Belgium’s journey in allocating 5G spectrum has been highly problematic, with numerous delays caused not only by the onset of the coronavirus pandemic but, more generally, due to disagreements between federal and regional governments.
By July 2020 an agreement between the various stakeholders had still not been reached…
The emerging customer experience in telecoms
The last year should have been a golden year for European telecommunication (telecoms) companies. Tens of millions of people were forced to work from home in response to Covid-19 and have become increasingly reliant on robust residential broadband and mobile phone networks to do their jobs and entertain themselves. Demand for the industry’s most important product — connectivity — has never been higher.
With the advent of significant mergers and acquisitions in the UK telecoms sector, such as Vodafone’s move to split off its telecom tower business into a separate company to handle the business of constructing, owning and operating its communications towers and Telefónica’s decision to merge its O2 business in the UK with Virgin Media, the race is on to acquire customers and secure market share. At the same time, organisational need to deliver a superior brand and customer experience to retain customers has never been as vital…
TIM adds to its Open RAN coverage with Saluzzo deployment
At the start of 2021, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica, and Vodafone all signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreeing to collaborate and jointly focus on developing Open RAN technology. Not to be left out, TIM became the fifth signatory of the MoU just weeks later and since then has been advancing steadily with its Open RAN drive…
Myanmar’s military wants “to have discussions physically” with Telenor execs
In an interview with Reuters yesterday, Aung Naing Oo, the military junta’s appointed investment minister, revealed the military wants to meet, in person, with Telenor’s executives, describing it as “kind of a request not to leave the country.”
In the same interview, Aung Naing Oo noted that these restrictions were limited to Telenor because of the military government’s interest in a physical meeting…
MTS and Ericsson team up for 5G-ready private network for mining
According to the signed agreement, MTS will build for Karelsky Okatysh on the territory of quarries and production facilities in the Republic of Karelia a dedicated LTE / 5G-ready network for dispatching voice and video communication systems, positioning and video monitoring of transport and mining equipment, as well as emergency notification and operational management of the production complex. The network is scheduled to launch in April 2022. For the second stage of the project, it is planned to modernize solutions for the automation of processes for the extraction…
Vodafone bets big on digital services with software engineer recruitment drive
Today, Vodafone has announced that it aims to strengthen its European technology division with the addition of around 7,000 software engineers by 2025, achieved through a combination of recruitment, reskilling, and insourcing.
Throughout the telecoms industry, it is becoming increasingly apparent that operators must revaluate their existing business models and transition to offer more just bare connectivity services…
SBB’s plea to join Serbian mobile market falls on deaf ears
United Group’s SBB has had a bumpy road in Serbia of late. The TV, broadband, and fixed telephony provider has long complained that the telecoms market – especially state-owned Telekom Srbija – has been conspiring against it to reduce its market share.
Now, SBB’s CEO, Milija Zekovic, has written a statement claiming Serbian authorities, including the telecoms regulator RATEL and the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications, have unduly rejected its attempt to become the country’s fourth mobile operator.
“[Serbian Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications] Minister Matic claims that three mobile phone operators are enough for Serbia…
Arm to set up 5G lab with focus on Open RAN
This week, chip specialist Arm has announced that it will open a new 5G Solutions Lab, seeking to provide their ecosystem partners with an ideal location to demonstrate end-to-end solutions for 5G in a live environment.
The lab is being opened in partnership with Indian tech firm Tech Mahindra and will be built in New Jersey, USA.
Arm expects the site to open to developers in early 2022…
PEACE comes to Marseille
The PEACE cable system was first announced back in 2018, with the system notable for being the first Chinese neutral submarine cable in France.
The cable itself is the joint creation of PEACE Cable International, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Hengtong Optic-Electric, as well as PCCW Global…
Airtel launches video streaming platform ‘Airtel IQ Video’
Indian telco Bharti Airtel has this week announced the launch of ‘Airtel IQ Video’, a Video Platform as a Service (VPaaS) solution they have developed in-house.
The platform has been designed as an end-to-end, omnichannel cloud solution that will allow businesses to build their own video streaming products, optimised for both large and small screens…