• India’s Vodafone Idea hooks up with AST SpaceMobile
• Excitement builds around telco AI agents
• Ciena’s Blue Planet teams up with EY to revamp Lumen’s OSS

In today’s industry news roundup: Vodafone Idea (Vi) is to partner with Vodafone Group-backed, low-earth orbit satellite player AST SpaceMobile for the provision of direct-to-device services in India; Amdocs and Deloitte are just two of the companies that have spied a business opportunity in the telecom sector of AI agents; automation software specialist Blue Planet and EY have teamed up to help revamp Lumen’s inventory management system; and more!

In India, Vodafone Idea (Vi) has hooked up with low-earth orbit satellite constellation operator AST SpaceMobile for the provision of satellite-provisioned broadband and other connectivity services to standard smartphones across the country. In a press release announcing their partnership, Vi noted the collaboration will “bring direct-to-device broadband connectivity to India” in support of the Indian government’s Digital Vision initiative as encapsulated in the nationwide Digital India plan. Vi added that the direct-to-device services “will complement terrestrial connectivity to further expand cellular broadband coverage across some challenging terrains.” Vi will manage market access, run spectrum operations and terrestrial network integration, while AST SpaceMobile will build and run the constellation of satellites. That Vi has teamed up with AST SpaceMobile for such services is not a surprise, as Vodafone Group is an investor in both: Vi’s main domestic rivals, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, have teamed up with Elon Musk’s Starlink for next-generation satellite service delivery – see this news report and this article. Vi’s chief marketing officer, Avneesh Khosla, stated: “Vi has always been committed to leveraging technology to connect every Indian and we see satellite communication as a complement to terrestrial connectivity. As satellite-based mobile access becomes a reality in India, we are looking forward to ushering in a new era of seamless and resilient connectivity.” Chris Ivory, chief commercial officer at AST SpaceMobile, added: “India, with its vast and dynamic telecom market, is the ideal place to demonstrate how our space-based cellular broadband can seamlessly complement terrestrial networks. We are not just expanding coverage; we are breaking down barriers to connectivity, enabling everyday smartphones to access 4G and 5G directly from space. Together with Vodafone Idea, we are excited to unlock new possibilities for emergency response, disaster management, agriculture, remote learning and countless other applications that will benefit from truly ubiquitous mobile broadband.” Vi launched its initial terrestrial 5G services earlier this year and just last week expanded its 5G reach to Bengalaru (formerly Bangalore), the largest city in  the southern Indian state of Karnataka, and the locus of the sub-continent’s burgeoning hi-tech industries including telecom, AI, quantum and IT. The Bengaluru launch is an integral part of the company’s overarching strategy to deploy 5G throughout its 17 priority circles (service areas) by the end of August this year: Those 17 circles, which account for about 98% of Vi’s revenues, are Mumbai, Delhi, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, East Uttar Pradesh, West Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, West Bengal, Bihar, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Uttaranchal. 

Agentic AI is all the rage, in case you had missed the many announcements made already this year, and we’re now entering the era of vertical AI agents, those that are tailored to the needs of specific verticals, such as telecom. Earlier this week, Amdocs “unveiled a new standard defining what makes a telco AI agent an advanced, verticalised enterprise offering,” the vendor announced. Now professional services giant Deloitte has launched its Agentic AI Blueprint for Telcos “to help telecom organisations scale and accelerate their AI transformation. With telcos facing rising complexity and margin pressure, the industry is primed to benefit from the transformational impact of AI. While traditional AI delivers incremental improvements, agentic AI can enable true automation – empowering intelligent systems to reason, act and adapt across core telco functions like network management, service delivery and customer care,” Deloitte noted in this announcement. And, like other large professional services companies seeking a share of the AI limelight, the Deloitte team has attached a very large number to the niche it is targeting. “Agentic AI presents a $150bn opportunity for the telecom industry, and the race to capture that value has already begun,” stated Baris Sarer, principal, global AI leader for TMT at Deloitte US. “To move beyond pilots and drive real modernisation, telcos need a clear, scalable path to embed AI across their operations. Deloitte’s Agentic AI Blueprint gives organisations the tools to build and scale agentic AI solutions quickly, efficiently and without disruption,” he added. That $150bn is, it seems, spread over five years and comprises who knows what – we are awaiting feedback from Deloitte. 

And another giant professional services firm has its eyes on a specific part of the telecom sector… EY has teamed up with Ciena’s Blue Planet division, which develops automation software for network operators, to help companies “accelerate their digital transformations, improve operational efficiency and deliver superior customer experiences through their cloud and AI-native automation software covering inventory, orchestration and assurance.” The partners already have a customer in the form of US network operator Lumen Technologies, which needed to consolidate and modernise its network inventory management ecosystem “with a modern OSS platform to help transform the way they deliver products and services to their customers,” according to the vendor. Alexandre Mercier-Dalphond, Lumen senior VP of infrastructure and operations, stated: “We are excited to be collaborating with the EY-Blue Planet Alliance on our largest network inventory transformation programme to date. This collaboration brings together a leading OSS platform with strong business transformation and system integration capability, giving us more confidence that we will meet the strategic commitments to our leadership and customers.” For further details, see this announcement. 

Two major telecom sector companies have just announced the appointment of a new chief financial officer (CFO). Vodafone Group has named Pilar López as CFO Designate with effect from 1 October 2025. Pilar will succeed Luka Mucic who, as announced on 7 May 2025, has decided to leave Vodafone. Following her appointment as CFO Designate, Pilar will begin a period of handover from Luka. Pilar’s formal appointment as CFO and executive director to the board of Vodafone will commence on 1 December 2025, following Luka’s departure from Vodafone on 30 November 2025. López joins from Microsoft, where she has held senior roles, including chief operating officer for western Europe. Meanwhile, Ciena has appointed Marc D. Graff as senior VP and CFO with effect from 1 August, following the retirement of Jim Moylan. “Marc brings extensive financial expertise and industry knowledge, particularly in datacentre-related technologies, to Ciena at a pivotal time as AI and cloud computing fuel growing demand for high-speed connectivity,” noted Ciena president and CEO Gary Smith. Before joining Ciena, Graff served as senior vice president and CFO at Altera, a leading provider of FPGA hardware and software solutions, “where he was instrumental in executing the majority sale of Altera from Intel”. Prior to Altera, Graff served as CFO and chief operating officer for Intel’s datacentre and artificial intelligence group.

The Trump administration, which has been making a point of leaving UN institutions in a hurry and pointedly slamming the door behind it as it goes, seems to have had a change of heart, in one case least, and has decided to support a Biden-era nominee, Doreen Bogdan-Martin, for re-election to the post of secretary-general of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the most venerable member of the entire extended UN family. Bogdan-Martin beat a Russian national to the job in September 2022 in the wake of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. At that election, held at the ITU Plenipotentiary gathering in Bucharest, Romania, Bogdan-Martin received 139 votes while her opponent in the race, the Russian deputy telecoms minister, Rashid Ismailov, got just 25. In what might well be described as a mega Maga political volte face, the current US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has issued a statement entitled Support for the Re-Election of Doreen Bogdan-Martin as ITU Secretary-General. The US administration officially announced that it is “pleased to announce our support for the re-election of Doreen Bogdan-Martin as secretary-general for the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). At a time when global networks and digital technologies are increasingly impacting the global economy, ITU needs the right leadership. Bogdan-Martin has delivered principled, results-driven leadership grounded in transparency, accountability and technical excellence. Under her guidance, the ITU has helped develop global tech standards, improved oversight, increased ITU-private sector partnerships, and worked toward secure digital connectivity. I urge all ITU member states to support her re-election. Her continued leadership brings clarity, credibility and vision to this institution and will help guide the ITU into a new era of collaboration and effectiveness.” Apparently, President Trump appreciates the historical and continuing importance of the ITU and, so far, the agency has not been hit by meaningful cuts in foreign aid. Indeed, Trump himself has said the UN has “great potential and ... we’ll continue to go along with it, but they got to get their act together”. Maybe the ITU has. It’s a funny old world, isn’t it?

– The staff, TelecomTV