This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Robert Bianco, Chief Commercial Officer of HYLAN

The data center construction landscape is shifting at an unprecedented pace, driven by the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and its profound implications. AI integration is fundamentally reshaping the industry; necessitating expanded infrastructure and advanced design specifications to meet growing computational needs. … [visit site to read more]

Indian authorities have hit leading IT outsourcer Infosys with a US$3.9 billion tax demand – and some news reports suggest the pursuit of alleged unpaid taxes will soon target other big names.

According to the UK’s Financial Times the demand came as the Indian IT industry was showing early signs of recovery following a worldwide tech spending slowdown. Indeed, Infosys and other relevant players, like Tata Consultancy Services, posted buoyant quarterly earnings earlier in July. 

Infosys has apparently been issued notices for payment of goods and services tax (GST) by agencies in its home state of Karnataka and from the national Directorate General of GST Intelligence for the period of July 2017 to March 2022.

The tax demand relates to “expenses incurred by overseas branch offices”, says Infosys, whose headquarters, like those of a number of IT companies, are in the Karnataka capital Bengaluru. It does not agree that GST applies on these expenses.

Reuters, however, suggests Indian authorities may soon issue notices to more major IT services firms in an investigation of alleged tax evasion related to work done by their overseas offices. Reuters says these overseas offices carry out projects for Indian IT firms and provide services to international clients, among other functions.

This isn’t just about IT, however. In the last year, India’s GST department has sent more than 1,000 notices to companies, including Life Insurance Corporation of India, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories and Ultratech Cement.

Tax authorities have also issued notices to online gaming companies demanding a total of about 1 trillion rupees (about US$12 billion) in taxes that they have allegedly evaded. Many companies have challenged these demands in tribunals and courts.

This isn’t the first backdated tax claim from Indian officials, as Vodafone, a company that has successfully fought retrospective taxes, might point out.

As we reported at the end of the 14-year dispute, the Indian government decided to nullify its own tax demands against Vodafone, apparently to improve perceptions of its stance on taxation in order to encourage foreign investment into the market. But could the recent drive to pursue alleged unpaid taxes undermine this effort?

Three global expansion projects and one domestic FTTx buildout: … [visit site to read more]

ArtificiaI intelligence (AI)-ready data centres are in the news this week, with Malaysia and Indonesia playing host to new or planned facilities.

Asia Pacific and Japan hyperscale data centre specialist AirTrunk says it has commenced operations in Malaysia, following the official opening of its flagship Malaysian 150 megawatt (MW) hyperscale data centre in Johor Bahru.

Named AirTrunk JHB1, the initial phases of the new data centre will provide over 50MW of capacity for its large technology customers.

Spanning over 10.3 hectares, JHB1 is strategically located in Johor Bahru at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. Servicing a major cloud availability zone, the data centre offers strong domestic and international connection to regional technology hubs including neighbouring Singapore, with an end-to-end cross-border connection strategy.

Along with a power usage effectiveness (PUE) of 1.15, making it one of the most efficient data centres in the country, the new facility features an AI-ready design with AirTrunk’s first deployment of direct-to-chip liquid cooling technology alongside traditional indirect evaporative cooling (IEC) and high-density racks. This pioneering approach, says AirTrunk, reduces energy consumption by up to 23%. 

JHB1 is also equipped with a solar-ready roof, able to provide over 1MW of power for this phase, making it one of the largest onsite solar deployments for a data centre in Southeast Asia.

Also name-checking AI is BDx Indonesia, a joint venture of BDx Data Centers, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, and Lintasarta, which has announced the Phase-1 completion of its AI campus CGK4 in Jatiluhur, Indonesia. The CGK4 campus is Indonesia’s first renewable-powered AI data centre park scalable up to 500MW.

The facility offers high power density of up to 120 kW per rack, innovative liquid cooling technologies and high-speed connectivity that, it is claimed, enable it to meet the demands of Generative AI workloads. The dedicated AI data centre is supported by an integrated 24/7 on-site team within the campus and offers eight layers of security, reinforced by industry-leading certifications.

Mayank Srivastava, CEO of BDx Data Centers, explains: “BDx Indonesia is committed to enable Indonesia to become an AI-first nation. We are the only data centre provider in the country offering up to 700MW of development potential spread across Indonesia. This sustainable and interconnected mesh of digital infrastructure is engineered to support training workloads at central sites, and inference workloads across multiple locations nationwide.”

It’s  no surprise perhaps that both initiatives are stressing energy efficiency. The vast amount of energy required by data centres as AI adoption grows is a controversial subject already, one discussed in more detail in a major Developing Telecoms feature published today.

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Brian Lavallée, Senior Director, Solutions Marketing at Ciena

Although there’s a significant amount of hype related to Artificial Intelligence (AI), there’s no debate that AI is real and is already significantly reshaping a wide range of industries, driving innovation and efficiencies to previously unimaginable levels. However, similar to any disruptive technology introduction, like steam engines, electricity, and the internet, AI will come with unique challenges and opportunities. … [visit site to read more]

Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison IOH reported growth across its business in the first half of the year pointing to optimisation of operations, while revealing more AI use cases will come in the latter half of this year.

IOH highlighted in an earnings call, net profit in the first half of 2024 more than doubled year-on-year to IDR2.7 trillion (US$164 million) and total revenue grew 13.4% to IDR28 trillion (US$1.7 billion).

EBITDA is a metric the operator often highlights in its results, it grew YoY by 17.8% to IDR13.4 trillion (US$816 million). The operator announced at its 2023 Capital Markets Day ambition to double EBITDA over the next three to four years to US$20 million.

The operator added 900,000 new customers and its base now stands at 100.9 million subscribers at the end of the half. Data traffic grew 13.4% to 7,965 Petabytes and ARPU was up by 10.5% to US$2.3.

Around 22,000 4G base stations were added to its total portfolio which now amounts to approximately 188,000. It also added 103 5G base stations this year.

Building an AI large language model

IOH announced partnerships with Nvidia and Tech Mahindra at Mobile World Congress Barcelona this year, to expand its capabilities and tap into AI technologies.

The operator is currently working on building its own large language model (LLM) called ‘Garuda’ with the official Indonesian language Bahasa at the centre of it.

IOH CEO Vikram Sinha (pictured) said in the call: “We want the machine to speak in Bahasa and focus on citizen services, and you will see starting use cases from September.”

As well as its large scale technology partners, IOH will also work with universities to develop use cases centred around its Garuda. It will be integrated into the IOH app which has 40 million downloads, and there will be no extra charge to use the LLM, said Sinha.

Some government and R&E news plus a bit of FTTH vendor activity: … [visit site to read more]

Costa Rican company Radiografica Costarricense SA (RACSA, a Grupo ICE company) has claimed a 5G first in the country with the launch of 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) services on the market, supported, it says, by the country’s first and only network designed for this technology.

Using the 3.5GHz band, in which it apparently holds a 100MHz block, RACSA will target its solutions at companies, institutions and SMEs, and, it says, will place Costa Rica among the countries with cutting-edge connections. 

As RACSA explains, FWA services on the 5G network offer high speed – up to one gigabit per second – for commercial and corporate segments, from a tower to the customer location without the need for cables. They allow simultaneous connection of devices without interruptions or speed losses.

Marco Acuña, president of Grupo ICE, explains: “RACSA will use the frequency it has been given to deliver the country’s first 5G network, designed and built from scratch, to meet the high data demand needs of its customers.”

RACSA is promoting its 5G wireless internet services to interested organisations and companies on its website, where they are invited to enquire about the service.

BNamericas says that state-owned Costa Rica internet provider RACSA is a subsidiary of state telco ICE, and offers internet and voice services. It manages subscriber connections to ADSL internet while ICE provides connectivity via its frame-relay ATM network. RACSA was founded in 1964.

RACSA seems to have beaten mobile operators to a commercial 5G offering, albeit with a very specific form of 5G and spectrum. We reported in May that Claro had become the third operator to launch 5G in Costa Rica, though the country’s operators are highlighting trials and tests rather than commercial availability as they await delayed 5G spectrum auctions.

Two data center projects, some FTTx, and some regional subsea action: … [visit site to read more]

The mobile economy of the Asia Pacific was predicted to grow by US$130 billion by 2030 and hit US$1 trillion, due to faster adoption of 5G technologies in the region.

The GSMA said in a report, mobile technologies and services generated 5.3% of GDP across the region in 2023, this amounted to US$880 billion of economic value.

Manufacturing and fintech were highlighted have to been particularly enhanced by mobile technologies. The former is expected to see even greater advancements enabled by 5G applications such as smart factories, smart-grids and IoT-enabled devices. While, financial services and public administration are expected to benefit as they turn to 5G to digitally transform services and operations.

The GSMA forecast that the contribution of the mobile industry to the APAC economy will outpace the global average of 12%, with a rate of 15%. The number of mobile internet users will grow from 1.5 billion (51% penetration) to 1.8 billion (61%) in 2030. Data traffic will quadruple between 2023 and 2030.

Commercial standalone 5G networks are live in seven APAC nations: Australia, India, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand. This will help in fuelling the predicted growth alongside 5G Advanced, RedCap and AI, creating opportunities to launch new 5G applications and kick start a fresh round in 5G investments for enterprises and consumers.  

Developing markets 

The bulk of growth from the mobile economy will stem from APAC’s developed markets such as Singapore, South Korea, Australia and Japan. Large portions of the region remain unconnected notably Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. Key adoption barriers include lack of affordability, particularly for devices, and a lack of digital skills, particularly among older citizens. 

Julian Gorman, Head of Asia Pacific at the GSMA, said: “Hundreds of millions of people are still missing out. Addressing this usage gap and building online trust are crucial to closing this digital divide and ensuring everyone can benefit from the life-enhancing applications mobile can provide in area such as finance, education, and health.”