The winners of the 21st annual Global Connectivity Awards (GCAs) were unveiled at a dazzling ceremony in London, following Capacity Europe 2025. Hosted by award-winning presenter and sports broadcasting legend Gabby Logan at the Indigo at The O₂, the event brought together leading executives and innovators from across the global connectivity and technology sectors.

The evening celebrated the standout achievements and innovations that have shaped the industry over the past year, from breakthroughs in AI-driven infrastructure and next-generation network solutions to major advances in sustainability and cybersecurity.

The winners list:

1. Best AI/ML Innovation
   Winner – RADCOM Ltd.
   Judges commented: “This submission is driven by impressive financial metrics and strategic partnerships. It successfully frames the industry problem of customer dissatisfaction and engineer overload before presenting its innovative solution. The focus on ‘agentic AI’ and its integration with other platforms like ServiceNow is a forward-thinking and highly relevant approach for the industry.”
2. Best Anti-Fraud Innovation
   Winner – GTS Techlabs
   Judges commented: “Generative AI and AI agents represent the future of fraud prevention, offering advanced, adaptable, and proactive solutions. This company’s implementation of LLM-based fraud detection represents innovation in the field, and reported results from markets that usually experience significant fraud are laudable.”
3. Best Anything as a Service Solution (XaaS)
   Winner – EOcean Private Limited
   Judges commented: “Wide-ranging communications suite (WhatsApp/SMS/voice) reaching 180+ countries. Strong platform orchestration, good AI integration, and clear cost-saving advantages for clients.”
4. Best Blockchain/Security Innovation
   Winner – Verizon Communications
   Judges commented: “This submission outlines a strong, technically sound, and economically impactful Blockchain-based innovation in telecom billing dispute management. The submission is especially strong in articulating innovation, investment commitment, and market traction, with clear performance metrics and strategic relevance.”
5. Best Cloud Innovation
   Winner – OXIO
   Judges commented: “This submission is bold, clear, and convincingly visionary. It breaks down the telecom stack into a programmable asset that can be embedded directly into digital experiences. In doing so, they don’t just innovate the cloud; it redefines the value proposition of connectivity itself.”
6. Best Data Centre / Edge Service Innovation
   Winner – Chindata Group
   Judges commented: “This is an exceptional submission showcasing transformative edge-to-cloud infrastructure targeting underserved Asia-Pacific markets. Their integrated approach combines hyper-scale capacity with local sustainability and energy-efficient design.”
7. Best Data Service Innovation
   Winner – Connectbase
   Judges commented: “Strong submission addressing a major transformational moment in the industry to be complemented/accelerated by AI use.”
8. Best Hardware Innovation
   Winner – ZTE
   Judges commented: “The winning provider secured the award by pioneering the All-Band Intelligent Beamforming Suite, fundamentally evolving mobile infrastructure through hardware-native AI. The innovation is highly novel and disruptive as it focuses on embedding intelligence directly into the radio hardware, overcoming global capacity and cost challenges.”
9. Best IoT Initiative
   Winner – China Telecom Global
   Judges commented: “The submission details an impactful initiative that redefined global IoT connectivity by addressing three fundamental barriers: fragmented networks, regulatory compliance, and high operational costs.”
10. Best Mobile / 5G Service Innovation
    Winner – ZTE Corporation
    Judges commented: “The submission is highly impactful and convincing, detailing a disruptive network integration project in the past 12 months. The provider pioneered the world’s first successful deep integration of multi-operator networks, achieving cross-network interoperability for six operators in a complex market.”
11. Best Network Technology & Software Development
    Winner – DCConnect Global
    Judges commented: “The provider secured the award by transforming complex global connectivity into a streamlined, automated platform, differentiating itself through radical carrier-neutral collaboration.”
12. Best Subsea Innovations
    Winner – SUBCO
    Judges commented: “The winner redefined national digital infrastructure by launching the 5,000 km SMAP hypercable, the first new long-haul subsea system to connect four major Australian cities in over two decades.”
13. Best Voice or SMS Service Innovation
    Winner – Telefónica Global Solutions
    Judges commented: “The provider won by demonstrating that SMS is a platform for strategic innovation, not a legacy channel. The core innovation is a low-code platform that integrates SMS with richer channels (RCS, WhatsApp) and AI-powered automation.”
14. Innovation Disruptor of the Year
    Winner – Orchest Technologies
    Judges commented: “The winner earned the award by disrupting the industry’s reliance on slow, manual processes through a highly novel automation platform. From both MEF LSO and TM Forum OpenAPIs. Over the past 12 months, the platform’s new Orchest Automation division launched, generating 60,000+ last-mile firm quotations monthly.”

Sales and Marketing

1. Best Marketing and/or Social Media Campaign
   Winner – KIO Data Centers
   Judges commented: “This was a highly impactful campaign that shone a light on an area the industry has traditionally made little progress on (women in the DC industry). The marketing campaign brought visibility to the leadership equity inside their own organisation.”
2. Best Marketing Team
   Winner – BTS
   Judges commented: “The provider secured the award by redefining the voice sector in the past 12 months, shifting its model to a programmable, AI-enabled platform through a highly efficient four-person marketing team.”
3. Best Sales Team
   Winner – BTS
   Judges commented: “The winner secured the award by transforming its sales strategy to be structurally differentiated and fully integrated over the past 12 months. The submission is highly convincing as it substantiates that the team was the only top-8 global carrier to report international voice traffic growth in 2024.”

Global and Regional

1. Best African Connectivity Provider
   Winner – CMC Networks
   Judges commented: “The winning submission details a compelling transformation based on a $1.6m investment in MEA’s first AI-enabled core network during 2024. The provider uniquely blends over 35 years of local expertise across 62 countries with this AIOps deployment.”
2. Best Asia-Pacific Connectivity Provider
   Winner – NTT DATA
   Judges commented: “The provider secured the award by demonstrating unprecedented scale and technical leadership in Asia-Pacific, backed by a $10 billion capital development plan through 2027.”
3. Best Central & Eastern European Connectivity Provider
   Winner – Neterra
   Judges commented: “The Central and Eastern European provider secured the award by integrating SpaceX’s Starlink LEO satellite technology in the past 12 months. This highly novel innovation and strategic partnership, which included collocating ground infrastructure to offset initial costs, drove a 9% growth in recurring revenue.”
4. Best Latin American / Caribbean Connectivity Provider
   Winner – Orchest Technologies
   Judges commented: “The provider secured its win by transforming Latin America’s fragmented connectivity market, uniquely integrating the region’s 456 hyperlocal carriers into a single, automated ecosystem. Over the past year, the highly novel platform achieved remarkable growth by adding 135 new carriers and growing its on-net footprint by 31%, covering 94 million last-mile buildings.”
5. Best Middle Eastern Connectivity Provider
   Winner – e&
   Judges commented: “The winner secured its title by demonstrating unrivalled global scale and technological agility, transforming from a regional player to a leader connecting 38 markets across four continents.”
6. Best North American Connectivity Provider
   Winner – Uniti Wholesale (formerly Windstream Wholesale)
   Judges commented: “This submission is highly compelling, impeccably structured, and substantiated by an exceptional level of specific, quantifiable data. Its narrative is forward-looking and relevant, showcasing a company that is not only expanding but actively pushing the technological boundaries of the industry with its 800G trials and support for AI infrastructure.”
7. Best Pan-European Connectivity Provider
   Winner – RETN
   Judges commented: “The Pan-European provider secured the award by redefining network resilience through a unique blend of terrestrial expansion and sustainable hardware innovation in 2024/2025. The novel achievement is Europe’s largest rollout of 400GbE coherent pluggable optics across its network.”
8. Best Alternative Network Provider
   Winner – FLAG
   Judges commented: “The winning provider secured its title by executing a bold rebrand and focusing on neutrality and independence across its global subsea network. In 2024/2025, the company secured a $340 million refinancing package and doubled its EBITDA, confirming market confidence in its strategy.”
9. Best Data Centre Provider
   Winner – Elea Data Centers
   Judges commented: “Excellent execution of partnering with city authorities to master plan and execute initial stages of the major domestic data centre expansions to create one of the largest AI deployments in Latin America.”
10. Best Global Connectivity Provider – Data
    Winner – Orange Wholesale
    Judges commented: “The provider secured the award by softwarizing its global Tier-1 network to deliver unrivalled speed and agility. Achievements over the past year include deploying DriveNets Network Cloud and launching 5G Core Network-as-a-Service—a world-first for a Tier-1 wholesaler—enabling MNOs to save up to 70%.”
11. Best Global Connectivity Provider – Voice
    Winner – BTS
    Judges commented: “The provider secured the award by transforming its voice stack into a programmable, AI-enabled platform over the past year, driving global growth in a commoditised market. Uniquely leveraging its proprietary infrastructure, the firm achieved ~40% YoY growth in programmable services and 5x hyperscaler revenue increase.”
12. Best Internet Exchange Provider
    Winner – NetIX
    Judges commented: “The winning provider transformed global peering by becoming an all-in-one platform, disrupting market fragmentation over the past 12 months. The core innovation is the expansion of its Global Internet Exchange (GIX) platform to 50+ IXPs, allowing instant global peering with a single port and contract.”
13. Best Satellite Operator
    Winner – Telefónica Global Solutions
    Judges commented: “This submission offers structured, in-depth answers grounded in real deployments demonstrating detailed, significant innovation over the last 12 months with strong proof. The winning operator redefined satellite connectivity by shifting it from a backup solution to a cornerstone of mission-critical, multi-orbit infrastructure over the past year.”
14. Best Subsea Operator
    Winner – center3
    Judges commented: “The winning operator redefined its role by orchestrating a highly resilient, integrated digital corridor across three continents. Key achievements over the past year focused on geopolitical risk mitigation and scale.”

Special Recognition

1. Brynn Fowler Agent of Change Award
   Winner – Crislaine Corradine, Elea Data Centers
   Judges commented: “Well-constructed, framed around a high-stakes innovation (D&I tied to financial markets), and positions this candidate as an ‘agent of change’ with industry-wide relevance.”
2. GLF Chair Award
   Winner – Eva Jimenez, Telefonica
3. Best Diversity & Inclusion Initiative
   Winner – Liberty Caribbean
   Judges commented: “Extremely far-reaching, multi-faceted and societally impactful initiatives that have a high impact on the communities served, also influencing governments to emulate. Submission demonstrates a broad and profound societal impact. Its policies have not only created positive change within the company but have also influenced public sector policy in multiple countries. Impressive!”
4. Digital Infrastructure Investment Deal of the Year
   Winner – Novva Data Centers
   Judges commented: “The provider won by pioneering a proprietary water-free cooling system to solve the industry’s massive water dependency, a highly novel and disruptive environmental innovation.”
5. Best Strategic Acquisition
   Winner – Nokia
   Judges commented: “The provider won for its game-changing acquisition of an optical vendor, finalised in February 2025, strategically positioning it for the AI Supercycle. The move unites two leading optics and coherent DSP teams, creating a market giant with a combined 25% North American share (2024).”
6. Project of the Year – Subsea, Terrestrial, Satellite and/or Wireless
   Winner – Open Access Metro
   Judges commented: “The winner secured the award for its transformative Fibre-to-the-X (FTTx) rollout in Nigeria, fundamentally disrupting the market’s high-cost, fragmented model. Over the past 12 months, the highly impactful project connected over 40,000 premises across 160+ estates in Lagos, backed by a $10 million+ investment.”
7. Best Sustainability & Environmental, Social, Governmental (ESG) Initiative
   Winner – Novva Data Centers
   Judges commented: “This excellent submission focuses on a single, critical environmental problem: water consumption. The narrative is compelling and well-substantiated with a wealth of specific, impressive metrics and proof points from independent sources and highly detailed and supportive testimonials.”
8. Rising Star Award
   Winner – Jaymark Fernan, IX Telecom
   Judges commented: “This compelling submission highlights a transformative journey over the past year. The nominee, starting with no industry experience, achieved 15–20% YoY revenue growth and secured over 50 new global clients. Key achievements included scaling the APAC network footprint to 12+ countries, achieving a 30% reduction in operational costs, and increasing the Fortune 500 client base by 33%.”
9. Lifetime Achievement Award
   Winner – Marc Halbfinger

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