Spark New Zealand added heat to rural IoT connectivity competition, working with natural resource protection company Dryad Networks and a local authority to provide advanced warning of wildfires in a major forest.

The set-up in the Waitangi Endowment Forest uses Dryad Networks sensors equipped with AI to detect fires at an early stage and inform the Far North District Council (FNDC) and woodland authorities.

Spark stated the sensors are capable of detecting smouldering, meaning alerts can be generated even when there are no visible signs of smoke or flames to provide early warning and give fire fighters more time to respond, along with enabling swifter evacuation of the forest.

The system is being configured and connected to the internet by Spark company Adroit, with FNDC installing the sensors. The authority is also to match funding for the project provided in a recent round of investment by New Zealand’s Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

A total of 250 sensors are to be deployed, providing full coverage of Waitangi Endowment Forest. The system is to be in place for 15 years.

FNDC group manager for Corporate Services Charlie Billington said the project is an opportunity to train AI for the setting, localising the technology and making it more accurate.

Further fine-tuning is scheduled for February 2027, when forest managers and owners, iwi and business representatives are set to trek the ground to explain the system and tweak it for specific smoke signatures.

Spark stated there is a broader goal to integrate the set-up with systems used by Fire and Emergency New Zealand.

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AST SpaceMobile decoupled from recent launch disappointments by scheduling the orbital deployment of its next three satellites on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

The space-based mobile network company hopes to blast its BlueBird 8, 9 and 10 satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO) on 17 June. As ever, launches are dependent on various environmental and other factors, so precise timing is fluid.

AST SpaceMobile expects the latest satellites to deliver almost twice the data rates of its initial BlueBird models, which it noted recently hit 98.9Mb/s in the downlink.

Company president Scott Wisniewski said the significance of the satellites goes beyond expanding its constellation and coverage: they represent the culmination of an in-house manufacturing drive and bolster claims to having birds with the largest phase-arrayed antennas at LEO heights.

AST SpaceMobile stated the trio of satellites are already stacked using a proprietary architecture and ready to be integrated with the SpaceX rocket.

The scheduled launch is something of a firing back by AST SpaceMobile at commentators who questioned whether a recent failure of a Blue Origin New Glenn rocket during a test would impact a plan to conduct regular launches throughout 2026.

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SK Telecom declared itself the first private company based in Asia to be picked to contribute to European Union (EU) work to develop next-generation quantum cryptography technology to boost the security of communications.

The South Korean operator was picked to help develop a quantum key distribution (QKD) system using Quantum Photonic Integrated Circuit-AI as part of the EU’s €95.5 billion Horizon Europe science and technology research financing programme.

SKT staff are to work with researchers in Greece, Austria and Germany, focusing on reducing the bulk, weight and cost of QKD equipment.

The theory is access to QKD-based security would be boosted if the equipment is easier to deploy: SKT stated current systems are unwieldy because “precision optical components…must be individually assembled and aligned in the form of discrete equipment”.

SKT believes optical elements can be combined into a single chip using Photonic Integrated Circuit semiconductor process technology, an approach it likened to producing smartphone camera modules.

The operator expects real-time optical calibration to be possible by embedding AI into the system to boost “overall QKD system stability”.

Project coordination is to be handled by the National Centre of Scientific Research Demokritos in Greece, which is also tasked with developing the AI.

The Austrian Institute of Technology is to develop the key management system and German semiconductor start-up Synogate the functional logic.

SKT highlighted a side mission to help harmonise European and South Korean quantum cryptography standards by identifying differences in respective current approaches. The work could ultimately help develop a global approach, it stated.

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Orange made a second decisive acquisition move in as many days after completing a buyout of its partner in Spanish joint venture MasOrange.

The French operator detailed the completion of the deal late yesterday (8 June), two days after a move involving the assets of domestic rival SFR.

Orange began its quest to purchase the 50% of MasOrange it did not own from partner Lorca in October 2025 and the process ran relatively smoothly, with a definitive deal made two months later and regulatory clearance secured earlier this year.

MasOrange CEO Meinrad Spenger gains a place on Orange’s executive committee. He said the buyout cements the operator’s foundations and improves its “capacity for investment and innovation”.

Orange intends to refinance MasOrange debt “over time”.

The operator highlighted the acquisition of the remainder of MasOrange as important to a current strategy focused on the theme of trust, while also bolstering its position in Spain, its second-largest market in Europe.

“It paves the way for accelerated industrial, operational and commercial synergies”, CEO Christel Heydemann said.

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