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Telinta, a global leader in hosted switching and billing for VoIP service providers, and TransNexus, a leader in developing innovative software for telecommunications networks, jointly announced today a solution to help VoIP service providers comply with STIR/SHAKEN call authentication and robocall mitigation regulations.   TransNexus has made groundbreaking innovations in robocall mitigation with its ClearIP software platform. Telinta has integrated ClearIP into its cloud-based softswitch. Together the two leaders can help VoIP service providers meet their STIR/SHAKEN and robocall mitigation requirements, helping customers to avoid having their traffic blocked.   TransNexus offers services for Telinta customers based both inside and outside the U.S.  When a U.S.-based Telinta customer signs up with TransNexus, Telinta will send a request to TransNexus to create a digital signature and Telinta will include that signature on subsequent calls as they are routed through Telinta’s platform.   For Telinta customers based outside the U.S., TransNexus can…

Most phones today allow users to see the calling party’s phone number before they answer. This feature is called Caller ID or Calling Line Identity (CLI). It lets people know who is calling and decide whether they want to answer the call or not. However, callers and criminals can purposely change the Caller ID so that the incoming call appears to originate from a trusted entity. This disingenuous practice is better known as spoofing. Unfortunately, there are more and more cases where callers and criminals purposefully change the caller ID in order to commit fraud. What is Caller ID spoofing? Spoofing occurs when a caller knowingly falsifies the information transmitted onto your phone screen, known as caller ID, to hide their true identity. Scammers often use the so-called ‘neighbors’ spoofing technique. When this technique is used, the incoming call appears to come from a local phone number. It could be…

FCC establishes Emergency Broadband Benefit program The FCC has recently held an open meeting in order to discuss its next priorities. One of the most important matters discussed was the new Emergency Broadband Benefit program, which Congress has instructed the FCC to initiate. As part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, Congress has allocated $3.2 billion for the program. Broadband providers participating in the program will be able to offer discounts of up to $50 per month for Internet services and up to $75 per month for those services on tribal lands. Currently, it is unclear how long these broadband benefits will last. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/jj52hlfl Sinch acquires Inteliquent Sinch AB, a Sweden-based company primarily engaged in the provision of cloud computing services, has signed a final agreement to acquire Inteliquent, the largest independent voice communications provider in the US, for an all-cash offer of $1.140 billion. The deal expands…

Robocalls calls have become a plague. It is estimated that Americans alone received more than 58.5 billion robocalls in 2019. While some robotic calls may be from legitimate sources, they can also be scams seeking to deceive or bully people to provide personal information.

Early on, robocalls were easy to detect and ignore because the calls came from an area code you did not recognize. However, the scam has become much more sophisticated with the increase in Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) dialing, which makes it relatively easy to “spoof” a phone number so that the caller ID shows a different number than the one actually calling.

Microsoft to continue talks to buy TikTok from ByteDance Microsoft has announced that it is prepared to continue discussions for the acquisition of popular short-video app TikTok from Chinese internet giant ByteDance. In a statement, the company said that it is committed to acquiring TikTok “subject to a complete security review and providing proper economic benefits to the United States, including the United States Treasury.” Microsoft made the statement following a conversation between its CEO Satya Nadella and US President Donald Trump. The company said it would ensure that all private data of TikTok’s American users is transferred to and remains in the United States. Read more at https://tinyurl.com/y69w8a4b Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 2 is official, comes with a ton of improvements Samsung has officially introduced a range of new premium mobile devices at its Unpacked 2020 event live streamed from Korea. Among others, the company is launching the Samsung Galaxy…

Australia to invest a record A$1.35bn in cybersecurity The Australian government has announced an AUS USD 1.35 billion program to combat the rise in cybersecurity threats that have intensified in recent months. This initiative, named the Cyber Enhanced Situational Awareness and Response (CESAR) package, will seek to identify more threats, fight foreign cybercriminals and build stronger partnerships within the industry. The nation’s largest ever investment in cybersecurity will supercharge the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) and the Australian Cyber Security Centre. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said, “My government’s record investment in our nation’s cyber security will help ensure we have the tools and capabilities we need to fight back and keep Australians safe.” Read more at https://tinyurl.com/ya8q3xsl India has banned TikTok, WeChat, and other China-based apps The Indian government has banned 59 Chinese-made apps, including TikTok and WeChat, over concerns that “they are engaged in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty…

Ireland’s GoMo goes for more as it hits 200,000 customers Virtual network operator GoMo, the budget mobile brand of Irish telco Eir, has reached 200,000 customers, since launching only eight months ago. The company exists entirely as a digital brand, requiring customers to sign up online to be mailed a SIM card. This “digital-first” approach even extends to customer service, which is available only through online chat, without accessible call centers. GoMo uses Eir’s network and offers 99 percent population coverage and over 97 percent 4G coverage. Since its launch, GoMo has gradually increased its customer base, with figures from the Irish regulator suggesting that the majority are migrating from rivals Three and Vodafone. Read more at https://tinyurl.com/y7uwytwt JSonar raises $50 million for AI-powered database security products Database security startup jSonar has secured USD 50 million, which it plans to put toward R&D and go-to-market efforts. The company said that its AI-powered solutions help users…

Liberty Global and Telefonica to merge their U.K. operations creating the leading fixed-mobile provider in the country Virgin Media, Liberty Global’s cable operator, and Telefonica’s mobile carrier O2 have announced an agreement to merge their UK operations in a 50-50 joint venture between the two companies. This mega-deal is valued at GBP 31.4 billion, with O2 worth GBP 12.7 billion and Virgin Media valued at GBP 18.7 billion. According to the announcement, this combination will create a stronger fixed and mobile competitor in the UK market, supporting the expansion of Virgin Media’s giga-ready network and O2’s 5G mobile deployment for the benefit of consumers, businesses and the public sector. The transaction is expected to close in mid-2021. Read more at https://tinyurl.com/yc42j66f Ericsson ‘talking to advisers’ about selling $1.2bn number portability unit Ericsson’s largest shareholder Cevian Capital has advised the communications equipment supplier to sell its 83.3% stake in the US number portability company Iconectiv, formerly known as Telcordia. For the past several years,…

BEREC says COVID-19 won’t break the internet The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) has announced that the increase in Internet usage across the continent is more or less stabilizing and that networks have been able to withstand the pressure. BEREC said that national regulatory authorities (NRAs) have reported “a stabilization in the overall traffic, but some NRAs still observe an increase of the overall traffic.” Some operators have expanded their network’s capacity to cope with the steady growth of traffic. According to the organization, “operators, which did not take any such measure, are still closely monitoring their network’s capacity to check if an upgrade is necessary.” Read more at https://tinyurl.com/rxmg53l Vodafone slashes costs of core network functions across Europe using VMware’s telco cloud The UK-based telecoms operator Vodafone has completed the deployment of a single digital network architecture across all of its 21 European business markets, using…