Norway’s government proposed a temporary ban on the use of AI glasses in select public places as privacy concerns mount over how the wearable devices are used.

It proposes banning the use of AI glasses in places including parks, beaches, museums, shopping centres and at events, while extending the restrictions to places visited by children including playgrounds.  

The ban could further apply to “places where privacy is particularly important”, such as health and training institutions with changing rooms and showers; and across universities, colleges and educational institutions.

The proposal is to be introduced to parliament and makes Norway the first nation to take concrete action against wearables using AI technology, and camera and audio features.

Norway emphasised it is not proposing a total ban on AI glasses and other wearables, with private use allowed, for example if in public places where there is no risk of filming or photographing someone without consent.

Torgeir Micaelsen, Minister of Digitalisation and Public Administration, said the temporary ban would allow the government to conduct a thorough investigation on the use of AI glasses, enabling an “informed debate that can lay a good foundation for lasting regulation”.

Counterpoint Research estimates consumers will spend more than $1 trillion on wearable devices between 2026 and 2032.

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BT Group stepped in to acquire TalkTalk’s consumer and wholesale businesses out of administration, effectively preventing a collapse of one of the UK’s major broadband providers.

The deal will result in a total cash impact of £400 million in BT’s current financial year, which runs to 31 March 2027, involving the purchase price and other costs.

BT stated TalkTalk had embarked on a prolonged but ultimately unsuccessful sales process for its operations and it took action after recognising the risk to the country, especially vulnerable customers and key public services “should the company collapse”.

The deal will bring BT 1.5 million retail customers and 1 million wholesale customers across the UK.

BT stated TalkTalk reported revenue of £1.2 billion and “was loss-making” in the last 12 months, but it is confident the company would become value accretive as the business is stabilised and synergies realised.

CEO Allison Kirkby described the situation as “genuinely unprecedented”, saying millions of citizens and businesses were at risk if TalkTalk had collapsed.

She said the acquisition was “the only viable option to keep millions of customers connected and supported”.

The deal faces an antitrust review given BT owns UK broadband company Openreach, which is a major TalkTalk rival.

However, the government has issued a Public Interest Intervention Notice due to the impact a collapse of TalkTalk could have on vital phone and broadband services.

The Competition and Markets Authority is to report its findings to the government by 19 October.

Stark warning
Kester Mann, director of consumer and connectivity at FDM CCS Insight, said the BT deal cements “a painful decline” of one of the UK’s most established broadband providers and its demise should serve “as a stark warning to any value-focused telecom provider”.

“With a clear value-for-money proposition, it should have been thriving amid continued concerns over the cost of living. But it failed to respond sufficiently to a fast-changing and increasingly competitive market, became burdened with debt following a buy-out in 2021 and regularly suffered with poor perception over service.”

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The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) raised antitrust concerns around Nexfibre’s planned takeover of fellow broadband player Netomnia, in provisional findings from a probe which could derail the tie-up.

CMA stated that as the pair compete as wholesale providers in their respective network footprints, there was a chance of overlap which could lead to increased prices for customers.

It has asked the two companies to provide remedies within the next two weeks, while interested parties can submit comments on the provisional report until 23 October. The deadline for a final decision is 15 December.

Nexfibre, owned by Liberty Global, Telefonica and InfraVia Capital, announced the deal to acquire Netomnia in February.

Should the deal go through, VMO2, also owned by Liberty Global and Telefonica, pledged to commit traffic across 4.6 million homes.

CMA said that while there is some uncertainty regarding the timing of the future upgrade, it was satisfied there was a long-term incentive for the operator to go ahead with the plan.

Not real
In a joint statement on behalf of Nexfibre shareholders, the company stated: “The CMA’s Interim Report does not reflect the commercial and competitive reality of Britain’s fibre market. It fails to prioritise the fibre investment the country needs, and the creation of a scaled, sustainable challenger to Openreach.”

In the lengthy CMA report, the watchdog also said it believed CityFibre would have most likely agreed a deal to buy Netomnia, had Nexfibre not made a move.

CityFibre has called on CMA to block the deal.

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BT Business rolled out a new AI suite in the UK to help businesses adopt the technology while overcoming complexity and security concerns which may be holding them back.

The operator stated AI from BT was introduced following research it conducted which revealed 66% of small businesses recognise the potential benefits of AI, but more than half are not yet realising its full-value.

It highlighted AI Receptionist as a standout feature. BT stated it can help businesses manage customer enquiries “around the clock” and never miss a call.

BT stated small businesses in the UK can lose £3.7 billion per year through missed calls, with 67% missing at least one potentially valuable call on an average day.

It stated AI Receptionist can simplify management of appointments, and provide a more efficient system for follow-ups and a tailored customer experience, with customisable voice and accent options.

The company stated it would be particularly useful across trades and field-based businesses, for estate agents, legal and financial services, the hospitality sector and retailers.

Other tools include an AI Adoption Hub offering practical guides, prompt packs, expert insights and real-world examples of businesses using the technology.

BT Business CEO Jon James said AI has the potential to drive growth in the UK “but many businesses are struggling to know how to begin and how adopt simply and securely”.

“AI Receptionist is the first step in the journey, helping businesses capture every opportunity, reduce admin and deliver responsive, personalised service around the clock, while keeping their customer data protected.”

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Infineon officially opened a $1.4 billion facility in Thailand, a move it pitched as strengthening and diversifying its manufacturing footprint while adding capacity for further growth.

The semiconductor company stated the new backend manufacturing hub was strategically located in the heart of Southeast Asia, reinforcing its ability to serve customers worldwide at a time when demand continues to grow, “driven by digitalisation, electrification and energy transition”.

It has been designed for a phased expansion, with the potential to scale up to five modules, meaning it could become one of the company’s largest backend manufacturing sites over time.  

The site will initially open with 30,000sqm of cleanroom space, which can be expanded to 150,000sqm.

Infineon has initially made an investment of $113 million into the site, while the Thailand Board of Investment stated the entire project is worth $1.4 billion.

In total, the site will create 1,000 highly skilled roles, starting with an initial 350 jobs.

The move complements a wider semiconductor drive, with the country aiming to secure around $18 billion in investment within the sector across photonics, power electronics and sensors.

Alexander Gorski, COO at Infineon, said the company was establishing a new hub in the region, which was “surrounded by a fast-growing ecosystem and with excellent access to global logistics”.

Infineon adds Thailand to its global manufacturing footprint, consisting of 13 locations across US, Europe, China and Southeast Asia.

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SoftBank Group completed an acquisition of AI infrastructure investor DigitalBridge 10 months after announcing the tie-up.

The Japanese company stated it paid $3.1 billion in an all-stock deal for DigitalBridge, which will continue to operate as a separate platform led by current CEO Marc Ganzi.

DigitalBridge’s figures will be included in SoftBank’s consolidated financial statements, starting from 30 September.

SoftBank chair and CEO Masayoshi Son previously said the acquisition would bolster the group AI abilities, pointing to a deeper presence in next-generation data centres and ambitions around superintelligence.

Ganzi predicted a boost to DigitalBridge’s long-term investment capabilities.

DigitalBridge specialises in data centres mobile towers, fibre networks and edge infrastructure, and managed $10 billion in assets as of September 2025.

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In the first of our special podcast series focused on digital industries, Kavit sits down with executives from Viasat, Orange Business and Ennoia Technologies to discuss the viability for satellite to become a mainstream enterprise connectivity play, exploring the economics, network challenges, and AI opportunity.

0:00 Intro
3:00 Economics of adopting satellite
6:00 Satellite business case
15:00 Enterprise network connectivity
22:00 Working with MNOs
28:00 The AI question
35:00 Audience Q&A
40:00 Five-year outlook

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AI start-up DeepSeek partnered with Huawei to launch an open-source programming software toolkit optimised for the vendor’s Ascend chips, as the Chinese companies up efforts to expand the AI market beyond Nvidia’s technology.

DeepSeek stated on its WeChat account the toolkit is free to download and includes the TileLang platform, which can be compared to Nvidia’s Cuda that is widely considered as a global standard for developing AI models.

The Chinese AI company explained TileLang is “simpler to programme, significantly improving development efficiency and simplifying code logic”.

It added the open-source programming includes compute and communication libraries.

DeepSeek stated it worked with Huawei on its Ascend 950 chips and praised the vendor for providing “unwavering and strong support” during R&D.

“To do a good job, one must first have the right tools,” DeepSeek stated, arguing the first step to building an independent, GPU software ecosystem is to establish an easy-to-programme high-level language which “can simultaneously reach the hardware performance limits”.

Bloomberg reported earlier this month DeepSeek plans to deploy at least 160,000 Huawei AI accelerators at a new data centre in Inner Mongolia.

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European operators could reportedly be granted more time to strip out network equipment from so-called high-risk suppliers, following a European Commission (EC) proposal of a three-year phase-out period.

Reuters reported a document showed governments in the bloc asked for amendments to the EC proposal, calling for the phase-out period to be determined by numerous factors rather than a set date.

These include assessing risk levels, how long equipment lasts, compatibility needs and “the availability of suitable alternatives”, Reuters wrote.

Reuters reported member states would need to discuss the planned changes with politicians before enacting the Cybersecurity Act, which covers the equipment overhaul requirement.

De-risking
The EC proposed revisions to the Cybersecurity Act in January to account for increased risks to the bloc’s ICT supply chain posed by third-party suppliers, arguing the move would remove dangers posed to regional mobile networks.

The move is expected to impact Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE.

At the time, Huawei told Mobile World Live the move would violate basic EU legal principles and it would continue to provide “secure and trusted products and services”.

GSMA Intelligence estimated it would cost European operators €30 billion to €40 billion to replace the equipment involved.

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