Telefonica launches Tech and Infra units amid Latam spin-off Spain’s telecom giant Telefonica has announced a major organisational restructuring after a meeting of its board of directors. The company’s chairman and CEO Jose Maria Alvarez-Pallete has introduced a new bold strategy to spin off company assets and prepare for industry 4.0. With its 5-point plan, Telefonica aims to generate more than EUR 2 billion a year in additional revenues from 2022, by prioritising its four key markets of Spain, Brazil, the UK and Germany and carrying out an “operational spin-off” of its Latin American business. The company will also set up a subsidiary for its cloud, cybersecurity and IoT businesses called Telefonica Tech and another for its infrastructure assets, Telefonica Infra. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/wjkobwc AT&T and Microsoft launch edge computing network Microsoft and AT&T have integrated 5G with Azure to launch their new Network Edge Compute (NEC) service for…
Here’s everything Google announced at the Pixel 4 event At its new smartphone launch event in New York, Google introduced Pixel 4 and Pixel 4XL that offer a new and improved version of Google Assistant, a new Motion Sense feature for gesture control, an upgraded camera, and a new Recorder app that also transcribes speech. The fourth-generation Pixel is priced from USD 799 for a 5.7-inch display and USD 899 for a 6.3-inch display. According to Google, the Pixel phones will be available with all US operators and major MVNOs. The new phones will ship on October 24th, globally. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/y3xw2v7q Apple pushes for own 5G modem by 2022 Apple has set a rather ambitious goal to have its own 5G modem in iPhones by 2022. The tech giant is currently using Qualcomm modems as part of a long-term supply agreement, but with the takeover of Intel’s smartphone modem…
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 networking and telecommunications company Ericsson and Germany’s largest network provider Deutsche Telekom, have announced that together they are the first to successfully demonstrate a wireless transmission on the mmWave spectrum, that can transfer data four times faster than currently existing services. The achievement of the data transmission rate of 40 Gbps with a latency of under 100 microseconds is a considerable advancement towards the fulfilment of stringent latency requirements of 5G, and the anticipated 100 Gbps backhaul networking. Per Narvinger, Head of Product Area Networks, Ericsson, said: “Microwave continues to be a key technology for mobile transport by supporting the capacity and latency requirements of 4G and future 5G networks. Our joint innovation project shows that higher capacity microwave backhaul will be an important enabler of high-quality mobile broadband services when 5G becomes a commercial reality.” A backhaul is an intermediate link between the core network and…
The American cable and Internet service provider Cable ONE has announced the launch of its Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Trunk service for business customers. This new service is a valuable addition to the already wide Cable ONE Business voice product portfolio that includes cloud-based hosted Voice, PRI trunks and business phone offerings. “In today’s fast paced, competitive environment, businesses need access to a variety of solutions to meet their voice technology needs,” commented Chris Boone, the Vice President of Business Services for Cable ONE. “We’re excited to add Cable ONE Business SIP Trunks to our portfolio of business voice services.” This new service provides business customers with the perfect opportunity to upgrade from TDM-based services, and add more scalability and flexibility to their PBX systems. The Cable ONE Business SIP Trunk service connects the customer’s onsite PBX to the provider’s nationwide fiber optic network, ensuring the affordable use…
The global telecommunications solutions provider ZTE and the mobile operator Hutchinson Drei Austria announced another strategic step to expand their partnership in preparation for the 5G rollout in Austria. The cooperation between mobile operators and telecommunications equipment providers is fundamental for the implementation of this cutting-edge technology, and a Joint Innovation Lab initiative was launched to develop, test and optimize the latest 5G technology solutions. The ten-year partnership between ZTE Austria and Hutchinson Drei Austria has already shown great results in upgrading the network for higher quality standards and service improvements, as demonstrated in the most recent Pre-5G trials in Austria. “The first result of the joint innovation initiative was the successful evaluation of the Pre-5G technology, which enabled us to create a commercial Pre-5G in Vienna already at the beginning of this year. This move was a breakthrough in the European telecoms market, which made Austria a true 5G…
A worldwide partnership between CTG (China Telecom Global) and Global Switch was made official. It will allow the two companies to offer Data Centre Network solutions to customers globally. Global Switch already operates, develops and owns carrier and cloud-neutral data centres, that are located in Europe, and the Asia Pacific area. As a part of its services, it provides IEPL (international ethernet private lines), IPLC (international private leased circuits), VPN and IP transit. Deng Xiaofeng, CEO of CTG, expressed his satisfaction : “The collaboration will bring significant value-adds to our existing and future customers, fuelling their development and success with resilient and mission critical data centre network infrastructure.” John Corcoran, CEO of Global Switch, added: “This agreement with China Telecom Global is recognition of Global Switch’s continued commitment to providing customers with industry-leading facilities and solutions across our global portfolio. This initiative will further enhance access to our extensive connectivity…
Telecom Secretary in India, Aruna Sundarajan expressed concerns about the country’s lack of quality mobile network services. She pointed out the fact that more towers and fiberisation is needed to follow the growth of subscribers. She said, during the second 5G India conference, “In a country where data is growing at 500 per cent, we need much more infrastructure. You need at least double the number of towers, at least double the size of fibre. Otherwise, where will the quality come from? So, they (operators) are working on that We are driving down hard on the service quality areas. We are beginning to see visible changes as a result of it. But it is not enough.” In a situation where call drops occur more often, falling service quality is concerning users and professionals. Manoj Sinha, the Telecom Minister, replied by confirming that the government is committed to “ensure quality of…
CTG (China Telecom Global) and Liquid Telecom (a pan-African telecom company) signed a deal to collaborate in the development of network solutions and services. In Johannesburg, Liquid Telecom’s headquarter held the signing ceremony between the Chinese and the African companies. Senior Representatives from China Telecom Donald Tan and Changhai Liu, and Liquid Telecoms CEO Nic Rudnick, and Chief Business Development officer Willem Marais, were present for this event. The two companies will be able to provide to their customers an extended coverage on those two parts of the world. “With more than 50 countries in the region, Africa is nonetheless the booming new market with the highest development rate just after Asia, and a very important market for CTG.” said Changhai Liu. As the Managing Director of China Telecom (Africa and Middle East) he also added, “This collaboration will enable both CTG and Liquid Telecom better serve our customers and…


