Telecom
AVEVA Underscores Critical Role of Digitalization to Fast-track Industrial Decarbonization

AVEVA, a global leader in industrial software, driving digital transformation and sustainability, will demonstrate at COP28 how leveraging data in a connected industrial economy can accelerate the path towards a sustainable future.

AVEVA is a gold sponsor of the International Chamber of Commerce pavilion within the Blue Zone of the United Nations Conference of the Parties, in Dubai, UAE, with the aspiration of building bridges between developed economies and the global south.
AVEVA’s leaders will highlight how digital solutions can minimize CO² emissions of existing industrial infrastructure while maximizing efficiency across the value chain and delivering measurable cost savings that can be reinvested in clean technologies.
AVEVA’s delegation at COP28 will be led by CEO Caspar Herzberg along with Lisa Wee, Head of Global Sustainability; Harpreet Gulati, Senior Vice President, Head of PI System Business; Evgeny Fedotov, Senior Vice President, EMEA; and Nayef Bou Chaaya, Vice President MEA.
Caspar Herzberg, CEO of AVEVA, said: “The world must dramatically cut waste. The industrial sector accounts for a quarter of global emissions. Every day, our customers prove that digitalization enables industrial companies to drive measurable carbon reductions, including for traditionally energy-intensive industries.
“At AVEVA, our ambition is to accelerate low-carbon innovation, and to drive circularity and efficiency across the value chain.
“We want the software we create to transform how industries are designed and how they operate, to accelerate climate action and reduce inequalities. Forging partnerships with businesses, governments and civil society leaders here at COP is critical to build forward-thinking, collective solutions that accelerate climate action, worldwide.”
Evgeny Fedotov, Senior Vice President, EMEA, at AVEVA, added: “Collaboration is essential to driving efficient global value chains – collective action is also essential to drive decarbonization. This is why we want to be part of the conversation at COP28 to advance necessary and inclusive climate progress by building bridges across international communities.
“As a driving force toward a more sustainable world, COP28 is a milestone moment for the world to take stock of its progress on the Paris Agreement. We are eager to engage with world leaders, governments, and our technology peers, to drive insightful discussions on how together, we can accelerate the transition to a sustainable future.”
Nayef Bou Chaaya, Vice President MEA at AVEVA, said: “While AVEVA helps industrial customers optimize their existing processes and operations, we drive innovation, opening up new industry frontiers, that leverage emerging green technologies.
“Our software empowers teams with connected insights so that they can make the best decisions at speed, ensuring the resilience and efficiency that in turn drive sustainable success.
“The positive impact our solutions bring to customers is our single biggest opportunity to make a difference in the world.”
Lisa Wee, Head of Global Sustainability at AVEVA said: “At AVEVA we want to lead by example in the fight against climate change. We have already cut our scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 93% and we are actively working to reduce the environmental impacts of our value chain.
“We have made significant progress in delivering solutions that are low carbon by design and have in-built capabilities to enable industries to decarbonize, drive circularity and adapt to the impacts of global warming.”
“Exchanging insights and forging partnerships with forward-thinking businesses, governments and civil society leaders is critical to finding solutions that increase the scale and scope of climate action across the globe.
“COP28 is an ideal forum to have these discussions, given the breadth of stakeholders convened alongside key national and international policymakers capable of actively contributing to our collective endeavor for decarbonization.”
Harpreet Gulati, Senior Vice President, and Head of PI System Business at AVEVA, said: “Harnessing the potential of green hydrogen could avoid up to 80 gigatons of cumulative CO² emissions by 2050, contributing to as much as 20% of total abatement required to drive the net-zero economy.
The hydrogen sector will require a new transportation, distribution, and regulatory approach to operate successfully as an alternative fuel. Combining this with the latest digital twin and AI-enhanced capabilities, industries can discover new paths to drive efficiency and decarbonize.”
During COP28, AVEVA executives will participate in various panels aimed at defining a clearer roadmap to a better future through digitalization.
Telecom
WASPAN Drags Bello, FCCPB Boss to Court over Alleged Disobedience of Order

Wireless Application Service Providers Association of Nigeria (WASPAN) has dragged Tunji Bello, executive vice chairman, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), before the Federal High Court in Lagos over alleged disobedience of a subsisting court order in a legal dispute involving telecom-based lending services.

Tunji Bello, EVC, FCCPC
Wireless Application Service Providers Association of Nigeria initiated this in Suit No: FHC/L/CS/760/2026 pending before the court.
According to court documents, Bello was issued a Form 49 Notice to Show Cause, directing him to appear before the court on 22 May 2026 to explain why an order of committal should not be made against him for allegedly failing to comply with interim orders issued by Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa on 15 April 2026.
The court had earlier granted interim injunctions restraining the FCCPC, its officers, agents and privies from enforcing provisions of the Digital, Electronic, Online or Non-Traditional Consumer Lending Regulations 2025 against members of WASPAN, pending the determination of the substantive suit.
The restraining orders specifically barred the commission from interfering with services rendered by WASPAN members, including airtime lending, data advances and other mobile value-added services.
The orders also restrained the FCCPC from imposing sanctions, penalties or directives connected to the disputed regulations.
In the Form 49 notice dated 18 May 2026, WASPAN alleged that despite being aware of the court orders and having been served with Form 48 — the statutory notice warning against disobedience of court orders — the FCCPC and its Executive Vice Chairman allegedly continued actions contrary to the directives of the court.
The notice stated that the alleged contemnor refused to comply with the orders and had continued to deliberately defy the orders of the court.
An affidavit of service filed before the court disclosed that Form 48 was served on Bello at the FCCPC headquarters located at 23 Jimmy Carter Street, Asokoro, Abuja, on 6 May 2026.
The latest development followed earlier proceedings in which Justice Lewis-Allagoa declined an application by the FCCPC seeking to vacate the interim injunction.
The court instead directed that the substantive suit and the commission’s preliminary objection be heard together.
WASPAN is challenging the FCCPC’s authority to regulate telecom-based lending services, arguing that certain provisions of the DEON Regulations encroach on the statutory powers of the Nigerian Communications Commission to regulate telecommunications services in the country.
Wireless Application Service Providers Association of Nigeria, is the primary self-regulatory body and trade association for licensed Value-Added Service (VAS) providers and aggregators in Nigeria’s telecommunications sector
Telecom
Lagos Warns against Fake Emergency Calls, Says Rising Misuse Put Lives at Risk

Lagos State government has raised alarm over the growing misuse of its emergency hotlines, and warned that fake calls are delaying response times and putting lives at risk.

According to the state, fake emergency calls or prank calls, account for a massive majority of distress communications—nearly 70 per cent.
This severe misuse dangerously delays response times for real emergencies like fires, crimes, and medical crises, and wastes critical first-responder resources
Olugbenga Oyerinde, commissioner for Special Duties, called the numbers (nearly seven out of every 10 calls made to Lagos emergency hotlines) deeply troubling.
The scale of the disruption has significantly affected emergency response operations, with the government disclosing that 5.47 million incoming calls went unanswered during the period under review.
The abandoned call rate climbed sharply from 9.3 per cent in January 2025 to 37.6 per cent by April 2026, suggesting worsening pressure on operators handling emergency traffic.
Officials warned that if the current trend continues, more than 7.2 million calls could go unanswered before the end of 2026
The Lagos State Command and Control Centre serves as the central coordination hub for emergency response agencies across the state, including the fire service, ambulance services, traffic management authorities and neighbourhood safety operatives.
According to the report, the sheer volume of fake and misdirected calls has forced the system to devote significant operational resources to filtering non-emergency traffic before genuine distress cases can be handled.
To address the growing burden, the ministry said it plans to introduce artificial intelligence-driven call screening technology designed to detect and filter nuisance calls before they reach human operators.
The proposed system, expected to be introduced before the end of 2026, is projected to reduce operator handling time by 35 per cent.
Other reforms outlined in the ministry’s strategic response plan include expanding agent capacity by 40 per cent, deploying automated callback systems for abandoned calls and establishing a real-time analytics dashboard for emergency response monitoring.
Yet one of the most striking figures in the report was not the 16.39 million nuisance calls, but the fact that only 39 calls were officially categorised as hoax calls requiring legal follow-up during the same period.
Telecom
Google, Blackstone Invest in AI Cloud Venture to Meet Data Centre Demand

Google and Blackstone (BX.N), said they will form an artificial intelligence cloud business venture aimed at capitalising on an insatiable demand for AI computing services.

Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative asset manager, will invest an initial $5 billion in equity to help bring 500 megawatts of data centre capacity online in 2027, with further expansion planned over time.
The U.S.-based venture will provide data centre capacity along with Google’s custom AI chips, known as Tensor Processing Units, or TPUs, through a compute-as-a-service model.
The total investment value could reach $25 billion, including leverage, according to Bloomberg News.
Both companies did not immediately respond to a request for comments on the Bloomberg report. Blackstone has appointed Benjamin Sloss, a long-time Google executive, as CEO of the new venture.
Thomas Kurian, chief executive of Google Cloud, said the venture would help address growing demand for TPUs by offering organisations additional ways to access computing capacity.
Analysts and investors have said Google is taking a sizeable share of new AI-driven computing demand, supported by its business tools and custom chips that have attracted customers such as Anthropic.
“This isn’t the biggest headline number we’ve seen. But it’s a high-quality bet on sustainable growth in AI infrastructure,” said Brittain Ladd, AI and supply chain consultant at Florida-based Chang Robotics.
Blackstone has stepped up investments in AI-related infrastructure, including data centres, power generation and transmission assets.
Those investments are valuable as the AI boom pushes operators to secure long-term energy supply deals.
The new partnership reflects rising demand for AI infrastructure and the need for large-scale capital deployment, Blackstone President Jon Gray said.
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