Broadway Partners (ISP Broadway Broadband) has today issued a small update on the progress of their part publicly funded effort to deploy a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network to cover several rural communities in Pembrokeshire (Wales), which states that they’ve just “connected” 88 premises in Ambleston. At present, Broadway, which last year secured a massive […]

Scottish broadband ISP GoFibre (BorderLink), which is partnered with Marykirk.com (here), has today added the small rural town and civil parish of Melrose in the Scottish Borders area to their ongoing rollout of a new 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network in Scotland. GoFibre started building their full fibre network last year and at the time […]

Cloud gaming ISP ZYBRE has today launched somewhat of a unique (or niche) new broadband and phone tariff to “help manage the cost of household bills“, which charges from just £5.99 per week for a download speed of up to 40Mbps on a “52-week contract” (12-month minimum term). There’s also a 0.5Mbps package coming. The […]

Business ISP and Managed Service Provider (MSP) Connectus has extended their gigabit-capable fibre optic network footprint to include two new Cheshire (England) business hubs in Canalside and Northwhich, as well as in the Southside area of Birmingham and at Woodside on the Wirral. The expansion will allow Connectus to work with more than 1,000 companies […]

The CEO of ISP and mobile giant Virgin Media and O2 (VMO2), Lutz Schüler, has today joined growing calls for the UK government to provide more direct support during the cost-of-living crisis by cutting the rate of Value Added Tax (VAT) on cheaper social tariffs for home broadband and mobile services from 20% to 5%. […]

A new retail broadband ISP, phone and Pay TV provider has launched in Hull (East Yorkshire) called Octaplus (aka – Octaplus Supercharged), which appears designed to serve UK premises that are being covered by MS3‘s new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network. MS3 started rolling out a new open-access (wholesale) full fibre network to homes and businesses […]

Press Release

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. today announced the company was selected to provide a diverse selection of its 5G solutions to five government agencies and private institutions in Korea

This project is part of the government initiative to advance the country’s private 5G ecosystem, allowing non-telecom operators to build and operate 5G networks using 4.7GHz and 28GHz—which are dedicated frequency bands for private 5G networks in Korea.

“Private 5G networks will enable progressive changes across all industry verticals. Applications like digital twins, autonomous vehicles, AI and AR are only a glimpse of the plethora of use cases Samsung’s 5G can bring to life,” said Yong Chang, Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics. “Samsung understands the unique needs of enterprises and is capable of delivering optimized network experiences. We are excited to help drive the private 5G ecosystem in Korea.”

Samsung will provide its advanced private 5G network solutions to an array of entities in the public and private sectors—including energy, safety, water resource management, medical services and medical education.

In the public sector, Samsung will collaborate with three major government agencies to help them ensure workplace safety and efficiency by applying smart, AI-enabled connectivity solutions:

Korea Electric Power Corporation, the largest electric utility in Korea, plans to deploy smart grid technologies and build digital twins to enhance safety and efficiency in the workplace. The digital twin is a virtual replica of an electrical substation, and will help with remote monitoring and inspection of the entire site, reducing the need for physical site visits to improve worker safety. 5G-powered wearable cameras and autonomous robots will also boost control and monitoring capabilities at various sites.
Korea Industrial Complex Corporation, a government agency that manages and supports industrial complexes, will deploy a 5G-driven digital safety platform at various work sites. Samsung will help them build a robust, AI-based smart monitoring system for detection of fire hazards and any other security risks or emergencies in real-time.
Korea Water Resources Corporation, a government agency for comprehensive water resource management, will build digital twins—virtual models of real-world river basins—to precisely visualize water flow and predict water disasters or flood damages. Also, digital twins of water purification plants will provide accurate AI-based simulations of the water purification process, improving accuracy in water management and predictive capabilities.

In the private sector, Samsung will also work with two of the largest and most technologically advanced hospitals in Korea, to implement enhanced medical services and immersive use cases, transforming the healthcare industry:

Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital will introduce smart medical services, such as a 3D rendering of computed tomography (CT), rapid reconstruction of medical images and real-time, long-distance surgical collaboration using virtual interaction.
Samsung Medical Center will leverage 5G to enhance its medical education program. Some examples will include remote training using AR glasses, virtual simulation of live surgical conditions and live-streaming of 360-degree recordings of surgical operation.

For private 5G network expansion in Korea, Samsung will deliver its advanced private 5G network solutions, including Compact Macro, Compact Core and radios supporting 4.7GHz and 28GHz bands. This new project follows Samsung’s recent deployment of Korea’s first private 5G network at Naver’s new headquarters.

Samsung’s private 5G radios are capable of delivering improved uplink performance with optimized uplink feature, which can increase the ratio of network uploads to up to 40 percent. This latest feature is designed to help enterprises upload vast amounts of data across numerous devices simultaneously, which is required in many private networks.

Samsung has pioneered the successful delivery of 5G end-to-end solutions including chipsets, radios, and core. Through ongoing research and development, Samsung drives the industry to advance 5G networks with its market-leading product portfolio from fully virtualized RAN and Core to private network solutions and AI-powered automation tools. The company is currently providing network solutions to mobile operators that deliver connectivity to hundreds of millions of users around the world.

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Also in the news:
UK telcos to face stricter cybersecurity obligations under new govt rules
Jio prepares to plough $25bn into 5G
VMO2 activates first open RAN sites in live network

The post Samsung unveils raft of public and private 5G partnerships first appeared on Total Telecom.

News

The new virtual bank, GXS, is opening to selected customers in Singapore, allowing them to make deposits and transfer funds

At the end of 2019, Singtel announced that it had struck a partnership with local super start-up Grab, seeking to obtain a digital banking licence from the Singaporean government.

The joint venture, now called GXS, is owned 60% by Grab and 40% by Singtel.

GXS was successful in its quest for a licence around one a year later, with the Singaporean government allocating it a licence that would allow it to receive customer deposits and offer services to both retail and corporate customers.

Rival Singaporean tech firm Sea was also awarded a licence.

Now, GXS is ready to launch officially, offering new customers a variety of incentives, including the opportunity to earn interest daily.

GXS services will be accessed by customers directly via the GXS app, though Grab says it ultimately hopes to incorporate GXS into their own super-app.

For now, the app is being rolled out only to selected employees and under-banked customers related to GXS, Grab, and Singtel themselves, with a public launch to take place at an undisclosed future date.

GXS customers will be able to deposit up to SG$5,000 (~$3,577) in their main GXS account, with a daily interest rate of 0.08% per annum.

They will also be able to create “savings pockets” within the app, setting aside funds to be used for a specific goal. These “pockets” will have daily interest rates of 1.58% per annum, comparable to fixed term deposit rates in a traditional bank.

Singtel and Grab combined have a customer base of around three million people, with the company specifically targeting gig economy workers, like Grab’s food delivery staff, to grow GXS.

“GXS is a homegrown bank on a mission to support the needs of entrepreneurs, gig economy workers and early-jobbers in our community,” said GXS Singapore CEO Charles Wong.

One of the major barriers for gig economy workers when it comes to accessing banking services are the fees charged when accounts drop below a minimum balance threshold. GXS will charge no such fees, with customers not subject to a minimum balance in their account

Singtel and Grab will surely offer GXS a healthy source of initial customers, but a wider expansion could prove difficult; not only is the Singaporean banking market already highly competitive, but the ominous prospect of a global recession could make banking customers more cautious than ever.

Nonetheless, Singtel and Grab already appear to have ambitions of launching GXS in other Southeast Asian markets in the near future, having already been approved for a similar banking licence in Malaysia back in April.

 

How is mobile banking evolving and what impact will this have on the developing world? Find out from the experts at this year’s live Total Telecom Congress

Also in the news:
UK telcos to face stricter cybersecurity obligations under new govt rules
Jio prepares to plough $25bn into 5G
VMO2 activates first open RAN sites in live network

The post Singtel launches digital banking JV with Grab first appeared on Total Telecom.

Belfast-based UK ISP Fibrus, which is busy building a new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across Northern Ireland and Northern England, has today announced that their network has gone live in a second town in Cumbria – Kendal (this follows their initial build in Penrith). Until recently Fibrus was predominantly focused on building full fibre […]

News

Companies that do not adhere to the rules could be subject to fines of up to 10% of their turnover or £100,000 per day

The Telecommunications (Security) Act (TSA) became law back in November 2021, laying the groundwork for the UK government to impose stronger cybersecurity obligations from mobile and fixed broadband operators.

Until now, telecoms operators have been broadly left in charge of their own network security, but findings from the government’s Telecoms Supply Chain Review, published in 2019, argued that “providers often have little incentive to adopt the best security practices”.

As a result, the government set about developing the TSA, a national framework of cybersecurity policies, which service providers will be required to follow or else face fines of up to 10% of their turnover or £100,000 per day.

“We know how damaging cyber attacks on critical infrastructure can be, and our broadband and mobile networks are central to our way of life,” said Digital Infrastructure Minister Matt Warman. “We are ramping up protections for these vital networks by introducing one of the world’s toughest telecoms security regimes which secure our communications against current and future threats.”

The regulations, developed by the National Cyber Security Centre and Ofcom, will obligate mobile operators and ISPs to:

Protect data processed by their networks and services, and secure the critical functions which allow them to be operated and managed
Protect software and equipment which monitor and analyse their networks and services
Have a deep understanding of their security risks and the ability to identify when anomalous activity is taking place with regular reporting to internal boards
Take account of supply chain risks, and understand and control who has the ability to access and make changes to the operation of their networks and services to enhance security

The government has been consulting on the implementation of the TSA since March 2022, with post-consultations changes to the TSA announced earlier this week. Most of the changes made appear to focus on softening the immediate impact of the bill for the telcos, such as giving Tier 1 operators a lengthier timeline to implement some of the changes and no longer requiring them to provide replacement customer-premises equipment that was no longer receiving third-party support at no cost to consumers.

Nonetheless, implementing the TSA obligations is sure to be a major headache for the operators given the inherent complexity of modern telecoms networks and their convoluted supply chains.

The new rules come into effect in October, with the service providers having until March 2024 to demonstrate their compliance with the first phase of obligations.

How will these security obligations impact the UK telecoms industry? Find out from the experts at this year’s live Connected Britain conference

The post UK telcos to face stricter cybersecurity obligations under new govt rules first appeared on Total Telecom.