The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced the adoption of new rules banning malicious caller ID spoofing of text messages and foreign robocalls. The new regulations will allow the US federal government to carry out enforcement action against foreign businesses involved in deliberate spoofing, thus closing “a loophole in the law that prevented the agency from pursuing scammers sending spoofed text messages and international fraudsters making spoofed calls to Americans.” According to the announcement, this resolution is the further implementation of amendments to the Truth in Caller ID Act of 2009 that “prohibits anyone from causing a caller ID service to knowingly transmit misleading or inaccurate caller ID information (“spoofing”) with the intent to defraud, cause harm, or wrongly obtain anything of value.” These rules have been put in place to counteract scammers operating in overseas call centers who often pretend to be calling from reliable companies. They use…
The second Payment Services Directive, or so-called PSD2 requirements will come into force on September 14th, 2019. With this deadline approaching, we have decided to examine this matter from the merchandiser’s perspective. In brief, PSD2 is an initiative from the EU aimed at regulating the e-payment environment where banks and fintechs (Third Party Service Providers – TPSPs) currently operate in a largely disorganized manner. There is no consistent, standardized or regulated framework that defines the cooperation between banks and TPSPs. The bank may refuse access by a TPSP to its client’s bank account, preventing the same client or merchandiser from using the TPSP’s services, which may be more convenient or less costly than banking services. To regulate the e-payment market, PSD2 will force banks to grant third-party access to their clients’ bank accounts. Equally important, TPSPs will be regulated – they will have to obtain a license and…
FIX Network, an innovative technology company from Vilnius, Lithuania, has developed a new two-factor authentication (2FA) SIM card and app for protecting mobile data and digital identities. The ultimate goal of the company is to provide comprehensive blockchain-based solutions for mobile devices, enabling subscribers to secure their digital assets and identities by safekeeping private keys on their SIM cards. However, due to the urgent and immediate requirement of securing phone numbers – which may be considered to be the most valuable digital identities – FIX Network will provide a free-to-use 2FA application, together with newly issued and truly subscriber-owned phone numbers that will serve as secure and global digital identities. These numbers will be fully controlled by the subscriber, preventing unauthorized porting or malicious hijacking of the phone number. This 2FA solution will also include the practical ability to recover access to digital identities through user-defined policies that include…
The Japanese telecommunications company Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT Corporation) has set up a new global technology services provider, NTT Ltd. The new NTT enterprise combines the capabilities of 28 companies, with NTT Communications, Dimension Data and NTT Security amongst others, into a single entity worth USD 11 billion. Headquartered in London, NTT Ltd. will have about 40000 employees in offices spread across 70 countries and regions. According to Jun Sawada, President and CEO for NTT Corporation, combining the new capabilities of NTT Ltd. along with NTT Data creates a global technology and business solutions provider outside Japan, with revenues of USD 20 billion. “Going forward, we will accelerate our execution as one NTT in order to contribute to a smarter and better world through digital transformation,” said Sawada. The collaboration of all these companies and the increased investment in innovation and R&D will allow NTT Ltd.…
Telecommunications giant AT&T and Colt Technology Services, a provider of network, voice, data centre and managed cloud services, have successfully completed the integration of MEF’s Lifecycle Service Orchestration (LSO) Sonata Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that allow business customers to virtually seamlessly order services across multiple carriers. The two companies claim to be the first in the telecom industry to use MEF’s LSO Sonata APIs to automate the ordering of Ethernet services. Roman Pacewicz, Chief product officer, AT&T Business, said, “There’s no doubt this will change how carriers interact and operate in the industry. Our interactions are now more cost-efficient, flexible and error-free. We kicked off interoperability discussions and trials three years ago and gained important insights that will help create and refine industry standards under the guidance of MEF. The transformation of networks to a dynamic, on-demand, software-centric, cloud-based model opens up opportunities for everyone.” The implementation of the…
Ufinet, one of the leading international telecom operators in Latin America and a provider of fibre infrastructure and transmission services, has acquired a majority stake in the Brazilian wholesale carrier Netell Telecom, which offers connectivity services to local and international enterprises, network operators and service providers. With Netell’s network coverage in the metropolitan area of Sao Paulo and a broader regional reach, Ufinet will be able to better serve its global customers in Latin America. Inigo Garcia del Cerro Prieto, Chief Executive Office of Ufinet Telecom, said, “This transaction represents an important milestone for our group. Netell has always delivered an impressive service, with great human resources and long experience in the market, which makes it a perfect match for us. This will definitely leverage our growth in Latin America.” The companies signed the agreement during the International Telecommunications Week (ITW), thus allowing Ufinet to enter the Brazilian…
Developers at the Swedish company True Software have added yet another feature to their application Truecaller, that is best known for helping users screen calls from strangers, spammers and robocallers. This feature is called Truecaller Voice and promises “high quality (HD), low latency and quick to connect audio calls” to both Android and iOS users. The Stockholm-based company said the app will also allow its users in emerging markets, such as India, to place free VoIP-powered voice calls using mobile data or Wi-Fi. According to a statement from the company, Truecaller users make 180 million outgoing calls per day using the app’s built-in dialer. Therefore, the Truecaller Voice shortcut has been strategically integrated into relevant touchpoints in the app such as call logs, the SMS Inbox, contact profiles and the aftercall screen, enabling users to seamlessly access the VoIP-based calls anywhere within the Truecaller app without switching to other…
EllaLink Ireland Ltd (EllaLink) has announced the appointment of the former Sparkle CEO Alessandro Talotta, and Alberto Horcajo, who has held senior positions at Telefonica’s Telxius, to its Board of Directors. EllaLink is a subsea cable project being built with advanced coherent technology and will initially offer 72 Tbps of capacity over a four fiber-pair system, helping to remedy the congestion currently plaguing North Atlantic traffic. By linking data centers in Madrid, Lisbon, Marseille, Fortaleza and Sao Paulo, EllaLink is expected to provide express subsea connectivity and offer the world’s first direct fiber pair between Europe and Latin America. Michael Dedieu, Chairman of the EllaLink board and managing partner at Marguerite, an infrastructure investment fund that is backing the project, commented, “We are delighted to welcome Alessandro and Alberto as new independent directors to the EllaLink Board. Their skills will greatly complement the current board’s expertise through the on-going construction…
The San Francisco-based cloud giant Salesforce has reached an agreement to buy Tableau Software Inc. in an all-stock deal valued at $15.7 billion. By acquiring Tableau, which provides easy-to-use tools for data visualization and management, Salesforce has positioned itself as the latest major technology company to play an important role in helping enterprises analyze data, make smarter decisions, drive intelligent, connected customer experiences, and facilitate innovation. “We are bringing together the world’s #1 CRM with the #1 analytics platform. Tableau helps people see and understand data, and Salesforce helps people engage and understand customers,” stated Marc Benioff, chairman and co-CEO, Salesforce. “It’s truly the best of both worlds for our customers – bringing together two critical platforms that every customer needs to understand their world. I’m thrilled to welcome Adam and his team to Salesforce.” Currently, Tableau has more than 86,000 business customers around the world, including Charles Schwab,…
Global telecom operators AT&T, KPN, Orange and Swisscom have launched LTE-M roaming services across their respective IoT networks, thus enabling connected low power IoT devices to operate more efficiently on multiple networks in North America and Europe. This collaborative rollout of LTE-M networks is expected to accelerate the growth in the IoT market all over the world. In a statement, John Wojewoda, AVP of global connections management at AT&T, said, “More and more of our enterprise customers require global capabilities as they deploy IoT devices and applications. These LTE-M roaming agreements help meet that demand and make it easier for businesses around the world to benefit from the power of a globalized IoT.” Carolien Nijhuis, Director IoT at KPN, added, “The introduction of LTE-M creates many new possibilities for our partners, customers and prospects. Roaming with LTE-M has been one of the most requested features by our customers…

