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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