What’s up with… Open Telco AI, Telus, Veon

• AI evaluation expert Selectstar joins Open Telco AI initiative
• Canada’s Telus suffers data breach
• Veon’s DSP strategy is paying off

In today’s industry news roundup: South Korea’s Selecstar is adding its data and AI evaluation expertise to the GSMA’s Open Telco AI initiative; Telus appears to have fallen foul of a hack by the same group that breached the systems of Dutch telco Odido; Veon has reported a significant increase in full year sales and earnings and a dramatic increase in digital services revenues; and more!

Seoul, South Korea-based Selectstar has joined the GSMA’s Open Telco AI initiative, which was launched during MWC26, as a partner for data and AI evaluation, reports ChosunBiz. The Open Telco AI initiative, which aims to accelerate the availability of suitable telco-grade AI through open collaboration across operators, vendors, AI developers and academic institutions, already counts the likes of AT&T and AMD as key participants, as the GSMA’s Louis Powell explained during this TelecomTV interview conducted in Barcelona. Selecstar had a busy MWC26: It unveiled its generative AI (GenAI) reliability evaluation platform, Datumo, which reportedly drew attention from the likes of SoftBank Corp, Orange and Deutsche Telekom; and it hosted, with the GSMA, the Global AI Red Team Challenge, which involved real-world verification of representative large language models (LLMs) developed by major telcos and AI companies, including SK Telecom (A.X K1), LG Uplus (ixi-GEN), AT&T (Ask AT&T), the Khalifa University of Science and Technology (TelecomGPT, developed with the GSMA) and NetoAI (TSLAM), according to this MirakleAI report. 

Telus has suffered what looks to be a major data breach of its IT systems and is currently investigating the severity of the cybersecurity incident, the Canadian operator told Reuters but added that it is still “fully operational” and that there is “no evidence of disruption to ⁠customer connectivity or service”. A hacking group dubbed ShinyHunters told the news agency that it had stolen 700 terabytes of data from the telco’s systems, with samples shared suggesting the data includes information relating to more than 20 enterprise customers, including user identities, call data and recordings: Telus noted it is notifying any customers that might be impacted “as appropriate”. ShinyHunters has also been linked to the recent theft of data from Dutch telco Odido, which involved information relating to 6 million customers.

Veon’s digital service provider (DSP) strategy appears to be paying off, as the international telco – which has operations in Ukraine, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan – has reported a 17.4% year-on-year increase in fourth-quarter revenues to $1.17bn and a 29.1% increase in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to $527m. In the final three months of 2025, Veon’s digital service revenues grew by 84.1% to $235m, equivalent to 20.1% of total group revenues. For the full year 2025, total group revenues grew by 9.9% to almost $4.4bn, with digital service revenues growing by 62.5% to $759m, accounting for 17.3% of the total. For 2026, Veon expects group annual revenues to grow by between 9% and 12%, an impressive level of growth for any telco. Veon Group CEO Kaan Terzioglu stated: “2025 marked a pivotal inflection point for Veon as a digital operator. For the first time, digital service customers surpassed traditional connectivity subscribers.” An example of Veon’s digital services strategy can be seen in Pakistan, where its operation, Jazz, is acquiring an insurance company to add to its fintech portfolio: Check out this recent TelecomTV interview with Jazz CEO Aamir Ibrahim for more on the company’s strategy. 

The cut-throat mobile services competition between the major US telcos and the country’s increasingly mobile-focused cable operators continues with AT&T launching new plans with a heavy emphasis on ‘value’ while firing a shot across the bows of major rival T-Mobile US at the same time. Its latest marketing pitch includes AT&T Value 2.0, which the operator describes as “an entry-level plan for value-conscious customers with the option to mix and match with our other new plans, unlike T-Mobile… Customers get real value on the nation’s largest wireless network – without having to choose the highest-priced plan.” It also addresses the issue of simplicity and clarity, something for which the mobile sector is constantly berating itself but constantly fails to address, claiming its offers don’t bundle in features that customers don’t use or care about and focus instead on “the core wireless features they expect, with the flexibility to change plans as needed.” The US public will decide whether that promise has any substance to it. 

– The staff, TelecomTV