Critical internet resources

OpenAI brings in former UK chancellor George Osborne

Former UK chancellor George Osborne has joined OpenAI in a London-based role. He will lead the OpenAI for Countries programme focused on government partnerships.

The initiative aims to help governments build AI capacity and ensure systems reflect democratic values. OpenAI says more than 50 countries are already involved.

Osborne will work on developing AI infrastructure, boosting AI literacy and improving public services. The role follows discussions with OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman.

His appointment comes as UK-US tech talks face setbacks and investment in AI accelerates. Against this backdrop, financial authorities have warned of risks linked to the sector’s rapid growth.

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Vietnam expands 5G and strengthens digital trust

Vietnam’s 5G network now reaches approximately 59 percent of the population, slightly over one year after commercial services launched in October 2024.

Government data presented at Internet Day 2025 show that Vietnam ranks 10th globally for fixed broadband speed and 15th for mobile broadband, reflecting rapid improvements in national connectivity.

Officials described the Internet as a second living space for citizens, with nearly 80 million users spending an average of seven hours online each day for work, education and social interaction.

Authorities highlighted that expanded 5G coverage supports the development of a digital economy, e-government services and a more connected digital society.

Alongside infrastructure growth, policymakers stressed the need for stronger digital trust.

Vietnam is shifting towards clearer legal frameworks instead of reliance on voluntary self-regulation, while prioritising cybersecurity, data governance and protection against online fraud, deepfakes and AI-driven deception to sustain long-term digital transformation.

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Oracle and Google Cloud launch AI database service in India

The US tech company, Oracle, has expanded Oracle Database@Google Cloud to India, making the service available through Google Cloud’s Mumbai region.

Enterprises can access Oracle Exadata, Autonomous AI Database and AI Lakehouse services while keeping data in the region to meet sovereignty and regulatory requirements.

The multicloud offering allows organisations to combine Oracle enterprise data with Google Cloud analytics and AI tools, including BigQuery, Vertex AI and Gemini models.

Customers can modernise applications and migrate mission-critical workloads without sacrificing performance, security or low-latency access.

Oracle Database@Google Cloud is available through the Google Cloud Marketplace, enabling customers to procure services via trusted partners instead of navigating complex contracting models.

Oracle and Google Cloud partners can also integrate the service into broader multicloud solutions.

The launch reflects growing demand for flexible multicloud architectures in India, supporting AI-driven innovation, advanced analytics and accelerated IT modernisation across regulated and data-intensive industries.

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CES 2026 to feature LG’s new AI-driven in-car platform

LG Electronics will unveil a new AI Cabin Platform at CES 2026 in Las Vegas, positioning the system as a next step beyond today’s software-defined vehicles and toward what the company calls AI-defined mobility.

The platform is designed to run on automotive high-performance computing systems and is powered by Qualcomm Technologies’ Snapdragon Cockpit Elite. LG says it applies generative AI models directly to in-vehicle infotainment, enabling more context-aware and personalised driving experiences.

Unlike cloud-dependent systems, all AI processing occurs on-device within the vehicle. LG says this approach enables real-time responses while improving reliability, privacy, and data security by avoiding communication with external servers.

Using data from internal and external cameras, the system can assess driving conditions and driver awareness to provide proactive alerts. LG also demonstrated adaptive infotainment features, including AI-generated visuals and music suggestions that respond to weather, time, and driving context.

LG will showcase the AI Cabin Platform at a private CES event, alongside a preview of its AI-defined vehicle concept. The company says the platform builds on its expanding partnership with Qualcomm Technologies and on its earlier work integrating infotainment and driver-assistance systems.

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Europe risks falling behind without telecom scale, Telefónica says

Telefónica has called for a shift in Europe’s telecommunications policy, arguing that market fragmentation is undermining investment, digital competitiveness, and the continent’s technological sovereignty, according to a new blog post from the company.

In the post, Telefónica says Europe’s emphasis on maximising retail competition has produced a highly fragmented operator landscape. It cites industry data showing the average European operator serves around five million customers, far fewer than peers in the United States or China.

The company argues that this lack of scale explains Europe’s lower per-capita investment in telecoms infrastructure and is slowing the rollout of technologies such as standalone 5G, fibre networks, and sovereign cloud and AI platforms.

Telefónica points to recent reports by Mario Draghi and Enrico Letta as signs of a policy shift, with EU institutions placing greater weight on investment capacity, resilience, and dynamic efficiency alongside traditional competition objectives.

The blog post concludes that Europe faces a strategic choice between preserving fragmented markets or enabling responsible consolidation. Telefónica says carefully regulated mergers could support sustainability, reduce regional digital divides, and strengthen Europe’s digital infrastructure.

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How data centres affect electricity, prices, water consumption and jobs

Data centres have become critical infrastructure for modern economies, supporting services ranging from digital communications and online commerce to emergency response systems and financial transactions.

As AI expands, demand for cloud computing continues to accelerate, increasing the need for additional data centre capacity worldwide.

Concerns about environmental impact often focus on electricity and water use, yet recent data indicate that data centres are not primary drivers of higher power prices and consume far less water than many traditional industries.

Studies show that rising electricity costs are largely linked to grid upgrades, climate-related damage and fuel prices instead of large-scale computing facilities, while water use by data centres remains a small fraction of overall consumption.

Technological improvements have further reduced resource intensity. Operators have significantly improved water efficiency per unit of computing power, adopting closed-loop liquid cooling and advanced energy management systems.

In many regions, water is required only intermittently, with consumption levels lower than those in sectors such as clothing manufacturing, agriculture and automotive services.

Beyond digital services, data centres deliver tangible economic benefits to local communities. Large-scale investments generate construction activity, long-term technical employment and stable tax revenues, while infrastructure upgrades and skills programmes support regional development.

As cloud computing and AI continue to shape everyday life, data centres are increasingly positioned as both economic and technological anchors.

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Tiiny AI unveils the Pocket Lab supercomputer

Tiiny AI has revealed the Pocket Lab, a palm-sized device recognised as the world’s smallest personal AI supercomputer. Guinness World Records confirmed the title, noting its ability to run models with up to 120 billion parameters.

The Pocket Lab uses an ARM v9.2 CPU, a discrete NPU delivering 190 TOPS and 80GB of LPDDR5X memory. Popular open-source models such as GPT-OSS, Llama, Qwen, Mistral, DeepSeek and Phi are supported. Tiiny AI says its hardware makes large-scale reasoning possible in a handheld format.

Two in-house technologies enhance efficiency by distributing workloads and reducing unnecessary activations. TurboSparse manages sparse neuron activity to preserve capability while improving speed, and PowerInfer splits computation across the CPU and NPU.

Tiiny AI plans a full showcase at CES 2026, with pricing and release information still pending. Analysts want to see how the device performs in real-world tasks compared with much larger systems. The company believes the Pocket Lab will shift expectations for personal AI hardware.

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US approaches universal 5G as global adoption surges

New data from Omdia and 5G Americas showed rapid global growth in wireless connectivity during the third quarter of 2025, with nearly three billion 5G connections worldwide.

North America remained the most advanced region in terms of adoption, reaching penetration levels that almost match its population.

The US alone recorded 341 million 5G connections, marking one of the highest per capita adoption rates in the world, compared to the global average, which remains far lower.

Analysts noted that strong device availability and sustained investment continue to reinforce the region’s leadership. Enhanced features such as improved uplink performance and integrated sensing are expected to accelerate the shift towards early 5G-Advanced capabilities.

Growth in cellular IoT also remained robust. North America supported more than 270 million connected devices and is forecast to reach nearly half a billion by 2030 as sectors such as manufacturing and utilities expand their use of connected systems.

AI is becoming central to these deployments by managing traffic, automating operations and enabling more innovative industrial applications.

Future adoption is set to intensify as regional 5G connections are projected to surpass 8.6 billion by 2030.

Rising interest in fixed wireless access is driving multi-device usage, offering high-speed connectivity for households and small firms instead of relying solely on fibre networks that remain patchy in many areas.

Globally, the sector has reached more than 78 million connections, with strong annual growth. Analysts believe that expanding infrastructure will support demand for low-latency connectivity, and the addition of satellite-based systems is expected to extend coverage to remote locations.

By mid-November 2025, operators had launched 379 commercial 5G networks worldwide, including seventeen in North America. A similar number of LTE networks operated across the region.

Industry observers said that expanding terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks will form a layered architecture that strengthens resilience, supports emergency response and improves service continuity across land, sea and air.

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India expands 5G coverage nationwide

The 5G footprint of India has expanded across all states and union territories, with services now reaching 99.9% of districts.

Telecom service providers have installed more than 5 lakh 5G base stations, contributing to a broader network of over 31 lakh sites nationwide. The government has emphasised the importance of reliable coverage in both rural and urban regions.

Efforts to strengthen connectivity in underserved areas continue through BharatNet, new mobile services in Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-affected regions, support for Aspirational Districts and the 4G Saturation Scheme, which aims to bring coverage to every uncovered village.

Streamlined Right of Way rules and faster approval for using street furniture have created an environment where operators can deploy small cells more efficiently, rather than facing long administrative delays.

As 5G coverage expands nationwide, operators are preparing for a future driven by AI workloads rather than traditional network demands. Private and state providers are both expanding infrastructure, often sharing facilities when it is technically and commercially viable.

The government of India has emphasised that coordinated planning will be crucial for managing the increasing digital traffic.

Seven working groups under the Bharat 6G Alliance have outlined progress on India’s next-generation roadmap. The communications minister has emphasised that spectrum policy, device readiness, applications and sustainability need to align so innovation can mature.

Monthly joint reviews will be conducted to ensure that breakthroughs in one domain can lead to practical outcomes in other areas, supporting India’s long-term 6G strategy.

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India expands job access with AI-powered worker platforms

India is reshaping support for its vast informal workforce through e-Shram, a national database built to connect millions of people to social security and better job prospects.

The database works together with the National Career Service portal, and both systems run on Microsoft Azure.

AI tools are now improving access to stable employment by offering skills analysis, resume generation and personalised career pathways.

The original aim of e-Shram was to create a reliable record of informal workers after the pandemic exposed major gaps in welfare coverage. Engineers had to build a platform capable of registering hundreds of millions of people while safeguarding sensitive data.

Azure’s scalable infrastructure allowed the system to process high transaction volumes and maintain strong security protocols. Support reached remote areas through a network of service centres, helped further by Bhashini, an AI language service offering real-time translation in 22 Indian languages.

More than 310 million workers are now registered and linked to programmes providing accident insurance, medical subsidies and housing assistance. The integration with NCS has opened paths to regulated work, often with health insurance or retirement savings.

Workers receive guidance on improving employability, while new features such as AI chatbots and location-focused job searches aim to help those in smaller cities gain equal access to opportunities.

India is using the combined platforms to plan future labour policies, manage skill development and support international mobility for trained workers.

Officials also hope the digital systems will reduce reliance on job brokers and strengthen safe recruitment, including abroad through links with the eMigrate portal.

The government has already presented the platforms to international partners and is preparing to offer them as digital public infrastructure for other countries seeking similar reforms.

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