Ericsson has won a major deal to overhaul Vodafone's networks in multiple markets, paving the way for the widespread deployment of 5G standalone (SA) and 5G Advanced.

Under the agreement, the Swedish kit maker will serve as Voda's sole RAN vendor in Ireland, the Netherlands and Portugal, and maintain its major vendor status in Germany, Romania and Egypt.

In these markets, Voda will avail itself of Ericsson's Open RAN-compatible Massive MIMO radios and RAN compute solutions, as well as 5G Advanced RAN software capabilities.

A report from Juniper Research claims that revenue from travel embedded SIM (eSIM) packages will grow by 85% in 2025.

Packages will reach $1.8 billion by the end of the year compared to $989 million clocked in 2024, says Juniper. The growth is attributed to the increasing cost-effectiveness of travel eSIM packages which offer “an attractive alternative to traditional mobile roaming services.”

After two consecutive years of declining telecom equipment investments, the pendulum is beginning to shift. Preliminary findings indicate that aggregate worldwide telecom equipment revenues across the six programs tracked by Dell’Oro Group—Broadband Access, Microwave & Optical Transport, Mobile Core Network (MCN), Radio Access Network (RAN), and Service Provider Router & Switch—increased by 4% year over year (Y/Y) in 1H25.

• Samsung will play a key role for Vodafone’s Open RAN deployments in multiple European markets, something the operator had previously confirmed
• The vendor says it will supply a range of RAN and network management software solutions and Open RAN-compliant radios
• But there’s still no sense of the scale of the deployments as Vodafone is yet to share its ‘Spring 6’ plan

Samsung, perhaps concerned that its reputation as a credible radio access network (RAN) equipment supplier had been dented by recent developments

• Vodafone and Nokia slash delays on live home broadband fibre connection by 94%.
• World’s first live network test of L4S technology from Nokia Bell Labs using Vodafone Türkiye’s Fibre to the Home network, including in-home Wi-Fi, will lead to improved Internet access across Europe.

Vodafone and Nokia have successfully trialled a new internet technology on a live commercial fibre broadband network, which can significantly reduce internet delays during gaming or videoconferencing, as well as improve the customer experience when streaming content.

UK incumbent BT said its mobile arm EE aims to cover 99% of the population with 5G standalone (SA) by 2030.

That's four years ahead of its rivals, according to Howard Watson, BT's chief security and networks officer, which makes for a fairly ambitious target given EE's 5G SA coverage only crossed the 50% threshold in late August.

Since then, EE has shared plans to light up 5G SA – or 5G+ as EE calls it – in another 17 cities with a view to covering more than 41 million people by next spring.

Building Digital UK will be integrated into the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on 1 November 2025.

As of 1 November 2025 the executive agency responsible for improving broadband and mobile coverage in hard-to-reach parts of the UK, Building Digital UK (BDUK), will be integrated into the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). This update is part of the Government-wide review of arms length bodies launched in April.

Virgin Media O2 has switched on a “first-of-its-kind” Giga Site in Paddington, London, utilising the newly acquired spectrum from Vodafone.

The new site combines low, mid and high-band spectrum using Nokia’s dual-band massive MIMO technology, which we’re told has a large number of antennas to improve 5G network performance by boosting capacity, spectral efficiency, data rates, and coverage.

T-Mobile US has added a data offering to its satellite-based direct-to-cell service that allows customers to use slimmed-down versions of some key apps, including WhatsApp and X.

Joint project will support the development of high performance Non-Terrestrial Networks