The Dublin, Ireland-based company AirSpeed Telecom has partnered with Intellicom, an international business telephony and contact center provider, to integrate new Voice over IP (VoIP) solutions into the telecommunications products and bandwidth services provider’s existing product portfolio. AirSpeed Telecom said that this integration will assist end-users in their quest to achieve superior operational excellence and offer an enhanced customer experience. According to the statement, the new VoIP solutions encompass a full-featured business telephony and contact center system that carries voice and other multimedia traffic across broadband networks. AirSpeed Telecom noted that by leveraging the power of IP networks, businesses can improve customer service, increase workplace mobility and enhance remote working solutions, and also reduce telecommunications costs. “Our customers’ needs are changing and at AirSpeed, we like to think that we’re able to innovate to meet those developing requirements. While best known for high-class connectivity, AirSpeed is increasingly offering business-class…
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…
Telefonica Deutschland Holding AG, the leading mobile operator in the German market, has announced an agreement to sell about 10,100 telecom sites to the group’s majority-owned tower infrastructure arm Telxius Telecom for EUR 1.5 billion. The acquisition deal includes 10,000 rooftop sites and up to 80 tower sites, as well as an obligation to build 2,400 new sites (BTS). This move will ensure the company’s exceptional future growth in Germany, Europe’s largest telecom market, where a robust deployment by operators is expected to improve mobile broadband coverage and secure the future deployment of 5G. Markus Haas, CEO of Telefonica Deutschland, said, “This is one of the largest and most important transactions in the history of Telefonica Deutschland. It represents an important milestone in focusing our business activities. We are pursuing a clear course based on our growth strategy. Within this strategy, we are focusing on further improving the quality of the O2 network for our…
Hosting and colocation service provider Equinix has announced an agreement to purchase a portfolio of 13 data center sites across Canada from BCE Inc., the massive telecommunications and media conglomerate, and the corporate parent of Bell MTS and Bell Canada. The company expects to close this USD 750 million deal in the second half of 2020. The 13 data center sites that will join California-based Equinix’s portfolio represent 25 individual facilities and are expected to generate annual revenues of approximately USD 105 million. In addition to cementing a stronger foothold in the third-largest economy in the Americas, Equinix will also gain more than 600 customers that are currently operating within the Bell data centers. Equinix is already the world’s largest data center and colocation provider, with a network of more than 210 facilities across 55 metros. The company’s main business is hosting the technology infrastructure of third party organizations. “Canadian businesses…
Openreach adopts Nokia’s 10Gbps FTTP broadband kit for the UK The Finnish telecom equipment manufacturer Nokia has announced that Openreach will deploy its next-generation fiber solutions. This will help meet Openreach’s target to bring ultra-fast and reliable broadband access to 20 million homes across the UK by the mid-to-late 2020s. Clive Selley, CEO of Openreach, said, “This new digital platform will help our economy to bounce back more quickly from the COVID-19 pandemic – enabling people to continue work from home, and millions of businesses to operate seamlessly online for decades to come.” This supplier agreement also marks a shift away from reliance on Huawei equipment for the UK’s largest broadband networks. Read more at https://tinyurl.com/yb6cj6jn Google and Apple’s joint COVID-19 contact tracing API now available to health authorities Apple and Google have released the first public version of their jointly developed API for COVID-19 tracing apps. This software will enable public health authorities to…
Facebook, telcos to build a huge subsea cable for Africa and the Middle East Facebook, together with a group of telecom companies, including Vodafone, Orange, STC, China Mobile International, MTN GlobalConnect, Telecom Egypt, and WIOCC, will build a subsea cable system that is claimed to be one of the largest in the world. The project is called 2Africa and will cover 37,000 km of cables interconnecting Europe (eastward via Egypt), the Middle East (via Saudi Arabia), and 21 landings in 16 countries in Africa. The system is expected to go live in 2023/4, delivering more than the total combined capacity of all subsea cables serving Africa today, with a design capacity of up to 180 Tbps. Read more at https://tinyurl.com/yahgfe8g Workvivo raises $16 million to reinvent the intranet in the age of Slack and Zoom The Irish startup Workvivo, an employee communications platform, has raised USD 16 million in a Series A…
The Philippine telecommunications operator PLDT Inc. and Orange International Carriers, a division within Orange’s wholesale arm, have announced a partnership agreement for international voice aggregation services. According to the terms of the agreement, Orange will handle all international inbound traffic terminating on the networks of PLDT and its wireless subsidiary Smart Communications, Inc. Emmanuel Rochas, Chief Executive Officer of International Carriers at Orange, said, “Orange is proud that PLDT has selected Orange to provide support and protect market value for the future and we are delighted to enter into this partnership. I look forward to working alongside PLDT to embrace the market evolution and I am confident that this partnership will develop to our mutual benefit.” In a statement to the press, Orange said that its expertise will help PLDT manage the operator’s global partner portfolio, and its sales team will support PLDT during the implementation of various voice…
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,…
Verizon buys Zoom rival BlueJeans for less than $500 million Verizon Business has announced a deal to purchase enterprise-grade video conferencing platform BlueJeans, thereby expanding Verizon’s unified communications portfolio and improving its service for business customers. This acquisition shows that the company is also trying to capitalize on the current trend of remote employees making extensive use of online services such as Zoom, Slack and Microsoft during the pandemic. BlueJeans has more than 15,000 customers, including Facebook, IBM-owned Red Hat, ADP, Zillow and LinkedIn. The deal is worth USD 500 million and is expected to close in the second quarter of 2020. Read more at https://tinyurl.com/yd9qtfhg Apple’s new iPhone SE is surprisingly powerful for $399 Apple is launching iPhone SE 2020, the second generation of its cheapest smartphone in the iPhone lineup, priced at just USD 399. The iPhone SE runs on Apple’s latest A13 Bionic chip that enables great battery…
The Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg), the Irish national regulatory authority, and the current Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment Richard Bruton TD have signed new regulations that will allow the release of additional radio spectrum to create extra capacity for mobile phone and broadband services. These are temporary measures taken in response to a sharp increase in the use of mobile networks, as people rely more heavily on their operators to communicate and stay connected during COVID-19 social distancing. According to ComReg, mobile operators have coped well with increased usage so far, but they have currently less headroom to accommodate further spikes in demand. ComReg Commissioner, Jeremy Godfrey, said, “The provision of this spectrum will help the mobile providers cater for the increased demand on their networks. ComReg will continue to work with industry and will support operators so that telecoms networks may continue to meet demand…


