iWorld
Digital India: Jio & Samsung shift LTE mobile landscape
MUMBAI: Samsung has announced its innovative “I&G (Infill & Growth) Project” for Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd in India. This joint project was established to upgrade current LTE mobile communication services across India by expanding both the current network capacity as well as network coverage.
Jio has built a world-class all-IP data strong future proof network with latest 4G LTE technology. It is the only network conceived and born as a Mobile Video Network from the ground up and supporting Voice over LTE technology. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. inspires the world and shapes the future with transformative ideas and technologies.
The new project sets a high benchmark for LTE services in India through wider coverage, inbuilding penetration and the highest speeds, regardless of the user’s location. Utilizing spectrum in the 850, 1800 and 2300MHz bands, it will enable seamless indoor and outdoor coverage in dense urban areas. The project will also extend Jio’s superiority in rural areas by expanding its reach to over 90 per cent of the population.
Previously, Samsung provided the LTE core, base stations and solutions required for VoLTE services, as well as massive deployment services for establishing a nationwide network for Jio. The two companies have successfully established the world’s largest greenfield LTE network.
Reliance Jio Infocomm president Jyotindra Thacker said, “Samsung and Jio successfully achieved 100 million subscribers in 170 days, making us the fastest-growing company in the world, and the numbers continue to rapidly grow. It was possible because we introduced a truly effective LTE service, Pan-India. We are committed to bringing game-changing digital experiences to India with superior ecosystems,mobile content, all-IP networks and ongoing process innovations.”
“As Jio’s end-to-end LTE solutions partner, it is a great pleasure for Samsung to contribute to Jio’s tremendous success,” said Samsung Electronics president and head of networks business Youngky Kim. “The massive deployment of over a million cells across India is especially remarkable. We will strive to create new paradigms for LTE-Advanced Pro and 5G by closely cooperating with Jio as a unified workforce.”
Jio stands as an innovator which transformed the telecommunications sector in India last year. The company has already established itself as the leading data service provider in the country within a few months of commencing operations. It was also India’s first operator to introduce free-of-charge High Definition calls (VoLTE). This is especially notable, as this
approach is now becoming a new market rule in India.
Samsung, as Jio’s strategic partner, has established a foundation for Indians to enjoy exclusive services, including voice calls, with data as their engine. It has also gone a step further, enabling Jio to offer a superior service to its users by providing professional solutions such as Samsung VoLTE, Quality Monitoring and Analysis (VoMA) and Cognitive Traffic
Monitoring and Optimizer for a superior user experience. Further, it was through Samsung’s VoMA that the steady management of high traffic in data-dense environments was enabled.
The tools monitor and optimize mobile data services, and have successfully contributed to enabling Jio to provide its subscribers with a stable and improved user experience. The relationship between Jio and Samsung goes back to 2012, when the two companies signed a turn-key agreement covering the entire scope of network, ranging from equipment to establishment and maintenance services.
iWorld
Meta signs multiyear AI deal with News Corp
Agreement worth up to $50 million annually covers WSJ, New York Post and UK titles.
MUMBAI: Meta just bought itself a front-row seat to the newsroom because when AI needs facts, even Zuckerberg is willing to pay the subscription fee. Meta Platforms has signed a multiyear artificial intelligence content licensing agreement with News Corp that could be worth up to $50 million (£39 million) a year, The Wall Street Journal reported on 25 February 2026. The deal, expected to run for at least three years, grants Meta access to News Corp’s US and UK content including The Wall Street Journal and New York Post for training AI models and powering real-time information retrieval in its products.
Australian mastheads such as the Daily Telegraph and Herald Sun are not included. News Corp CEO Robert Thomson revealed the arrangement during a Morgan Stanley technology conference in San Francisco, describing news organisations as a vital “input company” in the AI ecosystem. “We’re essentially an input company,” he said. “The great threat in the age of AI is going to be to what you might call output companies.”
Thomson emphasised the value of reliable journalism as foundational infrastructure for AI systems, noting regular conversations with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg via Whatsapp and ongoing talks with OpenAI’s Sam Altman. He added that News Corp is in “advanced stage” negotiations for additional deals, promising further announcements soon.
The agreement follows News Corp’s 2024 five-year partnership with OpenAI (reportedly worth more than $250 million) and reflects Meta’s broader push to secure content licences. The company has already confirmed deals with People Inc, USA Today, CNN and Fox News, though financial terms remain undisclosed.
Publishers remain divided, some pursue partnerships for revenue, while others litigate. News Corp subsidiaries have sued Perplexity over copyright infringement, The New York Times is suing OpenAI and Microsoft, yet the same NYT struck a separate AI licensing deal with Amazon reportedly worth $20–25 million annually.
Thomson summed up the dual strategy as “woo or sue” seeking commercial agreements where possible, legal action when content is used without permission.
In an AI race where data is oxygen, Meta isn’t just training models, it’s buying the raw material for tomorrow’s answers, one headline at a time.
