This week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has agreed to allow AST SpaceMobile to test its direct-to-smartphone satellite technology in the US.
The tests will see AST’s soon-to-launch BlueWalker 3 satellite connect to customers unmodified smartphones, with the tests reportedly using “lowband cellular frequencies and Q/V-band frequencies”. Based on the company&’…

This week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has agreed to allow AST SpaceMobile to test its direct-to-smartphone satellite technology in the US.

The tests will see AST’s soon-to-launch BlueWalker 3 satellite connect to customers unmodified smartphones, with the tests reportedly using “lowband cellular frequencies and Q/V-band frequencies”. Based on the company’s FCC application, at least some of the spectrum being used will be covered by three licences held by AT&T.

« We appreciate the diligent support of the FCC in providing the experimental license for our upcoming satellite launch, » said AST SpaceMobile CEO Abel Avellan in a statement. « Together with other testing around the world, this license will enable us to conduct some of our most important testing here, at home, in the United States. »

AST was founded back in 2017 as AST & Science, only becoming AST SpaceMobile last year following a merger with SPAC New Providence Acquisition Corp that valued the business at $1.8 billion.

Since its conception, AST has aimed to create a low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation called BlueBird, which can provide connectivity directly to customers’ mobile phones without any need for modified hardware, software, or applications. The planned constellation will be 170 satellites strong upon completion, with the first batch of 20 satellites due for launch next year. A further 90 satellites are planned for launch in 2024.

AST’s first test satellite, BlueWalker 1, was launched in 2019. Successful trials, a second test satellite, BlueWalker 2, was initially planned for launch in 2021, but this was ultimately cancelled in favour of the larger BlueWalker 3, which will be launched later this year with the help of SpaceX.

As part of its licencing announcement, AST also revealed that it had struck a new partnership with the Philippines’ largest mobile operator, Globe Telecom, aiming to use its burgeoning satellite network to help provide coverage to the operators most remote customers. 

« The Philippines’ thousands of islands create formidable challenges to meet a growing demand for cellular broadband connectivity, » said Chris Ivory, chief commercial officer of AST SpaceMobile. “We believe our planned space-based network solution is well-suited to help, and we’re excited to work with Globe.”

The company already has commercial agreements with Vodafone and AT&T, with Memorandums of Understanding also signed with Telefonica, Indosat Ooredoo, Tigo, Telstra, Orange and others. Taken together, these agreements could see AST servicing more than 1.8 billion mobile customers.

AST is targeting an initial commercial launch for 2023.

Given its sensitive nature, it is rare for cybersecurity to be discussed openly during international discussions, but this is exactly what happened earlier this this week when a Norwegian delegation, including the Crown Prince and Crown Princess, travelled to Sweden to strengthen cooperation between the two countries. The three-day event featured a heavy focus on improving cybersecurity dialogue between the two countries, with participating IT firm Advania suggesting lack of knowledge of the subject in Europe as a whole was a &‘…

Given its sensitive nature, it is rare for cybersecurity to be discussed openly during international discussions, but this is exactly what happened earlier this this week when a Norwegian delegation, including the Crown Prince and Crown Princess, travelled to Sweden to strengthen cooperation between the two countries.

The three-day event featured a heavy focus on improving cybersecurity dialogue between the two countries, with participating IT firm Advania suggesting lack of knowledge of the subject in Europe as a whole was a ‘major problem’ for society.

The increasing focus on security at international talks should come as no surprise, particularly against the current backdrop of the war in Ukraine. But, more than threats to national security, cybersecurity vulnerabilities for businesses are becoming an increasing challenge around the world. There is currently a large demand for improved cybersecurity software for businesses and the public sector as a result of the enormous amount of data being generated by these companies every day.

In fact, the surge in data creation means that approximately 90% of data available today did not exist just two years ago. 

As businesses continue to digitalise and move to the cloud, the need for better cybersecurity capabilities is becoming more urgent than ever.

This week, Norway’s Telenor is taking action, announcing its partnership with Aker and Cognite to establish a new software security company, Omny.

The purpose of Omny is to fill the much-needed gap in the cybersecurity market, aiming to be a world-leader in operational industrial security.

« The services that Omny is developing will further strengthen our ability to deliver comprehensive security services across IT and operational technology,” explained Sigve Brekke, president and CEO of Telenor. “Over the last 5–6 years, Aker has played an active role in the establishment and development of industrial software companies. By joining forces with such capable partners, we will be able to deliver security services the like of which are currently not available in the market. »

The software being built by Omny is noteworthy for being capable of notifying individuals and businesses as to exactly which of their systems is under attack. Currently, standard security systems provide no information about which industrial systems are being affected, meaning company responses to attack are often clumsy and imprecise. 

« In the event that an unauthorised individual attempts to engage in digital sabotage against a company, the software will use its monitoring and consequence understanding capabilities to detail precisely which systems will be affected and how critical these are to the customer,” said to Øyvind Eriksen, president and CEO of Aker. “In order to protect themselves from intruders, businesses must have an overview of all potential vulnerabilities in their own systems and operations. We create a virtual twin of the physical operation in advance which allows us to identify risk factors, actions and consequences. »  

The product will be co-developed alongside industry partners, based on Cognite’s Data Fusion platform, which allows for the collection and analysis of large volumes of data.

Omny will launch this product in the Norwegian market in 2023, with the aim of launching the product internationally in 2024.

This has not been Telenor’s only focus on cybersecurity in recent months. Last month, Telenor Group also announced the fourth reinstatement of their Joint Purpose Agreement with Cisco, working together to combat issues with cybersecurity in business operations.

As data becomes more “cloudified” and distributed, getting key components such as connectivity, orchestration, and governance right, is crucial.
According to Dean Bubley, Founder of Disruptive Analysis: “There is a growing overlap between network ownership and data…

As data becomes more “cloudified” and distributed, getting key components such as connectivity, orchestration, and governance right, is crucial.

According to Dean Bubley, Founder of Disruptive Analysis: “There is a growing overlap between network ownership and data-centric creation and services propositions. Traditional telcos, new classes of service providers and enterprises with their own private networks will all exploit the closer intersection between cloud-based compute, storage and connectivity.”

« Telcos recognise that their B2B relationships are where there is real potential for growth – and data is at the heart of the value proposition. Whether that’s edge network data, IoT data, or data applications themselves, service providers are increasingly looking to sell data-centric propositions to their enterprise customers, » adds Anthony Behan, Managing Director – Telecommunications, Media & Entertainment Industries at Cloudera.

Seeking to shed light on how telcos and their enterprise customers can capitalise on the data opportunity, Anthony and Dean will be taking a deep dive into the subject alongside speakers from du, Axiata Enterprise, and STL Partners on 4th May at 11am BST (online).

• Dean Bubley, Founder, Disruptive Analysis

• Anthony Behan, Managing Director – Telecommunications, Media & Entertainment Industries, Cloudera

• Dr. Ayman ElNashar, VP and Head – Technology Architecture, Research and Development, du

• Dr. Tomek Gerszberg, CTO, Axiata Enterprise

• Moderator: Amy Cameron, Principal Analyst, STL Partners

Join Total Telecom and Cloudera online on 4th May at 11am BST to understand “Enterprise data in the 5G era”. Available live and on-demand for all registrants, don’t miss out and book your free place now.