The secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Zhao Houlin, explained at a press conference in Geneva, Switzerland, that infrastructure, investment, innovation and inclusion, or the “4 I’s”. Those pillars for information and communication technology (ICT) will be an obligation to reach the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), especially for the next ten years. Infrastructure are essential to hold any economy based on communication and high tech. The future of digital economy in sustainable cities, will largely be based on the capacity to construct strong equipments for those infrastructures, not only to connect people but also objects. Strong investments are fundamental for the development of ICT. In order to see progress on SDG, innovation in the domain of finance will be needed and a mix between public and private investors is one of the solutions. Opportunity is only possible with innovation, thus small companies that base their growth and survival…
For Andrew Burchik, founder of the Prague based MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) Miracle Tele, the future of mobile operators will be found in Blockchain technology. Miracle Tele is already available in 213 countries. In late April, Miracle Tele allowed its customers to call any destination for €0.2 per minute and data from €0.01 per MB. Miracle Tele is using its own Token called TELE based on ERC20 (Ethereum blockchain) that they want to sell. 150,000,000 TELE are available at €0.1 per token. The sale is not limited in time as it will end when all tokens are sold out. This way the operator allows its users to have a choice: or they use its telecom services like any operator or they “tokenize” their assets and have access to mobile plans by purchasing them with TELE. According to M. Burchik, as smartphones are less a used for conventional communications, operators…
FreedomPop, the California based company operating in the US and UK, will launch a new MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) called Unreal mobile. Until now FreedomPop focused on its free-of-charge mobile plan for customers with small needs, making money from their other plans. With Unreal Mobile, they offer a full service carrier using the Sprint network. Unreal will offer unlimited data for $15 per month, with no contract. Not only that, but Unreal Mobile number can be used on any device, meaning not only on smartphones but also on tablets and computers. The way it works is a SIM card is needed for the main smartphone, that works with a regular voice network, then Unreal Mobile, with VoIP technology, allows the user to use different devices with the same number. This announcement is a direct result of Sprint and T-Mobile merger. Mauricio Sastre, FreedomPop SVP Strategy and Carrier Relations said…
CTG (China Telecom Global) and Liquid Telecom (a pan-African telecom company) signed a deal to collaborate in the development of network solutions and services. In Johannesburg, Liquid Telecom’s headquarter held the signing ceremony between the Chinese and the African companies. Senior Representatives from China Telecom Donald Tan and Changhai Liu, and Liquid Telecoms CEO Nic Rudnick, and Chief Business Development officer Willem Marais, were present for this event. The two companies will be able to provide to their customers an extended coverage on those two parts of the world. “With more than 50 countries in the region, Africa is nonetheless the booming new market with the highest development rate just after Asia, and a very important market for CTG.” said Changhai Liu. As the Managing Director of China Telecom (Africa and Middle East) he also added, “This collaboration will enable both CTG and Liquid Telecom better serve our customers and…
China Telecom (China Telecommunication Corporation) and HGC (formerly Hutchinson Global Communication) will be working together in building a carrier-to-carrier fiber optic connection on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge. HGC, founded in 1992 under British ruling, is the leader in fixed-line operators. It also has an extensive number of infrastructures outside of Hong Kong. It is also one of Hong Kong’s main Wi-Fi provider with 29,000 hotspots. It is now owned by I Square Capital, under Asia Cube Global’s infrastructure. On the other hand, China Telecom is the most important state-owned telecommunication company in China. It manages the third largest broadband network in the world. Their internet offers has 160 million subscribers, and the customers’ number of their mobile service is 260 million. This Bridge connects Zhuhai, up north Macau, Macau itself and Hong Kong. It is set to open for vehicles on July 1rst 2018. It will also be used for…
In India, the TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) recommended that providers will be allowed to offer app-based VoIP services through Wi-Fi. Those calls will be considered the same way as classic calls. Thus the operators will have to have to follow the rules forme the TRAI. The consequences are interesting for a country that can be subject to issues on phone connectivities to the network. With this recommendation, you can now have the service from your regular provider with one phone number, and get the app of that same company, and use the same number for both. However, you can also download the app from another provider and get another phone number for VoIP, and use it through Wi-Fi. The infrastructures in India, using circuit switch, was not seen as efficient enough for VoIP, but the issues on call drops needed to be addressed. This explains why the TRAI…
After months of battle and negotiations, the third and fourth largest wireless carriers in the U.S.A. finally agreed on a merger. The fusion between the two companies is one of massive proportions in terms of capital and clients, as it will be a $26 billions all-stock deal and will concern 127 millions customers. The main goal of this deal is to give birth to a strong opponent to AT&T and Verizon. Actually, the announcement might be due to T-Mobile’s fail to acquire a company called Straight Path a year ago, that focuses on providing technology, in the 28 GHz z to 39 GHz millimetre wave spectrum. Verizon, who won the bid gets an advantage in the 5G market. In order to be competitive in this new 5G technology the merger became necessary. T-Mobile and Sprint tried to merge 7 years ago, in a much different environment and the failed, as…
To compete with Facebook’s Messenger and WhatsApp as well as Apple’s iMessages, Google is looking for bold new ideas. They have had a number of failures in this area, having tried Talk, Hangouts and Allo! But for an American company, there’s no such thing as failure – there’s just the gaining of experience. Looking forward, Google will focus on delivering their new calling and messaging system called “Chat.” Chat aims to replace SMS, and uses the RCS protocol (Rich Communication Service) to achieve its goals. With Chat, users no longer need to download an application and keep that application updated, and the open-source nature of the RCS protocol will make this platform accessible to developers. According to The Verge media publication, more than 60 companies all over the world, including developers and operators such as Orange, Samsung and Asus have already committed to supporting Chat. For its part, Google promises…
By the end of the first quarter 2018, revenues from the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) market had outperformed those of DBMS (DataBase Management Systems), making CRM the largest market in the software industry. For the period January to December 2017, CRM software sales generated $39.5 billion, compared to $36.8 billion for DBMS. According to expert predictions, it is expected that revenues for CRM software will remain the top market performer for 2018, and will also show the highest growth rate of 16%. Growth will be driven by lead management, customer opinion management, and after-sales management software, each of which has been growing at over 20% during the past 18 months. The CRM solution providers covering the entire customer relationship cycle, including after sales service, are the fastest growing, thanks to their ability to cross-sell additional modules.
Karolis Jurys, Commercial Manager at DIDWW, has a busy schedule managing two departments in the company: Sales and Carrier Relations. From his initial posting in the Support Department, Karolis has rapidly worked his way up through the organization and now fills this important position. During his eight years with the company, Karolis has taken part in 23 expos worldwide, and conducted hundreds of face-to-face meetings with customers and partners. Despite having a degree in business administration, he considers himself a technology and a sports lover. In his free time he browses the Internet to explore new technologies, plays games such as Counter-Strike and is competitive in basketball and squash. But after the birth of his first child, he now has very few spare moments between his responsibilities at work and enjoying his family. Karolis is a highly dedicated and motivated team member. “What I like about my work is that…


