The GSMA has announced that China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom have commercially launched an open API from the GSMA Open Gateway initiative that will help reduce mobile fraud, while CITIC Telecom, Huawei and ZTE have joined the initiative.

According to the GSMA, all three telcos have launched the One Time Password (OTP) API, which is designed to improve the security of mobile apps and online services. The service enables users to receive an OTP to provide proof of possession of a phone number and verify their identity.

The GSMA says the OTP API is more secure than single-factor authentication and a better solution for in card-not-present payment scenarios. Applications for the OTP API include onboarding to digital services, verifying high-value transactions and account management features such as resetting passwords.

The GSMA said the rollout represents China’s first commercial open API launch since signing up for the GSMA Open Gateway initiative in June 2023.

The China launch is the latest in a slew of announcements by operators launching Open APIs in Thailand, Indonesia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan, among others, mainly to address mobile and online fraud. In China alone, the Ministry of Public Security reportedly tackled 391,000 cases of telecom and online fraud between January and November 2023.

“As instances of online fraud continue to grow in both scope and scale globally, the GSMA Open Gateway is equipping developers with the tools they need to protect users in the digital space,” said GSMA director general Mats Granryd in a statement.

Meanwhile, the GSMA also revealed that CITIC Telecom, Huawei and ZTE have become the latest Chinese companies to commit to the Open Gateway initiative.

The GSMA said these new partnerships will help to drive demand and uptake of Open Gateway APIs in China and support the initiative’s “go-to-market” strategy, which was announced at MWC 2024.

Under that strategy, GSMA Open Gateway will focus on three go-to-market commercial channels for open API adoption: the network cloud marketplace (i.e. cloud providers including AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and Vonage), strategic technology partners and resellers such as Infobip, Nokia, and Ericsson, and operators going direct to market through their enterprise and innovation divisions.

Some waves, some fiber, and some research: … [visit site to read more]

Select customers of Bangladesh state-owned telco Teletalk are reportedly now able to roam onto the network of rival telco Banglalink as part of a beta launch for a national roaming service to help Teletalk cope with availability problems.

According to the Daily Star newspaper, the « pre-commercial launch » of the national roaming service, which commenced on Tuesday, only enables some Teletalk customers to roam onto Banglalink’s network. The service currently doesn’t allow Banglalink customers to roam onto Teletalk’s network during the pre-commercial period.

Teletalk users will be charged the normal rates regardless of which network they happen to be using. The report says Banglalink will not earn any revenue from Teletalk during the pre-commercial roaming period.

Banglalink said the two telcos have successfully trialled the roaming service, and are currently finalising commercial agreements for a nationwide commercial launch, which is expected to take a few months, the report said.

The report added that Robi Axiata has received approval from the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to hold a trial for the roaming service, and is ready to start once it receives a response from Teletalk.

The roaming service plan is intended to help Teletalk keep its customers connected, as a fair chunk of its base stations are vulnerable to power outages. According to the report, the backup batteries in over 21% of Teletalk’s base stations cannot provide more than one minute of backup power in the event of a power outage. Meanwhile, 40% can only provide one hour of backup power.

Power outages have become more frequent in Bangladesh in the past year due to extreme weather, as well as declining forex reserves and currency value that make it more difficult to pay for fuel imports, according to media reports.

Telecom Egypt and Indian telecoms vendor Tejas Networks announced on Monday they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to boost telecoms R&D and manufacturing facilities in Egypt, as well as train up local skillsets.

Under the MoU, which was also signed by Egypt’s Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) and the National Telecom Institute (NTI), Telecom Egypt and Tejas will cooperate to establish local manufacturing and R&D facilities for fibre-to-the- home (FTTH) products.

The MoU also covers setting up technical support services in Egypt for customers within the country as well as for the larger Africa and Middle East region.

Meanwhile, Telecom Egypt, Tejas, ITIDA and NTI will work to build up the capacity of Egyptian engineers and technicians to work on state-of-the-art telecom and networking technologies.

Egypt’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology Dr. Amr Talaat said the MoU is the result of discussions that began in January 2023 between Egypt and India to enhance cooperation in ICT technologies.

“It is a comprehensive agreement that seeks to promote localization of world-class communications products, inject new Indian investments into Egypt, create job opportunities, and develop research cadres in various fields of communications,” he said in a statement.

Eng. Mohamed Nasr El-Din, CEO and MD of Telecom Egypt, said the MoU is “aimed at providing Telecom Egypt with the latest communications technology in the world while ensuring that it provides the highest quality of infrastructure services.”

Yogesh Verma, VP of Middle East and Africa (MEA) at Tejas, said the MoU would enable the company to bring its experience with India’s Bharatnet (Rural Broadband Project) and NKN (National Knowledge Network) projects to Egypt.

“Tejas has been operating in MEA for over a decade now and has extensive knowledge and insights about the local requirements and operating conditions to roll out cost-effective and scalable networks,” he said. “This MoU provides a great platform for us to expand our business in MEA while deepening our collaboration with Telecom Egypt and other customers in the country.”

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UPDATED: Telkom South Africa confirmed the sale of its tower unit Swiftnet for ZAR 6.75 billion (US$355 million) to infrastructure-focused private equity firm Actis, a move to pay down debts and balance its books. 

In a stock exchange announcement, Telkom South Africa said: “​​The reduction of Telkom debt through application of the disposal proceeds will strengthen Telkom’s balance sheet and enable Telkom to release free-cash-flow for investment in Telkom’s core businesses and deployment in pursuit of growth opportunities.”

It added it has growth plans for other units including wholesale infrastructure provider Openserve and Telkom Consumer, its fibre broadband provider. 

Actis said in a separate statement, the deal was made to acquire 100% shares in Swiftnet and its footprint of 4,000 sites across South Africa. It made the acuistion with backing from Royal Bafokeng Holdings,a soverign wealth fund. 

The company said: “The deal allows Actis to invest in a growing sector, with strong secular tailwinds and an increasing need for tower densification driven by increasing internet penetration and the transitions from 3G and 4G to 5G.”

The acquisition of Swiftnet aligns with Actis’ strategy, as the unit has a “unique tower footprint” and is well positioned to meet demand from MNOs looking to connect rural locations. 

This acquisition will mark Actis’ second buy into telecom towers this year following its acquisition of sites in the Western Balkans. The deal was for 1,800 macro towers in Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Montenegro.

The company also bought South African fibre provider Octotel in 2020.