M&A & Investments The European Union’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) digital program has awarded €389 million to 56 projects “for the rollout of safe and resilient high-performance digital backbone networks, 5G large-scale pilots for transport corridors and for smart communities and the deployment of secure quantum communication infrastructure.” Germany’s 1&1 will buy fiber firm and sister company Versatel for €1.3 billion. Versatel already provides the network for 1&1’s fixed broadband customers and its mobile backhaul. Though the pair have been as thick as thieves regarding AI RAN plans, SoftBank has recently sold its entire stake in Nvidia for $5.83 billion, so that it can make a bigger investment in OpenAI. SoftBank made a profit of $2.8 billion from the sale.…