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Eurobites: Orange and friends look to develop Irish subsea link. Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Vodafone offers Express Capacity; Ukrainians slam Starlink outage; creditors sue Patrick Drahi. Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading October 14, 2026 Orange has teamed up with infrastructure investor Equitix and Irish subsea cable developer MDM for a joint venture hoping to develop a new subsea cable link between Ireland and continental Europe. Called Pisces, the route will stretch for around 3,125km, connecting Galway (Ireland), Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez (France), Sopelana (Spain) - where a new landing station will be built by Orange - and Carcavelos (Portugal). The project will be partly funded by the EU's Connecting Europe Facility. Ireland, which is seen as something of a tax haven by many large technology companies, is a major European cloud and datacenter hub for hyperscalers and AI frontrunners. Carine Romanetti, a recognized subsea expert, has been appointed CEO of the joint venture. Vodafone offers Express Capacity. Vodafone Business has launched Express Capacity, a service intended to deliver either 100G or 400G transport links to large organizations looking to expand their cloud and AI capabilities within 15 days. Drawing on Vodafone's European backbone network, Express Capacity will initially provide connectivity across existing routes linking key hubs in London, Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Marseille and Milan. Ukrainians slam Starlink outage. Ukraine military bloggers have accused Elon Musk's SpaceX of deliberately restricting access to its satellite connectivity terminals at the request of Donald Trump. According to a Guardian report, the resulting outage came as Russia launched a deadly salvo of ballistic missiles at Ukraine on Tuesday evening, with no warning from the US. The US has for years provided the country with intelligence when such strikes were about to happen, says the report. Serhiy Beskrestnov, described as an adviser to Ukraine's President Zelensky, said: "Our armed forces did not receive a warning about these restrictions and this led to the failure of a number of missions. It's clear that this action cannot be a coincidence and is connected to the current political situation." (See Eurobites: Ukraine's Kyivstar signs Starlink deal and Ukraine's networks still standing but need help.) Creditors sue Patrick Drahi. Creditors have sued Patrick Drahi's Altice International, alleging it illegally shifted assets worth billions of dollars out of their reach, according to a Financial Times report (paywall may apply). The aggrieved lenders filed the suit in New York's Supreme Court on Tuesday in what is a ratcheting up of a long-running dispute between the parties. (See Altice's telecom assets remain in the balance amid debt shake-up.) Netflix lands World Cup rights in Spain. Netflix has secured the Spanish rights to the soccer World Cup in 2030, with the proviso that all Spain's matches as well as the semi-finals and the final will be screened free-to-air by a national broadcaster. Spain is one of three countries hosting the event, along with Morocco and Portugal. The streaming giant already holds broadcast rights (for the US and Canada) to the women's World Cups in 2027 and 2031. (See Netflix to join Disney, Apple, others in live streaming battleground.) Du claims world first with U6GHz launch. Middle East operator Du is claiming a world first with the commercial launch of U6GHz connectivity over its 5G network. Du says the launch helps pave the way for the introduction of 6G networks in the future. KPN teams up with banks for digital ID venture. Dutch incumbent operator KPN has signed up to a Dutch coalition developing MyCheck, a digital ID system. According to EU rules, all member states must develop such a system by the end of 2026. KPN says MyCheck will offer a Dutch alternative to similar services being offered by large international technology companies. ABN AMRO, Achmea, ASN Bank, Deloitte and Rabobank are the other companies currently participating in the joint project. A1, Antik extend Eutelsat partnerships. A1 Group and Antik Telecom have extended their respective partnerships with Eutelsat to deliver TV services across Slovakia and the Czech Republic from the satellite company's 16° East orbital position. Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading Paul is based on the Isle of Wight, a rocky outcrop off the English coast that is home only to a colony of technology journalists and several thousand puffins. He has worked as a writer and copy editor since the age of William Caxton, covering the design industry, D-list celebs, tourism and much, much more. During the noughties Paul took time out from his page proofs and marker pens to run a small hotel with his other half in the wilds of Exmoor. There he developed a range of skills including carrying cooked breakfasts, lying to unwanted guests and stopping leaks with old towels. Now back, slightly befuddled, in the world of online journalism, Paul is thoroughly engaged with the modern world, regularly firing up his VHS video recorder and accidentally sending text messages to strangers using a chipped Nokia feature phone. Want more Light Reading stories in your Google search results? Join 62,000+ members. Yes it's completely free.

ID Tech digest - October 13, 2026. October 13, 2026 Welcome to ID Tech's digest of identity industry news. Here's what you need to know about the world of digital identity and biometrics today: Workday agrees to acquire C1.ai for human and AI Agent identity governance. Workday has signed a definitive agreement to acquire C1.ai to establish unified identity governance for human employees and AI agents, connecting access privileges directly to organizational milestones such as onboarding, promotions, and offboarding. Slated to close in the fourth quarter of Workday's fiscal 2027 ending January 31, 2027, the acquisition integrates C1.ai's granular access policies, human approvals, and audit trails into Workday's existing Agent System of Record to eliminate manual support tickets across core enterprise platforms including code repositories, email, CRM software, and cloud environments. The unified capability ensures both autonomous software agents and assistive employee tools receive scoped, temporary permissions tied to active assignments, extending identity lifecycle governance beyond static inventory tracking across Workday's network of more than 11,500 corporate clients. Yoti adds ConnectID bank-app age verification in Australia. Digital identity company Yoti has expanded its Australian compliance platform by integrating ConnectID bank-app age verification, allowing individuals to confirm their age status directly through existing banking apps without transmitting underlying identity documents, names, or birth dates to requesting services. Operated by Australian Payments Plus, the system redirects users to their trusted banking interface where pre-verified customer records generate simple cryptographic threshold responses - such as confirming an age of over 16 or 18 - without sharing biometrics. The privacy-preserving channel arrives as Australia implements its mandatory Age-Restricted Material Codes across adult video games and digital marketplaces, offering merchants a zero-knowledge alternative that keeps sensitive personal information strictly within the user's financial institution. BIO-key wins Middle East government security agency authentication deployment. BIO-key International has secured a contract with a Middle East government security agency to implement its multifactor authentication and single sign-on platform across the agency's primary communications infrastructure and web services. Facilitated by Gulf distribution partner IT Harmony, the project advanced from initial evaluation to active deployment in less than two months, providing hardened, credential-free access control for mission-critical administrative systems. The deployment builds on BIO-key's expanding footprint across defense and public-sector institutions throughout the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, complementing recent regional channel initiatives with Al Majlis Group and FIDO certification milestones for its biometric workforce authenticators. South Korea opens government mobile ids to four more bank apps. South Korea's Ministry of the Interior and Safety will expand official government mobile ID issuance to four commercial banking apps starting October 14, enabling account holders at Shinhan Bank, Woori Bank, Hana Bank, and IBK Industrial Bank of Korea to generate and present state-backed digital credentials. The rollout covers five verified credential classes - including resident registration cards, driver's licenses, foreign resident cards, veterans credentials, and disability registration cards - accessible via near-field communication taps of physical integrated-circuit cards or through in-person branch issuance. The expansion integrates official digital credentials into high-traffic everyday consumer apps while the ministry continues regulatory evaluations into private carrier confirmation tools such as the PASS service following parliamentary scrutiny regarding authentication inconsistencies. PSA to operate Ateneo's offline National ID verification platform. The Philippine Statistics Authority will assume operational control of an offline National ID verification platform engineered by Ateneo de Manila University's Business Insights Laboratory for Development and Technical Resource Lab to facilitate identity checks in remote municipal offices and disconnected field environments. Funded by nonprofit philanthropic organization Co-Develop, the eKYC Extension Platform generates encrypted, time-limited digital tokens and signed dual QR codes at connected municipal centers, allowing local government units, humanitarian organizations, and rural bank branches to securely authenticate citizens without requiring persistent internet connections. The transfer of management, scheduled for completion by the end of 2026, aims to democratize official PhilSys verification for smaller public agencies and financial institutions without requiring extensive technical integration or custom infrastructure. Apple HomeView uses facial recognition to personalize a shared home display. Apple has unveiled HomeView, a 7-inch connected home display that incorporates on-device facial recognition to personalize smart home screens for up to six household members. Powered by an A18 processor equipped with hardware-isolated Secure Exclaves, the system analyzes camera feeds locally to automatically display individual calendar schedules, notes, and messages when an enrolled resident is recognized in proximity to their unlocked iPhone or iPad. Starting at $299 in the United States ahead of a November 13 release across North America and select international markets, the hardware routes complex AI requests through Private Cloud Compute while integrating Matter-standard accessory automation, encrypted camera recognition for familiar faces, and multi-user privacy safeguards that keep underlying biometric profiles inaccessible to third-party applications. Dutch banks and insurers develop MyCheck digital identity wallet. A coalition of prominent financial institutions and technology providers - including ABN AMRO, Rabobank, ASN Bank, Achmea, KPN, and Deloitte - has formed to create MyCheck, a digital identity wallet designed to streamline logins, electronic contract signing, and verified credential sharing across public and private sectors in the Netherlands. Built as a domestic, privacy-preserving alternative to offerings from global technology platforms in alignment with the European Union's eIDAS 2.0 framework, the application enables consumers to prove age credentials without exposing full names, addresses, or birth dates. Backed by planned institutional adoption from major insurers including A.S.R. and Nationale-Nederlanden, the coalition has offered to integrate the zero-cost wallet into official state public-service portals to support the phased migration away from the legacy iDIN banking verification system. Police Scotland considers live facial recognition for football disorder. Police Scotland Chief Constable Jo Farrell has confirmed that the national force is giving active consideration to live facial recognition to counter football disorder, noting that any formal deployment must establish a clear operational business case and clear governance reviews through the Scottish Police Authority. Discussed during high-level meetings with Scottish Justice Secretary Neil Gray following disorder at an Ibrox stadium cup match, the potential deployment responds to recommendations from HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland urging automated biometric monitoring to enforce stadium banning orders. While the technology is utilized by police agencies in England and Wales, Scottish Biometrics Commissioner Brian Plastow has urged lawmakers to establish a comprehensive statutory framework before introducing live public facial comparison into regular Scottish policing operations. The Philippine House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading House Bill No. 11566, advancing statutory social media restrictions for children under 13 to safeguard minors from cyberbullying, online grooming, and digital exploitation. Known as the Children's Digital Safety, Protection, and Well-Being Act, the measure imposes strict parental consent rules and duty-of-care obligations on social networks and gaming platforms serving youth aged 13 to 17, setting the stage for bicameral reconciliation with the Senate's stricter SMART KIDS Act, which seeks to prohibit users under 18 from high-risk platforms entirely. The legislative movement coincides with ongoing administrative efforts by the Philippine government to leverage the national PhilSys identity registry for automated online age verification, while President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has cautioned against overly broad platform bans that could inadvertently push minors toward unregulated digital channels. SBI and KB Kookmin Card plan cross-border AI Agent identity trials. Japanese financial conglomerate SBI Holdings and South Korean payment provider KB Kookmin Card have partnered with cybersecurity specialists SBI Everspin and Everspin to execute cross-border identity and authorization trials for AI agents operating across Japan and South Korea. Operating via the proprietary KYA Trust Gateway - shorthand for Know Your Agent - the pilot will authenticate cryptographic credentials held by Japanese software agents accessing Korean digital services, testing automated verification workflows, user-delegated authority thresholds, and direct transaction authorizations through the KB Pay mobile platform. Future phases of the initiative will explore cross-border stablecoin payments and distributed-ledger verification mechanisms to provide auditable tamper-resistance for automated commerce workflows between the two neighboring economies. By the ID Tech Editorial Team