India’s three largest operators – Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea – will be required to offer affordable voice & SMS-only tariffs from next month, following a mandate from regulator TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India).

As reported by Times of India, TRAI has ordered that the new plans be made available from 21^st October 2026. The tariffs are intended for low-income users who require short-term, flexible plans for calling and messaging but have less use for bundled data services.

Under TRAI’s mandate, operators must offer Special Tariff Vouchers (STVs) for voice and SMS with shorter validity periods of up to 30 days, with the option to renew monthly. Operators are also obliged to offer at least one longer validity plan solely for voice and SMS.

This is not the first time that TRAI has tried to address this issue; in December 2024, the regulator mandated that all operators must offer at least one voice and SMS-only STV, but this effectively resulted in lower availability of voice and SMS plans as operators offered limited validity options while failing to reduce prices to reflect the removal of data. To resolve this, the new mandate requires parity across validity periods.

For their part, all three operators formally opposed TRAI’s mandate, arguing that it was anti-consumer.  In particular, Jio claimed that voice now functions as an application on an underlying data network, making voice-only plans technically infeasible, and highlighting that 88% of its subscribers are active data users.

While TRAI has noted these objections, it has nonetheless pressed ahead with the mandate in the interests of consumer protection, arguing that users who do not require data will benefit from plans with the same validity period as data tariffs, but with proportionally lower prices.

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Pino G. Dicorato, Solution Marketing for Nokia’s Network Infrastructure optical network automation environment portfolio at Nokia.

By: Pino G. Dicorato Optical networks are carrying higher volumes of AI traffic and facing stricter demand around service availability, time-to-market pressure, and operational cost control expectations. Providers are also pushing optical infrastructure deeper into metro locations to support optimized performance and lower latencies for the rich data traffic associated with AI inferencing. … [visit site to read more]

PLDT’s wireless arm Smart Communications launched a new one-stop AI workspace service on Thursday that it says will give users in the Philippines easier access to multiple advanced AI models and tools.

The new service, AI.Smart, gives Smart and TNT subscribers access to AWS Nova, ChatGPT, Claude, Google Gemini, and Thinking Machines through a single interface that can be accessed on any browser.

Based on the user’s prompt, AI.Smart automatically selects the appropriate AI model to deliver the desired output, whether generating content and images, creating documents and presentations, and analyzing data in English, Filipino, or Taglish.

Users can pay for the service using prepaid load, postpaid billing, credit or debit cards, and select e-wallets. Credit packages start as low as PHP49 (US$0.78) for seven days, while a P499 plan offers access for 30 days and supports up to ten users sharing a pool of credits, making it suitable for small businesses and teams, said Lloyd R. Manaloto, first VP and OIC for Smart.

“AI should be for everyone, not just for those who can afford premium AI services,” he said in a statement. “With AI.Smart, we are making AI more inclusive by bringing powerful AI models and tools together in one affordable platform, giving more Filipinos the opportunity to use AI to learn, create, work smarter, and achieve more.”

The AI.Smart service is powered by Avtica, a local enterprise AI company that builds localized AI products that can be delivered in partnership with telcos and cloud providers.

Smart said that everything subscribers upload to the platform stays private to their own workspace and is never used to train AI models, and is never retained.

Their data is also encrypted and handled in line with the Philippine Data Privacy Act, the operator added.

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The technology has already helped to save more than 4 million litres of water per day over 650km of the UK’s water network

Southern Water, which provides drinking water for millions of customers across the South of England, has announced a new partnership with Lightsonic, aiming to use the company’s sensing technology to help identify their leaking pipes.

The UK’s aging pipe network leaks roughly 2.6 billion litres of water every day but identifying the specific locations of these leaks is a major challenge.

Lightsonic’s solution works by adding acoustic sensing units to Openreach’s fibre network, which often runs parallel to subterranean pipelines. If a leak is present in a nearby pipe, the resulting vibrations shake the fibre cable, delivering a small but measurable impact to the optical signal within. By measuring these signals, Lightsonic can locate and prioritise repairs for the water company.

According to Lightsonic, the solution typically detects 1.2 million litres of water leaks per day per 100km of network covered annually.

An illustration of how Lightsonic’s technology senses leaks

“Ageing infrastructure, leaking networks and mounting climate pressure are converging, causing major water stress,” says Tommy Langnes, CEO Lightsonic. “By utilising existing fibre optic infrastructure, we have a solution that can be quickly and effectively scaled across the UK to help utility companies get a handle on leaks, secure supply and generate savings that can be reinvested to upgrade our aging network. The industry needs a quick and comprehensive response and that is what we offer.”

For Openreach, this deployment marks a deepening of their partnership with Lightsonic, with who they ran initial trials alongside Affinity Water in March this year.

“The results of our existing pilots with Lightsonic show that our new full fibre infrastructure can deliver value far beyond broadband – and could prove to be a real game changer in solving real-world challenges like water conservation,” said Trevor Linney, Director of Network Technology at Openreach. “Combining Lightsonic’s technology with the reach of Openreach’s Full Fibre network makes continuous utility monitoring genuinely scalable, without the cost and disruption of building a separate sensor network.”

The UK’s water supply is facing immense pressure. The country is currently experiencing the hottest summer on record, with hosepipe bans in place across much of the country. Plans for a new reservoir to alleviate water stress have this week been delayed by 5 years and, with more global temperature records predicted, the UK’s water security is more precarious than ever.

Turning the country’s fibre networks into passive sensing frameworks represents a cost-effective and efficient way to begin to tackle the nation’s water challenges.

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Cybastion, a US company that delivers digital and infrastructure solutions in Africa, has signed an agreement with Liberia’s Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection to develop women’s technology and business innovation hubs with child care centres across the country.

The project, Liberia Women’s Digital and Economic Empowerment Programme, will expand women’s access to digital skills, entrepreneurship training and business development opportunities.

Cybastion’s philanthropic organisation Theya Foundation, in partnership with Cisco, say they will deliver digital skills and entrepreneurship training for women and young people through the Cisco Networking Academy, an educational initiative.

Cybastion CEO Dr Thierry Wandji explains: “Liberian women are a vital force in the country’s economic and social development. By bringing digital skills, entrepreneurship support and modern child care together in one place, these technology innovation hubs will create pathways for women to build stronger businesses and participate more fully in Liberia’s digital economy.”

A flagship campus will be established in the capital, Monrovia, and four regional sites in Voinjama, Gbarnga, Kakata and Buchanan. The campuses will provide business development support, as well as mentorship.

The tech innovation hubs are designed to help women scale their business management skills, reach new markets, connect with financial services and participate in broader supply chains.

Each campus will include a modern child care centre, allowing mothers of young children to participate in training, mentorship and business development activities. The centres are intended to address child care as a barrier to women’s participation in education and entrepreneurship programmes.

Cybastion has been in the news a number of times this month, most recently due to plans to mobilise about US$300 million for several projects supporting Senegal’s digital transformation. We have also reported that it plans to invest US$75 million in an AI-powered data centre and power plant in Cameroon, expanding the company’s digital infrastructure projects across Africa.

Tencent Cloud, the cloud business of global technology company Tencent, has announced a partnership with Malaysian fintech and digital bank Boost to support the fintech’s digital transformation and innovation initiatives across Malaysia and Indonesia.

Under the agreement, Tencent Cloud and Boost have entered into a partnership spanning AI innovation, cloud infrastructure modernisation and super app development.

Tencent explains that as fintech companies across Southeast Asia scale their operations and expand service offerings, organisations are increasingly seeking strategic cloud partners that can provide integrated solutions spanning infrastructure, AI and platform technologies.

To support its next phase of growth, Boost has selected Tencent Cloud as a strategic technology partner to consolidate infrastructure, accelerate AI adoption, and drive innovation across its digital ecosystem.

The collaboration encompasses three key pillars. First, Tencent Cloud will provide its scalable infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) capabilities to Boost across Malaysia and Indonesia. This will enable Boost to streamline infrastructure management, improve operational agility, and support future business expansion with scalable cloud resources.

Second, Boost will leverage Tencent Cloud Super App as a Service (TCSAS) to augment existing customer experiences, drawing on Tencent Cloud’s expertise in building large-scale super app ecosystems. The platform will integrate multiple financial services into a unified user experience, enabling consumers and businesses to access a wider range of digital financial solutions through a single application.

Additionally, Boost will partner with Tencent Cloud on its AI development roadmap to co-create products and leverage the existing off-the-shelf products offered by Tencent Cloud.

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The decision follows Orange taking full control of the business earlier this year

Orange has wasted no time in dropping the MásOrange brand after taking full control of the business earlier this year.

The unit will now be known as Orange España, bringing the brand in line with Orange’s international portfolio of network operator businesses.

The companies’ commercial brands – Orange, Yoigo, Jazztel, MásMóvil, Pepephone, Simyo, Euskaltel, R, and Telecable – remain unaffected by the move.

“Orange España is one of the most recognised brands in our country and explains in a clear and simple way the company that we are today: the leading operator of the Spanish market by number of customers and by satisfaction with a clear vocation of investment, innovation and commitment to the digital development of our country,” said Meinrad Spenger, CEO of Orange España.

MasOrange was formed by the €22 billion merger of Orange and MasMovil’s Spanish units in 2024. It created the country’s largest telco, with around 1 million mobile and 7 million fixed-broadband subscribers. By the end of 2025, Orange had agreed to acquire full control of the business, buying out its joint venture partner Lorca for €4.25 billion.

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Pakistan data network provider Zong has partnered with local company ISP Environmental Solutions (ISPES) to launch PecoDrop, described as first-of-their-kind smart waste management stations.

The smart recycling stations will be deployed across Zong facilities to enable source-level segregation and recovery of recyclable plastic, paper and metal. By bringing segregation to the point of disposal, PecoDrop explains, it introduces a technology-enabled approach to improving recycling practices, reducing recyclable waste from entering landfills and encouraging more responsible consumption and disposal behaviours.

At the heart of the initiative is a digitally enabled waste management system that captures data on material deposits, volumes and collections, creating a traceable data chain from disposal to recovery.

The initiative reflects Zong’s broader ambition to apply technology beyond connectivity, to address environmental and social challenges and create measurable impact.

Through an integrated rewards mechanism, Zong employees will also earn credits for depositing recyclable materials, digitally track their contributions and redeem accumulated rewards. By connecting responsible action with tangible recognition, the initiative aims to make recycling simpler, more engaging and measurable, while fostering a stronger culture of environmental responsibility across the workplace.

Zong’s Head of Strategy and Company Spokesperson, Nabila Yazdani explains: “PecoDrop demonstrates how technology, data and employee participation, can come together to create a smarter and more measurable approach to waste management.”

The CEO of ISPES, Dr Zillay Maryam, speaking on the partnership, adds: “This partnership goes far beyond collection points. It’s about engineering the first mile of a true circular economy. By deploying smart, tech-integrated segregation systems, we ensure that waste separation begins at the precise point of disposal, enabling the complete recovery and recycling of sorted materials.”

This partnership, in conjunction with World Cleanup Day, which takes place annually on 20 September as an official United Nations observance dedicated to combating the global solid waste crisis, represents Zong’s commitment to turning sustainability from an occasional activity into an everyday, measurable workplace practice. 

ISP Environmental Solutions works on what it calls the integrated solid waste management (ISWM) strategy. Its effective ISWM system works to prevent, recycle, and manage solid waste in ways that most effectively protect human health and the environment.