Telefonica and NOS take 5G into defence with unmanned maritime exercise

By Rebecca Stone

Telefonica has demonstrated the military capabilities of its 5G infrastructure in an unmanned drone and vehicle exercise, one of the first moves in its new collaboration with Portuguese operator NOS Comunicacoes — and a signal that European telecom operators increasingly see defence as a commercial market for mobile technology.

The two companies combined their 5G networks during the Robotic Experimentation and Prototyping with Maritime Unmanned Systems (REPMUS) demonstration. Telefonica said the exercise proved the pair can deliver new services and uses on top of their existing infrastructure.

The demonstration mattered less for its technology than for the paperwork that followed it. During the event, Telefonica and NOS formalised their partnership by signing a memorandum of understanding covering joint development of future connectivity set-ups, secure communications and digital services.

It took the companies a full year to negotiate the details of that collaboration — a timeline that suggests neither side rushed, and that defence-grade interoperability is harder to agree on than a standard wholesale deal.

What does the MOU actually cover?

Defence and security uses sit at the centre of the agreement. NOS Comunicacoes board member Joao Ricardo Moreira framed the rationale in geopolitical terms, saying a changing security and defence "landscape requires digital infrastructure capable of operating in a coordinated manner across national borders".

Network interoperability is one of the key areas the companies agreed to explore. That is a concrete problem: Spanish and Portuguese defence users would need networks from two separate operators to hand over sessions, share spectrum coordination and maintain secure links across the border.

The remaining agenda items are broader and, so far, less defined:

• Edge computing
• Artificial intelligence
• 5G and new network architectures
• Integration with "command-and-control systems, autonomous platforms and other emerging technologies", in Telefonica's wording

That last phrase does a lot of work. Telefonica has not said which command-and-control systems, which platforms, or on what timeline any of this reaches deployment. An MOU is an intent to explore, not a contract, and neither operator has disclosed financial terms, revenue targets or a rollout schedule.

Why sovereign European defence networks are suddenly telecom business

The push into military applications tracks a wider European policy shift. EU governments are directing money toward defence readiness and technological sovereignty, and operators with owned fibre and 5G assets are positioning to capture a share of that spending. A cross-border operator pairing — Spanish and Portuguese, in this case — fits the sovereignty argument neatly.

Telefonica Espana director of defence and security Javier Lopez Gutierrez said the work holds the potential to boost European sovereignty. He also thanked the Spanish and Portuguese navies for providing the "operational environment" to test and evaluate the technologies involved.

The naval involvement is the most concrete element of the story: the technologies were not tested in a lab but in an operational maritime setting with military participation on both sides of the border.

What remains unproven

For now, the claims rest on one demonstration and one signed memorandum. Telefonica's statement that the exercise proved the ability to provide new services is a vendor-side assertion; no throughput figures, coverage numbers or service contracts accompanied it.

The gap between a successful unmanned-systems demo and a procured, revenue-generating defence network is where most such partnerships stall. The year the companies spent negotiating suggests both sides know the complexity involved — and the next measurable milestone, whether a pilot contract or a navy procurement, will show whether the MOU is a starting point or a filing-cabinet document.