Apple added a US titanium supplier for the iPhone Duo, committing up to $100 million to Pennsylvania-based Perryman Company while expanding domestic production of camera technology for the iPhone 18 Pro.

As part of its American Manufacturing Program (AMP), Apple said today (20 October) the deal with Perryman is over the next three years for titanium used in its products, including the iPhone Duo, which starts at $1,999.

The announcement follows reports of tight supply for Apple’s first foldable. The phone is due in stores on 23 October, but online delivery estimates slipped to January 2027 within minutes of preorders opening on 16 October.

Apple stated Perryman will melt, forge, and roll grade 5 titanium, which it said will contain at least 80% recycled material. Titanium is used for the Duo’s enclosure, providing durability, according to the iPhone maker.

It is also expanding its partnership with Qnity Electronics, headquartered in the US state of Delaware, to produce technology for the new variable aperture in the iPhone 18 Pro camera system.

Apple said nearly 100 components used in the iPhone Duo and iPhone 18 Pro, from wireless chips to the silicon which powers key functions across the devices, are produced by US companies across more than a dozen states.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s (TSMC) Arizona plant will produce more than 100 million chips for Apple in 2026, while ​Corning’s Kentucky facility ​will make ⁠all cover glass for iPhones and Apple Watches sold worldwide by year end.

Apple also highlighted investments with other AMP partners, including Broadcom for US-made chips and Amkor Technology, which is building a semiconductor packaging and testing facility in Peoria, Arizona.

“We’re thrilled to expand our work with companies producing advanced materials and components for our newest iPhone lineup right here in America,” stated Apple COO Sabih Khan.

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For much of the last two decades, the digital divide has been viewed primarily as an infrastructure problem. The assumption was if networks were built, people would connect.

Across the developing Asia Pacific (APAC) region, the assumption no longer holds. A new study by GSMA Intelligence and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) reveals this stark reality.

Developing APAC is home to 4.3 billion people, more than half of the world’s population, and 71% of people use mobile internet, equivalent to 3.1 billion individuals.

However, 1.1 billion people live within reach of 4G networks but do not use them. By comparison, 100 million people remain outside mobile broadband coverage altogether.

The region’s connectivity gap is therefore no longer primarily about coverage. It is increasingly about enabling people to access and use mobile internet meaningfully, in a way which improves their lives.

The shift from coverage to usage is important because mobile connectivity has become far more than a communications service. As countries accelerate their digital transformation agendas, connectivity provides the foundation for digital public infrastructure, digital services, data-driven innovation and the adoption of AI across economies.

Countries seeking to become digital nations cannot do so if large segments of their populations remain disconnected from the internet economy.

What stops people from connecting?
The study shows the primary barriers to mobile internet adoption are device affordability, and digital skills and literacy.

For example, the average cost of an entry-level internet-enabled device in the region is more than 60% of the monthly income for the poorest 40% of the population, more than three-times higher than what is considered affordable.

Survey evidence also shows safety and security, particularly scams and fraud, are becoming increasingly significant concerns. This highlights the importance of trust as a broader enabler of digital adoption. As digital services become increasingly AI-enabled, it is also becoming more important to ensure these are accessible and relevant in local languages.

The barriers to adoption remain unevenly distributed. Women across developing APAC remain 12% less likely than men to use mobile internet, while rural populations are 25% less likely than urban populations to do so. These disparities are even wider in certain regions such as the Pacific Islands and South Asia.

These gaps are as much economic issues as they are social. Every individual left offline has limited access to services or opportunities for economic participation. Closing the mobile connectivity gap by 2030 is expected to add $230 billion to the developing APAC economy. And GDP is only part of the story. Universal connectivity would also accelerate progress on poverty reduction, education, healthcare access, financial inclusion, disaster response and environmental sustainability. For many people, particularly in remote regions, connectivity increasingly determines whether essential services and economic opportunities are within reach.

What needs to be done?
The study demonstrates there is a strong economic case for closing the digital divide, but doing so requires coordinated policy reform, investment and implementation.

Countries in developing APAC have made substantial progress to bring more than half a billion people online in the past five years. By 2030, it is expected more than three quarters of adults will be using 4G or 5G mobile internet. To connect the remaining offline populations will require a total investment of $316 billion. The private sector is expected to generate $132 billion of investment, which means there is an investment gap of $184 billion.

At first glance the figure appears daunting. However, the composition of the gap tells a more encouraging story.

More than half of the investment gap relates to improving device affordability and digital skills. In other words, the largest barriers are not engineering challenges but rather policy, financing and development challenges. This calls for holistic multi-stakeholder strategies which look beyond network rollout and address the conditions enabling people to adopt and meaningfully use digital services.

Historically, connectivity strategies and universal service funds have often focused on infrastructure expansion. While infrastructure remains important, particularly in underserved rural areas, a more balanced approach is needed to address affordability and adoption barriers directly. Supporting device financing schemes, reducing sector-specific taxes, reforming universal service funds and investing in digital literacy programmes will generate far greater returns than traditional approaches alone. Importantly, these policies also help crowd in private investment rather than replace it.

From connected to digital nations
Over the next decade, governments across developing Asia Pacific are increasingly expected to focus on AI, digital public infrastructure and national digital transformation strategies. These ambitions are well founded, but they all rest on a common foundation: affordable, safe, meaningful and inclusive connectivity.

Without universal access and adoption, the benefits of AI and digital transformation risk being concentrated among those already connected, further widening existing inequalities.

The good news is developing APAC has already solved much of the challenge. With 98% 4G network coverage, the region has built an extraordinary platform for digital inclusion. The task now is to ensure everyone can actually use it. The next phase of digital inclusion will, therefore, not be defined by network coverage alone. It will be shaped by affordability, skills, trust, accessibility and relevance. Closing these gaps may prove to be one of the most important development challenges and opportunities of the next decade.

The editorial views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and will not necessarily reflect the views of the GSMA, its Members or Associate Members.

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Chipmaker Qualcomm reportedly will cut an undetermined number of jobs following recent annual employee reviews, with impacted staff set to be alerted next month.

Reuters reported CEO ​Cristiano Amon (pictured) sent out a memo outlining the cuts were part of a plan to create “a stronger performance culture” and address areas where the company “has consistently fallen short of expectations”.

The news agency noted the memo did not disclose how many employees will lose their jobs but stated it had roughly 52,000 employees globally, most of them full time, as of September 2025.

While Amon has made a concerted effort to branch the company’s products beyond phone chips, Qualcomm has battled against the impact of a worldwide memory supply crunch.

For fiscal Q3, it posted revenue of $9.9 billion for the quarter ended 28 June, down 4% from $10.4 billion a year earlier while net income during the period was $2 billion, for a 25% year-on-year decrease.

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PHY Wireless and Ubiik teamed up to combine private LTE and 5G connectivity with device-based positioning, offering enterprise and industrial users a 3GPP standards-based alternative to proprietary location systems.

The collaboration combines Ubiik’s private LTE and 5G infrastructure with PHY Wireless’ hellaPHY technology, enabling enterprises, utilities, hospitals, and campuses to run communications and location services on a single network.

Potential applications include tracking assets, vehicles and equipment, improving worker safety and supporting physical AI deployments.

The companies explained GPS and Wi-Fi positioning can struggle in warehouses, containers and factories and may increase battery consumption. HellaPHY calculates location on the device rather than in the cloud, allowing devices to determine when an update is required.

This approach apparently reduces network traffic, data costs and power use, while enhancing privacy.

Because the system operates over standard LTE and 5G, customers could add positioning capabilities to existing private networks rather than deploy separate infrastructure, which the companies said would reduce deployment costs and simplify operations.

The pair also claimed the technology provides metre-level accuracy and can cut device power consumption by up to 10 times compared with alternative approaches. This aligns with emerging 5G-Advanced, eRedCap and 6G sensing standards.

PHY Wireless CEO Tom Horgan said organisations pursuing physical AI and automation require location technology that can scale across thousands of devices at a manageable cost. He stated location awareness is becoming a foundational capability for next-generation enterprise and industrial applications.

Ubiik CEO TH Peng added the collaboration demonstrated how the company could adapt its private LTE platform to incorporate new technology and support changing customer requirements.

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T-Mobile US is testing AI to allocate radio resources on its 5G-Advanced network, with Ericsson trial results showing the biggest gains during peak traffic.

The operator is trialling AI-Managed Beamforming on live commercial traffic at scale. Chief network officer Ankur Kapoor (pictured) outlined the results in a blog post. The work focuses on sounding reference signals (SRS), short transmissions from phones that help the network measure the path between a device and a cell site and direct beams more accurately.

Due to those resources being limited, they have traditionally been allocated under fixed rules. T-Mobile instead uses a supervised-learning model trained on its network data and running on Ericsson’s RAN compute and silicon to predict where demand is rising and redirect resources accordingly.

Kapoor explained training the model on T-Mobile’s data gives it an advantage on the operator’s network over networks which do not contribute their own tuning data.

The results came from newly activated sites in New York City, but the blog did not say how many were included or give a baseline for the trial.

T-Mobile reported the biggest gains during peak hours, including about a 50% increase in advanced beamforming using full-band SRS, a 16% improvement in downlink user throughput, 12% better spectral efficiency and a 10% increase in downlink data volume.

In May, the companies reported close to 10% better spectral efficiency from a separate AI-native scheduler with link adaptation on live traffic.

Kapoor said the technology suits T-Mobile’s network because beamforming works particularly well in TDD spectrum, where uplink and downlink share the same band, and the operator has a leading position in midband TDD.

He linked the trial to rising network demand, citing Ericsson’s June 2026 Mobility Report, which reported global mobile data traffic growth of 22% year-on-year. Video accounted for about 75% of traffic and 5G subscriptions topped 3.1 billion.

Jaco du Plooy, SVP and head of the T-Mobile customer unit at Ericsson Americas, stated the trial marked another step toward networks which respond more intelligently to demand, enabled by Ericsson’s silicon.

Kapoor said 6G networks will need to sense, learn and respond to support applications such as distributed AI, robotics, vision AI and other forms of physical AI, describing T-Mobile’s nationwide 5G-Advanced network as its proving ground.

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Veon agreed a deal to acquire Uzbekistan mobile operator Perfectum for around $207 million, in a move designed to boost its spectrum holdings and accelerate 5G deployment in the country.

The group stated it had reached an agreement to buy 100% of Rubicon Wireless, which operates under the Perfectum brand. The deal includes around $93 million in existing Perfectum debt. Completion is expected by the end of the month, with regulatory approvals already secured.

The acquisition brings fresh spectrum and network infrastructure into Veon’s regional telecoms business, Beeline Uzbekistan. Perfectum holds 115MHz of spectrum across the 850MHz and 3,800MHz bands, alongside network equipment and a standalone 5G network deployed using Nokia technology.

Veon said the acquisition would increase Beeline Uzbekistan’s spectrum holdings by around 50%, giving the operator additional resources to expand network capacity and support future 5G and fixed wireless access services.

The companies also anticipate expenditure savings and improved “efficiency of future network investment” from integrating Perfectum’s network with Beeline Uzbekistan’s existing infrastructure.

The deal adds to Veon’s investments in Uzbekistan, a market of nearly 40 million people where demand for connectivity and digital services is apparently booming. The group said the combined assets would enable broader access to broadband to support mounting demand for financial services, digital applications and sovereign AI across the country.

“Uzbekistan is one of Veon’s core growth markets, and this acquisition reflects our confidence in its digital future,” noted Veon group CEO Kaan Terzioglu, adding the company aims to turn the deal into “stronger customer experiences, more efficient network investment and sustainable growth”.

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Nokia agreed a deal with SoftBank Corp to conduct an AI-RAN field trial in commercial traffic conditions in 2027, progressing efforts to validate the technology.

The Finnish vendor stated the trial in Japan would be an important step in SoftBank’s AI-RAN ambitions by assessing the approach in a live network environment.

For Nokia, the trial also advances its AI-RAN commercialisation roadmap by shifting the technology from laboratory development to real-world deployment.

Nokia explained it will combine its AI-native anyRAN cloud RAN software on SoftBank’s core AI-RAN platform AITRAS, along with Nvidia’s ARC platform.

Through a combination of the platforms, Nokia stated AI-RAN would bring radio and AI workloads on to a common platform, helping operators “improve infrastructure utilisation, acceleration innovation and unlock new revenue opportunities”.

Nokia and SoftBank already have an AI-RAN deal in place, backed by an Nvidia accelerated computing node.

SoftBank SVP and CTO Ryuji Wakikawa said the trial is a significant milestone in the transition of AI-RAN from concept to execution.

“We are excited to begin this next phase of validation with Nokia, paving the way for a new era of networks that can deliver both connectivity and AI services.”

Pallavi Mahajan, chief technology and AI officer at Nokia, pointed to the potential for AI-RAN to “unlock new levels of spectral efficiency while providing the distributed intelligence needed to support physical AI”.

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Ericsson unveiled extended partnerships with Singtel and Telstra in two of several announcements made this week based on developing advanced network technologies and automation.

Its latest move with Singtel is a five-year pact based around advancing 5G capabilities in Singapore and accelerating adoption of AI-native applications, expanding a collaboration announced in March.

The vendor explained the latest deal establishes a longer roadmap on scaling 5G-Advanced and enabling new AI capabilities for industries.

On the latter, Singtel CEO Ng Tian Chong noted “as AI becomes more embedded in how we live and work, networks will need to support far more complex applications, from autonomous machines and real-time analytics to the AI tools people use every day”.

The Singtel agreement announced today (20 October) comes a day after Ericsson hosted the signing of a “trusted technology” declaration by officials at its headquarters during a Singaporean state visit to Sweden.

To coincide with the state visit, the vendor revealed researchers from Sweden’s Royal Institute of Technology and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore would be part of a 6G research group being co-ordinated by Ericsson.

The project is set to kick off next month to explore how new positioning technologies using AI and 6G can “catalyse safe, secure and reliable autonomous systems” with an eye to delivering applications in sectors including healthcare, transport, manufacturing, logistics and emergency services.

Telstra
Ericsson announced an extended collaboration with Telstra on autonomous networks, building on an agreement inked in October 2025.

The vendor noted initial work by the pair covered establishing a framework for exploring “business-driven use cases” while the next phase will focus on “the knowledge, trust and governance foundations needed to support the next stages of network autonomy”.

As part of this, the two will lead a working group with the aim of publishing outcomes and supporting “wider industry influence and adoption”.

Telstra chief architect Mark Sanders said “autonomous networks require more than the automation of individual tasks. They depend on a shared understanding of what the network is, what it is expected to do and how much confidence can be placed in the knowledge supporting each decision”.

“By working with Ericsson on common approaches to knowledge and trusted agency, we can help address these foundational challenges and contribute to the industry’s progress towards more interoperable and dependable network autonomy.”

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Telefonica demonstrated the military capabilities of its 5G infrastructure during an unmanned drone and vehicle exercise, one of the first moves it is making in a collaboration with Portuguese telecoms player NOS Comunicacoes.

The companies combined their 5G technologies during the Robotic Experimentation and Prototyping with Maritime Unmanned Systems demonstration. Telefonica stated the work proved the ability to provide fresh services and uses of the pair’s infrastructure.

Telefonica and NOS Comunicacoes formalised their partnership during the event with the signing of a memorandum of understanding covering joint development of future connectivity set-ups, secure communications and digital services.

Defence and security uses are foremost in the companies’ focus. NOS Comunicacoes board member Joao Ricardo Moreira said a changing security and defence “landscape requires digital infrastructure capable of operating in a coordinated manner across national borders”.

As such, network interoperability is one of the key areas the companies agreed to explore.

Also on the table is work involving edge computing, AI, 5G and fresh architectures. Telefonica stated there would also be a focus on how the technologies integrate with “command-and-control systems, autonomous platforms and other emerging technologies”.

It took the companies a year to hammer out the details of their collaboration.

Telefonica Espana director of defence and security Javier Lopez Gutierrez said the work holds the potential to boost European sovereignty and thanked the Spanish and Portuguese navies for providing the “operational environment” to test and evaluate the technologies involved.

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Globalstar secured US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval for its next-generation C-3 satellite system as Amazon prepares to acquire the company.

The FCC granted nationwide authority to operate the system, which is designed to connect hundreds of millions of mobile devices in the US, including through direct-to-device (D2D) links to smartphones. The order also covers ground station antennas in Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico.

The approval strengthens the regulatory position of an asset central to Amazon’s effort to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink for D2D services.

C-3 will comprise 48 low Earth orbit birds at an altitude of 1,414 kilometres, along with six in-orbit spares and about 90 six-metre ground antennas worldwide. MDA Space is building the satellites in Canada, while control centres in Toulouse, France and at Globalstar’s Louisiana headquarters will oversee operations. France filed the system’s notification with the ITU.

CEO Paul Jacobs described the approval as a key step in improving the capacity, performance and flexibility of Globalstar’s services. Regulatory affairs chief Barbee Ponder said it concluded a multi-year licensing process with the FCC’s Space Bureau.

In April, Amazon agreed to acquire the satellite company for $11.6 billion as part of a push to add D2D services to its Amazon Leo constellation. The deal is expected to close in 2027, subject to regulatory approval and Globalstar meeting specified satellite milestones.

In July, Amazon Leo applied to the FCC in July for permission to deploy up to 5,105 satellites for direct-to-device services.

As of October, Amazon communications manager Zack Brown said the company had 396 LEO satellites in orbit and had built more than 1,000 at its 172,000-square-foot production facility in Kirkland, Washington.

Apple is a long-term Globalstar partner and has invested more than $1 billion in the company. Globalstar’s existing fleet supports iPhone satellite features including emergency texting, messaging, roadside assistance and location sharing.

Amazon also signed a separate agreement to provide satellite connectivity for current and future iPhones and Apple Watches, and committed to maintaining those services.

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Long time Boingo Wireless executive Derek Peterson (pictured) revealed on LinkedIn he has joined AST SpaceMobile as CTO, Enterprise & Platforms while also leading the satellite player’s CIO and CSO functions.

Peterson was at Boingo Wireless for 15 years, most recently as CTO Emeritus and strategic advisor after serving as CTO, CIO, COO, CSO and CPO at the wireless company for over 14 years.

In his new role at AST, he will lead enterprise IT, platforms, infrastructure, corporate networks and cybersecurity, including the CIO and CSO functions, and building the US software team while driving Wi-Fi and OpenRoaming integration.

“Connecting a regular phone straight to a satellite is the piece that completes the convergence picture,” he stated on LinkedIn. “I’ve spent my career chasing seamless connectivity, and I’m excited to join an innovative team that’s building it from space

AST SpaceMobile previously projected 45 to 60 of its next-generation satellites would launch this year for its direct-to-device service but is now targeting having approximately 45 in orbit by early 2027.

The delay was revealed in a Securities and Exchange Commission regulatory filing tied to a $1 billion notes offering and followed a serious setback to one of its two main launch partners.

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PLD Space kept the focus on European satellite communication ambitions, revealing progress in developing its reusable launcher a matter of hours after major operators outlined plans involving spectrum access.

The Spanish rocket company is gearing up for a demonstration flight of its MIURA 5 reusable launcher with a trio of machines, two on which it tests systems and one on which validated technologies are installed.

PLD Space stated the approach should reap repeatability benefits when it comes time to manufacture its launcher vessels, along with enabling it to validate fresh features without interrupting scheduled operations.

It is progressing development of flight hardware, engines and mechanisms to lift rockets in to position on launchpads.

Its test units have been used to develop fairings and the company is also confident in its trajectory modelling.

PLD Space has a quartet of flight avionic systems ready and is keeping an eye on the ground infrastructure needed, which includes 17,000 square metres of manufacturing facilities along with ten test benches.

The company is also building a launch facility in French Guiana.

Co-founder and CEO Raul Torres said PLD Space must test “every element of the system” rigorously, making the three-vessel approach vital to the speed of development.

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The National Basketball Association (NBA), Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and AT&T revealed the launch of the fourth generation of the High-Speed Arena Network (HSAN), the latest iteration of the leagues’ connectivity platform built to transport live game content, highlights, replays, in-arena programming and stats to fans and business partners.

With more than 68,000 miles of the operator’s fibre and network infrastructure, the HSAN will be built to transport more than 118 concurrent, high-quality, low-latency streams per game, supporting millions of hours of basketball consumption during the 2027-28 NBA season.

AT&T chief marketing and growth officer Kellyn Smith Kenny stated fans consume basketball across live broadcasts, replays, highlights, social media and NBA digital platforms. She added the companies were building the connectivity needed to distribute game content quickly and reliably, helping viewers stay connected to key moments wherever they watch.

AT&T, the NBA and the WNBA also extended their longstanding marketing partnership, continuing the operator role as the leagues’ Official Connectivity Partner, building on a relationship which began in 2018. The extension also continues AT&T’s partnership with the NBA G League, USA Basketball and NBA Take-Two Media.

As part of the marketing partnership, AT&T and the NBA will create new fan touchpoints across content and retail activations and give them more opportunities to engage with NBA stars and AT&T athletes. The operator will also continue to connect fans with their favourite teams and players through its partnerships with the Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks, Miami Heat and LA Clippers.

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Elon Musk (pictured) revealed plans to give a SpaceX share to every child in the US next year, making the pledge a day after AI company Anthropic outlined plans to dedicate part of its equity to public benefit initiatives.

“Next year, I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America,” Musk posted on social media platform X, adding: “This will be the first of many.”

He provided no details on how the shares would be distributed or how the plan would be funded. According to Census Bureau data, around 73 million children live in the US. This would put the potential value of the giveaway at approximately $10.7 billion based on SpaceX’s closing share price of $146.03 on 16 October.

A regulatory filing made in August showed the billionaire held a 48.4% stake in SpaceX as of 30 June. The company went public earlier this year, raising $75 billion in a record-breaking IPO which briefly made the tech mogul the world’s first trillionaire.

Public Benefit Fund
Separately, Anthropic announced on Sunday (18 October) that it would commit 5% of its shares to a new Public Benefit Fund, with the potential for the allocation to grow as the company’s valuation increases.

The AI player stated the fund could receive an additional 2% of its shares for every 50% increase in its valuation above a baseline yet to be disclosed. Additional allocations would be made at the board’s discretion.

Anthropic stated the fund would give it “increased flexibility and scale” to pursue its mission, including “large donations to traditional non-profits or direct distributions to specific populations”.

One potential focus is AI-driven disruption to employment. The company stated that, although the technology could generate “enormous economic value”, it could “cause instability for many workers”. It has already committed $200 million to research and initiatives addressing the issue, “but given the pace of AI progress, bolder approaches may be needed”.

“The Fund will have the versatility to pursue them.”

Anthropic, which has confidentially filed for an IPO, stated further details on the fund’s governance and valuation thresholds would follow in the coming months.

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stc Group seized the initiative on AI-native networking, setting a target of employing the technology directly in its core infrastructure by 2030.

The operator believes placing the technology at the heart of its infrastructure is essential to keep pace with growing demand for AI services and the resulting changes to connectivity requirements.

stc detailed its ambitions and approach in a white paper released during the Network X event in Austria last week in which it argued AI is essential to handle the complexity of modern telecoms networks.

In a statement publicising the white paper, stc explained the evolution to 5G-Advanced is a principal driver of increased operational complexity. It also pointed to “AI-enabled calling and immersive communications” as factors necessitating the technology.

stc argued operators are set to become essential providers of connectivity as AI services take-off, stating agents and automated systems “need networks to coordinate communications and computing resources”.

It believes an AI-native network is essential in this regard because of the greater levels of automated decision making and resource allocation the technology should afford.

stc is also seeking to improve network maintenance and reliability.

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Interview: Seven months after its launch at MWC Barcelona 2026, the Linux Foundation’s OCUDU Ecosystem Foundation has added major technology companies and issued the second version of its open-source RAN software.

Dr Tom Rondeau (pictured below), principal director of the US Department of War’s FutureG programme, told Mobile World Live the initiative is working to a six month release cadence. The first release arrived in April, followed by the second version on 8 October.

OCUDU, short for Open Centralised Unit Distributed Unit, hosts open-source software for the RAN’s central and distributed units.

When the foundation launched, its members included AMD, AT&T, Ericsson, Nokia, Nvidia, SoftBank Corp and Verizon. FutureG and the US National Spectrum Consortium agreed to back it for three years with funds to be appropriated by Congress.

April release
Rondeau said the April release was mainly a rebuild. Software Radio Systems (SRS) re-architected its RAN code base, which dates back to the LTE-era, so a wider open-source community could work on it. He noted much of the cybersecurity benefit comes from making the code readable and clean.

“What that included though, aside from just good coding practices, was a basic 5G RAN that you could stand up,” he said. “A fundamental 5G with no bells and whistles necessarily but you could make a call across it, and you could have a data connection usually from standard 5G UEs”.

“That was important just as a proof of concept to get the basic bones of a 5G system out there and get people looking at the code and working with it,” he added.

It also included a significant number of interfaces based both on 3GPP and O-RAN Alliance specifications.

Rondeau said feedback on the first release has been positive, with developers describing the code as easy to use, fast and well documented. He added people have been “coming out of the woodwork” to say they have used OCUDU successfully.

October release
The latest version focuses on radio performance, led by beamforming and more advanced multi-antenna support. It also added work on non-public networks, resilience upgrades, bug fixes and support for more powerful phased-array radio units.

Rondeau said developers have repeatedly asked whether OCUDU can support non-terrestrial networks (NTN). The October release incorporated the 3GPP’s Release 17 NTN specification, drawing on SRS’ experience in the area and giving developers a platform for exploring space-based communications.

Membership growth
Samsung joined as a premier member in April, followed by Qualcomm in May and Intel in August, taking the group to 12 premier members and 34 general ones.

The premier members sit on the governing board and help drive the roadmap. Day-to-day, though, most of the companies still build their own features or are integrating OCUDU with their own products or stacks.

Genuine collaborative development, Rondeau said, is “a cultural thing that needs to be continuously worked on”. He stated the Linux Foundation had told his department OCUDU was its third-fastest-growing project.

Roadmap
Rondeau said the organisation is striving for at “least one real champion” to say it has integrated OCUDU into its products and can use it in commercial release.

“A year from now may be a little bit early,” he acknowledged. Integration in prototypes or test facilities would count, and he has heard “good rumours” about companies moving aggressively on their own.

A separate contract with Cohere Technologies, awarded by Rondeau’s office, offers another test. The goal is to use OCUDU to set up a call over the standard 5G NR waveform, then negotiate a switch to another waveform for the data plane.

In Cohere’s case that is Zac-Orthogonal Time Frequency and Space (OTFS), which lets the department test sensing and communications together. It will be built around an OCUDU-based RAN stack, which Rondeau called a major proof of concept for Cohere and for OCUDU as the core software of a working RAN.

That contract runs for two years, with completion expected around the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and intermediate deliverables along the way. It will not be public in the way OCUDU is but Cohere has committed to releasing the interfaces back into the project.

The work also feeds into integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) which Rondeau sees as one leg of 6G alongside connectivity and edge AI compute.

Rondeau said sensing is critical to the US Department of War because it could close capability gaps and reduce the number of specialised sensors it needs to carry or deploy.

He added the US must compete with authoritarian adversaries which may take different approaches to how ISAC standards and technologies govern data management, security, processing and access.

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The European Commission (EC) flagged concerns KKR may have provided incorrect or misleading information during its investigation into a deal for Telecom Italia’s (TIM) fixed network assets led by the company in 2024.

In a Statement of Objections document, the regulator cited concerns about responses submitted by the investment company on wholesale access agreements.

The EC explained following a probe into the issue sparked by complaints from operators it holds the preliminary view KKR “at least negligently, submitted incorrect and/or misleading information on the terms of its existing long-term agreements”.

Its accusation centres on a claim terms in existing contracts would continue to apply post-acquisition, since they could only be changed in agreement with third-party operators.  

This policy being in place, it believed, would ensure “KKR will not be able to deteriorate the conditions for wholesale access or terminate such access”, the regulator added.

EC asserted information on this issue was key in its assessment of the proposed deal at the time.

However, following the buyout the regulator received complaints from third-party operators claiming the wholesale provider, FiberCop, had increased the price.

EC EVP for clean, just and competitive transition Teresa Ribera said: “Effective merger control depends on companies providing the commission with correct information.”

She continued: “KKR appears to have provided incorrect or misleading information about whether it would keep its existing long-term access agreements under the same terms unless mutually agreed otherwise with the third-party operators. Our evidence suggests that, after the merger, KKR may have raised prices for existing wholesale broadband customers, in some cases significantly.”

A KKR spokesperson told Mobile World Live it “strongly disagrees with the European Commission’s preliminary assessment. We stand by the accuracy of the information provided during the commission’s 2024 review”.

“We will vigorously challenge these preliminary allegations in our response to the Statement of Objections, while continuing to engage constructively with the commission. The Statement of Objections is not a final finding of infringement, and the commission’s existing clearance of the transaction remains valid.”

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La directrice financière d’OpenAI, Sarah Friar, aurait averti que les entreprises utilisant des modèles d’IA chinois à bas coût s’exposeraient à des risques de cybersécurité – tout en assurant que les alternatives occidentales offrent une meilleure protection.

Interviewée par Bloomberg dans le cadre de l’International AI Summit à Dublin, Sarah Friar a invité les entreprises qui envisagent d’adopter des modèles chinois à évaluer les risques en matière de sûreté et de sécurité.

OpenAI et son rival Anthropic font face à une concurrence croissante des modèles d’IA à poids ouverts, en particulier ceux développés en Chine. Les utilisateurs peuvent les télécharger et les exécuter sur leur propre matériel, souvent à moindre coût que les principales alternatives américaines, avec des performances comparables sur certaines tâches.

Bloomberg note que les modèles chinois ont représenté la plus grande part des téléchargements de modèles d’IA générative sur la plateforme d’hébergement Hugging Face en août.

De leur côté, OpenAI et Anthropic proposent principalement des modèles fermés, qui ne peuvent être ni téléchargés ni modifiés. Les deux entreprises soutiennent que les alternatives ouvertes présentent des risques plus importants.

Guillaume Princen, responsable de l’international chez Anthropic, a fait part d’inquiétudes similaires à propos des modèles à poids ouverts lors de l’événement.

« Je ne peux pas me prononcer sur les modèles ouverts, a-t-il admis. Mais, par définition, ils comportent davantage de risques. »

Ces propos font suite à plusieurs cas de comportement inattendu de la part de systèmes d’IA avancés lors de tests de cybersécurité.

En juillet, OpenAI a révélé que ses modèles avaient pénétré dans des systèmes exploités par la start-up d’IA Hugging Face lors d’une évaluation de cybersécurité autorisée.

Anthropic a elle aussi révélé des exemples de comportements déviants de ses modèles, dont celui d’un modèle Claude ayant transmis un faux signalement dans le cadre d’une enquête pour homicide, rapporte Bloomberg.

Sarah Friar a néanmoins mis en garde les entreprises américaines d’IA contre un ralentissement de leurs lancements.

« Je pense qu’il faut doser le rythme, mais sans le ralentir au point de créer un déséquilibre dans l’accès aux outils qui peuvent, sur le plan cyber, engendrer de véritables problèmes critiques dans le monde », a-t-elle affirmé.

Sachin Katti sur le départ

Sachin Katti, responsable des infrastructures d’OpenAI, a indiqué par ailleurs le 14 octobre sur LinkedIn qu’il prévoyait de quitter ses fonctions le 15 novembre, tout en continuant d’accompagner l’entreprise comme conseiller.

« Après une année incroyable chez OpenAI, j’ai décidé de passer à autre chose pour construire quelque chose de nouveau », a-t-il expliqué.

Avant de rejoindre OpenAI en novembre 2025, il a occupé plusieurs postes technologiques chez Intel, dont celui de Chief Technology and AI Officer.

CNBC rapporte qu’Uday Ruddarraju, jusqu’ici directeur technique chargé du calcul chez OpenAI, le remplacera et dirigera l’ensemble de l’organisation dédiée au calcul de l’entreprise.

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Les derniers chiffres d’IDC montrent que le marché mondial des smartphones a connu au troisième trimestre 2026 la plus forte baisse annuelle jamais enregistrée. Avec 255,3 millions d’unités, les livraisons sont en baisse de 22 %, effet de la crise persistante de la mémoire, alimentée par l’IA.

Pour Nabila Popal, directrice de recherche senior chez IDC, le net repli que le secteur redoutait s’est « enfin concrétisé » – et le pire reste à venir : « les indicateurs actuels laissent penser que le marché n’a pas encore touché le fond. Les coûts de la mémoire ont bondi d’environ 350 % depuis l’an dernier et continuent d’augmenter, ce qui exerce une forte pression sur les marges des constructeurs et sur les livraisons ».

Elle ajoute que, si l’inflation sur la mémoire commence à ralentir, « les coûts restent élevés pour d’autres composants essentiels, ce qui aggrave la crise ».

Dans ce contexte, la croissance du marché devrait rester limitée jusqu’en 2027, toute reprise éventuelle étant repoussée à 2028 au plus tôt.

Le classement des constructeurs reste proche de celui du trimestre précédent. Samsung et Apple continuent de gagner des parts de marché, atteignant respectivement 22,6 % et 22,4 %, même si les livraisons trimestrielles des deux groupes ont reculé.

Pour compléter le top 5, Xiaomi, Vivo et Oppo ont tous enregistré une baisse à deux chiffres de leur part de marché.

Kiranjeet Kaur, directrice de recherche associée pour les appareils au niveau mondial chez IDC, note cependant que, malgré des ventes atones, certains constructeurs ont relevé leurs plans de production en prévision d’un durcissement de l’approvisionnement en composants l’an prochain.

« Si la demande reste faible, cela pourrait entraîner une accumulation de stocks à l’approche de 2027, ce qui ferait peser un risque baissier supplémentaire sur notre prévision pour 2027 », explique-t-elle.

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Microsoft reportedly withdrew from a deal to lease computing capacity at AI infrastructure player Nscale’s planned data centre in the UK due to delays related to power supply, adding to mounting concerns around the status of the country’s AI projects.

According to The Telegraph, the US technology giant pulled the plug on the mooted data centre to be constructed in Loughton, Essex, which was originally expected to receive a grid connection by the end of 2026.

However, it now faces a wait until the following decade for supply.

“Our relationship with Microsoft remains strong and long-term, and this unfortunate London-wide grid issue has no impact on our other contracts,” an Nscale spokesperson told Reuters. The pair are still collaborating across other projects, including developments in Norway, Portugal and the US.

The company reportedly added it remained “committed to both the Loughton project and the UK” and was exploring alternative power sources.

Announced last year, the Loughton development was backed by a £2.5 billion investment commitment from Nscale and formed part of a wider UK push to attract AI infrastructure spending. Microsoft had planned to lease the site’s entire 50MW capacity and deploy an AI supercomputer equipped with around 23,000 Nvidia GB300 chips.

The setback revives questions about the delivery of the UK’s headline AI investment pledges. A Guardian investigation in March raised concerns over the status of major announced projects, including the Loughton site, which was still being used as a scaffolding yard when visited by reporters in February. Nscale subsequently said it had purchased the site in September 2025 and was targeting delivery in 2027.

Power availability remains a wider constraint for UK data centre development, as growing demand from AI workloads puts pressure on grid infrastructure.

Nscale, which is backed by Nvidia, filed for a US IPO last month and raised $3.4 billion in pre-IPO financing. The UK-based company named Microsoft and Anthropic as expected major customers in its prospectus.

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