An expansion, an upgrade, a venue, and a new speed trial: … [visit site to read more]

China Unicom and Huawei co-hosted an innovation summit during Mobile World Congress 2025, themed 5G-A Empowering, AI Transforming, Digital Living.

At the summit China Unicom unveiled its AI Unites All plan, which envisages utilizing AI agents to comprehensively upgrade its home cloud and achieve full convergence of AI across a range of personal and home scenarios. Senior representatives from the operator and its partners gathered on stage for a signing ceremony to launch AI Unites All during the summit.

AI Unites All was introduced by Jian Qin, General Manager of China Unicom who outlined the operators’ latest 1+1+N innovations and best practices which comprises converged architecture, plus converged agent, plus converged services.

According to Jian « China Unicom remains committed to technological innovation as our guiding principle, actively embracing the Al revolution, and contributing ‘Unicom Intelligence’ and ‘Unicom Solutions’ to global smart transformation. With forward-looking planning and sustained investment in Al, we prioritize integrated innovation across five pillars: computing infrastructure, network connectivity, data resources, model development, and application scenarios. Our goal is to lead and drive the convergence of Al technologies and industrial applications. »

Welcoming the initiative, Louise Easterbrook, CFO of the GSMA highlighted the alignment of China Unicom’s vision to the goals of the GSMA Open Gateway Initiative. As AI becomes mainstream the potential for it to enhance operations is rapidly increasing, as evidenced by the 37 industry-specific AI models China Unicom has built in the past year with its own large language model (LLM).

Easterbrook noted the rapid development and use of AI LLMs highlights the need for a Responsible AI Roadmap and an agreed set of Open Telecom LLM Benchmarks which the GSMA is currently promoting. Summarising the relationship between 5G and AI she said: “We are halfway through the 5G story and at the beginning of the AI story… it feels like a moment in time.”

Yang Chaobin, Huawei Board Member and CEO of the ICT Business Group said that that Huawei looks forward to working with China Unicom to support their AI Unites All strategy. « We will do this by facilitating a wide range of intelligent user applications with the latest AI technologies. This will allow China Unicom to create new AI service portals with a global impact and make intelligence more inclusive for all, » he said.

As a strategic partner of China Unicom, Huawei and China Unicom maintain close cooperation and work together on converged AI innovation to seize new business opportunities in the AI era. Both parties have built a cloud-based AI service platform for individual and home users, combining cloud, computing, networks, and devices for a unified AI service portal.

For example, during the Asian Winter Games, China Unicom launched personalized and cloud-based AI phones with the AI assistant named Tone. The product uses mainstream foundation models and 5G-A networks to provide users with a consistent experience in all scenarios and secure and reliable AI services. Huawei and China Unicom have also been using AI to empower sectors like government, healthcare, and manufacturing, as well as cultural and creative industries, making network experience more secure, reliable, flexible, scalable, efficient, and collaborative.

China Unicom has also been actively engaged in advancing synergy between AI and networks. For smart home services, China Unicom has been a leading player in whole-house fibre broadband. The carrier launched the industry’s first HI-CON (Home Intelligent Collaborative Optical Network) communications system that features optical and Wi-Fi collaboration. This system is powered by an intelligent scheduling algorithm that greatly improves overall network experience for home users.

Wang Limin, SVP Marketing, China Unicom, discussed how the AI Unites All initiative will drive unified communication by applying AI powered digital intelligence to provide innovation in networks, technology and services simultaneously. This will, Wang said, enable operators to transition from being communications service providers to become technology service providers and to provide more convenient and efficient services to customers. Operators should integrate network technology and services by using AI tools such as Deep Seek for converged innovation.

Hao Liqian, DGM & SVP Government & Enterprise, China Unicom outlined the scale of growth for AI, which he said is estimated to account for 3.5% of global GDP by 2030. In addition, Hao shared China Unicom’s new vision for AI, which comprises implementing an integrated innovation strategy to provide accessible computing which is available everywhere and to everyone like water, to provide intelligence everywhere like chips, and to bridge the gap between data and knowledge with computing.

Meng Shusen, CEO, China Unicom Global, focused on how China Unicom believes that open collaboration with a range of global organisations will help accelerate global technology innovation. China Unicom Global’s Hong Kong based Innovation Research Institute leads international collaboration efforts with universities, research organisations and global enterprises, through activities taking place worldwide, including in Sao Paolo, Frankfurt, Johannesburg, Dubai and Singapore, as well as at multiple locations throughout the Chinese mainland.

According to Meng, international collaboration on 5G-A and AI will strengthen global interconnection and build a strong network infrastructure base, promote the secure flow of data and strengthen global data governance and trust, develop the Open Gateway open ecosystem, share green and low-carbon technologies to promote sustainable development and promote AI for Good.

Representatives from other ecosystem partners including Edward Tiedemann Jr., SVP, Qualcomm Technology, Roger Suess, CEO, Green, and David Joosten, Director, Vodafone Business International rounded off the summit, with presentations on topics including energy use and sustainability, where collaboration between AI and 5G-A delivered by the AI Unites All initiative will drive innovation.

At Mobile World Congress 2025, China Unicom and Huawei co-hosted an innovation summit focused on the impact that 5G-A and AI will have in transforming our digital lives.

A key reveal at the summit was China Unicom’s AI Unites All Plan, which showcases the operator’s innovative practices in the AI field as it seeks to begin a new era of development in an intelligent world. As part of this, China Unicom outlined its plans to utilize AI agents to comprehensively upgrade its home cloud and achieve full convergence of AI across individual and home scenarios.

Jian Qin, General Manager of China Unicom Group, explained that the operator has meticulously established a fully-converged AI system and successfully developed three digital and intelligent products: data-AI convergence products, AI-powered intelligent customer service model, and AI-enabled cloud-network connectivity for intelligent computing.

“China Unicom remains committed to technological innovation as our guiding principle, actively embracing the Al revolution, and contributing ‘Unicom Intelligence’ and ‘Unicom Solutions’ to global smart transformation”, said Qin.

Yang Chaobin, Director and CEO of the ICT Business Group, Huawei, added: « We look forward to working with China Unicom to support their ‘AI Unites All’ strategy. We will do this by facilitating a wide range of intelligent user applications with the latest AI technologies. This will allow China Unicom to create new AI service portals with a global impact and make intelligence more inclusive for all. »

Chaobin revealed that Huawei will collaborate closely with China Unicom to develop an AI cloud service platform for individuals and homes. By synergizing cloud, computing, network, and terminal resources, both parties aim to establish a unified AI entry for individuals and homes. During the Asian Winter Games in Harbin, both parties officially released the AI cloud phone and launched the AI Agent Tone for individuals. In the future, they will cooperate to create diverse ecosystems, enriching cloud applications and content.

China Unicom has developed an AI service platform, C&H Converged Agent, based on its Unicom Cloud. This platform focuses on unifying the network architecture, experience, AI, and data. The unified architecture helps aggregate and distribute capabilities to efficiently provide AI services across the entire network, while unified experience supports converged AI services across devices and applications. By combining AI services with carrier networks, service experience is enhanced, while data unification helps integrate the data of home scenarios. Furthermore, intelligent data algorithms will be employed to customize high-quality services for individuals and homes alike.

Based on the AI service platform, China Unicom has developed an AI Agent called Tone, which serves as a digital twin for users. It can accurately understand user intent and integrate multiple applications to seamlessly cater to user needs. China Unicom also provides an open platform for partners, which supports efficient aggregation with third-party models and applications like DeepSeek, building flexible business models.

Furthermore, China Unicom’s cloud phone, as a new AItoX entry, is an important measure for inclusive AI computing power. The cloud phone not only retains all functions of traditional smart phones, but also employs the AI Agent Tone to provide users with a cloud-based digital life, including when it comes to privacy, security, entertainment, and office tools.

A couple contract wins and two bits of expansion news from around the globe this week: … [visit site to read more]

Today’s update is a bit late due to a few technical difficulties, but better late than never. … [visit site to read more]

Intelsat and MaxIQ Space are expanding efforts to deliver Intelsat’s Africa Space STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) Program to schools in four different countries across Africa.

The program, now in its fifth year, aims to increase to a total of 12 schools and expand to include in-person learning for students in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Senegal. Participants will receive in-person, in-community learning with subject matter experts on Space STEM curriculum mixed with innovative STEM kits, hands-on training, and exclusive resources to integrate space science, sustainability and IoT education into their classrooms.

The newly adapted 2025 program is focused on empowering schools and educators to build a lasting impact on African education systems, ensuring thousands of students gain the skills and inspiration needed to thrive in STEM careers. STEM skills build a future-ready workforce, advancing national development goals and boost technological capabilities.

“As a pioneer in satellite technology, Intelsat remains committed to maximizing its contribution by inspiring the next generation and connecting African students to real-world applications of space technology,” said Rhys Morgan, RVP of the EMEA region for Intelsat.

“With Africa emerging as a key frontier for space infrastructure, it is essential to equip future leaders with the knowledge and skills to drive this transformation. We are honoured to play a role in preparing the young generation for this future,” said Judi Sandrock, program manager at MaxIQ Space.

During MWC 2025 in Barcelona, IDATE held the Green All-optical Network Forum themed « AI-Centric All-Optical Network for New Growth ». More than 200 industry leaders from the European telecom regulator BEREC, the FTTH Council, carriers, and device vendors all gathered together to discuss the opportunities as well as challenges coming from all-optical networks in the AI era, from policies to markets, from services to network architecture, and from technology innovation to business models.

They reached a consensus that « F5.5G all-optical networks are the ideal choice for carriers to provide ubiquitous 10 Gbps access, deterministic user experience, and premium computing access and computing interconnection in the AI era. New opportunities are already upon us ».

Jean-Luc Lemmens, IDATE CEO, noted that fibre networks are entering a new generation driven by AI. European operators which have successfully implemented 10G PON have recorded up to 10% ARPU increase. Fiber-to-the-Room solution is peaking up in Western Europe with all size operators launching the service.

Leading carriers, such as MasOrange (Spain), Zain (Saudi Arabia), Turkcell (Türkiye), and CTM (Macao), also shared their own digital/intelligent transformation strategies. The core of these strategies lies in reinforcing computing with network connectivity, powering networks with intelligence, and exploring new services with network advantages. Topics cover all-round network innovation practices, including FTTR, 10G/50G PON, OTN to edge, E2E OXC, 400G/800G, intelligent management and control platform, as well as service innovations such as FTTR+X-based smart home and computing private lines based on 1 ms metro optical networks. At the forum, China Unicom shared its business development concept of « China Unicom, Smart Home » and launched world-leading FTTR optical broadband. It continues to expand smart services such as smart connection, control, sharing, and security, and remains committed to building an open and shared smart home ecosystem. In addition, it has been working with all parties to build a smart home ecosystem, and explore a clear roadmap for home network construction and smart home service development in all industries. The sharing met with loud applause.

Kim Jin, Vice President of Huawei Optical Business Product Line, released Huawei’s four innovative solutions at the forum. « Facing the historical opportunities and challenges brought by AI, Huawei continues to innovate together with operators, launching a series of 50G PON OLT products, single-wavelength 2T solution for metro, DC-oriented OTN platform for backbone, and AI-based intelligent management and control system, » Kim Jin said in his speech. He went on to say, « These innovations will help operators build an AI-centric F5.5G all-optical network and embrace a win-win intelligent era. »

There are four types of awards for this forum: home broadband service, all-optical network architecture, intelligent service innovation, and sustainable development. These awards were presented to leading carriers from Europe, Asia Pacific, and Africa to recognize their excellent practices and outstanding contributions in green all-optical network technology innovation, home broadband, and computing network services.

The Green All-Optical Network Forum has been successfully held by IDATE for four sessions. It has been exploring the industry’s future development based on industry consensus and technology innovation, with an aim to help industry members worldwide to embrace new opportunities. AI is becoming increasingly popular. Building an AI-centric.5G all-optical network will lay a solid foundation for AI growth and prosperity.

Three regional projects and one international: … [visit site to read more]

Turkcell (NYSE: TKC) (BIST: TCELL), Türkiye’s leading telecommunications and technology company, in collaboration with Huawei, has successfully implemented autonomous network functions within its IP Backbone Network. This milestone marks a significant advancement in the evolution of telecom infrastructure, enhancing the automation, efficiency, and intelligence of Turkcell’s network management systems.

With the integration of autonomous network functions, Turkcell delivers a green network with autonomous energy-saving capabilities. This innovation not only optimizes network performance, but it also significantly reduces energy consumption, which contributes to reaching Turkcell’s sustainability goals. Through intelligently managing power usage across the network, Turkcell ensures that its operations are environmentally friendly while maintaining the high performance that its users expect. This movement is an essential part of Turkcell’s broader green energy initiatives, which aim to minimize the environmental footprint of their network infrastructure.

Turkcell’s green network initiatives are further enhanced by the dynamic energy-saving capabilities, which make significant reductions in energy consumption without compromising network reliability. By dynamically adjusting energy use based on real-time traffic demands with Huawei NetEngine 8000 X backbone router and Network Digital Map, Turkcell is able to provide faster, more efficient services while minimizing operational costs. The 400GE backbone router supports a smooth upgrade to possess AI capabilities, and Network Digital Map provides energy-saving visualization. Green network is particularly important in the face of growing demand for 5G-A and next-generation digital services, ensuring that Turkcell remains at the cutting edge of sustainability in telecom.

“We are excited to announce the successful application of autonomous network functions in our IP Backbone Network, a key step in our journey towards a fully autonomous, intelligent, and sustainable network,” said Prof. Dr. Vehbi Çağrı Güngör, Chief Technology Officer of Turkcell. “This technology enables us to reduce energy consumption and better meet the growing demand for 5G-A and next-generation of digital services.” 

“We are proud to be partner with Turkcell in this pioneering project,” said ZuoMeng, President of Data Communication Product Line Router Domain at Huawei. “The implementation of autonomous network functions is a game-changer for the telecommunications industry, allowing Turkcell to leverage Net5.5G’s technologies to offer a more efficient, sustainable, and scalable network. This collaboration demonstrates our commitment to driving innovation and advancing telecom infrastructure in Türkiye and beyond.” In the future, Turkcell will innovatively cooperate with Huawei on the newly launched AI WAN at MWC, opening up new business opportunities.

ABOUT TURKCELL:

Turkcell is a technology and telecommunications company headquartered in Türkiye, offering a unique portfolio of voice, data and IPTV services over its mobile and fixed networks along with digital consumer, enterprise and techfin services. Turkcell Group operates in three countries: Türkiye, Belarus and Northern Cyprus. Listed on both the NYSE and BIST since July 2000, Turkcell remains the only dual-listed company on these exchanges. Read more at www.turkcell.com.tr.

Subsea cable provider Seacom tapped satellite firm Q-KON to enhance its LEO satellite services, and bolster the resiliency of its network across its footprint in Africa.

The companies explained, LEO satellite solutions provide an alternative connectivity layer by routing data via satellite to teleport facilities before reaching network centres and endpoints. This has already been deployed in South Africa since early 2024.

The partnership with Q-KON will enable SEACOM customers to incorporate LEO connectivity into their digital infrastructure, particularly in industries requiring low-latency, high-reliability networks such as mining, retail, and financial services.

SEACOM Group Digital Services MD, Sajid Khan, said: « LEO connectivity allows South African enterprises to reinforce their digital ecosystems and invest in heightened network resilience and business continuity.

“The partnership showcases the co-creation between the two companies, whose synergistic relationship has allowed us to combine our in-depth understanding of terrestrial infrastructure with their specialised expertise in satellite-based networks, resulting in innovative solutions tailored to modern business challenges, » added Khan.

Dr Dawie de Wet, Group CEO of Q-KON and its African satellite service, Twoobii, commented: “The recent accelerated growth of satellite services in general for Africa, and LEO services specifically, provides Q-KON with a unique opportunity to develop Africa-centric solutions leveraging the global constellations and our in-depth system engineering capabilities.”