News 

The huge growth of AI, particularly generative AI, has skyrocketed tech company’s energy usage

Google has signed the world’s first nuclear energy agreement with Kairos Power to supply nuclear power to meet its electricity demand for AI. 

The financial details of the deal were not disclosed, not where the plants are to be built. The first reactor is expected to go online by 2030, with more to follow by 2035. The deal aims to support the growing electricity demands of AI technologies, which are driving scientific and business advancements. Nuclear energy provides reliable, 24/7 power and helps cut carbon emissions, aligning with Google’s energy goals. 

Kairos Power’s reactors use a safe, molten-salt cooling system and ceramic fuel to generate power more efficiently. Their design allows for faster construction and easier deployment. The company has already started building its first demonstration reactor in Tennessee. 

This nuclear deal is part of Google’s broader strategy to expand clean energy options, adding to their previous investments in solar, wind, and geothermal power. Google aims to power all of its operations—data centers, offices, and more—with carbon-free energy every hour of every day by 2030. 

“Nuclear solutions offer a clean, round-the-clock power source that can help us reliably meet electricity demands with carbon-free energy every hour of every day,” said Michael Terrell Senior Director of Energy and Climate in a company blog post. 

“The grid needs new electricity sources to support AI technologies that are powering major scientific advances, improving services for businesses and customers, and driving national competitiveness and economic growth,” he continued. 

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

Also in the news:
Singtel becomes latest telco to launch AI cloud services
South Korean telcos accused of collusion, may face fines of $4bn
Hexatronic: Innovation will be needed to reach rural customers

Interview

At Connected Britain this year, we sat down with Rob Gilbert, VP of UK and Ireland  at HFCL to discuss his thoughts on market consolidation from a manufacturer’s perspective, the next big breakthroughs in fibre technology, and sustainability within the fibre supply chain.

Watch the full interview below:

News

The service claims to make AI adoption easier and more affordable for businesses 

Singaporean telco Singtel has launched RE:AI, a new cloud-based service designed to make artificial intelligence (AI) easier for businesses and public sector organisations to access and use.  

Launched yesterday, the service provides affordable AI solutions without the need for companies to invest in expensive infrastructure or specialist skills. 

The AI cloud solution offers customers access to high-performance computing, data storage, and AI tools, all managed through Singtel’s Paragon platform. This, combined with Singtel’s network infrastructure, including 5G and quantum safe networks, allows enterprises to manage and scale AI applications across their organisation.  

“With the launch of RE:AI, we’re significantly reducing entry barriers, making AI easily accessible to enterprises, government agencies, research communities and academia – the more people have access to AI, the more innovation is bound to emerge, which in turn fuels growth,” said Singtel’s CEO Bill Chang in a press release. 

“RE:AI will foster a dynamic ecosystem of partners with distinctive capabilities and platforms to accelerate AI adoption to drive innovation and growth in Singapore and the region, sustainably,” he continued. 

The launch fits with Singtel’s broader plans for digital transformation. Back in August, the company announced a strategic partnership to bring its GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) offerings to business across Southeast Asia. Regional telcos AIS, Maxid and Telkomsel are the first to take up the offering.   

Singtel is also expanding its AI infrastructure through global partnerships, and is developing new AI-ready data centres via its Nxera arm. In June this year, Singtel became a founding member of the Global Telco AI Alliance, along with Deutsche Telekom, SK Telecom, e&, and SoftBank. The joint venture will develop multi lingual Large Language Models (LLMs), specifically designed to meet telco needs, in areas such as improving customer interactions via digital assistants and chatbots. The LLMs will be tailored to the needs of the five companies in their respective markets, allowing them to reach a combined customer base of around 1.3 billion people in 50 countries. 

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

Also in the news:
“We’re the best kept secret in data centre and cloud,” says Nokia at Connected Britain
Submarine cable damage in the Red Sea ‘severely underestimated’
Vodafone and Google deepen relationship with 10-year AI partnership

Contributed Article

[Paris, France, October 9, 2024] During Network X 2024 — Broadband World Forum (BBWF), Huawei teamed up with carriers and Informa to hold the All-Optical Access Innovation Summit, bringing together heavyweight analysts, carrier customers, and Huawei experts. They discussed a range of frontier topics such as the launch of 50G PON for 10Gbps, 10G PON true gigabit experience, FTTR scale-up, Wi-Fi 7 2+2 industry generation guidance, network construction with optimal TCO, and premium broadband experience management. Through discussions, they outlined the development trend of the global 10Gbps industry.

Feng Zhishan, President of Huawei Optical Access Network Product Line, delivered a keynote speech titled ” F5.5G Booming, Moving Towards an Intelligent World”. He pointed out that the rapid emergence of AI applications drives the optical broadband industry to evolve to gigabit/10Giga intelligent access networks, and that now is the time to develop F5.5G all-optical intelligent access networks. Huawei launched three innovations: the industry’s first 16-port 50G PON service board, 50G PON FTTR and distributed AI computing engine, and the industry’s first intelligent home broadband model — Agent. By doing so, Huawei expects to build an all-optical intelligent access network that features deterministic experience, gigabit/10Gbps access, and computing-network integration. This can help accelerate the popularization of gigabit and the commercial use of 50G PON for  10Gbps, promote the innovation of intelligent applications, and help carriers seize new opportunities in the 10Gbps all-optical network era. All of this further propels us towards an intelligent world.

Stephen Wilson, Chief Analyst at Omdia, said the emergence of new AI applications, fierce market competition, and opportunities for ARPU growth are compelling carriers to upgrade to 10G PON, which is now a mainstream technology that has been launched by many carriers across the world. Wi-Fi 7 is gaining popularity among consumers, and shipments of Wi-Fi 7 CPEs among broadband carriers are expected to surge. Dual-band Wi-Fi 7 CPEs with 2×2 MIMO are an ideal choice for many carriers considering spectrum resources, power consumption, and user experience.

Peter Weiget, Lead Architect of Network Connectivity at Swisscom, said, “Swisscom is dedicated to providing a faster and more intelligent all-optical access network. Based on the FANO target network architecture, Swisscom uses 50G PON to provide the best access services and provide customers with network rates of up to 50Gbps. It also supports XGS-PON and 50G-PON Combo mode, achieving smooth service upgrade.”

Hudson KC Lou, SVP of Network Services and Development at CTM Macau, China, stated that CTM is committed to providing ultimate network experience for local residents with three innovations: FTTR services that feature full-home gigabit Wi-Fi coverage, differentiated intelligent acceleration services for eSports, and “Wi-Fi Manager for intelligent O&M”. To embrace the upcoming F5.5G 10Gbps era, CTM focuses on deploying mobile smart home and cloud storage services at the application level, and uses Wi-Fi 7 FTTR technology on home networks and 50G PON on access networks, driving the development of “Digital Macau 3.0”.

In a speech titled “One fiber to One Home, iFTTR Lights up Smart Life”, David Yi, General Manager of Huawei’s Home Network Domain, noted that, in the digital era, more smart home devices need to be deeply integrated with networks, and a unified smart home base is critical to high-quality smart home services. Huawei iFTTR OptiXstar F50 is the industry’s first FTTR+X product. It helps build a unified smart home base and provides storage, sensing, computing, and control capabilities. In this way, it can enable many smart home application scenarios, such as home guard, home healthcare, HD live broadcast, cloud gaming, and remote education. All of this brings users better smart life experience, propelling us towards a smart home era.

Balla Peter, Fixed Access Network Product Owner of DTAG, shared valuable experience in the successful development of 10G PON. He also pointed out that amid the rapid growth of live streaming, IoT, and remote work, the demand for bandwidth has skyrocketed, prompting us to pursue true gigabit experience. The company’s fiber strategy plays a fundamental role in the development towards 10G PON. In this case, the company focuses not just on network speed but also on creating a scalable and reliable network to meet future requirements.

Allen Zheng, Chief System Engineer of Huawei Optical Access Network, said that new digital and intelligent services drive continuous broadband evolution. Access networks should fulfill the following requirements: 0 video freezing, 0-wait experience, and 0-delay intelligence. Huawei intelligent OLTs can provide three key capabilities for the best service experience and new broadband growth:

1. Ultra-broadband: from leading 10G PON to the industry’s first commercial 50G PON solution;
2. The industry’s first dual-plane forwarding and hardware slicing: from best-effort experience to deterministic experience;
3. FAN intelligent engine: The industry’s first native intelligence enables quality on demand for carriers.

Cisternas Gonzalez Nicolas, Entel 2H Product Director, delivered a speech titled “Premium Broadband Operation Brings Ultra-Gigabit Experience to Every Chile Home”. In the speech, he introduced how Entel provides the best home connectivity experience in Chile and discussed its strategy in maintaining leadership. The company expects to expand home services to Peru and continuously improving user experience. He emphasized Entel’s focus on innovation and its position as a pioneer in the region thanks to technologies such as 10G PON and Wi-Fi 7 optical terminals.

Xu Fan, Chief Architect of Huawei’s Access Network Domain, said that as AI keeps growing, different applications have different requirements on bandwidth and latency. Huawei has introduced FIE intelligence technology to its latest access network solution. The wireless optical network (AI-WON) architecture, where APP-Flow at the intelligent service layer and OLTs at the intelligent network layer coordinate with the FTTR solution, provides ms-level adaptive closed loops and on-demand deterministic experience, helping carriers provide SLA payment methods based on bandwidth and latency. All this promotes experience monetization.

As a leader in the global optical network field, Huawei is committed to working closely with industry partners to explore and innovate in three dimensions: bandwidth expansion, user experience optimization, and intelligent upgrade. In this way, Huawei aims to promote the evolution of F5.5G technologies, propelling us towards an intelligent world.

News

SK Telecom (SKT), KT, and LG Uplus allegedly coordinated to keep their sales incentives at the same level

This week, South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has announced a preliminary decision to impose fines of up to $4.1 billion on the nation’s three telco giants.

SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus are accused of sharing internal information with each other between 2015 and 2022, allegedly to align their sales incentives paid to mobile phone retailers.

According to local media, if the FTC’s decision is finalised, the regulator intends to charge SKT between $1.05 billion and $1.63 billion, KT between $750.7 million and $1.3 billion, and LG Uplus between $732.2 million and $1.2 billion.

If imposed, these fines could be catastrophic for the operators, with even the lower bounds of these fines being far greater than their respective net incomes.

It is worth noting, however, that what the FTC here may consider to be collusion could, in fact, be efforts to follow government guidance.

In 2014, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) introduced guidance as part of the Mobile Device Distribution Improvement Act that told operators to provide sales incentives of around 300,000 won ($222).

This Act was intended to promote competition in the mobile market by preventing major handset discounts and thereby maintaining a level of pricing stability. A decade on, however, and the Mobile Device Distribution Improvement Act is largely seen as a failure, having inadvertently served to maintain high prices for customers.

As a result, the South Korean government announced plans to abolish the Act at the start of this year.

But regardless of the Act’s ultimately failure, the KCC points out that the telcos were nonetheless following government guidance in their incentive strategies during the period in question.

“The KCC has delivered its opinions to the FTC multiple times, highlighting that it is difficult to view the case as collusion,” said KCC Secretary General Cho Sung-eun at a National Assembly audit on Monday.

He added that the KCC’s own investigation had not found evidence of collusion.

“The FTC and KCC have been collaborating since the investigation of the allegation began and will continue to closely communicate with each other through the upcoming processes,” said the FTC in a statement.

The FTC’s final decision on the matter is expected to be delivered early next year.

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

Also in the news:
“We’re the best kept secret in data centre and cloud,” says Nokia at Connected Britain
Submarine cable damage in the Red Sea ‘severely underestimated’
Vodafone and Google deepen relationship with 10-year AI partnership 

News

The new 5G standalone network is the first of its kind in the country, and covers key urban centres

Today, Nokia have announced the launch of the first 5G standalone (SA) network in Costa Rica in partnership with Radiografica Costarricense (RACSA).

RACSA, the mobile unit of Costa Rica’s state-owned utilities/telecoms group ICE, says they have already rolled out the new technology in of 30 sites in major cities, including San Jose, Cartago, and Limon, with 170 additional sites due later this year.

In total, 500 sites are planned for deployment in both urban and rural areas as part of the project.

“The utilization of Nokia technology represents a pivotal step in Costa Rica’s digital transformation which RACSA has been playing a key role in for the last 103 years. By deploying the first 5G network in the country, we are not only improving connectivity for businesses and government entities but also enhancing the quality of life for our citizens,” said Mauricio Barrantes, General Manager of RACSA. “The high-speed, reliable network will support innovative applications that contribute to the country’s overall economic and social development.”

Costa Rica journey towards rolling out 5G has been a bumpy one. Plans for initial 5G spectrum auctions have been repeatedly delayed by clashes between the telcos and state regulatory authority Sutel. The issues raised have been myriad, with operators complaining about everything from spectrum pricing to infrastructure sharing obligations and competition concerns.

The country’s latest attempt at the tender process was officially initiated at the start of August this year but was cancelled later the same month due to renewed complaints from the telcos.

Without this spectrum auction, 5G activity in Costa Rica has been very limited, with most of the operators only able to offer small-scale private trials.

RACSA, however, is something of an outlier among the Costa Rican telcos, owning 100MHz of 3.5GHz spectrum, which is ideal for 5G services. As a result, RACSA was able to launch 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) services back in April this year.

It is also presumably this spectrum that is being used to support RACSA’s new 5G standalone network with Nokia.

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

Also in the news:
“We’re the best kept secret in data centre and cloud,” says Nokia at Connected Britain Submarine cable damage in the Red Sea ‘severely underestimated’
Vodafone and Google deepen relationship with 10-year AI partnership 

News 

Half of businesses (50%) have reported having experienced some form of cyber security breach or attack in the last 12 months, according to a recent government survey 

Vodafone has launched a new cybersecurity platform called Vodafone CybSafe, designed to help small, medium, and enterprise businesses reduce the risk of the cyberattacks that stem from human error.  

Developed in collaboration with human risk management experts at CybSafe, the platform aims to enhance the cybersecurity awareness and promote secure behavior within companies. 

Vodafone CybSafe combines AI, data analysis, and behavioral science to evaluate and enhance employees’ cybersecurity practices. It uses SebDB, reportedly the world’s largest cybersecurity behaviour database, to provide evidence-based personalised ’nudges’ to employees, helping them to avoid cybersecurity errors and adhere to best practices.  

The platform also includes training modules designed to empower employees to identify and manage potential cyber threats, such as phishing and ransomware attacks.  

According to Vodafone, 43% of cyberattacks target these SMEs, with 60% of those incidents leading to business closures within six months. 

“In these businesses, people juggle multiple roles and responsibilities and, as a result, cybersecurity can become an afterthought. Yet, these are the organisations most at risk if a cyber incident occurs and the ones most likely to face serious challenges as a result,” said Oz Alashe MBE, CEO and Founder of CybSafe in a press release. 

“We often talk about the human factor in cyberattacks, but we can’t expect people to defend against these threats without proper guidance. CybSafe’s partnership with Vodafone will provide this support, and we are confident it will have a significant impact on the cyber resilience of small and medium-sized businesses,” he continued. 

Vodafone CybSafe is available for purchase through the Vodafone Business Marketplace. 

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

Also in the news:
“We’re the best kept secret in data centre and cloud,” says Nokia at Connected Britain Submarine cable damage in the Red Sea ‘severely underestimated’
Vodafone and Google deepen relationship with 10-year AI partnership   

News

Ninety-nine percent of German railway passengers on ‘main routes’ can now access speeds of at least 200 Mbps

Deutsche Telekom and Deutsche Bahn, Germany’s state-owned railway company, have made significant improvements to mobile reception on trains in Germany over the past three years, according to a press release published by the companies last week.

Back in 2021, the two companies first began cooperating on this deal, with the goal of significantly improving mobile reception along Germany’s railway network, and specifically, to provide the entire line’s network with high-performance mobile coverage by the end 2026. The partnership aimed to tackle the challenges of providing high quality mobile connectivity under the difficult environmental conditions along the railway routes, such as within tunnels and nature reserves.

Since the collaboration started, the companies have jointly invested ‘a three-digit million amount’ to build and modernise the network’s infrastructure. This included installing over 470 new mobile towers and upgrading approximately 1,900 sites along rail routes.

A key focus was ensuring that 99% of the country’s 7,800km of main routes now offer at least 200 Mbps data speeds, with 95% sections reaching 300 Mbps or more. The companies also made progress on 13,800km of secondary routes (>2,000 passengers per day), increasing availability of 200 Mbps from 73% in 2021 to 94% in 2024.

Further improvements are being planned by 2026.

“The cooperation between Deutsche Telekom and Deutsche Bahn shows that Germany is making progress in digitisation!” said Dr. Richard Lutz, CEO of Deutsche Bahn in a translated press release.

“Together we have managed to ensure that rail passengers can surf and make calls almost anywhere without interruption in the Telekom network. Telekom has strengthened its network for this purpose, and we at DB have equipped our vehicles. Now more and more trains are being added to our fleet with mobile phone-transparent windows. Uninterrupted mobile phone reception is a basic need for our customers,” he continued.

“We built a new mast every two and a half days. We significantly increased data rates. And we saw that network expansion only works when we work together,” said Timotheus Höttges, CEO of DT.

“We need usable space for our locations and faster approval processes. Providing coverage on challenging routes through national parks, mountains, wooded valleys or tunnels requires a lot of patience. We will not let up here either. We have achieved a lot and people are noticing that. But we have not yet reached our goal and must take further steps together.”

In an additional investment, DB is spending €50 million to install over 70,000 train windows that are more easily penetrated by mobile signals. This technology uses a laser to etch a fine pattern into the ultra-thin metal layer that shields the train windows from sunlight, thereby allowing better signal penetration.

These mobile signal-permeable windows are gradually replacing the older repeater systems currently installed on the trains, which used external antennas to transmit signals inside the carriages.

Join us at next month’s Connected Germany 5-6 November in Munich. Get discounted tickets here!

Also in the news:
“We’re the best kept secret in data centre and cloud,” says Nokia at Connected Britain Submarine cable damage in the Red Sea ‘severely underestimated’
Vodafone and Google deepen relationship with 10-year AI partnership 

Interview

At Connected Britain 2024, we caught up with Sitetracker’s Global Product Lead Michael Roach to discuss how the company is using the latest technologies to make planning and deploying fibre networks simpler, faster, and more cost effective.

From leveraging Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data to equipping engineers with computer vision capabilities, Roach explains why building a unified platform is key to harnessing the wealth of deployment data now available to telcos.

You can watch our full interview from the link below.

Also in the news:
Hurricane Helene knocks out a fifth of mobile sites in US Southeast
Vodafone Germany leans into fibre infrastructure sharing to reach 11m
EE activates 25 Freshwave small cells in London

With over 200 entries across 23 categories, this year’s World Communication Awards is more competitive than ever.

After months of deliberation by the Award’s expert panel of over 100 judges, Total Telecom is delighted to announce the shortlisted entries below.

Congratulations to all of the entrants that have made it this far. We look forward to seeing you at the Awards Ceremony on 10 December at The Marriott, Grosvenor Square, London!

Book your ticket today!

AI Excellence Award

SK Telecom

Jio Platforms Limited

Netcracker Technology

Telkomsel

Tata Communications Transformation Services

Rakuten Symphony

Amdocs amAIz

Best Digital Transformation Programme

Verizon Business Group

Lebara

Türk Telekom with Red Hat

Netcracker Technology

TECH MAHINDRA GmbH

Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison

Best Network Transformation Initiative

ODINE

Ericsson and Telstra

Vodafone & Celfocus

Orange Wholesale

Telecom Egypt

Best Operator in a Growth Market

BTS (Business Telecommunication Services)

Jazz

PLDT and Smart

TurkNet

Best Wholesale Operator

Arelion

BTS (Business Telecommunication Services)

EXA Infrastructure

Deutsche Telekom Global Carrier

Telecom Egypt

Bayobab Group

Connected Communities Award

imowi

Ericsson and Telstra joint submission

HFCL Ltd.

Bahrain Network (BNET)

DZS with Connect2First, Irby Utilities & City of Cabot

Crisis Response Award

KT

Telkomsel

VEON and Kyivstar

Orange Wholesale

WIOCC Group

Enterprise Service of the Year Award

Telstra

Bridge Alliance

Singapore Telecommunications Limited

ZTE Corporation

6D Technologies

Babel PR

People & Culture Award

Bayobab Group

Viettel Group

Telkomsel

FreeMove Alliance

TELEKOMUNIKASI INDONESIA INTERNATIONAL (TL).S.A.

The 5G Award

e&UAE

SK Telecom

Singtel

Jio Platforms Limited

KT

China Mobile International

The Access Innovation Award

ZTE Corporation

Ericsson and Telstra joint submission

Cohere Technologies & Vodafone

China Mobile International

HFCL Ltd.

The Beyond Connectivity Award

Huawei Technologies Co.,Ltd.

Singtel

Netcracker Technology

PLDT and Smart

Telkomsel

Lao Telecommunication Public Company

The Cloud Award

ODINE

Jio Platforms Limited

Rakuten Symphony

Wind River

China Mobile International

Console Connect

The Cyber Security Award

Liberty Global

RETN

Enea

Cradlepoint, part of Ericsson

BT Group

SK Telecom

The Future Award

e& UAE

LG Uplus

Viettel Group

SK Telecom, NTT, NTT DOCOMO, NOKIA

Telecom Egypt

Console Connect

The Platform Award

Vox Solutions

Netgem

Telkomsel

Telna

Singtel

The Satellite Telecoms Award

Singtel

TELEFÓNICA GLOBAL SOLUTIONS

Mavenir

Netcracker Technology

The Social Contribution Award

Telia Norway

SK Telecom

Hormuud Telecom

Telecom Egypt (WE)

Moldcell S.A. / Moldcell Foundation

GSM Systems

PLDT and Smart

Digicel

The Sustainability Award

Orange Wholesale

SK Telecom, Intel and Nokia

Ericsson

KT

MTN

Telin

Total Experience Award

Arelion

Ericsson

TELEFÓNICA GLOBAL SOLUTIONS

Globe Telecoms, Inc.

e& UAE

Subtonomy

Woman in Telecoms Award

Dr Sharlene, Thiagarajah, TM Research & Development

Carolina Bugaian, Moldcell

Elif Yenihan Kaya, TURKCELL

Magda Abdelkader, Telecom Egypt

Josephine Sarouk, Bayobab Group

Katia Gonzalez, BICS

CEO of the Year Award

Frédéric Schepens, Bayobab Group

Vikram Sinha, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison

Joost Farweck, Royal KPN (The Netherlands)

Ahmed Jaber Aldoseri, Bahrain Network (BNET)

Tim Höttges, Deutsche Telekom AG

Alexis Bartelds, Sam Media B.V

Startup of the Year Award

Shortlisted startups are invited to pitch their business case to a panel of WCA judges. Pitching competition dates to be announced shortly!

FlexiFone
Geonetworks

Cyber One

DC Smarter

JAPA

A5G Networks

OCX Cognition

Tripcel

Streetwave

SAHA

Book your ticket today!