News

News The European parliament has approved Ursula von der Leyen’s selected commissioners for her second term as President of the European Commission Earlier this summer, Ursula von der Leyen was re-elected as President of the European Commission, granting her a second five-year term as head of the European Union’s most powerful institution. Now, this week has seen von der Leyen’s selection of European Commissioners ratified by parliament, setting the stage for a new European regulatory era to...

News  The news comes just days after fellow African nation Chad approved Starlink to begin operations in the country  Namibia’s Communications Regulatory Authority (CRAN) has ordered Starlink, the satellite internet provider owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, to cease business for operating without license in the country.  While Starlink has filed an application for an operating license, the CRAN has yet to grant it, and has cautioned consumers against purchasing or using Starlink equipment.   “The...

News  The group’s formation is timely, following the high-profile damage to subsea cables in the Baltic Sea earlier this month  The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC) have joined forces to create a new advisory group focused on protecting submarine cables.   Submarine cables carry over 99% of international data, making them essential for everything from online shopping and financial transactions to digital health services and...

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations Agency for Digital Technologies, and the International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC) have today formed a new ‘International Advisory Body for Submarine Cable Resilience‘, which comes hot on the heels of an ongoing dispute after two fibre optic cables were cut in the Baltic Sea last week. Just to recap. Two subsea fibre optic cables, one linking Finland and Germany, and the other connecting Sweden to Lithuania, were damaged...

The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has today updated their guidance for how broadband ISPs, phone, pay TV and mobile operators should communicate mid-contract prices hikes to consumers. The change is primarily intended to align their policy with Ofcom’s imminent ban on mid-contract price hikes that are linked to inflation and percentage changes. Just to recap. The ASA introduced its original guidance (here), which was intended to help make sure that providers made their policies on...

Contract-free mobile provider VOXI, which is the virtual network operator (MVNO) sibling of Vodafone, has today launched a series of Black Friday discounts across their Pay Monthly SIM Only 4G and 5G plans, which quadruples or more the included data (mobile broadband) allowance for new customers. For example, VOXI’s entry-level £10 per month plan now comes with 80GB (GigaBytes) of data instead of 20GB. The same plan also includes unlimited calls, text, picture messages and social media usage...

Alternative network operator and ISP Quickline, which is deploying gigabit-capable broadband networks (FTTP and wireless) across rural and semi-rural parts of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire (England), has today become the latest provider to launch some big Black Friday discounts on their packages and Amazon vouchers worth up to £1,000. Building on their current half price for 12 months offer to new customers taking any of their packages, for the Black Friday weekend (until 11:59pm on Monday 2nd...

Alternative network provider Wildanet, which is deploying a gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across rural parts of Cornwall and Devon in England, has today appointed a trio of new chiefs (CCO, COO and CFO) to help oversee the deployment of its new network and strengthen its leadership team. The operator, which originally started life as a Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) broadband provider in the same area, has recently been deploying gigabit-capable full fibre lines – both...

Contributed Article  As both 5G and AI technologies continue to mature, GTI’s Intelligent RAN, Ubiquitous AI Project aims to explore existing synergies and develop combined use cases   At this year’s Global Mobile Broadband Forum (MBBF) in Istanbul, GTI launched a global recruitment drive for its Intelligent RAN, Ubiquitous AI Project.   The initiative is part of GTI’s wider 5G-A x AI Development Program launched at MWC Barcelona alongside 20 partners earlier this year. The Program focuses on...

News  The deal covers over 3,000 Open RAN sites across Germany  Nokia has announced a deal with Deutsche Telekom to support the deployment of over 3,000 sites for its Open RAN network in Germany.   The rollout, which is already underway in the Neubrandenburg region, will see Nokia replace equipment from the incumbent vendor, Huawei. Partnering with Fujitsu, Nokia will provide O-RAN-compliant technology designed to modernise Telekom’s network.   “This deal is further evidence of our significant...