IN-SPACe grants technical approval for Reliance Jio’s LEO project

The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) has reportedly ruled that Reliance Jio’s proposal to build a domestic LEO satellite constellation to compete with the likes of Starlink, Eutelsat OneWeb and Amazon Leo is technically sound.

According to a report from ETTelecom published Friday, citing anonymous government sources, IN-SPACe), the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Wireless Planning and Coordination (WPC) arm of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) have evaluated Jio’s plan and found it to be “on par” with systems like Starlink.

Neither Reliance Jio nor IN-SPACe have confirmed the report as of post time.

According to the report, Jio’s plan – which first surfaced last month – calls a constellation of 1,600 LEO satellites, with 32 satellites visible at any given time, while the constellation will be designed to offer a bandwidth capacity of between 4.5 Gbps and 5 Gbps. Jio is also proposing to set up at least 20 ground stations to support the LEO constellation.

The nod of approval from IN-SPACe means the Indian government can now provide regulatory support for Jio as it submits filings to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to secure the orbital slots, the report said.

While global operators like Starlink, Eutelsat OneWeb and Amazon Leo are building far bigger LEO constellations, Jio’s main advantage is that the Indian government is keen to expand its self-reliance strategy to the LEO sat space.

The report said that apart from finding Jio’s proposal technically sound, IN-SPACe also sees merit in the national security and strategic defence implications of not having to rely on foreign operators for LEO satellite services.

The report also claims the government is discussing whether some of the LEO satellites in its network could carry defence payloads.

The Indian government appears to be caught between its view that LEO satellites can expand broadband connectivity to underserved and unserved across the country, and its growing concerns over national security in light of its ongoing tensions with China and Pakistan, as well as growing geopolitical tensions in general.

Last month, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) expressed concerns over possible signal spillage of foreign satellite services across India’s borders, which it said raises national security concerns.

In November last year, IN-SPACe reportedly rejected applications from Chinasat, APT Satellite (Apstar) and AsiaSat to offer satellite services in India, citing national security.

Starlink obtained a GMPCS licence in June 2025 to offer satellite communications services in India, as well as authorisation from IN-SPACe. It’s already signed reseller deals with Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel. However it has yet to secure security clearances from the government over issues such as compliance with foreign direct investment (FDI) regulations, to cite a recent example.

Eutelsat OneWeb and SES both have GMPCS licences, the latter via SES’s satellite venture with Jio. Amazon Leo’s application for a GMPCS licence is reportedly still be evaluated by the DoT.

Huawei’s purpose-built tourism LLM shines in Xi’an


Contributed Article

The BoGuan LLM is enabling millions of visitors to enjoy historically accurate experiences from China’s ancient capital

Xi’an, situated in Shaanxi province, is one of the most celebrated cities in all of China. Internationally renowned as the home of the Terracotta Army, the city served as China’s capital for over 1,000 years under 13 different dynasties. Today, it is one of China’s largest domestic tourism destinations, attracting around 330 million visitors annually.

With the rapid rise of AI, the way in which tourists interact with the city is changing. As generative AI becomes increasingly commonplace, tourists are beginning to expect conversational, personalised digital experiences when visiting cultural sites. The problem, however, is that these models do not have access to specialised historical data and so cannot deliver truly unique – and historically accurate – experiences for consumers.

This is why Huawei and Shaanxi Culture Industry Investment Group (SCG) have co-developed BoGuan, the world’s first commercial multimodal large language model (LLM) dedicated to cultural tourism. The partners spent two years compiling a 1.2 Petabyte dataset consisting of 31 million images, 4.4 million minutes of video, and 960 million pieces of structured text to form a specialised foundation for the platform. BoGuan then leverages this data, acting as a unified gateway aggregating 10 open and closed-source models (including Huawei’s PanGu).

“General large models lack specialized knowledge in museology, archaeology and history, making it difficult to meet the nuanced demands of niche scenarios,” noted Edric Chu, General Manager of Huawei’s Shaanxi Rep Office. “We completed 12 high-quality cultural tourism datasets […] using Huawei Cloud Data Engineering to process and label text, images, audio and video […] Supported by three major standards of data collection, management, and circulation, the platform transforms raw data resources into data assets with verifiable ownership.”

New cultural experiences and revenue opportunities

BoGuan underpins a wide range of cultural tourism services across the province, including AI travel assistants, multilingual tour guidance, museum interpretation, AI-generated marketing content, digital preservation of cultural heritage, and short-form video production.

In the B2B sector, BoGuan powers an AI “Video Factory” that fully automates short drama and advertisement production. Meanwhile, for consumers, the model powers ‘Xiaoqi’, an AI travel companion on the GO-SHAANXI app, and the Zhiying Camera mini program, which allows tourists to instantly merge their photos with AI-generated historical settings.

Since its pilot launch in September last year, Huawei says applications powered by BoGuan have reached more than four million users, and it is already delivering a major revenue boost for SCG.

“With the same team size, thanks to these technologies[…] from last year to this June our revenue has increased by roughly 30–40%,” explained Jin Yan, Chairman of the Digital and Intelligent Culture Technology Group at SCG. “The sales of related digital collectibles and creative products have exceeded 2 million Chinese yuan ($300,000).”

SCG has already begun collaborating with tourism authorities in Xinjiang and Guizhou to replicate the BoGuan framework, with the goal of potentially exporting it nationwide in future.

Network infrastructure foundation

Of course, to successfully deploy BoGuan at scale requires powerful network and data infrastructure. Thousands of simultaneous AI interactions require both massive data throughput and dense computing capabilities.

To solve this, SCG’s runs on an on-premise 48P computing platform built with Huawei’s SuperPoD architecture. It uses Huawei’s UnifiedBus technology, an interconnect protocol for SuperPoD that interconnects physical servers so that they can learn, think, and reason like a single logical server.

At the same time, China Telecom Shaanxi and Huawei have blanketed Xi’an’s Grand Tang Mall with a 5G Advanced network capable of delivering downlink speeds of 3.5 Gbps and uplink speeds of 600 Mbps. This, the partners explain, is crucial to support the scale of AI use cases being accessed throughout the region.

“The Grand Tang Mall is a textbook example of a high-traffic, high-concurrency, and high-interaction scenario, which poses an immense challenge for any network,” explained Wang Hao, Director of Mobile Communications Network Business at China Telecom Shaanxi. “Within this area […] we have deployed 46 base stations within this compact area, a density that far exceeds standard regions.”

These base stations are also equipped with AI-powered intelligent control boards that can trigger service acceleration protocols when AI photo generation is taking place.

“The embedded AI intelligently and dynamically allocates network resources to match your real-time demands,” Wang said, noting that the network can support 23,000 concurrent users during holiday traffic surges.

Bridging the AI talent gap

Beyond the technology itself, another key them to emerge from discussions about BoGuan – and about creating purpose-built LLMs for other vertical industries – is the lack of workers skilled in both AI usage and their specialist field.

“The industry faces a deficit of millions of interdisciplinary professionals who bridge the gap between cultural tourism and AI,” said Chu. “Shaanxi alone faces a talent gap of 30,000 to 50,000 in culture tourism plus AI, and the national gap is expected to exceed 1 million by 2030.”

As a result, further developing BoGuan and similar LLM projects faces a significant talent bottleneck that can only be overcome through largescale training projects.

“SCG, Huawei, and over 10 institutions have jointly established a talent training base […] aligning vocational certificates with Huawei AI certifications and university micro-majors,” explained Chu. “We expect to train over 1,000 people this year and more than 3,000 next year.”

Proof of vertical AI success

The success of BoGuan is a demonstration of how purpose-built AI models can create new revenue opportunities for telecom operators by combining connectivity, cloud, AI compute and industry expertise into a single commercial platform. Rather than competing solely on network capacity, operators must move to monetise vertical AI through managed services, industry-specific applications, and data products. With its unified AI infrastructure, platform-level scalability, and training on vertical-industry data, the BoGuan LLM helps industries tackle bottlenecks in content production, cost management, capability integration, and data security—ensuring that AI can be practically deployed to fuel sustainable business growth. This same model, in turn, serves as a blueprint for telecom operators seeking to generate lasting growth in the AI era.” Artificial intelligence is not simply a stack of technologies,” concluded Chu. “[In Shaanxi] 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.”

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China smartphone market declines for fifth straight quarter as rising component costs bite

China’s smartphone market fell 4.3% year-on-year to 66 million shipments in the second quarter of 2026, marking a fifth consecutive quarter of decline as rising memory and component costs pushed up device prices, according to IDC.

The research firm said component prices began climbing in late March, while government subsidies that had supported demand in previous quarters started to fade. The combination weakened consumer demand and forced most Android smartphone vendors to raise prices.

Huawei and Apple were the notable exceptions, keeping market broadly stable during the quarter. IDC suggested this helped both vendors attract consumers who were hesitant to buy amid rising prices elsewhere in the market.

Huawei regained the top spot with a 22.6% market share after shipments climbed 19.4% year-on-year. Apple followed with an 18.1% share, posting 24.4% growth. Oppo and Vivo tied for third place with 16% market share despite recording shipment declines, while Xiaomi ranked fifth with 12.4%. Samsung finished 10th with just 0.1% market share after shipments plunged 60% – the steepest decline among the top 10 vendors.

First-half smartphone shipments totalled around 134 million units, down 4.2% compared to the same period last year.

“Huawei and Apple held their prices steady while competitors were raising theirs, and that gave hesitant buyers a reason to go ahead and purchase in a quarter when most of the market was giving them a reason to wait,” said Arthur Guo, Research Analyst, Client Devices Research at IDC China.

Looking ahead, IDC warned that pricing pressures are expected to intensify. Vendors have so far been cushioned by inventories of lower-cost components purchased before prices increased, but those stockpiles are being depleted. As a result, the research firm expects the year-on-year market decline to widen to around 20% in the second half of 2026.

IDC also expects 2027 to remain challenging as storage prices are unlikely to ease significantly. However, it noted that consumer demand has been delayed rather than destroyed, with a new smartphone replacement cycle expected to drive a market recovery between 2028 and 2029.

Nokia launches AI-RAN platform

Press Release

Nokia today announced the industry’s first commercial AI-RAN platform, marking one of the most significant shifts in radio network architecture in decades. As AI becomes the dominant workload in mobile networks, telecommunication providers need more capacity, stronger economics and faster innovation without relying on traditional hardware upgrade cycles. Nokia’s AI-RAN platform helps telecommunication providers unlock significantly more uplink and downlink capacity from the spectrum and radio infrastructure they already own, providing a practical path to AI-native networks while improving network economics and accelerating innovation at software speed.

“AI-RAN is the biggest innovation in radio in decades. AI-RAN makes the network intelligent, extends AI into the physical world, and allows telcos to get more from their existing infrastructure, including a software upgrade path to 6G. Nokia’s anyRAN software, powered by NVIDIA’s Aerial AI-RAN platform, unlocks greater performance from the spectrum operators already have and can be deployed with existing Nokia or ORAN-compliant radio units. For operators, that means more performance, better returns and faster delivery of new services,” said Justin Hotard, President and CEO at Nokia.

Built on Nokia’s AI-native network architecture and NVIDIA’s accelerated computing, Nokia’s AI-RAN platform delivers a step change in network performance and economics. The AI-RAN platform has already shown more than 20% spectral efficiency gains through AI-driven radio innovations. The company is on track to deliver 50% spectral gains by 2027 and more than 100% by 2028, helping telecommunication providers carry significantly more traffic in dense cells while reducing cost per bit and improving customer experience.

“Telecommunications is entering the AI era — the radio access network is the next AI infrastructure. Together with Nokia, we are bringing NVIDIA CUDA and AI into the baseband, transforming RAN into a planet-scale AI computer. This is a generational shift for operators — unlocking more capacity and efficiency from today’s spectrum while creating the foundation for new AI services and the 6G era,” said Jensen Huang, Founder and CEO of NVIDIA.

Through a new software subscription model, telecommunication providers can benefit from AI innovation, new features and performance enhancements without relying on hardware refresh cycles. Nokia’s AI-RAN solutions will enter pilot deployments at the end of this year and be commercially available in 2027, with a roadmap that leverages NVIDIA’s programmable merchant silicon platforms.

“Nokia’s AI-RAN launch represents an important step in bringing AI-RAN from industry vision to commercial reality. The addition of the new AI-RAN node alongside the AirScale capacity plug-in unit and cloud-native deployment options gives operators practical choices for adopting AI-native networks based on their existing infrastructure and transformation goals. By combining AI-accelerated computing with a software-defined architecture and a clear product roadmap, Nokia is helping operators unlock greater capacity, improve network economics and accelerate the transition toward AI-native RAN,” said Rémy Pascal, Practice Leader, Mobile Infrastructure at Omdia.

One AI-native platform. Three paths to adoption

Recognizing the diversity of telecommunication providers’ network strategies and installed RAN bases, Nokia’s AI-RAN platform is built on a common software-defined architecture powered by Nokia’s anyRAN software and NVIDIA’s accelerated computing. Supporting 4G, 5G and future network evolution, it provides three hardware platform options, including an expansion card for existing AirScale deployments and a Cloud RAN alternative. Fully compliant with Open RAN standards, the platform supports open, interoperable multi-vendor deployments while giving operators the flexibility to choose the hardware and cloud environments that best meet their needs. These hardware platform options allow telecommunication providers to modernize at their own pace while preserving existing infrastructure investments, benefiting from a common software roadmap and accelerating innovation at software speed. Telecommunication providers can adopt AI-RAN in stages using the approach that best matches their deployment strategy, capacity requirements and installed base.

Build on existing investments

For existing Nokia customers, Nokia is introducing the new GPU-powered AirScale capacity plug-in unit as the most efficient path forward. Designed for Nokia’s installed AirScale base, the solution integrates NVIDIA’s accelerated computing into existing network infrastructure, enabling a significant capacity step-change through a simple upgrade path while preserving existing network investments. This approach is also supported by AI-accelerated merchant silicon from Marvell as part of Nokia’s broader ecosystem approach to software-defined AI-RAN architectures. Telecommunication providers can introduce advanced AI capabilities, continuously improve performance through software and extend the value of deployed infrastructure.

Scale AI-native capacity anywhere

For telecommunication providers seeking maximum deployment flexibility and performance, Nokia is introducing the industry’s first GPU-powered standalone AI-RAN node. It brings AI-accelerated RAN performance to any network environment and supports 4G, 5G and future 6G workloads on a common platform. The solution can be deployed as a standalone node, in clustered configurations or alongside AirScale as a single logical base station, providing operators with a highly flexible path to scale AI-native networks while preserving deployment choice.

Enabling cloud-native AI-RAN

For telecommunication providers embracing cloud-native architectures, Nokia is introducing GPU-powered AI-RAN COTS server solutions delivered through ecosystem partners. The platforms enable an open and secure supply chain while supporting deployment on industry-standard accelerated computing infrastructure, combining cloud-native flexibility with the performance requirements of AI-native radio networks.

Innovation at software speed

Nokia’s AI-RAN marks a fundamental shift from hardware-defined radio networks to software-defined platforms that continuously improve through software and AI innovation. Through Nokia’s new subscription-based commercial model, telecommunication providers gain ongoing access to advanced AI algorithms, spectral efficiency enhancements, network optimization capabilities and future AI-native features that can be activated through software. This approach allows them to benefit from continuous innovation while maximizing long-term returns on infrastructure investments, enabling improved TCO and performance at no hardware premium. Rather than waiting for the next hardware cycle, networks can continuously enhance performance, efficiency, security and resilience as new capabilities become available.

By combining AI-accelerated computing, advanced AI algorithms and an open ecosystem approach, Nokia is helping telecommunication providers unlock greater capacity, stronger economics and continuous innovation while building the foundation for future network evolution.

Trinidad and Tobago signs MoUs to develop AI-ready data centres

The government of Trinidad and Tobago says it has signed MoUs with US companies Ernst & Young and Hummingbird AI Holdings to develop AI-ready data centres and infrastructure in the country with at least 450MW of load capacity.

According to a Facebook post from United National Congress (the political party of prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar) on Sunday, the Ministry of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs signed an MoU with Ernst & Young to create a framework for collaborating on developing large-scale data centres and supporting infrastructure.

Under the framework, EY will leverage its Energy to Intelligence (E2I) platform to develop a 300 MW data centre. EY will also partner with third parties for the project.

Meanwhile, the ministry’s MoU with Hummingbird AI also establishes a framework to develop a proposed 150 MW AI infrastructure and data-centre facility, with potential longer-term expansion to 500 MW.

Initial commercial operation for the latter facility is tentatively targeted for the first quarter of 2028. That said, both projects will undergo due diligence before the government decides to proceed with either.

Trinidad and Tobago currently has five data centres – four in Port of Spain, and one in Prince Town. According to Data Center Map, the data centres in Port of Spain are all Tier III compliant.

The UNC post said that the MoUs – combined with a third MoU with Pinnacle Steel and Vanadium to refurbish and recommission its recently acquired iron and steel plant at Point Lisas into a vanadium plant – could represent a combined potential investment exceeding US$5 billion over the coming years that will generate in excess of 5,000 new jobs, provided any of them make it past the due-diligence stage.

According to a report in the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian, Public Utilities Minister Barry Padarath addressed concerns raised in several media reports, including one from the Associated Press, that the data centre projects would impact Trinidad and Tobago’s water supply, which is already plagued by chronic shortages.

Padarath said the proposed data centres won’t have a negative impact on the country’s water security, as the government intends to build the data centres in a special economic zone – possibly Debe – where special ponds will be constructed to supply water to the data centres, along with desalinisation plants as a longer-term backup resource for the country in general.

« We will have a hybrid system in terms of utilising the ponds in the first instance that are created, the man-made ponds, and then if additional water supply is needed by then the desalination plants would come on stream, » Padarath was quoted as saying in the report.

Little is known about Hummingbird AI, except that managing member Marc-Kwesi Farrel – who is named in the government press release as a signatory – is the founder and CEO of Ten To One Rum. He is also a non-executive director of Caribbean-focused investment holding and management company Massy Holdings, whose main portfolios are focused on retail, gas products, motors and machines, and financial services.

Zayo brings in Verizon’s Sampath as CEO

Press Release

Sowmyanarayan Sampath appointed CEO to drive the company’s next phase of AI-related and enterprise growth; Steve Smith to remain on Board following retirement

Zayo (“the Company”), the leading digital infrastructure network provider, today announced a planned CEO transition, appointing former Verizon executive Sowmyanarayan Sampath as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective September 1, 2026. Sampath will succeed Steve Smith, who will retire as CEO following a transformative tenure that established Zayo as the foundational backbone of the AI economy. Smith will continue to serve as a member of Zayo’s Board of Directors.

Under Steve’s leadership, Zayo has evolved from an acquisition-built network operator into the largest independent digital infrastructure network provider and a powerhouse of connectivity serving AI companies and enterprises across the U.S. Sampath’s appointment provides long-term leadership and bolsters Zayo’s market-leading position.

Sampath brings more than two decades of large-scale digital infrastructure experience, most recently serving as CEO of Verizon Consumer, after previously leading Verizon Business and BCG’s global telecom practice for carriers across the world. His extensive background in leading multi-billion-dollar enterprise and wholesale businesses through transformation and rapid technology shifts positions him to accelerate Zayo’s commercial execution, scale for the demands of AI-driven growth, and meet rising demand for high-capacity connectivity.

“On behalf of the Board, I want to thank Steve for his leadership and the important role he has played in strengthening Zayo’s market position,” said Kevin Turner, Chairman of Zayo’s Board of Directors. “Steve has sharpened Zayo’s strategy and positioned the Company for its next phase of growth. This planned transition reflects the strength of our business, the depth of our leadership team, and the Board’s confidence in the path ahead. Sampath’s track record of scaling complex networks and driving enterprise revenue makes him the right leader to maximize the potential from Zayo’s market-leading assets.”

“I have tremendous respect for what Steve and the entire Zayo team have built, including its extraordinary physical footprint at the precise moment the global economy demands uncompromised bandwidth,” said Sampath. “As AI workloads, distributed applications, dense GPU clusters, and hyperscale environments change where capacity is needed, and as large enterprises manage increasingly complex connectivity needs, the network is the ultimate constraint, and Zayo is built to solve this. We already connect more data centers in the U.S. than anyone else, and that is increasingly important as AI companies and large enterprises look for the scale, reach, and performance AI-driven infrastructure requires. I look forward to working with this team as we build on Zayo’s momentum, strengthen support for our customers and launch the next era of digital infrastructure growth.”
Under Smith’s leadership, Zayo strengthened its position as the network partner of choice for customers with complex, high-capacity connectivity needs. He advanced deeper integration, automation, internal AI adoption, network service excellence, and disciplined capital allocation while accelerating Zayo’s network expansion. During his tenure, the Company more than tripled its planned fiber expansion, with projects now spanning more than 15,000 route miles. He also completed the acquisition of Crown Castle’s Fiber Solutions Business, adding approximately 90,000 route miles and 40,000 on-net enterprise locations. In his role on the Board, Smith will draw on his decades of industry expertise to continue advising the Company.
“Leading Zayo has been a privilege, and I’m deeply proud of what our team has built as we prepare the Company for the next generation of digital infrastructure,” said Smith. “I’ve always encouraged my teams to play to be remembered, and this team has done exactly that by building a stronger, more focused Zayo. Sampath is a proven operator with the industry expertise, customer focus and experience leading at scale to build on that success. I am confident he is the right leader for Zayo’s next chapter, and I look forward to supporting him and the entire organization as a member of the Board.”
Smith will remain in his role until August 31, 2026. Sampath will assume the role of CEO on September 1, 2026. During the transition period, Smith and Sampath will work closely with Zayo’s Board of Directors and leadership team to ensure continuity for customers and stakeholders. For more information, visit https://www.zayo.com

Jio Platforms appoints new CEO ahead of planned IPO

Jio Platforms has reportedly appointed long-time executive Pankaj Pawar as its new CEO, replacing Kiran Thomas ahead of the company’s expected initial public offering.

According to The Economic Times, citing draft IPO documents filed with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India, Thomas stepped down on 23 March, with Pawar assuming the role the following day.

Pawar currently serves as managing director of Reliance Jio Infocomm, the telecom subsidiary that operates the Jio mobile network. The IPO filing credits him with more than 30 years of experience building and scaling consumer and digital businesses.

Jio Platforms is the digital holding company that owns Reliance Jio Infocomm, as well as Reliance Industries’ digital businesses spanning telecoms, digital services and technology investments.

The Economic Times reported that Thomas no longer features among Jio Platforms’ key executives in the IPO filing, despite having been a prominent figure at Reliance Industries’ annual general meetings since the launch of Jio Platforms.

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani is expected to serve as chairman and non-executive director of Jio Platforms following the listing.

According to the report, Jio Platforms is targeting an IPO that could raise around US$4 billion, making it one of India’s largest public offerings in recent years.