(Source: Orange)

Orange has teamed up with infrastructure investor Equitix and Irish subsea cable developer MDM for a joint venture hoping to develop a new subsea cable link between Ireland and continental Europe. Called Pisces, the route will stretch for around 3,125km, connecting Galway (Ireland), Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez (France), Sopelana (Spain) – where a new landing station will be built by Orange – and Carcavelos (Portugal). The project will be partly funded by the EU's Connecting Europe Facility. Ireland, which is seen as something of a tax haven by many large technology companies, is a major European cloud and datacenter hub for hyperscalers and AI frontrunners. Carine Romanetti, a recognized subsea expert, has been appointed CEO of the joint venture.

Vodafone offers Express Capacity

Vodafone Business has launched Express Capacity, a service intended to deliver either 100G or 400G transport links to large organizations looking to expand their cloud and AI capabilities within 15 days. Drawing on Vodafone's European backbone network, Express Capacity will initially provide connectivity across existing routes linking key hubs in London, Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Marseille and Milan.

Ukrainians slam Starlink outage

Ukraine military bloggers have accused Elon Musk's SpaceX of deliberately restricting access to its satellite connectivity terminals at the request of Donald Trump. According to a Guardian report, the resulting outage came as Russia launched a deadly salvo of ballistic missiles at Ukraine on Tuesday evening, with no warning from the US. The US has for years provided the country with intelligence when such strikes were about to happen, says the report. Serhiy Beskrestnov, described as an adviser to Ukraine's President Zelensky, said: "Our armed forces did not receive a warning about these restrictions and this led to the failure of a number of missions. It's clear that this action cannot be a coincidence and is connected to the current political situation." (See Eurobites: Ukraine's Kyivstar signs Starlink deal and Ukraine's networks still standing but need help.)

Creditors sue Patrick Drahi

Creditors have sued Patrick Drahi's Altice International, alleging it illegally shifted assets worth billions of dollars out of their reach, according to a Financial Times report (paywall may apply). The aggrieved lenders filed the suit in New York's Supreme Court on Tuesday in what is a ratcheting up of a long-running dispute between the parties. (See Altice's telecom assets remain in the balance amid debt shake-up.)

Netflix lands World Cup rights in Spain

Netflix has secured the Spanish rights to the soccer World Cup in 2030, with the proviso that all Spain's matches as well as the semi-finals and the final will be screened free-to-air by a national broadcaster. Spain is one of three countries hosting the event, along with Morocco and Portugal. The streaming giant already holds broadcast rights (for the US and Canada) to the women's World Cups in 2027 and 2031. (See Netflix to join Disney, Apple, others in live streaming battleground.)

Du claims world first with U6GHz launch

Middle East operator Du is claiming a world first with the commercial launch of U6GHz connectivity over its 5G network. Du says the launch helps pave the way for the introduction of 6G networks in the future.

KPN teams up with banks for digital ID venture

Dutch incumbent operator KPN has signed up to a Dutch coalition developing MyCheck, a digital ID system. According to EU rules, all member states must develop such a system by the end of 2026. KPN says MyCheck will offer a Dutch alternative to similar services being offered by large international technology companies. ABN AMRO, Achmea, ASN Bank, Deloitte and Rabobank are the other companies currently participating in the joint project.

A1, Antik extend Eutelsat partnerships

A1 Group and Antik Telecom have extended their respective partnerships with Eutelsat to deliver TV services across Slovakia and the Czech Republic from the satellite company's 16° East orbital position.