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In Today’s Issue

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What’s Happening On Earth?

Digital 2025: Global Overview Report - 2025 looks set to be another bumper year in digital, with rapid advances in AI, the evolving social media landscape, and broadening online behaviours all gearing up to reshape our connected lives over the coming months.

My Take: There is SO MUCH info in this report, broken down by country and in aggregate.

🇨🇦 Copper wire thief trap nabs suspect on snowmobile - Barbieri said since 2022, the company has seen cable stolen from its national network nearly 2,000 times.

My Take:

Op-Ed: Telco optimism springs at MWC with the hopes of AI at the edge - From this analyst’s point of view, there were two macro themes fueling the optimism: 1) A comeback in capital spending as 5G standalone (SA) deployments reach critical mass; and 2) The excitement about AI and what it means for telecommunications.

My Take:

Policy expert Blair Levin: We need to look beyond the rural access divide - It’s “inevitable” the White House will declare it’s closed the rural access divide via the BEAD program, said New Street Research’s Blair Levin. But gaps in affordable broadband and digital literacy will persist, and the future of the Universal Service Fund (USF) is murky. State efforts to mandate low-income broadband – and the opposition from the industry are further complicating matters

My Take:

Xplore launches 5G Ultra wireless home Internet for rural customers - Rural internet provider Xplore announced Monday the launch of 5G Ultra, which it says leverages 5G+ technology to offer wireless home internet speeds of up to 500 Mbps to Canadians in small towns and rural communities. 

My Take:

Ziply Fiber Pushes Back Against NorthWestern Energy Complaints - Ziply Fiber is urging the Federal Communications Commission to dismiss what it calls “vague and unsubstantiated” claims by NorthWestern Energy regarding its construction practices and rural broadband efforts.

My Take:

What’s new with BEAD? Here’s what we know so far - “Under my leadership, the Commerce Department has launched a rigorous review of the BEAD program. The Department is ripping out the Biden Administration’s pointless requirements,” said Lutnick. “It is revamping the BEAD program to take a tech-neutral approach that is rigorously driven by outcomes, so states can provide internet access for the lowest cost.”

My Take:

Four reasons to be optimistic about telco AI - Is the telecommunications industry behind the AI curve? The industry says no, of course — but why?

My Take:

🇨🇦 Canada expands spectrum access for 5G innovation - By making this new spectrum available, Canada aims to enhance network performance, encourage innovation and drive productivity across various sectors

My Take:

Telco Comments on MWC - OK, MWC is over, and most operators say that it didn’t have answers for them on how to increase their profits. “We had a lot of vendors telling us the same old things,” one told me. Is there no new thing? Must operators, to achieve their goals, finally start doing things they’ve been told they had to do all along, but wouldn’t accept? I had 19 operators offer fairly extensive comment on that point, and it’s worth looking at what they say.

My Take:

OLT and ONT Interoperability: A New Path Forward - As fixed-line fiber optic networks continue their rapid expansion, operators face a persistent challenge: achieving true interoperability between optical network terminals (ONTs) or optical network units (ONUs) and optical line terminals (OLTs). While passive optical network (PON) technologies have advanced significantly, the promise of seamless multi-vendor integration remains largely unfulfilled.

My Take:

CoreWeave Closes $650 Million Credit Facility for AI Cloud-Computing Push - CoreWeave Inc., a cloud-computing provider that’s among the most valuable artificial intelligence startups, has closed a $650 million credit facility led by JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley that is intended to be used to support growth. 

My Take:

What’s Happening In Space?

What’s in Space This Week?

🇨🇦 Space Norway selects Telesat Lightspeed Low Earth Orbit (LEO) connectivity solution. - Space Norway plans to integrate a multi-Gbps Telesat Lightspeed capacity pool into its services portfolio to provide secure, low-latency connectivity services for its defense, enterprise, maritime and land customers. The capacity pool, backed by Committed Information Rates (CIR) and a Service Level Agreement (SLA), will deliver maximum flexibility for Space Norway to tailor its service offerings. This includes prioritization of services and data rates to each remote site, and seamless modification of online services via Space Norway’s own infrastructure.

My Take:

🇨🇦 Orange and Telesat sign multi-year partnership for Telesat Lightspeed LEO satellite connectivity and terrestrial infrastructure - Under the agreement, a Telesat Lightspeed Landing Station will be hosted at Orange’s teleport in Bercenay-en-Othe, France, and benefit from ground segment connectivity with their point of presence (PoP) located in Paris over Orange Wholesale International Private Line (IPL). Additionally, Orange signed a capacity commitment for Telesat Lightspeed Low Earth Orbit (LEO) service, which will be integrated into its global portfolio of services for businesses and telecom operators.

My Take:

🇨🇦 Telesat awards development contract to QEST for Telesat Lightspeed Flat Panel Antenna for commercial aviation - Under the terms of the agreement, QEST will extend their patented FPA antenna technology for Telesat Lightspeed, including the development of the transmit and receive antenna apertures, RF components and the antenna control unit.

My Take:

🇨🇦 Government of Canada investment to bring 300 new jobs to Gatineau - There is enormous potential for global growth in the market for satellite services and the new space economy. That is why the Government of Canada is committed to bolstering the country’s leadership in satellite communications services and creating new jobs.

My Take:

MDA Space: 2nd-gen Globalstar/Apple satellites will be in production starting in 2026, alongside Telesat Lightspeed - Globalstar’s second-generation Apple-financed mobile communications satellites will be rolling off the production line starting in 2026, in parallel with the Telesat Lightspeed broadband constellation, prime contractor MDA Space said.

My Take:

Starship destroyed on second consecutive test flight - just after eight minutes into the flight, four of the six Raptor engines in the Starship upper stage shut down in quick succession. The vehicle immediately began to tumble but continued to relay video, showing the Earth spinning in and out of view.

SpaceX loses Starship rocket stage again, but catches giant Super Heavy booster during Flight 8 launch (video) - Starship's eighth test flight was a lot like its seventh. Cool Video!

FAA Requires SpaceX to Perform a Mishap Investigation

My Take:

Europe’s Great Space Delusion: Why OneWeb Can’t Replace Starlink (And Why Musk Might Dump Trump) - Enter Eutelsat OneWeb, the so-called "European alternative" to Starlink. If you listen to Eva Berneke, Eutelsat’s CEO, you’d think OneWeb is on the verge of replacing Starlink in Ukraine. Just one small issue: it’s not even close.

My Take:

What's Really Happening With Elon Musk and Those ‘Stranded’ Astronauts? - Two NASA officials have weighed in on the public dispute over when and how to bring home Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have been on the International Space Station since June.

My Take:

🇨🇦 The Key To Consistent Customer Experience Is Within Reach - service providers will need to ensure the network service they are offering these customers is up to the task. If they consider a LEO-based solution, their chosen service should be standards-based and interoperable to accommodate other connectivity infrastructures already in use.

My Take:

Amazon’s Project Kuiper Promised to Be a Big Starlink Competitor. When Will It Be Available? - Not all projected coverage areas will be immediately eligible for service at launch. Amazon hasn’t yet revealed which locations will be the first to receive eligibility, but did state that “regions will come online quickly as we add satellites to the constellation.”

My Take:

Star Catcher lands Space Florida support for satellite power beaming tests - Star Catcher Industries, a startup designing spacecraft to beam solar energy to other satellites in low Earth orbit, has secured funding from Florida’s aerospace finance and development authority to demonstrate the technology at a former Space Shuttle landing site.

My Take: Solar refuelling>?

South Africa rejects Musk claim Starlink can't operate there because he's not Black - South Africa on Friday rejected a claim by multibillionaire Elon Musk that his Starlink satellite company could not operate in the country because he is not Black, and its telecoms regulator said Starlink had not applied for a licence.

My Take: DEI commnet?

United Airlines partners with Elon Musk's Starlink to offer free in-flight Wi-Fi - United Airlines is moving forward with a plan to offer free in-flight internet to its loyalty rewards members through a partnership with Starlink, the satellite internet provider owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

My Take:

Multi-Orbit Terminals and Service Make Progress, But Have Further to Go, Leaders Say - “Multi-orbit is a reliant capability. We are going through an interesting change in the industry. People have managed their own capability. It is now more an end-to-end service capability. It is tailored to the customer's needs. One size does not fit all. There is an awful lot of opportunity for all of us,”

My Take:

Ground Tech CEOs Talk Digitization, Standards, and Antenna Progress - What does the future look like for the main ground tech players? Via Satellite conducted a roundtable of leading executives in this sector. Taking part are: Don Claussen, CEO of ST Engineering iDirect; Joakim Espeland, CEO of Quadsat; David Gelerman, CEO of SpaceBridge; Daniel Gizinski, president of Comtech’s Satellite & Space Communications Segment; and Geoffroy Lerosey, CEO and co-founder of Greenerwave.

My Take:

Rivada eyes U.S. government contracts as it prepares to deploy 600-satellite network - Rivada Space Networks plans to start deploying test satellites for its projected low-Earth constellation in 2026, the company announced March 10.

ADD RIVADA PDF AND PICS - https://static1.squarespace.com/static/62b194511be03b40825b04e8/t/67d197b3f1fc825dd663909d/1741789251588/Cisco+Whitepaper

My Take:

Complaints over Rivada’s ‘Outernet’ name - Rivada Space Network has been using the term ‘Outernet’ to describe its planned orbital satellite service for some time. But its use, especially as a potential trademark, is being challenged by the Outernet Council.

My Take:

DIFI Consortium Completes Work on Version 1.2.1 of Interoperability Standard - The new standard builds on version 1.2.0, which introduced mechanisms to enhance timing synchronization and buffer management by eliminating proprietary data flow dependencies. Version 1.2.1 includes improvements in synchronization and flow control, addressing issues identified during the PlugFest Europe event in 2024. 

My Take:

Direct to Device

FCC allows a power boost for SpaceX’s direct-to-smartphone service - SpaceX secured permission March 7 to provide direct-to-smartphone satellite services at higher power levels to improve connectivity beyond the reach of cell towers across the United States.

Here’s the latest on T-Mobile’s D2D service with SpaceX/Starlink - Over objections from AT&T and Verizon, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Friday granted SpaceX’s request for a waiver to operate Starlink at a higher power to serve T-Mobile’s direct-to-device (D2D) satellite offering.

SES and Lynk Global Announce Strategic Partnership for Direct-to-Device (D2D) Services - SES and Lynk Global have announced a strategic partnership to address the high-growth direct-to-device (D2D) segment. As part of the agreement, SES will provide Series B funding for Lynk Global’s D2D constellation and provide a suite of integrated services that will enhance Lynk Global’s capabilities

Space42 and Viasat Announce Partnership to Explore Shared Global 5G Non-Terrestrial Network Initiative - Space42, (ADX: SPACE42), the UAE based AI-powered SpaceTech company with global reach, and Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT), a leading global mobile satellite services (MSS) operator in L- and S-band spectrum, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to explore ecosystem partnership options for developing a 5G Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) initiative. This collaboration between Space42 and Viasat is a major step towards expanding global satellite connectivity, enabling both companies to address the growing opportunities in direct-to-device (D2D) satellite communications to smartphones, narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), as well as existing and next-generation MSS services.

Direct-to-Cell Shows Promise for Military Applications - Direct-to-cell (D2C) connectivity will be available soon to many different military and commercial users, but the issue of who uses it and how it will be used is still being explored.

My Take: “Independent research studies project the size of the satellite segment of the D2D market to reach $50B in 2032[1], in addition to more traditional enterprise and government MSS market segments that also hold substantial growth potential.”

What’s Happening SubSea?

BT Study On Causes Of UK Subsea Cable Outages: - The Anchor Connection
An enlightening study showing how anchors are replacing fishing as the number one cause of subsea cable damage. Also indirectly debunks the cable dragging must be sabotage hypothesis. Many examples of ships knocking out three or more cables by dragging anchors for hundred of kilometers.

My Take:

Roderick's Top Ten Subsea Cable & Technology Forecasts for 2025/2026 -

My Take: I have not idea who Roderick is, but he makes 10 predictions.

Anchors Damaging Cables..............is such a Drag. - The recent incidents in the Baltic have brought subsea cables into the forefront of the mainstream media. For decades subsea cables have silently connected the world. Most of the global population thought the internet was transported by satellites or had not really given it much thought.

My Take:

Enabling AI

Introducing Gemma 3: The most capable model you can run on a single GPU or TPU - Today, we're introducing Gemma 3, a collection of lightweight, state-of-the-art open models built from the same research and technology that powers our Gemini 2.0 models. These are our most advanced, portable and responsibly developed open models yet. They are designed to run fast, directly on devices — from phones and laptops to workstations — helping developers create AI applications, wherever people need them.

My Take: less power, smaller DC

China’s Manus Follows DeepSeek in Challenging US AI Lead - Manus AI last week launched a preview version of what it called a general AI agent capable of screening resumes, creating trip itineraries and analyzing stocks in response to basic instructions from the user. The company said its service performed better on some fronts than OpenAI’s Deep Research, another recently released agent.

My Take:

McDonald’s Gives Its Restaurants an AI Makeover - The fast-food giant’s new initiative uses artificial intelligence to target order accuracy and help restaurants detect equipment issues before they fail

My Take:

Detecting misbehavior in frontier reasoning models - Frontier reasoning models exploit loopholes when given the chance. We show we can detect exploits using an LLM to monitor their chains-of-thought. Penalizing their “bad thoughts” doesn’t stop the majority of misbehavior—it makes them hide their intent.

My Take:

ServiceNow wants telcos to unlock the power of agentic AI - ServiceNow is launching AI agents tailored for the telecom industry. The agents were designed with tech from Nvidia, which has been fairly vocal about agentic AI being the next big thing for enterprises. In the telecom space, ServiceNow has worked with operators like BT, Bell Canada and Verizon.

My Take:

Learn About

This and That!

Mississippi Passes Bill Banning Lab-Grown Meat -
Three states have now passed legislation making it illegal to manufacture, sell, or distribute cultivated meat.

My Take: MMmmm.. Manufactured meat. Do hotdogs count?

What Went Wrong at Saudi Arabia’s Futuristic Metropolis in the Desert - Neom executives shielded the crown prince from the challenges of his fantastical plans, including by engaging in ​‘deliberate manipulation​’ of financials, an internal report​ ​found

My Take:

What will happen during the total lunar eclipse of March 2025? - Observers across most of the United States will have front-row seats to the spectacular total lunar eclipse overnight on March 13-14. Here's what to expect.

My Take:

🇨🇦 Bell Media Leads the Way in Sports Advertising with New Live Connected TV Offering - Bell Media today announced a major advancement in sports advertising with the launch of live CoTV inventory on TSN, Canada’s Sports Leader. This innovative offering combines the reach of traditional television with the precision targeting of digital advertising, providing brands with unparalleled access to Canada’s most engaged sports fans.

My Take: Click to accept

6G apps will be enabled by digital twins and FWA, says NGA - ATIS’ Next G Alliance (NGA) announced the release of two new white papers pivotal in shaping the 6G future: 6G Digital Twins Use Cases and Requirements and Fixed Wireless Access.

My Take:

Naturally occurring molecule rivals Ozempic in weight loss, sidesteps side effects - A Stanford Medicine study taps artificial intelligence to find a naturally occurring molecule called a peptide that suppressed appetite and led to weight loss in mice and pigs.

My Take:

World's 1st modular quantum computer that can operate at room temperature goes online - Scientists have built the first networked quantum computer using photons, demonstrating that room-temperature modules can be connected and scaled up.

My Take: DC no heat

🇨🇦 Canada is a supercomputer laggard. Here's why that's needs to change - In the past half-decade, other developed economies have blazed ahead of Canada in shoring up their computing power and digital infrastructure — a crucial pillar of competitiveness that has only grown in importance with the recent generative AI boom. Canada now stands alone as the only G7 nation without a supercomputer in the top 25. 

My Take:

Reactive cyber-security measures are much more expensive and less effective than a proactive approach - "The most expensive part of a cyber attack is not always the immediate damage, but rather the lost opportunities, reputational harm and costly recovery process – consequences that can be avoided with a proactive cyber-security strategy."

My Take: Pay me now, or pay me much more later

Infographic Of The Week

My Take: What? Pascal and Fortran-77 didn’t make the list? 🙂 All that data science and AI contribution is propping up Python. It’s a relatively straightforward language.

Podcast Recommendation

In this episode, Christopher Baugh, Partner and head of the space research practice, Lluc Palerm, Research Director and head of the Satellite–Telecoms Integration programme, and Carlos Placido, independent adviser, discuss the potential for European satellite constellations such as Eutelsat OneWeb to replace Starlink in Ukraine and elsewhere.

Geopolitics are causing turbulence in the satellite communications (satcom) sector, but Europe is stepping up its space connectivity plans in terms of its commercial and sovereign solutions.

The conversation touches on the potential for a European-backed constellation to replace Starlink in Ukraine specifically and the strategies that European space players will follow.

Listen Here!

Movie/Streaming Recommendation

IMDb: 6.9/10

JMDb: 7.5/10 (I liked her pictures.)

Kate Winslet delivers a tour de force performance in "LEE," embodying the remarkable Lee Miller with fierce determination and vulnerability. This biographical drama chronicles Miller's transformation from Vogue model to a fearless war photographer, capturing history's darkest moments during WWII.

Director Ellen Kuras, herself an accomplished cinematographer, crafts visually arresting scenes that honor Miller's extraordinary photographs while never shying away from war's brutal realities. Winslet's nuanced portrayal reveals a complex woman driven to document truth at great personal cost.

The supporting cast shines, with Andy Samberg surprisingly effective in a dramatic turn and Marion Cotillard delivering emotional depth in limited screen time. While the film occasionally suffers from conventional biopic trappings, its power lies in showing how Miller's lens became our witness to both humanity's greatest horrors and resilience.

"LEE" isn't just a history lesson—it's a testament to those who risk everything to ensure we never look away from inconvenient truths. In Winslet's capable hands, Miller's legacy burns bright for a new generation.

Until Next Time

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