SES unveiled plans to establish direct-to-device (D2D) satellite manufacturing capabilities and a supply chain in Europe with Elveo Mobile as part of an expanded collaboration aimed at accelerating the delivery of services in the region.

Elveo Mobile is the result of a merger between Lynk Global and Omnispace which included SES becoming a major shareholder of the combined entity.

As part of the expanded collaboration, SES will use Elveo’s patented technology to enable mobile roaming for European consumers, businesses, governments, institutions, and defence users.

SES and Elveo Mobile will collaborate to establish manufacturing capabilities and a robust European supply chain for low Earth orbit (LEO) D2D satellites using Elveo’s satellite bus, payload and software technology stack.

The satellites will form part of a multi-orbit architecture combining Elveo’s network with SES’ geostationary (GEO) and medium Earth orbit (MEO) systems, designed to deliver secure and reliable connectivity to European governments and institutions, including NATO.

SES stated European customers also stand to benefit from its global distribution of Elveo’s offering, which use the latter’s high-priority 2GHz s-band spectrum rights and a global market-access footprint currently covering more than 1 billion people.

SES CEO Adel Al-Saleh stated European consumer, commercial and government users deserve resilient, secure multi-orbit connectivity, adding the company is preparing to deliver it by combining SES’s networks with Elveo’s D2D services.

Elveo chief Ramu Potarazu, a former Lynk Global CEO, described SES as the right partner for bringing D2D services to Europe.

“By working closely with SES, we are confident we can accelerate access to critical D2D connectivity for European mobile operators and governments that depend on them,” Potarazu stated.

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Intel-backed Altera confidentially filed for a listing in the US, adding to a frenzy of IPO-related activity in the technology sector in 2026.

In a short statement, the company disclosed it had submitted the registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The number of shares and the price range for the listing was not revealed. Reuters reported last week the firm was preparing the move, with plans to raise more than $2 billion.

Altera makes programmable chips used in data centres, telecoms networks, AI applications and for aerospace and defence systems.

Intel offloaded a 51% majority stake in the business to private equity company Silver Lake last year, a deal that gave Altera a valuation of around $8.8 billion.

As part of the sale, Intel remained on board as a strategic partner and retained the remaining 49%. It acquired the company in 2015 for $17 billion.

Bloomberg reported US IPO activity has soared on the back of large AI investment.

SpaceX set the pace with a record-breaking IPO that raised $75 billion, while SK Hynix raised $29 billion in what was the largest-ever US listing by a foreign company.

There is also more tipped to come, with AI rivals OpenAI and Anthropic in line for market debuts in the next year.

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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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Verizon expanded its 6G Innovation Forum (6GIF) with nine new members, broadening the industry group it launched in 2025 to support development of an open and diverse 6G ecosystem.

The new members are Amazon Web Services, Cisco, Intel, Keysight Technologies, MediaTek, Nvidia, Palo Alto Networks, Rohde & Schwarz and Viavi Solutions. They join founding members Ericsson, Samsung, Nokia, Meta and Qualcomm Technologies.

“By expanding our Innovation Forum and refining live edge-AI trials today, we are ensuring the AI-native 6G network is built from day one to scale 5G Advanced capabilities and translate these next-generation technologies into meaningful, real-world experiences for our customers,” stated Verizon’s Yago Tenorio, CTO and SVP of Technology Development.

Tenorio described the forum’s approach as bottom-up and driven by use cases. Its work focuses on 6G support for AI workloads, wearables including untethered smart glasses, and integrated sensing and communication (ISAC).

The forum will trial use cases, test spectrum bands and bandwidth, and coordinate with standards bodies including 3GPP.

Verizon stated the new members bring expertise in cloud services, silicon and computing, automated testing, network security and immersive graphics simulation.

Verizon also highlighted recent ISAC field trials with founding members Samsung and Qualcomm.

ISAC, viewed as an important capability for future 6G networks, enables mobile infrastructure to function as a radar-like sensing platform. Operators and vendors have begun demonstrating the technology in live environments.

Using 5G-Advanced capabilities, the companies showed how ISAC can support public safety, environmental awareness and event management, creating a path to evolve those functionalities with 6G.

Verizon also called out a prototype of AI Sports Companion as part of its work to design infrastructure around future application requirements. It said AI-native devices and wearables such as smart glasses will require ultra-low latency and a more balanced uplink-downlink model because they will upload substantially more data than current devices.

Built on the Verizon Edge Network, the prototype paired Meta AI glasses with a locally optimised small language model, an Nvidia DGX Spark unit and real-time sports data from SportsDataIO.

Users can ask verbally for player statistics, score analysis or win probabilities and receive spoken answers without checking a phone.

Verizon said the prototype explores how future technology could reduce app switching and provide real-time information without distracting fans from the game.

Members of 6GIF will continue sharing findings from demonstrations involving ISAC, digital twins, robotics, AI and advanced wearables.

Verizon identified the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, as an interim test bed ahead of commercial 6G deployments. Its 6G Lab in the city will be used to test network capacity and early AI-native use cases.

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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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Samsung Electronics and Verizon turned live 5G radio signals into real-time crowd heatmaps during a large international football fan event, marking a major field trial for 6G-ready Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) on commercial virtualised RAN (vRAN).

The companies stated the trial in Dallas, Texas proved how sensing networks can enable real-time intelligence for large-scale events in venues such as sports stadiums.

While Samsung and Verizon did not say where the test took place, AT&T Stadium in nearby Arlington, Texas hosted an ISAC demo for drone sensing by AT&T and Ericsson in between World Cup games.

To date ISAC has been touted as a flagship capability for future 6G networks that turns mobile infrastructure into a radar-like sensory platform, but real-life demos have started to take-off.

The trial enabled Samsung and Verizon to validate ISAC technology in a live, real-world environment with changing crowd conditions, to streamline gate operations, reduce concession line wait times, and proactively address overcrowding risks. 

Yago Tenorio, CTO and SVP of Technology Development at Verizon, stated the successful trial demonstrated the operator’s early investments in vRAN “are paying off today, giving us the agility to engineer and trial groundbreaking 6G concepts like ISAC over our existing infrastructure”.

“This field trial with Samsung proves that the network of the future will do far more than just transfer data.” he said. “It will actively perceive and interact with its environment to transform venue management and public safety.”

How it works
To capture data, a CBRS radio unit utilising 40 MHz of spectrum was mounted on a Verizon Cell-On-Wheels (COW) to act as a sensing receiver, tracking wireless channel variations caused by commercial 5G devices.

Samsung integrated its commercial AI-powered vRAN and vCore software with an ISAC application on its Network in a Server (NIS) platform, which is an edge-AI system that consolidates compute and network operations into a single server.

The NIS platform processed signal variations in real time to generate a dynamic crowd-density heatmap which measures spatial density only, without identifying individual users or objects. Vendors and operators are aware there are some privacy concerns related to ISAC ahead of it becoming a key element for the upcoming 6G standards.

The real-time spatial awareness serves multiple groups during large-scale gatherings. Event organisers gain visibility into crowd distribution to manage bottlenecks and deploy staff efficiently, while security agencies can spot emerging congestion early to prevent public safety hazards.

Additionally, venue attendees can use live crowd data to identify less congested concession stands, restrooms and exits.

Charlie Zhang, EVP at Samsung Research America, said the trial represents a major step forward in weaving AI-driven sensing into network infrastructure, underscoring the transformative promise of 6G technologies.

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Space42 and Viasat outlined an investment of $1 billion in shared infrastructure platform Equatys, as the pair signed a binding agreement to establish the joint venture.

The funding commitment was announced alongside the signing of a formal deal to form Equatys at the World Space Business Week event, being held this week in Paris.

It represents the next phase in the process to set-up the company after the duo detailed plans in September 2025.

Formation of the venture, constellation procurement and definitive agreements remain subject to closing conditions including regulatory approvals and the appointment of Viasat as the prime technology contractor.

Equatys is pitched as a shared space and ground infrastructure platform which will support the extension of mobile coverage and overlay in places terrestrial networks cannot serve.

Funding is expected to come from a combination of equity from the founders and third-parties, along with debt financing sources.

The company is expected to operate a tower company model, providing what the companies describe as a “neutral, shared layer of both satellites and ground infrastructure”, reducing capital requirements for potential customers while accelerating deployment and increasing serve ability.

Space42 MD Karim Michel Sabbagh said signing the agreement signifies take-off for Equatys.

“For the first time, the satellite industry is building infrastructure the way the mobile industry thinks: shared, interoperable, standards-based and designed for billions of devices rather than millions of subscribers.”

Viasat chair and CEO Mark Dankberg added it is creating a new infrastructure category for global direct-to-device and advanced mobile satellite service connectivity, backed by unique spectrum assets, significant committed capital and a business model proven to scale the mobile industry.

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