A notable investment from Saudi Telecom into Telefonica has the Spanish Government on the edge, forcing them to balance their national interest and fostering foreign investment. The complexity surrounding the acquisition decision transcends even Spain’s economic landscape, impacting political alliances and national security. With a swift resolution unlikely, this multifaceted negotiation promises to test Spain’s decision-making in an increasingly interconnected economic world.
The Online Safety Bill emerges as a tool for platform owners to tackle illicit content. Yet, penalties attached to non-compliance may be a hefty burden. The proposed “spy clause” infamously mandates the scanning of private user content, leading to vocal debates around privacy and the technology needed to enforce this clause. Amidst strong sentiments about potential surveillance, the UK government remains unwavering, resulting in possible market exits by platforms such as WhatsApp. With the telecom industry on the brink of substantial readjustments, the importance of staying informed is evident.
Telecom alliance Alaian is partnering with chip manufacturer Qualcomm to empower start-ups specializing in Extended Reality (XR). The alliance, comprising of seven telecom giants along with towerco Cellnex, targets initiatives involving metaverse, virtual platforms, and various services or applications from all over the globe. Despite a lukewarm response to the metaverse and the disappearance of mixed reality from the limelight, the conglomerate remains optimistic. Future XR experiences can greatly benefit from the expertise and resources provided by co-operating with Qualcomm.
GSMA welcomes China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom to the Open Gateway initiative, aiming to enhance services and boost 5G connectivity through API-driven single access points. Collaboration between operators, developers, and cloud providers promises new opportunities and transformative benefits.
Virgin Media expands its gigabit network Virgin Media has successfully upgraded 1.5 million additional premises to DOCSIS 3.1, allowing users to achieve internet speeds exceeding one gigabit per second. Over half of the 15.5 million subscriber homes in the UK may now get gigabit services thanks to this latest initiative. The network improvements were made at a variety of sites around the United Kingdom, including cities such as Bournemouth, Bristol, Northampton, Southampton, Wolverhampton, Wigan, and York. VMO2 will continue to roll out DOCSIS 3.1 improvements throughout the rest of its network, after earlier stating that they will have updated their whole footprint by the end of 2021. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/hj4emdmf Avature in partnership with DIDWW Avature has teamed up with DIDWW, an international telecom operator that offers high quality VoIP services. By using DIDWW’s two-way SIP services, Avature will be able to maintain continuous communications and worldwide connection across…
The multinational telecommunications company, Vodafone, has committed to reduce its global carbon footprint that is generated as a result of its business operations to net zero by 2040. The company has already outlined a number of actions to reduce the environmental impact of its activities. It has set a new goal of stricter targets for the wider business and related third parties. As stated by the company, by 2030 all carbon emissions from its activities and the energy purchased and consumed will be eliminated. Vodafone has also committed itself to halving the use of its carbon footprint from Scope 3 sources, including joint ventures, all supply chain purchases, products it has sold and business travel by 2030. The group plans to completely eliminate emissions from Scope 3 by 2040. This plan will shorten the original projections by ten years, as the operator initially set a net zero target…
Pac-12 has announced a new partnership with the leading cloud communications company Nextiva. Nextiva, also recently named the Best Overall Business Phone Service by the U.S. News & World Report, has become the Conference’s Official Communications Partner at a time when cloud communications are taking the business world by storm. Nextiva joins the conference at a critical time for remote communications as businesses, educational institutions, governments and nonprofits across the United States adapt to a new “work from anywhere” model. Nextiva has decided to partner with the Pac-12 because of its strong traditions, and excellence and innovation across academia and athletics. Pac-12 graduates have attracted the world’s most innovative companies, including Google, Nike, Costco, Netflix (Nextiva’s customer) and many more. Pac-12’s sporting achievements earned them the title of “Conference of Champions.” Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott commented: “There is no time more important than now for the Pac-12…
European telcos: We’re ready to “lift the continent out of this recession” The European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association (ETNO) has released a joint statement calling on EU institutions and national governments to support 5G and fiber rollout, stimulate the uptake of technology, fight misinformation, and focus on digital skills and education. According to ETNO, a new approach is needed to ensure that spectrum auctions are timely and conditions for spectrum assignment support network deployment. Sharing agreements for Radio Access Network (RAN) should be supported and incentivized, as well as all fiber investment models should be adequately encouraged. Moreover, future EU initiatives should dramatically reduce roll-out costs for both mobile and fixed networks. Read more at https://tinyurl.com/yadrfxfg Microsoft’s new Teams features fight video conferencing fatigue Microsoft Team’s brand seeks to fight “Zoom fatigue” and exhaustion of physical isolation with its new updates and features. The news includes a shared background to make participants…
Facebook, telcos to build a huge subsea cable for Africa and the Middle East Facebook, together with a group of telecom companies, including Vodafone, Orange, STC, China Mobile International, MTN GlobalConnect, Telecom Egypt, and WIOCC, will build a subsea cable system that is claimed to be one of the largest in the world. The project is called 2Africa and will cover 37,000 km of cables interconnecting Europe (eastward via Egypt), the Middle East (via Saudi Arabia), and 21 landings in 16 countries in Africa. The system is expected to go live in 2023/4, delivering more than the total combined capacity of all subsea cables serving Africa today, with a design capacity of up to 180 Tbps. Read more at https://tinyurl.com/yahgfe8g Workvivo raises $16 million to reinvent the intranet in the age of Slack and Zoom The Irish startup Workvivo, an employee communications platform, has raised USD 16 million in a Series A…
Even though fifth generation mobile communications technology is set to go mainstream, 4G, also known as LTE, isn’t going away any time soon. With this in mind, it is not surprising that manufacturers of telecom equipment continue to develop 4G-focused smartphone processors. US-based Qualcomm Technologies has launched three new Snapdragon mobile platforms aimed at 4G smartphone manufacturing companies. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G, 662 and 460 chipsets have been created to enhance user experiences across connectivity, gaming and entertainment applications. In a statement, the company said that these new mobile platforms provide high-speed 4G connectivity, deliver key Wi-Fi 6 features and integrated Bluetooth 5.1 with advanced audio via the Qualcomm FastConnect 6-series subsystems, support Dual-Frequency (L1 and L5) GNSS to improve location positioning accuracy and reliability, and are the first system-on-chip products to support Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) satellite positioning system. Qualcomm said the new Snapdragon platforms also…
