African smartphone shipments fall 39% in telecom roundup

By Elena Vasquez

African smartphone shipments fell 39% year on year in the third quarter, according to Omdia, as rising costs shifted vendors away from aggressive expansion toward selective, higher-margin sales strategies.

European shipments dropped 19% over the same period, while global shipments fell 20% to 254.7 million units. North America recorded the smallest contraction, at 1%.

Omdia expects the global smartphone market to keep sliding in 2027. The forecast points to high-bandwidth memory shortages and constraints on conventional memory supply as continuing pressures.

What do Net Insight's results show?

Net Insight, a Swedish supplier of advanced time-synchronization gear for 5G networks, reported third-quarter net sales of 103.9 million Swedish kronor ($10.5 million), down 29% year on year. Time synchronization forms only part of its portfolio.

CEO Andreas Eriksson said: "Our focus remains on converting these opportunities into revenue and building a broader and more recurring business." He also said: "We continue to see commercial progress in both Media and Time Synchronization." He noted that the quarter remained financially weak despite revenue improving from the previous quarter.

The 29% year-on-year decline remains the clearest commercial measure. Eriksson's comments describe progress from a weak base, with conversion into recurring revenue still the stated objective.

What is Virgin Media O2 testing in AI-RAN?

Virgin Media O2 is assessing Ericsson and Nokia in AI-RAN and has installed an Nvidia processor at a busy Nokia site in central London. The operator installed it to see whether it offers genuine AI benefits.

No throughput, latency or financial result accompanies the trial. The installation therefore marks an evaluation stage, not a disclosed commercial result for the operator's Ericsson-versus-Nokia assessment.

Can Deutsche Telekom revive its T-Mobile US combination?

Deutsche Telekom has put plans for a full combination with its T-Mobile US unit on hold, according to a Bloomberg report. Bloomberg first mooted the possibility of a deal in April.

The report said Deutsche Telekom decided against a formal bid partly because of opposition from its works council. T-Mobile executives also opposed the transaction, although the report said the plan could be revived.

What is Alibaba Cloud adding in Amsterdam?

Chinese hyperscaler Alibaba Cloud has launched its first public cloud region in the Netherlands, with two new data centers in Amsterdam. The launch gives the company its first Dutch public-cloud infrastructure footprint.

Alibaba Cloud plans to bring a suite of agentic AI services to the region. The planned features include security guardrails and an "intelligent operations" platform, leaving those services as future additions to the launched region.

How much is O2 investing in mobile coverage?

O2 is upgrading 4G and 5G mobile service at seven Haven holiday parks in the UK with infrastructure-as-a-service provider Freshwave. The work forms part of O2's wider Mobile Transformation Plan.

O2 is investing around £700 million ($933 million) this year to improve mobile coverage across the UK. The seven-site upgrade provides a defined deployment within that broader spending program.

Which age-assurance methods does Ofcom consider effective?

Ofcom published a "rapid assessment" of age-assurance methods as the UK social-media ban for under-16s looms. It identified four methods it considers capable of being highly effective at 16 or over:

• Photo ID matching
• Banking information
• Digital identity services
• Facial age estimation

Ofcom does not consider self-declaration or verifiable parental consent highly effective at any age. The UK government hopes the first related regulations will take effect in spring, ahead of the ban.

What does ETSI's deepfake specification require?

EU standards body ETSI released technical specification ETSI TS 104 275 to reduce the risk of generative AI systems producing harmful deepfakes. The document focuses on accountability among AI developers and operators.

ETSI TS 104 275 aims to strengthen that accountability by providing practical measures and safeguards that demonstrate how to mitigate deepfake-related risks. As a technical specification, it offers an accountability framework rather than an enforcement timetable.

The next checkpoints are practical: Omdia sees handset weakness extending into 2027, O2's coverage program runs this year, and Alibaba Cloud plans its agentic services. The government hopes for UK age rules in spring, while Deutsche Telekom has left a T-Mobile US combination open to possible revival.