Nokia is taking a big leap forward in making networks truly autonomous as Nokia Bell Labs announces an industry-first research breakthrough called Natural-Language Networks that will allow networks to be operated through plain speech or text prompts. These networks will understand the intention of users and have the intelligence to act upon them autonomously.

Consolidated Communications, a top 10 fiber provider in the United States, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by affiliates of Searchlight Capital Partners and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) in an all-cash transaction with an enterprise value of approximately $3.1 billion.

Appalachian Wireless, an East Kentucky Network (EKN) company, has chosen Ericsson for a multi-year Radio Access Network (RAN) modernization project to bring world-class 5G technologies to underserved communities in Appalachia. The partnership marks a step forward in connectivity and technological advancement for the mountainous region, where Appalachian Wireless is the sole network provider for many households and businesses.

"We are deep into our transformation of Lumen and much of our core work involves simplification of our business," said Bob McCarthy, Lumen Senior Vice President, Business Development. "The sale of select Lumen CDN service contracts enables us to apply even more focus on disrupting the telecommunications industry by cloudifying our network, enhancing our Quantum Fiber offering and bringing amazing new solutions to market."

Adtran announced its collaboration with Orange on a lab trial of quantum key distribution (QKD) technology, marking a key step towards safeguarding real-world networks from the threat of quantum computer attacks.

Nokia has become part of the Northeast Microelectronics Coalition (NEMC) Hub, a regional innovation hub led by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MassTech).

Cisco is acquiring cybersecurity software company Splunk for $157 per share in a cash deal worth about $28 billion, the company said Thursday, in its largest acquisition ever.

HGC Global Communications Limited (HGC), a leading ICT service provider based in Hong Kong, is launching a one-stop secure access service edge (SASE) managed service for enterprises operating across the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).

Telit Cinterion, a global enabler of the intelligent edge, announced the WE310K6, a fully integrated, low-power module featuring dual-band, dual-stream Wi-Fi and dual-mode Bluetooth/ Bluetooth Low Energy.

Nokia expands its industry-leading IP router portfolio with the introduction of the new 7730 Service Interconnect Router (SXR) product family. The new platforms bring the service router performance, security, assurance and sustainability customers rely on from Nokia at the IP edge and core into advanced IP access and aggregation networks.