News

Following a cyberattack on Australian telco Optus last week, the operator has now confirmed that at least 2.1 million customers have been exposed because of the data breach.

In a statement made today, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, CEO of Optus, detailed the actions that the company has undertaken post-attack to discover the extent of the damage.

Whilst it was feared that up to 9.8 million individuals could have been affected, the analysis of the breach has revealed that 2.1 million customers had an ID number exposed and now may need to take further action. The ID numbers of 900,000 of those exposed had expired and Optus is still consulting with relevant authorities over whether further steps will be required in those cases. Bayer Rosmarin confirmed that all affected customers have been contacted by Optus.

Optus has since commissioned Deloitte to carry out an independent review of the data breach. The board of Singtel-owned Optus unanimously supported Bayer Rosmarin’s call for the review.

 

 

 

 

The post Optus confirms 2.1 million customers affected by cyberattack first appeared on Total Telecom.

News

Vodafone and CK Hutchinson confirm they are in talks over a UK merger.

Following months of speculation, Vodafone UK has confirmed that it is in talks with Three’s parent company CK Hutchinson about a potential merger.

In a statement released today, Vodafone revealed that the planned partnership would see both companies merge their UK businesses with Vodafone owning 51% and CK Hutchinson owning 49% of the combined assets.

The combination of the two networks would create the UK’s biggest mobile operator, larger than both BT and Virgin Media O2.

The statement went on to say that “By combining our businesses, Vodafone UK and Three UK will gain the necessary scale to be able to accelerate the rollout of full 5G in the UK and expand broadband connectivity to rural communities and small businesses.”

If approved, the deal would be the latest in a series of consolidation efforts in the UK’s mobile market following Virgin Media’s merger with O2 in 2020 and BT’s acquisition of EE in 2015.

 

 

The post Vodafone UK and Three confirm talks over a potential merger first appeared on Total Telecom.

Contributed article

By Juniper

Juniper Cloud Metro solution enables sustainable business growth and is underpinned by improved service experience. Juniper purposefully entered this market to bring an experience-driven, cloud-connected world to reality.

Cloud Metro: A New Product Category for Sustainable Business Growth

Metro has become the “new edge” where 5G, edge cloud hosting, connectivity, and services converge and has huge growth potential. Metro traffic is estimated to grow 500% by 2027, but the current cost per bit is not sustainable, and network cannot scale efficiently. User expectations have increased, and security threats are on the rise. The skilled staff shortage is a real challenge. In addition, ITU standards require greenhouse emissions reduction to 45% by 2030. But can traditional “retro metro” sustain long-term business growth? We believe a new approach is needed to address these challenges. At Juniper, we call this approach “Cloud Metro”.

Cloud Metro is about applying cloud principles to architect, build, and operate metro networks. It is an experience-first network, and provides a quality service instead of mere packet transport, with automated and AI-aware operations at the forefront of new approach.

Introducing Juniper’s Expanded Cloud Metro Solutions

Our Cloud Metro solution with enhanced capabilities includes:

Sustainable Operations with cloud-delivered automation that simplifies operations, frees up resources, and reduces time-to-service.
Sustainable Systems with energy-efficient designs achieve the right balance of performance, scale, and density, with ample capacity to grow and longevity.
Sustainable Architecture with a scalable IP services fabric that builds secure metro architecture for converged services and advanced network slicing.

Reimagining Metro Operations

Juniper Paragon™ Automation, an experience-driven portfolio automates network and services lifecycle. The AI-enabled, cloud-delivered Paragon Automation as a service, simplify operations, accelerates onboarding use cases, and service delivery to minutes, along with increased productivity and speed. The service providers can now bring differentiated services to market faster than competitors.

Learn more about how Juniper is reinventing metro network operations.

Reinventing Metro Networking Systems

The Juniper ACX7000 family innovative design delivers groundbreaking performance, density and scale. With Class D-verified timing, these systems support tomorrow’s low-latency requirements and ultra-dense 800G and 1.6T ports. Additionally, more space savings and energy innovations reduce power consumption by 61-77%—and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) up to 71%. With this headroom, Juniper systems will last 4-7 years longer than alternatives, thus protecting investment while reducing e-waste. Also, Juniper 400G ZR/ZR+ optics are industry standards compliant and reduce service provider costs with innovative design approach.

Learn more about the Juniper ACX7000 Family Portfolio.

Building Scalable, Assured and Secure Metro IP Services Fabric Architecture

The converged IP services fabric architecture supports end-to-end network slicing, with ability to support both scale-up and scale-out expansion. We are taking Cloud Metro architectures to next-level with embedded Active Assurance and built-in Zero Trust security.

The embedded Paragon Active Assurance proactively enables assured services experience, without advanced expertise or manual effort,  incident resolution times are cut in half— even most problems are fixed before affecting customers.

The built-in Zero Trust Security principles are applied throughout IP services fabric to safeguard data at rest and in motion across end-to-end network.

Together, these capabilities deliver scalable, assured next-generation metro edge services and network slices while achieving sustainable business outcomes.

Learn how Juniper can help build a scalable, assured and secure Cloud Metro architecture.

Reimagine the Metro, Reinvent Your Business

The landscape for new digital experiences is changing. To capitalize, service providers need a new, more sustainable approach to their metro networks. Our Cloud Metro solution provides service providers with a foundation to fuel sustainable business growth—for their people, planet, and their bottom line.

 

Statement of Product Direction – https://www.juniper.net/us/en/products/routers/acx-series.html#sopd

 

The post Cloud Metro: Reimagining Metro Networks for Sustainable Business Growth first appeared on Total Telecom.

Network provider LilaConnect (subsidiary of Swedish provider VXFIBER) has today announced the start of a new build across the market town of Haverhill in Suffolk (England), which will see their “open access” and gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network cover 12,000 premises. The first areas of Haverhill are expected to go live in January 2023, […]

After months of speculation, mobile network operator Vodafone UK has today confirmed that they are officially in “discussions” with Three UK’s parent (CK Hutchison Holdings) about the possibility of a merger. Such a deal would give the combined business the “necessary scale” to boost their 5G rollout and “expand” rural broadband connectivity. According to today’s […]

Two of the UK’s most prominent developers of cutting edge fixed wireless access (FWA) and mobile broadband equipment – Curvalux and the Cambridge Broadband Networks Group (CBNG) – have today completed a merger. The two companies will remain independent, with CBNG becoming a subsidiary of Curvalux. CBNG is a familiar name and has been supplying […]

The latest data from Ookla, which operates the popular Speedtest.net website, is beginning to show the sort of impact that the new generation of alternative full fibre broadband networks (AltNets) are having across the UK. But for now, the seven largest ISPs still dominate the country’s fixed broadband market. At present around 70% of UK […]

A partnership between MGM Resorts International and ExteNet Systems will see guests offered enhanced mobile connectivity through a programme to design, build and operate signal and connectivity solutions for MGM Resorts US-wide – the largest neutral host project in the country.

The project will include MGM’s Las Vegas’ casinos where an expanded 5G service will support connectivity for nearly 200,000 visitors daily. Rich Coyle, ExteNet Systems Chief Executive Officer said “The addition of greater connectivity will further enhance MGM’s world-class offerings for guests and support upcoming plans and development with future-ready solutions.”

The project will cover 25 MGM properties, consisting of 54 million square feet, more than 43,000 guest rooms, and more than 70 million visitors annually and will be completed before the end of 2024.

ExteNet is part of DigitalBridge’s portfolio of digital infrastructure companies which also includes shareholdings in the likes of Zayo Group, Vantage Data Centers, FreshWave Group and Boingo Wireless.

Marc Ganzi, CEO of DigitalBridge described enhanced 5G services as “a competitive differentiator for hospitality and gaming companies”

 

The post MGM partnership is the largest in-building cellular enhancement project in the US first appeared on Total Telecom.

Network operator and UK ISP Giganet has confirmed that their rollout of a new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network has begun to be extended into the two Wiltshire (England) market towns and civil parishes of Marlborough and Devizes, which will benefit 21,500 homes at a cost of around £23m. Giganet is currently investing £250m via […]

The highly reputable UK ISP Andrews & Arnold (AAISP) has announced that they’re going to double or more the usage allowances on their fixed home and business broadband packages at no extra cost, which, for example, will see their “Home::1” residential tier jump from 500GB (GigaBytes) to 1TB (TeraByte). Some readers often bemoan the fact […]