CTG-STC MoU aims to strengthen IoT business in Saudi Arabia

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Shortest route connecting East to West Africa launched


Press Release

Liquid Dataport, a business of Liquid Intelligent Technologies (Liquid) (https://www.Liquid.Tech), a pan-African technology group, has launched its newest fibre route connecting Mombasa, Kenya, to Muanda on the west coast of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo). This is the shortest route connecting East to West Africa, reducing data transmission latency by 20 milliseconds. The much anticipated 3,800km route marks a new era in East-West connectivity on the continent, adding to Liquid’s One Africa Digital Network, which now spans 110,000 km.

The fibre route connects Kenya and DRC, passing through Uganda and Rwanda and bringing more reliable and affordable broadband connectivity to over 40 million people living and working in all the major cities along the route. The latest route complements Liquid’s earlier achievement, already a first, in 2019, linking Dar Es Salaam to Muanda on the West Coast of  DR Congo via Zambia.

Hardy Pemhiwa, President & Group Chief Executive Officer of Liquid Intelligent Technologies, said, “The real challenge today is closing the access-usage gap in Africa so that more Africans can use the internet technologies available to them, now and in the future. This East-West route which compliments our existing Pan Africa fibre network, is significant because it is helping to solve that problem – it not only brings global traffic to the continent but also improves the cost economics of Africa’s broadband Internet access.”

The new East-West route enables Liquid’s customers to take advantage of capacities ranging from 1Mbps to 100,000Mbps. It enables cloud supplier redundancy with access to multiple data centres and cable landing stations, ensuring maximum uptime. This is hugely beneficial to the many businesses in East, Central & Southern Africa that are embarking on their digital transformation journey.

In order for African enterprises to expand continentally and compete with their global counterparts, they need stable, reliable connectivity with low latency and access to numerous digital tools to optimise their businesses.

“We have a significant number of wholesale, enterprise and hyperscale customers along this route, and we fully support them in operating their global networks. The availability of our latest and shortest East to West route brings many proven economic and social benefits – from providing access to online educational resources to creating more jobs and driving the adoption of new technologies,” said David Eurin, Chief Executive Officer of Liquid Dataport.

The Mombasa-Muanda route will help global organisations looking for Internet resiliency avoid the Red Sea and Europe routes which have become bottlenecks for global internet traffic, and will provide faster fibre connectivity to landlocked countries on the African continent, creating significant attractiveness for growing connectivity hubs in Kenya and DRC.

Thailand, Philippines see smartphone decline

Smartphone shipments in Thailand and the Philippines continue to slide as South East Asian economies continue to grapple with macroeconomic pressure.

Analyst company IDC revealed the Thai smartphone market plunged 25.7% year-on-year in Q1 2023, only shipping 3.45 million units. High levels of inflation and economic pressures on disposable income were blamed.

Smartphones in the entry-level segment (under US$200) saw “steep declines” and now account for 51% of total shipments, down from 60% in Q4 (59% in Q1 2022).

The average selling price increased 26% to US$403 due to strong growth in the premium segment (above US$800), which now accounts for 19% of the market, up year-on-year from 11%.

The share of 5G smartphones increased year-on-year from 33% to 45% driven by the boost in demand for premium smartphones.

Samsung was the largest shipper with 23.8% of the market equating to 822.7 million units but this was a decline of 35.7% for the Korean manufacturer. Oppo was a close second with 22.3% and 769.8 million units a decline of 9.7%.

Apple saw the largest rate of growth in Thailand with 19.4% of the market, 668.4 million units, an increase of 34.9%. Xiaomi’s shipments grew marginally from 433.1 million units to 438.7 million units, leaving it 12.7% of the market.

Taking up fifth place was Chinese vendor Realme with 14.2% market share equating to 7.7%, a drop off of 12.5%.

IDC Thailand market analyst Apirat Ratanavichit: “The Thai smartphone market is expected to continue to decline in 2023. However, as the market is increasingly maturing, volume will be largely driven by the premium segment. There are some signs of economic recovery, and consumer confidence is increasing due to a pickup in tourist arrivals which should translate into increasing consumer spending in the smartphone market; however, political uncertainty still looms overhead.”

Philippines 

As for the Philippines, shipments declined 11% year-on-year to 3.5 million units in the same quarter.

Chinese vendor Transsion, which owns the Tecno and itel sub-brands, ended Realme’s hold on the top spot by taking 19.5% market share, whereas Realme held 18.7%. In third was Oppo (15.5%), Vivo fourth (13.1%) and finally Xiaomi (11.9%).

“The last time shipments hit below 3.5 million records was back in 1Q20 when the pandemic just started and the first lockdown was implemented,” said IDC Philippines client devices senior market analyst Angela Medez.

“Though it seems that the market has finally bottomed out and is on its road to recovery with inflation finally slowing down, IDC anticipates shipments to remain flat in 2023 as vendors will remain cautious with inflation still above comfortable levels.”

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Ericsson and MediaTek top upload speed record with Uplink Carrier Aggregation


Press Release

Ericsson and MediaTek have set a new 5G upload speed record of 440 Mbps in low-band and mid-band spectrum using Uplink Carrier Aggregation. The zippy uplink speed brings better, smoother experiences for the likes of video conference users, streamers, and their audience with more frames per second and higher image resolution.

The record uplink speed was achieved in an interoperability development test at an Ericsson lab. The test was performed with RAN Compute Baseband 6648 and a mobile device using MediaTek Dimensity 9200 flagship 5G smartphone chipset. The Uplink Carrier Aggregation combination involved a frequency division duplex (FDD) and time division duplex (TDD) channel, in a frequency range widely deployed in today’s 5G networks.

More precisely, the combination used was 50MHz FDD n1 and 100MHz TDD n77. By aggregating these two bands, communications service providers can considerably increase their uplink speeds, resulting in better network performance and user experience.

Sibel Tombaz, Head of Product Line 5G RAN, Ericsson, says: ”Super-fast uplink speeds make a big difference in the user experience. From lag-free live streaming, video conferencing and AR/VR apps, to more immersive gaming and extended reality (XR) technologies.”

“The 440 Mbps upload speed achieved by Ericsson and MediaTek will help make that difference,” she adds. “We are also continuously designing innovative solutions for optimizing 5G networks so our customers can make the best use of their spectrum assets.”

Service providers are seeking innovative ways of boosting capacity while using existing spectrum efficiently to meet growing demands for wireless data and applications. This is where carrier aggregation comes in, optimizing the service provider’s spectrum assets to bring to users better coverage, increased capacity, and higher data speeds.

HC Hwang, General Manager of Wireless Communication System and Partnership at MediaTek, says: “The successful result of combining Ericsson’s state-of-the-art 5G Baseband and MediaTek’s flagship smartphone chip has achieved another 5G industry milestone, and paves the way for superior mobile experiences to benefit users every day.”

Uplink speed is becoming more crucial with the expected uptake of gaming, XR, and video-based apps. For example, as AR devices gain popularity with larger augmentation objects, rendering becomes more demanding. This increases the demand on networks to deliver higher throughput and lower latency.

Also in the news:
BT targets education, healthcare, and more with Immersive Spaces
Telefonica Tech expands operations in Colombia
Vodafone launches dedicated healthcare unit

Industry Spotlight: Precision OT’s Keith Habberfield Looks Ahead 

The biggest vendor names in the network space are those who provide the optical platforms and routers.  But in between those areas at the intersection of different vendors, technologies, and designs there has long been space for independent innovation.  One company making its play there in recent years is Precision OT, which focuses on transceivers and related passive components.  With us today to talk about their approach, new tech like 400G ZR, and today’s supply chain ecosystem is Keith Habberfield, SVP of Sales & Marketing for Precision OT.  Keith joined the company three years ago after stints at CommScope, Comcast and Adelphia.   … [visit site to read more]

BT targets education, healthcare, and more with Immersive Spaces


News

The 5G-powered solution offers users over 3,000 interactive simulated experiences, from swimming with whales beneath the sea to driving factory forklift trucks

Today, BT has announced the launch of their Immersive Spaces solution, in partnership with virtual training specialist Immersive Interactive.

The Immersive Spaces use projectors to create interactive walls and floors, which can then display any of over 3,000 interactive experiences that are stored in the cloud. Users can interact directly with the experiences by touching the walls, from answering a multiple-choice questionnaire to navigating through a virtual world.

Additional senses can also be incorporated to make the experiences even more immersive, such as the use of smells and emerging haptic technology. The spaces are also compatible with virtual reality, augmented reality, and extended reality technologies and can be used to live-stream video.

Finally, users will be able to create their own tailor-made experiences using the platform, such as bespoke classroom or training experiences.

Speaking to journalists at a live demonstration at BT headquarters earlier this week, Ian Robertson, Technical Principal 5G Solutions at BT, explained that the Immersive Space could be specifically designed and deployed within a dedicated location, like a classroom, or delivered as a temporary mobile unit. Robertson explained that the mobile space – seen in image above – could be folded down to load on a flat-bed truck, with an effective deployment time of under an hour once it reached its location.

“Immersive Spaces bring together EE’s unrivalled connectivity with the very best immersive tech – combining the real and digital worlds to create new benefits for business and public sector organisations,” said Alex Foster, Director at Division X – BT’s business innovation team.

“This technology has the potential to be a game changer for training and development in any industry. Putting the power of immersive content into the hands of customers allows people to experience learning in a completely new way that is targeted specifically to their needs – which can significantly improve information retention and problem-solving skills. It can also enrich remote sales experiences, add a new layer to gaming and sports, and transport people virtually to any location, anywhere, during any point in history.”

While the potential of this technology is surely enormous – with BT exploring use cases for education, healthcare, retail, transport, tourism, manufacturing, construction, and sport – initial interest seems to be driven largely by training and education applications.

Indeed, BT has already deployed its Immersive Spaces at schools – Borders College in Galashiels, Scotland and Cadoxton Primary School in South Wales – with encouraging results.

“The children absolutely love it,” said Hannah Cogbill, senior leadership at Cadoxton Primary School.  “Their favourite one so far is life under the sea. We can’t wait to explore more of the experiences and collections and then begin to develop our own content. We are looking forward to using it to support our children’s development and progression of imaginative writing. But it will also be a great scaffold to support learners with pre-experiences that they might be nervous about – for example catching a train or going on an aeroplane.”

Also in the news:
Tusass: Connecting Greenland’s remote communities
Watchdog hits Eir with €2.45m fine for overcharging customers
SENSE: Nokia and Citymesh launch national drone network in Belgium

Telefonica Tech expands operations in Colombia


Press Release

The new center will have more than 100 highly qualified experts by the end of the year, which will grow to more than 300 in three years. These experts will work in coordination with Telefónica Tech’s global operations team.

Telefónica Tech today inaugurated a new Digital Operations Center (DOC) at its Bogotá headquarters, in addition to the one that it opened last year in Madrid, to complement its global Cyber Security and Cloud operations capabilities.

José Cerdán, CEO of Telefónica Tech; Alfonso Gómez, CEO of Telefónica Hispam; María Jesús Almazor, CEO of Cyber Security and Cloud for Telefónica Tech; and Fabián Hernández, CEO of Telefónica Colombia, were some of the company’s executives who attended the opening ceremony. The presentation was also attended by Mauricio Lizcano Arango, Minister of Information and Communication Technologies of the Government of Colombia, and more than 40 representatives of local institutions and companies.

Telefónica Tech’s Colombia DOC has an area of 500 square metres in size and has global capacities to reinforce the operations services in all the countries in which the company is present, especially in the Hispam region and in the USA, as it shares a time zone with many of the countries in the Americas, and this means that it can also provide extended hours of support to customers in Europe.

Telefónica Tech has reinforced its operations team in Colombia and plans for the country’s DOC to have more than a hundred highly qualified experts by the end of the year, and for this to grow to more than 300 in three years. These experts’ services are marketed in the Hispam region through Movistar Empresas. The Colombia DOC team will work in coordination with the professionals that make up Telefónica Tech’s global operations area and will strengthen the network of 11 Security Operations Centers (SOCs) that the company has around the world.

From the Colombia DOC, just as with the Madrid space, Telefónica Tech’s Cyber Security and Cloud operations professionals will monitor and supervise customers’ security and cloud services 24 hours a day, every day of the year, to detect, manage and resolve any incident.

José Cerdán, CEO of Telefónica Tech, said: “This new Digital Operations Center (DOC) reinforces our role as a global technology benchmark for the protection of companies undergoing digital transformation. The experience of our professionals and our comprehensive proposal of Cloud and Cyber Security services allows us to offer customers differential solutions and guarantee high levels of confidentiality, integrity, security and availability of data and assets”.

Extensive global capabilities

The Telefónica Tech team is made up of more than 6,200 professionals of 28 different nationalities and with more than 4,000 certifications in third-party technologies. Of these, 5,500 professionals are from Cyber Security and Cloud operations, who deal with 350,000 security event tickets and around 500,000 alerts per year, of which 13,000 are critical.

Telefónica Tech’s operations professionals supervise the security of more than 15,000 devices and execute around 600 mitigations in industrialised services, such as those aimed at avoiding Denial of Service (DoS) attacks, in which there is a high degree of automation.

In addition, through the digital surveillance service, they manage more than 120,000 notifications that generate more than 6,000 reports and specific investigations, and during the last year they have closed down 8,500 fraudulent sites related to brand abuse and phishing (a type of attack in which someone impersonates an entity or service through an email or instant message to obtain the user’s credentials or information).

Telefónica Tech closed the first quarter of 2023 with revenue growth of 43.5%, reaching 429 million euros, and recording double-digit growth in both the Cyber Security and Cloud division and in the IoT and Big Data division.

Also in the news:
Tusass: Connecting Greenland’s remote communities
Watchdog hits Eir with €2.45m fine for overcharging customers
SENSE: Nokia and Citymesh launch national drone network in Belgium

Vodafone launches dedicated healthcare unit


News

Vodafone Health will work with the healthcare sector to facilitate telehealth and co-develop new solutions

The UK’s healthcare sector has something of a reputation for its labyrinthine bureaucracy and its overreliance on outdated technology. In the past few years, however, this is beginning to change, with both the public and private sector proving willing to engage with telecoms and technology companies to help facilitate more streamlined and efficient patient care – especially in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Now, Vodafone is making its commitment to the healthcare sector known with the creation of a new business unit called Vodafone Health, aiming at working alongside the medical sector too “accelerate digital transformation” of the sector and “support the delivery of better patient outcomes”.

The new business unit will be led by industry expert Anne-Marie Vine-Lott.

“I’m really excited to be leading the newly created Vodafone in Health division which will act as a technology advisor and innovation hub for all our healthcare partners and customers,” said Anne-Marie Vine-Lott, Head of Health for Vodafone UK. “Our focus is on supporting health providers to work beyond organisational boundaries. To help them drive better outcomes for patients through better connectivity and the modernisation of technology.”

Vodafone’s growing interested in the healthcare sector has been apparent for many years now. Back in 2020, for example, the operator deployed a 5G private network at the University Hospital Dusseldorf, creating what they said at the time was the first 5G-powered clinic in Europe.

In fact, the formation of the Vodafone Health business unit seems to build on Vodafone’s virtual Centre for Health, which it launched in partnership with Deloitte in 2021. At the time, Vodafone said it would seek to combine its connectivity solutions with Deloitte’s significant experience in the healthcare sector to help develop healthcare solutions and support the sector’s digitalisation.

Vine-Lott was made the Head of the Centre for Health at the end of last year and she will continue to oversee the unit as the Director of the new Health business unit.

Also in the news:
Tusass: Connecting Greenland’s remote communities
Watchdog hits Eir with €2.45m fine for overcharging customers
SENSE: Nokia and Citymesh launch national drone network in Belgium

Hungary’s main players bag 32GHz licences

Keep up-to-date with all the latest news, articles, event and product updates posted on Developing Telecoms.
Subscribe to our FREE weekly email newsletters for the latest telecom info in developing and emerging markets globally.

Sending occasional e-mail from 3rd parties about industry white papers, online and live events relevant to subscribers helps us fund this website and free weekly newsletter. We never sell your personal data. Click here to view our privacy policy.