Telecommunications Infrastructure

Amsterdam – September 16, 2026 -- NetActuate has activated NETINT Quadra Video Processing Units (VPUs) in 15 of its global points of presence, offering engineering teams a self-service alternative to hyperscaler transcoding services and direct hardware procurement.

VPU-as-a-Service eliminates hardware procurement for video encoding teams

The expansion builds on a partnership between NetActuate and NETINT Technologies first announced in February 2026. Customers can attach a NETINT VPU directly to a virtual machine or managed Kubernetes node via secure passthrough, gaining full pipeline control, tooling, and observability without buying servers or VPU cards outright. Bare metal integrations are also available, and additional custom deployments can be built in markets beyond the initial 15 locations.

Redmond, Wash. – September 16, 2026 -- XKL LLC has begun global shipments of its MediaLight Xponder and Muxponder systems, a 1RU optical transport platform offering 100G and 400G capacity with zero recurring software licensing fees, the company announced. The systems started shipping to customers in August 2026, targeting enterprise, cloud, and regional service provider networks facing hardware lead times of 20 to 60-plus weeks industry-wide.

Compact chassis packs 24 license-free transceiver ports into a single rack unit

The MediaLight platform consolidates high-density optical transport into a 1RU form factor, eliminating multi-linecard chassis complexity. Each unit supports 24 license-free QSFP-DD/QSFP28 transceiver ports with soft-configurable 100G and 400G transport, reducing rack space and power consumption compared to legacy multi-card systems.

Washington – September 15, 2026 -- Grain Management has completed the merger of Ritter Communications and Great Plains Communications, forming Rightfiber, one of the nation's largest privately held fiber broadband platforms operating across 20 states.

New entity secures $1.6 billion credit facility to fund expansion

Rightfiber has entered into a $1.6 billion credit facility led by Fifth Third Bank to finance organic growth and potential acquisitions. CEO Heath Simpson said the company's team is in place, its network connected, and systems integration is under way following the funding close.

Combined network reaches 300,000 fiber passings across 28,000 miles

Rightfiber now serves more than 400 communities in 20 states through a 28,000-mile fiber network with over 300,000 Fiber-to-the-Home passings. The platform provides services to residential customers, businesses, carriers, hyperscalers and community partners.

Boston – September 10, 2026 -- Tomorrow.io has unveiled the full instrument architecture for DeepSky, a next-generation satellite constellation designed to close a global atmospheric data gap affecting more than 5 billion people who currently live without radar coverage.

Ocean coverage gap leaves 5 billion people without radar warning

Roughly 71 percent of Earth is covered by ocean with virtually no ground-based weather radar, according to the company. Storms frequently intensify over these unmonitored waters, giving coastal communities and global supply chains minimal notice before extreme weather strikes.

Fairfax, Va. – September 15, 2026 -- Aircom has promoted Khurram Chaudhry from Vice President of Product & Engineering to General Manager & CTO, giving him full operational control of the RAN planning and optimization firm as it accelerates AI-driven network automation.

Chaudhry gains authority over Aircom's technology, customers and growth strategy

The move expands Chaudhry's mandate beyond product and engineering to encompass overall business direction and performance at Aircom, a wholly owned subsidiary of TEOCO serving more than 100 customers across 100-plus countries.

Herndon – September 15, 2026 -- ST Engineering iDirect has rolled out new AI governance and automation features for its Foresight orchestration platform, targeting satellite operators managing increasingly complex multi-orbit networks.

Foresight gains agentic governance and change-management controls

The update introduces four capabilities: Agentic Governance for AI agent oversight and audit trails, Governed Change Management for approval-based workflows before AI-driven changes go live, AI Usage Visibility and Cost Controls for monitoring and budgeting AI consumption, and Accelerated Onboarding that automatically discovers network inventory and deploys platform components.

Frankfurt am Main – September 15, 2026 -- KfW IPEX-Bank has agreed to provide financing of up to EUR 250 million to BEN Berlin Energie und Netzholding GmbH to fund investments in Berlin's electricity distribution network.

Funding targets grid reinforcement and renewable integration

The capital will support Stromnetz Berlin GmbH, the BEN subsidiary operating the grid, in expanding infrastructure to connect renewable energy sources, data centers and electric mobility. The financing is intended to enable targeted network reinforcement and expansion to meet rising demand.

BEN plans EUR3.6 billion in grid investment by 2030

The BEN group has outlined total investments of approximately EUR 3.6 billion through 2030 to strengthen and expand Berlin's network infrastructure.

Kuala Lumpur – September 15, 2026 -- ZTE Corporation opened its 15th Global Summit & User Congress in Kuala Lumpur, drawing over 500 government officials, operator executives and ecosystem partners for the company's largest overseas self-hosted forum to date. The event, held under the theme "Architecting Infinity–From Connectivity to Digital Value," was co-located for the first time with GSMA M360 ASEAN.

ZTE pivots strategy to Connectivity plus Computing as 5G expansion continues

Xie Junshi, Executive Vice President and COO of ZTE, told delegates that global 5G rollout remains on a steady growth trajectory while AI has become a primary growth driver for the telecom sector. He said ZTE has upgraded its corporate strategy to "Connectivity plus Computing," framing AI as the industry's brain, communication infrastructure as its nervous system, and terminals as the carrier that ties the two together.

Atlanta – September 15, 2026 -- IPitomy Communications LLC, a subsidiary of Clarion Communications LLC, posted record first-half 2026 results, with adjusted EBITDA climbing 32.8% year-over-year.

Revenue and margins hit first-half highs

Revenue rose 6.4% year-over-year in 1H '26, while gross margin increased 2.6% over the same period. Sales bookings grew 10.9% year-over-year, marking the strongest first-half sales pipeline in the company's history.

IPitomy CEO cites disciplined execution behind growth

"We delivered a strong start to fiscal 2026, exceeding our goals for revenue, adj EBITDA, gross margin and sales pipeline, while continuing to build momentum across the business," said IPitomy CEO Joseph Haines, Sr.

Moriarty, New Mexico – September 15, 2026 -- Sceye's ST1 high-altitude platform station (HAPS) completed a nearly 30,000-km round trip between New Mexico and Japan, returning to continental US airspace on September 4, 2026, and reaching its Moriarty headquarters airspace on September 5, 2026, for additional testing and a planned descent.

ST1 marks Sceye's first flight to Asia under a SoftBank partnership

The mission, conducted in partnership with Japanese telecom operator SoftBank Corp. (TOKYO: 9434), represented Sceye's first flight into Asia and a milestone toward commercial deployment of HAPS as stratospheric infrastructure. The platform carried a SceyeCELL module, described as a first-of-its-kind 'cell tower in the sky' designed to deliver broadband mobile access from the stratosphere directly to standard devices across wide areas. Sceye states a fully deployed HAPS platform can cover an area equivalent to roughly 500 ground-based cell towers.