscaler demand. The broader question now emerging for the industry is whether security could soon become just as important as scale, reach, and price in wholesale telecommunications.
• Telstra and Google have expanded their partnership, leveraging complementary subsea and terrestrial fiber assets to strengthen regional connectivity and digital infrastructure.
• The partnership aligns with Google’s strategy to expand its infrastructure through deeper collaboration with telecom operators.
If telecom press releases were a streaming service, “Strategic Partnership” would be the show nobody gets hyped up about, but somehow it continues to be renewed for another season. So, when Telstra and Google announced yet another episode, it would be easy to save it under the industry favorites category: “Sounds important and involves cloud, platforms, and future opportunities.” The problem is that this one might actually matter. Behind the familiar language sits a partnership that reflects a bigger shift, where telecom operators are increasingly positioning themselves as digital infrastructure providers, and where hyperscalers are becoming more embedded in the infrastructure that carries the growing volumes of data, applications and digital services. As the demand for AI and cloud continues to grow, will partnerships like this become the new battleground for telecom operators?
This announcement between Google and Telstra will see both companies leverage each other’s terrestrial and subsea networks to improve their network resilience, capacity, and security as the demand for AI applications continues to grow, putting pressure on digital infrastructure. Under the agreement, Google will utilize Telstra’s newly deployed terrestrial fiber network, Aura, with the carrier passing more than halfway (8,000km of its 14,000-fiber build) linking Melbourne, Canberra, and Sydney. Telstra will access Google’s Pacific Connect and Australia Connect initiatives to use subsea fiber pairs on the Tabua (connecting Australia, Fiji, Hawaii, and California), Proa (connecting Guam, Japan, and Northern Mariana Islands), and Bulikula subsea cable systems (connecting Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and Hawaii).
This announcement is not the first collaboration between Telstra and Google. The relationship between the two companies spans several years and multiple strategic infrastructure projects. In 2019, Telstra joined a consortium that included Google, Singtel, Superloop, AARNET, and Indosat Ooredoo to develop the Indigo-West cable system, strengthening connectivity between Australia and Asia. More recently, in January 2024, Telstra announced its participation in the Central Pacific Connect initiative alongside APT. As part of the project, Telstra will own and operate a dedicated fiber pair on the Bulikula subsea cable system connecting Guam and Fiji. Together, these investments highlight the deepening strategic alignment between Telstra and Google and their expanding digital infrastructure and connectivity across the Indo-Pacific region.
This isn’t Google’s first infrastructure partnership in the Australian telecommunications sector. The company has previously established partnerships with Vocus on the Australia Connect and South Pacific Connect cable initiatives, improving network diversity and expanding connectivity across Australia and the wider Indo-Pacific region.
As AI adoption accelerates and cloud architectures become more diverse, demand for bandwidth across Asia-Pacific, including Australia, is expected to grow significantly over the next four years as enterprises, hyperscalers and governments move larger amounts of data between data centers, cloud, and edge locations. Against this backdrop, partnerships between Telstra and Google highlight how carriers and hyperscalers are becoming more intertwined in the delivery of digital infrastructure. As the line between connectivity, cloud, and AI continue to blur, infrastructure partnerships will continue to emerge as one of the key drivers shaping the next phase of growth in the telecommunications industry.
Orange Wholesale together with ng-voice to launch its IMS-as-a-service, offering a cloud-based alternative designed to remove the complexity of traditional IMS deployments.
The new solution will deliver voice services with a lower cost of ownership while removing the operational complexity of maintaining its own IMS infrastructure.
As international voice margins continue to decline, wholesale carriers are under growing pressure to reinvent a revenue stream that has been in continual decline for years. Orange Wholesale has teamed up with ng-voice, to launch an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS)-as-a-service offering designed to modernize how telecom operators deploy and manage their voice services.
• Ooredoo Group launches Ooredoo Fibre Networks, an independent entity dedicated to managing and scaling Ooredoo’s international connectivity and submarine cable infrastructure ambitions.
• By establishing a new entity, Ooredoo can be financially independent from its domestic operations, enabling it to be more transparent to present and future investors.
As global bandwidth demand surges and AI-driven cloud expansion continues to reshape traditional global traffic corridors, Ooredoo’s decision to establish a standalone business dedicated to international subsea cable and terrestrial fiber connectivity signals a shift in strategic intent. Rather than simply expanding capacity, the carrier appears to be reorganizing its infrastructure to compete more assertively in the wholesale and transit arena, where scale, route diversity, and commercial agility increasingly define market leadership. In a region that is fast-emerging as a key route, is Ooredoo positioning itself to evolve from a multi-national connectivity provider into the Middle East’s regional connectivity powerhouse?
• Sparkle has teamed up with VDPC and private equity firm Teset Capital will build the Barracuda Subsea Cable, a high-capacity subsea cable connecting Spain to Italy.
• Sparkle will acquire the Valencia-Genoa infrastructure and Valencia co-location, boosting its connectivity across the Iberian Peninsula.
In today’s interconnected world, subsea cables are the unseen arteries that power global communications with underwater cables carrying approximately 99% of the world’s internet traffic across continents. As operators collaborate to expand their network infrastructure, the recent announcement between wholesale network provider, Sparkle and Spanish telecommunications provider, Valencia Digital Port Connect (VDPC) highlights how strategic collaborations between infrastructure players continue to shape the future of digital connectivity. But as ownership of Sparkle is about to change, could this influence its long-term role in global infrastructure?
Vodafone Group will build two submarine cable systems, Thetis Express and Kardesa Cable systems, as it looks to further strengthen its global undersea network.
Vodafone’s investment in both its terrestrial and subsea cable infrastructure validates its intention to remain a critical enabler of global connectivity in an AI-driven world.
With demand for data continuing to soar driven by AI, cloud, and other data-intensive services, the Vodafone Wholesale division unveiled plans to expand its global infrastructure as it looks to future-proof its network acknowledging that growth will depend on network resilience and scalability beyond today’s traffic patterns. Over recent months, the carrier has made multiple announcements to build two cable systems named Thetis Express and Kardesa. With the AI boom just starting, will Vodafone’s investment in its global network keep pace for future growth?
• SubCo will establish a trans-pacific submarine cable project dubbed ‘APX East’ that will directly connect Australia with mainland US.
• While Australia already has sovereign owned cables, it’s crucial that this type of infrastructure remains in domestic ownership to ensure data sovereignty is met.
Over the last few years, international connectivity strategies have largely been driven by scale – favoring bigger pipes, alternative routes, and the assumption that capacity would keep pace with demand. However, with the rise in data traffic contributed by AI, data-intensive workloads, and diminishing tolerance for outages, this is forcing carriers to rethink how international networks are designed and evaluated.
Vocus has launched its business-focused MVNO brand, Vocus Mobile, aiming to disrupt the market and inject fresh competition into an already hypercompetitive landscape.
Backed by an expanded customer base from the TPG Enterprise acquisition, Vocus is well-positioned to accelerate growth with its existing client base.
Australian telecoms infrastructure provider Vocus has finally launched its own business-focused MVNO brand, Vocus Mobile. Leveraging Optus’s 4G and 5G networks the company aims to position itself as a one-stop provider for enterprise communications, offering connectivity solutions across networking, collaboration, and now mobility as it looks to stand out with a range of self-serve features to create a better user experience for its clients. Will the entrance of another MVNO challenger selling basic mobile connectivity in an already crowded market make a difference?
• Tata Communications will collaborate with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to build a high-capacity network connecting three major AWS infrastructure locations in Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Chennai.
• In a growing trend, more telecom providers are building high-capacity terrestrial networks to meet the growing demand in bandwidth contributed by the rise in artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud.
Tata Communications has announced a new partnership with AWS to build and deploy a high-capacity national terrestrial network backbone, making a significant move in transforming the country’s digital infrastructure evolution. This strategic collaboration between the two supports the continued rise in demand for data-intensive workloads driven by AI and cloud adoption. In what is becoming an increasing trend among global telecom operators, with more carriers investing substantial funds to expand, or upgrade their terrestrial networks to meet future data traffic demands, contributed by data-hungry workloads such as AI/ML, while future-proofing their networks to meet the requirements of their hyperscalers and enterprise customers.
Vocus, an Australian fiber and technology solutions provider, has doubled down on its focus of providing satellite services to its enterprise and government customers to bridge the connectivity void across the country. The carrier has made multiple announcements over the last week, announcing it has partnered with Canadian satellite operator, Telesat, to launch LEO satellite services in Australia and expand its capabilities with StarLink, which will see the carrier add Layer 2 integration to extend secure private networks in remote locations. Will this announcement from the carrier finally put an end to poor connectivity and transform remote connectivity for enterprises in regional Australia?
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