This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Jason Gintert, Chief Solutions Officer at Nitel

Beyond Network Intelligence – How AI Can Provide More Network Intelligence and Application Prompts to Help Improve the Customer Experience and Ultimately Business Success … [visit site to read more]

Digital infrastructure company Equinix has officially opened what it describes as its state-of-the-art data centre in Salalah, Oman, built in cooperation with integrated telecommunications services provider Omantel.

The facility, called SN1, is commercially and operationally managed in full by Equinix as a carrier neutral and open access Equinix International Business Exchange (IBX) data centre.

This is the second Equinix carrier-neutral data centre to be built in Oman, following MC1 in Muscat, and Equinix’s sixth facility in the Middle East, complementing its existing operations in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

SN1’s location in the coastal city of Salalah optimises the routes of several highly strategic connections, offering a more direct and cost-effective reachability for businesses and service providers across four continents.

Indeed, Equinix claims that SN1 will “significantly reshape traffic flows across the Middle East and beyond”, reducing latency and improving the resilience of global networks. The facility will also feature direct fibre connectivity to Equinix’s MC1 data centre in Muscat, providing carriers, hyperscalers, content providers and cloud service providers the ability to co-locate their critical infrastructure and further enhance regional operations.

As Talal Al Mamari, CEO of Omantel, explains: « The launch of the SN1 data centre is a cornerstone of our strategy to create a global connectivity hub in Salalah. We are committed to attracting the world’s leading content providers and hyperscalers to the region, and this state-of-the-art data centre is a key part of this vision. By next year, we plan to land multiple subsea cables in Salalah, solidifying its status as one of the most connected hubs in the region due to its location at the crossroads of major international routes between Asia, Europe, Africa and all the way to Australia.”

Four global partnerships of interest from this week worth catching up with: … [visit site to read more]

Several civil society organisations in Mozambique have reportedly filed an injunction against mobile operators TMcel, Vodacom and Movitel over ongoing mobile internet shutdowns and blocked access to social media and messaging sites.

Last week, Internet monitoring website Netblocks confirmed that Meta-owned apps Facebook (including Messenger), Instagram and WhatsApp were blocked in Mozambique, following disruptions in mobile data services the previous week as protesters prepared to hit the streets over disputed election results.

Since then, according to Netblocks updates posted this week, the social media/messaging blockade has been expanded to include TikTok, YouTube and Telegram. Meanwhile, the government has imposed a series of mobile internet “curfews” in which mobile data connectivity has been cut off from evening until the following morning.

VPN provider Surfshark said in an email on Wednesday that it is seeing the same activity on its internet shutdown tracker. Both Netblocks and Surfshark confirmed that all blacklisted social media/messaging sites remain blocked, while the mobile internet curfews were still being imposed as of Wednesday.

According to a report on Tuesday from national news agency Agência de Informação de Moçambique (AIM), three civil society groups – the Centre for Public Integrity, the Centre for Democracy and Human Rights, and the Civil Society Learning and Training Centre – have filed an injunction against TMcel, Vodacom and Movitel, demanding that they “immediately re-establish full access to the internet.”

In a statement, the groups said the internet shutdowns not only violate the country’s constitution that guarantees the right to information, as well as telecoms laws that require telcos to provide uninterrupted services, but also impact economic livelihoods, academic work and even attempts by people to contact family members at a time of social unrest.

“In a period of high tension, the restrictions imposed have worsened insecurity, by limiting access to truthful and up-to-date information on national and international events”, the organisations said in a statement.

The injunction asks the court to “ensure the immediate re-establishment of access to the Internet, and that the service providers refrain from any blocking that limits this essential right,” the AIM report said.

However, it’s unclear to what extent TMcel, Vodacom and Movite have a choice in the matter. The Mozambique government has not officially claimed responsibility for the social media blockades and internet curfews, but all three telcos have notified customers that mobile internet services are “temporarily restricted for reasons beyond our control”.

Mobile internet disruptions in Mozambique have been ongoing since October 25, a day after Daniel Chapo of the ruling Frelimo party was declared the winner of the presidential election. His opponent, Venâncio Mondlane – who fled to neighbouring South Africa after two of his aides were shot dead on October 19 – has been posting videos on Facebook urging supporters to protest the results.

The resulting protests have escalated into clashes with police. Human Rights Watch researcher Zenaida Machado told Reuters on Wednesday that she had verified 18 deaths so far but said that the tally is likely to be higher. A march on the capital Maputo is scheduled for Thursday.

Reuters also reports that South Africa has closed its main border crossing with Mozambique in Lebombo after receiving reports of vehicles being torched on the Mozambican side.

As we reported in August, restricting or completely shuttering internet access has become a “common tactic” used by government to supress dissent, according to the World Economic Forum. Digital rights watchdog Access Now logged 283 shutdowns in 39 countries in 2023, compared to 201 blackouts in 40 countries the previous year.

“Internet restrictions in Mozambique reflect a growing trend of governments limiting access during political unrest, impacting safety and essential information flow, » commented Surfshark VPN product manager Justas Pukys. « These shutdowns disrupt daily life, from business to education, and pose a significant threat to open internet and free speech in the region. »

In an M&A move that I somehow missed during the election chaos, BCE through its Bell Canada subsidiary has announced plans to acquire Ziply Fiber for about C$7B including assumed debt. The move by Bell will give it a significant foothold in the US fiber marketplace. … [visit site to read more]

Following this week’s news that GDS International received approval to build a hyperscale data centre in Thailand, GDS officially announced on Tuesday it will invest up to US$1 billion over the next five years in the project, and has signed a partnership deal with real estate developer Amata for the site in Chonburi.

Last Friday, Thailand’s Board of Investment (BOI) approved 66.2 billion baht (US$1.96 billion) worth of investments for two new hyperscale data centre projects in Chonburi – one from Quartz Computing, a subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet, and the other from Digitalland Services, a local subsidiary of GDS IDC Services.

During a meeting on Tuesday with Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra in Bangkok, GDS International announced it had signed a comprehensive partnership agreement with Southeast Asian industrial real estate developer and operator Amata to acquire land at the Amata City Chonburi Industrial Estate, which also provides access to renewable energy such as floating solar power.

GDS CEO Jamie Khoo said the site is ideal for data centre development due to the presence of available zones, proximity to subsea cable landing stations, and secure location outside floodplains.

“We selected Amata as our strategic partner for its impressive scale – hosting around 800 factories and commercial outlets – and its reliable, comprehensive utilities and infrastructure that support diverse needs,” she said.

BOI secretary general Narit Therdsteerasukdi added that the Thai government is dedicated to advancing key areas, including the development of clean energy mechanisms.

“We are currently establishing a Direct Power Purchase Agreement (Direct PPA), specifically designed for data centers, and refining digital regulations to support advancements in AI technology,” he said.

Also at the PM meeting, GDS International chairman William Huang confirmed the company’s commitment to the project, saying the US$1 billion investment over five years represents a strategic expansion of its data centre portfolio across Asia-Pacific.

« Our investment in Thailand aligns with our vision of advancing the digital economy across Asia,” Huang said. “Our goal is to build a cutting-edge data centre park that not only meets Thailand’s cloud and AI infrastructure needs but also fosters a thriving data centre ecosystem.”

Khoo added that the US$1 billion investment would also create employment opportunities and support skill development.

“By collaborating with local industry players and educational institutions, we aim to equip the Thai workforce with essential digital skills for the future,” she said.

GDS has not yet revealed how much IT capacity the Chonburi data centre will offer. The company currently has 480MW of data centre capacity in service and under construction in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and Japan, with an additional 590MW held for future development.

While the US votes, here are four bits of news from three parts of the world — one of the M&A variety, albeit a small one. … [visit site to read more]

Mastercard announced on Tuesday it has launched Mastercard Pay Local, a new global service that enables digital wallet users in Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East and Africa to pay locally when they travel.

The service enables international travellers to link their credit or debit cards to their digital wallet and immediately shop at any participating merchant that accepts digital wallet payments, without needing to set up or top up a prepaid account.

Announcing the service ahead of this week’s Singapore FinTech Festival, Mastercard namechecked wallets such as DANA in Indonesia, Touch ‘n Go in Malaysia, Bakong in Cambodia, and LankaPay in Sri Lanka, all of which will use Mastercard Pay Local to facilitate payments for consumers at the more than 35 million merchants in Asia-Pacific that accept these wallets.

Mastercard said the service enables residents and travellers alike to pay micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that don’t accept traditional card payments, which in turn gives those MSMEs more reach. Meanwhile, digital wallet service providers can extend their customer base to people who primarily use cards, while card issuers can provide more points of acceptance for their customers.

« Locals benefit from new payment options while tourists can use their cards as they do at home, making travel infinitely easier, with one less thing to worry about while on the road,” said Sandeep Malhotra, EVP of Products and Innovation, Asia Pacific, at Mastercard.

Mastercard added that the service builds on its existing collaborations with wallet providers such as Alipay and Weixin Pay in China, GrabPay in Southeast Asia, Maya in the Philippines, ShopBack in Singapore and TrueMoney in Thailand.

With all the focus on AI and FTTx and 5G, it’s easy to forget about the other side of the digital divide and the service providers who straddle it.  Fixed wireless services have long been with us, and the underlying technology continues to evolve.  New ways to connect more and more places are a key piece of the infrastructure puzzle, and that means opportunity for those with the spectrum and a fresh approach.  With us today to talk about the next generation of the fixed wireless opportunity is Eric Watko, CEO of BroadbandOne. … [visit site to read more]

Malaysian operator U Mobile has won the rights to implement Malaysia’s second 5G network to compete with original 5G operator Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB), leaving rival contenders CelcomDigi and Maxis to rethink their 5G plans.

Under the Malaysian government’s dual-network model, only stakeholders in DNB were allowed to submit applications to establish a second 5G network operator. In August, U Mobile, CelcomDigi and Maxis – each of which own 16.28% of DNB as of June 2024 – submitted their applications to run the second network. YTL declined to participate, while Telekom Malaysia was disqualified after it dropped plans to take a stake in DNB in August.

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) broke the news on Friday that U Mobile was the winner. While the second 5G network will be run by a single operator (as opposed to DNB’s multi-stakeholder model), the MCMC said in a statement that U Mobile is allowed to collaborate with other telcos to roll out the network, “subject to the approval of MCMC”.

U Mobile said in a statement on Saturday that it is “excited to collaborate with various stakeholders, including MCMC and other telecommunications companies such as CelcomDigi and Telekom Malaysia to deliver world-class 5G-Advanced services to consumers.”

U Mobile also said it will reduce its foreign majority shareholding to 20%, “ensuring greater Malaysian control and inviting participation from local investors.” U Mobile’s biggest shareholder is Singapore-based Straits Mobile Investments (a subsidiary of ST Telemedia), which owns a 48.3% stake.

U Mobile will also have to sell its stake in DNB under the terms of its SSA in order to implement the second network.

The decision to go with U Mobile comes as a surprise to some industry observers who saw the telco as the underdog of the race. RHB Research and CIMB Securities issued statements in September rating Maxis as the likely front-runner for the second network.

Both CelcomDigi and Maxis issued statements on Sunday saying they will talk with various stakeholders to consider their next move. Both also reiterated that they thought their proposals should have won. Maxis went as far as to say it would “engage with MCMC to understand the rationale for their decision.”

CelcomDigi said that in the meantime, it will continue to focus on integrating its network, which it said is ahead of schedule and now 68% complete.

In any case, their respective 5G services will carry on as usual under the existing agreement with DNB. Both also have the option to buy U Mobile’s stake, although the MCMC has the final say on the outcome.