NEWS Archives | Page 4 of 12

Rakuten and NEC to promote Open RAN

By Aiste Kryzanovske May 20, 2021

Two Japanese companies, Rakuten Mobile and NEC Corporation, have announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote Open RAN in mobile telecommunications markets worldwide. The MoU is based on Rakuten’s current partnership with NEC, where NEC supplies 5G radio equipment to the operator. The pair is also jointly working on developing a Rakuten standalone 5G core. Under the Memorandum of Understanding, Rakuten Mobile and NEC will continue to expand their local collaboration to provide 5G and 4G radios and engineering services for Open RAN systems that are compliant with O-RAN specifications. These services will be applicable to markets worldwide and will boost the global development of the Rakuten Communications Platform (RCP). RCP is Rakuten Mobile’s fully virtualized and containerized cloud-based mobile network platform, enabling telecom businesses to station virtual networks rapidly and inexpensively. Tareq Amin, executive vice president and CTO at Rakuten Mobile, said: “Rakuten…

Telecom News

AT&T announces a merger between WarnerMedia with Discovery

By Aiste Kryzanovske May 18, 2021

The US giant AT&T and Discovery have announced a deal to merge WarnerMedia’s entertainment, sports and news assets with Discovery’s international entertainment and sports companies to create a unique, high-end global entertainment company. In accordance with the agreement, AT&T will receive a total of $43 billion of cash, debt and the retention of certain debts of WarnerMedia. If approved by regulators, AT&T shareholders will receive 71% of the shares in the new company, while Discovery shareholders will own 29%. It is expected that the deal will deliver significant value to both AT&T and Discovery shareholders. This merger will bring together the strongest teams of media business leaders and content creators, and include industry-leading libraries of films and series. The merger will create a new business that could be valued $150 billion, including debt. This transaction gives AT&T and its shareholders the opportunity to leverage the value of…

News Roundup

A quick roundup of the news in Telecoms | Week #19

By Aiste Kryzanovske May 14, 2021

Orange considers buying infrastructure assets it sold almost two decades ago Orange is considering a probable purchase of the former telecommunications infrastructure unit TDF. The company sold TDF nearly two decades ago to lessen its debt. Orange is considering combining TDF with the recently established European mast company TOTEM, as infrastructure appraisals have recently increased with interest from investors such as the US private equity firm KKR and Spain’s Cellnex. TDF, previously known as Télédiffusion de France, operates TV and radio towers, mobile sites, as well as fiber infrastructure and related services through around 19,000 sites, of which 7,300 are active. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/2etpjpjn AT&T to modernize U.S. DOT’s network AT&T and the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) have signed a 12-year, $175 million deal to assist DOT in upgrading its IP and voice infrastructure. AT&T will supply DOT with virtual private networking and secure cloud technology, together…

Telecom News

Telefónica sells four data centers in Chile and Spain

By Aiste Kryzanovske May 13, 2021

Telefonica, a Spanish international telecommunications company, has sold its four Data Centers (DCs) to a leading independent investment management company Asterion Industrial Partners in exchange for a 20 percent stake in the Nabiax hosting business. With this deal, Telefonica is forming a strategic partnership with the company’s current shareholder, Asterion and its co-investors, who retain the remaining 80% of the share capital. Two of the properties sold are located in Chile and two are in Spain. The contract includes an agreement for housing services in the four DCs on identical terms and conditions as set out in the previous transaction. The deal does not include the sale of Telefónica’s owned servers, as well as the management and access to their customers hosted on those servers. As a result, Telefónica will continue providing and managing the services it has offered to its customers from these data centers and will support…

Telecom News

Telinta and TransNexus help VoIP service providers comply with STIR/SHAKEN and robocall mitigation requirements

By Aiste Kryzanovske May 11, 2021

Telinta, a global leader in hosted switching and billing for VoIP service providers, and TransNexus, a leader in developing innovative software for telecommunications networks, jointly announced today a solution to help VoIP service providers comply with STIR/SHAKEN call authentication and robocall mitigation regulations. TransNexus has made groundbreaking innovations in robocall mitigation with its ClearIP software platform. Telinta has integrated ClearIP into its cloud-based softswitch. Together the two leaders can help VoIP service providers meet their STIR/SHAKEN and robocall mitigation requirements, helping customers to avoid having their traffic blocked. TransNexus offers services for Telinta customers based both inside and outside the U.S. When a U.S.-based Telinta customer signs up with TransNexus, Telinta will send a request to TransNexus to create a digital signature and Telinta will include that signature on subsequent calls as they are routed through Telinta’s platform. For Telinta customers based outside the U.S., TransNexus can…

Telecom News

A quick roundup of the news in Telecoms | Week #18

By Aiste Kryzanovske May 7, 2021

DIDWW joins GSMA DIDWW, a global cloud communications service provider, has announced that it has become an associate member of the GSMA, an industry organization that represents the interests of mobile operators around the world. The GSMA supports the latest technological innovations and the development of the mobile ecosystem to promote digital transformation and industrial growth. GSMA membership allows DIDWW to actively take part in technical working groups, establish new business relationships, and develop strategies that will greatly contribute to the wider adoption of hosted VoIP services. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/4urtcbtz Mediacom to expansion broadband to 500K locations The US operator Mediacom has revealed its plan to provide high-speed broadband to another 500,000 under-serviced homes and businesses over the next three years. This scaling-up will include a combination of new facilities supported by state and federal broadband grants, line extensions and the development of fixed wireless access (FWA) using recently…

Telecom News

A quick roundup of the news in Telecoms | Week #17

By Aiste Kryzanovske April 30, 2021

Telefonica reveals a new rebrand Telefonica has announced its new rebrand at the company’s annual general meeting. The company also reelected its Chairman and CEO Jose Maria Alvarez-Pallete to its board for a further four-year term with increased backing from shareholders. The newly refurbished design will be used in the company’s brands under the Telefonica name, but will not replace the Telefonica-owned consumer-facing identities O2 and Movistar. According to the company, the new logo reflects extensive restructuring efforts started in 2019 and is reminiscent of the 1984 logo that also resembled the letter T made-up of small circles. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/34hwm3ve AT&T gifts boost in fiber speed to its customers AT&T has announced that it is giving its customers a free increase in fiber speeds. The company is increasing its access speeds from 100 Mbps to 300 Mbps, and 300 Mbps to 500 Mbps respectively. The company will continue…

Telecom News

T-Mobile US and Zyter partner on telehealth

By Aiste Kryzanovske April 29, 2021

T-Mobile US, an American wireless network operator, has announced a partnership with Zyter, a provider of cloud-based, software as a service (SaaS) digital health products. The companies are partnering to deliver virtual healthcare solutions to healthcare organizations and their patients across the US, including telehealth and remote patient monitoring and care team collaboration. The alliance comes at a time of high demand for virtual healthcare. Since the start of the pandemic, 51% of US residents have expressed concern about visiting hospitals and other healthcare facilities. The partnership aims to make virtual care accessible to more people in order to improve patient outcomes, lower readmission hospital rates and improve patient wellbeing. This agreement will serve healthcare organizations in providing remote and secure communications between patients and health care teams in order to monitor, diagnose, and remotely treat patients wherever they are, making use of the T-Mobile 4G and 5G…

Telecom News

DIDWW enables Hemmersbach to seamlessly transition to VoIP globally

By Aiste Kryzanovske April 27, 2021

Innovative communication solutions are a great way to streamline business processes, increase productivity and ensure a smooth and scalable expansion. German-based Hemmersbach, a renowned service provider of IT infrastructure – DaaS (Device as a Service) and GFS (Global Field Service) – has teamed up with DIDWW, a leading provider of premium quality cloud communication services, to establish a strong local presence across the world with DID numbers and SIP trunks. This initiative will see the DIDWW private global voice and SMS network enabling seamless communication for Hemmersbach, which currently serves customers in more than 190 countries and operates through 50 subsidiaries worldwide. To successfully manage such a large volume of internal and external communications, Hemmersbach will leverage the robust and geo-redundant VoIP network at DIDWW. The company’s extensive international coverage of virtual phone numbers and its powerful local dialing solution will ensure a fully-compliant and reliable service, as…

Telecom News

A quick roundup of the news in Telecoms | Week #16

By Aiste Kryzanovske April 23, 2021

European Commission proposes new AI regulations The European Commission is proposing new rules that would allow it to ban any type or deployment of AI that it considers high-risk. The organization also proposes much stricter rules and limitations on the use of biometric data, such as law enforcement using face recognition. Violation of the rules may result in fines of up to 6% of the offending company’s total global turnover. For the biggest tech companies, that sum could reach billions. The commission’s digital chief, Margrethe Vestager, said: “On artificial intelligence, trust is a must, not a nice-to-have.” Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/5e8wcufu Cisco to invest $100 million to combat climate change Cisco has unveiled plans to invest $100 million over the next 10 years to help fight climate change, using the fund in its name for initiatives aimed at reducing emissions and educating communities. Cisco’s efforts will be global, and funding…