Industry Trends & Infrastructure

• Subsea disruption: Multiple Red Sea cable cuts caused internet slowdowns and rerouting across Asia and the Middle East, underscoring fragility of long-haul routes and likely near‑term transit cost/latency impacts. 

Corporate Strategy & M&A

• Telefónica eyes consolidation: New CEO Marc Murtra is pursuing asset sales in Spanish‑speaking LatAm (e.g., Argentina, Uruguay) to free up funds for M&A in Europe and Brazil, and is pushing for looser EU rules to enable scale. 

Capital Markets & Deals

• UAE—du stake sale:Mubadala launched a secondary offering to cut its stake in du; deal size could reach ~$920M, broadening the free float and testing regional investor appetite for telco equities. 

• Ghana—state stakes under review: Government hired KPMG to advise on options for its telco holdings after continued losses, signaling potential restructurings or divestments in the market. 

Regulation & Policy

• Platform access curbed in Turkey: Access to X and YouTube (and other platforms) was restricted, an escalation with implications for OTT traffic patterns and telco customer‑care channels.