The goal of unified communications is to create a more cohesive workplace environment where teams can communicate within the team itself, and with one another with little to no miscommunication present.

In order to achieve this, UC platforms have evolved over the years, perfecting their tools to be easy to use and modernizing available communication channels to ensure a seamless transfer of information.

However, those are not the only goals a business strives for when looking into a UCaaS solution.

There is the monetary aspect too, sure, allowing them to save up on overhead costs in comparison to a more physical option, but the main one revolves around a desire to boost workplace productivity.

While UC platforms as a whole are geared toward that idea, there are a few standouts which put the P in productivity.

Let us see what these specific features are and why they are an important aspect of a UC solution to be on the lookout for.

1. Team Messaging

Communication is in the very name of UC, so it is no surprise that access to team communication would be one of the most productive features of a UC platform, with different messaging options possessing different benefits.

Many businesses would agree with that notion as a good majority of them have implemented it into their infrastructure, utilizing it to improve workflow and information exchange, especially in businesses that employ workers from all over the globe or ones that practice WFH strategies.

This doesn’t just revolve around the ability of sending texts back and forth either, but also takes the robust nature of UC platforms to integrate other useful features into account like file sharing, organizational tools, presence tracking and the like.

Some even go as far as integrate SMS and MMS from phones into their platforms or enable a virtual dialer, allowing employees to have everything in one place or work on the go with just their phone, depending on their position.

Modern UC platforms are a marvel that enhance productivity by keeping all necessary tools in one place, removing the need to swap from one app to another and creating confusion during complex tasks. Our own UC app, gloCOM, was created with that very purpose in mind.

2. Contact Center Integration

One thing that has seen wild success in terms of workplace productivity due to greater market intelligence is the inclusion of contact centers into businesses, allowing them insights into the minds of the average customer and saving companies money on previous market research strategies by allowing them to adapt to their existing customer base.

They allow businesses to gather feedback and use it to improve their existing customer experience and overall satisfaction.

A happy customer is a loyal one after all, and when customers are happy, it reflects on employees too, allowing them to work in a less strenuous environment and to retain a more positive and work-oriented attitude, ending up in an overall increase in productivity.

This goes doubly so to the fact that there is less confusion about the direction of the product offered by the business as they know exactly what their customers want and what to focus on with a contact center integration.

Bicom Systems’ UC platform offers an easy-to-implement Contact Center solution that allows businesses to do all of this and more, streamlining their existing CC operations and allowing them to modernize its infrastructure to improve employee productivity as well as build upon the existing employee and user experience.

3. The Use Of Meetings

Rotating back to the first feature, we have established that improving team communication is one of the most productive things a UC platform can do, but messaging is not the only form of employee interaction that manages this as meetings are a core part of information exchange too, but on a greater scale.

Given the growing rise of remote work in order to facilitate better working conditions and improve productivity overall, companies had to adapt and evolve, especially since most meetings could now not be held in person, so they swapped to doing it online.

Thus, it makes sense that UC providers would enable a feature like this on their platform, making it easier for businesses to organize, schedule, and hold meetings with any employees and at any time.

And, the fact that it is done over a UCaaS provider means that held meetings are bound to be more stable and with less issues affecting performance, allowing for smoother and more efficient information exchanges with bigger groups of people, be it between employees or partners.

Our own Unified Communications app, gloCOM, has a meeting module that enables exactly that directly on the app itself, keeping everything in one place and allowing company employees to connect with one another, wherever they are in the world with minimal delay, enhancing productivity.

4. Keeping It Mobile

What better way to improve productivity but to allow employees of a business access to the UC platform regardless of where they are?

Most modern UCaaS providers provide this commodity through their product nowadays, and it is not just limited to the home office as we have mentioned prior, but it also helps enable digital nomads who would work on their laptops from anywhere in the world, or even those who need to be able to access their workplace directly from their phones.

Bicom Systems has covered this aspect too by creating a mobile version of gloCOM, gloCOM GO, available to anyone and allowing it to be set up as a proper phone extension without the need of a specialized VoIP phone provided one has a valid gloCOM license.

It provides one with all the capabilities they would have access to on the desktop version of the app, allowing employees to perform their duties without loss of performance and from anywhere with a stable internet connection.

5. Cloud hosting

While not a direct productivity-enhancing feature, cloud hosting is an important core feature that enables more productive practices.

Given the transition to remote work and with avenues for businesses opening up to hire people from outside their immediate office’s area, businesses have started to transition away from on-site PBX implementations and have started to move toward cloud-hosted or hybrid options.

This enables the idea of remote work and work from home options for businesses in the first place, making the overall talent pool bigger and thus improving overall potential employee quality which should positively affect performance in the long run.

Most of the Bicom Systems product suite offers both an on-site and cloud implementation with a seamless transition to the cloud for existing on-site installations, making it easier for companies to take the next step toward a more modern and productive infrastructure.

6. Omnichannel Support

The final major feature worth mentioning is Omnichannel support, an addendum to contact center performance numbers.

Omnichannel can be considered a modernization of existing communication channels as it helps open up new avenues of contact between customer and business, allowing them to utilize their preferred method of communication to submit inquiries or deliver feedback about their experience with a product.

Instead of only having access to calls, an Omnichannel-enabled contact center allows customers to reach out to a business via SMS, e-mails, as well as Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, or a live chat integration on the business’ main site.

More advanced Omnichannel solutions can even map the customer’s journey from one communication channel to another, allowing for a frictionless transition between mediums and improving the overall customer experience.

It also helps lower employee stress and enhance productivity by giving them access to this data to tailor the customer’s experience without having to ask needless and potentially repetitive questions which would otherwise lead to a dissatisfied customer, and a frustrated employee.

Bicom Systems’ own Contact Center solution features Omnichannel support and works with any existing contact center implementations, allowing businesses to gain access to these benefits at a moment’s notice.

Staying Productive With UCaaS

While these are not the only features that showcase how UCaaS facilitates a more productive workplace, they are certainly some of the major standouts.

However, to keep in mind that they are not the only thing a business is going to be looking out for. Make sure that your product has other options to make it more robust and more appealing to your clientele, something that paints a more complete picture outside of pure statistics.

Bicom Systems’ own product suite offers all that and more at competitive prices, with flexible editions and with stellar customer support, giving businesses and partners the chance to create the ideal product package to suit their needs.

If you want to take a look at our platform, be sure to visit us or give us a call if you have any questions regarding any of our products.

Dubai-headquartered telecommunication company du, from Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (EITC), and global edge-to-cloud company Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) have announced a major deal with the Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD), one of the most prominent national banks in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

CBD has selected the HPE GreenLake, a portfolio of cloud and as-a-service solutions hosted in du’s hyper-connected and Tier III-certified data centres, to accelerate CBD’s hybrid cloud journey and optimise the customer and team member experience.

The solution brings together the powerful capabilities of HPE GreenLake with connectivity, hosting, and network security services provided by du.

By utilising HPE GreenLake as the foundation of the private cloud, along with du’s comprehensive network and security solutions and services, CBD will be able to implement and expedite a five-year strategy that aims to establish a more efficient and automated self-service IT operational model.

The goal is to enhance responsiveness, visibility and control while minimising complexities and manual processes. As HPE points out, it is essential for the bank to operate core banking applications and workloads within a private cloud environment that incorporates AI capabilities and customised services under its complete control. This approach, HPE adds, ensures CBD’s ability to promptly adapt to evolving business requirements and meet customer expectations.

The HPE GreenLake platform provides a unified, automated control plane across both CBD’s private and public cloud. The solution is underpinned by leading HPE products and services, such as HPE Services for the overall migration process and Zerto for VM migration and cyber resilience.

To ensure efficient and secure connectivity throughout its IT estate, CBD also relies on intelligent edge solutions from HPE Aruba Networking, including state-of-the-art Wi-Fi 6E and Network Access Control (NAC).

This comprehensive hybrid cloud environment will be further enhanced through key services provided by du as part of its data centre solutions and HPE managed services.

This environment, say du and HPE, enables CBD to enhance security, automate tasks, drive innovation, and develop AI-driven services to deliver exceptional customer experiences. Additionally, it acts as a critical safeguard to protect sensitive financial information and customer data.

News 

The news follows T-Mobile’s acquisition of Mint Mobile just last month 

US mobile operators T-Mobile and Verizon are in discussions to separately buy parts of smaller rival US Cellular, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. 

US Cellular serves over 4 million customers, predominately in rural areas. The company was put up for sale last year by its owners, TDS, in response to years of pressure from shareholders. 

According to the report, T-Mobile is seeking to purchase over $2 billion in assets, which include “some operations and wireless spectrum licenses.” 

This deal is close to being finalised and could be announced later this month, said people familiar with the matter.  

The deal with Verizon is less defined, with these discussions still in the early stages.  

Both Verizon and T-Mobile are seeking to acquire the spectrum from US Cellular as well as assets and customer base. 

US Cellular also has 4,000 mobile towers, though these are reportedly not part of either deal. 

The Wall Street Journal suggests part of the reason for the piecemeal sale is to stay under the radar of the US competition authorities. T-Mobile’s acquisition of Sprint in 2020 faced almost two years of scrutiny from federal regulators, as well as a lawsuit over potential harm to consumers. Critics essentially argued that the merger would reduce competition and create a player in the market whose market share was too dominant, which could easily be the case here should either Verizon or T-Mobile acquire the entirety of US Cellular. 

Indeed, T-Mobile has already grown via M&A activity this year. Just last month, T-Mobile finalised the acquisition to buy Ka’ena Corp, the owner of Mint Mobile, for up to $1.35 billion. The deal has been approved by the Federal Communications Commission after being first reported in January last year. 

Keep up to date with the latest international telecoms news by subscribing to the Total Telecom daily newsletter 

Also in the news: 
Verizon Business and Cummins deal combines private 5G and neutral host tech 
Samsung and Telefonica partner for German vRAN site 
AT&T sheds cybersecurity division to create LevelBlue 

News

The merger is under ongoing investigation from the Competition and Markets Authority 

The UK government has this week released a “Publication of notice of Final Order” that provisionally approves the Vodafone–Three merger, subject to certain conditions. 

Following a “detailed national security assessment”, the cabinet office has approved the merger, providing that: 

– A National Security Committee is set up within the merged company to oversee any sensitive information that the company deals with that is related to the national security of the UK. It will be necessary for the company to provide regular updates to the government; 

– Within this group, a specific technical group is established that will deal with a specific list of topics (such as cyber, physical, and personnel security); 

– The MergeCo’s network migration planning is subject to review by a government approved external auditor;  

– The MergeCo will have specified arrangements for its governance. 

The government said in this statement that the above measures will mitigate national security risks in relation to UK networks and data “resulting from the merging of two large, complex organisations and their respective staffing, policies, processes and networks.” The government also says these measures will eliminate risks in relation to Vodafone’s role as a supplier of services to the government. 

“We strongly believe (the merger) will strengthen competition in the UK’s mobile sector and enable a significant step-up in the UK’s mobile network infrastructure,” said the two companies in a joint statement. 

The investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is separate and still ongoing. The investigation began its second phase last month, with results expected by September. 

Keep up to date with the latest international telecoms news by subscribing to the Total Telecom daily newsletter  

Also in the news:
Verizon Business and Cummins deal combines private 5G and neutral host tech
Samsung and Telefonica partner for German vRAN site
AT&T sheds cybersecurity division to create LevelBlue 

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Transmitting about 99% of the world’s telecommunications, submarine cables have emerged as critical infrastructure necessary for systems to function. In recent months, there have been two “extraordinary” outages that have brought submarine cable damage and protection issues to the fore.

Three cables in the Red Sea were severed by an anchor drag followed by the West African subsea cable outage where four cable systems were damaged by an undersea canyon avalanche incident. While these incidents led to widespread connectivity disruption, they also demonstrated the need for robust redundancy measures to manage outages.

A key question that arises out of these incidents of submarine cable damage is whether cable owners have legal recourse to claim losses, including consequential losses. In this article, we attempt to unpack some knotty legal issues regarding submarine cable damage claims and remedies.

Protection of submarine cables

The first submarine cable laid across the English Channel between Dover and Calais in 1850 was reportedly put out of action almost immediately by a fisherman who hooked the line near shore and cut out a section as a souvenir. Over the past 175 years, as telecommunications technology has advanced, the number of subsea cable systems has surged, accompanied by an increase in damage risks.

The causes of submarine cable damage include natural hazards, as in the case of the West African subsea landslide, as well as man-made activities ranging from fishing, undersea mining, oil and gas activities, and dredging – the cause of the outage in the Red Sea. Increasingly, deliberate actions by state and non-state actors also pose a threat to cable systems; early reporting around the Red Sea outage incorrectly posited that violent activity from the Houthi rebel group could have damaged the cables in question.

Given the critical nature of submarine cables, it is surprising that their protection under international law is limited and in parts antiquated. There are two key treaties protecting submarine cables:

• The 1884 Convention for the Protection of Submarine Telegraph Cables (“Paris Convention”) criminsalises “break[ing] or injur[ing] a submarine cable, wilfully or by culpable negligence, in such manner as might interrupt or obstruct telegraphic communication, either wholly or partially, such punishment being without prejudice to any civil action for damages.” However, many state parties have failed to translate the Paris Convention’s requirements into their criminal law.
• or injury caused by persons who acted merely with the legitimate object of saving their lives or their ships, after having taken all necessary precautions to avoid such break or injury.”

While both the Paris Convention and the UNCLOS require States to criminalise conduct of private parties leading to submarine cable damage, there is no express prohibition in international law preventing States from deliberately damaging submarine cables – such as for undersea warfare.  The need to address this is urgent; early reporting that the Houthi rebels were responsible for the Red Sea cable outage proved inaccurate, but era of subsea warfare is upon us. Naval News notes that Russia has invested heavily in offensive seabed warfare capabilities, and that Hamas has built UUVs (uncrewed underwater vehicles) to target Israeli offshore natural gas infrastructure – the threat is real.

Potential claims and remedies by cable owners

If damage is incurred by submarine cables, their owners can be entitled to various claims or remedies depending on several factors. These include where the damage occurs, as this varies depending on if the cable is located in the high seas, an exclusive economic zone, a continental shelf, or territorial waters. Whether the damage was caused by a natural event or human activity is of course another factor, as well as the intent behind the damage – whether it was deliberate or negligent.

The law is clearer if the damage occurs within territorial waters (within 12 nautical miles from the coast) – in such instances, national courts can exercise ordinary admiralty jurisdiction. However, damage that occurs in the high seas or a continental shelf can be subject to different legislation depending on national laws – state courts may not have jurisdiction in such instances.

If damage is caused by human activity, cable owners can potentially seek damages from the wrongdoer but must consider general principles of damage in tort (criminal wrongdoing) law – for example, to recover any damages, the damage itself must be reasonably foreseeable – and limitations of liability under maritime law.

Any liability claim would ultimately depend on the circumstances. For example, if a wrongdoer caused damage after noticing the position of a cable – and if the damage caused monetary losses for repairs or similar – then they would be in breach of a duty of care to the cable provider. A good illustration of such a claim would be the Canadian case of The Realice where the vessel’s captain snagged a fibreoptic cable in his anchors.  Believing – based on having glimpsed a map of active cables years before – that the cable was inactive, he cut it and was found liable for USD 1 million in damages.

Potential claims against cable owners

Given the role that subsea cables play in global connectivity, there are many players in the value chain who will be affected by any cable damage. For instance, an internet service provider might seek to recoup damages for internet outage arising from a damaged cable. To ensure that cable owners are protected by such claims, it is important to review contracts with third parties to ensure that there are adequate safeguards in place to manage liability.

Limitation of liability provisions are standard in contracts between mobile service providers and customers. In contracts between cable owners and users of cable services, it is important to specify the forum to resolve disputes and the law applicable to the dispute. in instances of naturally occurring damage as in the case of the East African subsea landslide, there should be workable force majeure provisions that exclude liability of the cable owners.

Managing liability: the way forward

Telecommunications companies might consider investing in monitoring equipment for submarine cables and to ensuring the development of backup and redundant cable systems. Another key exercise for private players is to review their contracts and ensure that they have robust protections in case of cable failure (for instance, carving out consequential losses and including workable force majeure clauses in contracts). Finally, cable systems owners and operators must ensure forensic data collection in instances of cable damage in support of any claims.

In the international sphere, states need to come together to formulate a clear and comprehensive international legal framework for the protection of submarine cables. The 1884 Paris Convention and 1982 UNCLOS are unfit for purpose to address the protection of submarine cables in the 21^st century.

David Hunt is a partner and Sagar Gupta is an associate at the London offices of Boies Schiller Flexner. They specialise in international dispute resolution with a focus on the telecoms industry. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Boies Schiller Flexner or its clients, or any of its or their respective affiliates. This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal advice.

Insight

Earlier this year, we spoke with Cullen Xu, Vice President of Huawei’s 5G & LTE TDD Product Line, about key developments in 5.5G network technology and the new experiences this will unlock for customer

In 2024, roughly five years into the commercial deployment of 5G, the latest generation of wireless technology continues to find success in unexpected places. 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) has becoming hugely popular around the world for delivering broadband services to areas underserved by fibre. Meanwhile, in the enterprise space, dedicated 5G private networks have proven high effective at modernising various vertical industries, particularly in industrial settings like ports, mines, and manufacturing plants.

For consumers too the first phase of 5G has proven technically successful, delivering far greater speeds, lower latencies, and larger capacity compared to 4G. But to truly unlock the latest mobile experiences, like extended reality and cloud gaming, 5G networks will need to take the next step on the evolutionary path, becoming more multi-dimensional and deterministic, ensuring even faster and more resilient connectivity.

Now, following the recent publication of 3GPP’s Release 18, this next stage of development – 5.5G, (also known as 5G Advanced) – is becoming more clearly defined, with initial commercial deployments expected to take place in leading markets like China and the Middle East later this year.

With speeds up to ten times faster than existing 5G, 5.5G is set to enable a plethora of new consumer use cases, as well as further enhancing the technology’s utility for FWA, enterprise, and industrial applications.

But what exactly can we expect from the 5.5G era in terms of network technology?

For Cullen Xu, Vice President of Huawei’s 5G & LTE TDD Product Line, the transition to 5.5G within the network will focus on five key areas.

5.5G: The networks must evolve

1. Upgrading to ultra-large bandwidth

As more and more people begin to take advantage of 5G services, data demand on the network is expected to increase rapidly. This is especially true for high footfall areas, like subways, stadiums, or tourist locations, where congestion can become a major issue. With 5.5G, networks must be upgraded to support far greater bandwidth, more carriers, and more customers accessing the network simultaneously, to ensure high quality experience for all customers wherever they are.

2. Multicarrier capability for Massive MIMO

Just as fixed networks will need to evolve, so too will 5G RAN equipment, with Massive MIMO technology required to further embrace multicarrier features. This, as Xu explains, will not only help boost performance, but will play a major role in reducing sites’ energy consumption.

“Huawei’s dual-band Meta AAU product, already used both in China and in other markets, has the same specifications as a single band AAU, but the performance is doubled and has power savings of up to 30%”, explained Xu.

3. Extremely Large Antenna Array (ELAA)

Further to incorporating multicarrier functionality, 5.5G will also feature ELAA technology, where hundreds or thousands of antennae can leverage beamforming to enhance signal strength and coverage. This technology, native to 5.5G, is already being embedded in the latest RAN equipment.

“In future, this will support mmWave and sub-6Ghz spectrum,” explained Xu. “With ELAA we can multiply or add more elements to our AAU products; for example, supporting up to 2000+ antenna elements for mmWave, which will ensure continuous network coverage.”

4. Building an intelligent RAN

The process of making RAN equipment more intelligent has already been taking place for many years; for example, Huawei MetaAAU using intelligent beam tracking (Intelligent Beam) to help boost performance by between 20–30%. Now, as we enter the 5.5G era, this build in intelligence will be take even further, with what Huawei calls ‘harmonised MIMO’, allowing for even more intelligent automation of the RAN.

5. Greener networks

Finally, alongside all of these technological developments, the industry must be careful not to lose sight of another key concern: sustainability. Power consumption remains a major challenge for operators,

Here, Huawei has adopted a ‘0 Bit 0 Watt’ approach, focussing on using minimal power when radio sites are not in use. Through dynamic control, these sites consume less than 10 watts of power during idle hours while still being able to become fully operation in seconds.

Beyond the network: New experiences and new markets with 5.5G

With these network upgrades in place, operators’ path to monetising new services becomes much clearer. They can begin offering subscribers truly unique services, like ultrahigh definition video, 5G new calling services, and 3D video. FWA, too, will be further improved, reaching speeds of 300–500Mbps and enabling services like cloud gaming.

But it is not just consumer use cases that will see the benefits of 5.5G. With the introduction of 5G RedCap, IoT devices can be increasingly integrated with public wireless networks, offering up a wealth of additional data for both operators and their customers.

“This is the first time we will notice that the connection of things is far more than the connections of people,” said Xu. “With the evolution of 5.5G modules starting this year […], we’re going to see more mature and well-established technologies to support passive IoT. In the 5.5G era, we predict an exponential growth in the number of connected things.”

Perhaps one of the most exciting intersections of 5.5G with novel technology is in the automotive industry. Connected vehicles are already becoming increasingly available worldwide, with the ultralow latency and high reliability of 5G integral to ensuring safety and high-quality user experience.

Xu notes that this trend will only increase in the years to come, as connected vehicles become more integrated with the wireless infrastructure around them.

“There is a growing market segment for connected vehicles and road synergy that can make our transportation more efficient. With 5.5G, this coordination segment can be further facilitated to ensure that road and vehicles are safer, and services are more reliable,” he said.

Similar trends can be expected in other vertical industries, with 5.5G’s ultra large uplink and high precision positioning capabilities further improvement to Industry 4.0 applications, like asset tracking and autonomous vehicles. For Xu, the improvement will be so significant that industry’s not leveraging these improved wireless capabilities risk being left behind by competitors.

“With all these features and capabilities, 5.5G can better enable wireless networking in many different industries. Gradually wireless networks will be seen not just as an assisting technology but will widely be adopted for core production domains,” he explained.

A new horizon for wireless technology

It is worth remembering here the current environment in which this wireless evolution is taking place. The number of connected devices is booming, user applications are becoming more data-hungry, and, perhaps most notably. AI is also taking the world by storm. With AI-generated content becoming more commonplace, particularly video content from the likes of Open AI’s Sora, networks will need to be increasingly robust.

“In the AI era we see a lot of emerging services, like Sora and other AI-generated content,” said Xu. “When customers are uploading those videos, we will see a lot of high bitrate traffic. In order to guarantee a very good user experience given such a traffic surge, we’re going to need 5.5G.”

“For me personally, I’m very excited about this new user experience,” he added. “There are a lot of challenges imposed on the network by new technologies like AIGC and Sora, so we need quality assurance. But this is offering customers experiences never seen before and that is a very exciting opportunity for operators.”

News 

The move is Microsoft’s latest in a string of at investments aimed at expanding cloud computing and AI infrastructure 

This week, Microsoft has been joined by US President Joe Biden to announce plans to build a $3.3 billion data centre in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin. The data centre will enable companies in Wisconsin and surrounding areas to develop, deploy, and use advanced cloud services and AI applications. 

Speaking at Gateway Technical College, Wisconsin, President Biden – who was joined by Microsoft President Brad Smith – announced that the investment will include cloud computing and AI infrastructure, the creation of the country’s first manufacturing-focused AI co-innovation lab, and an initiative to teach AI skills to 100,000 state residents. 

Microsoft will also work with Gateway Technical College to build a Data Center Academy that will train up around 1,000 students to work at the new data centre and related jobs within the next five years. 

The data centre investment, which will take place from now until 2026, is expected to create around 2,500 construction jobs by next year. 

“We will use the power of AI to help advance the next generation of manufacturing companies, skills and jobs in Wisconsin and across the country,” said Smith. 

“This is what a big company can do to build a strong foundation for every medium, small and start-up company and non-profit everywhere,” he continued. 

The facility is set to be built in the same location that Presidential rival Donald Trump once announced a similar investment. Back in 2017, Taiwanese multinational electronics manufacturing company Foxconn Technology announced plans to build a $10 billion 20-million-square-foot manufacturing facility in Mount Pleasant.  

The project was expected to create 13,000 jobs and the state legislature passed a $3 billion tax incentive package to support the project, which included $150 million in tax breaks for the company. 

Despite these large promises, however, the investment plans have diminished significantly. The original $10 billion investment has dwindled to $672.8 million, while the job creation target has decreased from 13,000 statewide to just 1,454, and the incentive package reduced to $80 million. 

“My predecessor made promises, which he broke,” said President Biden at the Microsoft announcement. “On my watch, we make promises and we keep promises.” 

Microsoft has been making continual investments in the AI and data centre space for some time in both domestic and international markets, aiming to keep ahead of rivals such as AWS and Google.  

Earlier last week, for example, Microsoft partnered with asset management company Brookfield to invest $10 billion in renewable energy to supply their data centre assets. The agreement is the first of its kind and is almost eight times larger than the largest single corporate power purchase agreement ever signed. 

Additionally, last month, the company unveiled an AI hub in London, following Microsoft’s 2023 pledge to invest £2.5 billion over the next three years to expand its UK data centre infrastructure.  

Keep up to date with the latest telecoms news by subscribing to the Total Telecom daily newsletter

Also in the news:
US govt allocates $285m for chip-focussed digital twins institute
US chip companies have licenses to sell to Huawei revoked
German U-Bahn completes high speed 4G deployment