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That’s what Bloomberg says is going on, according to the ever aware ‘people with knowledge of the matter’. Windstream and Uniti Group are said to be talking some sort of stock deal that would consolidate the businesses but leave Uniti as independently traded. Such a deal wouldn’t be surprising, and in fact would in some ways wrap up what would be a 10 year story arc. … [visit site to read more]
The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has reportedly asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to relax its electromagnetic field (EMF) radiation rules to help lower the cost of 5G rollouts.
According to The Hindu Business Line, COAI has sent a letter to TRAI complaining that its standards for limiting radiation exposure levels are 10 times more stringent than global standards set by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP).
This impacts the cost of rollouts because 5G uses higher frequency bands, which means 5G base stations need more power to transmit signals, which means higher EMF radiation levels, the letter said. Under TRAI’s EMF standards, 5G base stations would have to transmit at lower power. That means less coverage, which in turn means deploying more base stations to fill the gaps.
That, plus the very limited use cases for 5G (and therefore limited revenue streams), is making it hard for operators to recoup their 5G investments, which so far has totalled over INR1 trillion (US$12 billion), the letter said.
“It is important to note here that the current EMF exposure limits in India are significantly stricter (10 times) than the ICNIRP norms, and if not revised, will severely harm consumer experience and expectations from 5G in India,” the COAI letter said. “This will adversely deteriorate 5G leading to slower internet speed, lower network quality and inferior signal strength. In addition, this will also impact all potential aspects to enhance the wireless infrastructure and deployment of 5G, including spectral efficiency and network topology.”
The ICNIRP’s guidelines for 5G, issued in 2020, account for the fact that the higher frequencies for 5G do not penetrate the human body as deeply as lower frequencies. The ICNIRP also noted that 5G’s use of beamforming can reduce overall exposure to EMF radiation in a given cell.
At the time, ICNIRP said that while 5G generally complied with its original 1998 EMF guidelines, 5G is still an evolving technology. As such, the ICNIRP’s updated 2020 guidelines are set well below minimum safety levels to protect health, and add a few changes, including “whole body average restrictions for frequencies above 6 GHz, restrictions for brief (less than 6 minutes) exposures for frequencies above 6 GHz, and the reduction of the averaging area for frequencies above 6 GHz.”
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.
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.
Some M&A news, some WiFi access, some balance sheet work, and some more vRAN and Open RAN. … [visit site to read more]
Telekom Malaysia (TM) and Maybank Islamic announced on Thursday that they have partnered to create what they’re billing as Malaysia’s first Islamic banking-as-a-service (BaaS) solution powered by 5G.
Targeted at both consumers and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), the partnership aims to bundle Maybank Islamic’s financial services with TM’s Uni5G Postpaid Biz service.
“While the technology originates from the BaaS concept, what makes it unique is its adherence to Islamic principles, making it the pioneering example of its kind in Malaysia,” said Maybank Islamic CEO Dato’Mohamed Rafique Merican in a statement. “It combines modern technology with the ethical requirements of Islamic finance, providing innovative and faith-based financial services.”
The first offering out of the gate is ‘Go Niaga’, a mobile business banking bundle designed to help MSMEs manage finances, improve incomes and offer digital payment options. Banking services include accounts and credit facilities tailored for MSMEs, as well as payment acceptance facilities through Maybank Islamic’s QRPay Biz, and Tap2Phone, which enables cloud POS via mobile devices to facilitate digital/card payments.
The Go Niaga bundle includes any of Unifi’s three Uni5G Postpaid Biz packages, along with free 5G mobile devices, which TM says will ensures secure access to financial services, as well as bring 5G capabilities to more communities.
Shanti Jusnita Johari, chief commercial officer for Consumer Strategy & Business at Unifi said the bundle – which is being offered via its digital business solutions arm, Unifi Business – will address current market gaps among the MSME segment, and enable businesses to better leverage e-commerce and expand their customer reach.
“MSMEs are a key growth engine for the nation’s economy. At present, this segment accounts for nearly 38% of Malaysia’s GDP, yet their potential is often dimmed by limited access to digital tools and financial services,” she said in a statement. “This is even more apparent among underserved segments, micro and small businesses who face the most challenges in accessing financial services and digital innovations that are necessary to elevate their lives and livelihoods.”
Maybank Islamic’s Rafique also described the partnership as a significant step forward in financial inclusion.
“By embedding Maybank Islamic’s BaaS solutions within Unifi Business’ platforms, previously unbanked or underbanked individuals and businesses will gain access to Maybank’s essential financial services and 5G mobile connectivity through TM’s cutting-edge technologies,” he said.
We here at Bicom Systems always strive to offer your clients the latest and most innovative technologies while ensuring that they are adapted for more intuitive use.
7.1 enforces that standard as we pave the way for Omnichannel, which enables seamless customer interaction across all communication channels.
But, fret not as our teams have been hard at work developing a suite of other features across all our products aimed at improving overall employee quality of life and increasing workplace efficiency.
SEE WHAT’S NEW IN 7.1 FIRSTHAND
Here is what our 7.1 release has in store.
Security always remains a prime concern for us here at Bicom Systems, so we wanted to further reinforce our existing security measures by providing your clients with a much needed security feature, 2-Factor Authentication.
It forms an extra layer of defense against potential security breaches through compromised accounts, helping mitigate the chances of such occurrences through the use of an external authenticator app.
This feature is available on both OSC portals and gloCOM.
While data safety is important, so too is client safety which is why PBXware has been made compliant with Ray Baum’s act, allowing end users to utilize the PBX platform to dial emergency numbers and automatically provide them with a selected dispatchable location that needs to be set up prior, ensuring optimal emergency services response times.
We have even made sure to cover users on the move by enabling them to enter a list of their location options (approved by admins) and choose the appropriate one should the need arise.
To support safety and efficient communication for UK clients, PBXware has introduced the “Force E.164 Caller ID” option, minimizing the risk of calls from potentially fraudulent numbers and keeping all numbers uniform to one format for more efficient routing.
It also ensures compliance with UK regulatory requirements, allowing the product to retain its footprint on the UK market.
We are aware that a lot of clients tend to exchange a lot of messages and files over gloCOM, all of which gets stored locally.
But, over time, the amount of stored data piles up and becomes increasingly difficult to manage for both the gloCOM and the chosen platform to manage due to increasing client sync times and drive space issues.
To ease the load on client systems, we have implemented the ability to archive and delete gloCOM chat history over set time periods.
The feature focus of our newest release, Contact Center has seen the most changes in order to incorporate features that we believe are going to pave the way for a brighter future for telecommunications, Omnichannel.
Undoubtedly the biggest star of 7.1, the Omnichannel solution in Contact Center provides clients with the ability to manage customer interaction through all available communication channels, be it email, voice, SMS or Live Chat effortlessly, unifying them all into a seamless customer experience.
To accommodate this change, we have introduced new features and have done updates on existing ones.
The first thing that needed to be done was a new look for the existing agent interface to make room for all the new toys coming with the introduction of Omnichannel while still keeping it instinctive and easy to maneuver.
Now, the panel features tabs for every new communication channel: Live Chat, SMS, email and voice calls, all in one easy-to-access place, allowing for seamless transition between them.
Supervisors have also received additions on the Agent panel with the introduction of the ‘Dashboard’ and ‘Conversations’ tabs so they can have the option to operate from the agent panel rather than having to switch to Supervisor should they so choose.
A feature aimed at improving routing speed and accuracy, Chatbots are here to stay and we are certain that agents across the world will be thankful for having to perform less conversation transfers.
Chatbots are not the only new way we have improved queue efficiency as we have implemented new queue assignment methods too with the auto-assignment strategy being the focal point.
It utilizes an algorithm that takes several crucial factors into consideration like: agent capacity per channel, their availability, total workload and total unserved time, as well as checking if a request is coming from a returning customer.
With those parameters, it determines the most appropriate agent for an individual customer query and applies it to every single one, resulting in a vastly more efficient workload assignment strategy than before with equitable workload distribution and optimal customer satisfaction.
With an abundance of new features, especially one as robust as omnichannel, we needed to implement ways of tracking all these new statistics, which we have thanks to blended reporting.
With both Agent and Queue Statistics taken into account, we have introduced blended reports that offer a comprehensive view of metrics per channel that provide key insights into agent, queue and channel performance.
The generation and delivery of these reports to specific users can also be automated thanks to Scheduled Reporting.
A new Security page has been introduced in order to allow users to better manage security measures and to take on a more active role in threat prevention.
We empower them by enabling them to issue manual bans out to potential malicious actors detected by the system and to receive threat notifications over Alert Email to specified individuals.
License assignment and release has seen touchups with the introduction of multiple channels thanks to the addition of the Licenses page and the overall streamlining of the entire process in order to improve resource allocation across the board.
Both gloCOM and gloCOM GO have seen improvements in user security and overall interaction which should enhance the overall user experience.
In order to reduce message congestion in group chats while still retaining a more light-hearted atmosphere in a professional setting, we have introduced Message Reactions, allowing users to express their emotions toward messages sent in by their colleagues.
It also helps reduce that tedium of having to send out a confirmation message for event planning and can now be done with a click of a button and a Thumbs Up.
As mentioned earlier in PBXware, gloCOM has also received the benefits of 2FA, placing that extra layer of protection for user accounts to further assist in security breach prevention in case of an accidental lapse in security protocol within businesses.
Also mentioned within PBXware, Ray Baum’s Act compliance extends to gloCOM and gloCOM GO as well with gloCOM reflecting the capabilities of this feature from PBXware while gloCOM GO users only have access to the key feature of getting their emergency call redirected to a native phone dialer.
Another safety measure to help alert users that they may be joining an unsecured server is SSL Certificate Confirmation, acting as a reminder when attempting to join a server without a valid or suspicious SSL certificate which could leave user accounts compromised should they accept the join invitation.
gloCOM Meeting has received a few quality of life updates which should help streamline the overall meeting process.
The most impactful of the three changes that facilitate all of this is the Clipboard Sharing feature that allows presenters to give select users the ability to paste clipboard text on the presenter’s side to actively provide more insight on the topic at hand and allow the presenter to focus on the presentation.
The other two changes are reminders that can assist with overall meeting organization. Doing exactly what their names imply, the Meeting Recording Reminder helps remind users to record meetings so that important information can be recorded and played back at a later date if need be.
The Meeting Pre-expiry notification, on the other hand, pops up near the end of a meeting’s allotted time depending on Meeting license, notifying users that they either need to wrap the meeting up, or plan for scheduling a secondary meeting to finish up with everything.
These are only some of the more major changes that our teams have valiantly worked on to deliver in the 7.1 release.
There are still several others that will help boost the overall usefulness of the entire Bicom Systems product suite with some of the more notable ones being:
• Bringing the option to empty out media storage on iOS instances of gloCOM GO
• The ability to add contacts to a local phone book directly from an SMS conversation on gloCOM GO
• Expanding gloCOM GO’s presence options with the ‘Ringing’ and ‘On Call’ statuses
• Simplifying Live Chat widget setup for Contact Center
• The setup of Out-of-hours messages so businesses can better designate contact center operating hours
• First Response and Chatbot Timeout options for Contact Center that help streamline the customer queue process and conserve resources
While seemingly minor, these changes all serve to improve everyone’s overall experience with our products and we hope that it reflects as such.
In the meantime, we will continue our work on delivering new, beneficial features to your clients while we eagerly await to see everyone’s experiences with the features that have arrived with the release of 7.1.
Until our next major release, we hope that we have met your expectations and that both you and your clients remain satisfied.
To find out more, we’re a click of a button away!
A bit of FTTH, some nextgen wireless tech, and some cloud marketplace news: … [visit site to read more]
