Nos, Telefónica strike defence technology partnership

Portugal’s Nos and Spain’s Telefónica have signed a strategic agreement to develop new defence and security solutions, in a move that underlines growing cross-border telecoms cooperation in Europe’s defence sector. The companies said the partnership follows a joint demonstration of their 5G technologies in operational scenarios during REPMUS, a robotics and autonomous vehicles exercise organised by the Portuguese Navy.

Under the agreement, the two operators plan to work together on advanced connectivity solutions, secure communications and digital services tailored to new defence environments. The areas identified for joint development include network interoperability, secure communications, edge computing, artificial intelligence, advanced 5G and new connectivity architectures, as well as integration with command-and-control systems, autonomous platforms and other emerging technologies.

During REPMUS, held in Tróia with companies and entities from NATO countries and more than 30 navies, Nos said it integrated its 5G capabilities with Telefónica’s, demonstrating interoperability between different telecoms infrastructures and their potential to support new services and applications in demanding defence and security settings.

Nos executive João Ricardo Moreira said the collaboration is particularly relevant in the current European context, where defence and security needs require digital infrastructure able to operate in a coordinated way across borders. Telefónica Spain’s head of defence and security, Javier López Gutiérrez, said the agreement supports European technological sovereignty and was made possible by the support of the Spanish and Portuguese navies, which provided an operational environment to test the technologies.

The deal marks another step by Nos in the defence market. The Portuguese operator has already created Nos Security Technology to target rising European demand for defence solutions, and through that unit leads the HORUS project, backed by €3.68 million from Portugal’s recovery and resilience plan. Through its innovation arm, Nos is also part of the European defence consortium Neuroquad, a project funded by the European Defence Fund.

Originally published at Eco.pt