Ericsson has signalled its interest in further exploring the potential of space for mobile connectivity by joining the Mobile Satellite Services Association (MSSA). The body was set up in February of this year with the stated aim of developing a global "ecosystem" using L- and S-band spectrum that is allocated and licensed for mobile satellite services. Ericsson says that current mobile networks cover less than 40% of the Earth's land surface and the use of 5G non-terrestrial networks, using 3GPP standards, could extend coverage through satellite connecitivity, allowing 5G smartphones to maintain service even when moving from covered to uncovered areas. The MSSA's other member companies include Viasat, Ligado Networks and Omnispace.

Vodafone has decided to roll out Microsoft's Copilot GenAI tool to around 68,000 of its employees across multiple countries. According to Microsoft's marketing apparatchiks, Copilot will "free up time spent on monotonous tasks to allow employees to focus on more varied and interesting work." Hmmm. The software won't just be used in customer service though – Vodafone also envisages it being useful in product development and network management, among other areas. The deal follows the announcement of a ten-year "strategic partnership" signed between the two companies in January. Vodafone is already using Microsoft's GenAI sorcery to deliver "a more personalized" service to customers, partly through the support of TOBi, Vodafone's online chatbot. (See Vodafone performs brain surgery on chatbot, ditching Watson and LUIS.)

Nokia has launched a data center automation platform that it describes, inevitably perhaps, as being "built for the AI era." The Event-Driven Automation (EDA) platform, as it is called, is based on the Kubernetes open source container orchestration environment and is intended to reduces network disruptions and application downtime while also decreasing "operational effort" by up to 40%. EDA is available through on-premises and cloud-based "as-a-service" subscription models.

Deutsche Telekom, Orange and Telefónica are among those who have signed up to the GSMA's Responsible AI (RAI) Maturity Roadmap, a document it hopes will provide telcos with the necessary tools and guidance to test and assess just how responsible their use of artificial intelligence is. The roadmap has been developed based on input from consultancy firm McKinsey and a group of operators. McKinsey estimates that the market for the use of AI within telecom over the next 15-20 years will be worth as much as $680 billion.

Millions of Brits are wasting money on unlimited data tariffs they don't need, according to digital eSIM provider Nomad. Citing figures from communications regulator Ofcom, Nomad says that 23% of people in the UK are paying for an unlimited mobile data plan (as of June 2024) but only use around 8GB of data per month on average. The solution? A Nomad eSIM, of course!