What’s up with… KT Corp, SES, Bell Canada
In today’s industry news roundup, South Korea's KT Corp is determined not to suffer the same fate as its domestic rival SK Telecom in the wake of a major cyberattack earlier this year. The company has pledged to invest over 1 trillion won ($723m) over the next five years on its cybersecurity defenses.
Following the disastrous breach of rival SK Telecom's network by cybercriminals, KT Corp has announced that it will be investing heavily in improving its security measures. The investment plan was prompted by data breaches suffered at the hands of the Salt Typhoon hacking group by North American operators, such as AT&T and Verizon.
As part of its security investments, KT Corp is considering working with technology partners like Microsoft, Google, and Palo Alto Networks. The company's chief information security and privacy officer, Hwang Tae-sun, stated that the investment plan isn't a reaction to SK Telecom's breach, but rather a proactive measure to enhance its cybersecurity defenses.
SES Takes Over Intelsat
Ses is set to complete its takeover of Intelsat this week. The deal, worth €3.8bn and adjusting for EBITDA €1.8bn, will create a stronger multi-orbit operator with greater coverage, improved resiliency, an expanded suite of solutions, and enhanced resources.
SES noted that the acquisition will allow it to combine its fleet of more than 100 geostationary earth orbit (GEO) and 26 medium-earth orbit (MEO) satellites. The new company will have annual revenues of €3.8bn and adjusted EBITDA of €1.8bn, with estimated financial efficiencies worth €2.4bn.
Bell Canada Gets FCC Green Light
Bell Canada has received the go-ahead from the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to acquire Ziply Fiber for a whopping $5.1bn.
The deal, which was first announced in November 2024, will see Bell Canada splash out on Ziply's fibre infrastructure, with operations covering around 1.3 million premises across four US states – Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana.
HKBN Enters Optical Core Network
Hong Kong Broadband Networks Enterprise Solutions (HKBNES) has announced the development of a 1.6Tbit/s optical core network that addresses growing demand for data transmission bandwidth.
The upgrade will allow HKBNES to offer a "tenfold upgrade" to its Metro Ethernet service, increasing it from 100 Gbit/s to 1000 Gbit/s. This will enable enterprises to access higher-performance private networks for advanced technologies like AI, cloud-based supercomputing, and ultra-high-definition video applications.
AI Infrastructure Bubble Grows
The leading players in the AI infrastructure space are gearing up for a massive investment in their datacentre facilities. Meta's owner and CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently unveiled plans to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in AI datacentre "superclusters."
Zuckerberg stated that Meta Superintelligence Labs will have industry-leading levels of compute and the greatest compute per researcher. He also hinted at the development of a supercluster called Prometheus.
More Industry News
Other recent developments include:
- F5 Research finds that most enterprises are still falling short in AI readiness.
- Elisa's half-year financial report for January to June 2025 reveals a strong performance.
- Allot has signed a landmark deal with Tier 1 EMEA telecom operator.
- We're still waiting on answers from AT&T, Altice France, and AI in Europe – stay tuned!