The latest telecom news includes announcements on Comcast, MTN South Africa, Ericsson, Huawei, foldable smartphone market, Samsung, among others.
Comcast Names Michael J. Cavanagh Co-CEO Effective January 2026
Comcast Corporation announced that Michael J. Cavanagh will become Co-Chief Executive Officer in January 2026, serving alongside Chairman and Co-CEO Brian L. Roberts and joining the Comcast Board of Directors. Cavanagh, currently President and former CFO of Comcast, has been with the company since 2015 after more than two decades in financial services, including roles as Co-CEO and CFO at JPMorgan Chase’s Corporate & Investment Bank. Roberts praised Cavanagh as a trusted leader to drive Comcast’s growth, while Cavanagh expressed excitement about guiding the company through a transformative period.
MTN South Africa and Ericsson Break 5G Records with Core Network Upgrade
MTN South Africa, in partnership with Ericsson, upgraded its core network under the MTN Unified Cloud Acceleration (MUNA) framework. The modernization included deployment of cloud-native Packet Core and user management functions on Ericsson’s Cloud Native Infrastructure Solution, along with virtualized network functions. MTN and Ericsson completed a world-first In-Service Software Upgrade (ISSU) of a Packet Core Gateway with a collocated firewall, maintaining 2.52 million active user sessions and 40 Gbps of data flow without disruption. The rollout also marked Africa’s first ISSU of an Ericsson Packet Core Gateway. The network expansion added Ericsson’s Cloud Core Policy Controller, supporting real-time dynamic policies for 5G non-standalone and preparing for 5G standalone core. MTN executed Container-as-a-Service Rolling Upgrade on the Cloud Container Distribution without service interruption.
Huawei Leads Foldable Smartphone Market, Overtakes Samsung
Huawei holds 48 percent of the global foldable smartphone market, while Samsung’s share is 20 percent, according to Canalys data for the first half of 2025. Huawei’s foldable lineup includes Mate XT Ultimate (triple-fold, $4,000), Mate X6 (horizontal fold, $1,800), Pura X (vertical fold, $1,000), and Nova Flip ($750). Samsung offers Galaxy Z Fold 7 (book-style, $2,000), Galaxy Z Flip 7 (clamshell, $1,200), and Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE ($900). Foldable devices represent 1–1.5 percent of global smartphone shipments, Economic Times reports.
Shafana Fazal