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Lumos has unveiled plans for a $100M investment into middle and last mile fiber in the Carolinas. More specifically, they have big buildout plans in South Carolina’s Richland and Lexington Counties, which bracket the Columbia metro area. … [visit site to read more]
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The new year is upon us and sadly the war in Ukraine shows no signs of stopping, with reports in recent weeks suggesting that Russia plans to mobilise up to half a million additional conscripts in preparation for a major spring offensive.
Now, in parallel to the fierce fighting ongoing in the Donbas, the Swedish security agency SAPO is warning Europe to remain vigilant of less direct kinds of warfare: espionage and sabotage of critical infrastructure.
Speaking at the People and Defense conference in Salen, Sweden, the head of SAPO, Charlotte von Essen, said that Russia poses a growing threat to the Sweden’s critical infrastructure – a threat that could extend beyond the country’s borders to the rest of Europe.
Von Essen noted that the Swedish telecoms sector and electrical grid were both likely targets, suggesting that “Russian security-threatening activities” against these industries were likely to increase in the coming year.
“From the Russian side, there is an interest in disturbing these areas,” she explained, highlighting the far-reaching implications such attacks could have for society, even beyond Swedish borders. “These are sectors where attacks against Sweden could cause damage to the rest of Europe as well.”
Von Essen noted that the Russian state would not only use official channels, such as government agencies, to conduct these attacks, but would leverage “the Russian diaspora, institutions and companies in Sweden”.
Russia has a long history of cybercrime against foreign nations, in recent years coming to prominence for high-profile attacks seeking to undermine various Western governments, including interference in US presidential elections.
Naturally, Russia has been conducting cyberwarfare against Ukraine on a massive scale since the start of the war, coupling the shelling of critical infrastructure with cyberattacks on the company networks. In recent weeks, Ukrainian officials have called for Russian cyber attacks on critical and civilian infrastructure to be categorised as war crimes.
Russia is also accused of using stolen network data to identify and persecute Ukrainian supporters in occupied regions of the country.
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Also in the news:
Orange opens European solar farm to boost access to renewable energy
Bullitt: Two-way satellite messaging will be available this quarter
Cox launches mobile services to bolster fixed line offerings
Keep up-to-date with all the latest news, articles, event and product updates posted on Developing Telecoms.
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Two M&A moves, a network upgrade, and some robocalling defense: … [visit site to read more]
This week, a report from the Telegraph indicates that UK-backed satellite operator OneWeb has closed its vaunted test site in the village of Akiak, Alaska, following complaints from the Alaska Telecom Association (ATA) and local internet providers.
Akiak was one of OneWeb’s first test sites and was notable for being a keystone the company’s marketing campaign, designed to show that the LEO satellite constellation could provide internet services to one of the most remote communities in the US.
Less than a year since activation, however, and it would seem that the test site is failing to live up to expectations.
According to sources, the ATA and local providers have written to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to complain that the “service is too costly to adopt” and had been discontinued “due to ongoing technical difficulties”.
The nature of these technical troubles has not been revealed.
While this closure is surely something of a blow to OneWeb’s image, given Akiak’s prominence in its marketing campaign, the material impact to the company is likely small. While OneWeb has significant ambitions in the consumer broadband segment, its focus to date has been largely centralised on government, maritime, and enterprise broadband needs.
Furthermore, according to the operator, other rural Alaskan test site are still up and running with positive results, perhaps suggesting that the Akiak site is simply an anomaly.
Nonetheless, such a closure has shone a worrying light on the challenges OneWeb may eventually face in the consumer space, particularly given the meteoric rise of rival SpaceX’s Starlink constellation in the US and beyond.
Starlink launched commercial services to consumers in Alaska in November last year and is seemingly gaining a growing market share in remote locations. The service already covers Akiak and has reportedly been well received by residents.
In a somewhat ironic twist, after OneWeb’s loss of access to Russian Soyuz rockets last year due to the war in Ukraine, SpaceX has been contracted to launch OneWeb satellites. This week marked the companies latest launch collaboration, which saw SpaceX put an additional 40 OneWeb satellites into orbit.
In total, OneWeb now has 502 LEO satellites floating above the Earth, having said they will require 648 for full global coverage. The operator expects its constellation to be fully launched by the end of the year.
What role will satellite play in expanding broadband access to the most remote US communities? Join the telecoms experts in discussion at this year’s upcoming Connected America conference
Also in the news:
Orange opens European solar farm to boost access to renewable energy
Bullitt: Two-way satellite messaging will be available this quarter
Cox launches mobile services to bolster fixed line offerings
The ball may have dropped in Times Square, but we are not dropping the ball in any sense when it comes to business and developing new products for our customers. And to prove that, we will let you in on one or two secrets of what’s coming this year. Keep reading to learn more!
2022 was an exciting year with lots of changes in our company that reflect all the many achievements we counted at the end of the year. So, just for fun, let’s go over a quick recap of the content we worked on during the year that is available to you at any time!
We wrote and published 51 blog posts on various topics that help our customers to learn more about our products and improve their businesses. We made a selection of some of the most relevant ones with Product Releases and news. You can also visit our blog, hit the search bar, and find your favorite any time!
Products Update: What’s New in PBXware 6.6
Products Update: What’s New in gloCOM & gloCOM GO 6.6
Products Update: What’s New in PBXware 6.5
Products Update: What’s New in gloCOM & gloCOM GO 6.5
SERVERware 4.2 – 3 Reasons Why You Should Boost Business’s Security
We presented 7 webinars, some co-hosted with partners and stakeholders, on a variety of topics that help our customers grow their business by using our products and environment. We also hosted our quarterly listening campaigns, A.K.A. ‘We Are All Ears’, which continue to pursue the objective of bringing together our Product Owners and partners. If you missed any of these, take advantage of the first slow days of the beginning of the year to catch up!
Every year we commit to delivering richer and more relevant materials and resources for our partners that are not only related to our products, but to industry trends in general. In 2022 we wrote and published five eBooks about topics that were focused on bringing a new perspective of business and the best way to approach them with tools and solutions we offer. In a blog format you can dig into How To Become STIR/SHAKEN Compliant with Bicom Systems and Kari’s Law and Ray Baum’s Act – An In-Depth Guide for Resellers
We’ve worked closely with Channel Vision Magazine for years now, a digital magazine focused on bringing the latest news and trends to Service Providers in the North American market. This was our first year creating podcasts for their platform and ours as well. We are very proud to have recorded and published eight podcast episodes that covered many different aspects of our company in each of those. From our UC solution, to our best Trade Show Dos and Don’ts, and even our company culture. Our podcasts are short and fun, the perfect soundtrack for your next ride to the office!
And last but definitely not least, after a couple of slow years, we finally got to go back to something we really enjoy: Trade shows! In 2022 we had the chance to be at Enterprise Connect in Florida, IT Partners in Paris and the first ever CVExpo in Arizona. We hope to see you next year at one of these, or maybe a new one!
A new year is a reminder to continue accepting new challenges, pushing our boundaries, learning new skills, and, of course, enjoying flavors of success. We will continue to push forward with new ideas, improvements, and a dedication to providing the best customer experience possible.
In fact, we have already been working on some big projects that will be revealed and shared with our customers later this year. We won’t spoil any surprises yet, but here’s a quick list of some of the things to come:
For us, our customers are our inspiration. We are glad you are here, inspiring us to be better. If you are one of our customers, we encourage you to keep following us on all our digital platforms (IG, FB, TW, LI), our blog, and our YouTube Channel.
If you are not yet a customer and want to be a part of our 2023, contact our sales team here to get started!
On Friday, the FCC began proceedings to bolster the existing rules regarding telco obligations to notify their customers when sensitive data has been compromised.
Currently, network operators are required to notify the relevant authorities – the FCC, but also potentially the US Secret Services and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) – of a data breach within a maximum of seven days after discovery. Only then, assuming no objections from law enforcement agencies, can customers be notified.
Now, the newly proposed update suggests eliminating this seven-business-day window, meaning that customers can be notified more quickly, “without unreasonable delay”, when their data has been leaked.
The update would also broaden the existing scope of what is considered a ‘breach’, now including cases of “inadvertent access, use, or disclosures of customer information”, rather solely breaches as a result of cyber-attacks. In short, telcos will be required to report incidents where customer data is compromised due to their own negligence as well as those caused by malicious actors attacking the network.
“The law requires carriers to protect sensitive consumer information but, given the increase in frequency, sophistication, and scale of data leaks, we must update our rules to protect consumers and strengthen reporting requirements,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “This new proceeding will take a much-needed, fresh look at our data breach reporting rules to better protect consumers, increase security, and reduce the impact of future breaches.”
If passed, this update will bring the FCC regulations more closely in line with those of data protection standards found elsewhere in the world, such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which requires customers to be notified of any breach within 72 hours.
This would be the first time the law has been updated in 15 years.
How are the latest regulatory changes impacting the telecoms landscape in the US? Learn more from the operators themselves at the upcoming Connected America conference live in Dallas, Texas
Also in the news:
Orange opens European solar farm to boost access to renewable energy
Bullitt: Two-way satellite messaging will be available this quarter
Cox launches mobile services to bolster fixed line offerings
Keep up-to-date with all the latest news, articles, event and product updates posted on Developing Telecoms.
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