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  • Amazon Leo Partners with Uztelecom to Expand Satellite Internet in Uzbekistan

    Amazon Leo Partners with Uztelecom to Expand Satellite Internet in Uzbekistan

    Amazon Leo has partnered with Uzbekistan’s Uztelecom to expand satellite internet connectivity to remote and hard-to-reach areas of the country later this year.

    Under the agreement, Uztelecom subsidiary UZ-SAT will serve as an authorized distributor, using Amazon Leo’s satellite constellation to deliver broadband where deploying terrestrial infrastructure is difficult or costly.

    Tapping satellite capacity for hard terrain

    Uztelecom currently provides connectivity to 96 percent of communities in Uzbekistan, operating more than 378,000 kilometers of fiber-optic infrastructure and serving more than 13 million users.

    Low Earth orbit satellites connect to ground gateway antennas and private terrestrial fiber to run the network. Hardware comes in three tiers: the compact Leo Nano, the standard Leo Pro, and the high-throughput Leo Ultra.

    Fleet deployment and rollout schedule

    Crews have put nearly 400 satellites into orbit toward a planned constellation exceeding 3,000 spacecraft. The network operates under private preview testing with internal staff and select enterprise clients before initial commercial activations begin in selected territories later this year.

    Working with Amazon Leo will enable us to expand connectivity options in areas where the deployment of traditional terrestrial infrastructure is limited

    Bakhrom Azimov, general director of UZ-SAT, confirmed the arrangement.

    Central Asian network competition

    For regional telecoms, integrating non-terrestrial networks removes the heavy capital expenditure required to lay long-haul fiber across sparsely populated territory. Partnering with state-backed incumbents also prevents friction with regional regulators and state monopolies.

    Hardware affordability and bandwidth allocation present the main commercial risks. Satellite terminal pricing and subscription fees often exceed local wireline rates. UZ-SAT will target enterprise logistics, mining sites, and public sector outposts to recoup deployment costs.

    Digital transformation timeline

    Officials signed the agreement in Tashkent during the 5th Tashkent International Investment Forum on the opening day of ICT Week Uzbekistan 2026. Securing foreign network infrastructure investments remains a government priority to expand the domestic digital economy.

    Amazon Leo is preparing to accelerate satellite manufacturing and launch operations to double its annual mission cadence. Initial regional commercial activations will begin before the end of 2026.

  • StarHub and Keppel Open Talks over M1 to Shrink Singapore Telco Market

    StarHub and Keppel Open Talks over M1 to Shrink Singapore Telco Market

    StarHub and Keppel confirmed on Sept 23 that they are in active discussions over a potential transaction involving mobile network operator M1 in Singapore. If completed, the deal will reduce the city-state’s mobile network operators from four to three, subject to approval from the Infocomm Media Development Authority.

    Keppel holds a majority stake in M1 and stated in bourse filings that consolidation is necessary for Singapore’s mobile sector. Shares in StarHub climbed to a peak of 1.15 Singapore dollars on Sept 24 before finishing the week at 1.12 Singapore dollars, while Keppel shares peaked at 11.45 Singapore dollars before closing at 11.30 Singapore dollars on Sept 25.

    Consolidation talks after failed Simba bid

    M1 returned to the negotiating table after an earlier 1.4 billion Singapore dollar takeover attempt by Simba Telecom collapsed in May. The telecom regulator suspended its review of that transaction after discovering Simba had used radio frequency bands outside authorised parameters to deliver mobile services.

    Simba, owned by Australian-listed Tuas, confirmed the breach on Sept 23 during an investor call. Company secretary Tony Moffatt stated that the operator used spectrum outside the conditions set by the regulator, effectively ending its pursuit of M1 and opening room for StarHub to step in.

    Market share pressure and network costs

    Singapore’s mobile market remains one of the most crowded in Southeast Asia relative to population size, putting persistent pressure on average revenue per user. Combining StarHub and M1 would consolidate subscriber bases, eliminate duplicate 5G capital expenditure, and leave Singtel and Simba as the remaining standalone mobile competitors.

    Carriers across the region face similar rationalisation pressures as high infrastructure spending collides with mature consumer adoption. The primary hurdle for any StarHub and M1 combination will rest with competition regulators, who must weigh lower industry overhead against diminished price competition for retail mobile contracts.

    Executive buying steadies Grab after Atome deal

    Tech and consumer platforms in the city also saw major capital moves during the week. Grab chief executive Anthony Tan purchased roughly 30 million US dollars in company shares, while president Alex Hungate bought about 867,000 US dollars in stock on Sept 21 following a sharp sell-off.

    Grab stock had dropped to a three-year low of 2.74 US dollars on Sept 18 after the company unveiled a 1.49 billion US dollar acquisition of a 60 per cent stake in buy-now-pay-later specialist Atome Financial. The transaction includes terms to acquire the remaining 40 per cent around the third quarter of 2027, which could value Atome at up to 4.5 billion US dollars. The executive purchases helped lift Grab shares 10.6 per cent across the week to close at 3.13 US dollars on Sept 25.

    Stricter corporate disclosures set for 2027

    Corporate governance requirements across Singapore’s capital markets will tighten under new rules announced by the Singapore Exchange Regulation on Sept 23. Starting Jan 1, 2027, all listed issuers must publish dedicated investor relations policies detailing direct investor communication channels.

    Annual reports will also require clear explanations of the specific factors determining executive director and chief executive pay, along with explicit statements on dividend policies. Companies that elect not to pay dividends will have to disclose their formal reasons for withholding distributions to shareholders.

    The benchmark Straits Times Index ended Sept 25 at 5,711.12, supported by gains across the local banking sector. Attention in the telecom sector now shifts to formal structure filings from StarHub and Keppel, alongside the regulator’s response to the proposed combination.

  • KDDI and SpaceX Partner to Bring Starlink Mobile V2 Direct to Japanese Smartphones in 2027

    KDDI and SpaceX Partner to Bring Starlink Mobile V2 Direct to Japanese Smartphones in 2027

    KDDI has signed an agreement with SpaceX to deliver direct-to-device satellite broadband and voice calls across Japan starting in 2027. The service will tap satellites with 20 times the throughput of older orbital hardware.

    The deal expands KDDI’s mobile brand, au, beyond ground towers. It routes standard smartphone traffic directly through SpaceX’s Starlink Mobile V2 constellation.

    How direct satellite connections work on au phones

    Compatible smartphones connect directly to low Earth orbit satellites when users travel outside cellular base station range. Customers need no specialized handsets, external antennas, or hardware adapters. KDDI signed the agreement on 10 August and disclosed commercial terms on 15 September. SpaceX confirmed the rollout schedule on 17 September.

    Technical specifications released by KDDI show the V2 satellites carry larger phased-array antennas. Each spacecraft provides roughly 20 times the individual throughput of first-generation units. SpaceX will also deploy more spot beams per spacecraft, multiplying data density by roughly 100 times over targeted areas. This capacity supports native Voice over LTE (VoLTE) calling, video streaming, and web browsing from orbit.

    Closing the coverage gaps on islands and mountains

    Japanese mobile carriers currently reach more than 99.9 percent of the population through ground infrastructure. Geographic coverage maps still leave wide blanks across national parks, steep mountain ranges, and outlying archipelagos. In those regions, building fiber backhaul and physical towers is structurally impossible or prohibitively expensive.

    For consumer brands, outdoor logistics operators, and regional transport networks, direct satellite data removes operational dead zones. Delivery fleets on rural mountain passes gain uninterrupted tracking. Travelers on maritime routes keep voice and emergency connectivity without switching SIM cards or buying specialized satellite terminals.

    The race for orbital cellular partnerships

    Rivalries in direct-to-cell services are accelerating across Asia-Pacific and North America as network operators hunt for coverage advantages. AST SpaceMobile is building a competing orbital network to beam 4G and 5G broadband directly to standard devices, backed by United States carriers AT&T and Verizon. Mobile carriers now treat satellite capacity as a core subscription layer rather than an emergency backup.

    Regulatory approvals remain the primary hurdle before commercial launch. Direct-to-device services operate across shared mobile spectrum bands and satellite frequencies. Regulators must grant spectrum rights, interference clearances, and satellite licenses before carriers can activate voice and broadband on retail devices.

    From text alerts to full broadband voice

    The 2027 deployment builds directly on KDDI’s initial trial, au Starlink Direct, which went live in April 2025. That early system supported only low-bandwidth short messaging and selected text-based apps outside terrestrial cell footprints.

    SpaceX must now maintain its launch pace for the larger V2 spacecraft as Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications reviews local spectrum authorization ahead of the planned 2027 consumer rollout.

  • Digital Realty and BW Digital to Build 1.6 Pb/s Subsea Cable Linking Singapore and Batam

    Digital Realty and BW Digital to Build 1.6 Pb/s Subsea Cable Linking Singapore and Batam

    Digital Realty executives outlined plans this week to expand distributed digital infrastructure across the Asia-Pacific region, connecting core hubs in Singapore with growing capacity markets in Indonesia and Malaysia.

    Developed with BW Digital, the Nongsa-Changi Cable System will deliver more than 1.6 petabits per second of capacity. The line connects Singapore’s SIN12 data center directly to Batam’s NDP1 facility with a targeted latency of less than two milliseconds.

    Digital Realty’s Wilfried Dudink and Govind Choudhary noted that subsea connectivity is becoming integral to artificial intelligence deployments as operators split localized inference from large model training across regional hubs.

    Splitting Training From Inference

    Workload requirements have split sharply over the past two years. Training foundational models demands contiguous megawatts of power and heavy cooling capacity. That creates bottlenecks in land-constrained cities. Inference tasks, by contrast, must sit beside enterprise users and sovereign data stores to prevent latency.

    New software frameworks like Nvidia NeMo support model training across physically separated sites. This turns subsea optical lines into direct extensions of internal data center architecture. Digital Realty is adding fiber density to feed these distributed pipelines. Its KUL10 facility in Malaysia now hosts over 6,000 cores of long-haul and regional fiber.

    As capacity develops across Southeast Asia, we increasingly see Singapore serving as a connectivity and governance hub for the region, hosting latency-sensitive and sovereign workloads in the city-state while neighboring markets provide greater capacity for larger compute and AI need.

    Subsea Links Shift Border Economics

    Landing agreements and cross-border latency targets are reshaping industrial land values. Johor in southern Malaysia and Indonesia’s Riau Islands have absorbed billions of dollars in campus commitments. Hyperscalers want cheaper land and faster utility approvals. Still, isolated compute parks face severe limits without low-latency ties back to Singapore.

    Enterprise buyers and regional logistics groups now face altered vendor choices. Companies building automation tools cannot rely on distant data centers without lag. Sub-two-millisecond links to Batam and multi-fiber routes to Kuala Lumpur solve this problem. Tenants can maintain compliance within national borders while tapping shared regional models.

    Operational risk now clusters along busy maritime corridors. Routes through the Malacca Strait and Singapore Strait face dense ship traffic. Cable armoring, diverse routing, and rapid repair access have become critical commercial factors for operators promising uptime.

    Enterprise Constraints Across APAC

    Urgency is mounting as corporate IT budgets shift from pilot trials to production systems. Operators must supply liquid-cooled racks for high-density hardware. Older raised-floor sites cannot handle these power draws.

    Digital Realty survey data covering 2,131 global technology leaders shows 40 per cent view physical infrastructure shortages as their primary roadblock, up from nine per cent in 2024. The study found 88 per cent of organizations run distributed architectures. Meanwhile, 86 per cent pursue sovereign data deployments to meet local regulations.

    Spending plans reflect that push. Enterprise respondents forecast an average 32 per cent jump in artificial intelligence budgets over the next twelve months. Fully 79 per cent plan live deployments before late 2026. Nearly two-thirds expect measurable returns on compute investments within six to 24 months.

    Next Deployments and Power Demands

    Network builds outside Asia follow a similar blueprint. In Turkey, a joint venture with Ronesans Infrastructure will deliver a 22-megawatt carrier-neutral campus in Ankara by 2028. Planned expansions in Istanbul will link Mediterranean traffic with Asian routing tables.

    Across Asia, expansions are underway in India, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and Australia. Engineering teams are retrofitting existing halls and designing greenfield facilities. These sites accommodate direct-to-chip liquid cooling alongside high-airflow layouts for dense racks.

    Delivery timelines on the Nongsa-Changi cable route and power hookups at satellite sites present the next hurdles. Corporate IT teams are shifting over half of their private compute workloads into dedicated cloud environments. Handover dates across 2026 and 2027 will decide which regional hubs secure those incoming workloads.

  • Autonomous Robots Deploy Across Asia to Monitor 19,200-Km Cable Routes

    Autonomous Robots Deploy Across Asia to Monitor 19,200-Km Cable Routes

    Subsea cable operators across Asia-Pacific are turning this week to resident autonomous robots and long-range underwater vehicles from firms including Kongsberg, Greensea IQ, and Nauticus Robotics to monitor thousands of kilometres of critical digital infrastructure. Conventional vessel inspections are giving way to seabed-docked machines capable of operating for 15 days continuously at depths reaching 6,000 metres.

    The shift targets vast communication arteries across the region, including the 19,200-kilometre SEA-ME-WE 6 cable connecting Southeast Asia to Western Europe with a design capacity of 126 terabits per second. Maintaining continuous surveillance over links of that scale has made traditional ship-based inspection crews prohibitively slow and expensive for regional network consortia.

    Permanent Docking and Local Processing

    Under the emerging operating model, robotic units remain stationed on the ocean floor inside dedicated docking cradles rather than deploying from surface support craft. These resident units recharge batteries, offload telemetry, and receive updated mission routes directly through subsea connection points before returning to patrol nearby cable landing corridors.

    Edge computing systems on board the vehicles process acoustic readings, sonar scans, and high-resolution optical imagery locally instead of streaming raw files to land. The robots compare real-time seafloor scans against recorded baselines, flagging unburied cables, anchor dragging risks, or seabed displacement before transmitting targeted alerts to network operating centers.

    Hardware manufacturers are scaling the range of these autonomous platforms to meet commercial requirements. Kongsberg has deployed its HUGIN Endurance platform, which covers up to 2,200 kilometres on a single 15-day mission without surface vessel guidance. Meanwhile, the Eelume system, built in partnership with Kongsberg Maritime and Equinor, uses permanent subsea docking stations to conduct continuous structural intervention and inspection tasks.

    Expanding Reach Across Southeast Asian Waters

    Deployment activity is concentrating in shallow straits and dynamic coastal waters where commercial ship traffic poses constant hazards to subsea infrastructure. Greensea IQ has partnered with regional marine service firms to deploy rugged seabed crawlers across nearshore zones and surf corridors in Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

    Nauticus Robotics has expanded operations in Asia-Pacific to pitch tetherless, autonomous inspection vehicles directly to offshore energy and telecommunications operators. Their systems target lower operating expenditures and lower carbon footprints by cutting reliance on diesel-burning surface vessels during routine surveys.

    China operates the largest deep-sea robotics program in the region, running autonomous vehicles through national research institutes for pipeline verification, marine surveying, and mineral exploration at extreme depths. Those state-backed platforms provide domestic network operators with specialized survey fleets capable of mapping difficult deepwater trenches across East Asia.

    Operating Risks and Capital Demands

    For telecoms consortia and cloud infrastructure providers, relying on permanent subsea robotics removes the scheduling bottlenecks of chartering specialized inspection ships. Vessels often take weeks to mobilise after an outage, leaving high-capacity data routes exposed to prolonged downtime while repair teams locate damage manually.

    The financial risk lies in the high capital cost of seabed docking stations and autonomous fleets before operational reliability is proven across multi-year deployments. Saltwater corrosion, power delivery failures at docking nodes, and navigation drift in turbid coastal channels can strand expensive autonomous assets on the seabed, requiring emergency recovery missions that erase projected operational savings.

    Regulatory ambiguity across contested waters also creates immediate hurdles for automated underwater vehicles. Operating autonomous survey craft across overlapping maritime boundaries in Southeast Asia raises sovereignty and permitting questions, particularly when robotic patrols approach foreign exclusive economic zones or dual-use subsea landing sites.

    Deepwater Capacity and Next Deployments

    Regional network groups had previously managed subsea maintenance almost entirely through episodic ROV charters arranged through regional marine maintenance agreements. Rising demand for real-time cloud connectivity and artificial intelligence data processing has pushed infrastructure managers to treat seabed surveillance as an active, continuous operation rather than an ad hoc repair task.

    That pressure is accelerating as new regional links enter construction, including the 8,000-kilometre XLSMART cable system connecting Southeast Asia directly to Japan. Consortia backing these high-capacity routes are structuring long-term maintenance budgets around autonomous robotic coverage to safeguard data flows across critical maritime choke points.

  • Goodman Group Raises $455 Million for Hong Kong Data Centre Partnership

    Goodman Group Raises $455 Million for Hong Kong Data Centre Partnership

    Goodman Group has raised $455 million in equity for its Hong Kong data centre partnership, with most of the proceeds earmarked to fit out a 50-megawatt facility in Tsuen Wan.

    Existing and new institutional investors backed the fundraising for the $2.7 billion vehicle, the Sydney-based industrial developer announced on Tuesday. The capital will primarily fund mechanical and electrical works at HKG10, which Goodman will operate.

    Funding the Texaco Road Conversion

    Work will focus on mechanical and electrical fit-outs at HKG10, an industrial conversion project at 128 Texaco Road. The facility will provide 32 megawatts of IT capacity backed by 50 megawatts of secured primary power.

    Initial capacity is scheduled to enter service in early 2028. That is later than earlier company projections targeting mid-2026. Goodman will operate the completed site directly.

    Retaining the existing warehouse avoids demolition emissions while cutting raw concrete and steel use during conversion, according to the developer.

    Institutional Capital and Regional Scale

    The transaction tests global pension appetite for Asia-Pacific digital infrastructure as conventional office and logistics yields face pressure. Goodman holds a 20 per cent cornerstone position in the venture alongside Dutch pension managers PGGM and APG, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, CBRE Investment Management and an unnamed Middle Eastern institutional investor.

    By securing committed capital before commissioning equipment, the partnership limits balance sheet exposure to regional fit-out and engineering costs. The main execution risk now shifts to procurement timing and grid delivery milestones in Hong Kong’s crowded industrial corridors.

    Industrial Shift Toward Power Assets

    That partnership launched in July 2025 with an initial seed portfolio of six properties across 2.3 million square feet and 325 megawatts of planned capacity. Four stabilised facilities at Goodman’s Tsuen Wan West campus accounted for 225 megawatts, with HKG10 and a second conversion making up the rest.

    Data centres now represent 78 per cent of Goodman’s global development work in progress, totaling A$15.4 billion out of A$19.7 billion recorded at the end of June. Operating profit for the financial year rose 15.7 per cent to A$2.7 billion.

    The Next Pipeline Deliveries

    In July, the group started construction on HKG09, a 50-megawatt conversion in Kwai Chung pre-leased to an unnamed Singapore-based data centre operator. Completion is slated for 2029.

    Outside Hong Kong, Goodman secured a 20-year hyperscale lease for the 50-megawatt opening phase of its Tsukuba Tech Central campus in Greater Tokyo, with commercial service starting in early 2028. Power grid sign-offs are next for the developer’s 135-megawatt Project Apollo in Sydney, which carries a development value of A$1.4 billion.

  • Japan Four Big Telcos Form 5G Millimeter-Wave Sharing Pact

    Japan Four Big Telcos Form 5G Millimeter-Wave Sharing Pact

    Japan’s four nationwide mobile operators signed an agreement on September 21 to jointly study sharing 28GHz millimeter-wave 5G base stations and network architectures.

    The pact brings together KDDI, NTT Docomo, SoftBank and Rakuten Mobile. Together, their networks serve more than 200 million cellular subscriptions.

    Sharing high-band physical infrastructure

    Signals at 28GHz deliver ultra-high speeds and heavy throughput. However, the radio waves travel short distances and cannot penetrate concrete walls, glass or foliage. Covering a single commercial district requires hundreds of small cells and repeaters. That multiplies site acquisition costs and power bills for each carrier.

    Under the memorandum of understanding, the four operators will examine technical frameworks to share base station equipment, repeaters and related transmission assets. Each carrier will continue independent commercial rollouts. A joint working group will test how traffic from rival subscriber bases can run across shared physical nodes without degrading data security or individual network performance.

    The cost math behind 28GHz networks

    High-frequency spectrum rollouts have stalled worldwide because capital expenditure per square kilometer outpaces consumer revenue gains. Worldwide mmWave 5G spending is projected to climb from 3.84 billion dollars in 2025 to 4.42 billion dollars in 2026. Even so, individual operators face severe balance-sheet pressure when building proprietary high-band grids.

    By sharing cell sites and repeaters in dense retail quarters, transit hubs and stadiums, Japanese operators aim to cut duplicate capital outlays. Mall operators, transport hubs and enterprise landlords also gain. A unified model eliminates the need to host four separate sets of antennas and power feeds on roofs and interior walls.

    Shifting carrier spending to shared utilities

    This alliance shifts carrier dynamics across Japan. Rather than competing purely on antenna counts, the operators are treating high-frequency physical layer equipment as a common utility. Core networks and retail pricing plans will remain distinct.

    Operational risk sits in maintenance allocation and capacity bottlenecks during localized peak events. If one carrier’s subscribers crowd a shared node during an urban festival or sporting fixture, the system must arbitrate spectrum access without triggering regulatory complaints over fair competition.

    Earlier trials and global deployment lines

    Collaborative network trials have gained ground across international markets as carriers confront sub-6GHz spectrum exhaustion. Global equipment vendors and tier-one operators launched initial commercial mmWave clusters in early 2023. Enterprise fixed wireless access deployments then expanded into industrial parks and logistics hubs through 2024 and 2025.

    Japanese carriers previously tested private 5G and standalone 28GHz cells in manufacturing facilities and isolated transit pilots. Despite those trials, commercial handset connections rarely lock onto millimeter-wave signals outside select train platforms and flagship retail venues.

    Technical evaluations under the new memorandum will run over the coming quarters. Teams will focus on multi-operator core network integration and shared repeater specifications ahead of targeted commercial joint-site deployments.

  • Vodafone Idea Signs 25-Year Mumbai Metro Line 3 Network Deal with ACES India

    Vodafone Idea Signs 25-Year Mumbai Metro Line 3 Network Deal with ACES India

    Vodafone Idea has joined ACES India’s shared digital infrastructure network on Mumbai Metro Line 3 under a 25-year agreement. The deal secures dedicated mobile connectivity across the underground corridor.

    Under the pact, the carrier gains access to the multi-operator telecom setup deployed along the Aqua Line. Commuters traveling underground routes across Mumbai will receive continuous cellular coverage.

    Shared Infrastructure on the Underground Transit Corridor

    ACES India supplies the shared active and passive indoor telecom systems along the Line 3 alignment. Vodafone Idea plugs directly into this neutral-host setup. It avoids building separate underground transmission lines and antenna arrays.

    Shared networks lower capital spending for wireless carriers in transit spaces where physical room is scarce. These digital setups remove duplicate equipment across platforms, concourses, and tunnels.

    The network footprint managed by ACES India supports 4G and 5G cellular technologies across all corridor stations. Multiple service providers share the same antenna clusters and transmission hardware.

    Telecom Economics and Network Sharing

    Operators across Asia regularly turn to neutral-host models to manage high deployment costs in mass transit. Underground rail routes create tough technical barriers for radio signals, requiring continuous distributed antenna networks.

    For Vodafone Idea, the contract expands network reach along commuter corridors without the burden of private station builds. Shared passive hardware also trims maintenance overhead while keeping mobile services competitive along busy routes.

    The 25-year timeline locks in predictable operating costs for network delivery. Neutral-host providers gain steady wholesale revenue from tenant operators across decades, while transit authorities avoid managing individual vendor contracts.

    Urban Commuter Connectivity

    Mumbai Metro Aqua Line-3 covers 33.5 kilometers, linking southern business districts with northern suburbs through an entirely underground route. Heavy passenger traffic makes steady data and voice access vital for daily travelers and shoppers.

    Riders depend on cellular stability for digital transit payments, mobile retail transactions, and daily communications. Weak reception in deep transit shafts quickly drives subscriber churn in competitive metro markets.

    Mobile ticketing across modern stations requires smooth handoffs between train cabins and platform hubs. ACES India designed its multi-operator framework to maintain that connection throughout the trip.

    The Next Steps for Subterranean Rollout

    Network rollouts will advance alongside commercial train operations as passenger volume climbs across opened segments. Carriers will monitor data throughput and handoff reliability under full commuter loads.

    Future additions of wireless carriers to the ACES platform will test how well the system balances shared spectrum across multiple mobile networks during peak transit hours.

  • Dhaka Telecom Thefts Mount as Mobile Operators Report 170 Base Station Losses

    Dhaka Telecom Thefts Mount as Mobile Operators Report 170 Base Station Losses

    Bangladesh mobile operators lost 170 base station cards and thousands of metres of power cables in Greater Dhaka this year. The spike prompted an urgent petition to regulators for police protection.

    Site thefts during the first eight months of 2026 jumped sharply from the 47 base transceiver station cards stolen across the country throughout 2025.

    The Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh lodged an appeal on September 16 with the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission. The industry group called on the regulator to coordinate with national law enforcement agencies to break up criminal networks targeting cell tower hardware. Stolen components include remote radio units, power cables, base transceiver station cards, feeder cables, and backup lithium and lead-acid batteries.

    Losses hit both private carriers and state-run infrastructure across industrial and residential zones. Incidents concentrated heavily in Mohammadpur, Badda and Lalbagh within Dhaka, alongside peripheral manufacturing hubs in Narayanganj, Narsingdi, Savar and Gazipur. Grameenphone reported 75 BTS cards stolen through August, up from six in 2025. Robi Axiata recorded 48 stolen cards against 10 in the previous year. Banglalink lost 29 cards compared with nine in 2025. State-owned Teletalk reported 18 stolen cards, down slightly from 22.

    The Breakdown Across Dhaka Towers

    Power transmission cabling forms the second major target for scrap and resale rings operating around the capital. Grameenphone reported losing 507 metres of power cable by August, compared with 153 metres in 2025. Robi lost 417 metres, up from 211 metres. Banglalink recorded 291 metres lost against 189 metres last year. Teletalk reported the heaviest physical losses, with 6,749 metres of power cable cut and stolen from its installations by August.

    Active transmission gear suffered heavy losses as well. Robi logged 157 stolen remote radio units during the eight-month span, compared with 44 across all of 2025. Teletalk lost 76 units. Banglalink and Grameenphone reported 41 and 33 stolen units respectively. Battery losses totalled 756 units across the industry up to August. Teletalk accounted for 452 units, while Robi recorded 253.

    Operational Fallout for Digital Commerce

    Stripped equipment creates direct operational bottlenecks for digital commerce and retail transactions. When thieves sever power cables or pull base station cards, towers drop offline immediately. Backup generators and batteries cannot bridge the gap when auxiliary electrical systems are stripped simultaneously. For suburban retail clusters, mobile financial service agents and distribution warehouses, blackouts halt point-of-sale systems, digital wallet transfers and real-time inventory tracking.

    Replacing active radio units and base station electronics presents a steeper challenge than standard line repairs. Tower operators cannot source specialized radio frequency modules or brand-specific station cards from domestic retail suppliers. Carriers must draw on imported spare parts inventories. They burn cash on unplanned capital expenditure while waiting on international shipments that face customs clearances and shipping lead times.

    During the last 20 months, approximately 16,000 metres of power cable, more than 2,000 batteries, and over 500 RRUs have been stolen.

    Security Measures and Scrap Market Networks

    Carriers have deployed reinforced physical enclosures, electronic tamper alerts and closed-circuit monitoring at high-risk rooftop and ground sites. These measures raise capital costs per tower without eliminating breaches by well-equipped scrap rings. Industry representatives point out that stopping tower theft requires targeting the secondary market of illicit buyers, scrap metal aggregators and unauthorized repair workshops that purchase commercial telecom gear.

    Telecom asset theft in Bangladesh has flared periodically as metal scrap prices and electronics component costs rise. In 2019, industry records showed 2,195 tower theft incidents during 2018. Over the past 20 months, cumulative equipment losses reached roughly 16,000 metres of cable, more than 2,000 batteries and over 500 remote radio units across the four operating networks.

    Regulatory Action and Police Coordination

    Regulators at the telecommunications commission must now decide whether to establish a dedicated multi-agency enforcement task force with district police commands. Operators are tracking whether joint inspection raids on known scrap clearing hubs in Gazipur and Narayanganj begin before the final quarter of the year.

  • Cebu Partners with PLDT Enterprise Under Digital Services Act of 2025

    Cebu Partners with PLDT Enterprise Under Digital Services Act of 2025

    The Province of Cebu has partnered with PLDT Enterprise to implement digital solutions aimed at enhancing connectivity, workforce collaboration, and public service delivery.

    The initiative follows the passage of the Cebu Province Digital Services Act of 2025, which established a comprehensive framework to modernize government systems, streamline transactions, and enhance data protection in Central Visayas.

    Under the collaboration, the provincial administration is adopting PLDT Enterprise solutions including iGate high-speed connectivity, Smart Corporate Lines, and Microsoft 365 tools implemented by PLDT Group subsidiary ePLDT.

    What PLDT Deployed in Cebu

    Dedicated iGate fiber links provide stable throughput for public-facing portals and internal data management. They cut latency during high-volume processing. The deployment centralizes communication tools across all provincial departments.

    Provincial staff adopted managed cloud workspaces through ePLDT to coordinate operations between the capitol and municipal field offices. Smart Corporate Lines provide secure voice and mobile data access for personnel working in the field.

    Enterprise Telecom Push in the Visayas

    Southeast Asian telcos are targeting regional government units as revenue engines for high-margin business-to-business data services. Metro Manila historically absorbed the bulk of corporate IT capital expenditure in the Philippines. Now, secondary metropolitan centers like Metro Cebu contract directly for carrier-grade network upgrades.

    Public sector contracts provide operators with stable recurring revenue. Competition among PLDT, Globe Telecom, and Converge ICT Solutions now centers on regional infrastructure wins outside the capital region.

    Digital Infrastructure for Regional Growth

    Upgraded connectivity directly affects commercial operators, logistics networks, and property developers that rely on fast municipal approvals and permits. Shorter processing cycles for zoning, tax payments, and licensing lower the friction of doing business across the province’s commercial hubs.

    Execution and maintenance remain the primary commercial risks. Philippine digital government initiatives often hit bottlenecks when municipal systems fail cybersecurity safeguards or suffer line disruptions outside primary fiber corridors.

    Policy Framework Under the 2025 Act

    The contract follows the passage of the Cebu Province Digital Services Act of 2025. That legislation established a binding framework to streamline government transactions, mandate data protection standards, and shift standard public services onto digital channels.

    To supervise the transition, the provincial government formed the Provincial Information and Communications Technology Council as its statutory policy-making body. Governor Pamela S. Baricuatro and Provincial Administrator Joseph Durano formalized the network partnership alongside PLDT enterprise executives to execute the council’s mandate.

    Next, the Provincial Information and Communications Technology Council must complete the integration of municipal record databases into the central network before the 2027 fiscal review cycle.

  • Thai Court Sets Sept 25 Ruling on Telecom Regulator Chairman

    Thai Court Sets Sept 25 Ruling on Telecom Regulator Chairman

    Thailand’s Central Administrative Court will rule on Sept 25 on whether to overturn the disqualification of telecom regulator chairman Sarana Boonbaichaiyapruck.

    Boardroom paralysis at the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission preceded the ruling. A selection panel disqualified Dr Sarana on July 21. He filed suit to overturn the decision, arguing he met all statutory requirements when taking office.

    Legal fight over hospital role

    Provisions in the 2010 NBTC Act prohibit commissioners from holding employment, directorships, or advisory roles at state agencies and state enterprises. The selection committee disqualified Dr Sarana on July 21. Records showed he received hourly payments as a physician at Ramathibodi Hospital’s Faculty of Medicine between Jan 8 and April 12, 2022.

    Dr Sarana maintains he resigned from government service on Jan 8, 2022. He says he held no state employee status during that period. On Sept 21, he attended the court inquiry alongside a representative from Ramathibodi Hospital to present his case.

    Boardroom division stalls decisions

    Internal disputes have split the NBTC board. Regular meetings have collapsed in disorder since late July as commissioners argue over Dr Sarana’s legal right to chair proceedings. That friction has delayed regulatory work for mobile network operators, broadband providers, and media licensees across Thailand.

    Kiatipong Amatayakul, who chaired the July 21 panel meeting, represented the selection committee at the Sept 21 inquiry. Dr Prawit Leesatapornwongsa, an adviser to NBTC commissioner Pirongrong Ramasoota, was also present.

    The Senate deadline and timeline

    Senators instructed five incoming NBTC candidates on Dec 22, 2021, to clear all prohibited state posts by Jan 11, 2022, ahead of taking up their appointments. Evidence submitted to the selection panel later alleged Dr Sarana retained temporary physician status during his early tenure. That finding triggered the July resolution.

    Lower court judges initially dismissed Dr Sarana’s lawsuit. He appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court, which overturned the dismissal and directed the lower court to examine the merits.

    Supreme court appeal expected next

    An adviser to Dr Sarana said the losing party on Sept 25 will likely appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court. That filing will push the dispute into a final appellate round.

  • Mobily Unveils Digital Transit Route Linking Asia, Europe, and Africa

    Mobily Unveils Digital Transit Route Linking Asia, Europe, and Africa

    Saudi telecom operator Mobily presented its intercontinental digital infrastructure plan linking 3 continents, Asia, Europe, and Africa, at the Submarine Networks World conference in Singapore this week.

    Chief of Wholesale Adel Alaskah outlined the carrier’s deployment of subsea cable landings and terrestrial links designed to handle rising transit volumes between East Asia and Western hubs.

    Transcontinental Route Architecture

    The network model anchors traffic across Saudi Arabia’s dual coastlines on the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf. By bridging both bodies of water with cross-country terrestrial fiber, the operator offers carriers an alternative to congested legacy maritime passages.

    Subsea cable landings feed directly into domestic data centers and cloud facilities. This setup allows transit traffic to interface directly with cloud computing and artificial intelligence workloads rather than serving only as passive passthrough bandwidth.

    Transit Competition Across the Indian Ocean

    Wholesale capacity buyers in Asian hubs such as Singapore and Hong Kong face persistent bottleneck risks along traditional routes through the Malacca Strait and the Suez Canal. Mobily is competing directly with regional Gulf incumbents and global consortia to capture enterprise and hyperscaler traffic bound for European exchanges.

    For Asian carriers, route diversification reduces exposure to physical cable cuts and geopolitical choke points. The primary commercial risk rests on transit pricing and latency guarantees, where Gulf overland routes must prove competitive against all-sea paths.

    Integration with AI and Cloud Capacity

    Wholesale operators across Asia have shifted focus from basic raw bandwidth sales to high-density compute interconnection. Mobily framed its geographic link as a foundational layer for regional artificial intelligence clusters requiring fast access to multi-region cloud availability zones.

    Hyperscale cloud providers continue building out redundancy across Southeast Asia, driving sustained demand for diverse westward pathways out of Singapore.

    Next Steps on Cable Landings

    The operator is marketing capacity to international carriers and consortium members negotiating upcoming cable builds across the Indian Ocean basin. Mobily wholesale teams are scheduled to hold bilateral interconnect talks with Asian network operators through the final quarter of the year.

  • Hong Kong Fast-Tracks 6G Network Strategy and Satellite Licensing Rules

    Hong Kong Fast-Tracks 6G Network Strategy and Satellite Licensing Rules

    Hong Kong’s Communications Authority backed regulatory reforms on Sept. 16, 2026. The package covers regional 6G network deployment, fast-track satellite licensing, and revisions to commercial television codes under the city’s 2026-2030 economic blueprint.

    These changes tie the territory’s telecommunications roadmap directly to China’s National 15th Five-Year Plan and the Chief Executive’s 2026 Policy Address.

    Aligning Greater Bay Area Communications Infrastructure

    Officials will speed up cross-border infrastructure upgrades across the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area for 6G networks. Spectrum planning, core transmission links, and next-generation mobile protocols will align with mainland network authorities. This prevents technical divergence across regional boundaries.

    Communications Authority Chairman Jenkin Suen outlined the direction. “To proactively align with the National 15th Five-Year Plan in accelerating the development of next-generation information technology and fostering the growth of emerging and future industries, Hong Kong’s First Five-Year Plan has included the promotion of the development of 6G network in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the construction and upgrading of new communications infrastructure,” Suen stated.

    Streamlining Low-Earth Orbit Satellite Approvals

    Satellite communications face an immediate overhaul. The authority will simplify vetting for commercial low-Earth orbit constellations. The goal is faster processing times for operators seeking gateway or downlink rights in the city.

    Regulators will offer direct support to help satellite operators set up local operations. The policy targets transport logistics, maritime operations, and remote corridors where terrestrial base stations cost too much to build.

    Broadcast Code Reviews and Domestic Media Policy

    Traditional broadcasters face statutory reviews under the same package. The authority will open a public consultation on amendments to the Generic Codes of Practice for Television. The review takes aim at legacy limits on content, commercials, and operations.

    Local film and television producers face stiff competition from global streaming platforms. These adjustments aim to widen their distribution. Domestic studios can then expand their cross-border footprint without legacy rules designed for analog broadcast.

    Commercial Exposure and Cross-Border Network Risks

    Mobile operators and tech vendors in Hong Kong face heavy early capital spending for 6G coordination. Commercial revenue remains years away. Carriers must also run costly 5G enterprise networks while assigning spectrum engineers to regional synchronization.

    Constellation operators gain the fastest commercial advantage. Standardized vetting cuts months of delay for companies selling enterprise redundancy and logistics tracking across Pearl River Delta shipping lanes.

    Both initiatives arrived with the release of the First Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (2026-2030) alongside the Policy Address on Sept. 16, 2026. The simultaneous filings mark the first formal alignment between Hong Kong’s medium-term regulatory targets and Beijing’s national five-year planning cycle.

    Next, the Communications Authority will release its consultation paper on the Generic Codes of Practice for Television, spelling out which rules will go.

  • Asia Pacific Mobile Operator Emissions Rose 6% to 23 Million Tons

    Asia Pacific Mobile Operator Emissions Rose 6% to 23 Million Tons

    Asia Pacific mobile operators increased their operational emissions by 6% between 2019 and 2024 to around 23 million tons of CO2 equivalent, according to the GSMA.

    The rise came as mobile data traffic across the region jumped 350% over the five-year period, outpacing a 6% growth in mobile connections and driving up network power demand.

    Operators in the region spent around USD 7 billion on energy in 2024, consuming approximately 50 TWh of electricity alongside 350 million liters of diesel and gasoline.

    Widening Split Between North and Southeast Asia

    Operational emissions trajectories diverged sharply between mature power markets and developing economies across the region. Mobile operators in Southeast Asia recorded a 20 percent increase in operational emissions over the five-year span as carriers rolled out network coverage to meet surging consumer internet demand.

    Operators in Japan and Oceania reduced operational emissions by more than 30 percent over the same period. Those reductions tracked wider domestic availability of commercial renewable energy contracts and corporate green power tariffs.

    Purchased or self-generated renewable electricity across Asia-Pacific operators reached 7 terawatt-hours in 2024, accounting for 15 percent of their total electricity use. While that figure rose from 1 percent in 2019, the regional share still lagged behind the global telecom industry average of 24 percent.

    Procurement Barriers in Developing Grids

    Clean power access remains concentrated in a handful of advanced markets. Telecommunications carriers in Japan and Australia sourced more than 50 percent of their electricity from renewable assets in 2024, compared with 8 percent in South Asia and 4 percent across Southeast Asia. In Malaysia, operators drew 5 percent of their power from clean sources.

    Regulatory frameworks in developing markets limit corporate power purchase agreements and offer few mechanisms to aggregate power demand across thousands of scattered mobile towers. High retail clean-energy tariffs and prolonged permitting timelines for grid connections further restrict deployment.

    Select Southeast Asian carriers have bypassed these constraints through local supply contracts. Globe Telecom in the Philippines sourced roughly one-third of its electricity from renewable generators in 2025, while Telekom Malaysia and Thailand-based True Corporation exceeded 20 percent renewable power adoption.

    Supply Chain and Scope 3 Exposure

    Network operations represent only a fraction of the broader environmental balance sheet for regional telecommunications providers. Value-chain and supply-chain emissions, classified as Scope 3, reached approximately 110 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2024, representing more than 80 percent of total industry emissions in the Asia Pacific.

    That concentration places financial and compliance pressure directly on network equipment vendors and independent tower companies. Carriers are demanding audited carbon reporting, circular hardware design, and science-based reduction plans from their primary suppliers.

    To date, 21 mobile network operators in the Asia Pacific have secured validated near-term science-based climate targets, representing 55 percent of regional mobile connections and 75 percent of total industry revenue. Another 13 regional carriers hold validated net-zero commitments covering 40 percent of connections.

    Grid Upgrades and Regulatory Reforms Ahead

    Telecommunications operators across the region are pressing governments for structural electricity reforms, accelerated coal phase-outs, and streamlined clean-power procurement rules tailored for distributed infrastructure. Carriers are also petitioning state regulators to classify mobile base stations and backhaul lines as critical infrastructure in national disaster and climate-resilience budgets as tropical storms and coastal flooding escalate.

    The earliest operator net-zero target dates across the Asia Pacific begin in 2040, leaving regional carriers dependent on state grid modernization and corporate procurement reforms to cut the remaining 85 percent of fossil-powered electricity from their balance sheets.

  • Google Accelerates Cloud Growth as AI Spreads Across Asia in Two Years

    Google Accelerates Cloud Growth as AI Spreads Across Asia in Two Years

    Google is putting the growth of its cloud computing business into a higher gear after the rapidly spreading use of generative artificial intelligence.

    Harsha Konduri, managing director for Google AI across Asia-Pacific and Japan, said artificial intelligence has become widespread in two years or so, compared to more than 10 years it took to embed cloud computing.

    Compressed Timelines Across Regional Markets

    Konduri sees huge growth potential in Asia and noted that regional demand for artificial intelligence is rising to maximize cost-effectiveness for companies.

    To support this pace, Google is tailoring its enterprise offerings to prioritize three core capabilities: data security, governance controls, and real-time cost management. Asian enterprises operating across fragmented regulatory jurisdictions require strict data residency guarantees before connecting proprietary commercial databases to foundation models.

    Cost Controls and Infrastructure Governance

    Corporate spending priorities across regional consumer, financial, and logistics sectors have shifted from raw model testing to disciplined operating expenditure. Uncontrolled token usage and compute expenses can quickly erode margins on consumer-facing applications.

    Google is positioning its cloud ecosystem to provide real-time budget fencing and compute optimization tools. Regional retailers and supply chain operators demand predictable billing models before deploying automated customer service, inventory routing, and demand-forecasting tools at scale.

    Platform Competition in Asia Pacific

    Rival hyperscalers including Microsoft and Amazon Web Services are competing aggressively across Asia-Pacific data center hubs. Competition centers on offering pre-configured enterprise safeguards that allow corporate legal and technical teams to deploy applications without building internal compliance layers from scratch.

    For commercial operators, the battle among cloud providers reduces migration friction and lowers infrastructure costs. The primary operating risk sits in long-term lock-in to proprietary foundation models that complicate future cross-platform integration.

    Enterprise Deployment Targets

    Enterprise tech spending in major Asian markets previously required multi-stage sign-offs across regional boards. The compression of software rollout cycles forces corporate leadership to balance rapid capability deployment against compliance exposure under local privacy frameworks.

    Market participants are now monitoring quarterly capital expenditure filings and regional data center investments as Google and its rivals build out localized processing capacity across Japan, Southeast Asia, and Australia.