NEC lined up real-world trials of a technology mix it reckons could shake up the vehicle parking sector, advancing a self-professed mission to digitalise the sector.

The company is integrating a parking management system from UrbanChain with its own AI image recognition technology to assess the effectiveness in detecting when people leave their vehicle.

NEC explained this is an important safety step, reasoning the set-up could be used to provide alerts if people park and then fail to exit the vehicle in a timely manner, which it stated could indicate they have suffered a medical episode.

The company explained there is growing concern about such matters.

Trials of the combined system are scheduled to begin in car parks in the Fukuoka Prefecture of Japan next month to assess how effective the AI is at recognising the number of vehicle occupants and if they have left or not.

NEC stated the companies hope to devise a “next-generation” car parking service model which could improve “safety, security and convenience”.

The companies hope to work out how many cameras are required and the best installation points along with the overall impact on safety and security.

They are also exploring a payment model based on the time a vehicle enters a parking space instead of charging from the moment it enters the grounds.

Ultimately, the work could establish a means of analysing car park usage trends and control mechanical lifts used in multi-storey architectures.

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The chief executives of some of the biggest operator groups in Europe warned massive amounts of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) are still exchanged online each year and pressed authorities to give them the power to block it.

Margherita Della Valle from Vodafone Group, Christel Heydemann at Orange, Benedicte Schilbred Fasmer with Telenor Group and Allison Kirkby at BT Group want authorities to provide their companies with the legal clarity to prevent the sharing of more than 100 million CSAM files each year.

They have written an open letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola and European Council President Antonio Costa warning the trading of CSAM material online is “at industrial scale”.

The CEOs argue differences in legal frameworks makes it difficult for telecom and internet service providers to fully pull their weight in tackling the problem, making the removal of barriers to “blocking access to domains and URLs” linked with CSAM a matter of urgency.

The CEOs believe an organisation with the oversight to identify and tackle CSAM throughout the European Union is necessary. They also want interim measures to the same end while such a group is being set-up.

Equally, the executives believe any such authority must be strictly overseen and its focus kept squarely on CSAM.

They called for governments in the region not within the EU to join the efforts with their own legal frameworks.

“Children need protection now, not in several years’ time.”

“The scale of abuse demands decisive action, so Europe must show global leadership.”

Unacceptable
Della Valle, Heydemann, Fasmer and Kirkby pointed to Internet Watch Foundation statistics indicating 62% of “confirmed CSAM web pages” were hosted in the EU in 2024.

A cyber tipline operated by the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children “receives tens of millions of reports” involving children mostly aged between seven-and ten-years old.

“Girls are disproportionately targeted”, the executives noted.

They branded it “simply unacceptable” for CSAM to remain accessible due to delays in removing it at the source.

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Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison brought in the big guns of its parent, Nokia and Nvidia to help it develop fresh infrastructure to meet the demand for AI computing in Southeast Asia and beyond, with an initial 1GW target.

The Indonesian operator’s Zankore by Indosat play is to employ Nvidia’s DSX AI Factory reference design as part of an ambitious plan to establish the nation as a regional compute hub.

It aims to provide the first 200MW of capacity in H1 2027, running an Nvidia GB300 NVL72 rack. Information from the chip company indicates the set up uses 72 of its Blackwell Ultra GPUs and 36 Arm-architected CPUs to provide additional reasoning capabilities.

Zankore by Indosat is also employing the Nvidia DSX MaxLPS technology suite, which the chip player separately explained provides ways to “maximise token performance per MW within a fixed power budget”.

Put more plainly, the suite is designed to offer the lowest-possible token cost by optimising power use across the line of GPUs to unlock fuelling which might otherwise be stuck in less useful areas.

The operator’s parent Ooredoo Group is the lead investor and platform sponsor, an arrangement noted to bring access to long-term capital and regional scale.

Nokia is providing AI-native network infrastructure.

Zankore by Indosat appointed ex-Ericsson and T-Mobile US executive Ulf Ewaldsson as CEO, along with establishing a board comprising representatives from principal shareholders and independent members.

Meutya Hafid, the Indonesian Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs, said the nation is advantageously placed to provide AI compute capacity throughout Southeast Asia and the Zankore by Indosat move would speed development of sovereign capabilities to the benefit of “businesses and society”.

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Rakuten Mobile expanded the capabilities of its corporate generative AI service by incorporating Anthropic’s Claude model.

The Japanese operator is employing the model to boost the research and data analysis capabilities of Rakuten AI for Business, a shift it stated would help companies to make decisions.

Research capabilities cover collection and organisation of external information, a function Rakuten expects to help companies conduct market research, assess their competition and plan strategy.

The data analysis element involves assessing internal data to highlight trends and present the information in a comprehensible format. Rakuten expects the facility to help staff “without specialised data science backgrounds” with decision-making.

It explained the greater decision-making capability could hold benefits for departments including sales, planning and administration.

Anthropic’s model adds to existing OpenAI ChatGPT-5 functions available on Rakuten AI for Business covering meeting summaries, creating emails and project planning.

Rakuten emphasised its AI service is secure, with safeguards in place to prevent the technology accessing data without permission.

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Senior MTN Group executives promoted the potential pan-African economic benefits of digitalisation during a meeting with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), moves they inevitably argued are boosted by the operator’s broad footprint.

MTN president and CEO Ralph Mupita (pictured, third from right) emphasised the importance of the operator group’s scale and global clout during the meeting with IMF first deputy MD Dan Katz (pictured, centre) and various of their staff.

The conflab formed part of broader talks Katz is holding with South African authorities and private sector players.

Mupita said wide-reaching collaborations can speed “Africa’s digital transformation” and Katz’ visit is an “opportunity to engage constructively with the IMF leadership”.

The executive explained “the discussion centred on the macroeconomic outlook across our key markets of South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana”.

“In particular, we discussed the power of the digital economy to drive sustainable growth across the continent.”

MTN highlighted it is working to boost digitalisation through its Ambition 2030 programme, which includes goals of broadening consumer and business access to connectivity, expanding fintech services, and extending the reach of fibre and availability of AI data centres.

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Australian operator Optus joined a growing upper 6GHz movement, completing tests with Nokia it stated could be fundamental in an eventual transition to 6G.

A trial involving a robot dog is one of the items the pair researched. Optus explained the work validated the ability to automate mobile signal measurement, which it stated would have uses in designing indoor 6G networks.

Less showy but equally necessary were tests of advanced antenna technology and use of wider spectrum bandwidths. Optus and Nokia used current 5G infrastructure, but the operator expects the results to offer insights for indoor and outdoor 6G.

Optus stated the pair also explored ways 6G technologies could be localised for Australian demands, with an eye on the requirements of AI services, automation and future digital services.

The capability of upper 6GHz was proven through tests on Optus’ 5G network, with peak download data rates of 3.5Gb/s provided to a smartphone using a MediaTek modem in a set-up employing compatible Nokia massive MIMO antennas.

Optus CTO Sri Amirthalingam said the data rates show “the significant opportunity” upper 6GHz can deliver “for future networks”.

He said the capabilities trialled are set to be important elements in AI-native networks and the digital services these would unlock.

Momentum around upper 6GHz is building and GSMA experts believe it is now ready for real-world use because a designation as a key band means operators can begin planning investments.

Nations are jostling for a leading position in the band’s development and regulators are beginning to explore how best to employ it.

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Airbus Defence and Space won prime contractor status for the development of the next SpainSat NG bird, a secure communications satellite for mission-critical government and defence uses.

Thales Alenia Space separately detailed its selection as a co-contractor for the SpainSat NG-III project, explaining 10 Spanish companies are also on board to provide various technologies.

The contracts were awarded by Spanish satellite operator Hisdesat and the latest bird rounds out the SpainSat NG geosynchronous Earth orbit constellation, which already provides coverage of two-thirds of the planet.

Each company explained current SpainSat NG satellites play a key role in European security and defence, with the European Union, NATO and numerous allied governments employing them.

Airbus Defence and Space’s prime position means it is responsible for design, integration and testing of the satellite. It suggested the work would be an evolution of previous SpainSat NG birds, a fact Thales Alenia Space elaborated on by explaining the latest item would add “several improvements” to the existing model.

The project is to be handled at Airbus Defence and Space facilities in Spain. It explained the satellite would use X-band receivers and transmitters which “provide the capability of 16 traditional antennas” and can rejig coverage “up to 1,000-times per second while detecting and mitigating electronic interference”.

Thales Alenia Space is to provide UHF and military Ka-band payloads.

Airbus Defence and Space stated the SpainSat NG-III would be resilient to “high-altitude nuclear events and electromagnetic pulses”.

Development is expected to take 48-months and the satellite is scheduled to launch in Q3 2030 before coming online early in 2031.

Thales Alenia Space asserted the development keeps Hisdesat at the forefront of domestic and allied defence capabilities, along with delivering a boost for the Spanish space industry.

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Japan continued to be lucrative territory for Ericsson, with NTT Docomo picking the vendor to provide RAN baseband platform spanning all generations of its mobile infrastructure.

Ericsson stated what it calls RAN Compute equipment works across 4G, and normal and advanced iterations of 5G. It explained the platform can be foundational in creation of AI-native networks.

The vendor noted the platform expands capacity by up to two times over its previous-generation of equipment. Energy use is “less than half”, elements Ericsson pitched as helping to reduce costs in centralised RAN set-ups.

Ericsson noted the work with Docomo adds to the rollout of Massive MIMO equipment with the operator in December 2025.

Over the course of 2026, it has added contracts with SoftBank Corp and KDDI, among other moves in Japan.

Docomo GM of RAN design department Masafumi Masuda said Ericsson is enhancing the “processing capacity” of the operator’s network, an upgrade needed to “improve communication quality while meeting” rising “traffic demand”.

Yukiko Sato, board director and head of the NTT Group customer unit at Ericsson Japan, said the RAN baseband platform would also “enhance environmental sustainability and reduce operating costs”.

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Ericsson signalled its selection as the digital radio system (DRS) supplier for a multi-billion-dollar rail and public transport project in Australia, a win which puts its 5G systems on track to play a key role in a future Olympic Games.

The work involves rail engineering company UGL Transport and mission-critical communications provider Frequentis and covers the first of three stages of The Wave, a massive infrastructure upgrade to public transport services on the Sunshine Coast in preparation for the Olympic and Paralympic games scheduled to take place in Brisbane in 2032.

Stage one involves improvements to the track and infrastructure between the towns of Beerwah and Caloundra in which the national and regional governments are investing a total of AUD5 billion ($3.5 billion).

Ericsson stated the DRS would enable the updated rail network to employ the standardised European Train Control System signalling and control set-up.

Ludvig Landgren, head of Ericsson Australia and New Zealand, said the company’s 5G systems would “underpin” the region’s transport upgrade plans, delivering “safer operations” and “digital train control”.

Ericsson expects its infrastructure to enable the launch of Future Railway Mobile Communications System capabilities in the future, replacing current rail-oriented iterations of GSM connectivity.

The regional Queensland government expects work on the first stage of The Wave to commence early in 2027.

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Boldyn Networks equipped a pair of Italian hospitals with the connectivity needed to unlock a host of digital health services, overcoming 5G penetration issues by installing equipment inside the facilities.

The neutral host network player stated DAS installations leave the Policlinico Tor Vergata in Rome and San Carlo Borromeo Hospital in Milan set to handle services including telemedicine, remote consultations and patient monitoring.

Boldyn Networks’ 5G DAS deployment is also set to be used for hospital management, bringing IoT, augmented and virtual reality into the mix to improve back-office operations and clinical training.

CEO Antonino Ruggiero said the 5G installations are “another tangible example” of Boldyn Networks’ potential contribution to digital transformation in Italy. He explained the deployments “demonstrate the strategic importance” of the nation to the company’s “global growth strategy”.

Ruggiero argued healthcare is a sector ripe for some of the greatest benefits of innovative connectivity, citing potential advantages for patients and professionals alike.

Boldyn Networks emphasised the 5G DAS set-ups open doors for telecom service providers to offer innovative indoor services.

It made mention of working on projects in other Italian cities and industries, part of a mission to grow 5G connectivity in the nation.

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Bell Canada highlighted a growing problem with unauthorised removal of legacy equipment, reporting copper theft rose almost 80% year-on-year in H1 2026.

The operator stated the problem is most acute in the provinces of Ontario and New Brunswick but highlighted the dangers copper theft presents in any area due to the impact on critical communication services.

EVP and CTO Mark McDonald said tackling the problem requires “coordinated action” by operators, government, police and recycling companies.

He wants criminals to be held to account and highlighted stolen copper can result in “service outages that can endanger public safety, particularly by disrupting access to emergency services”.

Bell recorded 993 cases of copper theft or vandalism, up 78% year-on-year. It is fighting back by installing alarms to alert local police, upping surveillance and taking legal action against thieves.

It noted some pay-off, with arrests up 32% and brace of recent “favourable” court decisions.

Bell argued there is little monetary value in scrap copper, but emphasised the potentially big societal cost.

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One NZ advised businesses to rethink their approach to responsible AI after research showed consumers are growing worried about the environmental impact of companies’ use of the technology.

Research by the operator involving 1,001 New Zealanders found 45% have concerns over the sustainability of business use of AI, making it a key factor alongside transparency and privacy in overall trust ratings.

Head of corporate affairs and sustainability Nicky Preston said One NZ’s findings “highlight a shift” in attitudes.

“The conversation around AI has largely focused on productivity and innovation to date. But this research shows New Zealanders are starting to consider a broader question”.

Preston noted trust “has always been fundamental to technology adoption” and said sustainability is now part of the “equation”.

One NZ’s research found those worried about environmental impacts believe businesses should prioritise using renewable energy alongside cutting power consumption.

Consumers also want companies to be transparent about the environmental impacts, explain their reasons for employing AI and be open to independent audits.

“Customers and employees increasingly want evidence that organisations are managing AI responsibly through governance, infrastructure choices, supplier decisions and thoughtful deployment,” Preston explained.

The research highlighted consumption of electricity and water as key environmental concerns. Other factors include electronic waste and carbon emissions.

One NZ highlighted more traditional concerns about AI continue to rank highly: it noted respondents are worried about the technology taking jobs away from people, personal data being employed without consent and a lack of human oversight.

Preston said the findings indicate the businesses likely to be the most successful in using AI would be those which show they are “thinking carefully” about social and environmental impacts.

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Siemens and HD Hyundai added momentum to moves to apply AI in specific ways, agreeing to develop methods to improve shipbuilding processes in a deal primarily intended to boost capacity in the US.

The deal is valued in the low-triple-digit millions of dollars range and involves using Siemens’ Xcelerator digital business platform to provide an overview of engineering, manufacturing, supply chain and shipyard operations.

Siemens explained the “digital shipyard” concept holds the potential to speed production and improve quality, facets expected to benefit the entire shipbuilding value chain.

It stated such a step-up would help satisfy growing “demand for greater and more advanced shipbuilding capacity in the US and other markets”.

Siemens anticipates benefits for full modernisation schemes along with projects taking a more staged approach to upgrades.

President and CEO Roland Busch said the companies are moving to use AI to help shipbuilders manage the “enormous complexity” of producing “advanced vessels”.

The companies are “building the operating system for industrial AI” by “connecting data, software and automation”.

Siemens and HD Hyundai also plan to back the Korea-US Shipbuilding Partnership Centre, a site opened in Washington D.C. yesterday (23 July) to foster collaborations on digitising shipbuilding which The Korea Times reports forms part of a $150 billion investment in the industry in the US agreed in a bilateral trade deal with South Korea in 2025.

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Regulatory pressure over TikTok’s child safety measures continued to mount as the European Commission (EC) warned a preliminary look at the company’s protections found it wanting in various aspects.

The initial results of a formal probe into potential breaches of the Digital Services Act (DSA) show TikTok is falling short of the required standards. The EC explained a public-access setting means child accounts can still be viewed by all kinds of people whether they use the social media platform or not.

Another risk involves the content of 16- and 17-year-olds, which the EC found can be featured in recommendations to other users, presenting the risk of “unwanted contact” or cyberbullying.

It is inviting TikTok to view and respond to the preliminary findings and emphasised there is no prejudice to any final decisions in the investigation.

If TikTok is ultimately judged to be in breach of the DSA, the EC “may issue a non-compliance decision, which can trigger a fine”.

Other areas of concern the EC highlighted include an ability to view the profile pictures of children even when accounts are set to private mode, with discovery available if they are contacts of other users or by non-users of TikTok.

The EC explained the DSA requires platforms which children can use to “ensure a high level of privacy, safety and security”, a standard it considers TikTok may not be meeting.

UK regulator Ofcom is conducting its own probe into TikTok’s child protection measures.

The EC previously warned TikTok over its “potentially addictive design” as part of the same investigation.

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Telefonica and materials producer Wurth Group boxed clever in applying advanced computing and AI to a logistics scenario, delivering various benefits in packing efficiency and a reduced environmental impact.

The companies worked with Spanish applied research and technology development centre Tecnalia and quantum computing start-up QCentroid to test a means of optimising logistics packing processes.

Telefonica explained the approach employs quantum computing and AI algorithms and was proven to improve packing efficiency “across 14% of the more than 6,000 orders processed”.

The sum translated to a 3% cut in the number of boxes used, in turn lowering the volume of cargo transported by road along with cardboard usage.

Leonor Ostos, director of product and service development with Telefonica Espana, said the work with the domestic unit of Wurth proved a combination of quantum computing and AI could improve services, provided of course the underlying communications network is up to the task.

Wurth Espana chief operations officer Begona Lopez said the fastenings and assembly materials producer is always seeking ways to improve efficiency and the project enabled it to explore the potential of the technologies “from a highly practical and operations-focused perspective”.

Telefonica is establishing something of a reputation for researching the potential of quantum computing, with work on data protection and pharmaceutical research notable examples.

The operator asserts a leading position in providing “quantum-safe communications services”, pointing to a pilot with a Spanish police force and the opening of a dedicated research centre which it employed in the Wurth work.

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Rockwell Automation and industrial AI company Augury spotted an opportunity to help industries make sense of the vast pools of data the technology is now generating, teaming on a product focused on delivering usable information to manufacturers.

The US-headquartered automation company explained the partnership with Augury would benefit businesses seeking to employ AI in predictive ways spanning maintenance, reliability and overall industrial performance.

Rockwell Automation’s own research indicates less than half of all data collected is being used in effective ways, despite the growing ability for AI to execute on the insights it provides.

“Manufacturers don’t need more alerts, they need a faster path to action,” Angela Rapko, VP and GM of Visualisation and Asset Management at Rockwell Automation explained.

The set-up uses relevant products from each company to provide the route highlighted by the executive: Rockwell Automation stated it enables manufacturers to go beyond “early issue detection and diagnosis”.

It emphasised the use of an Augury reliability agent and its own maintenance assistant as a key differentiator.

The Augury agent “continuously analyses machine conditions” for potential problems and generates ideas on how to avoid or fix them. Rockwell Automation’s assistant is used to make sense of the recommendations to provide “maintenance workflows, work orders and orchestration of execution activities”.

Rockwell Automation indicated the partnership could be foundational in future agentic AI developments in addition to the companies’ more practical aim of helping industrial players to improve the efficiency of their manufacturing operations.

The companies aim to provide initial access to the set-up from September.

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Fibre proved fruitful for BT Group in the opening quarter of its fiscal 2027 (the period to end-June), becoming the key generator of broadband revenue as the operator booked record levels of connections and uptake.

BT added 514,000 FTTP connections in the three-month period alone, leaving it with a total of 23.4 million. The operator declared it is experiencing record demand for fibre services at its Openreach and consumer businesses.

In wireless, BT asserted EE “maintained its mobile leadership”, pointing to the receipt of a consumer award with category-topping figures in reliability, coverage and performance.

Its 5G network coverage hit 77% of the population.

CEO Allison Kirkby (pictured) declared it a “solid start” to the fiscal year, with gains in consumer customers increasingly backed by BT’s selection for “mission-critical” connections.

She said the consumer business is benefiting from ongoing investment in BT’s brands and services. It is also “stabilising” service revenue in its Business division on “sales order growth from major customers”.

Kirkby was of course positive about a recently-forged JV with Verizon and said BT is unparalleled in the “scale and pace” of work to upgrade the “digital backbone” of the UK.

BT’s numbers leave it “on track to deliver our targets, including cashflow of circa £2 billion”, the CEO explained.

The rising cost of finance impacted pre-tax profit, with the figure for continuing operations dropping from £526 million in fiscal Q1 2026 to £505 million. Revenue was flat at £4.3 billion.

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Telus lured a former executive back to the company from the world of private equity, as it lined up the team it hopes will drive a transformation of its core telecom business.

David Fuller is set to become EVP and group president of Telus Communications on 1 September in an executive shuffle to advance a rejig of the Canadian operator’s business by focusing capital on high margin products, services and customer segments.

Telus president and CEO Victor Dodig (pictured, right) said he has “no doubt” Fuller would “engage and focus our team”, branding the executive “one of the most talented and experienced telecom executives in Canada”.

Fuller ended a 15-year tenure at Telus in 2019 and is returning from a role with Silverlight Capital Partners. He is not long out of the Canadian telecoms sector, though, having been president of Rogers Wireless between 2021 and 2022.

Current Telus Business Solutions president Navin Arora is to become EVP and group president of its Global Platform business, which covers health, agriculture, consumer goods and digital services.

Arora is also to head up enterprise corporate strategy, along with Telus Global Ventures, corporate development and data centre planning.

Dodig described Arora as being given a “critical” position involving “driving value” from the various business units involved.

Current Telus Consumer Solutions EVP Zainul Mawji is to leave, ending a spell of more than 20-years with the company. Dodig said she played key roles in a fibre expansion project and providing products spanning its “residential, security, automation and health lines of business”.

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KDDI predicted a greater role for drones in disaster response after completing tests operating a craft connected through satellite rather than its terrestrial mobile network.

It noted tests conducted in May using SpaceX’s Starlink satellites advance the potential role for drones in disaster recovery by removing gaps in the reach of mobile networks from the operational equation.

KDDI stated the satellites were confirmed as a viable means of connecting remotely operated drones, boosting potential use cases for public and private sector organisations.

It expects search and rescue, environmental monitoring and infrastructure inspection to be among the use cases the expanded drone operations could deliver.

The operator worked with specialist division KDDI Smart Drone on the trial and stated the pair are committed to developing a set-up enabling access to remotely-controlled craft anywhere in Japan in under ten-minutes.

KDDI plans to further develop its remote drone operation capabilities by authenticating the best combination of network connectivity and refining the handoff between mobile and satellite networks.

It aims to create a reliable beyond-visual-line-of-site remote drone operation system which could be tailored to specific use cases and geographies.

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Vodafone Group continued to press European authorities for a fairer regulatory deal, this time arguing the forthcoming Digital Networks Act (DNA) could enshrine outdated rules which favour OTTs over traditional service providers.

The operator highlighted a host of requirements operators must meet which OTTs and digital platforms do not.

It highlighted emergency service connectivity as an example of the imbalance, explaining people expect the function to be available no matter the app they use.

Vodafone stated traditional operators are also held to higher account in terms of maintaining open and resilient internet access, despite an increased reliance on “cloud providers, content delivery networks and large platforms that sit outside equivalent oversight”.

It asserted growth in the amount of fraudulent activity which “originates or is amplified upstream, across digital platforms and online services”, noting this is not subject to the same requirements placed on operators to prevent it.

Vodafone noted telecom service providers “invest heavily” in “network-level controls” and “cooperation with authorities”.

Customer verification is another bone of contention, with “overlapping” systems which “often duplicate” checks conducted by digital platforms and payment service providers. Operators also face various quality of service, security and “dispute handling” regulations for their customers.

“This asymmetry is often dismissed as a sector complaint, but the impact is most clearly felt by consumers,” Vodafone argued.

Proposed fixes
Vodafone called for the DNA to include “an explicit functional-equivalent principle” to enable regulators to apply rules equally in areas where broadly the same service is being provided.

It argued there is a lack of reality in the DNA proposals, stating the “distinction” between communications services using a telephone number and those which do not “no longer maps neatly onto user experiences or market dynamics”.

Vodafone believes fraud and internet access rules must equally cover cloud platforms, content delivery systems and messaging services.

It argued levelling the playing field would promote innovation and give consumers greater confidence in digital services.

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