In partnership with

You won’t find a better source for Market Intelligence about Broadband, Telecom, Space Communications and AI, all in one place, for free, anywhere.

Join thousands of weekly readers.

If you’re enjoying this newsletter, please consider sharing it with others!

In Today’s Issue

Jason’s Industry Insights, The Podcast

Episode #1 was released this week.

I'm thrilled to have spent 30 minutes with John Capobianco from Selector.ai, exploring the innovative applications of AI in network management and, more importantly, network observability.

We discuss how Selector.AI enhances root cause analysis, predictive capabilities, and the integration of AI into existing systems. It's all very cool.

John shares insights on real-world applications, customer success stories, and the future of autonomous networks, emphasizing the importance of data management and the measurable ROI of AI solutions.

Check it out on Apple, Spotify, or find us and follow on whatever player app you use.

What’s Happening On Earth?

Could water unlock the floodgates for faster fiber deployment? - Aqualinq, fresh out of stealth mode, came up with tech that can deploy fibre via existing water pipes. The company touts a cheaper, faster alternative to aerial and underground fiber, but there are always risks when dealing with a public water supply.

My Take: This is pretty interesting. Not sure how invasive it is how it survives breaks, or how it’s installed and maintained, but I can certainly see applications.

Data center construction fuels dark fiber demand in major markets - Data center construction in markets like Phoenix has sent the demand for fiber soaring, providing an opportunity to network providers.

My Take: A huge opportunity and issue for any data centre build is the availability of resilient and redundant fiber, and paths. Lots of fiber and many paths. I guess that’s why Lumen is looking to focus on DCs and shed their residential business.

2025 Predictions and 2024 Global Mobile Telecom Industry Review from Strand Consult - Strand Consult has followed the global mobile telecom industry for more than 28 years and  published predictions for the last 24

My Take: Here’s the snippet - “Starlink is likely to develop into a new Over the Top (OTT) service in the coming years, creating another risk for broadband incumbents”

Yea, probably, one day, when they have more capacity - so SPs should figure out how to work with them for specific service delivery solutions instead of waiting and looking in from the outside. Just my opinion, of course.

Odds that Congress takes on network neutrality rules 'are zero' – analyst - Two Democratic members of the FCC have called on Congress to codify network neutrality rules after a court shot down the FCC's rule. However, a top policy analyst views that as an 'highly unlikely' outcome.

Nokia partners with Openreach to build open-access fiber network in UK - Nokia has been selected by Openreach to establish an open-access fiber network aimed at connecting millions of homes and businesses across the UK. Utilizing Nokia’s One Network Platform, the initiative supports Openreach’s goal of linking 25 million premises by the end of 2026, addressing the rising demand for high-speed broadband services.

My Take: Geert Heyninck at Nokia, remarked, “Open-access networks are the future of broadband, and we’re proud to support Openreach…”.. What happened to federated FTTH?

NTIA Proposes BEAD Performance Measurement Rules - One of the many requirements for BEAD winners will be to regularly report customer speeds after networks are built. NTIA recently issued a draft of the measurement requirements, and the final rules should be similar.

My Take: “Reporting goes to State broadband offices, and this assumes these offices will remain staffed for the next decade. A lot of states only created a broadband office due to the Capital Project Funds and BEAD funding, and this requirement implies they would have to maintain some staffing for a long time. This also implies that States must have somebody on board who can verify that ISPs are testing properly. It’s not hard to envision that some States will lose interest in broadband once most rural areas are served.” — seriously, in these days of automation and AI, we need actual people to staff or validate anythng?

Wi-Fi trends to meet demands for higher speeds, and energy efficiency - The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) has shared its 2025 predictions, outlining key trends in Wi-Fi evolution to meet demands for higher speeds, better security, and greater energy efficiency.

My Take: Nothing earth-shattering in here.

Carmichael: Government’s telecom tweaks lead to unintended consequences - Meant to help smaller players compete, recent rule changes instead helped Telus expand east.

My Take: Ongoing issue and story about Telus moving into the East with TPIA-based FTTH access. Bell wants it stopped, as does Rogers. Telus loves it. Smaller competitors, not so much.

Port of Valencia kicks-off major in-house private 5G project to connect 25,000 devices - The Port of Valencia (Valenciaport) in Spain is in the process of deploying a private 5G network to connect more than 25,000 handsets, tablets, vehicles, cameras, sensors, drones, and other devices, applications, and services.

My Take: Will 2025 be the year of more, widespread private 5G deployments?

China's MIIT planning 10G optical trials this year - 10G is important for boosting investment and improving user experience, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology says, and it plans to trial the technology this year.

My Take: “Yet while it claims "an urgent need" to accelerate the development of gigabit optical, the reality is there is little sign either consumers or operators have an appetite for higher bandwidth.”

The state of broadband around the globe: what you need to know - There's a lot of talk about the U.S. and BEAD, but other countries have also put the pedal to the medal on broadband access. We checked out government-led broadband initiatives in four countries. Obviously, no country is the same in terms in internet access and adoption

My Take: Seems Canada, the pending 51st State, didn’t make the cut. It’s not like we haven’t had programs for Broadband that others looked to for guidance..

Louisiana Planning on Final BEAD Approval 'Any Day Now' - Louisiana plans to fund fiber to more than 95 percent of its 140,000 BEAD-eligible homes and businesses. Like many states are planning to do, the broadband office is going with satellite for its most remote locations—about 2,800—which Iyengar said received no interest through multiple bidding rounds and direct provider negotiations.

My Take: Yes, that’s right. LEO providers can be used to satisfy the no-bid rounds by the terrestrial or FWA folks. It’s not some big, bad company stealing would-be subscribers from FTTH, it’s filling a gap where the economics don’t otherwise make sense.

What’s Happening In Space?

What’s in Space This Week?

2025 will be the tipping point for telco investment in space - Technological innovation is transforming the economics of the space sector, creating radical change across the satellite telecoms industry. In 2025, the gathering momentum will translate into a burst of activity that will affect the entire global telecoms sector. 

My Take: Watch. Lots will happen this year. The convergence is upon us, for residential and commercial applications.

Italy’s plan to buy Starlink data deals a severe blow to European space network - The story was initially broken by Bloomberg on Sunday, which reported that Italy is in "advanced talks" with SpaceX to purchase $1.6 billion worth of secure telecommunication services from SpaceX.

My Take: Wow. This is for secure Government services. Shot it the eye for Iris² if it’s both true and happens.

U.S. military satellites achieve first cross-vendor laser communications link - U.S. military satellites manufactured by York Space Systems and SpaceX successfully demonstrated cross-vendor laser communications link in low Earth orbit, marking a milestone for the Pentagon’s next-generation satellite network.

My Take: This is a great step toward ensuring existing infrastructure will be able to support the U.S. Space Force’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA).

Skylo unlocks global satellite connectivity potential for more than a billion devices - Skylo, the pioneer in Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) communications, announced today that it has unlocked global satellite connectivity potential for more than a billion devices across a broad spectrum of categories and industry verticals. Skylo is now the world’s largest commercial standards-based direct-to-device network.

My Take: “By connecting to a number of existing satellite constellations in the sky, Skylo is unique in meeting this need by providing a complete network overlay without coverage gaps in urban areas or at cellular network edges.”

LEO services like Starlink are booming – what comes next will be trickier - The global LEO satellite industry has advanced well into its initial market adoption phase. Specialisation is now needed.

My Take: With a focus on Africa, because there are specific regional Enterprise delivery issues to address, it seems.. (?)

The Wild West: The New Frontier of Flat Panel Antennas - Does the satellite industry run the risk of entering into the Wild West of antennas amid a drive to keep costs down during antenna manufacturing and testing

My Take: Right terminal for the right application. That’s why companies like SpaceX (and Kuiper when they launch) have terminal options to suit the need.

10 Tech Trends That Will Impact the Satellite Industry in 2025 - Via Satellite asked industry leaders to weigh in on the 10 trends that they are watching most closely in 2025.

My Take: VLEO, Lasers, Politics.. and so on..

Why data centers should move to space - Orbital data centers offer several fundamental benefits compared to their terrestrial counterparts, especially when scaled to GW sizes. Significant operational cost savings can be achieved by using inexpensive solar energy without the limitations of terrestrial solar farms

My Take: Read their whitepaper! Keep in mind there will be many opportunities to process data for space-based infrastructure as well as terrestrial entities.

AST SpaceMobile strikes spectrum deal amid Ligado Networks bankruptcy - Satellite operator AST SpaceMobile hopes to turbocharge its proposed direct-to-smartphone services with L-band spectrum from Ligado Networks, which filed for bankruptcy after GPS interference concerns derailed its terrestrial 5G plans.

My Take: See Learn About. Also, read more! It’s not all that black and white.

Chinese Firm Boasts Starlink-Like Laser Tech for Surveillance - Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co. is leveraging the same satellite laser system being tested by SpaceX for space-to-ground transmissions that can reach 100Gbps.

My Take: Many folks working on this. It’s important. No RF. No Spectrum to manage. No interference issues and necessary for. high-speed applications (like data centres in space!)

A Word From Our Partner

What’s Happening SubSea?

Houthi Rebels Endangering Subsea Projects Including SWM6 & 2Africa - After several months stalemate, the Houthi rebels gave the consortiums permission to repair them as long as it was done in a low key fashion. The fact that AAE1 lands in Yemen gave the Houthis political cover with their supporters.

Subsea Cable News - AAE1 Down & Pearls 2Africa Ready 2025:4 - AAE1 is down due to a fault in the Red Sea located between the Zafrana, Egypt and Saudi branching units. The outage began December 31st. Pearls 2Africa will go live near year's end, but it has only one fibre pair down the African East Coast from Oman to Kenya. China Mobile owns it. 

Enabling AI

Watch Jensen Huang’s (CEO of NVIDIA) Keynote from CES

My Take: If you watch anything, watch this. It’s about 90 minutes, but worth it if you want some insights into what’s driving NVIDIA’s development supporting AI, including their new Blackwell GPU, the future of AI Agents, integration with auto manufacturers, etc. I like how he asks for a beer in the middle of his presentation.. Very interesting chat.

Nvidia's mini 'desktop supercomputer' is 1,000 times more powerful than a laptop — and it can fit in your bag - New Project Digits mini PC offers a petaFLOP of power for local AI processing and data science.

My Take: Who needs datacentres when you have that much power at your fingertips?

Just 2 hours is all it takes for AI agents to replicate your personality with 85% accuracy - Researchers from Google and Stanford have created accurate AI replicas of more than 1,000 people.

My Take: Challenge accepted ;)

Google maps the future of AI agents: Five lessons for businesses - It introduces the concept of AI agents — software systems designed to go beyond today’s AI models by reasoning, planning and taking actions to achieve specific goals. Unlike traditional AI systems, which generate responses based solely on pre-existing training data, AI agents can interact with external systems, make decisions and complete complex tasks on their own.

My Take: Agentic AI. That’s all you will hear about in 2025.

Learn About - MSS Spectrum

Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) spectrum plays a crucial role in enabling satellite voice technology, operating primarily in the L-band (1.5-2.5 GHz) and S-band frequencies. This spectrum allocation is particularly well-suited for integration into a wide range of mobile devices, making it ideal for providing voice and data services in remote areas where terrestrial infrastructure is limited or non-existent.

MSS spectrum offers several advantages for satellite voice communications. It enables existing space networks to immediately offer Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) services, benefits from an existing international regulatory framework, and avoids interference with terrestrial networks. Furthermore, MSS spectrum allows all Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to offer space/terrestrial integration in their entire service area without sacrificing terrestrial spectrum.

When comparing MSS-based solutions to other satellite voice technologies, it's important to consider the trade-offs. While MSS systems typically offer lower bandwidth compared to Ku and Ka-band satellite systems, they operate at a sufficiently low frequency to avoid rain fade issues. This characteristic makes MSS particularly reliable for voice communications in various weather conditions.

Competing technologies, such as Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellations like Starlink, offer higher data rates and lower latency but primarily focus on broadband internet rather than voice services. Traditional MSS operators like Iridium and Inmarsat use different orbital configurations and spectrum allocations, each with its own strengths in terms of global coverage and service offerings.

The emergence of direct-to-device (D2D) capabilities is breathing new life into the MSS industry. By utilizing MSS spectrum, operators can potentially serve mass-market smartphones and other devices, moving beyond the niche of specialized satellite handsets. This development is driving innovation in areas such as narrowband waveforms like NB-IoT for integration with standard cellphones.

Recent industry initiatives, such as the Mobile Satellite Services Association (MSSA), aim to develop a global ecosystem utilizing over 100 MHz of L- and S-band spectrum already allocated for MSS. This collaborative effort seeks to align with 3GPP standards to extend terrestrial mobile coverage for both MNO and Over-the-Top (OTT) internet services.

Such initiatives highlight the ongoing importance of MSS spectrum in shaping the future of satellite voice and data communications.

This and That!

Scientists agree: The 5-second rule isn’t real - The five-second rule effectively has no basis in reality, per Popular Science:

My Take: Uh, oh.

CES 2025: The 15 most impressive products you don't want to miss - Here's our roundup of the best stuff we've seen at the show.

My Take: CES is like the Home Depot of trade shows.

Logging off life but living on: How AI is redefining death, memory and immortality - Imagine attending a funeral where the person who has died speaks directly to you, answering your questions and sharing memories. This happened at the funeral of Marina Smith, a Holocaust educator who died in 2022.

My Take: I guess this is how people will haunt me from the grave 💀

Infographic Of The Week

My Take: TSMC.. had to look them up. They manufacture for others, like Apple.

Podcast Recommendation

Space Situational Awareness in an Era of Weaponized Space

Whis episode of the Future Space Economy series explores the dangerous, yet increasingly likely hypothetical situation that a space-faring nation breaks the Space Treaty of 1967 and brings nuclear weapons into space.

Host Jeffrey Hill interviews space law and policy experts Senjuti Mallick, business operations manager for COMSPOC, and Tatiana Sainati, partner at Wiley Rein.

Senjuti and Tatiana weigh in on what governments are doing right now to expand space situational awareness (SSA) capabilities to protect commercial interests in space. And whether these dangerous developments change the way we view satellites and spacecraft as critical infrastructure, and why SSA is one of the key investments governments and industry can make in space.

Listen Here!

Movie/Streaming Recommendation

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

IMDb: 7.4/10

JMDb: 8.5/10 (It’s at least an 8.. considering the year it was made)

When strange seeds drift to earth from space, mysterious pods begin to grow and invade San Francisco, replicating the city's residents one body at a time.

Love me some pod people.

Until Next Time

Comments here are my own and do not represent the opinions, views or thoughts of any person, company or organization that I may be associated with.

Feedback, comments and ideas are welcomed. Message me on LinkedIn or contact me at [email protected]