Veon-owned Ukrainian telco Kyivstar said on Thursday it has registered over 3 million users for Starlink’s Direct to Cell (D2C) LEO satellite service  since it commercially launched the service less than two months ago.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation announced on Monday it has kicked off a 5G pilot programme in Lviv in cooperation with the country’s three main telcos – Kyivstar, Vodafone Ukraine and lifecell – although a full-scale launch will only come after the ongoing war with Russia finally ends.

A sixth subsea cable has been damaged in the Baltic Sea, keeping regional authorities on high alert amid growing scrutiny of Russian-linked maritime activity, the Financial Times reported. 

Investment firm Stonepeak has agreed to acquire TeleTower, the tower company carved out of Eastern European operator Bite, in a move aimed at tapping growth in the region’s telecoms infrastructure market.

Veon-owned digital telco Kyivstar says it has made first investment in renewable energy by buying solar power company Sunvin 11, which owns a 12.9-MW solar plant in the Zhytomyr region of Ukraine.

Ukraine will develop a national large language model (LLM) based on Google’s Gemma, with operator Kyivstar acting as strategic partner and operational lead alongside the WINWIN AI Center of Excellence under the Ministry of Digital Transformation.

Ukrainian telco Kyivstar said on Friday that it’s preparing to expand its testing of Starlink’s Direct-to-Cell (D2C) satellite service to all areas of Ukraine, apart from border zones, temporarily occupied territories and areas where fighting is happening amid the ongoing invasion by Russia.

EMIS, a provider of geospatial information systems (GIS) in Slovakia, and ICEYE, a leader in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite data, have announced a strategic partnership to expand access to critical, near real-time hazard information for Slovak authorities.

Vodafone Group and Vodafone Ukraine have announced plans to begin construction of a new submarine cable system in the Black Sea, aimed at creating a digital corridor between Europe and Asia.

Ukrainian telco Kyivstar says it is partnering with Mastercard to create new financial services, boost uptake of digital payments, and develop a more stable financial services infrastructure to support all this using Starlink’s Direct-to-Cell (D2C) satellite service.

Polish dry bulk vessel operator Polsteam has chosen Marlink, which supplies managed services for business-critical ICT solutions, to upgrade connectivity and cybersecurity solutions on board 50 of the vessels it controls.

Ukrainian telco Kyivstar announced on Tuesday that it has postponed the planned shutdown of its 3G network in Chernihiv due to increased shelling and power outages in the city.

Hungarian company 4iG Space and Defence (4iG SDT) says it has signed a preliminary, non-binding commitment letter with US-based Axiom Space, a global leader in commercial spaceflight and low Earth orbit (LEO) infrastructure development.

This week sees yet another 5G private network launch, in this case through a collaboration between Polish operator Plus, tech giant Ericsson and digital product engineering services company GlobalLogic.

Globalstar, a next-generation telecommunications infrastructure and technology provider, together with its wholly owned subsidiary, Globalstar Europe SAS, has announced that the construction process has begun on doubling the size of its existing ground station in Estonia.

Vodafone Romania and Digi Romania have entered binding agreements to acquire separate parts of OTE’s subsidiary Telekom Romania Mobile Communications (TKRM), reducing the number of mobile operators in the country to three.

Open RAN (O-RAN) has long been touted as a disruptive technology in mobile infrastructure with the concept of splitting the RAN into three components, encouraging a more modular architecture that claims to improve operator bottom lines.

EXA Infrastructure has announced plans to deploy a new fibre backbone connecting Poland, Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary to its network in Germany and Austria, which it claims will be the largest pan-European backbone fibre deployment in Central Europe in the last 25 years.

Ukrainian operator lifecell has completed a network modernisation project in Kyiv in just five months, delivering major improvements across key performance metrics to meet rising demand for connectivity.

Swedish operator Tele2 has announced plans to spin off its infrastructure assets into a dedicated tower company serving all three Baltic nations, under a 50/50 joint venture with tower specialist Global Communications Infrastructure (GCI).

The Armenian government has dismissed media claims that it authorised the sale of its 20% stake in Viva.

Hungarian telecom and technology firm 4iG Group has announced a HUF96 billion (US$282 million) investment into its B2B subsidiary, 4iG Space and Defence (4iG SD), to address a growing backlog of demand in the space and defence sectors.

Czech telecoms firm České Radiokomunikace (CRA) says that it has obtained a building permit to construct a data centre on the outskirts of Prague, in the Zbraslav – Jíloviště area.

Private network development is, arguably, one of the few successful applications of 5G technology so far. Indeed, Eviden, a specialist in advanced computing, cybersecurity products, mission-critical systems and vision AI (and a brand of the digital transformation-focused Atos Group), has just announced that it has been awarded a strategic contract to deploy a 5G mobile private network at the Port of Ploče in Croatia.

International network services provider RETN announced on Tuesday it has upgraded its Lithuanian fibre network ring connecting Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai and Panevėžys to support growing data traffic demand in the Baltic region.

UAE-headquartered technology company e& and 4iG Group, a provider of integrated telecommunications services in Hungary and the Western Balkans, have signed a strategic memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore collaboration across key areas of digital infrastructure.

Latvian operator Bite is continuing the phased shutdown of its 3G network, announcing that four regions will be affected this week as part of its ongoing network modernisation efforts.

The global smartphone market declined by 1% year-on-year in Q2 2025, marking the first quarterly drop in six quarters, according to analyst firm Canalys. The modest fall reflects continued subdued consumer demand across key markets.

Ukrainian operator Kyivstar is set to become one of the first European carriers to launch direct-to-cell (D2C) satellite communication services through a partnership with Starlink.

Hungarian telecoms operator 4iG has announced plans to acquire mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Netfone Telecom, in a move to strengthen its market position and expand its customer reach in Hungary.

Ericsson said on Wednesday it has struck an agreement with Latvian telco Latvijas Mobilais Telefons (LMT) to modernize its subscriber domain infrastructure to support its planned deployment of standalone 5G.

Ukrainian mobile operator Kyivstar has secured regulatory approval to begin testing Starlink’s Direct-to-Cell (D2C) services, marking a significant step towards the commercial launch of satellite-based mobile connectivity in the country.