Telefónica has signed a bilateral collaboration agreement with the Portuguese telecommunications and IT Group NOS Comunicações to jointly develop advanced connectivity solutions, secure communications, and digital services that can be applied to new defense and security scenarios.
The signing of this partnership, which marks the culmination of a year of joint work, took place during REPMUS 26 (Robotic Experimentation and Prototyping with Maritime Unmanned Systems), one of the leading international exercises for experimentation with unmanned systems and emerging technologies applied to the maritime environment. During the event, both operators integrated their respective 5G capabilities, demonstrating the potential to combine different telecommunications infrastructures to support new services and applications in various operational scenarios.
Javier López Gutiérrez, Director of Defense and Security at Telefónica España, states: “This agreement contributes to Europe’s technological sovereignty and has been made possible thanks to the support and collaboration of the Spanish Navy and the Portuguese Navy, which have provided an operational environment in which to evaluate the application of these technologies, moving toward solutions tailored to the real needs of defense users in the European Union and NATO”.
João Ricardo Moreira, Board Member at NOS Comunicações, adds: “This collaboration takes on particular significance in the current European context, as the new defense and security landscape requires digital infrastructure capable of operating in a coordinated manner across national borders, where it is necessary to ensure secure, resilient, and interoperable communications.”
The MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) between the two companies will allow them to continue exploring areas such as network interoperability, secure communications, edge computing, AI, advanced 5G, and new connectivity architectures, as well as their integration with command-and-control systems, autonomous platforms, and other emerging technologies.
Telefónica and NOS Comunicações, which are already part of the ALAIAN network—an ecosystem of companies and startups working on 5G solutions—will also draw on their expertise to connect with various open innovation ecosystems focused on dual-use technologies.
