Global smartphone revenues climbed to a record US$135 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025, rising 7% year-on-year as higher prices and strong demand for premium devices offset ongoing pressure on shipments.

Counterpoint Research said the quarter marked the first time the average selling price (ASP) of smartphones crossed the US$400 mark, driven by consumers increasingly opting for higher-end models and rising component costs for manufacturers.

The analyst house said premiumisation remained the main growth engine for the market, with vendors benefiting from consumers upgrading to more expensive devices despite shortages of memory chips pushing up production costs. Demand for silicon from AI servers and accelerators has tightened supply, feeding through into higher handset prices.

Counterpoint senior analyst Shilpi Jain said the combination of higher ASPs and resilient consumer demand delivered a “positive quarter” for the industry. “Consumers continued to upgrade to higher-priced devices in both developed and emerging markets, where year-end promotions, financing options and trade-in offers helped drive value growth,” she said.

Apple was the clear standout, delivering its strongest fourth quarter since 2021 and generating US$76 billion in revenue, up 11% year-on-year. Research director Jeff Fieldhack said growth was largely driven by the iPhone 17 series, with the Pro Max variant posting the strongest year-on-year performance. Demand remained strong across North America, Latin America and Asia-Pacific.

Apple accounted for 57% of total smartphone revenue in the quarter, up from 54% a year earlier. Samsung followed in second place with an 11% share, unchanged year-on-year, while Oppo and Vivo each captured 5%. Xiaomi accounted for 4% of total revenues.

Looking ahead, Counterpoint warned that rising component costs could weigh on volumes in 2026. Research director Tarun Pathak said ASPs are expected to continue climbing as premiumisation deepens and demand grows for AI-enabled features, but elevated memory prices and broader cost pressures will likely squeeze shipments. “Vendors will increasingly need to focus on value growth

and portfolio optimisation rather than chasing volume,” he said.

Indian telco Bharti Airtel announced on Thursday it is giving all of its 360 million customers free access to Adobe Express Premium for a year.

Adobe Express (formerly Adobe Spark) is Adobe’s content creation tool with AI-powered features like instant background removal, custom image generation, and one-tap video editing, premium Adobe Stock assets, over 30,000 professional fonts, 100GB cloud storage, and advanced features like auto captions and instant resize, with seamless sync across devices.

Airtel said its partnership with Adobe enables its customers to produce professional-quality content, regardless of their design experience. The offer targets everyone from creators, influencers and students to SMEs, entrepreneurs and marketers, as well as ordinary consumers. Adobe Express supports English, Hindi, Tamil and Bengali.

The Adobe Express Premium subscription – which Airtel says normally costs INR4,000 (US$43.50) a year – will be available to all Airtel customers, including mobile, Wi-Fi and DTH customers. Customers can access the subscription by logging on to the Airtel Thanks App, with no credit card requirement.

« This partnership is about more than technology. It is about empowering millions of Indians with cutting-edge AI tools to create and innovate,” said Siddharth Sharma, CEO of connected homes and director of marketing at Bharti Airtel, in a statement. “From a student crafting their first resume to a small business owner designing a poster or a creator editing videos for followers, we want to empower every Airtel customer with the tools for self-expression.”

WhatsApp has become one of the most important communication channels for customer engagement. 

But for resellers offering contact center and omnichannel solutions, adding WhatsApp to the mix often comes with high costs and technical complexity.

Building on our newly established role as an official WhatsApp Tech Provider, PBXware 7.6 makes connecting WhatsApp Business Accounts easier than ever. 

A Major Milestone for Our Partners

This recognition from Meta enables us to streamline the entire setup process, reduce complexity for partners, and ensure that WhatsApp integrations meet the highest platform standards from day one, all directly within PBXware 7.6.

Confidence You Can Count On

Bicom Systems has completed all Meta’s required verification steps and reviews, including business verification, app review, and access verification, both independently and with 360dialog, Meta’s authorized Business Solution Provider (BSP).

This means you can offer WhatsApp confidently, knowing the channel is fully compliant with Meta’s standards.

This verified status helps you:

• Offer fully approved messaging services
• Deploy WhatsApp faster to your customers
• Streamline integration and technical setup

Two Integration Ways and Many Advantages

Flexibility and a simple setup matter when you’re managing multiple clients. That’s why we made sure you can choose between two verified integrations:

Direct Meta API – PBXware Meta Application

Ideal for resellers who prefer effortless setup, full control, and faster onboarding, without any third-party integration fees.

With all Meta approvals handled by Bicom Systems, partners can activate WhatsApp using our approved Meta application and connect directly via Meta’s API. 

And that is what makes the integration effortless, with no complicated setup steps and no extra costs usually associated with third-party BSPs.

Via 360dialog 

Perfect for partners who value an additional support channel through a BSP, benefiting from closer alignment with Meta and faster assistance when needed.

360dialog brings a proven framework that fits seamlessly into Bicom Systems’ ecosystem.

While this approach requires a bit more setup and additional fees than using Bicom’s Meta app, it gives you the flexibility to customize your integration.

Pick the Setup That Works for You

Another great thing is that you’re not limited to Bicom’s verified Meta applications. 

You also have the option to create a branded Meta app, giving you full control over branding and user experience. 

Whether you choose our effortless Meta application or create your own, Bicom Systems’ Integration Team provides comprehensive guides, configuration assistance, and best-practice advice.

Ready to Add WhatsApp?

With Bicom Systems, WhatsApp becomes a native part of your contact center offer, allowing you and your customers to start messaging without delays or third-party dependencies.

Contact our team today to learn more and start offering WhatsApp to your clients with full Meta compliance.

PBXware 7.6 introduces AI-powered features that help resellers and service providers deliver more value, faster, and within the platform you already trust.

AI-generated voice greetings and AI-driven call recording transcription are now built directly into the platform, allowing you to offer smarter and more professional UC solutions without additional tools or complexity.

Let’s see what each one means for you.

PBXware AI Voice Greeting Generation

With the new AI Voice Greeting Generation, PBXware administrators can produce professional-quality voice files in seconds using OpenAI TTS API.

That means your customers can:

• Quickly create IVR messages, voicemail greetings, and announcements.
• Automatically create consistent file names for each greeting or announcement.
• Choose from multiple realistic voices and tones for brand consistency and differentiation.
• Edit or update recordings anytime, regenerate audio, and save the final version for immediate use.

Business Benefits That Speak Volumes

All of this happens directly within PBXware, making voice greeting generation simple to use without any complicated setup or additional tools. 

It can instantly improve the quality of your service offering with:

Polished and Professional Presence

Customers can present a professional presence with every call, helping their business appear more reliable and trustworthy.

Lower Operational Costs

The feature helps businesses manage greetings and announcements without adding extra tasks or overhead, so budgets stay under control.

Consistent Brand Experience

Easily manage greetings and announcements across multiple departments or locations, maintaining a uniform voice and tone that reinforces your brand at every touchpoint.

Stronger Market Differentiation

Offer AI-driven personalized greetings to your UCaaS customers as an optional feature, enhancing value and setting your service apart from the competition.

AI-driven Call Recording Transcription

Another big time-saver in PBXware 7.6 is AI-powered Call Recording Transcription. Every recorded call can now be converted into text right inside the system. 

This feature goes beyond convenience: it gives resellers and service providers a powerful tool to enhance their service offerings with ease.

Here’s how AI-driven Call Recording Transcription helps turn recordings into actionable insights:

Instant Access to Conversations

Quickly review call transcriptions from the CDR Reports page to speed up support, agent training, and issue resolution.

Faster Response Times

Request priority transcription for urgent recordings so action can be taken immediately, without waiting in a queue.

Clearer Review Experience

View subtitles while listening to call recordings to follow and review conversations more easily.

Granular Administrative Control

Administrators get control over who can request on-demand transcriptions, and the system remains organized.

Customizable AI Options

Currently, you can choose your preferred AI provider (OpenAI or Hosted Whisper) and configure it directly in Main Tenant settings. 

Making Recordings Work for You

Call Recording Transcription turns stored recordings into a strategic resource for your business. 

Your customers will appreciate how easy it is to review calls without listening to every second or track important details and records from their conversations.

This feature gives your customers smarter ways to work with the information they already have. 

The Smarter Way Forward

PBXware 7.6 gives you more ways to stand out, while your customers can get more done and communicate clearly at no extra cost or requirement for additional tools.

Adding these AI features to your UC portfolio makes your offering stronger and shows that you provide practical and modern solutions.See how AI can modernize your UCaaS offering and request a demo of PBXware 7.6 to find out how easy it is to bring these features to your customers.

NTT Global Data Centres (NTT GDC), part of NTT Data, and the world’s third-largest data centre provider, has signed a 100MW power purchase agreement with Thai Energy company B.Grimm Power, through its Amata B.Grimm Power division, securing capacity for its upcoming Bangkok 4 Data Centre.

Energisation of the new data centre at NTT’s Chonburi campus, is planned for the second quarter of 2027.

NTT GDC says that Thailand remains a strategic hub for the company in APAC, and long-term power planning is central to how it delivers for its customers, adding that it looks forward to exploring new opportunities with Amata B.Grimm Power as the market evolves.

As the Data Centre Dynamics website points out, the deal builds on several previous agreements between the two companies, with B.Grimm powering NTT’s Bangkok 2 and 3 facilities, both located at the Amata City Chonburi industrial estate just outside Bangkok.

NTT’s Bangkok 2 facility, launched in 2015, offers 3.6MW across 3,800 square metres Its Bangkok 3 facility spans 4,000 square metres and has a capacity of 12MW.

The Bangkok metropolitan area is fast becoming a hotspot for data centre development.

B.Grimm Power, founded in 1993, describes itself as one of Thailand’s leading industrial energy producers. According to its website, the company currently has a total generating capacity of 4,178MW in 15 countries and aims to reach 10,000MW by 2030. It appears to be investing heavily to support its expansion into the data centre power market.

Indeed, in September last year we reported that pan-Asian data centre operator Digital Edge and B.Grimm Power had broken ground on their first joint data centre in Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor, again in Chonburi.

The field of business communication is seeing rapid advances and innovations. This pace threatens to leave a lot of people in the dust, but Bicom Systems is here to help pick everyone up and return their stride to them.

7.6 is the first, but most significant step toward pushing past old habits and stepping forth into a new and streamlined, AI-powered world.

Designed with the goal to make workflows more efficient and customizable, this release introduces a suite of AI features like OpenAI-powered voice transcription and voice greeting generation, as well as accompanying updates to existing capabilities, laying the groundwork for future AI feature integration.

It also sees the official launch of the gloCOM for Teams integration, helping businesses that want to bring the functionalities of PBXware over to Teams without complex setup or additional costs.

Additionally, we fully utilize our position as a WhatsApp Tech Provider with this release by empowering you with a more streamlined way of connecting your WhatsApp Business Accounts directly to PBXware.

All that and more is found within 7.6. Let’s take a look at some of its most impactful updates.

Building The Foundation Of AI Integration

Arguably the most influential set of changes coming with 7.6 arrive with our AI integrations and supporting features that make the work done by AI more informed and accurate.

AI Voice Greeting Generation (TTS)

With AI-powered text-to-speech, quickly generate more approachable, human-like greetings with customizable voice and intonation for your IVRs, Voicemails, Ring Groups and more, all in consistent quality.

This is made possible with Bicom Systems’ introduction of the OpenAI TTS API into PBXware, eliminating the need for reliance on older TTS tools that sounded robotic or the need to manually record greetings of varying quality that took much longer to input.

OpenAI for Voicemail Transcription

The benefits of AI go beyond just generating voice greetings. They have an even greater impact in Voicemail Transcription.

Quickly receive accurate and reliable voicemail transcriptions, enabling more efficient workflows, message organization, and a scalable method of handling large volumes of incoming voicemail, all possible by utilizing OpenAI as a transcription service provider.

Stereo Call Recordings (BETA)

Enhance transcription quality and clarity with our new beta feature, Stereo Call Recordings, allowing each side of the call to be recorded as a separate audio channel.

This setup doesn’t just improve speech analytics, it also simplifies integration of the recordings into CRM tools and other analytics systems.

Additionally, it makes it easier for AI services to process the recording for more accurate transcriptions, ensuring that future integrations maintain the same level of quality as our existing features.

The Addition Of Audio Chunking

Improve transcription accuracy of longer calls and recordings with audio chunking, a tool that will automatically detect set call limits and separate calls exceeding them into several separate chunks, easing the load on the transcription service provider.

This is yet another feature that was introduced to improve general transcription quality, but also a technology that will help maintain the quality of AI transcriptions going forward.

gloCOM For Teams’ Official Launch

While AI continues to be in the spotlight, we can’t forget about our own Inhouse solutions.

Following its beta release in 7.5, the gloCOM for Teams integration is now officially available in v7.6.

Now, you can access advanced VoIP and PBXware features in Microsoft Teams without complex setup or any additional costs, on both desktop and mobile (iOS & Android) platforms.

Enhancing Our WhatsApp Integration Offering With Meta’s Cloud API

Connecting WhatsApp Business Accounts directly to PBXware is now possible through a simplified setup process.

Thanks to our status as an official WhatsApp Tech Provider, we offer almost any form of WhatsApp integration. With 7.6 this offering has been enhanced with full support for WhatsApp integration directly using Meta’s Cloud API.

Administrators take advantage of this with greater control over the integration process and no longer have to deal with third-party intermediaries.

Single Sign-On: Integrating Generic OpenID Connect (OIDC) Providers With PBXware

Up until now, Google and Microsoft have been Bicom’s identity providers of choice.

With 7.6, you are no longer limited to just those two.

Admins can now configure and enable additional, custom means of identity authentication thanks to the addition of generic OIDC providers to our offering.

Customizing Call Forwarding Rules Based On App Presence

Create more presence-aware call forwarding that’s adaptive to specific business workflows by setting up to 10 custom call forwarding destinations per presence for default (Busy, Away & Do Not Disturb) and custom presence statuses, for both local and external calls, ensuring each call always reaches the most capable person at any given time.

Enjoy enhanced flexibility with the newly added Prioritize Call Forwarding Based On App Presence option, allowing you to seamlessly switch between standard and presence-based call forwarding and giving you full control over call routing.

Adding SMS Footers To Text Messaging

Utilize consistent SMS footers for every SMS or MMS message across all gloCOM-supported platforms, allowing for an enhanced level of professionalism for all outbound messaging campaigns.

This update also ensures that companies stay compliant with 10DLC regulations, reducing risk of carrier blocks and improving message deliverability.

Self-Service Access To Call Recordings for Agents And Queue/ERG Members

Empower Agents and Queue/ERG members with the ability to view and listen to the recordings they personally handled, directly from Online Self-Care, to facilitate better self-improvement and improve overall call quality.

This feature is fully configurable on a Queue/ERG level, giving admins full control over feature access.

And More…

These are only some of the more standout changes that have been introduced with the release of 7.6. Here are a few more notable inclusions:

• VT Headset Integration into the existing gloCOM Desktop lineup of supported headset integration
• Opt-Out/In and Help Keyword support extended from just bulk messaging to conversational SMS messaging as well.
• New statistics page (Dialer reports and Direct out calls report migration). Transferred Dialer reports and Direct out calls report to a new Statistics page with enhanced performance due to Clickhouse usage, adjusted metrics that follow industry standards, and unified data across all channels.

As always, plenty of other bug fixes, quality of life changes and feature updates have also been implemented to ensure smoother workflows and less tedium during app interaction.

These changes should further enhance your experience with the Bicom product suite as a whole, as well as make your work easier going forward. We look forward to seeing your feedback on these new additions and hope that the changes in v7.6 have increased your overall enjoyment of our products. If you have any extra questions, feel free to Contact Us.

El Salvador’s telecommunications regulator, SIGET, has selected Liberty Networks to construct and deploy the country’s first subsea cable, in a move aimed at expanding international connectivity capacity and meeting rising demand.

In a statement, Liberty Networks said El Salvador currently relies entirely on terrestrial connectivity links with neighbouring countries and has no direct connection to international subsea cable systems, leaving its 6.8 million citizens dependent on cross-border infrastructure.

The 1,800km subsea cable is scheduled to become operational in the second half of 2028. Liberty Networks said it will announce a technology partner for the project in the coming months.

Ray Collins, Liberty Latin America’s SVP of infrastructure and corporate strategy, said the investment would provide a platform for long-term economic and digital development.

“This investment goes beyond building critical infrastructure; it lays the foundation for economic growth, innovation and opportunity for all Salvadorans,” he said.

“Liberty Networks has a long track record of managing complex subsea systems with exceptional reliability and performance, expertise that will ensure the successful deployment and long-term operation of El Salvador’s new subsea cable.”