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The world’s largest tower company injects strong momentum into the GSMA Tower Forum
ShanghaiJune 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — During MWC Shanghai, GSMA announced that China Tower has become its newest member, successfully bringing the world’s largest telecommunications tower company into the GSMA global ecosystem. Last year, China Tower completed a nationwide upgrade, converting its 5.6 million base stations and 2.1 million tower sites into intelligent edge computing hubs to meet the demands of the AI era.
Tower companies are critical to building resilient and energy-efficient infrastructure that supports next-generation network connectivity. China Tower’s membership injects strong momentum into the GSMA Tower Forum, a new initiative that brings together mobile network operators and tower companies to collaborate on energy efficiency, policy and permitting, and technology evolution, focusing on tangible outcomes that improve deployment, performance, and resilience.
The GSMA Tower Forum is structured around four key areas: knowledge sharing, industry promotion, advocacy, and technology and innovation, encompassing research, benchmarking, and engagement on sustainability, energy, and policy. The forum also focuses on permitting, power access, technology roadmaps, and digitalization.
As demand for AI-enabled services and AI-native applications continues to grow, infrastructure providers are evolving from traditional “site and steel tower” assets to intelligent platforms capable of supporting compute-related capabilities and highly reliable power supply. China Tower is driving this transformation at scale through digital towers and AI-driven operational use cases powered by 5G, AI, and big data.
“This year, GSMA has established the new Tower Forum to create a collaborative platform for tower operators worldwide. This initiative is of great significance in advancing global digital intelligent new infrastructure. Through this forum, China Tower is willing to further deepen cooperation with global partners in technological innovation, standard setting, security governance, and the integration of the digital and real economies. Together, we will strengthen digital intelligent new infrastructure and move forward into a new era of intelligence.” said Zhang Zhiyong, Chairman of China Tower.
“A warm welcome to China Tower as it joins GSMA. As the demands of the AI era continue to accelerate, infrastructure is becoming a key strategic differentiator—not just for coverage and capacity, but for power availability, resilience, and the ability to support new compute-related demands. China Tower’s experience and scale will bring valuable perspectives 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 within this ecosystem.” said Vivek Badrinath, Director General of GSMA.
Join GSMA and participate in the GSMA Tower Forum.