Distinguished selections, momentous awards, and unprecedented telecom innovations marked the recent proceedings. Notably, Telia Company’s Global IoT Connectivity solution won the B2B Service of the Year, while PT Telekomunikasi Selular took laurels in the Digital Transformation Programme category.
Italian telecom provider Wind Tre faces hurdles in selling infrastructure due to complex 5G network sharing negotiations with rivals Iliad and Fastweb. CK Hutchison delays the deal closure by three months to February 12, citing challenges with Iliad and Fastweb. Meanwhile, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison’s $6 billion merger in Indonesia with Huawei’s support achieves significant growth. France’s Orange introduces satellite broadband, while Norway’s Telenor sells its satellite operations. FCC’s new broadband rules target discrimination, raising concerns of unintended consequences. Mavenir and Nokia achieve remarkable Open RAN interoperability, overcoming past criticisms and showcasing commitment to multi-supplier systems.
The monumental $6 billion merger of Indosat Ooredoo and Hutchison 3 Indonesia has quite literally shifted the telecommunications landscape, propelling the newly formed IOH to Indonesia’s second-largest operator. Amid the complexities of combing networks, meticulous planning was key, and despite the odds, the venture has resulted in substantial improvements in service and competitive edge.
As telecom giants Ooredoo, Zain and infrastructure expert TASC Towers embark on exclusive negotiations to form a massive mobile towers firm, the telecommunications landscape beckons a potential shift. Combining assets from Qatar, Kuwait, Algeria, Tunisia, Iraq, and Jordan, they plan on creating an autonomous company with a whopping portfolio of approximately 30,000 towers, directly rivaling industry leaders. Their strategic vision embraces a dual approach: stimulate shareholder value and reduce the MENA region’s carbon footprint.
The future of telecommunications is rapidly changing thanks to the surge of Internet of Things (IoT) connections, with an anticipated 142 million 5G IoT roaming connections by 2027. This evolution promises increased speeds, reduced latency, and advanced services, setting the stage for a demand surge in standalone-specific 5G roaming agreements. However, despite these advancements, most connected devices will continue utilizing LTE-M and NB-IoT networks due to their compatibility with mixed traffic. A major hub for 5G IoT roaming is Western Europe, anticipated to host 21% of all such connections by 2027.
The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has given AST SpaceMobile, a five-year-old company located in Midland, Texas, permission to test a satellite that has the potential to deliver cellular broadband access for smartphone users in the US and throughout the world. According to the business, it is developing the first and only space-based cellular broadband network that will be immediately accessible by regular mobile phones. SpaceMobile, the company’s proposed network, intends to provide 4G/5G access to everyone on the world, on land, at sea, and in the air. No matter where they are, mobile customers will be able to seamlessly roam from terrestrial networks to the space-based network. AST SpaceMobile is launching BlueWalker 3, a test satellite meant to interact directly with mobile phones using 3GPP standard frequencies. The FCC has granted the business an experimental license for BlueWalker 3 space-to-ground testing in the United States. At least…
UK mobile providers pressured to provide free data during lockdown After the UK decided to close schools again, UK telecoms providers were urged to stop charging for data so that underprivileged children could access remote learning facilities. It is concerning that children in such families lack the technological resources to attend schools from home, where a computer and an Internet connection is required. Although it may be hard to imagine, there are many families that do not have access to the necessary services, especially broadband. The company, Three UK, wasted no time in rushing to announce that it will provide unrestricted data access to disadvantaged children so they could continue their education. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/y46zylg2 T-Mobile reaches record connection gains in 2020 T-Mobile US announced that 2020 was the best year in their history for postpaid net additions, showing preliminary results that indicate a major win, despite the Covid-19…
Twilio rival MessageBird launches Inbox, an AI-powered contact center MessageBird, a telecommunications service provider in Amsterdam, Netherlands, has unveiled a new all-in-one, AI-powered contact center as it enters the competitive billion-dollar customer service software market. The new solution, dubbed Inbox and pitched as the “Slack for external communications,” enables customers to communicate with businesses and accept inbound messages from WhatsApp, Twitter, Messenger, Instagram, WeChat, Apple Business Chat, RCS, Line, Telegram, email, SMS, voice, and more. Additionally, companies can connect MessageBird’s Inbox to other internal tools as part of their preferred workflows, including Salesforce, Google Calendar, Shopify, HubSpot, Jira, and Slack. Read more at https://tinyurl.com/qvsqh9l CenturyLink adds IBM Cloud to its Cloud Connect portfolio US-based CenturyLink has added IBM Cloud to its growing Cloud Connect Dynamic Connections portfolio, which also includes Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and Oracle. The company said that through IBM Cloud Direct Link services, businesses can now access…
Here’s everything Google announced at the Pixel 4 event At its new smartphone launch event in New York, Google introduced Pixel 4 and Pixel 4XL that offer a new and improved version of Google Assistant, a new Motion Sense feature for gesture control, an upgraded camera, and a new Recorder app that also transcribes speech. The fourth-generation Pixel is priced from USD 799 for a 5.7-inch display and USD 899 for a 6.3-inch display. According to Google, the Pixel phones will be available with all US operators and major MVNOs. The new phones will ship on October 24th, globally. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/y3xw2v7q Apple pushes for own 5G modem by 2022 Apple has set a rather ambitious goal to have its own 5G modem in iPhones by 2022. The tech giant is currently using Qualcomm modems as part of a long-term supply agreement, but with the takeover of Intel’s smartphone modem…
