What’s up with… Verizon, NTT Docomo, VMO2

• Verizon goes AI native with Google Cloud
• NTT Docomo partners with Mitsubishi to build next-gen smart city
• VMO2 brings small cells to Westminster

In today’s industry news roundup: Verizon deploys Google’s AI infrastructure and Gemini enterprise in a major AI partnership; NTT Docomo joins forces with Mitsubishi Estate to build a 5G-powered next-gen smart city; VMO2 rolls out small cells to boost coverage in one of London’s busiest boroughs; and much more!

Verizon is taking another step towards becoming an AI-native telco by deploying Google Cloud’s “full-stack AI”, including its advanced data infrastructure and Gemini Enterprise, to help modernise its customer experiences, unify its enterprise data and help to scale AI across the telco’s day-to-day operations. Alfonso Villanueva, Verizon’s chief transformation officer and executive VP of Verizon Consumer, stated: “Verizon is on a journey to become the most trusted carrier for our customers’ connected lives. Serving each and every one of our customers by name requires working AI-first at every level. Our partnership leverages Google Cloud’s AI and data capabilities across our organisation to better enable our employees and keep our customers at the centre of everything we do.” Verizon, which has long partnered with Google Cloud on the evolution of its contact centre and customer experience platforms, will use the hyperscaler’s technology to advance multiple operational processes and develop new ways of working. This includes the development of an autonomous network intelligence framework, “with Google Cloud as a data platform partner to predict and resolve network anomalies before they affect customers”. Karthik Narain, chief product and business officer at Google Cloud, stated: “Verizon is pioneering what a true, full-scale AI transformation looks like for a global enterprise. By integrating Google Cloud’s full AI stack into its business – from high-performance infrastructure and Gemini models to custom business agents – they are reshaping the future of telecommunications and building an autonomous network for millions of customers.”

NTT Docomo has teamed up with Mitsubishi Estate to build a "next-generation smart city based on a high-quality 5G communication environment” in the Otemachi, Marunouchi, and Yurakucho areas of ​​Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, “to provide 5G services utilising advanced technologies, including millimeter wave (26GHz band),” the operator announced in this press release (in Japanese). The partners aim to identify new digital services opportunities by “combining NTT Docomo’s latest base station equipment and advanced 5G services with Mitsubishi Estate’s expertise in utilising real estate assets and securing infrastructure in central office and commercial areas of Japan where communication traffic is extremely concentrated”. This will involve the construction of a “next-generation infrastructure base” (or ‘cluster’) “that takes into account the urban landscape and employs antenna placement suitable for millimeter-wave radio wave characteristics,” noted NTT Docomo. 

UK operator Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) has unveiled plans to boost coverage in one of the busiest boroughs of London by attaching small cells to Westminster’s iconic lampposts. The operator said it will install small cells on existing street furniture in high-demand locations in Westminster in order to boost coverage for residents, businesses, commuters and tourists in the area. Westminster is home to several iconic British landmarks, including the Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square and commercial hubs such as Soho, as the daily population regularly tops 1 million, according to Westminster Council. VMO2 noted that small cells are particularly suited to this environment, where conservation protections and planning controls can make larger infrastructure more difficult to deploy. The operator plans to install 24 new small cells across the borough as part of its wider £700m Mobile Transformation Plan.

The Japanese government is considering making around 100bn yen ($628m) of funding available to support domestic companies looking to procure ships that can lay subsea cable systems, according to local media reports. According to Nikkei Asia (subscription required), Tokyo’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications will submit a budget request by the end of this month to support Japanese companies in buying cable-laying ships, as costs soar and competition from China rises. It would be Japan’s first direct support of its kind, with the ministry aiming to support the acquisition of between three and five vessels. Undersea cables carry around 99% of international communications, but Japanese companies have only a limited number of ships – NTT, KDDI and Sekikaiji Industry are among the few who own their own specialist vessels. NEC, the giant Japanese tech firm that has laid over 400,000 kilometres of underwater fibre-optic routes, does not own its own ships, for example. Tokyo hopes to raise the global market share of Japanese companies in undersea cables to roughly 35% by 2030, up 15 percentage points from now, the report claims.

Orange Slovakia has struck a new 10-year deal with energy firm Enery for the supply of renewable electricity from a new solar power plant in the country. Under the physical power purchase agreement (PPA), Enery will supply 125,030 MWh of renewable energy over the next decade. It will be generated by a new 12.5 MWp photovoltaic power plant, which is being built in Slovakia’s Banská Bystrica region. The facility is due to go live next year and will generate around 15 GWh of clean energy every year, according to Enery. Orange Slovensko already uses solar energy to power 636 of its base stations, and deploys modern lithium batteries at 500 of its sites. “For several years, I have believed that combining innovation, sustainability and a strong focus on our customers is the right way to build an Orange that is ready for the future,” said Mariusz Gatza, CEO of Orange Slovensko. “Now, we want to go even further, and we are pleased that we will have long-term access to renewable electricity from a new solar power plant in Slovakia. As both energy consumption and energy costs are key factors in operating our network, we see significant benefits in this solution.”

Datec Limited – a subsidiary of state-owned Papua New Guinea telco Telikom – has partnered with CloudSigma to launch what it claims is the country’s first sovereign cloud and AI datacentre. The Kumul Cloud Infinity facility is located in Port Moresby, according to a LinkedIn post from Datec, and sports advanced Nvidia H200 GPU capabilities that are designed to deal with heavy AI workloads. Along with CloudSigma, Hewlett Packard Enterprise acted as a supplier for the datacentre equipment. On Friday, minister for state-owned enterprises William Duma officially opened the facility, which will offer secure local cloud, AI, cybersecurity and data processing services for businesses in Papua New Guinea. Datec also said it plans to build a second AI datacentre on the Pacific island, though no timeline was revealed for that.

– The staff, TelecomTV