• Bell Canada partners with Cisco for sovereign AI infrastructure
• Ericsson strikes next-gen infra MoUs with Japanese tech firms
• EU picks Orange Business for secure backbone

In today’s industry news roundup: Bell Canada and Cisco are to collaborate on a sovereign AI partnership for Canadian businesses; Ericsson signs MoUs with Japanese tech firms Murata Manufacturing and Sumitomo Electric Industries to explore next-gen mobile technologies; Orange Business is named the key network partner in a project linking administration organisations across EU member states; and much more!

Bell Canada is teaming up with Cisco to collaborate on a sovereign AI infrastructure offering for Canada that brings together the telco’s datacentre, network and operations capabilities with Cisco’s AI, security, observability, infrastructure monitoring and management, and Sovereign Critical Infrastructure technologies. According to Bell Canada, the partners will “focus on solution architectures that can support different AI workloads, including training and inference, while giving customers more choice and control over where critical systems and data are located, secured and managed.” The collaboration will focus on three core areas, namely: Building a Canadian platform for sovereign AI; supporting modular AI infrastructure deployments; and developing flexible commercial models. John Watson, the operator’s group president for business markets, Bell Cyber, AI Fabric and Ateko, stated: “Bell is focused on helping turn sovereign AI from ambition into infrastructure Canadian organisations can use. That requires secure Canadian datacentre capacity, high-performance connectivity, operational expertise and trusted technology working together. Through this collaboration with Cisco, we will work to make it easier to deploy and scale sovereign AI infrastructure for customers that need greater control, resilience and confidence in the systems behind their most critical workloads." Bell Canada unveiled its AI fabric strategy in May 2025 and has since then been developing partnerships with other Canadian firms, such as AI developer Cohere and AI infrastructure specialist Buzz High Performance Computing.

Ericsson has signed memoranda of understandings (MoUs) with two Japanese technology firms – Murata Manufacturing, a developer of communications modules and sensors, and Sumitomo Electric Industries, which develops optical fibres and cables – “to explore technologies for next-generation mobile network infrastructure”. The partners will aim to develop technologies and capabilities “that can help enhance network performance and reduce product energy consumption, while supporting resilient and trusted next-generation communications systems in the 6G and artificial intelligence (AI) era.” Ericsson noted that the collaboration will draw on its global R&D capabilities and its new R&D centre in Yokohama, which began operations in April 2026 and which “develops advanced radio hardware and software for Japanese and global markets, including high-performing programmable networks, next-generation mobile technologies and open network architectures.”

The European Union has selected Orange Business to securely connect the public administration organisations of EU member states. Orange will become the trusted network partner for TESTA-EIRIS (Enhanced Infrastructure for Reliable Interconnectivity and Security), providing a highly secure, isolated private communications backbone that links institutions, bodies and agencies across the EU.  It will act as the operator, integrator and platform player, as well as providing the Layer 2/Layer 3 backbone for the network project, which is being led by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Digital Services (DG DIGIT). The solution will combine backbone infrastructure, cloud connectivity and virtual private networks to connect distributed sites. Orange Business will also support the network through its Network Operating Center and Security Operating Center through 12 points of presence located across five European regions. “As reliance on digital technologies increases and cyber threats continue to evolve, the EU has placed digital trust at the heart of its strategic priorities. Core to the TESTA-EIRIS backbone project is the drive to build a secure, trusted European digital ecosystem. Orange Business is proud to be chosen to deliver this robust, adaptable and future-proof infrastructure to support the EU’s critical needs,” said Richard van Wageningen, president of Europe at Orange Business.

Samsung Electronics and five affiliates have announced a joint investment of $1bn in Helix Digital Infrastructure, the AI infrastructure startup that was launched in June with $10bn in capital from anchor investors Nvidia, private equity firm KKR, the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) and power-generation giant Vistra. Helix, which appointed former Amazon Web Services (AWS) chief Adam Selipsky as CEO, is, noted Samsung, an “AI-enabling infrastructure provider that is designed to deliver integrated solutions across the entire value chain, including hyperscale datacentre development and operations, power generation (covering both baseload and flexible energy sources), transmission and distribution infrastructure, and fibre-optic networks. Through Helix, hyperscalers can rapidly secure the large-scale, comprehensive infrastructure required to keep pace with exponentially growing AI demands,” added Samsung.

Subsea cable operator Angola Cables has chosen Ciena to upgrade the capacity of its subsea cable network, which spans more than 12,780km of cable routes linking the US, Brazil and Angola. The African subsea firm will deploy Ciena’s Waveserver technology, 6500 Reconfigurable Line System and Navigator Network Control Suite to boost capacity on its Monet and Sacs cable systems, Ciena said in a press release. Angola Cables has already worked with Ciena to deploy the vendor’s GeoMesh solution on its 10,556km Monet cable, which runs from Florida to Santos in Brazil. But the latest deployment will extend their partnership as Angola Cables looks to deal with surging bandwidth demands driven by data-intensive AI models and cloud services through its routes across the Atlantic. Waveserver is a compact, high-capacity, modular stackable transport platform built by Ciena to handle datacentre interconnect metro, long-haul and submarine networks. It is built on the company’s WaveLogic 6 Extreme platform.

German internet exchange DE-CIX has signed a letter of intent with Cabo Verde Telecom (CVTelecom) to explore the possibility of creating a South Atlantic interconnection corridor. The proposed route would connect Sao Paulo in Brazil with Lisbon in Portugal by interconnecting DE-CIX with the Cape Verde operator’s infrastructure to establish a reciprocal service arrangement. Should the partnership come to fruition, CVTelecom will provide dedicated transport capacity between Brazil and Portugal, while DE-CIX will provide access to its interconnection ecosystem, which includes internet exchanges in Frankfurt, Madrid, Marseille, New York and São Paulo. The letter of intent is non-binding and talks between the two are ongoing regarding a definitive agreement, but any partnership would create a diverse new route connecting South America, Europe and West Africa for the telco partners of both firms.

BT International has been picked by global wealth management firm UBS to modernise its global trading platform with the deployment of cloud voice services. Through its specialised financial trading business, BT Trading and Command, the UK-based telco is deploying a cloud-native trader voice platform in Microsoft Azure, one of the first deployments of its kind, claims BT. Switzerland-based UBS currently runs 20 trading platforms, but BT Trading’s Enterprise Cloud will consolidate these into a single platform, operating across 17 countries, where it will be used by more than 2,400 traders. The solution offers secure, carrier-grade cloud voice services, end-to-end encryption, and integrated recording and monitoring capabilities. But BT International was also keen to stress that by moving to the unified, cloud-native platform, UBS will also future-proof itself for future AI-driven insights and automation. Brandon Benson, managing director at UBS, said: “BT was chosen as our preferred technology partner with the capability to deliver a fully integrated solution that meets our technical, regulatory and operational requirements. This ensures our traders have a robust, flexible and future-proof communication platform.”

– The staff, TelecomTV