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Most companies leveraging Extended Reality (XR) do not tap into one of its most valuable assets—data. Despite having the tools to capture rich insights, businesses primarily use XR for engagement rather than as a data-driven resource to measure ROI, optimize performance, and enhance customer experiences. According to a new report from global technology intelligence firm ABI Research, organizations are not fully harnessing XR’s potential because they either lack awareness of its role as a valuable data source or do not understand its benefits in this capacity.

“When discussing with companies how they measure their success rates, or with what data they approach customers to convince them XR is a business tool, most said that they use their own case studies as proof of success, or customer questionnaires to understand the usefulness of their product,” explains Matilda Beinat, Research Analyst at ABI Research. “With that in mind, approaching companies that offer modes for XR as a data source expressed similar findings – most companies do not gather biometric and usage-based data, and more importantly, they do not completely understand the benefits of tangible results to prove success rates.”

While many companies are missing an important opportunity, innovators like Cognitive3D, InContext Solutions, and XRHealth are demonstrating the transformative potential of XR data. Cognitive3D’s platform captures detailed spatial analytics and user interactions within XR environments, providing businesses with unprecedented insight into user behavior and engagement. This data empowers data-driven decisions for ROI measurement, design optimization, and enhanced customer experiences. InContext Solutions leverages XR for real-time retail insights, allowing brands to test store layouts and product placements virtually before costly real-world implementations. XRHealth is revolutionizing healthcare by using XR data to personalize therapies and track patient progress, enabling clinicians to precisely measure recovery outcomes.

These companies showcase the untapped power of XR as a data source, proving its ability to drive measurable success. By harnessing XR data effectively, organizations gain actionable insights for transforming operations and elevating customer engagement. This represents a significant opportunity for businesses across industries, and those who embrace XR data now stand to gain a considerable competitive advantage.

“In the age of immersive experiences, data is the key to unlocking competitive advantage. With the way Artificial Intelligence (AI) is moving forward, and how it is being paired with XR, it is important to understand the benefits of data, how it should be used, and why it should be used,” says Beinat. “XR is often viewed as a platform for engagement, but it’s also a powerful source of information. Shifting our perspective to recognize this data potential is crucial for realizing its full value.” ABI Research

European telecommunications executives gathered at the continent’s biggest trade show railed against over-regulation, blaming Brussels for preventing consolidation in the industry that’s fallen behind peers in the US and Asia.

“You know, what Europe needs is a DOGE,” Deutsche Telekom AG Chief Executive Officer Tim Höttges said Monday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, referring to the Trump administration’s cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency spearheaded by Elon Musk.

Höttges’s frustrations about a stagnant European telecom industry hampered by low margins and high levels of competition were echoed by others on his panel, including Vodafone CEO Margherita Della Valle, Orange SA boss Christel Heydemann and Telefonica SA’s Marc Murtra.

“In what has now become a global race, it is fair to say that Europe is not winning,” Della Valle said, adding that in “the 5G era, Europe is a laggard.”

Many in the industry see consolidation as a cure. In several European markets, regulators have blocked or heavily modified planned mergers that would reduce the number of operators in a country from four to three in an effort to maintain affordable service.

A report by former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi last year said the European Union should encourage more mergers in the sector. While Teresa Ribera, the bloc’s antitrust chief, has said she supports overhauling EU merger rules in general to boost competitiveness of local companies, the commission hasn’t yet pushed through any changes.

Read More: Telefonica Eyes EU Consolidation After Meeting Expectations

“We should just copy what the Americans are doing,” said Höttges, whose Deutsche Telekom gets most of its revenue and profit from a stake in US operator T-Mobile US Inc. “China has three operators, even India went to three operators and they are prospering.”

The panel came at the end of a day when the leaders of companies including Telefonica, Emirates Telecommunications Group Company PJSC, Telenor ASA, and Bharti Airtel Ltd expressed frustration that their companies haven’t got sufficient financial rewards from building expensive telecommunications networks.

Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said the industry bears the burden of building digital infrastructure, but isn’t not getting enough back.

“The return on capital? At 4% average,” Mittal said. “We may as well put the money in the bank and go and play some golf.” Bloomberg

Bharti Airtel vice-chairman and MD Gopal Vittal has urged the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI ) to expand its regulatory oversight to over-the-top (OTT) communication platforms in order to significantly curb spam.

In a recent letter to TRAI secretary Atul Kumar Chaudhary, Vittal has recommended three immediate steps to TRAI to address the issue of spams over OTT. First involves extending the digital consent acquisition (DCA) framework to OTT platforms. Second, mandating KYC framework for OTTs, and third is expanding the centralised blacklist system for spam detection to OTT platforms.

“While regulatory efforts have significantly curbed spam and unsolicited commercial communication (UCC) over SMS and voice, bad actors are increasingly shifting their operations OTT communication platforms, where regulatory oversight remains limited,” Vittal said in the letter.

His suggestions were in response to TRAI’s letter to Airtel, commending its role in the successful implementation of the SMS traceability framework, which the regulator had mandated telcos to do to avoid SMS frauds.

The ability of fraudsters to bypass telecom regulations through these platforms creates new challenges, leaving consumers vulnerable to phishing, financial fraud, and other security threats, Vittal explained.

Vittal’s suggestions come at a time when TRAI has amended the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations (TCCCPR) 2018 and introduced easy spam reporting mechanism, new do not disturb app, penalties on telcos on non-compliance, and opt-out option from promotional messages, among key things.

However, the TRAI regulations do not apply to OTTs as the same is currently out of its ambit, officials said.

According to Vittal, the DCA framework will ensure that users can seamlessly manage their consent across both telecom and digital communication channels. The same helps consumers to control promotional communications.

Just like telcos do a KYC for users, a similar verification framework for OTT platforms will help improve traceability, accountability, and consumer safety, Vittal said, adding that lack of blacklist system in OTT platforms allow repeat offenders to continue their activities unchecked.

Airtel last year also introduced its AI driven anti-spam solution.

“Our industry’s first anti-spam tool has brought significant relief. We have been able to alert 252 million unique customers and effectively combat the spam menace. Powered by our AI driven network, this identifies over 1 million unique spammers making more than 130 million calls a day.

That’s roughly a trillion records that it’s processed on a daily basis,” Vittal said during an earnings call.

Among other key things, Vittal has urged TRAI to create a unified consumer protection and compliance framework, which includes a robust authorisation/licensing framework for principal entities (PEs) and telemarketers (TMs).

The same should also include strong penalties. “This (ensuring accountability of PEs and TMs, is especially imperative given that TSPs are merely the conduits while the PEs/TMs are actual content generators,” Vittal said.

Airtel has also sought TRAI’s intervention in pitching for global standards against calling line identification (CLI) spoofing. Financial Express

A new hydrogen fuel cell-based backup power solution for telecom towers is set to revolutionise the industry by providing a cleaner, more efficient alternative to traditional diesel generators, the government said.

This innovative plug-and-play system aligns with India’s renewable energy goals while ensuring uninterrupted connectivity for millions of users across the country, according to Ministry of Science and Technology.

“India is home to over a million telecom towers, many of which are located in remote areas where maintaining continuous operations can be challenging due to limited access to the power grid,” the ministry added.

It added that for years, diesel generators have been used as backup power sources. However, these generators are costly, inefficient, and contribute significantly to carbon emissions, making them less suitable in the long term.

The solution to this problem lies in Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cells, which offer an environmentally friendly, efficient, and reliable energy source.

These fuel cells generate electricity by using hydrogen as fuel, producing only water vapour as a by-product.

They also have the advantage of quick start-up times, operate at relatively low temperatures, and require much less maintenance than diesel generators, making them a promising option for telecom towers, especially in areas without reliable grid power.

The fuel cell technology operates through an electrochemical reaction, where hydrogen gas is supplied to the anode, oxidised to release protons, and then passes through a polymer membrane to the cathode.

Here, it reacts with oxygen to generate electricity and water, providing a clean energy solution, the Ministry added.

In line with global environmental efforts, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) have been encouraging greener energy alternatives for telecom towers.

TRAI’s 2012 directive mandates that at least 50 per cent of rural telecom towers and 33 per cent of urban towers switch to hybrid renewable energy sources.

Integrating PEM fuel cells with telecom towers supports this vision, offering an eco-friendly backup system. OdishaTV

The US government office responsible for a marquee $52 billion chip subsidy program will lose about two-fifths of its staff as President Donald Trump slashes the federal workforce.

The reduction includes around 20 employees who accepted a voluntary deferred resignation and left the Chips Program Office last week, the people said. There also are about 40 who are considered probationary and will be terminated Monday, according to one of the people. Probationary employees are those who started their jobs, including promotions, in the past one to two years.

The terminations threaten to hamper implementation of the Chips and Science Act, a bipartisan law signed by President Joe Biden in 2022. Designed to boost domestic chipmaking after decades of production shifting to Asia, the program includes $39 billion in manufacturing grants to companies like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Intel Corp., plus $11 billion for research and development. It has prompted well over $400 billion in promised private investment, including chip factory spending and supply chain projects.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, the former chief executive officer of Cantor Fitzgerald LP, hasn’t expressed clear intentions for the Chips Act. But in remarks on Monday, he suggested that the legislation’s approach hasn’t generated the kind of payoff that Trump is poised to get with tariffs.

Lutnick spoke during the White House announcement of TSMC’s plan to invest an additional $100 billion in US manufacturing. With the Chips Act, the US gave a $6 billion grant to TSMC and received a pledge to invest $65 billion, he said.

“So America gave TSMC 10% of the money to build here,” Lutnick said at the event. “And now you’re seeing the power of Donald Trump’s presidency because TSMC, the greatest manufacturer of chips in the world, is coming to America with a $100 billion investment. And, of course, that is backed by the fact that they can come here because they can avoid paying tariffs.”

A representative for the Commerce Department, which oversees the office, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the staffing cuts.

The previous administration built an office of about 140 people to oversee the Chips Act manufacturing spending, on top of staff responsible for R&D funding. Those officials allocated the vast majority of factory incentives before Biden left office, but only a small portion of that money has actually gone out the door. Under the negotiated contracts, companies receive payments when they reach construction and production milestones.

The staff cuts, while significant, aren’t as deep as some within the government and chip industry anticipated. In particular, they won’t have a major impact on the teams responsible for negotiating with companies and evaluating their progress toward contractual benchmarks, a person familiar with the matter said. The chips office leadership urged against cuts to those departments in recent meetings with Lutnick.

But it’s unclear how the office will proceed on a wide range of other matters, including the execution of manufacturing awards focused on smaller supply chain projects. The office has received applications for the $500 million program, but has not yet announced any winners.

Lutnick’s questions to current staff have focused on the rationale behind award decisions, the people said, as well as the government’s legal authority to claw back money that’s been disbursed. Lutnick is especially focused on rules limiting how much Chips Act winners can expand in China, the people said.

The program’s staff, meanwhile, have been preparing a list of potential amendments — to both the funding application process and contract terms — that would allow Lutnick to claim a win for the administration without causing major disruptions, according to two people. That could include removing language encouraging union contracts, the people said, or requirements to offer child care at major facilities — something many companies independently planned to do.

But it’s possible that Lutnick’s changes will prove more consequential than cosmetic. For weeks, he’s quietly led conversations with Intel and TSMC — which won the two largest Chips Act awards — about a possible deal that could see the Taiwanese company take over operation of Intel’s factories. That could involve changes to both companies’ awards, depending in part on the ownership structure of a potential partnership. Bloomberg