Salesforce struck a deal to acquire AI customer service specialist Fin for around $3.6 billion, a move positioned as bolstering its ability to help companies quickly deploy agents across communications channels.

Fin’s main product is a customer support AI agent which uses its proprietary Apex model. It is marketed as resolving queries across numerous channels including live chat, email, WhatsApp, SMS, Slack and over the phone.

Salesforce plans to use Fin’s offering to compliment its Agentforce platform.

It noted the combination of assets would provide fast “time-to-value options” for businesses, citing SMBs and those which “need to launch quickly, integrate with existing systems and deliver measurable outcomes” as likely customers.

The acquisition also brings Salesforce access to Fin’s experienced team and an “established global customer base of more than 30,000 companies”.

Salesforce chair and CEO Marc Benioff said Fin brings “proven agent technology, a deep commitment to customer success and an incredible AI team that will complement Agentforce with powerful service agent capabilities”.

Fin co-founder and CEO Eoghan McCabe enthused the deal as a “major win for consumers of the world”, adding the combination with Salesforce would enable it to deploy its products “far and wide at a rate far faster than we could have ever achieved on our own.”

The deal is subject to regulatory approval and other closing conditions including potential customary price adjustments. It is expected to close in Salesforce’s Q4 2027 (the three months to end-January 2027).

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Bharti Airtel edged closer to completing a deal which would take its ownership of Airtel Africa to 79%, winning the backing of almost all of its shareholders to acquire an additional 16% interest in the business.

In a stock exchange filing, Bharti Airtel described the near unanimous support for the deal as reinforcing its confidence in the strategic rationale for the move and potential for long-term benefits.

The deal would see the company issue shares to Indian Continent Investment in exchange for its 16% stake in Airtel Africa and was announced in May.

Bharti Enterprises founder and chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal noted “Airtel Africa is central to our growth strategy and is well positioned to deliver robust performance with an increasing contribution to our consolidated revenues”.

“As we look ahead, we see significant potential in Africa for long-term shareholder value creation,” he added.

The deal is subject to regulatory approval.

Airtel Africa is listed on the London Stock Exchange with a secondary listing in Nigeria. It operates in 14 countries across the continent.

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Senior figures from UK operators Virgin Media O2 and VodafoneThree voiced confidence premium network offerings based on standalone (SA) 5G could become a solid revenue source, during sessions at a circus-themed Ericsson event.

The vendor’s tech showcase was held in central London in a building which also houses the UK’s National Centre for Circus Arts, with performers appearing in the breaks of the main programme.

It brought together operators, enterprises, partners and representatives from UK authorities to discuss the benefits of cutting-edge 5G technology and progress of network rollouts. It acted as a follow-up to a music-themed event in 2025.

Juggling networks
VodafoneThree CNO and network director Andrea Dona (pictured, below) highlighted early progress integrating assets previously held by the Vodafone and 3 UK brands following a merger just over a year ago.

Describing the deal as “a really important one for the country,” the network guru reiterated an argument frequently voiced while the deal was going through the approvals process: it would boost network investment by the combined entity and rivals.

Highlighting a “really fast start” in the process of merging the two networks and employing respective spectrum assets, he added recent benchmark statistics showed peers “have not stood still, they’ve also invested. Everyone feels the pressure to do more and give the UK a better network”.

“There’s still a lot of work to do but I think in some areas we are ahead [of target],” Dona added. “The scene is set for an amazing journey”.

VodafoneThree describes its ambition with SA 5G as to build the “UK’s first nationwide AI-ready network”.

Dona explained the connection to AI was due to SA 5G’s bandwidth and latency being able to support compatible applications, as well as the benefits the technology can bring to the network architecture itself including use in and on the RAN.

“The network we’re building is going to be an exceptional network,” he asserted, pointing to the benefits of slicing in stadia as an example.

“If you want a privileged lane to do your upload and you’re willing to pay,” then you can, he said, adding operators can monetise the network through “quality on demand” offers.

“We need to ensure in a situation with congestion, when a resource is not readily available, we can make it available if you pay for additional quality, additional performance and additional services”.

Selling premium versions of services “happens in every industry”, he said.

Singing in harmony
During a separate session, Virgin Media O2 director of strategy, transformation and planning Anita Tadayon (pictured, below) said she also believes there is an appetite for services based on network slicing on SA 5G, but called for an industry-wide effort to get the message across on what the technology can do.

“Articulating the benefits of slicing for a customer is really important and collectively, as an industry, we have to do that together. We’ve got to sing from the same hymn sheet,” she noted, adding if there’s value “then the customer will pay”.

Speaking broadly on SA 5G, she highlighted a strong push on rolling out the technology at VMO2.

Its network now covers 700 towns and cities, and Tadayon explained the technology benefits all customers whether they have a compatible handset or not.

“I know we talk about monetisation, but look at what it also does for our customers.”

“Absolutely, there’s new innovation and use cases, but it also delivers all of our customers a benefit on coverage, capacity, speed, everything”.

Away from the latest iteration of 5G, she highlighted the operator’s work in providing direct-to-device satellite connectivity to users in remote areas through a deal with Starlink and a push to introduce greater autonomy in its network.

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