By TN Ashok The 18th BRICS Summit, held at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on September 12–13, 2026, was never going to escape Washington’s shadow — and it didn’t. Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi steered eleven member states toward a unanimously adopted New Delhi Declaration that pointedly avoided naming the United States, President Donald […]
Foreign capital has just delivered its verdict on the United States, and the verdict is not what Washington wants to hear. A record $600 billion flowed into US equities over the past year, outpacing foreign purchases of Treasuries for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis. For decades, buying America meant buying its government debt alongside its companies as though they were one investment. This assumption […]
The same handful of avoidable mistakes get repeated every cycle by foreign buyers in Dubai, usually by those moving fast on a deal that felt urgent. None of these errors require bad luck. They require skipping a step that felt optional at the time. Trusting the asking rent instead of the signed one A listing advertising $16,338 in annual rent doesn’t mean that’s what tenants are actually […]
By R Suryamurthy The 2026 New Delhi Declaration arrives at a revealing moment for BRICS: two decades after the grouping emerged as a shorthand for the rising economic weight of the Global South, it is no longer merely demanding a larger seat at the table of global governance, but is beginning to construct the institutional […]
SINGAPORE – Media OutReach Newswire – 14 September 2026 – Azbil Corporation (Tokyo Stock Exchange Code: 6845) announces that it will participate as a Gold Sponsor at Data Centre World Asia 2026 (hereinafter “DCWA”), Asia’s leading event for data centre technologies and digital infrastructure. The event will take place from 29 – 30 September 2026, at the Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Centre in Singapore.
DCWA Gold Sponsor
DCWA is part of Tech Week Singapore and serves as a key platform for data centre operators, technology providers, and industry stakeholders to exchange insights and explore emerging technologies shaping the future of digital infrastructure.
As demand for digital infrastructure continues to grow, data centre operators face increasing pressure to maintain reliable operations while improving energy efficiency. Azbil applies its expertise in measurement, control, and automation to help optimize building and cooling-system operations in mission-critical environments.
At DCWA, Azbil will highlight its Building Automation solutions and specialized services for mission-critical environments, including an intelligent building management system and the chiller plant digital twin. These solutions leverage advanced technologies to improve energy efficiency, support informed decision-making, and enhance the reliability and resilience of critical infrastructure operations.
Guided by its Purpose, “Expanding Technological Frontiers, Unlocking Human Potential,” Azbil will continue to create new value through its advanced measurement, control, and automation technologies and through co-creation with customers and partners, contributing to more reliable, efficient, and sustainable digital infrastructure.
Event Overview
Event
Data Centre World Asia 2026
Dates
29 – 30 September, 2026
Location
Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Centre Basement 2, Hall E, Booth M15
An open and scalable platform that integrates, monitors, and controls multiple building systems through a unified interface. It provides operational insights that support efficient facility management and efforts to improve Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE).
Chiller Plant Digital Twin
A virtual replica that simulates energy optimization strategies, detects anomalies, and provides real-time insights to improve chiller plant operations and enhance energy efficiency.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
About Azbil Corporation
Azbil Corporation, formerly known as Yamatake Corporation, is a leading company in building and industrial automation, using its measurement and control technologies to provide customers with high value-added solutions to make their operations more efficient and sustainable. Founded in 1906, the Azbil Group consists of 30 companies and operates in 16 countries, providing cutting-edge solutions and services to meet the diverse needs of its global customers. As of March 31, 2026, Azbil employed about 9,000 people worldwide and generated JPY 298.9 billion in revenue. To learn more about Azbil Corporation and its solutions, please visit Azbil’s website at https://www.azbil.com.
The refined Primary Writing Programme strengthens WRITERS AT WORK’s proprietary STORYBANKING® method to help students think independently, sustain focus and tackle increasingly complex questions with confidence.
SINGAPORE – Media OutReach Newswire – 14 September 2026 – WRITERS AT WORK, a Singapore English writing and enrichment provider recognised on the SME500 Singapore 2025 list, will introduce updates to its Primary Writing Programme, formerly the Pure Composition Writing Programme, across its seven centres in Singapore from 2 January 2027, as part of a wider curriculum refresh designed to help students sustain focused, independent thinking in an increasingly fast-paced learning environment.
Built for How Students Think Today
WRITERS AT WORK updates its curriculum annually in response to shifts in Singapore’s English examination and education landscape. The 2027 update also responds to how students today process language, sustain focus, and construct ideas, shaped by their environment, technology, and culture. As attention spans shorten in a faster, more visually driven world, the ability to sit with a difficult question and think it through has become more valuable. The renamed Primary Writing Programme reflects this shift, still anchored in composition instruction but built around how students actually develop writing competency today.
Three Updates to the Primary Writing Programme
Three updates anchor the programme. Under Flexible Writing Practice, students complete guided or independent compositions depending on lesson objectives, with the STORYBANKING® method recalibrated to sharpen critical thinking through adjusted pacing and difficulty. This gradual release of support, from guided modelling to independent application, meets students at different levels of readiness: those who need more guidance receive clearer structure, while more confident writers are pushed to transfer their learning independently and make more sophisticated writing choices.
The update also responds to a reality of how students learn today: with model compositions and ready-made phrases widely accessible, that accessibility is not itself the concern. The risk is students learning techniques without learning to think. Primary Writing Programme lessons are designed to keep that thinking process intact and complete within the lesson, so students build the ability to reason through difficult questions themselves, rather than simply recall a technique.
Selected modules also integrate bite-sized situational writing, oral, and listening comprehension practice alongside composition, giving students regular, low-stakes exposure to other examination components while reinforcing skills they have already built. The STORYBANKING® programme has also been expanded with material tied to current experiences and trends, building on rather than replacing existing content.
A Refresh for the Comprehensive English Programme
The Comprehensive English Programme, covering Primary and Secondary levels, is also being updated, with a focus on strengthening students’ ability to analyse questions and organise ideas. Existing scaffolding within the programme is being broken down further to make the thinking process more visible and explicit to students.
“The updates are not a departure from what has worked. They are a deliberate response to how our students engage with the world today,” said Jemmies Siew, Managing Director and Curriculum Director at WRITERS AT WORK. “Our aim is for students to leave each lesson still knowing how to think through a hard question themselves, not just recall a technique.”
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Writers At Work
WRITERS AT WORKis a Singapore English writing and enrichment provider founded in 2012. Its curriculum is built around a structured, results-oriented approach and a proprietary methodology called STORYBANKING®, and has expanded to include writing, comprehension, and oral communication instruction for Primary and Secondary levels across seven centres in Singapore. The company was recognised on the SME500 Singapore 2025 list and has a 14-year track record of students achieving full marks in composition and oral examinations.
Abu Dhabi’s International Holding Company is moving to acquire an 80 per cent stake in Marlan Holding, giving the investment group a controlling position in the company behind UAE-based Marlan Space. The proposed transaction is being carried out through IHC’s wholly owned subsidiary International Tech Group SP LLC and remains subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions, the company said. Financial terms were not disclosed. Marlan […]
Ether remained confined to a narrow trading range after more than 116,000 tokens were withdrawn from cryptocurrency exchanges over 48 hours, a shift that reduced immediately available supply while traders watched whether the market could break through resistance around $2,500. The withdrawals, valued at roughly $300 million at prevailing prices, were highlighted by crypto analyst Ali Martinez. Exchange outflows can indicate that holders are moving assets into […]
The Reserve Bank of India has turned down Tata Sons’ request to surrender its core investment company registration, leaving the group holding company subject to rules that require upper-layer non-banking financial companies to list on stock exchanges.
The decision was conveyed in a letter dated September 11 after the central bank considered Tata Sons’ March 28, 2024 application and subsequent correspondence, people familiar with the matter said. The RBI advised the company to take the steps needed to comply fully with requirements applying to upper-layer NBFCs.
Tata Sons had sought to give up its Certificate of Registration after reducing debt and arguing that it could operate as an unregistered core investment company. Approval would have removed the principal regulatory basis for a compulsory market listing and allowed the company to remain privately held.
The rejection closes that route. RBI rules require an NBFC classified in the upper layer to list within three years of identification and subject it to tighter standards covering capital, governance, disclosures and risk management. Tata Sons was first placed in the upper layer in September 2022, making its original listing deadline September 2025.
The company remained unlisted while its deregistration request was under examination. When the RBI published its upper-layer list for 2024-25 in January 2025, it retained Tata Sons as a core investment company but said the inclusion was without prejudice to the outcome of the pending application.
The central bank subsequently revised its scale-based framework. Under the current approach, very large NBFCs face enhanced supervision, with an asset threshold of ₹1 trillion among the key criteria. Tata Sons’ standalone assets were about ₹1.75 trillion at the end of March 2025, placing it comfortably above that level. More recent accounts cited in corporate filings and regulatory discussions put the asset base above ₹2 trillion.
The company had repaid more than ₹200 billion of borrowings before seeking deregistration, a step intended to eliminate reliance on public funds, but the regulatory framework also considers circumstances in which access to funding may arise through group entities.
RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said in August that entities meeting the applicable criteria continued to fall within their respective regulatory layers. At that stage, Tata Sons’ application to surrender its core investment company registration had not been decided.
The latest communication therefore resolves the central regulatory question that had kept the company’s listing status uncertain. It does not, by itself, set out the structure, timing or size of any share sale, and Tata Sons has not publicly announced an IPO plan following the RBI decision.
A listing would have significant consequences for the ownership of Tata Sons, which sits at the centre of a group spanning technology, automobiles, steel, consumer businesses, airlines and financial services. Tata Trusts collectively hold roughly two-thirds of the company, giving the philanthropic trusts decisive influence over the holding company.
The Shapoorji Pallonji Group is the largest minority shareholder, with an interest of about 18 per cent. A market listing has long been important to the shareholder because it could create a transparent route for monetising part of that holding, while sections of Tata’s controlling shareholder base have favoured keeping Tata Sons private.
The regulatory decision arrives as Tata Sons is also dealing with leadership uncertainty. Chairman N Chandrasekaran has said he will not seek another term when his current tenure ends in February 2027, adding another major governance issue for the board and shareholders to address.
Tata Sons controls or holds substantial stakes in several listed companies, including Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors and Tata Steel, while also overseeing unlisted businesses. Its position as the group’s principal holding company means any listing would require extensive work on disclosures, capital structure, shareholder arrangements and regulatory compliance.
PALEMBANG, INDONESIA – Media OutReach Newswire – 12 September 2026 –Green SM has officially launched its electric taxi service in Palembang, making it the second city in Sumatra, after Bandar Lampung, to welcome the service. The expansion further affirms Green SM’s mission of bringing green mobility closer to the people of Indonesia while offering local residents a modern, comfortable, and zero-emission transportation experience.
Green SM officially launches all-electric taxi service in Palembang, expanding its presence across Sumatra, Indonesia.
To mark its official launch in Palembang, Green SM has also introduced the “Green Your Move, Refresh Your City” campaign, in support of initiatives led by the Ministry of Environment/Environmental Control Agency (KLH/BPLH) under the theme “Ecosystem & Air Protection” (Perlindungan Ekosistem & Udara).
The campaign encourages citizens to embrace more environmentally friendly modes of transportation, highlighting how every green journey in daily life can contribute to better air quality and a healthier urban environment.
Powered by a 100% electric vehicle fleet, Green SM is committed to delivering a 5-star mobility experience through its professional drivers, transparent pricing, and consistent service quality. By combining technology, service excellence, and sustainable mobility solutions, Green SM aims to set new standards for modern urban transportation.
Green SM’s presence in Palembang continues its journey of advancing green mobility in Indonesia, following its expansion into Jakarta, Makassar, Surabaya, Bali, and Bandar Lampung. This milestone also reaffirms the company’s long-term commitment to delivering reliable and sustainable mobility solutions to an increasing number of Indonesians.
As one of Sumatra’s largest hubs for trade and services, with a population of more than 1.8 million people, Palembang continues to see dynamic economic growth and rising demand for mobility. The city’s commitment to sustainable development and smart city initiatives also provides a strong foundation for advancing green, modern, and environmentally friendly transportation solutions that contribute to improving residents’ quality of life.
Mr. Pham Nhat Minh Hoang, Global CEO of Green SM, said: “I am delighted that Green SM has another opportunity to bring the positive values of green mobility to even more people across Indonesia. We believe that through our consistent service quality, professional drivers, and the outstanding benefits that green mobility offers, Green SM will become a trusted companion for the people of Palembang in their daily journeys, while contributing to ecosystem protection and cleaner air in Indonesia.”
To mark its launch in Palembang, Green SM is rolling out a series of special promotions. Riders can enjoy a 100% discount of up to Rp50,000 from September 12 to 16, 2026, followed by a 50% discount of up to Rp50,000 from September 17 to 25, and a 35% discount of up to Rp50,000 from September 26 to October 2, 2026. Green SM will continue introducing programs and offers designed to make travel more comfortable and affordable, while encouraging more residents of Palembang to make the switch to greener mobility.
Alongside providing all-electric transportation services, Green SM is committed to building a sustainable green mobility ecosystem through job creation, local talent development, and collaboration with stakeholders. As the company continues expanding across Indonesia, Green SM aims to improve access to modern mobility solutions while creating positive value for communities, the environment, and local economies.
Over the course of its global expansion, Green SM has completed approximately 850 million trips covering nearly 6 billion kilometers, helping reduce more than 800,000 tons of CO₂ emissions, equivalent to the carbon absorption capacity of approximately 36 million trees.
Hashtag: #GreenSM
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Two newly disclosed vulnerabilities affecting VLC media player 3.0.0 through 3.0.23 can corrupt heap memory or expose data when users open a malicious PNG image or connect to an attacker-controlled RealRTSP server, security records published this week show. The more serious issue, CVE-2026-56711, is an integer-overflow flaw in VLC’s picture-allocation logic that can lead to a heap out-of-bounds write. The vulnerability carries a CVSS v4 score of […]
Shanghai Enflame Technology nearly tripled in value on its Shanghai trading debut on Friday, extending a wave of listings that has turned founders of loss-making Chinese artificial-intelligence chipmakers into billionaires as investors bet heavily on domestic alternatives to Nvidia.
Enflame’s shares closed 179 per cent above their initial public offering price on the STAR Market, lifting the company’s market value to about 171 billion yuan from 61.2 billion yuan at the offer price. The Tencent-backed company raised 6.12 billion yuan by selling 43.04 million new shares at 142.18 yuan each.
The surge came despite Enflame having never reported an annual profit since its establishment in 2018. Its 2025 revenue reached 990.2 million yuan while its net loss narrowed to about 1.2 billion yuan. The company has forecast revenue of 2.3 billion yuan to 3 billion yuan for the first nine months of 2026, alongside a net loss of 700 million yuan to 860 million yuan.
Revenue has expanded quickly from 301 million yuan in 2023 and about 722 million yuan in 2024, but losses have remained substantial as the company spends heavily on research and product development. Enflame recorded net losses of about 1.67 billion yuan in 2023 and 1.51 billion yuan in 2024 before narrowing the deficit last year, underscoring how far commercial growth has run ahead of earnings for the company.
Enflame said in its prospectus that it expects to reach break-even or profitability in 2026 or 2027. It plans to direct much of the IPO proceeds towards development and industrialisation of fifth- and sixth-generation artificial-intelligence chips, software and large-scale computing systems.
The company’s rapid revaluation also highlights the unusual economics of China’s artificial-intelligence chip boom. Investors have rewarded several young semiconductor groups whose sales are expanding quickly but whose research spending remains heavy and earnings records are limited or negative.
Moore Threads Technology, another Shanghai-listed graphics processor developer, created several billionaires after its market debut in December 2025, when its shares rose more than fourfold. Founder and chairman Zhang Jianzhong, a former head of Nvidia’s China operations, was valued at several billion dollars after the listing, while co-founders Zhang Yubo and Wang Dong also crossed the billionaire threshold based on their holdings.
MetaX Integrated Circuits produced a similar outcome after its Shanghai flotation. Chairman and chief executive Chen Weiliang, who previously worked at Advanced Micro Devices, became a billionaire as investors pushed the company’s valuation sharply higher despite continuing operating losses. Early investor Ge Weidong also joined the billionaire ranks through his stake.
The valuations reflect expectations that domestic chipmakers will capture a larger share of China’s fast-growing demand for artificial-intelligence computing as access to the most advanced US-designed processors remains constrained. Domestic producers are competing to supply cloud companies, data centres and developers running large language models, recommendation engines and other computing-intensive services.
Enflame’s commercial position, however, remains unusually concentrated. Tencent is its largest shareholder, with a 17.95 per cent stake after the offering, and sales linked to the technology group accounted for 83.79 per cent of Enflame’s 2025 revenue. The concentration gives Enflame a major anchor customer but also leaves its growth closely tied to purchasing decisions by one group.
The company employed about 860 people as of September 2025, according to disclosures compiled from its listing materials. Founded by former AMD executives Zhao Lidong and Zhang Yalin, Enflame develops accelerator chips, add-on cards, computing systems and software for artificial-intelligence training and inference in data centres.
Only 17.9 million shares, equivalent to 4.16 per cent of Enflame’s enlarged share capital, were freely tradable at the start of trading, limiting the initial public float and potentially amplifying price swings. The retail portion of the offering attracted thousands of times more demand than the shares available.
Flipkart-backed payments platform Super. money is rolling out artificial-intelligence agents designed to shop for products and buy digital gold on users’ behalf, positioning autonomous transactions as a way to challenge larger rivals in India’s payments market.
The move comes as the National Payments Corporation of India develops protocols for identifying and authorising AI agents on the Unified Payments Interface, creating infrastructure that could let software complete selected payments under rules and limits set by customers.
Super. money founder and chief executive Prakash Sikaria has said the emerging architecture could allow agents representing merchants and consumers to interact directly, reducing the number of steps between product discovery and payment. The company is seeking to use that shift to extend its role beyond routine UPI transfers into commerce, credit and investment-related transactions.
Agentic payments differ from conventional chatbots because the software can act after interpreting an instruction rather than merely provide information. A user could, for example, ask an agent to find an eligible product within a budget or execute a purchase when specified conditions are met, subject to the permissions built into the payment framework.
NPCI is working on a registry to verify and monitor AI agents conducting transactions through UPI. Its proposed Unified Agent Protocol is expected to support controls including spending limits, identity checks and audit trails. The initial focus is on small, frequent purchases, while more complex conditional transactions could follow as safeguards and liability rules develop.
The payments body has already extended UPI Circle, its delegated-payments framework, to software profiles including AI profiles for limited users. Under the broader system, account holders can delegate payment authority within predefined limits while retaining visibility over transactions. Reserve Pay, another UPI mechanism, can block funds for authorised payments that may be debited later.
Super. money’s push builds on products added this year as it tries to broaden engagement beyond person-to-person and merchant payments. Its splitStore service, introduced in July, lets eligible customers browse products listed on Flipkart and either pay in full or use a pay-later facility provided by regulated lending partners.
The company’s terms state that Flipkart and its sellers remain responsible for the underlying sale, fulfilment, invoicing, cancellations and returns, while Super. money provides the shopping and credit interface. The platform does not hold inventory or set product prices.
Super. money has also added digital gold. Its customer-support documentation describes purchases, sales and reconciliation procedures involving a vault partner, while the app has promoted cashback on gold purchases. The service includes a post-purchase selling lock-in and applies the tax and market spread associated with digital-gold transactions.
Those products give the company potential use cases for agents that can move from a customer instruction to a transaction without requiring the user to navigate several separate screens. The central challenge is ensuring that delegated authority remains narrow enough to prevent unwanted or mistaken purchases.
That concern is shaping the wider industry’s approach. Razorpay, NPCI and OpenAI have been testing agentic payments using UPI Reserve Pay, with an earlier pilot allowing users to shop through a conversational AI interface and complete purchases from participating merchants after confirmation. Razorpay says its system is designed to support pre-authorised transactions within customer-approved spending limits.
Competition is intensifying as payments companies decide how extensively to integrate AI. PhonePe co-founder Rahul Chari has cautioned that not every existing payments experience becomes better merely by adding artificial intelligence, signalling a more selective approach than platforms seeking to make autonomous agents central to commerce.
Super. money remains smaller than the dominant UPI applications, giving it an incentive to pursue newer transaction categories rather than compete solely on basic payments. Its app combines UPI with credit, deposits, bill payments, shopping and other financial products, while the company has used cashback and embedded credit to encourage repeat usage.
National Stock Exchange of India has cut the size of its long-awaited initial public offering by more than 15 per cent, with several existing shareholders reducing planned sales after the exchange settled on a lower valuation range.
The offer will now comprise up to 126.44 million shares, down from about 148.91 million in the draft prospectus, according to the red herring prospectus dated September 10. The price band has been fixed at Rs 1,700 to Rs 1,785 a share, valuing NSE at as much as roughly Rs 4.42 trillion.
At the top of the band, the offer could raise about Rs 22,568 crore, compared with roughly Rs 26,580 crore had the original number of shares been sold at the same price. The transaction is entirely an offer for sale, meaning NSE will not receive proceeds and no fresh shares will be issued.
The revised structure follows concern among prospective investors about whether the exchange could sustain the growth rates that supported higher valuation expectations before tighter rules cooled activity in its lucrative derivatives business. An earlier marketed range of about Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,100 a share would have implied a valuation of as much as Rs 5.26 trillion.
Several large shareholders have reduced the number of shares they plan to sell. State Bank of India cut its proposed sale to about 15.97 million shares from 24.75 million, while Bank of Baroda, Indian Bank and other institutional holders also lowered their offers. SBI Capital Markets was added as a selling shareholder with nearly 8.8 million shares.
Other investors, including Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and ICICI Lombard General Insurance, retained their proposed sale quantities. The changes reduce the stake being offered to about 5.2 per cent of NSE’s equity from the 6 per cent envisaged in the draft prospectus.
The downsizing comes as investors scrutinise the exchange’s dependence on derivatives activity. NSE derives a substantial share of its revenue from options trading, where volumes have weakened after the Securities and Exchange Board of India introduced measures aimed at curbing excessive speculation and reducing risks for retail participants.
Options trading volumes on the exchange fell more than 12 per cent from a year earlier in August, adding to questions about the pace of future transaction-related revenue growth. Those concerns have been balanced by NSE’s strong profitability and dominant position in cash equities and derivatives.
For the quarter ended June, NSE reported a 6.7 per cent increase in net profit to about Rs 3,120 crore, while revenue rose roughly 13 per cent to Rs 4,560 crore. The figures give prospective investors a clearer view of the exchange’s earnings power as they assess the lower offer price.
The public offer is scheduled to open on September 17 and close on September 21, with anchor investors expected to bid a day earlier. A listing is expected around September 24, subject to completion of the offer process and final regulatory requirements.
The timetable follows regulatory clearance that removed a key obstacle to the listing. The Securities and Exchange Board of India approved the IPO prospectus on September 4 after NSE moved to settle long-running disputes linked to allegations of unfair access to its trading systems.
The Supreme Court also dismissed the market regulator’s appeal in the co-location matter after the parties indicated that a settlement had been reached. NSE had agreed to pay about Rs 1,491 crore to resolve the case, allowing the listing process to advance without that litigation hanging over the issue.
The reduced transaction will no longer challenge Hyundai Motor India’s 2024 flotation for the record as the country’s largest IPO by proceeds. Hyundai raised about Rs 27,870 crore, while NSE’s offer is expected to be worth about Rs 22,500 crore at the top of its announced price band.
Grindstone Ventures has launched a R500 million venture capital fund aimed at technology-enabled African businesses from seed to Series A, seeking to bridge the financing gap between early commercial traction and the larger institutional rounds needed for expansion. The fund, led by Grindstone Ventures chief executive Thandiwe Maqetuka and established with Knife Capital and Thinkroom, is targeting an initial close of R150 million. It plans to invest […]
Nasdaq has invested $100 million in Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, extending a relationship that already spans tokenised equities and digital-market infrastructure. The investment places one of the world’s largest exchange operators directly on Payward’s shareholder register and adds a financial dimension to a strategic partnership announced earlier this year. Payward operates Kraken alongside businesses including NinjaTrader, Breakout, xStocks and CF Benchmarks, using a […]
New report, authored by GSMA Intelligence in partnership with Huawei, released at UNESCO’s Digital Learning Week
Digital literacy – not coverage – is the main barrier keeping 3.1 billion people offline.
AI could potentially widen the digital literacy gap.
Bridging the usage gap could boost global GDP by $3.5 trillion from 2023 to 2030.
Citing Huawei’s Skills on Wheels initiative, the report urges policymakers, telcos, and tech vendors to treat AI literacy as critical infrastructure.
PARIS, FRANCE – Media OutReach Newswire – 10 September 2026 – More than one in three (38%) people remains offline despite being covered by mobile broadband – and a lack of digital literacy skills is often to blame, according to new research published today.
The new report, “Bridging the Divide: Enhancing Digital Literacy in the AI Era,” authored by GSMA Intelligence and produced in collaboration with Huawei, identifies a digital divide impacting 3.1 billion people caused by a shortage of digital skills, user trust and AI literacy.
AI raises both access and risk
Existing industry projections suggest closing the capability gap could add around $3.5 trillion to global GDP by 2030, with more than 90% of those gains flowing to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Physical mobile broadband coverage currently reaches 96% of people worldwide.
The report, unveiled at UNESCO’s Digital Learning Week, suggests artificial intelligence could act as both a bridge and a barrier for underserved communities. AI-powered voice assistants and applications that work with images, audio and video can all help low-literacy users bypass the need to input text. At the same time, they raise the security and critical-thinking standards required to participate safely. However, the study warns that users must now be able to understand data privacy and identify risks such as fraud and deepfakes.
The research cites World Bank statistics that GenAI literacy represents the highest-value skill category, with wage premiums up to 36%, far exceeding returns for both digital and traditional AI skills.
Without targeted interventions in basic digital training, the authors warn, rapid AI adoption risks entrenching existing inequalities even in areas with full network coverage.
Mobile classrooms build skills in remote areas
Digital inclusion initiatives typically target those most at risk of digital exclusion, including rural and remote communities, children and teachers in rural schools, older people, and women and girls.
The report emphasizes the need for community-based delivery models, citing Huawei’s Skills on Wheels initiative as a field-tested example — particularly its solar-powered DigiTruck mobile classrooms, which bring hardware, rural connectivity and hands-on training, including AI literacy, to off-grid regions.
Since 2019, training courses delivered by Skills on Wheels projects have reached more than 130,000 people across 21 countries, with more people benefiting indirectly. DigiTruck trainers encourage trainees to share their new skills, which is shown to occur in practice. A report on DigiTruck by Kenya’s Ministry of Information, Communications and Digital Economy shows that 79% of DigiTruck trainees surveyed had passed on their newly acquired digital skills to family members and peers.
Policymakers urged to treat AI literacy as core infrastructure
To bridge the usage gap, the report urges policymakers, telecom operators and technology vendors to work together and focus on four priorities:
Treating practical AI awareness, online safety and information verification as a baseline national qualification.
Adopting multilingual voice and conversational interfaces across public services to minimise user-side technical hurdles.
Scaling up mobile learning units through cross-sector partnerships that combine operator connectivity, vendor technology and local NGO networks.
Measuring performance by independent task completion and fraud resilience rather than trainee numbers.
“Digital literacy can no longer be defined by static thresholds,” said Tim Hatt, head of research and consultancy at GSMA Intelligence. “Connectivity alone is insufficient — capabilities, system design and trust must evolve together. To capture this multi-trillion-dollar opportunity, stakeholders must integrate layered AI literacy directly into daily livelihoods through trusted community channels.”
“Mobile classrooms have demonstrated immense value in helping underserved populations break through physical and psychological barriers to technology,” said Gavin Allen, Executive Editor-in-Chief at Huawei. “We will continue working alongside local governments and industry partners to drive digital literacy, ensuring that no one is left behind as we transition into the AI economy.”
A new DigiTruck program will launch in France this autumn, covering several cities in the Île-de-France region and targeting low-income and underserved communities with digital skills training.
Q1: What is the main purpose of this report? A: The report analyzes the critical importance of enhancing digital skills in the AI era, highlighting digital literacy as a layered and evolving capability. It calls on all stakeholders to collaborate in accelerating global digital inclusion and skill development.
Q2: What does it mean for policymakers to treat “AI literacy as core infrastructure”? A: It means shifting policy focus from just building physical base stations to funding human capabilities. The report urges governments to integrate baseline AI awareness, online security, and media verification into national qualification frameworks, treating digital skills as an essential public utility alongside electricity and broadband.
Hashtag: #Huawei
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Abu Dhabi-based BlueFive Capital has completed the acquisition of a 30% equity stake in Bugatti Rimac from Porsche, becoming the second-largest shareholder in the producer of Bugatti supercars. The transaction closed on September 9 after regulatory approvals were secured, BlueFive said. Rimac Group retains its 55% controlling stake in Bugatti Rimac, while BlueFive now holds the largest position after the Croatian automotive group. BlueFive will gain a […]
Mubadala Investment Company has agreed to acquire a significant minority interest in Luckin Coffee alongside controlling shareholder Centurium Capital in a transaction valued at about $1 billion, extending the Abu Dhabi sovereign investor’s exposure to China’s consumer sector. The transaction is structured through Success Cup Limited and is expected to give a Mubadala affiliate the right to nominate a director to Luckin Coffee’s board while it maintains […]
Arabian Post Staff -Dubai The Boring Company has secured $3 billion in a Series D funding round led by the United Arab Emirates and affiliated investment entities, lifting the Elon Musk-founded tunnelling startup’s valuation to $23 billion. The financing will support an expanded partnership to develop more than 150 kilometres of underground infrastructure across the UAE, building on the company’s Dubai Loop project, as well as hiring […]
Hong Kong-based New Sparkle Roll International Group is considering selling its holding in Bang & Olufsen, potentially reshaping the ownership of the Danish luxury audio maker, people familiar with the matter said. The deliberations concern a stake of more than 10 per cent in the Copenhagen-listed company, making New Sparkle Roll one of Bang & Olufsen’s two largest disclosed shareholders. The process remains under consideration and no […]
Anthropic has disclosed a fourth cybersecurity testing incident in which a pre-release Claude model gained unauthorised access to a real third-party system, prompting the company to broaden its investigation and reassess earlier conclusions about the models’ behaviour. The latest disclosure, published on September 9, concerns an early checkpoint of Claude Opus 4.6 tested in January. Anthropic said the model was running a capture-the-flag exercise in an environment […]
Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Abu Dhabi has introduced the Gulf region’s first Digital Skills Card, giving employers and regulators a blockchain-backed way to verify professional qualifications and skills through a QR code. The Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council, or QCC, launched the credential with Union Assessment and Quality Accreditation, known as UAC, on Monday. Each card is tied to a certification awarded through personnel conformity programmes […]
Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Saudi low-cost carrier flynas has agreed to acquire a 10 per cent stake in Swissport Saudi Arabia for about SAR50 million, pairing the investment with a five-year exclusive ground-handling agreement covering its network across the kingdom. The transaction, signed on September 6 and disclosed to the Saudi Exchange on Monday, also gives flynas an option to buy an additional 10 per cent of […]