Category Archives: General

China’s LEO Megaconstellations: Closing the Gap in the Global Space Race

By | May 19, 2025
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In today’s geopolitically charged environment, LEO satellite constellations represent more than mere communication networks—they are symbols of power and sovereignty, and vital for national security. In this context, strategic imperatives outweigh financial considerations. This is the backdrop for China’s ambitious push to develop its own satellite constellations. In this new space race, China’s mega-constellations are… Read More »

Navigating Risks and Opportunities in Sovereign AI Infrastructure

By | April 23, 2025
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A confluence of factors drives the race to build sovereign AI infrastructure—Generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs), escalating geopolitical and national security concerns, and NVIDIA’s aggressive expansion into the data center market with its powerful GPU hardware and software stack that fuels the next generation of neoclouds. As a result, “AI Factories” have emerged… Read More »

2025 Technology Outlook: Navigating the Intersection of Geopolitics and Digital Infrastructure

By | March 17, 2025
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Our Xona Partners team collaborated to write this Insight Note following Mobile World Congress 2025 to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the current state of the telecom industry. In this paper, we analyze critical trends—such as the rise of AI-driven network intelligence and the convergence of non-terrestrial networks (NTN) with mobile connectivity. We also look… Read More »

The Disruptive Nature of Starlink

By | February 12, 2025
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I wanted to share a few thoughts as Starlink approaches 5 million subscribers—a milestone achieved in just over 4 years since launching its beta service in November 2020. This growth is particularly impressive when compared to the performance of traditional satellite service providers. Destruction in the GEO broadband market A significant portion of Starlink’s growth… Read More »

The Evolving Landscape of Subsea Fiber Cables: Geopolitics, Resiliency, and AI

By | January 27, 2025
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Rising geopolitical tensions and recent suspected sabotage events have put the resiliency of subsea fiber optic cables under renewed scrutiny. The heightened interest in subsea cable resiliency has led leading regulatory bodies, international organizations, and governments to propose initiatives and measures to enhance the security and resiliency of subsea cables. In our recent Insight Note,… Read More »

Understanding the Risks in Direct-to-Device Satellite Communications: Insights from SpaceX and Globalstar

By | August 30, 2024
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Direct-to-device (D2D) satellite communications present significant challenges, both financial and technological, that are closely interconnected. Addressing one set of challenges often increases the risk in the other. Different D2D constellations have adopted various strategies to balance commercial and technological risks. In our latest Insight Note, which you can download below, we highlight some of the… Read More »

Telecom Network Resiliency: Strategies and Lessons from Major Outages

By | August 7, 2024
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During a period of two years, three catastrophic telecommunications network outages drew the ire of customers and scrutiny of regulators who initiated probes to understand the incidents and prevent future occurrences. The outages at Rogers (Canada), Optus (Australia), and AT&T (US) underscored the critical dependency of modern economies on telecommunications networks. Network outages impact more… Read More »

Mobile Infrastructure Capex: Permanent Weakening or Short-Term Decline?

By | July 23, 2024
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Mobile infrastructure capex has declined significantly since the second quarter of 2023, following a wave of spending on 5G, with no recovery yet in sight (see here and here). While the mobile industry has faced such declines in the past, signs suggest that the current weakness could be longer and deeper than previous downturns. The… Read More »

5G Positioning Unleashed: Pioneering New Services

By | June 14, 2024
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5G positioning and location technologies are the culmination of nearly three decades of advancements in mobile positioning technologies [see here for a very informative description]. What began as regulatory requirement for emergency services has expanded into requirements for positioning services in a host of industry verticals and use cases. To meet these new demands, 5G… Read More »

Perspectives on the Satellite Industry

By | March 27, 2024
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The satellite industry is undergoing a transformation under pressure from different fundamental trends. Below are some of my observations after I attended Satellite 2024 in Washington, DC last week. The topics discussed at the event, the products on display on the exhibition floor, and the type and background of attendees provide some clues on major… Read More »

MWC 2024: Navigating Opportunities and Challenges in the Telecom and Digital Infrastructure Landscape

By | March 12, 2024
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Once a year, at this time, we release our update on the telecom and digital infrastructure sectors. Mobile World Congress (MWC 2024) serves as a catalyst, helping us validate our market assumptions and gain new insights. This year, our primary observation is that these sectors are undergoing a transformative period characterized by divestments and consolidation.… Read More »

A Look Under The Hood Of The FCC National Broadband Map

By | July 27, 2023
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The FCC recently released version 2 of the National Broadband Map. It’s an ambitious project that aims to provide information on the available connectivity services at every location in the US. The NTIA plans to use the map to identify unserved and underserved communities to provide funding under the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD)… Read More »

Telecom Cloud Platforms: A White Knight or Trojan Horse?

By | April 11, 2023
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The extension of the public cloud to telecom networks is one of the most important technology trends with far reaching consequences for both cloud providers and telcos. Cloud providers are making an aggressive bid for telcos to host their network infrastructure on the public cloud. They argue that this will help telcos cut their costs,… Read More »

Enabling Direct-to-Handset Satellite Connectivity: Highlights from the Proposed FCC Regulations

By | March 22, 2023
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Direct-to-handset satellite services proposed by the likes of Lynk Global, AST SpaceMobile and SpaceX are bold commercial endeavours that lack the appropriate regulatory framework for sharing spectrum between mobile network operators and satellite service providers. The FCC is proposing a framework to govern the use of mobile spectrum by satellite operators, which it calls Supplementary… Read More »

Industry Update – MWC2023: Velocity or Suspended Animation?

By | March 8, 2023
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Mobile World Congress 2023 is back to its old glory as the top telecom/Internet event, with attendees rushing to physically meet post the Covid era. It launched under the “Velocity” theme to highlight the speed at which technology was accelerating. This contrasted against a backdrop of market and financial challenges plaguing the mobile industry ecosystem… Read More »