Following a year-long investigation that indicated the two corporations had a tight grip on the industry, the UK competition authority is launching an investigation into Apple and Google’s market clout in phone browsers and cloud gaming. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is seeking feedback on opening a market probe that would give it broad powers to address Google and Apple’s monopoly in mobile phone systems. The CMA might use a market investigation to intervene in Apple and Google’s provision of mobile browsers and distribution of cloud gaming services via their app stores and devices. The regulator has decided after a year of investigation that Apple and Google had an effective duopoly on mobile ecosystems, allowing them to exert an unfair grip on these markets, which include operating systems, app stores, and mobile web browsers. According to the CMA, the organization has examined where it may take…
UK telecoms sector agrees to help customers in need The UK government and operators have approved a new deal to help customers who are struggling to pay their broadband and mobile bills. Andrew Glover, chair of the Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA), stated, “The telecoms sector knows that people are facing real challenges with the cost-of-living crisis. Our members are determined to do what they can to help their customers through this period and, together with the government, we will work to raise greater awareness of the support available.” Among other measures, telcos have agreed to allow vulnerable customers to switch to cheaper tariffs without charge or penalty, or adjust their plans to make payments more manageable. Read more at https://tinyurl.com/msjxsp2f Sinch achieves HIPAA compliance for its voice, fax and UCaaS services Sinch has announced that it has successfully achieved third-party validation of its compliance with the Health Insurance Portability…
Intel and Exfo release tool for 5G issue detection Operators will be able to monitor a 5G network in real time thanks to a new solution developed by Exfo, a Canadian telecommunications testing company, and Intel, a US chip manufacturer. The new service, dubbed “Exfo’s full-stack assurance solution,” is marketed as a way for 5G network operators to detect and correlate service degradation concerns.The software is said to combine system, monitoring, and telemetry data flows, monitor them in real time, and respond quickly if a fault is detected. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/9x66wd2z Qualcomm’s €1 billion antitrust punishment lifted Qualcomm was fined €997 million by the EU in 2018, in what was considered as a major victory for regulators over ‘big tech.’ The General Court, Europe’s second-highest court, has now overruled this order. The complaint concerns Qualcomm’s payments to Apple running into the billions of dollars between 2011 and 2016 to…
BT announces a new deal with Amazon Web Services BT’s Digital division has announced a new partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS), which will see the cloud giant assist BT in migrating internal applications to the cloud. This initiative is part of BT’s larger strategy, which aims to modernize the company’s operations and save up to £2 billion each year by 2025. The operator claims that it will continue to make large investments and leverage AWS technology to improve its internal operations. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/2p9ykxaz Apple under pressure over NFC access Apple has been accused by the European Commission (EC) of misusing its position to prevent competitor mobile wallets from being used on iOS devices. The European Commission stated that in order to benefit Apple Pay, the vendor restricts third-party wallet software developers’ access to the NFC input on its devices. If this statement is confirmed, it would appear…
Nokia to deliver additional networking scale and capacity to Microsoft Nokia’s 7250 IXR chassis-based interconnect routers have been selected to serve high-density 400GE applications in Microsoft’s tier-2 network architecture. Nokia will also provide fixed-form-factor platforms for Microsoft’s alternative network applications. The agreement strengthens the two companies’’ long-standing partnership, which has focused on bringing massively scalable, flexible and highly robust networking to the data center. The firms previously collaborated as part of the open-source SONiC effort to develop chassis-based solutions tailored to the needs of high-capacity data centers. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/bdck5wuw NICE partners with Deutsche Telekom Global Business NICE has partnered with Deutsche Telekom Global Business, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom that provides telecommunications and connectivity solutions to organizations across all verticals, including the public sector. As part of this agreement, Deutsche Telekom Global Business will use the NICE CXone CCaaS platform and associated apps in various communications initiatives that…
Vantage Towers partners with Mowea Vantage Towers, a subsidiary of Vodafone, has formed a strategic alliance with the Berlin-based start-up Mowea to power towers with renewable energy. Vantage Towers plans to build 752 micro wind turbines on 52 towers in Germany, with a capacity of up to 650 MWh per year. Under typical wind conditions, the turbines can cut grid power usage and electricity operating expenses at each site by up to two-thirds or more. Installation of the Mowea’s micro wind turbines is planned for the second part of the year, assuming that all relevant licenses are obtained by then. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/35zsph6v Nokia to defend IP Telecom against quantum cyber attacks Nokia has established a partnership with IP Telecom to expand the latter’s data center cloud connection infrastructure to Portuguese urban regions. Under the terms of the agreement, Nokia will create an encrypted optical data center interconnect (DCI)…
BT is opening a robotics research facility BT Labs in Suffolk, England, will open a 5,000-square-foot robotics research laboratory to create robotic solutions for telecom and civil engineering. The lab is the first of its kind in the United Kingdom. BT anticipates that academics at the new facility will collaborate with colleges and utilities to create and test technologies that will advance the pace of BT’s fiber rollout as well as the upgrading of the power and water providers’ subterranean and overhead networks. The researchers will concentrate on issues such as installing new fiber infrastructure without digging up roadways and sidewalks, providing trenchless infrastructure utilizing robotic locomotion and excavation techniques, and more. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/dm6ujvnz Cisco powers AT&T managed SASE offering AT&T is adding a new product to its worldwide, managed Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) portfolio. AT&T SASE with Cisco is an unified network and security management solution…
Deutsche Telekom and Softbank in a share-swap deal In a significant shake-up that reinforces the German group’s transatlantic emphasis, Deutsche Telekom has reached a $7 billion share-swap agreement with SoftBank Group to raise its stake in T-Mobile US. In addition, Deutsche Telekom has sold its Dutch subsidiary. As a consequence of the two transactions, Deutsche Telekom’s share in T-Mobile US will increase to 48.4 percent, moving it closer to its aim of gaining direct control of the $170 billion US telecoms operator. In exchange, SoftBank will receive cash and a 4.5 percent interest in Deutsche Telekom, creating a direct shareholding link. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/32tvyn46 NEC expands its partnership with AWS NEC has stated that it will broaden its relationship with AWS to include 5G and digital governance. NEC aims to create an “end-to-end 5G offering” by integrating their cloud-native open 5G core with AWS’ cloud and edge services. According…
Google to use its own chips for the new Pixel phones Google has announced that its next Pixel smartphones will be available in the fall, powered for the first time by an in-house developed chip. Tensor, Google’s first mobile system on a chip, will be used in the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. Tensor is a single chip that integrates a set of processing units and enhances computational capacity in an energy-efficient manner. Google has not revealed who will manufacture the chips for the new Pixel phones. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/xsprb7ap Lumen to sell its ILEC assets Lumen Technologies announced that it has entered an agreement to sell its Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier (ILEC) business in 20 states, including its consumers, small business, wholesale, and mostly copper-served enterprise customers and assets, to funds managed by Apollo Global Management affiliates for $7.5 billion. Lumen will maintain its ILEC assets in…
Google Cloud and Ericsson team up to deliver 5G and Edge cloud solutions for telcos The two tech giants – Google Cloud and Ericsson – have come together to jointly develop 5G and edge cloud solutions to help communications service providers (CSPs) digitally transform and unlock new enterprise and consumer use cases. Google Cloud and Ericsson are developing new solutions at Ericsson’s Silicon Valley D15 Labs, a state-of-the-art innovation center where advanced solutions and technologies can be developed and tested on a live, multi-layer 5G platform. Thomas Kurian, CEO at Google Cloud, said that organizations have a tremendous opportunity to digitally transform their businesses with 5G, using cloud capabilities like artificial intelligence and machine learning at the edge. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/2c5sez86 DIDWW implements the STIR/SHAKEN technology The global telecommunication services provider, DIDWW, has implemented caller ID authentication through the STIR/SHAKEN set of standards. These standards act as the framework…