ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (India) has announced plans open a new artificial intelligence (AI)-ready data centre campus in New Town, Kolkata, the primary financial and commercial centre of eastern and northeastern India, in the second quarter of 2025. The planned investment is said to be INR4.5 billion (aboutUS$52.7 million).

Spanning 5.59 acres, the campus is engineered to support the growing demands of AI computing with high-density rack configurations, advanced cooling systems, and a scalable, modular design, according to STT GDC.

It adds that the campus also provides a significant boost to digital infrastructure creation in the eastern part of the country, with a scalable capacity of up to 25MW in terms of overall IT load.

Bimal Khandelwal, chief executive officer (CEO) of STT GDC India, explains: “Our Kolkata campus is specifically designed to support the burgeoning AI ecosystem, from startups developing local language AI models to enterprises deploying large language models.”

The Economic Times news service points out that the Kolkata facility expands STT GDC India’s nationwide footprint to 30 data centres across ten cities with a total IT load capacity of 390 MW.

It adds that its strategic location in New Town’s Silicon Valley positions it as a crucial hub for AI development, serving enterprises, hyperscale cloud service providers, and government organisations.

Lightpath has announced its entry into a new metro fiber market. Backed by a major hyperscaler partner, the infrastructure provider will be building 102 route miles of fiber and conduit in Columbus OH. … [visit site to read more]

Alcatel is planning to restart mobile phone sales in India – or, more accurately perhaps, French technology brand Alcatel, operated independently by China-headquartered TCL Communications under a license from Nokia, is making a comeback in the Indian market.

The brand plans to bring a range of premium smartphones to India, beginning with a model that includes a stylus. It plans to target the mass market.

Importantly this launch seems to be designed to support the aims of the government’s Made in India policy. The smartphones will be made locally, though it’s not clear where the facilities will be sited. There are also plans to establish a pan-India service network to ensure after-sales support.

According to the Economic Times news service, Ansh Rathi, chief operating officer of Alcatel India, says: « By producing our devices within the country, we aim to enhance supply chain efficiency, ensure superior quality, and contribute to India’s growing technology ecosystem.”

India is the world’s second largest smartphone market though not, apparently a fast-growing one. Nevertheless over 150 million shipments every year is a significant number, and one that has already attracted a number of Chinese smartphone brands. India is also receiving a more focused effort from Apple, not yet among the top players, which is now said to be aggressively expanding in India to enter the top five.

The Alcatel announcement follows Acer’s decision last year to sell smartphones through Indkal Technologies. Alcatel started selling mobile phones in India in late 1996, but due to ownership changes was not a part of the smartphone era. It was acquired by Nokia in 2016.

Three interesting projects from three different corners of the infrastructure sector to catch up with: … [visit site to read more]

A Japanese consortium is preparing to demonstrate an offshore data center facility aimed at the next generation of AI. By offshore, they mean literally floating in the water. The project is expected to kick off in the fall of this year. … [visit site to read more]

An AI data center expansion, a technology trial, and two interconnection partnerships: … [visit site to read more]

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Malaysian operator Maxis has partnered with Nokia to deploy data centre networking solutions for large enterprises, aiming to meet the growing demand for AI and cloud adoption.

In a statement, Maxis described the partnership as a joint go-to-market initiative designed to equip enterprises, hyperscalers, and OTT players with more scalable, secure, and automated networking capabilities to fully leverage AI and cloud technologies.

As part of the collaboration, Maxis will provide high-performance connectivity using Nokia’s AI-powered Data Centre Fabric, a networking solution that enables data centre operators to enhance efficiency, automation, and resilience in their cloud environments.

“The rapid evolution of AI and cloud technologies is creating new opportunities and driving growth in the cloud and data centre landscape. Reflecting this transformation, our partnership with Nokia will support our ongoing efforts to deliver next-generation networking solutions to our customers,” said Maxis Chief Enterprise Business Officer Prateek Pashine.

One fiber M&A and three interesting partnerships: … [visit site to read more]