Analyst figures showed cellular IoT modules remained resilient in the face of memory component shortages which are hammering the smartphone sector, with shipments of the specialised units up 15% year-on-year in H1.

IoT Analytics estimates module shipments were aided by an acceleration during Q2, though its numbers also indicate the technology involved is a key element and may explain why the market has so-far resisted the broader component problem.

The research specialist believes shipments of LTE Cat 1 bis modules dominated the sector in H1, stating “5G deployment has been relatively gradual” and focused more around “higher-value applications”.

It is reasonable to conclude the lean towards established LTE equipment may have alleviated some of the component woes affecting broader device markets and IoT Analytics acknowledged expectations of increased prices for memory and other apparatus may have led some companies to bring orders forward.

Senior principal analyst Satyajit Sinha said it is unclear if the performance of the IoT module market “reflects underlying demand and how much is being pulled forward by longer lead times and rising component costs”.

Although cautious, Sinha noted the steady demand for LTE Cat 1 bis modules and fresh projects could contribute to continued shipment strength in the back-half of the year. The flip-side to this would be in making predictions for 2027 harder.

Other insights in IoT Analytics’ H1 numbers are RedCap and eRedCap modules remained nascent. The company stated the units are “only beginning to move from roadmap into volume” as devices become available and demand is spurred by rising standalone 5G coverage.

“NB-IoT continues to slip” from a peak in Q1 2024.

The company noted China remained the largest market for IoT module shipments, but stated those in India registered the swiftest growth.

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Ericsson unveiled a fresh approach to wireless WAN lifecycle management, asserting a change is needed to meet the shifting sovereignty requirements of governments and other organisations.

NetCloud Private is set up to offer options for the deployment and use of Ericsson’s Wireless WAN infrastructure. The vendor stated the product centralises the control of its Cradlepoint devices and implied data security gains through its ability to keep network management information and telemetry within the confines of the operation.

Ericsson is pitching the product at government agencies, providers of critical infrastructure and “regulated organisations” employing 5G and other mobile networks.

It highlighted a prediction by research company Gartner that more than 50% of multinational organisations would have a digital sovereignty strategy in place by 2029.

NetCloud Private addresses a divergence in the need to govern a growing number of devices and things while meeting different regulations.

Ericsson enterprise wireless executive Pankaj Malhotra said the “advanced data handling techniques and secure encryption capabilities” of NetCloud Private provide “a higher level of trust for governments, enterprises and international organisations”.

The company is gearing up for general availability of the product next month, promising to simplify processes including onboarding, configuration, monitoring, troubleshooting and updating software in set-ups involving thousands of distributed routers.

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Japanese operators hope to make inroads to improving the reach of mmWave 5G and signed a memorandum of understanding covering joint exploration of ways to do so.

SoftBank Corp, KDDI, NTT Docomo and Rakuten Mobile agreed to jointly explore how the coverage afforded by mmWave 5G at 28GHz could be expanded within the limitations of the band, which offers solid connectivity over short distances.

The operators each issued a statement explaining the frequency band is prone to degradation due to physical obstructions and has propagation characteristics which are susceptible to attenuation.

They plan to study ways to expand the use of compatible base stations and architectures to identify possible options to widen the reach of mmWave 5G.

The exploration is also set to cover repeater equipment and other relevant assets.

Some form of shared access could be involved: the operators stated they would continue to deploy their own mmWave 5G equipment, but look into “how to effectively” use it.

The operators explained they are taking action because of difficulties in deploying enough mmWave 5G base stations in a timely fashion, which they noted is a common challenge.

A baseline assumption of their research is each operator will determine their own expansion needs and explore how a combined approach to boosting coverage could fit with their requirements.

There is an overarching ambition towards “transcending the boundaries” between the operators.

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Health company M42 positioned a deal with Oracle as its latest step to establish the UAE at the centre of the global market, with the pair deploying a product offering unified access to patient data.

Oracle stated M42 intends to use its Health Data Intelligence product on clinical, genomic and real-world data to boost management of chronic diseases and enable a host of other services.

These include mapping the health of populations and providing precise care.

Oracle stated M42 is on a mission to establish the UAE as “a global hub for healthcare innovation” and a leader in employing AI to overhaul the sector.

Dr. Ali Anees, CCO for UAE and Bahrain at M42, said the company is a long-term user of Oracle’s health products and has high expectations about what can be achieved through the combination of information detailed above.

The executive expects the work to speed detection, and deliver “more predictive insights” and tailored patient healthcare.

M42 hopes the Oracle products will advance ambitions to deliver comprehensive patient records which it expects to aid healthcare providers’ work by offering a big-picture overview.

It expects the unified approach and ability of AI to digest reams of data to help identify disease patterns and contributing factors.

AI is also being banked on to deliver swifter diagnoses and detection of emerging health trends.

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Juniper Research predicted a bright future for private mobile network spending due to heightened demand for infrastructure capable of extracting the full benefits of AI in business operations.

The company expects outlay on private LTE and 5G networks to hit $84.7 billion in 2031 compared with $17.3 billion this year.

Juniper Research suggested infrastructure providers may reap the greatest benefits by partnering with companies specialising in enterprise AI systems and positioning private networks “as a natural part” of modernisation initiated by the technology.

It argued private networks “are increasingly becoming the default way” to meet the connectivity requirements of AI.

VP of research Nick Maynard believes differentiation will emerge as the secret of future vendor success.

He highlighted “proven Industry 4.0, operational technology and mission-critical applications” as fields where vendors could fully establish an edge on rivals, pointing to services including automated guided vehicles, machine vision, and predictive maintenance and industrial control operations as prime opportunities.

To capitalise, private network vendors should “develop architecture that is repeatable, but highly tailored to individual sectors”, Maynard advised.

Juniper Research ranked current equipment vendors based on their shift “away from general enterprise connectivity” towards systems specific to industrial use cases.

It did not offer any big surprises in a top-five ranking of vendors in the here and now, with Nokia leading Huawei, Samsung, HPE and Ericsson, respectively.

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Tele2 sought out an experienced telecoms executive to become its next EVP and CCO in an appointment due to happen no later than 1 June 2027.

Vahdat Zehtab brings 18-years of experience in the telecoms sector and is set to join from the post of CEO with Valdyr, creator of an AI-native network operating system.

Tele2 is filling a role opened when it promoted Nicholas Hogberg to be president and CEO in July after Jean Marc Harion stood down for personal reasons.

Zehtab spent five-years heading Telia’s B2C Mobile unit covering its Swedish operation. Tele2 also highlighted broad international experience in commercial director roles “across several European and Asian markets”.

There was further B2C experience gained with Ncell in Nepal.

Valdyr appeared to cash in on news of the appointment by choosing today (15 September) to reveal the moniker as its new brand, replacing its previous Telness Tech name.

Executives said the rebrand better reflects “what remains once the old” telecom stack is removed.

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SES launched the final three birds in its 13-satellite O3b mPOWER medium Earth orbit constellation, adding thrust to its connectivity play for enterprise, cloud service providers, governments and mobile operators.

The company is now in the process of commissioning the trio, which it expects to be fully operational by mid-2027.

SES noted the satellites would extend the availability of “high-performance connectivity”; improve the resilience of the O3b mPOWER constellation; advance sovereign data capabilities; and boost the relay of data through space.

CEO Adel Al-Saleh said SES is combining “multiple technologies and orbits” to meet the needs of customers across various sectors.

The satellites support SES’ work to “deliver resilient, secure and scalable connectivity”.

SES’ satellites flew on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket yesterday (13 September). The 10 birds already in orbit can handle data rates “ranging from tens of Mb/s to multiple Gb/s”, the company stated.

The trio run a Boeing software-defined payload technology which the aerospace player separately explained enables them to “dynamically route bandwidth, focus beam power and adjust capacity in real time”.

Boeing stated companies in the cruise line sector, “government organisations, civil entities, mobile operators and commercial airlines” use SES’ existing O3b mPOWER satellites.

“Technology is at its best when it has a direct line-of-sight to human impact,” Ryan Reid, president of Boeing Satellite Systems International, declared.

Reid added SES’ satellites deliver the in-space baseline for a dual-use satellite architecture Boeing developed to work in multiple orbits.

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Vodafone Idea reportedly faces heat from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) over complaints from Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio regarding mobile number portability (MNP) processes.

Business Standard reported the operator is in the regulator’s crosshairs after its rivals complained it broke several rules involved in helping subscribers change operator.

Vodafone Idea’s rivals believe it misled subscribers in telephone calls purporting to be from other providers and warning of changes to the user’s contract or price plan.

The operator is also alleged to have delayed the sending of SMS containing the unique porting code required by subscribers switching to another provider.

Business Standard added Vodafone Idea’s rivals claim it also sought to lure subscribers with lower-priced post-paid plans.

Vodafone Idea refutes the claims, the newspaper wrote.

A TRAI representative reportedly told Business Standard the regulator is looking into the complaints by Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio.

The pair want the regulator to explore their claims of misconduct and issue instructions on the MNP process to prevent future incidents.

TRAI fixed and mobile subscriber figures for July indicate Vodafone Idea had a combined 130 million compared with 384.2 million for Bharti Airtel and 535.1 million with Reliance Jio.

Vodafone Idea commenced a rebranding at the beginning of the month in what CEO Abhijit Kishore described as a move to align with future ambitions to deliver a top-tier experience to customers.

The Economic Times reports the operator is also in the early stages of a INR350 billion ($3.7 billion) funding move involving a ten-year loan facility from up to the same number of lenders to cover capex.

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NTT Docomo asserted a leading status in putting Nokia equipment to work in an open-RAN configuration after deploying a base station capable of integrating with infrastructure from multiple vendors.

The Japanese operator intends to showcase the capabilities of the O-RAN Alliance-compatible Nokia equipment at an event tomorrow (12 September), employing the vendor’s latest Massive MIMO network optimisation technology to bolster access during hours of peak demand.

Docomo stated the Nokia base station equipment is part of the vendor’s broader AirScale range, easing the path to evolving beyond the 4G and 5G connectivity technologies the kit currently delivers.

It expects the equipment to increase the number of devices it can connect at a lower rate of power consumption than existing equipment.

Docomo expects the deployment to ultimately set a blueprint for rollouts in other high-traffic scenarios including urban areas, stadia and event venues.

Research company SNS Insider recently noted open RAN continues to attract interest from operators keen to employ the flexibility the approach offers, and stated AI and machine learning are adding to the network optimisation capabilities.

SNS Insider expects the value of the AI-native open RAN segment to hit $24.5 billion in 2035 compared with $3.2 billion in 2025.

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Telenor subsidiary KNL continued to gain traction for a military high-frequency (HF) communication system from Nordic nations, sealing its third deal through a tie-up with Denmark.

An outline deal opens the way for the Danish Ministry of Defence to buy KNL’s HF radio equipment. The set-up is attracting interest among members of the Nordic Defence Cooperation, a programme established to streamline the procurement process which is open to all nations in the region.

KNL already agreed deals with Sweden and Finland, which the head of Telenor Corporate Development Portfolio Dan Ouchterlony said are a “strong foundation for Nordic cooperation” on the subsidiary’s radio system.

Adding Denmark “reflects a genuine and growing need for secure, independent communication across the region”, Ouchterlony explained.

HF operates in the 3MHz to 30MHz frequency range, which KNL states is well-suited to military operations due to its beyond-line-of-sight capability and resilience in the face of “jamming and other electromagnetic interference”.

The frequency enables coverage across thousands of kilometres in a set-up which does not require fixed or satellite connectivity, another characteristic KNL believes makes it “uniquely valuable” for military purposes along with maritime and critical communication uses.

KNL employs cognitive radio functionality to provide dynamic frequency allocation and boost the way spectrum is used.

CEO Toni Linden said the addition of Denmark is a “strong endorsement” of KNL’s technology.

The company has publicly announced a trio of orders worth around €23.5 million under its existing arrangements with Sweden and Finland.

It is also among several businesses approved to bid for tactical communications system projects in the UK.

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Siemens Mobility, Deutsche Bahn and others made strides in an automated train development project after tests proved the technical feasibility of the concept.

The intelligent transport company and German national rail operator are collaborating with relevant industry and scientific partners on the AutomatedTrain project.

Siemens Mobility stated testing proved the viability of Grade of Automation 4, the highest tier in relevant self-driving technology, by having one of its Mireo trains transfer from a depot to a station to begin services.

Marc Ludwig, CEO of Rail Infrastructure, said Siemens Mobility and its partners have “developed the decisive technologies” which establish the “foundation for the next generation of rail transport”.

The work is “a significant step forward in bringing automation to the railway”, he added.

Testing involved the train receiving instructions then preparing itself for operation by conducting necessary tests before embarking on a journey where it “independently detects obstacles and reacts appropriately”.

Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy Johannes Steiniger branded the concept as “the future of mobility” and an example of how autonomy could help maintain a reliable rail service in the face of a shortage of skilled staff.

Technical points
Siemens Mobility stated the system relies on digital signalling technology based on the European Train Control System, which in part employs mobile networks to transfer real-time information.

Automatic Train Operation technology and intelligent vehicle control systems are also in the mix, with the Advanced Vital Vehicle Operation platform providing pre- and in-operation safety checks.

The train relies on highly-precise positioning information and digital maps. Siemens Mobility explained “state-of-the-art sensor systems” spot problems on tracks, to which the train can respond automatically.

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Connectivity infrastructure-as-a-service provider Freshwave continued to make big progress with urban small cell deployments, adding the UK city of Canterbury to its list through an ongoing tie-up with VMO2.

A quartet of 4G- and 5G-compatible small cells are involved, offering a boost to VMO2 mobile users in busy areas of the city centre.

Freshwave emphasised the discreet qualities of the equipment, a boon in terms of minimising the aesthetic impact in the historic city.

The deployment is being conducted in close collaboration with Kent County Council, the local authority in which Canterbury sits.

David Wimble, cabinet member for Economic Development and Special projects at the council, explained the authority is helping the deployment by providing access to “suitable council assets” as it seeks to provide the reliable connectivity it regards as “an essential part of modern life”.

The arrangement is one of more than 40 Freshwave has agreed with local authorities throughout the UK.

A previous small cell deployment for VMO2 covers the town of Guildford and Freshwave is a key player in a large-scale rollout in the city of Glasgow.

Mobile network operator account director Neil Barnes said such collaborations are “key to delivering mobile connectivity” and Freshwave’s approach shows “how local authorities and industry can work together to improve coverage” in areas with the greatest need.

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Huawei edged closer to laying claims of racketeering to rest as a court case brought by the US is set to get underway later today (8 September) when the process of picking a jury begins.

The Chinese vendor is steadfast in denying any wrongdoing in a matter dating to 2018 which resulted in then CFO and now rotating chair Sabrina Meng being detained by authorities in Canada.

ABC News reported the US Department of Justice (DoJ) is pursuing claims Huawei stole and attempted to steal trade secrets, ignored sanctions on doing business in North Korea and aided Iranian authorities in monitoring protestors during unrest in 2009.

The trial is one of several attacks made by the US against Huawei: it also alleges the vendor is a threat to national security and has imposed stringent restrictions on its access to key technologies.

Nikkei Asia noted the DoJ dropped two claims from its case late last week; a conspiracy charge relating to historic US presidential powers afforded under the International Emergency Economic Power Act and another relating to economic sanctions breaches.

The move left 12 charges in place.

Huawei told Nikkei Asia it is not guilty and the “narrative” of the US case is “demonstrably false”.

Prisoner swap
Although charges against Meng have long-since been dropped, Nikkei Asia noted the bargain she struck to achieve this could now hurt Huawei.

It explained the founder’s daughter admitted she made false statements about the company having worked within US sanction and export rules, details which have been cleared for use in the looming trial.

Most observers note the court case is something of a watershed in a long-running trade battle between the US and China in which big companies from the latter have become symbolic pawns.

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NTT Docomo Business began preparing to develop an IoT security system with Tess Engineering to combat growing cyberattacks on devices by addressing threats at the network level.

The pair intend to develop ways to boost the security of communications infrastructure used for remote monitoring at solar power generation plants using an existing IoT-oriented Docomo network-as-a-service (NaaS) platform.

Docomo stated the IoT devices used to remotely monitor solar facilities typically lack the performance to implement effective security measures. There are also specific difficulties associated with the operating environment.

It explained Tess Engineering is a specialist in designing and operating solar power facilities and had already reported problems involving attacks on the communication systems used to transmit operational data to remote monitoring units.

The existing threat detection and blocking functions in Docomo’s NaaS platform are expected to help tackle the threats by providing notifications and blocking capabilities.

Tess Engineering is piloting the system at some of its solar sites and the companies plan to explore further measures to provide remote monitoring systems protections in a one-stop shop model.

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Almost 130 nations called for restrictions to be placed on autonomous weapons systems, adding another slant to recent growing concerns over the impact of rogue AI.

In a post on X on 5 September, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands Tom Berendsen revealed 128 nations reached an accord on a United Nations (UN) push to address the challenges posed by lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS) by defining what the systems are.

The agreement is an “important step” in regulating the systems, Berendsen wrote.

Various news outlets quoted an Agence France-Presse (AFP) article explaining the move to define what LAWS are is the first step towards possible regulation, which the UN separately explained is needed to ensure autonomous systems do not breach international humanitarian laws prohibiting the targeting of civilians during conflicts.

UN information indicates the agreement ratifies work on the impact of emerging technologies on LAWS commenced in 2023.

Across various meetings, government experts have defined the systems as being “one or more” weapons which can work together to “identify, select and engage a target with force, without intervention by a human being”.

Life-and-death
The concerns hold particular relevance in various ongoing global conflicts, with reports Russia and Ukraine are already testing autonomous drone fleets in their war.

In late August, UN secretary general Antonio Guterres and Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), jointly expressed concerns over the growing capabilities of AI, in particular its use in scenarios involving lethal force.

“We are now dangerously close to crossing a moral red line: the autonomous targeting of humans by machines,” Guterres said.

Spoljaric branded autonomous targeting systems “morally repugnant”.

The UN and ICRC urged nations to act swiftly to agree global rules and continue to press for humans to remain involved in “life-and-death decisions”.

UN high commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk today (7 September) pressed for faster action on governing AI as a whole, warning in a speech the technology poses an “existential risk to humanity” and lamenting the “almost unlimited power” a “handful of men” have over the technology.

Volker called for independent verification and “much stronger collaboration on security”, along with expressing concern over the potential impact of AI on employment, democracy and the environment.

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Enterprise IoT connectivity provider Wireless Logic further expanded its operations in Brazil by arranging the purchase of a local telecoms player’s connectivity business.

The company is set to take on the IoT element of Algar Telecom and incorporate it into existing Brazilian business Arqia, which Wireless Logic acquired in 2025.

Arqia CEO Tomas Fuchs said the deal would enable it to provide more “comprehensive” services and speed expansion. He believes the move “demonstrates Wireless Logic’s confidence in Brazil’s potential as a key growth market in Latin America”.

Wireless Logic explained typical closing conditions must be met before the deal is completed, at which point it expects a boost for Arqia’s ability to deliver services to the agricultural, logistics, payments, utilities, manufacturing and healthcare sectors.

It highlighted Latin America as “one of the world’s most promising IoT growth markets” and stated Arqia’s capabilities in mission-critical services are set to be increased by the acquisition.

The company plans a phased integration, with the businesses initially continuing to run separately.

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Telefonica continued to focus on improving services using applied AI, embedding the technology in its fixed and mobile networks to provide a host of voice options for businesses.

The operator pitched the move as providing smart communications for voice services, with the AI enabling features including transcription and summarisation of conversations.

There is also a virtual assistant capability which director of product, presales and provisioning Javier Pascual said is accessible “using natural language”.

Telefonica is pitching the set-up at medium and large businesses, and public organisations which use cloud-based voice services.

It highlighted the launch of a namesake AI agent for Centrex IP cloud set-ups which can understand everyday speech, and so lends itself to broader contextual interpretation and automation capabilities to speed responses to customers.

Telefonica flagged a 60% boost in efficiency using AI agents, in-turn improving the volume of calls handled by 10% over standard systems.

It offered a real-world example of the applied AI system by highlighting a healthcare service where a WhatsApp messenger agent can book and confirm appointments.

Compatibility with more than 100 languages means a broader ability to resolve customer service queries either directly or by redirecting calls.

Telefonica is not the only operator to today (10 August) reveal applied AI moves, with NTT Docomo and LG Uplus also detailing progress.

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LG Uplus advanced efforts to apply AI in network automation by testing its ability to control the quality of a Wi-Fi 8-compatible home broadband system.

The self-healing capability employs Edge AI technology, which the South Korean operator explained conducts analyses and adaptation in the router instead of the cloud.

Broadcom contributed a Wi-Fi 8 platform running a neural processing unit to LG Uplus’ trial, enabling the on-board AI computation.

The operator adapted its existing cloud-based AI network prediction model for operation in the router.

There is an argument home broadband and consumer equipment are not often the focus of discussions around self-healing and autonomous networks.

LG Uplus explained the trial is significant in proving routers can become part of “an AI-based quality management platform”, benefitting customer service and infrastructure management.

It stated the companies proved the router could detect and adapt to anomalies before customers notice, boosting stability for bandwidth-intensive services.

LG Uplus plots further trials of how AI could be used to manage Wi-Fi 8 networks.

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NEC lined up real-world trials of a technology mix it reckons could shake up the vehicle parking sector, advancing a self-professed mission to digitalise the sector.

The company is integrating a parking management system from UrbanChain with its own AI image recognition technology to assess the effectiveness in detecting when people leave their vehicle.

NEC explained this is an important safety step, reasoning the set-up could be used to provide alerts if people park and then fail to exit the vehicle in a timely manner, which it stated could indicate they have suffered a medical episode.

The company explained there is growing concern about such matters.

Trials of the combined system are scheduled to begin in car parks in the Fukuoka Prefecture of Japan next month to assess how effective the AI is at recognising the number of vehicle occupants and if they have left or not.

NEC stated the companies hope to devise a “next-generation” car parking service model which could improve “safety, security and convenience”.

The companies hope to work out how many cameras are required and the best installation points along with the overall impact on safety and security.

They are also exploring a payment model based on the time a vehicle enters a parking space instead of charging from the moment it enters the grounds.

Ultimately, the work could establish a means of analysing car park usage trends and control mechanical lifts used in multi-storey architectures.

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The chief executives of some of the biggest operator groups in Europe warned massive amounts of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) are still exchanged online each year and pressed authorities to give them the power to block it.

Margherita Della Valle from Vodafone Group, Christel Heydemann at Orange, Benedicte Schilbred Fasmer with Telenor Group and Allison Kirkby at BT Group want authorities to provide their companies with the legal clarity to prevent the sharing of more than 100 million CSAM files each year.

They have written an open letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola and European Council President Antonio Costa warning the trading of CSAM material online is “at industrial scale”.

The CEOs argue differences in legal frameworks makes it difficult for telecom and internet service providers to fully pull their weight in tackling the problem, making the removal of barriers to “blocking access to domains and URLs” linked with CSAM a matter of urgency.

The CEOs believe an organisation with the oversight to identify and tackle CSAM throughout the European Union is necessary. They also want interim measures to the same end while such a group is being set-up.

Equally, the executives believe any such authority must be strictly overseen and its focus kept squarely on CSAM.

They called for governments in the region not within the EU to join the efforts with their own legal frameworks.

“Children need protection now, not in several years’ time.”

“The scale of abuse demands decisive action, so Europe must show global leadership.”

Unacceptable
Della Valle, Heydemann, Fasmer and Kirkby pointed to Internet Watch Foundation statistics indicating 62% of “confirmed CSAM web pages” were hosted in the EU in 2024.

A cyber tipline operated by the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children “receives tens of millions of reports” involving children mostly aged between seven-and ten-years old.

“Girls are disproportionately targeted”, the executives noted.

They branded it “simply unacceptable” for CSAM to remain accessible due to delays in removing it at the source.

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