Associated Press deploys 100 LiveU units for global newsgathering operations

This large-scale hardware rollout signals a shift toward AI-managed connectivity in high-stakes newsgathering, reducing the technical overhead of field reporting. By integrating LiveU Ingest directly into cloud MAM systems, the Associated Press is shortening the window between capture and distribution, a critical metric for B2B news agencies. The move to SMPTE ST 2110 environments further aligns newsgathering hardware with modern IP-based broadcast standards, allowing for more complex multi-camera workflows in the field. Watch for how this 100-unit deployment influences the adoption of eSIM-based encoders among other global news syndicates facing similar connectivity challenges.

LiveU has been expanding its footprint among major news organizations and broadcasters throughout 2026, positioning the LU900Q as a flagship unit for bonded cellular newsgathering. The LU900Q supports up to 14 simultaneous SIM connections and integrates eSIM technology, allowing field crews to switch carriers dynamically based on signal quality. Nokia and Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison announced a GPU-accelerated AI-RAN partnership in Indonesia on June 8, expanding the Nokia-NVIDIA architecture already adopted by T-Mobile US, SoftBank, and Vodafone, which underscores the broader telecom infrastructure improvements that bonded cellular devices like the LU900Q depend on for reliable multi-carrier aggregation in the field.

On the business side, LiveU has been pushing deeper into cloud-native production workflows that complement hardware deployments like the one at the Associated Press. Nokia combined with AWS and Databricks to build a telco AI control layer, demonstrating how vendors are converging on agentic AI for OSS and BSS stacks, a trend that parallels LiveU's own move toward cloud-managed ingest and distribution pipelines. The shift from hardware-centric to cloud-orchestrated newsgathering reflects a broader industry pattern where production vendors are bundling connectivity management, AI-driven quality optimization, and cloud MAM integration into unified platforms. LiveU's LiveU Ingest product, which the Associated Press is using for cloud MAM connectivity, represents this convergence of field hardware and cloud software into a single operational stack.

From a technical standpoint, the transition to SMPTE ST 2110 environments that the Associated Press is pursuing alongside its LiveU deployment aligns with a wider broadcast industry migration toward IP-based production. Ericsson described the network as becoming an intelligent fabric, a distributed mesh connecting devices and agents across sensors, edge nodes, and cores, a vision that maps directly onto the kind of distributed, multi-camera field production workflows that ST 2110 enables. The standard replaces SDI with uncompressed IP video transport, allowing production teams to route signals across standard IT infrastructure rather than dedicated broadcast cabling. For a global operation like the Associated Press, which manages simultaneous live feeds from dozens of locations, ST 2110 compatibility means LU900Q outputs can be integrated directly into IP-based production switchers and cloud processing pipelines without additional conversion hardware.