Vodafone Germany to cut 1,300 jobs in realignment efforts Vodafone Germany has revealed intentions to cut 1,300 positions in management, double functions, and areas with no direct customer interaction as part of a realignment and return to growth effort. In addition, the operator intends to establish 400 new customer-facing positions, resulting in a total loss of 900 positions. The decision comes on the heels of a 1.8% year-on-year decline in fiscal Q3 service income due to client losses in Germany, which is likely to be a special focus of cost-cutting efforts. Telecom companies such as BT and Orange Business have also recently announced layoffs. Read the full article. Five9 launches AI Summary tool for contact centers Five9, a cloud contact center service provider, has released Five9 Agent Assist 2.0 with AI Summary, driven by OpenAI’s language model technology. The solution produces summary highlights of client call recordings in seconds, decreasing…
When it comes to the security of your business, you can’t afford to take any chances. But what are the best ways for you to protect your data and make sure your employees are safe? One way is by using a Virtual Private Network (VPN). With more and more employees working from home, many IT professionals may decide to route Voice-over-IP (VoIP) traffic together with the user’s other data through a VPN. Using a VPN for VoIP calling provides additional levels of security and privacy, assisting both in-house and remote workers in remaining secure. What is a VoIP VPN? Simply explained, a VoIP VPN will build a secure tunnel through which all of your VoIP communications will traverse. As a consequence, you’ll be able to circumvent firewall limitations and make calls in a secure manner. Additionally, this type of service will conceal your actual IP address and allocate a…
AT&T has been named the most commonly impersonated brand in phishing attacks, according to a global report published by Cloudflare. The report identifies the top 50 brands most commonly impersonated by phishing URLs, based on data gathered by Cloudflare’s machine learning and data analysis tools. The telecommunications powerhouse came in first, followed by PayPal and Microsoft. Cloudflare, which aims to build a better internet by delivering security, performance, and reliability services, discovered that the most frequently impersonated businesses were banking, technology, and telecommunications. Phishing is the fastest-growing online crime, endangering both consumers and companies. By impersonating trusted sites, attackers attempt to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, bank and cryptocurrency account details, or other sensitive data. They use an email, text message, or mistyped website link that appears to be from a well-known brand to dupe their victims. Cloudflare, which protects roughly 20%…
We may not always realize it, but we spend a good part of our lives online. We frequently reveal our names, addresses and credit card numbers when accessing shopping and social networking sites, and trust those sites to keep us and our information secure. You lock the door when you wish to keep your home safe. The same should apply on the Internet, where we can considerably limit our exposure to a variety of hazards by implementing a modest number of Internet safety measures. You know what they say – the Internet is like your front door: a lock doesn’t do much good if you leave the key under the welcome mat. Is it safe to be in the Internet? Learning about cybersecurity and online safety might feel like swimming through a sea of technical jargon. There are several cybersecurity terminologies to be familiar with, but we’ve selected a handful of…
BT partners with Kyndryl for cloud migration of legacy mainframe apps BT has collaborated with Kyndryl to migrate its mainframe applications that underpin its legacy copper business and broadband cloud offerings. BT Digital, the division in charge of the company’s digital transformation, estimates that by 2026, the transfer will have reduced mainframe operational costs and energy usage by 70%. This will result in estimated annual savings of $23 million. The company’s cloud move will allow it to serve a smaller number of clients who still utilize their copper network and will enable BT to extract more value from the data housed in its older applications. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/5t48r8hj Orange and Telenet wholesale deal gives hope of VOO acquisition approval Orange had planned to buy a 75% share in the Belgian operator VOO in 2021, but the company struggled to persuade authorities that the transaction would not hurt competition. A…
T-Mobile has announced its latest sustainability initiative, a commitment to reach net-zero emissions across its entire carbon footprint by 2040. The operator has also joined The Climate Pledge, a community of organizations working together to combat global carbon emissions. T-Mobile is the first wireless company in the United States to set a net-zero objective that has been certified by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) using its Net-Zero Standard. The target includes direct and indirect emissions from T-Mobile’s operations and facilities, purchased electricity, and all remaining indirect scope 3 emissions, such as those produced by suppliers, customer device usage, materials, employee travel and other factors, accounting for roughly two-thirds of the company’s total carbon footprint. The Climate Pledge, launched in 2019 by Amazon and Global Optimism, is a pledge to reach net-zero emissions 10 years before the date targeted by the Paris Agreement. T-Mobile joins almost 400 companies…
Juniper Networks, a supplier of secure, AI-driven networks, announced that Virgin Media O2, one of the UK’s major fixed and mobile service providers, has updated its IP core backbone network in conjunction with Juniper. The upgraded network can accommodate 800G and is part of Virgin Media O2’s long-term strategy to invest in sustainable infrastructure capable of supporting continuous data growth and bandwidth needs. This investment will allow the company to quickly launch revenue-generating services while also lowering power, cooling and space usage expenses. In order to implement this strategic update, Virgin Media O2 selected Juniper as its technology partner for a number of reasons. Prior to their joint venture in 2021, Virgin Media and O2 had used Juniper for more than 10 years as their primary networking provider. Additionally, Juniper was able to provide Virgin Media O2 with a compelling economic proposition by protecting their long-term investment. This…
Fusion Connect launches Operator Connect for Microsoft Teams Fusion Connect, a global Managed Communication Service Provider (MCSP), now offers Microsoft Teams Operator Connect. This new solution ensures the availability of the platform and services, backed by Fusion Connect’s complete service guarantee. With this offering, customers can use Microsoft Teams to make direct calls to mobile devices and landlines using dedicated local phone numbers that can be accessed from any device. By partnering with Fusion Connect for Microsoft Teams calling services, businesses can more fully integrate their use of Microsoft 365 services and benefit from enhanced collaboration, continuity and workforce management capabilities. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/2tcuw5p4 University of Surrey to research greener telecom networks The University of Surrey has secured a £12 million grant to research the development of more sustainable and resilient telecommunications networks. The 5/6G Innovation Centre at the University of Surrey will act as the project manager for…
SK Telecom’s metaverse platform launched in 49 countries SK Telecom has expanded the reach of its “ifland” metaverse platform into 49 additional nations, thereby outstripping the reach of Meta’s Horizon Worlds. SKT says that 12.8 million people have used ifland in total. Currently, the platform is only available in English, Chinese, Japanese and Korean. DoCoMo, a Japanese telecommunications company, is one of SKT’s local partners. Recently, the two businesses decided to work together on technology and content for the metaverse. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/2bt5a8kf CMA to investigate Apple and Google’s browser duopoly The CMA has begun a thorough market probe into Apple and Google’s market dominance in mobile browsers. Together, Apple’s Safari and Google Chrome support 97% of all mobile online traffic in the UK. The CMA worries that this duopoly discourages tech firms from investing in their browsers and stifles competition in the mobile browser market. Additionally, this dominance…