The European data center market has had an interesting few years, buffeted by geopolitical changes in the energy markets and driven by ever-expanding demand from new technologies.  With us today to talk about it all isn the CEO of maincubes, Oliver Menzel.  From his perch in Frankfurt, Germany, home to one of the largest data center concentrations in the world, he has a unique viewpoint on the market, the drivers of demand, and the future direction of European data centers.  … [visit site to read more]

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The Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRMCS), an advanced communications standard meant to replace the currently used GSM-R system, may soon be on its way to Poland.

Transportation solutions company Alstom, telecoms giant Ericsson, NetWorkS!, the largest provider of radio access network solutions in Poland, and the Polish Railway Institute, which conducts scientific and R&D activities for railway transport, have signed a letter of intent regarding the implementation and testing of FRMCS in Poland.

The main goal of FRMCS is to increase the capacity of existing railway networks and optimise their costs of operation. It has been designed by the International Union of Railways, in cooperation with key representatives of the railway sector, and, it is claimed, represents an important step towards the full digitalisation of rail transport.

As part of the newly announced cooperation, the signatories of the letter of intent will engage in joint research and development projects, verify requirements and solutions in actual railway conditions, and create and develop training models and certifications for the FRMCS system.

Specifically, Alstom will provide a modern control subsystem for vehicles; Ericsson will provide a radio telecommunications network for the FRMCS pilot implementation; and NetWorkS! will provide competences in telecommunications solutions for the railway sector, as well as the construction and maintenance of the FRMCS test network. The Polish Railway Institute will provide the necessary research infrastructure where the FRMCS system will be tested.

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This Industry Spotlight was authored by SAP’s Sandeep Chowdhury

As behemoths like Google, Meta and Netflix continue to devour bandwidth across the network value chain, the common refrain among network providers who are investing so much to build the infrastructure on which platforms like these rely has been, “What about us?” … [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.

Brazilian regulator Anatel’s board of directors has approved a survey that addresses the very high payments made to the public purse by the telecommunications sector. It will be forwarded to the ministries of finance and communications, bodies responsible for studying and proposing legal changes related to the taxation of the sector. 

The Teletime news service reports that the study addresses three themes: the current tax system, the redesign of the tax system, and the redefinition of the tax burden.

It proposes a broad tax review, which, it seems, recognises the positive potential of a lower tax burden on service prices, quality and access to services, not least given the present situation. This is one of a high tax burden applied to telecommunications service providers in Brazil – one of the largest such burdens in the world, the report clams.

The report also points out that it’s not just the taxes themselves that are an issue but the complexity of calculating and policing them, itself an additional cost for the sector and for Anatel itself.

Anatel’s board has proposed a significant simplification of the tax system as well as a reduction of the tax burden. The president of Anatel, Carlos Baigorri, argues that this is both important and relevant  at a time when, apparently, the National Congress is discussing tax reform.

According to Anatel, the proposal is of paramount importance, but will government agree? Given recent similar sentiments from both Hungary and Nigeria, it will be interesting to see whether there is a positive response to Anatel’s report. We can probably take it as read that service providers will be supportive.