GSMA welcomes China Tower to advance AI-ready mobile infrastructure

World’s largest tower company builds momentum behind the GSMA Tower Forum

SHANGHAI, June 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — At MWC Shanghai, GSMA announced that China Tower has joined GSMA as a new member, bringing world’s largest telecommunications tower company into GSMA’s global ecosystem. Last year, China Tower completed a national upgrade across China, converting its 5.6 million base stations and 2.1 million tower sites into intelligent edge-computing hubs to meet the needs of the AI era.

Tower companies are key to resilient, energy-to support next-generation connectivity. China Tower’s membership builds momentum behind GSMA Tower Forum, a new initiative that convenes mobile network operators and tower companies to collaborate on energy efficiency, policy and permitting and technology evolution with a focus on practical outcomes that improve deployment, performance and resilience.

The GSMA Tower Forum is structured around four areas: Knowledge Sharing, Industry Outreach, Advocacy, and Technology & Innovation, covering research, benchmarking, and engagement on sustainability, energy, and policy. It also focuses on permitting, power access, technology roadmaps, and digitisation.

As demand for AI-enabled services and AI-natives grows, infrastructure providers are evolving beyond traditional “grass and steel” assets into intelligent platforms supporting compute-adjacent capabilities and resilient power. China Tower is advancing this shift at scale with 5G, AI and big data-powered digital towers and AI-driven operational use cases.

“This year, the GSMA has newly established the Tower Forum, creating a platform for tower operators worldwide to collaborate and exchange ideas. This initiative carries great significance for advancing global digital and intelligent new infrastructure. Through this Forum, China Tower stands ready to deepen cooperation with global partners in technological innovation, standard-setting, security governance, and the integration of digital and real economies. We will jointly strengthen digital and intelligent new infrastructure and march hand in hand toward an intelligent new era,” said Zhang Zhiyong, Chairman, China Tower.

“We are delighted to welcome China Tower to the GSMA. As AI-era demand intensifies, infrastructure is becoming a strategic differentiator, not only for coverage and capacity, but for power, resilience and the ability to support new compute-adjacent requirements. China Tower’s experience and scale will bring valuable perspective to operators and the broader GSMA community, and we look forward to working together through the GSMA Tower Forum to build more productive infrastructure partnerships across the ecosystem,” said Vivek Badrinath, Director General, GSMA.

Join GSMA and participate in the GSMA Tower Forum.

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