As a whole, the telecommunications industry has been traditionally male-dominated. However, the trend is rapidly changing as this business sector becomes increasingly augmented with talented women having profound knowledge and skills, and influencing an industry where high-ranking female officials were a rarity until recently. Here is the list of the top ten women in the telecommunications industry, selected for their technical and business know-how, extensive experience, leadership and most significantly, their influence. Michelle Bourque Michelle Bourque is Senior Vice President, Product, Marketing and Access Strategy for BCE Nexxia, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bell Canada. The company provides wholesale services, including voice, broadband, hosting and co-location, and IP connectivity. As the leader of a team of product and marketing professionals, Michelle has introduced innovation and fresh perspectives to the wholesale marketing and product divisions. According to Michelle, women already have a significant presence in the telecoms sector, and…
As anticipated, the European Parliament has voted in favour of the European Electronic Communications Code (EECC). The new EU telecoms rules will open the possibilities for faster access to radio spectrum waves and greater investments in high-speed connectivity. They will also ensure better protection and services for end-users of either traditional (calls, SMS) or web-based solutions (Skype, WhatsApp, etc.). Vice-President for the Digital Single Market, Andrus Ansip, and Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, Mariya Gabriel, made a joint statement, which said, “Today’s vote by the European Parliament is a positive and necessary step towards ensuring that the telecoms sector in the EU is fit for purpose.” “The new telecoms rules that will now be put in place as a result, are an essential building block for Europe’s digital future and a source of new digital rights for European citizens. They are crucial for meeting Europeans’ growing connectivity needs and boosting…
The global ridesharing and taxi company, Uber, has rolled out a new VoIP calling feature as another method for drivers and riders to communicate with each other. Similar to other VoIP communication applications such as Skype, this feature will require an Internet connection instead of a mobile voice service in order to make calls. Riders and drivers on Uber can already communicate by using in-app chats, sending SMS or making voice calls over their mobile service provider’s network. Yet VoIP calling caught Uber’s attention when the company noticed that in some countries, particularly when traveling abroad, data calling is cheaper than calling over a mobile voice network. Besides this new feature assisting the company to expand their services on a global scale, this advancement will be of great assistance to drivers, as they will be able to stay within the Uber app while handling voice calls. Moreover, the…
A leading global provider of telecommunications solutions and services, Tata Communications, has announced the acquisition of the Dutch IoT specialist and mobile network enabler, Teleena. This deal is a clear investment in technology and talent that are expected to contribute to Tata Communications’ growth in the IoT and mobility markets. “The growth rate in the global mobility and IoT market is phenomenal: by 2021, enterprises’ spending on mobility alone is set to surpass USD 1.7 trillion,” commented Anthony Bartolo, the Chief Product Officer at Tata Communications. “Our vision is to create an environment where anything can be ‘born connected’. Providing everyone and everything in the world with seamless connectivity globally will support businesses’ digital transformation. The combination of the Tata Communications MOVE™ platform and Teleena’s technology and talent will help us fulfill this vision, and accelerate our growth in the mobility and IoT market.” This agreement did not…
The city of Kitchener, in Canada, Ontario, is home of a new app called OpenPhone. Its ambition is to help small entrepreneurs stopping the blurred line between private and business phone calls. Many services already exist in this specific field, like Phone.com or Grasshopper, but OpenPhone’s main feature is to simplify the process and focus and ease of use. As of today, the app let user share one phone number across several phone, using VoIP technology. Still in its beta version and available on the Appstore since January, the company expects to launch in a couple of months a final version. An Android version hit the Google platform in June. OpenPhone will allow customers to make concurrent calls on several devices, transcribed voicemail and call forwarding. This way, small businesses will have the opportunity to have a better communication between customers and entrepreneurs.
After suing Apple over patents infringement VoIP-Pal is determined to launch the exact same process with Amazon. The lawsuit has been filed in Nevada, and is focusing and Amazon’s cloud-based virtual assistant, Alexa, especially on its calling and messaging services. The Washington-based company blames Amazon for using the very same four patents that it is suing Apple for. In Amazon’s case, the technology is used to make function voice and video calls or voice messages. Voip-Pal is trying to make profits from patents they own that are based on VoIP technology. The CEO of Voip-Pal, Emil Malak said, “After investigating Amazon’s Alexa platform and Echo line of products our technical team has concluded that the calling and messaging functions infringe our patents. Amazon’s foray into communications seems to be part of a larger trend of giant corporations battling for market dominance by offering Internet-based communication products that integrate with traditional…
Security researchers from Rapid7 have found a large number of insecure UDP Internet services in Germany, which are used for VoIP. The researchers found nearly six million exposed SIP services on port 5060 / UPD, more than any other country in the world. The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is used to establish a communication session in Internet telephony and is particularly difficult to secure. Only encrypted SIP (SIP-TLS on port 5061 / TCP) provides adequate protection against active and passive eavesdropping and toll fraud, but plain text SIP is still widely used in Germany. This is demonstrated by Rapid7’s new National Exposure Index, an annual ranking that examines the extent to which countries around the world are at risk of active cyber attacks. For the study, Rapid7s security researchers scoured the entire Internet for TCP / IP services that, for example, are not secured with modern encryption methods or offer…
One of Africa’s largest economy, if not the largest (an ongoing debate with South Africa), Nigeria’s VoIP sector has seen in increase of subscription over a period of 12 months. With 93% of growth on one year, VoIP went from 46,348 users in May 2017 to reaching 89,447 in April 2018. Out of the two main operators in that segment, Smile Communications is in charge of 93% of the market with 83,445 accounts against 6,032 for its smaller rival, Ntel network. Still, the VoIP technology is a very narrow market on a GSM-dominated market. So far VoIP represents 0.06% of communications when GSM accounts for 99.7%. This is mainly due to a lack of broadband penetration into the country’s infrastructure. The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) assured that it expect to increase broadband penetration to 30%, compared to 22% right now, by putting on policies to achieve this goal. Prof. Umar…
New technologies, especially in wireless communications, is helping increase VoIP services. As smartphones, laptops and tablets are being more available worldwide, VoIP services are also growing and the competition between different providers is leading to a constant update in their offers. The BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy that is spreading in companies is another key factor in this demand on VoIP. Devices like phablets (a mix between smartphones and tablets like the Galaxy S9+) are replacing computers on many aspects. The PMR (Persistence Market Research) expect the market to grow up to US$ 194.5 Billion in the next seven years. Most of this increase will be from long distance VoIP calls that could represent US$ 120 Billion in revenue.