Four items of international network news: … [visit site to read more]

With the rise of AI as a driving force throughout the data center infrastructure sector, we are starting to see effects beyond just space and power.  The ecosystem is evolving, and new, unique opportunities are arising.  With us today to talk about the changes is Sean Maskell, President and General Manager for Cologix Canada.  Cologix Canada operates facilities across the markets of Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver. … [visit site to read more]

Telekom Malaysia’s enterprise and government sector digital solutions arm TM One announced on Monday it has formed a partnership with local property developer PR1MA Corporation Malaysia to leverage broadband, digital and IoT solutions to help build sustainable smart-housing projects.

Under the three-year deal, TM One will establish a centralised monitoring system for PR1MA’s project tracking and workflows, which it says will improve operations and resource management, and enable data-driven decision-making.

PR1MA will also utilise TM One’s IoT-based solutions for energy and environmental monitoring to lower operational costs and adopt sustainable best practices.

“This partnership supports the creation of connected and eco-friendly living spaces, aligning with PR1MA’s community-centric vision and Malaysia’s Smart City aspirations,” said TM One Executive VP Shazurawati Abd Karim. “By fostering future-ready ecosystems and sustainable urbanisation, we will jointly integrate digital innovation into affordable, high-quality housing.”

Mohd Nazri Md Shariff, PR1MA’s group CEO and Member of Corporation, said PR1MA will also leverage the operator’s solutions to embed smart-home solutions into its residential projects.

“Through this partnership, PR1MA aims to integrate smart solutions from planning to construction, ensuring efficient project management,” he said in a joint statement. “It will also enable our subsidiaries, PR1MA Communications and PR1MA Facilities Management, to provide sustainable connectivity and advanced technologies that enhance convenience, security, and quality of life for residents. These efforts will transform PR1MA’s developments into fully connected, smart communities.”

PR1MA Communications signed a similar deal with CelcomDigi in October 2024, when both companies signed an MoU to collaborate on providing fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) and fixed wireless access (FWA) solutions to PR1MA projects.

That deal also includes implementation of centralised network solutions, managed from a single data centre, to enable “real-time monitoring of bandwidth usage and provide seamless digital experiences at affordable costs”, according to CelcomDigi.

Interview

Ahead of the recent World Communication Awards, we spoke with Sandra Klackenborn, Head of Sustainability at Arelion, to discuss the growing energy challenge and how the industry must do more to tackle the issue collaboratively

The growing energy challenge

With networks spanning hundreds or even thousands of miles, it is no surprise that energy consumption has always been a key concern for telcos when it comes to sustainability. Operating these massive networks not only generates a significant carbon emissions footprint, but also incurs a huge energy bill – both of which will only grow further as data demand increases and network density increases.

As a result, making these networks more energy efficient and sustainable is a huge focus for telcos like Arelion, which view the issue as both an environmental and financial imperative.

“Energy is such an interesting area. It’s a melting pot of issues,” explained Sandra Klackenborn, Head of Sustainability at Arelion. “You have concerns about energy costs, the challenge of sourcing renewable energy, and, of course, you have the environmental impact. These are all important topics that we focus on here at Arelion.”

Innovation to the rescue?

With data usage continuing to climb, energy costs sky high, and additional infrastructure being deployed every day, it can feel like telcos are fighting a losing battle against the energy curve.

In reality, however, innovation related to energy efficiency has proven surprisingly resilient in minimising the growth of network energy demand year-on-year.

“Improved energy efficiency can be somewhat built into the equipment upgrade cycle,” explained Klackenborn. “We are in an industry where technology moves really, really fast and things evolve all the time. For us to be able to provide the quality of data transfer that our customers expect from us, we need to develop and deploy more advanced technology, which, of course, is more energy efficient.”

“In our experience, we have been able to really curve that energy consumption, keeping it relatively flat despite ever growing demand,” she added. “In the ever-growing need for data capacity, this focus is important to keep striving for.”

Of course, regularly upgrading your hardware for better efficiency carries its own sustainability burden. The materials used to build these new components are finite and harvesting them can be carbon emission intensive.

As such, Arelion seeks to safeguard these natural resources by repurposing, reusing, and recycling old equipment wherever possible.

“We try to circulate the components we dismantle into a second life internally or resell to an external partner, so the resources can be utilized for as long as possible before being recycled back into original material,” explained Klackenborn, noting that circularity was a key element of the company’s sustainability approach.

Better understanding your sustainability footprint

At the heart of winning the technological race against an ever-growing energy demand is an increasingly precise understanding of exactly where your energy usage is coming from. Network infrastructure (both fixed and mobile) typically accounts for around three-quarters of a telco’s energy consumption – making it the prime candidate for improved energy efficiency – but granular data of each component’s energy footprint is a relatively recent development.

“Today, we probably have more data available than ever before, in terms of understanding, seeing, measuring, and predicting our sustainability footprint,” explained Klackenborn. “We know exactly how much energy a certain piece of technology consumes or how it transfers data.”

Beyond allowing for more targeted equipment refreshes, the wealth of data also allows for a much more accurate forecasting of energy consumption.

“There are the cost savings, of course, but in many ways the main driver behind this data is stability,” said Klackenborn. “It’s really important to know what your electricity bill will be for the next few years – that’s a really underrated benefit of measuring your sustainability footprint more carefully.”

The trouble with sustainability metrics

But while more data is available than ever before, collating and communicating it effectively, both internally and externally, remains a challenge. Sustainability metrics are far from standardised, making collaboration between telcos and partners far more complicated.

“It’s not always the easiest assignment to translate all the data into something as broad as a sustainability value, if you will,” said Klackenborn. “Sustainability is very difficult to report on accurately, particularly across different industries. With so much varied data, there is always a certain level of interpretation with top-level figures. While there are some standards, most companies are reliant on their own metrics to measure performance. That makes it very difficult to compare and share learnings.”

Regulations surrounding sustainability reporting, such as the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), are gradually helping to build usable frameworks, but there is still much work to be done.

“Currently, a lot of the reporting regulations don’t require you to break down the figures,” said Klackenborn. “For example, I don’t actually know exactly how much CO2 is generated at our colocators or per external site. If I had that information, I could make better decisions on how we can work together. We could discuss the topic in more detail and so better learn from each other.”

A team effort to build a greener future

Ultimately, making the telecoms sector more sustainable and energy efficient is a collaborative effort, requiring the formation of effective partnerships across borders.

“The focus for us is very international and collaborative when it comes to sustainability,” said Klackenborn. “There is a really strong awareness that we can’t do this by ourselves. We are part of a value chain and a bigger ecosystem. After all, our Scope 2 emissions are someone else’s Scope 3.”

“At Arelion we have the goals of achieving Net Zero carbon emissions for Scope 1 and Scope 2 by 2030, and for Scope 3 no later than 2040. To do this, we need to make sure we’re joining hands internally as well as across borders with other companies. Sustainability is everybody’s business,” she concluded.

Arelion were proud to sponsor the The Sustainability Award at this year’s World Communication Awards. Check out the full list of winners here.

Smart Communications, the mobile arm of Philippine telco PLDT, is reportedly making moves to relaunch its original mobile money app, Smart Money, in an apparent bid to directly take on rival telco Globe Telecom’s GCash.

Smart launched Smart Money in 2003 in partnership with Banco de Oro (BDO). At the time, it was the country’s first and only mobile remittance service until Globe launched rival service GCash in 2004. In 2016, Smart Money was discontinued after the launch of Paymaya (later rebranded as Maya), a JV between PLDT and Rocket Internet to offer mobile payments.

According to a report from ABS-CBN on Friday, the Smart Money app has reappeared on Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store and is available for download. The app information page says Smart Money will support transactions for “Mobile Load” and “Send Money”. It can also be used for paying postpaid mobile, cable and internet services, as well as utilities, tolls and education fees.

However, the app is still inactive. Users must put their names on a waitlist to use the new Smart Money app, the report said.

The reappearance of Smart Money follows earlier remarks by Anastacio Martirez – who became Smart’s COO in September – that he said he intends to retake market share from GCash.

« We were the first in the industry to introduce Smart Money, ahead of GCash. Somewhere along the way something happened, but that’s not a problem,” he said onstage at last month’s GSMA Digital Nation Summit, according to InsiderPH. “I want to bring it back.”

While PLDT and Smart haven’t elaborated on what a Smart Money relaunch would mean for Maya, the Inquirer’s “Biz Buzz” column notes that Maya’s business model has shifted beyond consumer-to-consumer payments after becoming one of the first six digital banks licensed by the country’s central bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

Also, the column added, PLDT only holds a minority stake in Maya’s parent company, Voyager Innovations, which means Smart has little say in Maya’s direction.

GCash is the most popular mobile wallet app in the Philippines with around 94 million users. Paymaya had an estimated 44 million users by the end of 2021.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), in collaboration with other UN departments established a new body aimed at strengthening the resilience of submarine cables in response to rising outages.

The ITU, the United Nations Agency for Dgital Technologies, and the International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC) have jointly formed the International Advisory Body for Submarine Cable Resilience.

The new body will explore ways to improve cable resilience by promoting best practices for governments and companies. Its focus will include ensuring timely deployment and repair of submarine cables, reducing the risk of damage, and enhancing connectivity continuity.

“Submarine cables carry over 99 per cent of international data exchanges, making their resilience a global imperative,” said ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin (pictured).

“The Advisory Body will mobilise expertise from around the world to ensure this vital digital infrastructure remains resilient in the face of disasters, accidents, and other risks.”

The ICPC estimates that an average of 150 to 200 faults occur globally each year, requiring around three cable repairs per week. The primary causes of cable damage are accidental human activities, such as fishing and anchoring, as well as natural hazards and equipment failures.

The Advisory Body is co-chaired by H.E. Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and Professor Sandra Maximiano, Chair of the Board of Directors of Portugal’s National Communications Authority (ANACOM).

“Submarine cables are essential to the functioning of our connected world, but they face risks that require coordinated, proactive action,” said Tijani. “We are therefore pleased to host the inaugural Submarine Cable Resilience Summit in Nigeria in early 2025.”

“This initiative underscores the global community’s commitment to strengthening these networks and advancing international cooperation for digital resilience,” added Maximiano.

Spain’s leading telecom operator MasOrange has successfully completed the first 1.2Tbps data transfer over a longer distance commercial optical transmission network, using a single wavelength or channel over terrestrial cable.

The transmission network is the fundamental infrastructure that enables data communication between different points of a telecommunications network. These are the digital highways that connect network nodes between different cities allowing information to flow quickly and efficiently. It is the pillar on which all other layers of the network are built and operate.

This milestone, developed between Granada and Cordoba, has shown that it is possible, thanks to a solution developed by Huawei, to reach more than 310 km with 1.2 Tbps transmission over a single wavelength, without regenerating the signal.

For example, in video transmission, the transmission capability of the new technology will support up to 400,000 simultaneous high-definition (HD) channels, or 80,000 simultaneous 4K ultra-high-definition (UHD) video, tripling current commercial capabilities.

MasOrange thus sets a world record in the field of optical telecommunications. Although 1.2 Tbps tests are already available, they use two wavelengths and do not reach distances greater than 200 km. With this demonstration, MasOrange once again positions itself as a leader in technological innovation towards F5.5G era.

This achievement represents a major step forward in the evolution of telecommunications infrastructure, responding to the growing demand for data and connectivity in the 5G era and preparing for future evolution. MasOrange expects data usage to triple in the next five years, mainly due to the spread of 5G networks, the adoption of artificial intelligence, and the new digital services that the combination of the two will enable.

Miguel Santos, Chief Technology Officer of MasOrange said: « At MasOrange we innovate every day to provide the best service to our customers, including through what will be the networks of the future. Broadcasting over a single wavelength at 1.2Tbps is in line with our commitment to providing the best connectivity from a world-first experience. »

Victor Zhou, President of Huawei’s Optical Transmission Domain, pointed out: « We are pleased to cooperate with MasOrange to verify the optimal performance of the 1.2 Tbps solution. Huawei will continue to provide global operators with superior solutions with high quality, reliability and sustainable evolution. »

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Dr. Nathan Smith, Director of Economics and Policy for Connected Nation

On November 18, 2024, Louisiana’s Office of Broadband Development and Connectivity (also known as ConnectLA) posted its BEAD Final Proposal for public comment, which was an historic achievement.

Not only did Louisiana finish months ahead … [visit site to read more]