Less than a year after its commercial launch, the BoGuan multimodal large language model (LLM) designed for cultural tourism in China has entered broad application in Xi’an, and is generating real revenues and value for the tourism industry.

As one of the oldest cities in China with a rich cultural heritage, Xi’an is one of the most popular international tourist destinations in China. The city has increasingly turned to digital technologies to enable visitors and scholars to access cultural relics and better engage with the region’s rich history whilst also preserving its history.

Shaanxi Culture Industry Investment Group (SCG) has been working with partners like Huawei, China Telecom Shaanxi, and China West Airport Group (CWAG) to promote digital and intelligent cultural tourism by leveraging advanced technologies like AI and 5G-A to create numerous new services for visitors.

On the AI side of that initiative, SCG and Huawei unveiled the BoGuan LLM in September 2025, billing it as the world’s first commercial multimodal LLM for cultural tourism, as well as China’s first model dedicated specifically to preserve cultural heritage.

Inside BoGuan

The BoGuan LLM is built on intelligent computing infrastructure and a high-quality dataset that includes over 1.2 PB of data – including 31 million images, 4.4 million minutes of video footage, 2.18 million minutes of audio recordings, 510 3D models, and 960 million pieces of structured text.

With that dataset, BoGuan can generate highly-accurate multimodal content, such as museum-quality content about cultural relics. This capability enables it to support creation of new digital relic presentations, digitalization and preservation of traditional craftsmanship, and creation of digital IP for intangible cultural heritage.

BoGuan has also been used to develop a range of cultural tourism apps that unlock the business value of quality cultural tourism data.

For example, BoGuan powers an AI travel companion agent that had been made available to over 4 million users as of March 2026. Visitors can directly talk with this agent on the GO-SHAANXI app to create and adjust their travel itineraries in Xi’an, and get real-time recommendations for performances at various attractions.

Another app created using BoGuan is the Zhiying Camera mini programme – an AI-powered photography service that instantly integrates user photos with AI-generated scenes from history, allowing visitors to « time travel” to ancient times.

The BoGuan LLM has also been used to create digital IP such as the popular cartoon character Tang Biaobiao, which was designed by integrating local cultural heritage elements with the stone carvings of the Six Steeds of Zhao Mausoleum. As a testament of Tang Biaobiao’s popularity, sales of related digital collectibles and creative products have exceeded CNY2 million (almost US$295,000).

Meanwhile, SCG is also using BoGuan to integrate short drama production with cultural tourism and improve production efficiency and quality in Xi’an, which is also arenowned short drama hub.

“Artificial intelligence is not simply a stack of technologies,” said Edric Chu, General Manager of Huawei’s Shaanxi Rep Office. “It has become a key enabler that can activate thousands of years of cultural heritage, reshape travel experiences, and inject new momentum into the industry.”

Powered by 5G-A

All of these BoGuan-powered digital tourism apps for Xi’an are backed by a 5G-A network deployed by China Telecom Shaanxi and Huawei – particularly in Xi’an’s Grand Tang Mall, a ang-style pedestrian street located at the foot of the iconic Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, and one of the most popular tourist attractions in China.

The 5G-A network is based on three component carrier (3CC) aggregation technology, delivering peak uplink and downlink rates of 600 Mbps and 3.5 Gbps, respectively – about 10 times faster than regular 5G networks.

As an example of the network’s performance capabilities, during the 2026 May Day “golden week” holiday, the network in the Grand Tang Mall supported concurrent access for 23,000 users, guaranteeing smooth video watching and social media experiences.

This is especially important given that HD live streaming at the Grand Tang Mall has become an important way for the attraction to bring in new visitors, which 5G-A is more than capable of supporting. According to public data, the average user dwell time of these live streams has nearly doubled, while the average transaction value has increased by 62%.

Edric Chu added, “Moving forward, Huawei will continue working with our partners to enhance cultural heritage preservation with digital and intelligent technologies, and stimulate development within the cultural tourism industry.”

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Stephen Douglas, Head of Market Strategy, Spirent, a Keysight company

Most of the energy conversation in our industry right now is about consumption. How much power AI data centers will pull, where the chips go, whether the models can run cheaper. Fair questions. But there’s a quieter shift underneath them that I think matters more for telecom operators, and it has nothing to do with how much energy they use. It’s about energy they could supply. … [visit site to read more]

Four expansion projects in four parts of the world to catch up with. … [visit site to read more]

« One of the most transformative deals in the space industry. » That’s the claim of Rocket Lab Corporation, a major name in launch and space systems, and satellite services provider Iridium Communications after the announcement of a definitive agreement under which Rocket Lab will acquire Iridium.

Rocket Lab will acquire all the outstanding shares of Iridium common stock for US$54 per share in a cash and stock transaction. This represents an enterprise value for Iridium of approximately US$8.0 billion.

While the acquisition joins together two innovative American companies to play a leading role in the US space economy, there is a global relevance too.

It merges Rocket Lab’s launch capabilities and satellite manufacturing with Iridium’s global satellite communications network, spectrum, and 500-plus strong partner ecosystem to create what is described as a competitive, vertically-integrated space company that designs, builds, launches and operates its own constellations, delivering critical communications capability to millions of users worldwide.

The transaction will give Rocket Lab an immediate foothold in space-based applications, including both proprietary and standards-based satellite Internet of Things (IoT) and direct-to-device (D2D), positioning, navigation and timing (PNT), and critical safety-of-life services, creating a formidable challenger in the global telecom market.

Rather than simply continuing the Iridium network, Rocket Lab says it will build upon it to scale into untapped markets and pioneer new space-based services to the benefit of global customers.

But will this deal affect developing markets? Possibly not directly, but it may well be relevant to international companies operating in such markets and requiring reliable communications in remote areas.

The SatNews website points out that Iridium brings an active network of approximately 80 cross-linked LEO satellites utilising globally harmonised L-band radio frequency spectrum. This specialised frequency allocation, it notes, offers weather-resilient, low-latency connectivity for voice, data, and Internet of Things (IoT) applications across remote maritime, aviation, and defence sectors.

The asset base also includes a dedicated PNT layer, which serves as an alternative encryption-safe PNT reference architecture in environments where traditional Global Positioning System (GPS) or Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) frequencies are jammed, degraded or otherwise unavailable.

There are cost implications too. The website highlights a structural shift projected to eliminate external third-party launch procurement costs, internalise launch service profit margins, and secure long-term manifest certainty for constellation replenishment as global launch availability tightens.

Sir Peter Beck, founder and CEO of Rocket Lab explains: “By marrying Iridium’s deep heritage, trusted infrastructure, and highly sought-after spectrum with Rocket Lab’s extensive and proven launch and manufacturing capabilities, we have the capability to unlock entirely new markets. We will go far beyond maintaining a legacy; we are going to build upon it to pioneer next-generation space applications and deliver sought-after capabilities to existing and new customers.”

This announcement comes only a matter of days after satellite operators Amazon, Iridium, Telesat and Globalstar launched a new trade association representing the non-geostationary (NGSO) satellite economy: the SpaceConnect Association. It’s not clear how or whether the new grouping will be affected by this news.

Cambodian telco Cellcard (a.k.a. CamGSM) announced a strategic partnership on Saturday with auto manufacturer ZDG to launch a new connected electric vehicle from Chinese auto maker Lynk & Co.

The new Lynk & Co Z20 vehicle uses Cellcard’s 4G and 5G network to support features such as streaming music, live HD video for passengers, hands-free Bluetooth voice calling and real-time route navigation and vehicle services, as well as over-the-air updates.

Cellcard said the Lynk & Co Z20 smoothly connects to its 5G and 4G networks in Cambodia’s main market centres, including Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville and Siem Reap, as well as along the highways that connect those cities.

“At Cellcard, our vision is to keep our customers connected no matter where they live, work, play, or study. Today, we’re expanding that experience to travel,” said Cellcard CEO Yap Kok Leong in a statement. “With Cellcard’s 5G and 4G networks, customers can enjoy a seamlessly connected driving experience in major market centres and highways.

As part of the promotion, Cellcard and ZDG said that they will also install electric vehicle charging stations at selected Cellcard locations to support Cambodia’s growing electric vehicle community. While the charging stations will be accessible to all electric car owners, Cellcard customers will be able charge their cars for free.

Hu Tong, president and CEO of ZDG (Cambodia) Co, Ltd, said the announcement marks the beginning of a comprehensive collaboration between Cellcard and ZDG to develop connected travel solutions, customer experiences and digital services.

“The Lynk & Co Z20 car is designed for the era of connectivity. Together with Cellcard we are offering an electric car that combines advanced technology, luxurious design and seamless connectivity to create a new and safer driving experience for Cambodian consumers,” he said.

ZDG received approval from the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) in March this year to establish a vehicle assembly plant in Kandal province that will specialise in assembling Lynk & Co vehicles.

Lynk & Co is a joint venture established in 2016 by Chinese auto makers Zeekr and Geely Auto, with Zeekr holding a controlling 51% stake.

China Mobile, the GSMA, Huawei and other partners have officially launched “OpenAN”, an open-source project that aims enable collaboration and interoperability between O&M agents in autonomous networks, enabling them to evolve to Level 4 autonomy.

The project – launched on Thursday at Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2026 – is part of a broader effort by the telecoms industry to build an open, interoperable and AI-native ecosystem for autonomous networks within the Linux Foundation Networking (LFN) community. China Mobile is serving as the chair of the OpenAN project.

According to the TM Forum’s AN Levels Evaluation Methodology, Level 4 autonomy means networks can largely run themselves, handling most operational tasks automatically, with human oversight for only the most complex or strategic situations.

As telcos start commercially deploying Level 4 autonomous networks on a larger scale, the telecoms industry’s focus is shifting beyond operational automation toward autonomous decision-making and value creation. A fundamental building block for next-generation network operations is intelligent agents, which enable AI to move from isolated applications to collaborative intelligence across networks, operations and services.

However, this poses numerous challenges, ranging from trusted AI collaboration, cross-domain and multi-vendor interoperability to large-scale multi-agent orchestration, and the cost efficiency of token-based AI interactions.

OpenAN proposes to tackle these challenges via an open, community-driven approach to provide a common technical foundation for telecom AI agent collaboration at both the protocol and framework layers, developed under the Linux Foundation’s open governance model.

At the protocol layer, the project extends the A2A (agent-to-agent) protocol with A2A-T (agent-to-agent for telecoms), which provides telecom-specific SDKs and enhancements in reliability, security and support for high-value operation scenarios.

At the framework layer, OpenAN provides a complete open-source framework that supports secure on-premises deployment for communications service providers, significantly reducing Internet exposure while enabling enterprise-grade AI deployment.

The framework also integrates a standardized core registry module and A2A-T toolkit led by China Mobile. The module and toolkit – which have both have been contributed to the LFN community – allow reusable capabilities to be assembled and deployed once operational scenarios are defined.

OpenAN aims to accelerate industry collaboration, expand community participation, and promote large-scale adoption of telecom AI agents across commercial networks worldwide. China Mobile said OpenAN welcomes contributions to the project from operators, vendors, AI developers and research organizations worldwide.

China Mobile said the launch of OpenAN “represents the world’s first fully open-source framework dedicated to telecom O&M agent collaboration, marking an important step in bringing multi-agent technologies from research into real-world deployment.”

Looking ahead, China Mobile said it will “continue working with global industry organizations, open-source communities, communications service providers, technology vendors and AI partners to expand the OpenAN ecosystem, strengthen its governance and technical capabilities, and encourage broader community participation.”

China Mobile itself achieved Level 4 autonomy last year. David Martin, associate senior analyst at STL Partners, recently told Developing Telecoms that developing market operators potentially stand to benefit from China Mobile’s experience, noting that adopting autonomous-network technology early could help them tackle the challenges their developed counterparts are already facing in their automation journeys.

Starlink will provide one month of free satellite internet service to users in Venezuela following the devastating earthquakes that struck the country this week, helping restore communications in affected areas.

According to Reuters, SpaceX’s satellite broadband business is also deploying additional Starlink terminals to regions where communications infrastructure has been damaged by the disaster.

The move highlights the growing role of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite networks in emergency response, providing connectivity when terrestrial mobile and fixed networks are disrupted. Starlink has previously supplied emergency communications following natural disasters and conflicts, including in Ukraine and after major hurricanes.

The initiative also reflects the increasing importance of satellite connectivity across Latin America, where operators and governments are increasingly turning to LEO services to extend coverage in underserved and disaster-prone areas.