The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted industries and businesses all across the globe and has brought the world economy to a halt, with millions of people placed under lockdown. With most of society working and studying from home, the need for technology has increased considerably, and the significant rise in the use of digital tools during social distancing has put the telecommunications sector at the forefront in facilitating the situation. What kind of impact has Covid-19 had on the telecom sector? Now that the global supply chain has been thrown into chaos and the work-from-home concept has become the “new normal“, the need of remote communication has risen significantly so as to ensure business continuity. The telecommunication sector is witnessing significantly higher demands, as they play a key role in facilitating the connectivity required by customers implementing these essential digital tools . Rise of demand for Telco services…
In an effort to simplify the deployment of new IP phones, Telinta has announced improvements to its auto-provisioning capabilities for Internet Telephony Service Providers (ITSPs). The company has recently developed additional auto-provisioning profiles for Grandstream 2613 and 2614, as well as Yealink VC500 IP phones. As a global leader in cloud-based white label VoIP switching and billing solutions, this US-based company enables ITSPs to easily deploy any number of IP phones without the need for manual configuration or installer visits. Alex Ferdman, CEO of Telinta, said, “Telinta’s automated provisioning can streamline IP phone deployment by helping ITSPs to eliminate human error, and avoid costly installer visits to the customer’s premises. Using the power of the cloud, Telinta customers can easily deploy these popular Grandstream and Yealink models, plus hundreds of other devices.” Telinta said that their unique solution will help ITSPs not only automate the provisioning of IP phones,…
Comcast says voice and video calls have skyrocketed 212 percent during widespread self-isolation Comcast Corporation, a global media and technology company, has announced that voice and video calls have more than tripled on its network since people across the US started working from home due to the COVID-19 outbreak. According to the company, traffic in this category has increased by 212 percent in total, while overall peak traffic on its network has grown by 32 percent. Tony Werner, Comcast’s tech leader, said that the additional traffic is “well within the capabilities of the network,” and despite the increases in usage, the company’s network is working just fine. Read more at https://tinyurl.com/skncjow Zoom freezes feature development to fix security and privacy issues Over the past few weeks, the Zoom video conferencing app has been widely used for personal and business online meetings during the coronavirus lockdowns around the world. According to the…
ITU platform to protect networks during Covid-19 The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has introduced the Global Network Resiliency Platform to help global networks remain “safer, stronger and more connected” in the face of increasing strain and growing demand during the coronavirus crisis. ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao said, “The new platform will assist governments and the private sector in ensuring that networks are kept resilient and telecommunication services are available to all.” Also, this platform will collect relevant information and expertise on actions that telecommunication policymakers and others in the regulatory community can use to ensure that their telecom networks serve the needs of their country. Read more at https://tinyurl.com/vam4enm Remote working triggers demand for chips, laptops, and network goods As more and more employees switch to remote work during the outbreak of coronavirus disease, the demand for laptops, networking goods and supply chain components has increased substantially. Therefore, electronics retailers and…
Work from home: Can the telecoms industry take the strain? Many businesses opt for remote working due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis, and this has led to a dramatic increase in the use of online services. The additional pressure is proving problematic for the telecoms industry in Spain, which has reported a 40 percent increase in data consumption and a 50 percent increase in mobile phone usage. Movistar (Telefonica), Orange, Vodafone, Masmovil, and Euskaltel have issued a joint statement in anticipation of the national lockdown, urging customers to take “intelligent and responsible use of the network and the resources it provides us.” Meanwhile, BT, the UK’s largest telecom provider, said that its network can handle it. Read more at https://tinyurl.com/sm8bms7 Vodafone unveils five-point plan to combat COVID-19 Vodafone has put forward a five-point plan to maintain network services and assist governments across Europe in controlling the outbreak of coronavirus. The five…
Tel Q Global, a telecom hub for voice and SMS services, has selected Singapore operator Cataleya for its global voice network virtualization. With its superior technology, innovative commercial models and a world-wide footprint, Cataleya will completely virtualize Tel Q Global’s international voice network, resulting in significant cost savings and operational simplicity. According to a statement, Tel Q Global required a switching and BSS service in three global regions to be able to launch their new virtual number services in the shortest possible time. These new solutions include mobile and two-way SMS numbers, and are a highly anticipated addition to the company’s existing portfolio of DID and toll-free numbers. Moreover, the nodes also need to be used as geographic backup sites for each other, should a major disruption occur in any of the hosting centers. Ankit Agarwal, CEO of Tel Q Global, said, “Before we moved to Cataleya, we…
The next-generation wireless technology for digital cellular networks is steadily gaining traction, with significant implementations under way. All of the major carriers are rolling out their 5G networks, targeting large cities that crave super speeds, virtually lag-free connections, extended coverage and other great benefits that are made available by this advanced technology. 5G has already been launched in many different locations around the world, but it is still considered to be in its initial stages. All of the US carriers have now launched some form of 5G cellular network. But what exactly is 5G, how fast is it compared with 4G, what will it bring to VoIP applications, and what are the benefits and drawbacks of this innovative technology? Let’s take a look at 5G in more detail. What is 5G? 5G stands for fifth-generation cellular wireless and is the next generation of telecom networks that entered the…
The leading VoIP and unified communications (UC) services provider Vonage and a cloud-native UC integration management company Qunifi have joined forces to provide a fully integrated Microsoft Teams calling feature for Vonage Business Communications customers. Based in the UK, Qunifi operates the Call2Teams Microsoft Office 365 voice integration service that connects Microsoft Teams to any PBX or SIP trunk within minutes, enabling businesses to make and receive calls on any device using the Microsoft Teams application. Mark Herbert, Qunifi co-founder and CEO, said, “Customers are excited about using Microsoft Teams as a unified collaboration environment, but up to now, adding the Teams phone calling feature has been perceived as disruptive or costly. We have worked with Vonage to create a simple, per-user add-on to the Vonage Business Communications service, allowing customers to get all the benefits of Microsoft Teams while using the Vonage services they already have.” “Call2Teams is…
The UK-based Colt Technology Services, a provider of network, voice, data center and managed cloud services, has announced the expansion of its voice offering to four new countries, namely Australia, Bulgaria, Croatia and Hungary. As part of this global voice rollout, Colt has stated that Singapore, Slovakia, Canada and the US will now benefit from enhanced voice functionalities as well. This expansion is part of Colt’s commitment to remove the barriers businesses face when trying to strengthen their global presence. “Colt’s product portfolio has been continually evolving to enable enterprises’ digital transformations, allowing more customer control and supporting their growth,” said Rajiv Datta, Chief Operating Officer at Colt. “The continued expansion of our global Voice proposition provides customers with one supplier globally, which has 100% regulatory compliance and allows them to control their services easily through an online portal.” The announcement also indicates that when using Colt’s global voice…
The US tech company Ribbon Communications, a global software leader providing IP-based real-time communications security and software solutions, has extended its collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to enable the simplified forwarding of VoIP audio streams to Amazon Chime Voice Connector by using SIP-based Media Recording (SIPREC). Ribbon’s Session Border Controllers (SBCs) with SIPREC capabilities can forward audio streams to AWS for real-time, automated call analytics and recording. Ribbon is a member of the AWS Partner Network (APN), whose SBC Software Edition (SWe) is available in the AWS Marketplace and as an AWS Quick Start. In March 2019, Ribbon reported that its SBC SWe was successfully tested with the Amazon Chime Voice Connector, to help customers move their SIP trunking workloads to AWS. The company said that IT professionals can use the Connector for low-cost SIP trunking with on-premises or cloud-based phone systems. Sid Rao, General Manager at Amazon…