Singtel Group positioned a partnership with government-linked body Digital Industry Singapore as helping it accelerate a sweeping AI transformation of its business and strengthen digital infrastructure in the country.

The operator noted the pact, which comes with a grant for the company, will contribute to a multi-year plan to up adoption of AI across its business including within infrastructure, customer platforms and for workforce development.

In the first phase Singtel plans to develop and hire AI talent, establish governance and tech frameworks and build “enterprise advisory and implementation expertise to support AI deployment at scale”.

Among its aims is to become a “world-leading AI-native telco” with advanced AI and machine learning capabilities in all business units.

The operator highlighted its push aligned with a wider national strategy in Singapore which aims to strengthen sovereign digital infrastructure, increase skills of the local workforce and develop “globally competitive leaders” in the AI sector.

Singtel CEO Yuen Kuan Moon added it was “championing enterprise transformation with AI” in its home market.

“As an adopter, provider and enabler of AI, Singtel is embedding intelligent technologies across our operations, delivering trusted enterprise-grade solutions that help customers move from pilot to scale, and providing secure, sovereign platforms and digital infrastructure to support adoption across industries.”

He continued: “Ultimately, our goal is to create real impact not just for our business, but for Singapore, future-proofing our industries to be more competitive and resilient in the AI era.”

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More than 1 million people advised to evacuate homes amid 80mph winds and heavy rain

Typhoon Jangmi (also known as Typhoon No 6) moved northwards over the course of this week. From Okinawa to mainland Japan, prolonged and heavy rainfall led to landslide warnings and the flooding of rivers, with Japan issuing level 4 warnings for some rivers, signalling a risk of overflowing. This level is high enough for municipalities to issue evacuation orders. Three-hourly rainfall totals on Wednesday reached 105mm in Chiyoda, Tokyo, which was a record high for the month. Sustained wind speeds of 80mph (130kph) were recorded on Monday – making it a category 1 typhoon – bringing damage and disruption to businesses, transport, infrastructure and the environment.

By Wednesday, 23 people had been injured, 17 of whom were in Okinawa. The typhoon damaged 57 homes and led to 60,000 homes losing electricity. In addition to this, 1.52 million people were advised to evacuate by authorities. The typhoon damaged the exterior wall of Himeji Castle, a Unesco world heritage site in western Japan. The maximum recorded wind speed at Himeji was 56mph, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. The typhoon has now weakened into a tropical depression and has moved eastwards, away from the islands.

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© Photograph: Franck Robichon/EPA

© Photograph: Franck Robichon/EPA

© Photograph: Franck Robichon/EPA

Nauran government says its citizens are ‘friendly’ after MP spoke of serious threats allegedly made against former detainees

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The Nauruan government has issued a rare statement insisting it is a “friendly” and “welcoming” country after a whistleblower alleged “serious threats of physical violence” were made against a group of non-citizens removed there by the Albanese government.

The unexpected defence, sent shortly after midday on Thursday, was mounted hours after the independent MP Andrew Wilkie used his three-minute constituency statement to read claims from an anonymous whistleblower familiar with the arrangements of the secretive $2.5bn deal between Australia and Nauru.

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© Photograph: Gallo Images/Getty Images

© Photograph: Gallo Images/Getty Images

© Photograph: Gallo Images/Getty Images

SoftBank Group’s mobile payment subsidiary PayPay inked a deal to acquire a 70% stake in T&D Financial Life Insurance Company for JPY134 billion ($840 million), part of an aim to broaden its range of financial services.

When launched in 2018 PayPay focused on providing contactless mobile payments but has since widened this to include credit cards and other banking services. It had a base of more than 74 million users as of May 2026.

Announcing the deal, PayPay said the move to buy the life insurance company from T&D Holdings was part of an ambition to “provide comprehensive financial services tailored to each stage of users’ lives”.

The company intends to grow T&D Financial Life’s business through use of its existing platforms and by creating “new customer experiences in the digital life insurance domain”.  

In a linked deal, asset management company One Investment Management intends to buy a stake of almost 15% in the insurance company from T&D Holdings. The current owner will retain the other 15%, though a call option on this is being inserted into the acquisition agreement.

The deal is subject to regulatory approval.

Alongside the proposed acquisition, PayPay agreed a “comprehensive business alliance” agreement 3with T&D Holdings, largely concerning the latter’s insurance brand Taiyo Life.

The pair will “explore the development and provision of services designed to enhance customer convenience and help address social issues, while also drawing on AI, digital technologies, and other capabilities of SoftBank Corp”.

The pact is set to include: offering T&D Holdings’ Taiyo Life insurance products on the PayPay app; exploring call centre enhancement and operational efficiency for Taiyo Life; and jointly exploring a “smart senior city concept”.

The post SoftBank’s PayPay set for life insurance buy appeared first on Mobile World Live.

T-Mobile US officially opened a global capability centre (GCC) in Hyderabad, India, with plans to hire around 1,000 staff by 2027, its first such facility outside of its home market.

The Indian government stated T-Mobile, through its TMUS Global Solutions Technology subsidiary, opened a site spanning 250,000 square feet in the city, which is situated in the state of Telangana.

It will operate as a strategic innovation hub within its global network, focusing on software engineering, DevOps, product development, cloud technologies, AI, data analytics, cybersecurity and next-generation digital solutions.

Posting on X, minister for IT Sridhar Duddilla said T-Mobile’s GCC represented another significant milestone in Telangana’s growth as a technology and innovation destination.

“The decision by T-Mobile to expand its presence here reflects the confidence that global companies have in Telangana’s talent, business-friendly environment, and strong digital infrastructure.”

Chandra Gupta, VP IT operations at TMUS Global Solutions, added the company decided to locate the facility in Hyderabad as it offers “a combination of technology talent and an established innovation ecosystem aligned with the company’s long-term goals”.

The Economic Times of India reported the company has already onboarded more than 500 people at the facility,

According to Reuters, India’s GCCs have evolved from low-cost outsourcing hubs to offices for global companies, supporting parent companies in several functions.

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SoftBank Group overtook Toyota Motor as Japan’s most valuable company, as AI gains propelled the technology group ahead of the country’s largest automaker.

SoftBank shares rose 14% in Tokyo trading on Monday, taking its market value above JPY48 trillion ($306 billion), past Toyota’s nearly JPY46 trillion.

Bloomberg noted the shift marks the first time in more than two decades SoftBank moved ahead of Toyota on market value including treasury shares. According to the publication, SoftBank last briefly held the position during Japan’s internet bubble in 2000.

The move caps a sharp run for SoftBank, with its shares up more than 90% this year. Toyota has moved the other way, falling more than 10% as automakers face rising fuel costs and the expensive shift to electric vehicles and software-led platforms.

Meanwhile, SoftBank’s gains have been buoyed by ambitious bets on OpenAI; the company has committed close to $65 billion to OpenAI to date, giving it a projected stake of about 13% by October.

Earlier this year, OpenAI and SoftBank also jointly invested $1 billion in US digital infrastructure company SB Energy, which will build and operate a 1.2GW data centre for OpenAI in Texas. The trio are working to develop a new model for data centre builds, tied to the broader $500 billion US-led Stargate initiative focussed on AI and energy infrastructure.

SoftBank also announced an investment of up to €75 billion in AI data centre infrastructure in France earlier today (1 June), adding it will work with SB Energy and other strategic partners to deliver the projects.

Kazuhiro Sasaki, head of research at Phillip Securities Japan, told Bloomberg: “This epoch-making event symbolises the AI boom.”

Meanwhile, Tomo Kinoshita, global market strategist at Invesco Asset Management Japan, told the publication SoftBank had “concentrated its management resources on AI-related businesses” and “successfully ridden the broader global tech rally”.

For Toyota, higher oil prices linked to conflict in the Middle East also added to pressure on global auto demand, he noted.

“Over the longer term, AI-related companies are likely to command higher valuations,” Kinoshita added.

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