RIDGELAND, Miss.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 18, 2025--
C Spire, a leading national advanced technology company, has been named CiscoCollaboration Partner of the Year for the USA Central Area at Cisco Partner Summit 2025. The Awards recognize partners that demonstrate innovation, leadership, and best practices in delivering Cisco solutions that help customers succeed.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251118686682/en/
“Being named Cisco Collaboration Partner of the Year reflects our commitment to delivering customer inspired solutions that transform how businesses connect,” said Brad Carpenter, Chief Operating Officer and EVP of Business Technology at C Spire. “Our partnership with Cisco and our expertise enables us to deliver advanced solutions from collaboration and networking to cybersecurity and computing that help drive innovation and create measurable value for our customers.”
Earlier this year, C Spire unveiled the first Cisco Partner Experience Center in Birmingham, designed as a model for modern work environments. The space serves as both a customer showroom and a collaborative workspace, featuring cutting-edge technology, Cisco solutions, flexible work areas, and innovative building components.
The office integrates Universal Power over Ethernet (UPOE) through Cisco routers and switches, enabling smart devices such as lighting, sensors, HVAC controllers, cameras, and security systems—all connected for energy efficiency and flexibility. This approach supports energy efficiency, sustainability goals, and enhanced connectivity, showcasing how digital transformation can improve comfort, security, and overall building intelligence.
Recipients of Cisco Partner Summit Awards are top-performing partners that have introduced innovative processes, seized new opportunities, and adopted sales approaches that achieve substantial business outcomes for customers. The awards recognize partners for their achievements within specific technology categories and markets across the world. Award recipients are selected by a group of executives representing Cisco’s Global and Regional Partner Sales Organizations.
About C Spire
C Spire is a privately held national advanced technology company that delivers customer-inspired solutions, transforming how people and businesses connect, live, and work. With a proven legacy of innovation, C Spire is elevating connected living by providing customers with fiber-powered smart homes, AI-enhanced experiences and 5G connectivity. C Spire is accelerating tomorrow's business growth with secure fiber networks, AI-driven cloud solutions and intelligent collaboration tools. The company, based in Ridgeland, Miss., is the largest, privately held U.S. wireless carrier, a leading fiber internet provider in Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee, and an award-winning tech solutions partner for businesses across 49 states. This news release and other announcements are available at www.cspire.com/news. For more information about C Spire, visit www.cspire.com or follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/cspire or X at www.x.com/cspire.
C Spire Named Cisco Collaboration Partner of the Year for the USA Central Area at Cisco Partner Summit 2025
HELSINKI (AP) — Authorities are investigating damage to an undersea telecommunications cable in the Gulf of Finland early Wednesday that occurred between the capitals of Finland and Estonia.
Finnish authorities seized and inspected the vessel suspected to have caused the damage, the country's border guard said in a statement. Its anchor was lowered when it was discovered in Finland’s exclusive economic zone.
Helsinki police have opened an investigation into aggravated criminal damage, attempted aggravated criminal damage and aggravated interference with telecommunications.
The cable belongs to Finnish telecommunications service provider Elisa and is considered to be critical underwater infrastructure. The damage occurred in Estonia's exclusive economic zone, police said.
The ship's crew of 14 — hailing from Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan — was detained by Finnish authorities, local media reported. The ship, named the Fitburg, was flagged in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. It had been traveling from Russia to Israel.
Finnish National Police Commissioner Ilkka Koskimäki told local media that investigators are not speculating on whether a state-level actor was behind the damage. Koskimäki also said the ship had been dragging its anchor for hours.
“Finland is prepared for security challenges of various kinds, and we respond to them as necessary,” Finnish President Alexander Stubb wrote on social platform X.
The undersea cables and pipelines that crisscross one of the busiest shipping lanes in Europe link Nordic, Baltic and central European countries. They promote trade and energy security and, in some cases, reduce dependence on Russian energy resources.
Earlier this year, Finnish authorities charged the captain and two senior officers of a Russia-linked vessel that damaged undersea cables between Finland and Estonia on Christmas Day in 2024.
The Finnish deputy prosecutor general said in a statement in August that charges of aggravated criminal mischief and aggravated interference with communications were filed against the captain and first and second officers of the Eagle S oil tanker. Their names were not made public. The statement said they denied the allegations.
The Kremlin previously denied involvement in damaging the infrastructure, which provides power and communication for thousands of Europeans.
The Eagle S was flagged in the Cook Islands but had been described by Finnish customs officials and the European Union’s executive commission as part of Russia’s shadow fleet of fuel tankers. Those are aging vessels with obscure ownership, acquired to evade Western sanctions amid the war in Ukraine and operating without Western-regulated insurance.
For the West, such incidents are believed to be part of widespread sabotage attacks in Europe allegedly linked to Moscow following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Meanwhile, Estonian authorities are cooperating with the Finns to decide whether they should initiate a separate criminal case or move forward in a joint prosecution in the Elisa case. The telecom provider said its service was not affected by the damage.
Another undersea cable, owned by Swedish telecommunications service provider Arelion, was also damaged early Wednesday, according to Estonian officials. It was not immediately clear whether the Arelion cable's damage was linked to the Elisa's.
Martin Sjögren, an Arelion spokesperson, confirmed Wednesday's cable damage in the Gulf of Finland. He said another cable, this one between Sweden and Estonia in the Baltic Sea, was damaged on Tuesday.
“We are actively working with authorities in Sweden and other countries to investigate the cause of the cuts,” Sjögren said in an email. “We cannot disclose any details about exact times or locations at this point with regard to the ongoing investigation.”
Repair work is expected to begin as soon as poor weather conditions clear. He said the vast majority of the company's customers were unaffected by the damage.
The seized vessel Fitburg rests in the harbour in Kirkkonummi, Finland, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (Roni Rekomaa/Lehtikuva via AP)
From left, Gulf of Finland Coast Guard District Commander Mikko Simola, Chief of the Border Guard Markku Hassinen, Director of the National Bureau of Investigation Robin Lardot, Helsinki Deputy Police Commissioner Heikki Kopperoinen, Helsinki Police Department chief Jari Liukku and National Police Comissioner Ilkka Koskimaeki, attend a press conferance in Helsinki, Finland, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (Kimmo Penttinen/Lehtikuva via AP)
