Singtel, the parent company of Australian telecommunications giant Optus, has once again rebuffed rumors of selling its stake in Optus, dispelling speculation that talks with Canadian firm Brookfield have hit a standstill.
Following an infamous network outage at Optus, CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin chooses to resign, leaving implications of disagreement over the cause behind the outage. The issue originated from a software upgrade in the international peering network, STiX, owned by Singtel – Optus’s parent company, sparking debate on whether it culpable for the interruption.
Huawei plans a comeback in the smartphone market with new 5G devices using domestic chip supplies. Concerns persist about the quality of these chips and Huawei’s absence from the Android Play Store. CityFibre challenges Openreach with a faster wholesale FTTH service, while Optus collaborates with SpaceX’s Starlink to expand mobile coverage in Australia’s remote areas. Ofcom investigates O2 Virgin Media over customer complaints, and the European Court of Justice rejects a ruling on the Three-O2 merger, adding to the uncertainty in the telecommunications regulatory landscape.
According to an update from Optus, 2.1 million of the 9.8 million current and past customers whose data was exposed had at least one portion of an identification document, such as a license or passport number, accessed. In addition to personal data such as name, address, and date of birth, a current and legitimate form of identification was compromised for around 1.2 million people. For the remaining 900,000 users, the breach compromised an out-of-date ID. Optus stated that it has contacted all of the affected individuals and instructed them on the steps to take so as to minimize the damage done by this hack. Optus has also promised to reimburse victims the cost of passport replacement. The company has encouraged the remaining 7.7 million consumers to be cautious. Even though their identification documents were not stolen, the breach disclosed information such as email addresses, birth dates and phone…
T-Mobile gives an AI wildfire detection system access to 5G T-Mobile US, the disaster-focused tech startup Pano AI, and Portland General Electric have collaborated to install a network of 5G-connected cameras near Portland, Oregon. The cameras are linked to an AI detection system that watches for the earliest indications of wildfires so that the emergency services can respond to these possible emergencies more quickly than they would otherwise. Given the horrific wildfires that have ravaged the United States in recent years, systems such as these have the potential to be extremely valuable. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/yr7xr3ac European telecoms testing holographic calls Together with Matsuko, Telefónica, Orange, Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone are creating a platform that will connect the physical and digital worlds via a mobile connection. The experimental platform takes advantage of 5G connectivity, which has a fast speed, high bandwidth and low latency. The system produces a 2D video…
Singtel, a Singaporean telecommunications conglomerate, and its Australian subsidiary Optus have expanded their 5G ecosystems by adding Amazon Web Services (AWS) Outposts to their portfolio of hybrid cloud technologies from hyperscale cloud providers in their respective multi-access edge compute (MEC) platforms. With Amazon Web Services Outpost, MEC will power 5G solutions such as robotics, drones, autonomous vehicles and artificial intelligence to function with very little latency, and closer to end-users. Companies can access MECs with AWS Outposts from the nearest Singtel site, allowing them to seamlessly manage their applications that utilize AWS tools and benefit from extremely low latency data processing. Furthermore, Singtel may optionally install the MEC with AWS Outposts at the customer’s site for testing, in the case where the customer wishes to keep confidential data on its premises. Bill Chang, CEO of group enterprise at Singtel said its partnership with AWS will increase the…
Softbank invests $700m in Sinch The Japanese operator Softbank has invested heavily in the Swedish software company Sinch. According to Sinch, it will use the profit to finance further mergers and acquisitions. The Japanese company acquired a portion of the newly issued shares in Sinch, as well as some existing ones, from various major shareholders. The total share expenditure amounted to approximately $698.5 million. Sinch said that it will use the proceeds from the shares primarily for beef up its financial flexibility for undertaking new acquisitions. Sinch announced two takeovers, one of Brazil’s CRM Wavy for $119 million, as well as the SAP Digital Interconnect deal, which was a cash and debt-free transaction valued at approximately $270 million. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/y5wgysrb Telefónica recently deployed nodes in Seville, Spain Telefónica has for the third time deployed edge nodes in its home country of Spain, recently launching this infrastructure in Seville.…
