European telcos: We’re ready to “lift the continent out of this recession” The European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association (ETNO) has released a joint statement calling on EU institutions and national governments to support 5G and fiber rollout, stimulate the uptake of technology, fight misinformation, and focus on digital skills and education. According to ETNO, a new approach is needed to ensure that spectrum auctions are timely and conditions for spectrum assignment support network deployment. Sharing agreements for Radio Access Network (RAN) should be supported and incentivized, as well as all fiber investment models should be adequately encouraged. Moreover, future EU initiatives should dramatically reduce roll-out costs for both mobile and fixed networks. Read more at https://tinyurl.com/yadrfxfg Microsoft’s new Teams features fight video conferencing fatigue Microsoft Team’s brand seeks to fight “Zoom fatigue” and exhaustion of physical isolation with its new updates and features. The news includes a shared background to make participants…
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…
Spanish telecom operator MasMovil agrees $3.3 billion private equity bid KKR, Cinven and Providence have made their Public Acquisition Offer for Spanish telecoms operator MasMovil. The three venture capital funds have proposed to pay EUR 22.5 per share of the telco, which is valued at almost EUR 3 billion. According to the statement, KKR, Cinven and Providence will pay a 20 percent premium on the current MasMovil share price. Meinrad Spenger, MasMovil Chief Executive, said that they have signed an agreement with the bidders on a deal which would be “beneficial for the shareholders and other stakeholders in the company.” Furthermore, the bidders noted that they would maintain continuity in MasMovil’s strategy, staff and executive team. Read more at https://tinyurl.com/y754vsc9 Google Cloud signs major UK government deal The technology giant Google Cloud has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) to make its cloud solutions…
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…
US telecoms will not charge late fees during COVID-19 pandemic Major US telecommunications companies such as AT&T, Comcast, Cox, and Verizon have expanded their policies to not charge late payments and cancel service for customers and small businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic until June 30. Furthermore, Comcast said that apart from extending the commitment through June 30 and providing its Wi-Fi hotspots to everyone, it would also extend the pause in its data plans to give all customers unlimited data at no extra charge. With tens of millions of Americans working from home, internet providers and the FCC say the internet is performing well. Read more at https://tinyurl.com/yd8wbxuv Google is making Meet free for everyone The tech giant has announced that Google Meet, its premium video conferencing product, will be free for everyone and will be fully accessible over the coming weeks. Previously, the Meet service was available only…
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 US technology company Ribbon Communications has introduced its new EdgeMarc 300 Series to provide small businesses, home office and branch office customers that currently have analog voice infrastructure, with an easy and cost-effective way to capitalize on IP-based voice services. The cloud solutions provider said that the EdgeMarc 300 is part of the recently launched cloud-based Ribbon Next Generation Intelligent Edge portfolio, which securely connects and enhances enterprise voice and data applications, including Microsoft Teams. This portfolio of edge solutions delivers service assurance, advanced analytics, security, policy and routing functionalities for cloud communications applications. Ribbon’s EdgeMarc 300 is a survivable branch office solution that supports the integration of analog endpoints and the public switched telephone network (PSTN), as well as Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) calls. This gateway provides connectivity between analog and SIP devices, enabling branch offices to rapidly migrate analog phones to a SIP-based network and communicate seamlessly with…


