Connecting to a public WiFi network at airports, hotels or even at a local coffee shop is not always as safe as one might think, as intercepting private information sent over a public network is quite easy even for inexperienced hackers. As a result, Verizon has decided to combat this security vulnerability by launching a VPN for their customers, Safe Wi-Fi. This new service protects personal data from prying eyes, and blocks advertisement trackers by using VPN encryption. Safe Wi-Fi is available on iOS and Android devices for a fee of $3.99 per month, and can cover up to 10 devices linked to a Verizon account. Considering how much the theft of personal information might cost a user, this is a small price to pay for keeping important data secure.
The South Korean mobile carrier, KT (formerly Korea Telecom) has unveiled the world’s first blockchain-based commercial network, as reported by the Korean Herald. The telecom giant has implemented a blockchain layer on top of their ultra-speed nationwide commercial network to ensure maximum security and transparency for retail and business users. “Public blockchains have low processing speed and capacity, while private blockchains have low transparency. By applying blockchain onto our ultra-fast network, we have overcome both obstacles,” commented the head of the Blockchain Center at KT’s Institute of Convergence Technology, Seo Yeong-il. The mobile carrier expects to achieve the impressive number of 100 000 transactions per second by the end of 2019, while their current blockchain network capability is 2500 transactions per second. Furthermore, KT has already implemented this disruptive technology in their user identification process, eliminating the need for personal IDs and passwords. The company is also working closely with…
The global telecommunications solutions provider ZTE and the mobile operator Hutchinson Drei Austria announced another strategic step to expand their partnership in preparation for the 5G rollout in Austria. The cooperation between mobile operators and telecommunications equipment providers is fundamental for the implementation of this cutting-edge technology, and a Joint Innovation Lab initiative was launched to develop, test and optimize the latest 5G technology solutions. The ten-year partnership between ZTE Austria and Hutchinson Drei Austria has already shown great results in upgrading the network for higher quality standards and service improvements, as demonstrated in the most recent Pre-5G trials in Austria. “The first result of the joint innovation initiative was the successful evaluation of the Pre-5G technology, which enabled us to create a commercial Pre-5G in Vienna already at the beginning of this year. This move was a breakthrough in the European telecoms market, which made Austria a true 5G…
While 5G maintains its dominant position in telecom news headlines, Qualcomm has made a major move towards the realization of this disruptive technology with the announcement of the first fully-integrated QTM052 5G NR mmWave and QPM56xx sub-6 GHz RF modules for mobile devices. These antennas will be used in conjunction with the Snapdragon X50 5G module to achieve the stellar target speeds of 5G networks. “Qualcomm Technologies’ early investment in 5G has allowed us to deliver to the industry a working mobile mmWave solution that was previously thought unattainable, as well as a fully-integrated sub-6 GHz RF solution. Now, these type of modem-to-antenna solutions, spanning both mmWave and sub-6 spectrum bands, make mobile 5G networks and devices, especially smartphones, ready for large scale commercialization,” commented the president of Qualcomm Incorporated. Even though the mmWave signals can offer the critically higher speeds that are essential for this cutting-edge network, they can…
After the successful release of its flagship P20 series, the Chinese equipment manufacturer Huawei is set to overtake Apple as the second largest global smartphone vendor in 2018. As of July, Huawei had already shipped 100 million devices, and is on track to ship a total of 200 million devices by the end of the year, notably exceeding the number of 153 million of their smartphones shipped in 2017. Huawei, one of the world’s leading network equipment manufacturers, entered the smartphone race quite recently, and is aggressively competing with Samsung and Apple. However, the company has already managed to grow their smartphone business by 51 times since 2010, which is a sound proof of Huawei’s exponential expansion and its dominant position in the market. In addition to being the number three smartphone manufacturer globally, Huawei also holds the top position in China and is now focused on expanding their sales…
A leading communications solutions provider, BICS, has announced the release of their Local SMS Firewall, a fully managed end-to-end platform that helps operators protect and optimize their SMS traffic and revenues. This Local SMS Firewall oversees both A2P and P2P activities, and filters messages for unbillable traffic, thus preventing any loss of income. According to BICS, the introduction of their Local SMS Firewall was a natural reaction to the rapidly increasing number of A2P use cases and the demand for customer engagement. With mobile operators applying extra effort to boost customer satisfaction and taking advantage of A2P SMS opportunities, the new platform is a perfect tool for minimizing the decrease of revenue caused by traffic bypass. “BICS is dedicated to aiding operators in monetizing their SMS assets. SMS aggregators are always going to look for new ways to disrupt the industry, but with solutions like BICS’ Local SMS Firewall, the…
Europe’s leading Internet of Things event IoT Tech Expo Europe 2018 brought together thousands of enthusiasts and specialists from a variety of industries including manufacturing, transport, healthcare, logistics, energy and automotive to discuss the ever-increasing potential of IoT. Among the 300+ exhibitors at the event in Amsterdam, a rising star in the industry, monogoto, made a revolutionary move by launching its new flat rate data plans for IoT connectivity. “We are happy to introduce a ‘pay once and forget’ business model, where the IoT community can pay $10 and get a SIM card with a ‘lifetime’ 10 years of connectivity,” said Itamar Kunik, Chief Executive Officer at monogoto. “With this new pricing, appliance companies, OEMs and developers can now offer connected devices with pre-installed SIM cards, and not be concerned with high monthly recurring data costs.” monogoto is a one-stop shop that covers the complete range of IoT connectivity requirements,…
At the recent Sino-German Economic Forum, China Mobile and Nokia signed a one year framework agreement valued at 1.36 billion euro (9.927 billion yuan) to support the Chinese operator’s transition to 5G infrastructure, while maintaining seamless connectivity. Under this agreement, the Finnish corporation will be providing the Chinese telecom with cutting edge end-to-end technologies for the next generation network, in addition to mobile, fixed, IP routing, optical transport and customer experience management technologies along with their service expertise and support. The two companies have been in partnership since 1994, when Nokia supported the first GSM call on China Mobile’s network. In addition to collaborating on 5G, both companies are moving forward together and have agreed to conduct research and tests on artificial intelligence and machine learning. “This is a highly significant agreement with our longstanding partner that consolidates Nokia’s position as a leading provider of next-generation technologies and services in…
While the IoT market continues to grow, Vadofone has announced the launch of two new consumer IoT products in their V by Vodafone range – V-SOS Band by Vodafone and V-Kids Watch by Vodafone. Last November, the telecom giant made its move into the consumer IoT market with their new range of devices called V by Vodafone. The initial launch focused on four products from different categories: V-Auto by Vodafone, V-Pet by Vodafone, V-Camera by Vodafone and V-Bag by Vodafone, all easily managed via their V by Vodafone App. The newest additions to the group are human wearable devices aimed to assist people with mobility issues, and to help children develop their independence in a secure manner. The V-SOS Band by Vodafone is described as an emergency alert wristband, that enables the wearer to send an SOS signal to up to four contacts simply by pressing a button for three…
DIDWW continues to grow their global private backbone with the addition of 3 strategically placed points of presence in Los Angeles, Miami and Singapore. These POPs serve the growing voice traffic demands from the West Coast of the USA, Central and South America and the Asia-Pacific regions. “We are constantly expanding our network to exceed the stringent demands of our global customer base,” said Lina Zaboras, the CEO of DIDWW. “This is an ongoing process and is in line with our vision and commitment of providing the highest quality and lowest latency telephony for mission-critical services.” “The recent infrastructure upgrade was designed to support the DIDWW’s core wholesale origination traffic, and also the company’s newly added outbound SIP Trunk for local dialing,” stated Yuri Krichevsky, the CTO of DIDWW. ” In addition, the deployment of DIDWW’s cloud-enabled services such as phone.systems and the call.center platforms has required additional private and secure…