Indonesian telco XL Axiata says it has launched a new prepaid SIM card registration process that uses facial recognition technology as a biometric ID verification measure, following a successful trial earlier this month.

In a statement circulated late last week, XL Axiata said that its prepaid customers will be required to scan their face using designated devices during the prepaid card registration process. The biometric data will be automatically cross-checked with government identity databases to verify the customer’s identity.

XL Axiata claims that facial recognition technology enables more precise identity verification, which will streamline the prepaid registration process. The technology also complies with industry Know Your Customer (KYC) protocols to ensure data accuracy and reduce the risk of fraud or identity theft.

The telco also said the biometric technology will help it comply with the Indonesian government’s regulations on prepaid number registration that claim to “enhance security and prevent the misuse of telecommunication services.”

XL Axiata staged a public trial of the biometric prepaid card registration process at XL Center Gandaria City in Jakarta, on September 12. The trial was supervised by the Ministry of Communication and Informatics of the Republic of Indonesia (Kominfo).

« We believe this innovation will bring convenience, enhance security, improve speed, and minimize the risk of data forgery or duplicate identities, » said Yessie D. Yosetya, director and chief enterprise business and corporate affairs officer at XL Axiata.

Use of facial recognition technology has been ramping up in Indonesia, particularly among government agencies and companies, with much of it applied to immigration checkpoints.

On Monday, Vision-Box said it had implemented over 150 biometric touchpoints using facial recognition at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta and I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali.

In July, Indonesia Immigration implemented an automated border control system using facial recognition for the international seaport at Batam Centre.

Last month, state railway company KAI said it will introduce a new CCTV system with face recognition technology to identify and blacklist passengers involved in criminal activities.

Also last month, according to the Jakarta Post, the state-owned Health Care and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan) said it will use facial recognition to identify its policyholders with the aim of combating fraud in the National Health Insurance (JKN) system.

According to Statista, Indonesia’s facial recognition market is projected to reach US$68.16 million this year and grow at a CAGR of 9.3% to US$116.60 million by 2030.

A contactless boarding pass system is set to reduce waiting times and create a better travel experience for passengers at India’s airports, according to air transport technology giant SITA.

SITA is installing its Smart Path technology across nine Indian airports in a partnership with Airports Authority of India (AAI). Part of the wider DigiYatra initiative, the collaboration introduces SITA’s contactless boarding pass system to reduce waiting times, creating a seamless travel experience for passengers, and improves airport efficiency for every traveller.

DigiYatra is an industry-led initiative that uses facial recognition technology to make terminal entry and security clearance at an airport a seamless, hassle-free, and paperless process. DigiYatra is a decentralised mobile-based ID storage platform where air travellers can save their IDs and travel documents.

AAI will use SITA’s products and solutions, including SITA Smart Path, Passenger Flow Management (PFM) solution and Face Pods. These technologies offer biometric solutions at most touchpoints across the airport, meaning a contact-free travel experience across nine Indian airports.

SITA says its biometric technology will transform the way travellers navigate through Indian airports. Sumesh Patel, President, APAC, SITA says: « It is vital in this connected era that travel across the globe is as seamless as possible, and we are ready to help India continue to innovate in their digitalisation efforts with SITA technology as the DigiYatra initiative spreads across India. »

In 2023, over 20 million users experienced DigiYatra, and with its upcoming availability at 28 Indian airports, DigiYatra aims to cover approximately 90% of India’s domestic flying population. The Ministry of Civil Aviation-led DigiYatra Foundation plans to align with the International Air Transport Association (IATA)’s One ID initiative for global interoperability, further improving the seamless travel experience.

In July 2023, SITA announced a deal with AAI to provide technology to 43 of India’s biggest airports. The deal will see improvements to over 2,700 passenger touchpoints, signifying one of the largest deployments for passenger processing.

SITA has been working with the Indian government since 1952 and is a supporter of the Make In India initiative.

SITA, or Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques, was founded in 1949 by eleven airlines in order to bring about shared infrastructure cost efficiency by combining their communications networks.

News

A key focus of the fund will be on enhancing the digital skills of young people 

UK incumbent BT has launched a £4 million Apprenticeship Fund to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), charities, and public sector organisations across England.  

The funds will be delivered over the next four years, helping these organisations to recruit and train apprentices. 

Since 2017, companies in the UK with an annual wage bill over £3 million have been required to pay an ‘apprenticeship levy’, with 0.5% of the company’s annual wage bill being paid to the government to support various apprenticeship programmes. Larger businesses such as BT can transfer up to 50% of their levy to other companies directly, which is what BT is doing here.  

BT has partnered with Babington, a leading apprenticeship training provider, to manage the fund and guide applicants through the process.  

Eligible organisations can apply for funding and, if successful, will be matched with appropriate training providers within 20 days. The fund could support up to 550 apprentices and is expected to generate a £21 million economic impact. 

“SMEs make a significant contribution to our economy, but their uptake of apprenticeships is low,” said Chris Sims, Managing Director for Small and Medium Business at BT in a press release. 

“By sharing up to £4 million from our apprenticeship levy funds, we’re giving these businesses the financial support they need to invest in talent. This not only helps create a more skilled, diverse, and competitive workforce, it also provides SMEs with additional resources to grow and scale their business,” he continued. 

The fund is available to SMEs, charities, and public sector organisations across England, including the NHS. It focuses on apprentices aged 22 and older and seeks to support local economic growth, reduce the digital divide, and enhance social mobility. 

As one of the UK’s largest employers, BT is already a major player in the UK’s apprenticeship landscape, having recruited around 3,000 apprentices and graduates in the past five years. 

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

Also in the news: 

Press Release

Nokia today announced the launch of a new sustainability calculator for private wireless networks for enterprises. This tool helps companies estimate the environmental and social benefits of using private wireless networks and the new Industry 4.0 applications they enable. Notable benefits include improved operations, reduced costs and carbon emissions, and fewer workplace accidents.

Nokia commissioned PwC UK to support the development of a Private Wireless Sustainability Calculator, based on Nokia’s extensive experience in deploying private wireless networks for more than 760 industrial customers worldwide. Nokia’s tool, initially created for mining, manufacturing and port industries, aids businesses in leveraging private wireless to reach their environmental and social objectives, catering to the growing demand from investors for transparency.

Digitalization is key to accelerating industry sustainability and enabling enterprises to achieve long-term growth. Private wireless networks provide high-performance connectivity for digitalization, enabling new applications such as drone inspections, digital twins, and real-time environmental monitoring. These applications, when combined with private networking and edge computing, improve operational efficiency and contribute to sustainability goals.

Industry 4.0 applications powered by private wireless networks offer significant improvements for businesses.

• Reduced Greenhouse Gas Emissions: A GlobalData and Nokia report found 79% of surveyed enterprises saw a 10% or greater reduction in emissions after deploying private wireless solutions like drones, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and digital twins.
• Improved Worker Safety: Medium-sized chemical manufacturing plants utilizing private wireless networks can save approximately EUR 1.4 million in societal costs (assuming consistent production volumes) and witness an average 35% decrease, on average, in health and safety incidents. Societal costs refer to the economic and social burdens associated with accidents, injuries, and illnesses, including healthcare expenses, lost productivity, and the impact on families and communities. This is due to factors like remote machine control, which reduces worker exposure to hazardous environments.
• Improved Efficiency: Autonomous trucks powered by private wireless networks results in a 7% reduction in fuel consumption and wear and tear. Additionally, operations became 10% more efficient, leading to reduced energy consumption and improved worker safety.

The Nokia Private Wireless Sustainability Calculator draws on PwC UK’s expertise in measuring and valuing impacts, and its Total Impact Measurement and Management (TIMM) framework to develop the environmental and social impact methodologies for private wireless networks. TIMM is rooted in impact pathways, going one step further than most other methodologies to translate the costs and benefits to society in monetary terms.

The Nokia calculator uses data from multiple sources, including previous quantifications in other projects and network models to provide a comprehensive understanding of the private networks’ impact. From there, the model’s insights support users to identify opportunities to enhance business operations, including improving equipment lifecycles, reducing transportation downtime and fuel consumption, and improved worker health considerations. Through this process, the Nokia Private Wireless Sustainability Calculator offers enterprises vital findings and insights to improve their business – from improved operational efficiencies, worker health and safety, potential reductions in costs and environmental footprint.

Subho Mukherjee, Vice President of Sustainability at Nokia, said: “Many physical industries are heavy emitters of greenhouse gas and haven’t had the opportunity to reap the full potential of digital technologies yet. To reach our climate goals, we need to speed up their digital transformation through the power of networking, AI and cloud. Nokia is helping industries go digital to become smarter, more automated, sustainable, and efficient. Our new Private Wireless Sustainability Calculator is the first of its kind, showing our private wireless networks can help businesses be more environmentally friendly. It’s a strong step towards quantifying what Nokia believes in, that there is no green without digital.”

Mukherjee said the new Nokia tool underscores the company’s commitment to addressing climate change and resource efficiency in its value chain. Nokia has committed to reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, accelerating its previous target by 10 years. This places Nokia ahead of the Paris Agreement goal to reach net zero by 2050. This initiative is part of Nokia’s broader strategy to integrate sustainability benefits into its solutions for industries and develop Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) as a competitive advantage.

Tom Beagent, Sustainability Partner at PwC UK, said: “Technology has a huge role to play in tackling social and environmental challenges. It is great to see Nokia using its expertise to support its customers to see the potential of private wireless in tackling issues such as health and safety and carbon emissions. Monetizing impacts with frameworks like TIMM really help decision makers to understand the social and environmental return on investment and the role technology can play in delivering on their sustainability goals.”

Keep up to date with all of the latest telecoms news with Total Telecom’s daily newsletter

Also in the news:
Meta resumes use of UK user posts to train its AI models
Verizon’s 4,800 job cuts will cost over $1.9 billion
CMA questions Vodafone–Three merger after second probe

Interview

Is the new Labour government’s approach to digital infrastructure going to be effective?

In this Connected Britain interview, Simon Miller, Director of Public and Regional Affairs at Virgin Media O2, describes the “encouraging” discussions with government so far and how the UK’s digital infrastructure landscape is shifting in 2024.

Check out the full interview from the link below:  

News

The operator says it is the first in the country to launch 5G standalone (SA) on a “national scale”

This week, French mobile network operator Free, owned by telecoms giant Iliad Group, has announced the launch of 5G SA services.

“Today, Free is announcing that it has deployed 5G SA (Standalone Access) on the 3.5 GHz frequencies of its public network on a national scale. By doing this, it has become the first mobile operator in France to offer this technology to its subscribers,” reads the company’s translated press release.

More specifically, the operator says it has switched on 5G SA at 6,950 of its 20,000 5G sites across the country, with customers able to access the new technology on compatible devices at no extra cost.

The new SA architecture will provide customers with higher speeds and lower latency, as well as unlocking a host of potential new use cases, from extended reality to network slicing.

“5G SA is the final phase of the development of the 5G network, enabling faster speeds, lower latency, and higher reliability,” explained Free. “Its large-scale deployment will allow the full potential of 5G technology to be realized through the massive take-up of new services and 5G applications in many domains, ranging from industry, health, education, and entertainment through to smart cities.”

It should be noted that while the announcement claims the standalone deployment to be at a “national scale”, this is presumably not the same as ‘nationwide”. Free says its 20,000 5G sites provide coverage of coverage of roughly 95% of the French population, which would suggest that there are still many thousands of sites left to upgrade before truly national coverage can be achieved.

This is the second major 5G SA announcement this month, with EE (BT) having announced the launch of the new technology in 15 cities a few weeks ago. Interestingly, EE’ 5G SA network will only be available to customers via new premium packages and will not be accessible for customers on existing plans.

This is in contrast to rivals Virgin Media O2 and Vodafone, both of whom will allow existing users to access the new network at no additional cost.

Keep up to date with all of the latest telecoms news with Total Telecom’s daily newsletter

Also in the news:
Meta resumes use of UK user posts to train its AI models
Verizon’s 4,800 job cuts will cost over $1.9 billion
CMA questions Vodafone–Three merger after second probe

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This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Dario Betti, CEO of the Mobile Ecosystem Forum

The UK government wants to crackdown on “snatch thefts” of smartphones; an estimated 78,000 Brits had their phones stolen on the streets in the year up to March 2024 – a rise of over 150% compared to the previous 12 months. The government wants a technology solution, but technology by itself might not be able to address the root cause. … [visit site to read more]

Safaricom and Mastercard announced on Thursday that they have signed a partnership to accelerate adoption of payment acceptance and cross-border remittance services in Kenya.

Under the terms of the partnership, Safaricom will embed Mastercard’s omnichannel acceptance solutions for the 636,000 merchants using Safaricom’s mobile money service M-Pesa.

Safaricom said that combining M-Pesa’s extensive merchant network and Mastercard’s global payment infrastructure will scale digital payments across Kenya by making more seamless, secure, and scalable payment solutions available to merchants. That in turn would also enable them to serve customers across global markets.

The partnership will also boost remittance services, streamlining cross-border transactions efficiently, said Safaricom’s chief financial services officer Esther Waititu.

“This collaboration with Mastercard unlocks new opportunities for M-Pesa merchants,” Waititu said in a statement. “By combining our expertise with Mastercard’s global acceptance network, we are enabling businesses to provide more efficient and frictionless payment solutions to their customers, both in Kenya and beyond.”

According to analyst firm GlobalData, Kenya’s mobile wallet payments market has grown at a rate of 12.7% CAGR between 2020 and 2024, driven by a rise in consumer spending and a high consumer preference for mobile-based payments. GlobalData is forecasting 5.7% growth in 2024 to reach KES8.4 trillion (US$60.1 billion).

The firm credits  mobile wallet growth in Kenya to several factors, from the popularity of M-Pesa to the rising popularity of QR code-based payments, which itself has been helped along by the introduction of the Kenya Quick Response Code (KE-QR Code) Standard last year.

As of July 2024, M-Pesa had over 51 million customers.