A leading communications solutions provider, BICS, has announced the release of their Local SMS Firewall, a fully managed end-to-end platform that helps operators protect and optimize their SMS traffic and revenues. This Local SMS Firewall oversees both A2P and P2P activities, and filters messages for unbillable traffic, thus preventing any loss of income. According to BICS, the introduction of their Local SMS Firewall was a natural reaction to the rapidly increasing number of A2P use cases and the demand for customer engagement. With mobile operators applying extra effort to boost customer satisfaction and taking advantage of A2P SMS opportunities, the new platform is a perfect tool for minimizing the decrease of revenue caused by traffic bypass. “BICS is dedicated to aiding operators in monetizing their SMS assets. SMS aggregators are always going to look for new ways to disrupt the industry, but with solutions like BICS’ Local SMS Firewall, the…
Europe’s leading Internet of Things event IoT Tech Expo Europe 2018 brought together thousands of enthusiasts and specialists from a variety of industries including manufacturing, transport, healthcare, logistics, energy and automotive to discuss the ever-increasing potential of IoT. Among the 300+ exhibitors at the event in Amsterdam, a rising star in the industry, monogoto, made a revolutionary move by launching its new flat rate data plans for IoT connectivity. “We are happy to introduce a ‘pay once and forget’ business model, where the IoT community can pay $10 and get a SIM card with a ‘lifetime’ 10 years of connectivity,” said Itamar Kunik, Chief Executive Officer at monogoto. “With this new pricing, appliance companies, OEMs and developers can now offer connected devices with pre-installed SIM cards, and not be concerned with high monthly recurring data costs.” monogoto is a one-stop shop that covers the complete range of IoT connectivity requirements,…
At the recent Sino-German Economic Forum, China Mobile and Nokia signed a one year framework agreement valued at 1.36 billion euro (9.927 billion yuan) to support the Chinese operator’s transition to 5G infrastructure, while maintaining seamless connectivity. Under this agreement, the Finnish corporation will be providing the Chinese telecom with cutting edge end-to-end technologies for the next generation network, in addition to mobile, fixed, IP routing, optical transport and customer experience management technologies along with their service expertise and support. The two companies have been in partnership since 1994, when Nokia supported the first GSM call on China Mobile’s network. In addition to collaborating on 5G, both companies are moving forward together and have agreed to conduct research and tests on artificial intelligence and machine learning. “This is a highly significant agreement with our longstanding partner that consolidates Nokia’s position as a leading provider of next-generation technologies and services in…
While the IoT market continues to grow, Vadofone has announced the launch of two new consumer IoT products in their V by Vodafone range – V-SOS Band by Vodafone and V-Kids Watch by Vodafone. Last November, the telecom giant made its move into the consumer IoT market with their new range of devices called V by Vodafone. The initial launch focused on four products from different categories: V-Auto by Vodafone, V-Pet by Vodafone, V-Camera by Vodafone and V-Bag by Vodafone, all easily managed via their V by Vodafone App. The newest additions to the group are human wearable devices aimed to assist people with mobility issues, and to help children develop their independence in a secure manner. The V-SOS Band by Vodafone is described as an emergency alert wristband, that enables the wearer to send an SOS signal to up to four contacts simply by pressing a button for three…
More than 7 years ago when Laimis joined the DIDWW team, he did not have an extensive knowledge of telecommunications. However, his tenacity, people skills, and excellent grasp of the English language landed him the position of an Account Manager. Today, thousands of phone calls, emails and meetings later, he has become one of the key people in charge of Business Development at DIDWW. Laimis can close deals like no other employee, and, as a demanding mentor, his trainees tend to follow in his footsteps and also become successful sales people. Currently Laimis is enjoying his new role as a father to the cutest 8-month-old girl Eivina, and most of his free time is dedicated to his family. He still enjoys a game of basketball with his friends or playing video games – bearing significant responsibilities at work requires some relaxing time off. Read the full interview with Laimis below…
Amongst all the excitement of approaching 5G rollouts, the Finnish operator Elisa has grabbed the headlines by officially announcing that they are the first operator in the world to begin commercial use of a 5G network. Elisa’s first 5G network services were launched in Tampere (Finland) and Tallinn (Estonia). The first person to use the 5G network was Finland’s minister of Transport and Communications, Anne Berner, who made an international video call to Estonia’s minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure, Kadri Simson, using Huawei 5G terminal devices. Even though there are no commercial 5G-compatible devices available to the public, Elisa is already offering two types of 5G subscriptions. A significant hurdle that must be overcome for mass 5G rollouts is the issue of licensing. The Finish Ministry of Communications is set to allocate the first 5G licences for the 3.4-3.8 GHz bands in autumn, thereby enabling Finland to maintain their…
The mobile operator, Vodafone Ukraine, intends to launch their 4G network for the 1800 MHz band on 1 July, 2018. The expansion of the 1800 MHz band network will allow Vodafone to cover a wider territory, enabling access for millions of Ukrainians to 4G mobile Internet. This fourth generation service will be available in 50 settlements across 10 main regions of Ukraine: Kiev, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Odessa, Mikolayiv, Poltava, Sumi, Kirovograd and Kherson. Besides the advantage of wider coverage, Vodafone is excited about the higher speed, improved connection stability and faster network response times for their mobile users. The other two major Ukrainian operators, LifeCell and Kyivstar, who won the 1800 MHz 4G LTE mobile license along with Vodafone at an auction held this March, will also be introducing similar services in early July.
M1 will start testing 5G small cells at the end of the year. Those trials will be conducted in partnership with the Finnish company, Nokia. The main goal of those tests will be to give informations on the best way to install 5G small cells for a commercial purpose in a “dense cell grid architecture” and to validate the efficiency of low-latency for the “Internet of Things”. Denis Seek, CTO of M1 stated, “The practical learning from early 5G field trial is critical for the success of developing high-performance and demand-driven 5G services for our customers in future and enables us to play a key role in Singapore’s Smart Nation initiatives.” If Nokia has been working with M1 on network trials since 2016, it won’t be the only company working with the operator. The Chinese tech giant Huawei will also run trials with M1 by testing the 28GHz mmWave spectrum…
While the storm caused by the GDPR coming into force on May 25th is quieting down, people are still concerned about the protection of their personal data, and privacy in general. In the current environment, the use of the word VPN is commonplace, yet not everyone understands this term and what it has to do with security. voip.review will provide some basic insights into VPNs. Simply put, the abbreviation VPN stands for Virtual Private Network, a connection method that helps users maintain security while connecting to another network over the Internet. The original idea for creating a VPN was to secure the private network of large corporations, where branch offices and employees need to connect to the network from remote locations. While connecting to the corporate network via cables installed in a local office is relatively safe, connecting to this private network through public networks can introduce security…
The Beta testers of WhatsApp for Android can now be the first to enjoy the long-awaited voice and video group calling on their mobile devices. These latest features are available on Android Beta versions 2.18.189 and 2.18.192, but first the user has to enroll in the WhatsApp Beta tester program via the Google Play store. Arranging a group voice or video call on WhatsApp is simple; start a call with one person and once the call gets connected, an icon “Add person” appears in top right corner of the screen. On selecting that icon, users will be redirected to a contact list where an additional participant may be selected. Currently, the voice and video group calls only support up to four participants, including the person who initiated the call. The Facebook-owned company’s group calling features were officially announced during the F8 conference this May, and since then only a selected number…


