Four regional infrastructure projects of note at midweek: … [visit site to read more]

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News

Sale discussions have been ongoing since January 

Investment company Waterland Private Equity has acquired Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MNVO) Lebara for an undisclosed sum. 

Founded in 2001, the company offers SIM-only mobile phone plans to around 4.4 million subscribers UK, France, Germany, Netherlands and Denmark. In the UK, it uses Vodafone’s national network to provide its 4G and 5G services. 

Lebara is known for its focus on affordable, no-frills services tailored to the needs of international communities, providing cost-effective options for international calls. Over time, it has expanded its offerings to include mobile voice, data, and messaging services across many countries. 

Current owners Alchemy and Triton Partners took on the company in 2019 and invested €25 million in 2021. Last December, the Financial Times reported the company was considering a possible sale. The group confirmed that it was working with advisors to assess its options. 

“This partnership will provide us with the resources and strategic support needed to accelerate our growth and enhance our service offerings, ultimately benefiting our customers across all our markets,” said Lebara CEO Stephen Shurrock in the announcement’s press release. 

“Lebara has built a strong brand and loyal customer base by providing high-quality mobile telecommunications services at competitive prices,” echoed Wendy McMillan, partner at Waterland Private Equity. 

“We look forward to working closely with the management team to continue on Lebara’s growth journey together, leveraging our expertise in the telecommunications sector,” she continued. 

The deal is subject to standard regulatory approval. 

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Also in the news:
Openreach wins new Project Gigabit contract to expand rural broadband
Connected Britain returns to London to celebrate its 10th anniversary 
Mobile UK launches Better Connected Rural campaign 

A couple of international expansion projects, some federal dollars, and some IoT connectivity infrastructure: … [visit site to read more]

Azercosmos, Azerbaijan’s space agency, and the Civil Aviation Authority of Botswana have announced a new partnership, described as a ‘new milestone in connectivity’, to launch satellite services in Botswana.

Under this long-term agreement, the Botswana government agency will utilise data services provided via the Azerspace-1 telecommunication satellite. This marks the inaugural provision of satellite data services to Botswana via the African C-band coverage on the Azerspace-1 satellite.

Azercosmos says it currently supplies satellite services to nearly half of the 13 countries in Southern Africa. This collaboration with Botswana, it suggests, will enhance the deployment of Azerspace satellite services in large-scale data projects across Southern Africa.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Botswana (CAAB) is responsible for the regulation and development of air transport, providing air navigation services, managing airports and advising the government on all aspects of civil aviation. It is not clear how it will use the data services enabled by Azercosmos.

C-band has been a theme of a number of Azercosmos announcements in recent years. In 2022 we reported that Azercosmos and teleport and data centre facility Signalhorn had entered into a partnership agreement to provide what were describes as uninterrupted, secure and high-quality satellite services throughout Africa via the C-band capacity on the Azerspace-1 satellite.

In late 2021 an agreement was announced with Malaysian operator Measat Satellite Systems, under which Azercosmos intended to utilise the C-band capacity of the Azerspace-1 satellite to provide satellite services throughout the African region.

C-band was the first frequency band allocated for commercial telecommunications via satellites. It performs better under adverse weather conditions than some other frequencies. However, it requires very big receiving antennas.

News

The partnership will offer businesses the tools they need to innovate while protecting their data 

Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison (IOH) has teamed up with Google Cloud to bring advanced cloud services to Indonesia, addressing the country’s strict data residency, security, and privacy requirements.  

The expanded partnership will introduce Google Distributed Cloud (GDC) to various sectors across the country, allowing organisations to manage AI and data-heavy tasks while maintaining control over sensitive data.  

The collaboration will support industries such as public services, defence, healthcare, finance, energy, and manufacturing.  

GDC offers a range of features, such as a fully managed solution that can operate either fully disconnected from the public internet for highly sensitive tasks or connected between edge locations and Google’s Indonesian data centers. This flexibility allows organisations to choose the setup that best suits their needs. 

Indosat Group will provide hosting options for GDC through its data center unit, ensuring that all data stays within the country and complies with local law. 

“Indonesia is paving the way towards its golden era in 2045. Indosat Group is committed to contributing through technological advancements in pursuit of this vision,” said Vikram Sinha, President Director and Chief Executive Officer of IOH.  

“The partnership with Google Cloud is driven by empowering Indonesia, aiming to deliver the country’s first sovereign cloud and edge cloud solutions. These solutions will equip organizations with the state-of-the-art infrastructure, operational features, and developer tools they need to accelerate digitalization at scale,” he continued. 

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

Also in the news:
NTT to launch new AI company ‘NTT AI-CIX’
Thousands of kms of fibre could be left underutilised warns asset reuse specialist
IOH launches Southeast Asia’s largest digital intelligence operations centre

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Morgan Wright, Chief Security Advisor at SentinelOne

One of the most frequently asked questions by anyone involved in cybersecurity and national security is what an actual cyber attack would look like and its effects. This question was answered when a faulty software deployment caused the largest IT outage in history and impacted organizations and lives around the globe from critical infrastructure to travel, healthcare and beyond. … [visit site to read more]

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.

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.

Hard on the heels of recent headlines made by China’s plans to launch a rival to the Starlink service has comes news of an incident that certainly wasn’t part of those plans.

According to the UK’s PC Mag, quoting US Space Command, the rocket carrying satellites for China’s own version of the Starlink satellite constellation and internet service has accidentally broken apart in space, creating a debris field in Earth’s orbit. 

The rocket, Long March 6A, took off on Tuesday, carrying the first 18 satellites for China’s Qianfan Thousand Sails satellite constellation, and the satellites were successfully deployed. However,  the upper stage to the rocket appears to have split into numerous fragments. 

US Space Command, a unified combatant command of the United States Department of Defense, responsible for military operations in outer space, suggests that the incident has resulted in over 300 pieces of trackable debris in low-Earth orbit, but according to other sources this total could be much greater.

On its X account, satellite monitoring company LeoLabs says: “We’re actively monitoring and analysing the breakup event in #LEO involving a Chinese rocket body, CZ-6A. Our radar data indicates this event occurred on 6 August at ~20:10 UTC at ~810 km. It resulted in at least 700 debris fragments and potentially more than 900.”

PC Mag explains that the danger is that the debris is orbiting the Earth at around 800 kilometres, and could eventually descend to where both Starlink satellites and the International Space Station reside at 550 kilometres and 400 kilometres, respectively. It suggests that the same debris field might also endanger China’s own Qianfan satellites.

Starlink’s X account says its team is monitoring the debris and that it does not pose a significant immediate risk to the Starlink constellation. The company adds that it has designed its Starlink satellites with thrusters capable of manoeuvring them away from space junk. However, it suggests that the junk is likely to remain in space for decades due to the incident occurring at a high altitude.

In the meantime, the incident is apparently creating worries that China’s pursuit of Starlink could result in more accidents that lead to more debris fields. On the upside, reporting of this incident is at least raising awareness of potential problems relating to space debris and the need to be transparent about them.

That said, the Chinese launch provider, China Great Wall Industry Corporation, so far hasn’t commented on the debris field or what might have caused the Long March 6A rocket to break apart.