Orange

Germany’s largest operator is turning e-waste into engagement currency with a take-back drive that mixes material recovery with headline incentives. Deutsche Telekom estimates 195 million unused phones are sitting idle in Germany, locking up valuable materials and ESG progress. The company is reframing those devices as an urban mine—rich in gold, copper, and critical minerals—and as a lever to scale circularity ahead of its 2030 ambition to make all IT and network technology, and most end-user devices, recyclable or reusable. By the end of 2024, the operator had already taken back more than 11 million phones across the group.
SafetyCase—Orange Business’s portable emergency telecoms unit—now bonds terrestrial access with OneWeb’s LEO satellite backhaul to keep voice, data, and video online when fixed and mobile networks fail. The move adds low-latency satellite links from a European operator to a solution already engineered and built in France, aligning with sovereignty and continuity mandates across the EU. The target users include first responders, public safety agencies, local authorities, operators of vital importance (OVIs), and essential enterprises. LEO adds a robust, geographically independent path that supports modern, IP-based coordination tools—push-to-talk over LTE/5G (MCX), live video, GIS—and does so with the latency profile field teams require.
Telefónica reports €77 billion invested over ten years to expand sustainable, resilient connectivity, with SDG 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure) as the strategic anchor. The operator now serves nearly 350 million accesses, has passed 81.4 million premises with FTTH, and runs one of the largest ultra-broadband footprints globally, second in scale only to China. Spain is Telefónica’s showcase for fiber-led modernization. Dense FTTH has enabled a managed copper switch-off, which simplifies operations, cuts energy use, and improves service quality. The operator targets net zero by 2040 - ten years ahead of many international timelines—and reports a 52% reduction in CO2 emissions across the value chain from 2015 to 2024.
Telefonica is weighing a bid for Vodafone Spain from Zegona, setting up a pivotal consolidation moment in a four-player Spanish market under tight EU scrutiny. State-aligned and strategic investors appear open to a scaled Spain-centric strategy that leans into Europe while pruning Latin American exposure. Spain's market has shifted after the combination of Orange Spain and MasMvil (MasOrange), creating a heavyweight rival to Telefonica. A successful deal would reshape Spains operator landscape and signal how far EU policymakers will allow scale plays to go in mature markets. The European Commission has shown willingness to approve in-country consolidation with tough conditions.
Orange Belgium confirmed a data breach in late July 2025 that compromised the SIM card identifiers and PUK codes of over 850,000 users, significantly increasing the risk of SIM-swap and port-out fraud. Although passwords and financial data were not stolen, the exposed metadata could be exploited for identity impersonation. With GDPR and NIS2 compliance in focus, telecom operators must urgently address SIM security, MFA vulnerabilities, and customer trust through stronger authentication and breach transparency.
Vodacom Group and Airtel Africa have signed a strategic infrastructure sharing agreement in Mozambique, Tanzania, and the DRC. The deal—pending regulatory approval—will enable fiber and tower sharing to accelerate 4G/5G rollout, cut infrastructure costs, and expand coverage in underserved regions, driving Africa’s digital inclusion agenda.
Orange has expanded its partnership with OpenAI to localize AI models for underrepresented African languages like Wolof and Pulaar. These models will run on Orange’s secure, sovereign infrastructure, ensuring privacy and regulatory compliance. With applications in health, education, and digital equity, Orange’s Responsible AI strategy aims to make generative AI more accessible for Africa’s rural populations and especially for women, who face digital and language-based barriers.
Network APIs are redefining the telecom sector, enabling real-time services, secure mobile payments, IoT support, and cross-industry innovation. With projected market growth to $30B by 2030, telecom leaders are focusing on standardization, ecosystem collaboration, and developer engagement to unlock the full value of APIs in the 5G era.
Twelve major European telecom providers, including Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom, have jointly urged the EU to allocate the full upper 6GHz band (6.425–7.125 GHz) for mobile use, citing the spectrum’s critical role in future 6G deployment. With the U.S. and China already advancing in this area, operators warn that delays could jeopardize Europe’s digital leadership and hinder next-generation connectivity infrastructure.
AI Pulse: Telecom’s Next Frontier is a definitive guide to how AI is reshaping the telecom landscape — strategically, structurally, and commercially. Spanning over 130 pages, this MWC 2025 special edition explores AI’s growing maturity in telecom, offering a comprehensive look at the technologies and trends driving transformation.

Explore strategic AI pillars—from AI Ops and Edge AI to LLMs, AI-as-a-Service, and governance—and learn how telcos are building AI-native architectures and monetization models. Discover insights from 30+ global CxOs, unpacking shifts in leadership thinking around purpose, innovation, and competitive advantage.

The edition also examines connected industries at the intersection of Private 5G, AI, and Satellite—fueling transformation in smart manufacturing, mobility, fintech, ports, sports, and more. From fan engagement to digital finance, from smart cities to the industrial metaverse, this is the roadmap to telecom’s next era—where intelligence is the new infrastructure, and telcos become the enablers of everything connected.
In AI in Telecom: Strategic Themes, Maturity, and the Road Ahead, we explore how AI has shifted from buzzword to backbone for global telecom leaders. From AI-native networks and edge inferencing, to domain-specific LLMs and behavioral cybersecurity, this article maps out the strategic pillars, real-world use cases, and monetization models driving the AI-powered telecom era. Featuring CxO insights from Telefónica, KDDI, MTN, Telstra, and Orange, it captures the voice of a sector transforming infrastructure into intelligence.

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