Mobile Associate

Greenwatch: Small signs of progress amid bleak picture of data center sustainability. In a roundup of August telecom sustainability news, Light Reading look at green data center infrastructure, circularity and the impact of wildfires. September 2, 2026 It is difficult to see slivers of hope for climate at the end of a hot summer in Europe that has included heatwaves, droughts and widespread wildfires. Yet there are small signs of progress toward more sustainable data centers and networks in some regions. Sustainability-linked financing for data centers, for example, is expected to increase, according to Dutch banking group ING. While it mainly highlights this trend in relation to the US, it notes that Europe is starting to strengthen regulatory requirements on data center infrastructure's impact on the environment. Case in point, Spain is mulling regulation that would require new data centers to source 80% of power from renewable energy generated inside the country. ING also noted that digital infrastructure underpinning the rapid buildout of data centers will be included in the push for sustainability. London-headquartered data center connectivity company euNetworks, for example, has adopted two new targets to its climate plans underpinned by a €1.26 billion (US$1.46 billion) sustainability-linked loan. The company said it is seeking to embed sustainability into network development projects from the start through "impact by design" plans. Further afield, Indian-headquartered Sterlite Technologies (STL) has started using 100% green hydrogen in producing the glass needed for its optical fibers, leveraging a plant it built in Maharashtra together with Hygenco. The company also says it has converted four of its manufacturing plants to 100% renewables through deals with the power distribution company. Despite some positive news, the overall data center sustainability picture is less rosy. To cite just one example, a single hyperscale data center proposed in London would emit more CO2 in a year than 8,480 flights to New York, the Guardian reports. And with most of big tech's infrastructure still located in the US, it is worth noting that the electricity powering it is often far from green. Most recently, an analysis by the Financial Times claims that the 60 largest planned data centers from Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Meta will together have a footprint equivalent to 7% of the country's power-related CO2 emissions in 2025. Circularity gets a boost. In other green telecom news, August has brought several announcements related to circularity - a production model that keeps materials, products and resources in use for as long as possible to eliminate waste. The first is from the GSMA, which has launched a new initiative aimed at reducing e-waste and extending the lifespan of devices. One of its partners is Dutch company Closing the Loop, which specializes in recovering disused devices and has worked with Vodafone and T-Mobile, among others, in Europe. Meanwhile, Virgin Media O2 has been reflecting on a decade of its partnership with TXO, which specialises in sourcing and selling pre-loved telecom equipment, as well as other circular economy-friendly services. The two have avoided 5,265 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions during the last ten years, according to the UK converged operator. Not to be outdone, the country's incumbent BT is reportedly on track to make over £2 billion ($2.7 billion) from selling its copper cables as it decommissions the network, according to the Guardian. If that sounds like an awful lot of money, copper is one of the perhaps less obvious beneficiaries of the AI frenzy and the rapid power infrastructure buildout it necessitates. Wildfire damage. While August brought cooler weather to some corners of Europe, countries including Belgium and Serbia continued to suffer wildfires well into the month. Even though autumn is around the corner, it's worth noting that this summer's carnage is likely to become a more common occurrence in the years to come. The number of reported wildfires has already increased significantly in many European countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), and the trend is set to continue. Not only will their occurrence likely increase, but they are also becoming a risk in new regions like Central and Northern Europe. Telecom infrastructure isn't immune to damage. In Gironde, in the Southeast of France, 80 kilometers of optical fiber and 1,200 poles in Orange's network were damaged by what was the second-biggest forest fire since 1949, according to Le Monde. Other countries have suffered as well. A NASA deep space antenna located in Spain was reportedly threatened by flames, although it ended up unscathed. Associate Editor, Light Reading Want more Light Reading stories in your Google search results? Join 62,000+ members. Yes it's completely free.

T-Mobile quietly launched a $25 unlimited plan, but there's a catch. Sep 1, 2026 T-Mobile has quietly launched a new Super Essentials Saver plan exclusive to Walmart, offering unlimited talk, text, and 50GB of premium data for $25 a month with Autopay. The catch is that it appears to be limited to new T-Mobile customers only, and isn't available in T-Mobile stores or on its website. A couple of months ago, T-Mobile began transitioning many of its customers onto more expensive plans. If you're not a fan of that, you're not alone. But what if you wanted T-Mobile's services but without the hefty price tag? Then you might be in luck, because T-Mobile recently launched a Super Essentials Saver plan that will cost you $25 a month. T-Mobile launches new Super Essentials Saver plan. According to a post on Reddit, it appears that T-Mobile has quietly launched its new Super Essentials Saver plan. We say quietly because from what we can tell, the carrier didn't make any kind of announcement or press release about it. But either way, now that it's out there, it could be worth checking out. However, keep in mind that there are a few caveats. For starters, it looks like the plan is exclusive to Walmart. This means you'll need to head to a Walmart to get it and you won't find it in T-Mobile stores or its website. Secondly, some Walmart employees are alleging that in order to qualify for this plan, you have to be a new T-Mobile customer. So, what do you get for $25 a month? According to the poster, you get 50GB of premium data a month. You also get unlimited talk, text, and hotspot, access to T-Mobile Tuesdays, and roaming in Canada and Mexico. There's no activation fee either, although worth pointing out that the $25/month price is with Autopay enabled. Without Autopay, you're looking at $30. Is it worth it? So, is this new T-Mobile plan worth spending your money on? Honestly? Yes it is. For context, the cheapest prepaid plan from T-Mobile costs $40 a month and only comes with 15GB of data. T-Mobile also has an Essentials Saver with Student Perks Savings 2.0 plan, but that costs $30 a month and you need to be a student to qualify. Also, other carriers like AT&T and Verizon have plans that start at $30 a month. So if you turn on Autopay, $25 a month seems like an outright steal. This means if price matters the most to you, then this is a great deal. However, if you're looking for value, as the Reddit post mentions, there are MVNOs that have plans that offer better value, like better priority data access, faster hotspot speeds, and so on. Either way, T-Mobile's latest plan is an option you could consider.

Amazon to permanently lay off another 121 Washington workers as Seattle-area corporate retreat continues. Amazon is permanently laying off another 121 Washington workers across Bellevue, Seattle and Sumner, adding to the thousands of high-paying jobs already eliminated by the region's largest employers this year. According to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification filed with the Washington State Employment Security Department, the layoffs are expected to begin Oct. 1. The cuts affect employees at 12 Amazon facilities, including 53 positions in Bellevue, 35 in Seattle, 32 at the company's BFI1 fulfillment center in Sumner and one remote Washington employee. Forty-nine of the Bellevue positions are reportedly based at Amazon's SEA106 building. Affected jobs range from engineers and technical writers to a human resources director and a vice president of legal affairs. Employees were reportedly given 90 days to find other positions within the company before their separations become final. The latest reductions follow Amazon's elimination of 2,198 Washington jobs earlier this year and another 57 positions cut over the summer. Combined with the new filing, Amazon has now disclosed approximately 2,376 Washington layoffs in 2026. The company also eliminated more than 2,300 Washington jobs during a previous round of reductions announced in late 2025. Amazon has steadily reduced its footprint in the city where it was founded. Its Seattle workforce has fallen from more than 60,000 corporate and technology employees in 2020 to fewer than 50,000, costing the company its title as Seattle's largest employer. Amazon has also shed approximately one million square feet of Seattle office space while shifting at least 15,000 employees to Bellevue. Microsoft has cut more than 3,100 Washington jobs this year. Meta announced nearly 1,400 King County layoffs in May after eliminating almost 500 other Washington positions earlier in 2026. Meta has also reduced office commitments in Bellevue and elsewhere in the region. Oracle disclosed hundreds of Seattle-area layoffs, including 491 employees in Seattle and approximately 757 positions across the region. T-Mobile has eliminated approximately 470 Washington jobs through multiple rounds of layoffs and store closures. Google recently announced 52 permanent Washington layoffs affecting workers in Seattle, Kirkland, Redmond and remote positions, while Seattle-based Zillow filed notice that it will eliminate another 91 Washington jobs. Those two announcements alone added 143 more positions to the growing total. Previous reporting has placed cumulative Seattle-area technology layoffs above 20,000. The retreat extends beyond the technology industry. Starbucks recently announced that another 224 jobs tied to its Seattle headquarters would be eliminated or shifted to Nashville. Of those employees, 120 were offered transfers to Tennessee and declined to relocate. Those cuts followed 252 Seattle-based Starbucks layoffs in May and another 61 technology positions eliminated earlier in the year. Starbucks is simultaneously investing $100 million in a new 250,000-square-foot Nashville corporate hub that could eventually house as many as 2,000 workers. Other Washington employers have also headed for the exits or directed future growth elsewhere. Janicki Industries chose Montana for an $800 million expansion expected to create 2,000 jobs after company leaders criticized Washington's regulatory climate. Delta Camshaft announced it was relocating to Arizona after 48 years in Washington, while Genie Industries, Novanta and Republic National Distributing Company have announced closures, layoffs or significant operational reductions. The losses are becoming visible throughout Seattle's economy. Downtown office vacancy has climbed from 6.7 percent in 2019 to approximately 37 percent, among the highest rates in the country. Downtown reportedly lost approximately 30,000 jobs following the adoption of Seattle's JumpStart payroll tax, while office-property values fell approximately 48 percent between 2020 and 2025. Despite the continued loss of employers, jobs and wealthy residents, Seattle officials are considering expanding the JumpStart tax or creating a local capital-gains tax as the city confronts a projected $488 million budget deficit. Amazon's newest cuts may represent only 121 workers, but they are the latest entries in a far larger ledger: fewer jobs, fewer offices and fewer companies betting their future on Seattle and Washington.