Airtel Africa CEO Sunil Taldar announced London as the preferred location for listing shares in its mobile money division, with the IPO expected to take place later this year.

In a trading update, the chief said he believed the UK capital city would provide access to a broad international investor base and “support our ambition to unlock the long-term value of one of Africa’s leading fintech platforms”.

Talking-up the impact of the service on its markets, he noted it continues to expand financial inclusion with “strong engagement”, highlighting Airtel Africa’s growing product range and an increase in digital adoption throughout the region.

In its fiscal Q1 2027 (the quarter to end-June), it had a mobile money customer base of 56.5 million, up 23% year-on-year, and processed a total of $61.4 billion, almost 52% higher.

ARPU from the service stood at $2.40, up 14%.

Although the executive did not expand on the current status of the plan beyond the timeline and location, Bloomberg reported earlier this year the operator could net between $1.5 billion and $2 billion from the share sale.

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The European Commission (EC) slapped two fines on Google totalling €890 million for non-compliance with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and demanded the tech giant make changes to its search service and app store policies.

Decisions on the two probes follow investigations started in March 2024. Of the total, €460 million is for breaches on its search service and €430 million for app distribution restrictions on Google Play.

On the search charge, the EC determined Google gave its own services preferential treatment in rankings, either by having them at the top of a results page, or using enhanced visuals or filters.

This goes against DMA rules requiring “transparent, fair and non-discriminatory conditions” in rankings, the EC argued.

Its fine related to the Google Play app store was for not allowing developers distributing apps through the platform to inform customers of alternative offers and direct them to make purchases elsewhere.

The regulator acknowledged after what it termed constructive dialogue Google had begun testing changes to its services the regulator noted could “constitute substantial progress towards compliance”.

However, the EC stated the “fines imposed today on Google take into account the gravity and duration of the non-compliance”.

As part of the judgement, the EC demands Google ends the policies deemed in breach of the DMA.

Google has 60 days to comply, with the authority threatening periodic penalty payments of up to 5% of worldwide turnover if it does not.

The company has the right to appeal.

Breaking products
Unsurprisingly Google is unhappy with the changes it is being forced to make to meet DMA obligations.

In a statement, president of global affairs at Google and its parent company Alphabet Kent Walker claimed the way the DMA is implemented “continues to break everyday products” and degraded the experience of businesses and consumers in the European Union.

“To comply, we are having to strip away real-time Search features Europeans love like instant pricing and direct availability for hotels, flights and restaurants, and dismantle safety protections on Google Play,” he added.

“This isn’t fair competition, it’s product degradation driven by a small group of self-serving complainants, with European businesses and consumers taking the hit. Regulation should improve products, not make them worse.”

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Nokia flagged early progress in a strategic shift focused on grasping AI-related opportunities in its Q2 results, where it expressed confidence on securing a buyer for its Enterprise Campus Edge business and unveiled a deal to up US manufacturing.

The vendor announced the under review campus edge business unit, which includes part of its enterprise private networks offering, is being shunted into its discontinued operations accounting bracket alongside the fixed wireless access CPE business it has already agreed to sell to Inseego.

Nokia deems an agreement to sell the business “highly probable”.

The forecast sale is part of a strategic change at the company unveiled by Nokia CEO Justin Hotard in November 2025, which reshaped the company in an attempt to take advantage of the AI boom.

In its results statement today (23 July), Hotard said he is “encouraged by the execution and progress we have made in a short period of time” since the plan was announced.

He noted order intake from its AI and cloud division more than doubled year-on-year to €2.8 billion.

Nokia booked a net profit of €5 million, down 95%, on net sales which were up 8% to €4.8 billion.

Its profit figures were hit by €390 million in charges taken in the quarter to fund accelerated restructuring efforts and other one-off costs.

Nokia noted with these factors stripped out it would have booked a 64% increase in its bottom-line.   

Restructure
Nokia provided an update on ongoing restructuring projects.

It expects to spend a total of €800 million across 2026 on making the changes, some of which had been previously flagged.

Around €250 million relates to the concluding part of a programme commenced in 2023; €350 million are integration charges to simplify its business in China after taking full ownership of a JV there; and the remaining €200 million is going on “additional restructuring actions”, primarily in Europe.

On the latter, the vendor stated the actions were a “further step in simplifying Nokia’s operating model and allocating resources towards growth opportunities” without providing details.

US manufacturing
Alongside its numbers, Nokia announced a deal to buy NXP’s Chandler Semiconductor Fabrication campus in the US state of Arizona, subject to getting the regulatory nod.

The vendor explained it is part of long-term capacity planning and it would use the facility for Indium phosphide semiconductor production for optical components. With the purchase not expected to close until Q1 2029, it plans to lease some capacity at the site from early 2027.

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

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Virgin Media O2 CEO Lutz Schuler warned the UK’s net neutrality rules could hamper agentic AI and other emerging technology, as well as limiting innovation today, as the operator published a report making the case for policy reform.

The executive described net neutrality regulations in the UK as outdated and argued they hamper the realisation of the benefits from significant network investments being made.

He asserted the rules requiring all internet traffic to be treated equally meant the operator is “not able to help customers by prioritising taxi and map apps when travelling home at night and can’t prioritise payment apps for sole traders in crowded markets”, two in a series of examples.

“New technologies like agentic AI will improve the online experience and we’re investing £700 million this year in our mobile network to boost connectivity across the UK, but with network traffic growing relentlessly we won’t get the most out of it without much-needed reform,” he added.

The statement comes as the country is in the process of conducting a mobile market review, which Schuler argued should be used to remove “antiquated roadblocks to innovation” such as net neutrality.

VMO2 acknowledged current rules on the issue were initially intended to protect consumers, but noted they were issued a decade ago and set in a different era of connectivity.

The comments accompanied the release of Net Fatality, a 48-page report commissioned by the operator and produced by consultancy Communications Chambers.

It outlines the case against the current stance in the country along with a series of services it asserts are being hampered by net neutrality including the use of time sensitive applications and prioritising important video calls.

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Consumer use during off-grid travel was cited as a primary driver in early direct-to-device (D2D) satellite connectivity adoption in Australia and New Zealand by Gartner analysts, who forecast more than 1.5 million connections on the service in 2027 across the nations.

The projected number of low Earth orbit (LEO) D2D connections next year would be up from an expected 673,000 in 2026. In 2025 the figure for the two countries stood at 251,000.

Gartner noted end user spending on the service last year was $5 million. This is expected to hit $23 million this year and reach $66 million in 2027.

The rise in use of the technology in the countries comes during a period of early rollouts and limited functionality, with initial launches restricted to specific handsets, areas and messaging.   

Gartner senior director analyst Khurram Shahzad highlighted early adoption was being driven by use for safety and in recreational pursuits by consumers, but enterprise demand was “steadily increasing for field operations in industries such as mining, agriculture, forestry and transportation” due to the need for continuous connectivity for operations and worker safety.

“Australia and New Zealand are among the early adopters of LEO D2D satellite communications due to the vast remoteness and persistent gaps in terrestrial mobile coverage in both countries,” Shahzad said.

“Adoption is accelerating rapidly as services move beyond early trials and into broader commercial availability, demonstrating how satellite connectivity can extend mobile coverage without the need for traditional infrastructure.”

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