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In Today’s Issue

What’s Happening On Earth?

Cable companies Charter and Cox agree to merge - Charter Communications and Cox Communications, two of the largest cable companies in the U.S., have entered into an agreement to merge.  The deal values Cox at $34.5 billion on an enterprise basis, in line with Charter’s recent enterprise value, according to a news release.  Charter’s Spectrum, the brand on its cable, broadband, mobile and other services, will become the consumer-facing brand across all customers.

Lumen sells consumer fiber biz to AT&T for $5.75B - Turns out the rumors were true. In an announcement after market-close on Wednesday, Lumen confirmed it is selling its Mass Markets fiber-to-the-home business to AT&T for $5.75 billion in cash.

FCC approves Verizon’s $20bn acquisition of Frontier following DEI u-turn - The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved Verizon’s proposed $20 billion acquisition of Frontier Communications.

My Take: Busy week for M&A things. A lot of “billions” changing hands. Must be due to the solar flares.

🇨🇦 ISED has designed a non-competitive local licensing (NCLL) process to provide a simple licensing approach to allow small operators and businesses easy access to 5G wireless services and beyond. - An NCLL framework will promote the growth of innovative business models, encourage continuous investment in cutting-edge wireless technology like 5G networks, and enhance connectivity in Canada. NCLL can prove advantageous for local entrepreneurs and small wireless service operators.

My Take: Anyone else miss this quiet release of the program?

Celona CEO on private networks, the growth of healthcare and AI - Private network startup Celona is making inroads with large enterprises across the globe as they tackle cellular connectivity projects. And CEO Rajeev Shah had some very interesting things to say about what companies it is - and isn't - seeing out on the playing field.

My Take: So with Canada opening up the NCL spectrum, what application will drive demand from new solution providers? Used to be that only the guys who owned the spectrum could put solutions in place.

🇨🇦 Telecoms say roaming revenue down as Canadians reduce U.S. travel over tariffs - Canada’s Big Three telecommunications carriers say they are taking in less revenue from international roaming so far this year as fewer Canadians travel to the U.S. amid the ongoing trade war.

My Take: Well, its included in my plan, so not sure they would know. Having said that, it’s a good indictor.

Verizon talks balancing MVNOs, fiber, wireless - At the MoffettNathanson conference, Verizon Consumer Group CEO outlined a dual-engine plan to scale fiber and FWA while turning cable MVNOs into profit-friendly allies

My Take: Interesting. The Cable MVNOs don’t really target the same customer segment, so it’s a better revenue situation for Vz

The Psychology of Bundling: Why Broadband Needs Less Choice, More Clarity - What actually drives performance? It's how you package and present value to your subscribers. Let’s unpack that — with a little help from jam, pizza, and free shipping.

A closer look at how fiber benefits AT&T's mobile business - A new investor report indicates AT&T may be gaining up to 100,000 mobile customers every quarter thanks in part to its efforts to converge fiber and wireless services into one bundle.

The Bundle Battle: Why Rural Broadband Providers Must Pay Attention to Wireless - Bundles are winning: Customers increasingly prefer bundled smartphone and home broadband services for simplicity and savings – national carriers like Verizon, T-Mobile, Comcast, and Charter are capitalizing on this trend and gaining market share.

My Take: All of a sudden, all these articles and studies about bundles. Did I miss something, or haven’t bundles been around for quite some time? The psychology of bundles is something else, though. Give subscribers more and ask them what they want to remove, don’t start with bare bones and work your way up!

Verizon CEO: Demand for 5G private networks is 'way better' - Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg is finally seeing the benefits of being too early to the mobile edge compute (MEC) game.

My Take: Seems to be a bit of a deal with in healthcare.

Spain suffers new mobile blackout after botched Telefonica update - The outage, which affected all major operators including Movistar, Orange, Vodafone, Digimobil and O2, began around 2:00 AM CET and worsened by 5:00 AM, disrupting services in major cities such as Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Valencia, Bilbao and Malaga. Users suffered a complete loss of signal, inability to make calls, receive texts or use mobile data.

🇨🇦 Bell Canada restores internet service after outage hits users in Quebec, Ontario - Bell Canada said on Wednesday it had rolled back an update and restored internet services after a nearly two-hour outage hit tens of thousands of customers in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario.

My Take: What’s with all the outages? Is everyone using the same code in the same routers with the same config? Of course, not.

The pace of fiber optic innovation is ‘staggering’ of late, says Ciena exec - The entire fiber ecosystem is racing to keep pace with the demands of AI. One Ciena exec gives a lot of credit to Corning for innovations in fiber optic glass. The next frontier will be fiber optic innovation within the data center.

My Take:  “Ciena announced working silicon for 400 Gbps per lane PAM4 transmission, gearing up for 3.2 Tbps client optics in the future.”

Ciena hopes to head under the sea with fiber optic sensing tech - You could consider the fiber optical cables that crisscross the globe as the world’s broadband arteries — arteries that also span oceans, of course. At last week’s Ciena Vectors conference, Ciena’s Chief Technology Officer for International Jürgen Hatheier told Fierce Network that the company’s subsea optical business is now diving into fiber optic sensing.

My Take: Chatted about fiber sensing in Episode 10 of the podcast.

Trump calls for spectrum auction in ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ - Trump endorsed language in the reconciliation bill that would put 600 MHz up for auction. The bill excludes the lower 3 GHz band from 3.1-3.45 GHz and the 6 GHz band. Despite the exclusion of the lower 3 GHz, CTIA is urging passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”

My Take: It’s really called “One Big Beautiful Bill”..

The data center boom in the desert - The AI race is transforming northwestern Nevada into one of the world's largest data-center markets—and sparking fears of water strains in the nation’s driest state.

My Take: Isn’t it hot and dry in the desert?

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report on network resilience - some MNOs were badly affected by a lack of power resilience, even one had their core affected, whilst others appeared to manage their networks far better.  Luke Kehoe of Ookla gave a fascinating update of the how the MNOs networks reacted to the recent wide scale power failure in the Iberian Peninsula (Spain / Portugal).

My Take: There’s a link to a YouTube video of the semiar and a document.

What’s Happening In Space?

What’s in Space This Week?

🇨🇦 Novaspace’s latest White Paper provides roadmap to facilitate commercialization of space in Canada - Embracing international best practices will help drive commercial growth, and solidify Canada’s standing as a leader in space and innovation 

My Take: There’s a plan.

🇨🇦 Success! - Friday May 16th, 2025, we successfully tested both our new orbital Darkhorse engine test cell and our new third generation 3D printed Hadfield liquid rocket engine - The test ran for 7 seconds at our propulsion test range, a company-owned secure site in Northeastern Ontario, successfully delivering nominal thrust, active cooling, and impulse results. This major test of the Darkhorse test cell and Hadfield Mk III engine lays the groundwork for NordSpace's Tundra orbital rocket, as the test cell is specifically designed to integrate with our turbo pump assembly in the next phase of propulsion development.

My Take: Watch Nordspace. Building launch capacity and rockets. Would have loved to have been close to this!

🇨🇦 The future of space defense is flexible, allied, and commercial: how Telesat Lightspeed aligns with emerging strategic priorities - Strategic deterrence, homeland defense, and allied interoperability are converging under an overarching mandate: leverage commercial innovations for resilient defense capabilities to meet today’s threats.

My Take: “Purpose-built to serve enterprise, defense, and government customers, Telesat Lightspeed offers the scale of a commercial solution with the assurance of near military-grade security and reliability. Its flexibility supports a broad range of operational profiles, from day-to-day missions to large-scale contingency operations.

🇨🇦 Telesat seeks partner for $1bn ground station network build-out - The Ottawa-based company is working with an adviser to run an auction process to win the right to build the infrastructure for Telesat.

My Take: I still have a bunch of Calix stock in my E*trade account that I’m willing to contribute. Anyone?

Trump selects $175 billion Golden Dome defense shield design, appoints leader - The US has selected a design for the futuristic "Golden Dome" missile defence system, says President Donald Trump, adding that it will be operational by the end of his time in office.

My Take: Although it’s a necessary and lofty goal, he has this thing with Gold, and insofar as it’s modelled after Israel’s Iron Dome concept, it’s still not a good name. So many better names. How about Orange Dome, Aegis Sentinel, SkyGuard, StarShield, Liberty Shield, Freedom Dome, Skyward Aegis, Patriot Halo, Aurora Shield, Guardian Web, Titan Dome, Phoenix Bastion, StratoGuard, Freedom Net, Paladin Shield, Horizon Sentinel

Executing “first move advantage” to maintain dominance in space - Amazon recently launched its first batch of Kuiper satellites that gives the DoD resiliency and diversity for communications in low-Earth orbit.

My Take: I wonder if there’s even a business case if you don’t have DoD as part of the mix.

HAPS Alliance Releases Framework for Global Digital Skies in Higher Airspace - “Our goal is clear: to foster a globally consistent, interoperable, and secure environment for Higher Airspace operations, enabling seamless, cross-border automated aviation while maintaining the highest standards of safety, security, and flexibility,”

My Take: I used to think HAPS was crazy talk, but there have been some real advancements with the solution from a couple of companies. They really can solve multiple problems in specific regions.

Brazil is redefining its national digital infrastructure by integrating Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) as a key pillar of its connectivity and inclusion strategy.- As 5G rollouts progress unevenly in remote areas, the country is turning to satellite communications, HAPS (High-Altitude Platform Stations), and hybrid models to meet both consumer and institutional demands.

My Take: See?

Amazon’s Satellite Internet Project Kuiper Set To Enter India, After Starlink - Amazon’s big satellite internet plan — Project Kuiper — is getting ready to launch in India. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is likely to issue a Letter of Intent (LoI) soon, a key step needed before it can officially operate in the country, a highly placed source told NDTV Profit

MyTake: Doesn’t make sense to me, but who knows.

Starlink Mini Deal Is Back in Canada—$200 Off While It Lasts - Starlink Mini, the compact satellite internet kit from SpaceX, is back on sale in Canada for $399, down from its regular $599. The limited-time offer, spotted by Tesla North, ends on May 28.

My Take: $199 and you’re mine.

A simulation illustrating the transmission pathway utilized in NASA’s experiment to deliver 4K video from an aircraft to the (ISS) and back - This milestone is part of a series of tests on advanced technology that could enable live video broadcasts of astronauts on the Moon during upcoming Artemis missions.

My Take: 4K from the moon would be exceptional. Having a cell phone call not drop on a major highway in Toronto would be great as well.

Self-Healing Space Polymer Offers New Hope Against Growing Orbital Debris - Space debris is becoming an increasingly urgent issue as the number of satellites and spacecraft in low Earth orbit (LEO) continues to rise. Between 2019 and 2023, SpaceX’s Starlink satellites alone performed more than 50,000 maneuvers to avoid potential collisions. In LEO, objects travel at approximately 8 kilometers per second—faster than a bullet—making even the smallest debris a significant threat to spacecraft.

My Take: Terminator, anyone?

China’s Space Industry Unpacked: Key Players, Policy, and Private Sector Growth - China has emerged as a significant force in the global space economy by building a vertically integrated, state-supported ecosystem, nurturing a growing commercial sector, and maintaining a clear geopolitical agenda. Backed by state industrial policy and geopolitical ambition, the country has steadily expanded its capabilities across launch, manufacturing, and satellite operations.

My Take: Oh, my.

Report: Mystery Aerospace Company Plans $247 Million Development in Florida - Citing a Space Florida memo, Florida Today reports the venture is referred to as Project Beep and the undisclosed company plans develop manufacturing, R&D, warehousing, and administrative facilities on a leased 25-acre site within Exploration Park, a NASA and Space Florida-run campus on Merritt Island.

My Take: Possible Project Scenarios

1. Next-Generation Satellite Manufacturing

• “Beep” as a nod to Sputnik: Could this be a company focused on mass-manufacturing small satellites or next-gen communications satellites? Exploration Park is already home to OneWeb’s satellite factory, so a competitor (e.g., Amazon Kuiper, a new LEO constellation startup, or even Starlink expansion) is possible.

• The large site, warehousing, and R&D all fit with the logistics of satellite production and launch integration.

2. Autonomous/Active Space Debris Mitigation

• “Beep” as in “alert”: Perhaps the project involves developing active debris tracking or removal tech, using “beep” to reference warning or collision-avoidance systems. There’s an emerging market for on-orbit servicing, debris cleanup, and tracking.

• The warehousing and manufacturing suggest hardware, possibly robotic spacecraft, tugs, or sensor networks.

3. Advanced Spacecraft or Propulsion R&D

• A new propulsion technology (e.g., electric, nuclear, or high-frequency radio beamed propulsion)? The R&D focus and secrecy could point to something disruptive.

4. Space-based IoT or Communications Network

• “Beep” = simple signal, like early space probes or IoT sensors. The company could be working on a low-cost, wide-area sensor network—perhaps for earth observation, asset tracking, or emergency response using small satellites.

5. Lunar or Deep Space Support Technologies

• Given the proximity to Artemis and lunar gateway projects, “Beep” might relate to lunar landers, relay satellites, or comms equipment for deep-space applications.

6. Autonomous Vehicles or Drones

• “Beep” might even be a play on “beep beep”—the sound associated with the Road Runner, which could be an inside reference to rapid or agile autonomous vehicles, either terrestrial (spaceport ground ops) or aerial/spacecraft.

Eutelsat OneWeb + Kymeta debut multi-orbit SATCOM offering to strengthen global governments’ defense infrastructures - The terminal meets key defense needs by enabling the benefits of both GEO and LEO networks on one terminal, providing resilient, flexible multi-orbit connectivity across all operational domains. As nations boost defense spending and invest in sovereign SATCOM, the Goshawk u8 is purpose-built to deliver.

My Take: Defence gets all the cool toys.

United Launches Free Gate-to-Gate Starlink Wi-Fi, Starting with Regional Flights - Forget airplane mode. United passengers can now connect to lightning-fast, free in-flight Wi-Fi from gate to gate, thanks to Starlink.

My Take: You still need airplane more, but with WiFi turned on. I question whether you really ever needed (need) airplane mode to begin with.

Sophia Space raises $3.5 million for orbiting data centers - The Southern California startup’s modular data centers will be particularly useful for intelligence gathering, disaster monitoring and disaster management,

My Take: DCs in space is all the rage these days. They seem to gloss over the “space cooling” thing, which I understand to be one of the major engineering challenges..

Geopolitics and sovereignty are (once again) a driving force for the space industry - Governments around the world are increasingly viewing development in the space sector as a vital component of national defence and public budgets, rather than simply a symbolic effort to follow industry leaders.

My Take: Good article that points out the realities of operating a sovereign network servicing only one country - in this case, Suadi Arabia.

Carr shifts upper 12GHz from 6G to satellites - The FCC in 2022 hinted at an interest in allocating the upper 12GHz band for 5G and 6G networks. Now, though, it's considering allocating the band for satellite Internet services.

My Take: The spectrum stuff in the US makes my head hurt.

Direct To Device

This Billionaire Immigrant Is Racing Elon Musk To Connect Your Phone From Space - Abel Avellan is taking on SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Project Kuiper in the battle to provide broadband satellite internet directly to your smartphone.

My Take: Scanned it.. Didn’t read it, yet.. but I’m sure it a good article.

5G NTN: Sky-High Hype, Grounded Reality - Back in 2020, the buzz around Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) was palpable. Market forecasts painted a picture of rapid growth, with expectations of significant deployment and adoption by 2024. However, as we find ourselves in 2025, it’s evident that these projections have not materialized as anticipated.

My Take: Yet. So people were ahead of the curve. Kuiper was supposed to launch years ago. Blame it all on COVID.

Satellite expert says D2D services are lacking - while D2D services are valuable in remote rural areas and for providing service in disaster areas where cell services are down, they lack speed, capacity and building penetration.

My Take: Yea, we know. Give it time.

Enabling AI

Emergent social conventions and collective bias in LLM populations - AI agents using natural language can spontaneously develop shared social conventions, even without explicit programming.

My Take: So this is like me taking two calls from telemarketers trying to sell me duct cleaning services, connecting the lines, and letting them figure out what the hell is going on. Is that it? AI systems create their own social rules and norms without being told exactly what to do.. that’s what the research is about.

The AI-driven telecom: A new era of network transformation - The telecommunications industry is undergoing a profound transformation, with AI and generative AI emerging as key catalysts. Communication service providers (CSPs) are increasingly recognizing that these technologies are not merely incremental improvements but fundamental drivers for achieving strategic business and operational objectives. This includes enabling digital transformation, fostering service innovation, optimizing monetization strategies, and enhancing customer retention.  

My Take: A lot of criticism that telco-based AI applications are only working to reduce OPEX, but not really enhance ARPU. If it’s helping to improve retention, then I guess that counts as revenue?

AI models can't tell time or read a calendar, study reveals - Challenges in visual and spatial processing and a deficit in training data have revealed a surprising lack of timekeeping ability in AI systems

My Take: Funny, my wife has the same problem. Maybe she’s AI? (She never reads my newsletter. I’m fine)

🇨🇦 Why TELUS is building an AI factory - Jaime Tatis, chief insights officer at TELUS, talks about the strategy underpinning the Canadian operator’s AI factory, the importance of security and sustainability in AI developments, the telco’s data management and training programmes and much more.

My Take: Sovereign AI, and all that. Telus seems to be leading the pack here, even though the Feds are also looking at some massively underfunded initiative.

OpenAI buys iPhone architect’s startup for $6.4bn - The hardware startup, called io, was founded by Apple design guru Jony Ive, known best as one of the principal architects of the iPhone.

My Take: More AI-embedded devices!

Google I/O 2025: From research to reality - Here’s how we’re making AI more helpful with Gemini.

My Take: The translation feature under Google Meet is interesting. Even though I’m fully bilingual… 🤔

Engage AI: - Engage AI is your digital brain, designed to enhance and simplify LinkedIn engagement.

My Take: Interesting free tool. I wonder how much of it would be in my voice?

This and That!

‘Rogue’ communication devices found on Chinese-made power inverters - The issue could be important to facilities managers if they oversee on-site solar arrays or battery storage systems, with Chinese-made inverters on them, to provide energy resilience.

My Take: What!? 🙄

Vibe coding is rewriting the rules of technology - The AI-driven approach takes you from idea to app in minutes.

My Take: Well, takes you most of the way there. Nothing really works well the first time.

Capuchins have started abducting newborn howler monkeys in bizarre, deadly fad - Young male capuchins have developed a strange trend of acquiring baby howler monkeys. It doesn't end well for the babies.

My Take: Seems like a lot of monkey business.

Breakthrough stretchy battery moves like toothpaste and could power pacemakers and hearing aids - This breakthrough in battery power could bring wearable tech, implanted medical devices, and humanoid robots to life.

My Take: They look delicious. Much like Tide pods, some kid will eat one before the warnings appear.

GE Vernova has received approval to install and operate the first Small Modular nuclear Reactor (SMR) in North America - The 300MW Hitachi BWRX-300 site is already under construction in Ontario Canada, and will ultimately operate four of the SMRs for a maximum of 1.2GW.

My Take: Am I the only one who thought the “S” for Small meant like the size of a small trailer or something? 😳

Infographic Of The Week

My Take: 5.14 billion visits. I wonder how many trees died? (there’s no Greta emoji)

Podcast Recommendation

Ben and Guy take listeners behind the scenes of the Threat Status "Golden Dome for America" event and dive into several key topics around the missile shield proposal. And they break down the latest on Russia-Ukraine peace talks and U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations. Then, Rob Ryan, director of business development at Teledyne FLIR Defense, joins the show from SOF Week 2025 in Tampa, Florida. Plus, the "Threat of the Week."

Listen Here!

Movie/Streaming Recommendation

IMDb: 5.7/10

JMDb: 🍿🍿🍿🍿/10 (Disappointing..)

“A Working Man” is a spectacular misfire that manages to squander both its promising premise and the talents of Jason Statham. The film, which attempts to blend the gritty revenge formula of “Taken” with the macho nostalgia of 1980s action flicks, is weighed down by a convoluted, overstuffed plot that never finds its footing.

Instead of delivering the straightforward thrills expected from a Statham vehicle, the movie gets bogged down in competing storylines—none of which are developed enough to matter. The villains are so poorly defined and interchangeable that it’s impossible to care who’s who or what’s at stake.

Despite a few flashes of decent action, the editing is so choppy and the pacing so uneven that even the fight scenes fail to entertain. Attempts at character development and humor fall flat, leaving only a tedious slog that feels both uninspired and interminable.

“A Working Man” is a joyless, confusing mess that even die-hard action fans will struggle to endure.

A Word From Our Partner

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