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What’s Happening On Earth?

🇨🇦 Eastlink Warns of Possible Service Cuts in NL Due to CRTC Regulations - Eastlink, which provides cable and internet services to many rural communities across the province, says it may have to cut some of its services in Newfoundland and Labrador because of CRTC regulations surrounding wholesale internet prices.

My Take: “I sell high-speed internet for $80 a month. My costs are $50. My wholesale rate is $25.They only cover half my costs,” The math is simple.

🇨🇦 Stream More, Save More: Rogers Xfinity Brings Netflix, Disney+ and Apple TV+ Together in One Plan - StreamSaver offers more than 30% in savings a month compared to subscribing to each service separately.

My Take: Well, Rogers gives me Disney+ for free now, so if I average that into the addition of Netflix (which plan?) and AppleTV+, I’m hard pressed to see the deal.

🇨🇦 Alberta introduces levy framework for large-scale AI data centres - A two per cent levy on computer hardware will apply to grid-connected data centres with a capacity of 75 megawatts or higher

My Take: the levy will be offset against corporate income taxes, meaning once a data centre becomes profitable and pays income tax in Alberta, the levy will not add to its tax burden.

Edge Data Centers at Tower Sites: The High Bar and the Real Opportunity - Over the last decade, we’ve heard plenty of talk about how cell tower sites would be perfect locations for edge data centers. The logic seemed sound: tower sites are already connected to power and fiber, they’re secure, and they’re spread out across the country. Put edge compute at the base of the towers, the argument went, and you could serve low-latency applications like streaming, IoT, or AI inference directly to nearby users.

My Take: A selective, high-value opportunity

Op-Ed: Fiber is the gold standard for rural broadband - BEAD must emphasize it - As the federal government prepares to invest tens of billions in rural broadband through the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, the choice of technology is no longer just a technical decision — it is a generational one

My Take: Sounds like a message advocating for the right solution to solve the right problem, where it can be solved.

Some New Mexico BEAD builds could top $40K per location served - As reported by Broadband Breakfast, among the high-cost figures is the funding awarded to Valley Telephone Cooperative, which received $12.1 million to service 300 locations, resulting in a per-location cost of over $40,000. Similarly, Oso Internet Solutions was allocated $28.6 million for 729 locations, amounting to approximately $39,000 per location, while Lyte Fiber garnered $55.8 million to serve 1,983 locations, translating into just above $28,000 per location.

My Take: I thought this is what they were trying to avoid? $40k per location is significant.

Colorado's Broadband Funding Favors This Satellite Service Over Starlink - Amazon's Project Kuiper snags $25.35 million from Colorado's $400 million US Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) allocation, while Starlink only gets $9.16 million.

My Take: Either no one liked Elon, or Kuiper came to the table with something aggressive - without an operating constellation.

Fixed wireless shows up in BEAD wins for New Mexico, Washington - New Mexico and Washington plan to award 40% and 39% of their BEAD-eligible locations to fixed wireless access (FWA) providers, respectively, marking some of the first states where FWA has picked up steam.

My Take: People were watching. I think there was some concern.

Experts Urge BEAD Program to Fund IXPs Alongside Last-Mile Broadband - Internet Exchange Points are a critical deployment, alongside last-mile broadband, to prevent rural infrastructure gaps.

My Take: Makes sense. May as well expand the footprint while all the building is underway.

Who’s winning the convergence battle: Telecom or cable? - Traditional telecom operators and cable providers are fighting out an increasingly competitive convergence battle over the consumer and enterprise market, a battle that one industry observer thinks is financially tilted in favor of one side more than the other but one that will eventually find its equilibrium.

My Take: Cable wins for now. Telcos need more fiber. That said, 5G FWA gives telecom an edge in underserved areas.

Analysis: EchoStar network crashes and burns - EchoStar’s $23 billion deal to sell its 3.45GHz and 600MHz spectrum licences to AT&T marked the end of its long-standing ambition to be the fourth major mobile operator in the US.

Are consumers winners or losers in AT&T's EchoStar deal? - First UScellular fell. And now, so has EchoStar/Dish with the sale of key spectrum licenses to AT&T. Does that mean wireless competition in the U.S. is dead? Was it ever really alive?

Is AT&T/EchoStar a competitive pitfall for cable? - Change is afoot in the U.S. wireless market with EchoStar’s $23 billion spectrum sale to AT&T – a deal that also has implications for cable operators looking to make their mark in wireless.

EchoStar rout leaves its open RAN vendors high and dry - The decommissioning of Dish's radio access network is bad news for AWS, Fujitsu, Mavenir, Samsung and Wind River and could be another nail in the coffin of true open RAN.

More EchoStar spectrum could be up for sale soon - Here’s the current lay of the land. As part of the deal, AT&T will get a 30MHz chunk of mid-band 3.45GHz spectrum as well as a 20MHz swath of low-band 600MHz airwaves, bringing its overall spectrum holdings to 314MHz, per TD Cowen. The deal gives AT&T a leg up on Verizon, but T-Mobile will still reign supreme with a total of 376MHz at its disposal.

My Take: Many articles and perspectives around EchoStar’s sale of Spectrum to AT&T this week. At the heart of it all, Spectrum monetization has proven far more attractive than actual network operations. Here are some key areas to consider:

(1) Market structure impact. The US is back to three national operators (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile). The cable guys have lost a hopeful MVNO competitor to offset Verizon and T-Mobile.

(2) Spectrum. Always the more important asset, not the network. Watch the 2026-27 spectrum auctions

(3) Technology fallout. OpenRAN take a hit as it was a key reference for big OpenRAN vendors and AWS as a vRAN network enabler

(4) Regulatory. The FCC wanted a 4th facilities-based carrier. Perhaps going forward the focus is less on a 4th provider and more on wholesale, spectrum sharing and MVNO rights.

(5) What’s next. The remaining spectrum could enable D2D or hybrid satellite models aligning with SpaceX, Apple or Kuiper - so some competitive edge, perhaps.

T-Mobile US launches 5G network slicing for enterprises - Early adopters include Delta Air Lines and Axis Energy Services

My Take: Integrated satellite to mobile, and everything!

Crosstalk phone incident in Niagara region potentially caused by lightning strike, Rogers says - A case of misconnected phone calls in the Niagara region of Ontario last month might have begun due to a lightning strike, according to Rogers Communications Inc.

My Take: Might as well blame Doc Brown.

Copper thefts leave homes, businesses without Telus service - 169 wireless users and 110 landline customers were affected, the telecom giant reports

My Take: Reinforce the infrastructure with fiber, add sensing, and be notified when something is amiss. Launch the armed autonomous drone to check it out and take action.

Security Services at the Center of the Connected Home - The home security market is in transition. Today, 47% of U.S. internet households own a security solution, either a system or device. Adoption is being driven by affordability, wireless flexibility, and rising concerns about safety.

My Take: Does that mean that the market opportunity is significant.y eroded?

North America Home Automation Systems Market Report - North America Home Automation Systems Market Size, Share, Trends & Growth Forecast Report By Product

My Take: Yea, and? Having a market opportunity and having people buy or subscribe to solutions are mutually exclusive.

🇨🇦 Alberta Restrictions Cancel 10.7 GW of New Renewables, 89% of Province’s Peak Power Demand - Alberta has lost 10.7 gigawatts of clean energy capacity in the two years since the province slapped a moratorium on renewable energy and battery storage development, enough to meet 109% of its average power demand and 89% of its peak demand, in what the Pembina Institute calls an “alarming milestone”.

My Take: 🤷🏻

🇨🇦 Instead of griping about Telus piggybacking on fibre-optic networks, its rivals should compete - One would think that telecom companies would jump at the chance to vie for new customers outside their traditional territories at a time of reduced immigration and heightened concern about building a unified Canadian economy.

My Take: I’m becoming more convinced that Bell doesn’t care too much about Canada. Focusing on the huge fiber opportunity in the US makes sense. It’s an opportunity size that is many multiples of that in Canada for them. As for competing rivals, last I checked the Rogers/Shaw merger pretty much covers the West.

Pinpoint Fiber Market Report - Market Update – Q2 2025

My Take: Anything you want to know about any deal, it’s in here. For Canada, a deal with TelMAX and one with Bell and PSP to further their work in the US.

What’s Happening In Space?

What’s in Space This Week?

Elon Musk’s Starlink Blasts Past 7 Million Customers, Tightens Grip On Satellite Internet - The company surpassed the 6 million mark in June, indicating that it had added approximately 1 million customers over the past two months.

My Take: 1 million in the past two months. The train is barreling down the track and will be very hard to not only stop, but to even slow down and divert. Others have their work cut out for them. I’ll assume they will need to be very aggressive or highly surgical in their competitive approach.

The State of Satellite Broadband - August 2025 - The report has been written by Phillippa Biggs. From the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Nur Sulyna Abdullah provided direction and Julia Gorlovetskaya provided editorial review and creative direction. Sergio Buonomo, Karina Cessy, Jorge Ciccorossi, Véronique Glaude, Nick Sinanis and Alexandre Vallet also reviewed the report. We wish to thank all members of the Broadband Commission and their Focal Points who contributed to this report and took the time to review and revise the text.

My Take: Read it. Lots of stuff in there.

SoftBank Corp. Aiming to Realize Ubiquitous Connectivity by Integrating Communications on Ground and Sky - SoftBank Corp. (TOKYO: 9434) is promoting a “Ubiquitous Transformation” (UTX) for communications—an aim to create a world where people can stay connected anytime and anywhere by integrating Terrestrial Networks (TN) on the ground with Non-Terrestrial networks (NTN) in the sky, including satellites in space and base stations in the stratosphere (High Altitude Platform Station, HAPS).

My Take: Little is said about HAPS. It’s interesting technology. If they can unify LEO/GEO/HAPS into one cohesive architecture, others may follow.

🇨🇦 Game Changer: Michèle Beck, Senior Vice President of Canadian Sales, Telesat - Michèle Beck began her career at Telesat after earning her engineering degree from the University of Ottawa. From designing customer solutions and leading engineering for all product lines to now driving enterprise and government sales, she combines technical expertise with a customer-focused approach—ensuring Telesat delivers the right capabilities at the right time to support growth and mission success.

My Take: 👏

🇨🇦 North Vector Dynamics secures $4.2-million contract with National Defence for hypersonic propulsion - Calgary-based defence tech startup that recently emerged from stealth has been awarded a four-year, $4.2-million contract by Canada’s defence department as the federal government looks to increase military spending. 

My Take: “this technology could be used for high-speed weapons such as missiles, launch mechanisms to put vehicles into orbit, or hypersonic drones for patrolling the Arctic.” Go Canada.

How GEO is Evolving to Secure its Place in the Multi-Orbit Puzzle - The once-stable market for GEO has been disrupted. A new market is emerging, characterized by modularity, maneuverability, small form factors and multi-orbit offerings.

My Take: The Geostationary Orbit (GEO) market is shifting from long‑term, stable deployments toward agile, modular, maneuverable satellites that can operate across multiple orbits to meet evolving demands. 

What exactly is happening to the UK Space Agency and should you be worried? - The recent announcement that the UK Space Agency will be absorbed into its parent department, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, has triggered headlines suggesting the end of Britain’s space ambitions.

My Take: This move reduces the agency’s autonomy and visibility, raising concerns that the UK’s space sector will lose political clout and global standing.

What's next for SpaceX's Starship Mars rocket after Flight 10 success? - SpaceX is thinking even bigger with its megarocket.

My Take: I just like watching the Starship launch videos. So much power!

I got Starlink internet at home. I wish I knew these 6 details first - Out in the boonies, I'm starved for choice when it comes to fast internet... so I went with Starlink.

My Take: I wish I would have known not to read this article. Blah, Blah. Slow news week.

Amazon aiming to deploy Kuiper satellite services in Vietnam - Amazon is aiming to deploy its Kuiper satellite services in Vietnam, Vietnam's Ministry of Science and Technology said in a statement.

My Take: Why not.

Rethinking Data Transmission to Unlock Efficient Satellite Communications - Satellite communications have become a lifeline for operations in remote, maritime, military, and industrial environments — the places where terrestrial networks simply don’t reach. But as reliance on these networks grows, so do the challenges that threaten their efficiency, reliability, and sustainability.

My Take: Critical factors - limited bandwidth, high latency, and scarce compute resources.

Automaker Geely Launched Its Own Satellites Into Space, Highlighting China’s Ambitions - It’s a bird, it’s a plane—it’s the latest sign that Chinese automakers intend to dominate the global car industry for decades to come.

My Take: Geespace says the satellites will provide support for advanced driver-assistance systems in cars and commercial vehicles, “significantly improving travel safety and convenience.”

KDDI First to Launch Data Satellite Communication on au Starlink Direct - KDDI today announced a groundbreaking advancement in mobile connectivity with the launch of data support for au Starlink Direct, its direct satellite-to-smartphone service. This global first allows users to access essential apps directly via satellite, in areas with no cellular coverage.

Also see Carlos Placido’s post - “Japan becomes first to launch apps-capable direct-to-cell (D2C) service via KDDI’s au Starlink Direct.”

My Take: As Carlos points out, it’s all about coverage and consistency of coverage.

Applying Space Technology to Energy Infrastructure: From Hydropower Forecasting to Offshore Decommissioning - When most people think about space, the same images come to mind: astronauts aboard the International Space Station, or the latest dramatic launch of a new rocket. These are spectacular moments that capture the imagination, but they are not where most of the real economic or societal value of space lies. Satellites orbiting above us already underpin the systems we rely on every day, whether we realise it or not. One of the least appreciated but most important areas where this impact is felt is in energy.

My Take: Interesting perspective.

The Vera Rubin Observatory is ready to revolutionize astronomy - Perched on a high, flat-topped mountain called Cerro Pachón, the Rubin Observatory was conceived back in the 1990s to give astronomers the unprecedented ability to probe the cosmos in every dimension.

My Take: the world’s largest digital camera, a 3.2‑gigapixel marvel built from 189 CCD sensors and weighing around 3 metric tons. Those will be some large data files. Hope they don’t have a DSL connection.

Harassment at Antarctic research bases could spell problems for moon, Mars outposts - Antarctica is an isolated, confined environment similar to those that might be on future moon or Mars bases.

My Take: So, people can expect to harassed on the Moon or Mars?

Direct To Device

Google Announces Pixel 10, With Satellite Messaging Options - Google announced the Pixel 10 lineup of phones on Wednesday, continuing its work with Skylo to offer satellite emergency messaging, while T-Mobile also highlighted the T-Satellite service with Starlink on the phone. 

Google Pixel 10 Exclusive: WhatsApp to Support Satellite Voice and Video Calls - Google and WhatsApp are partnering to bring satellite voice and video calls to the Pixel 10 series. Starting on August 28th, Pixel devices will be the first to offer this feature, allowing users to make calls while off the grid. The service requires an outdoor area with visible sky and may incur surcharges on top of your usual bill.

My Take: I posted this last week but glossed over it until I saw some additional articles start to pop ip. The Google/WhatsApp integration and application is interesting.

Spectrum Management Considerations for D2D Services: Extending Mobile Coverage Through Satellite Connectivity - Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are seeking efficient ways to expand service to unserved and underserved areas where traditional infrastructure is economically unviable. Direct-to-Device (D2D) satellite connectivity is emerging as a practical solution, and MNOs have spectrum options to support such services, including using Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) spectrum.

My Take: Haven’t read the paper yet, but at a quick scan, it looks pretty informative. The spectrum stuff can be confusing.

Enabling AI

Bell: The AI adoption challenge is now all about the people - AI is shifting from concept to reality in telecom and the enterprise. But successful adoption doesn’t just mean integrating the technology – it’s about ensuring the entire workforce – not only engineers and IT – knows how to use it, Bell Canada Group President John Watson told Fierce

My Take: “Everyone has to be AI-literate and AI-centric in terms of their job and role and they have to be using AI continuously within their capacity, and that is a big change for a lot of organizational people,” Watson explained. Exactly. Companies need to make time for eduction and fail fast opportunities to play. There is much more to AI than ChatGPT.

NVIDIA CEO Dismisses Chip Security Allegations as China Orders Firms to Halt Purchases - NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang has dismissed security concerns over the company’s H20 chips, saying they pose no national risk to China and that continued sales would benefit both sides. His remarks follow reports that NVIDIA has slowed development of the H20 after Beijing urged domestic firms to avoid the chip.

My Take: Is the shoe on the other foot?

Nvidia's new Spectrum-XGS aims to turn multiple data centers into 'one gigantic GPU' - Scale-across technology aims to connect distributed compute resources to supercharge AI workloads

My Take: The solution integrates Nvidia Spectrum-X switches with ConnectX-8 SuperNICs, the company's AI-centric 800 Gb/s networking adapters.

Piloting Claude for Chrome - We've spent recent months connecting Claude to your calendar, documents, and many other pieces of software. The next logical step is letting Claude work directly in your browser.

My Take: Hmmm.. Not a big Claude user, but I’d try this out and see what it can do.

Apple in Talks With Google to Use Gemini AI for Revamped Siri, Report Says - Apple has approached Google to explore building a custom AI model that could power Siri beginning next year, according to Bloomberg. The iPhone maker has not yet decided whether to proceed with an external partner or continue developing its in-house models.

My Take: Anything would be better than it is now.

Scientists just developed a new AI modeled on the human brain — it's outperforming LLMs like ChatGPT at reasoning tasks - The hierarchical reasoning model (HRM) system is modeled on the way the human brain processes complex information, and it outperformed leading LLMs in a notoriously hard-to-beat benchmark.

My Take: M scored 40.3% in ARC-AGI-1, compared with 34.5% for OpenAI's o3-mini-high, 21.2% for Anthropic's Claude 3.7 and 15.8% for Deepseek R1. In the tougher ARC-AGI-2 test, HRM scored 5% versus o3-mini-high's 3%, Deepseek R1's 1.3% and Claude 3.7's 0.9%.

Why More Farmers Are Turning To AI Machines - Artificial intelligence-powered harvesters, drones, and precision farming systems are quickly entering the mainstream of American agriculture. At its core, the technology promises efficiency and sustainability and carries a potential solution to a decades-old farming problem: the need for physical labor.

My Take: AI is the captain now, and rightly so - labour is worried. I don’t understand the business of farming and wonder how they afford these incredibly expensive machines!

The family of teenager who died by suicide alleges OpenAI's ChatGPT is to blame - The parents of Adam Raine, who died by suicide in April, claim in a new lawsuit against OpenAI that the teenager used ChatGPT as his “suicide coach.”

My Take: The parents suggest that ChatGPT should have told him to get help.

The Top 100[Gen AI]Consumer Apps - This is the fifth edition of our Top 100 Gen AI Consumer Apps which reflects two and a half years of data on how everyday AI usage is evolving.

My Take: Seem to be “Top XX” season. Interesting list.

Findings from a Pilot Anthropic—OpenAI Alignment Evaluation Exercise - In early summer 2025, Anthropic and OpenAI agreed to evaluate each other's public models using in-house misalignment-related evaluations. We are now releasing our findings in parallel. The evaluations we chose to run focused on propensities related to sycophancy, whistleblowing, self-preservation, and supporting human misuse, as well as capabilities related to undermining AI safety evaluations and oversight.

My Take: They peer‑reviewed each other’s AI and OpenAI’s o3 and o4‑mini held up better than most.

Artificial intelligence glossary: 60+ terms to know - AI is moving fast and can be hard to keep up in real time. Use this glossary as a reference for AI terms.

My Take: Take it for what it’s worth. SuperIntelligence is missing.

This and That!

FEMA Now Requires Disaster Victims to Have an Email Address - Workers at FEMA worry that demanding disaster survivors access services using email could shut out people without internet connectivity from receiving government aid

My Take: Seems counterintuitive. Communications needs power, both from the network and the device. Disasters often take out power.

Hyundai is working with a startup on plant-based leather that smells like the real thing - Leather alternatives are almost as old as the automotive industry itself, with early Ford Model T cars using primitive faux leather as early as 1913. The quality has improved over the years, but many alternatives still don’t have the same feel as the genuine article.

My Take: Plant based leather comes from vegan cows. Real leather will be an expensive upgrade. That’s what they want from this ;)

The Era of AI-Generated Ransomware Has Arrived - Cybercriminals are increasingly using generative AI tools to fuel their attacks, with new research finding instances of AI being used to develop ransomware.

My Take: I kinda thought it was here a while ago. Every time I answer the phone, say “Hello” and hear the call disconnect, I think my voice is being harvested. Meanwhile, I have a public podcast, so..

IBM and NASA Develop a Digital Twin of the Sun to Predict Future Solar Storms - The tool models the sun using AI, and its developers say it can anticipate solar flares 16 percent more accurately and in half the time of current prediction systems.

My Take: Now, we just need a digital twin of Uranus. C’mon! How could I let that one pass? I’m not sure what it would predict.

The Mysterious Shortwave Radio Station Stoking US-Russia Nuclear Fears - Through a fog of static, at 4625 kHz on the shortwave dial, a man’s voice spoke in monotone: “Nikolai, Zhenya, Tatiana, Ivan.” He repeats the message—spelled out in the Russian phonetic alphabet—followed by a series of numbers and letters. The whole message reads: “NZhTI 01263 BOLTANKA 4430 9529.” What it means is anyone’s guess, but lots of people were guessing.

My Take: I love shortwave radio. You hear all sorts of weird things.

US reports its first New World parasitic screwworm infection in decades - A person in Maryland has been diagnosed with an infection of the flesh-eating New World screwworm. It's the first case in the U.S. in decades.

My Take: Flesh-eating New World screwworm. Let that sit for a minute.

Infographic Of The Week

My Take: Last year, oil, coal, and natural gas together supplied 86.7% of global energy needs.

Podcast Recommendation

There are now nearly 12,000 satellites orbiting Earth. What does it cost to put them there, and how do they make money? Zachary Crockett launches an investigation.

Listen Here!

Movie/Streaming Recommendation

IMDb: 6.5/10

JMDb: 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿/10 (Had to binge it. I liked it. )

Netflix's 2025 series Hostage is a brisk, five-episode political thriller set in London, following British Prime Minister Abigail Dalton (Suranne Jones) and French President Vivienne Toussaint (Julie Delpy) as they face an international crisis after Dalton's husband is kidnapped during a humanitarian mission. The show excels in fast pacing, sharp psychological tension, and the standout chemistry between Jones and Delpy, whose performances elevate the drama's stakes and emotional punch.

While the premise of leaders manipulated by ruthless antagonists leads to plenty of suspense and a few solid action set pieces, Hostage's plotting sometimes strays into the implausible and melodramatic, with critics noting predictable twists and occasional lapses in realism. Still, its timely exploration of power, sacrifice, and the human cost of leadership resonates powerfully.

If you enjoy lean, character-driven political thrillers, Hostage is a memorable, bingeable ride, even if it never quite becomes prestige TV.

A Word From Our Partner

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