Malaysian mobile data service company U Mobile is back in the news only days after a Maxis buyout was reported. This time it is apparently planning a domestic initial public offering (IPO).

The IPO is expected to raise more than US$500 million as early as the first half of 2025, according to Reuters, quoting its own sources who suggest that U Mobile will file the IPO application to the regulator later this month, or in August.

The deal, if it proceeds, could be the largest IPO in Malaysia in nearly eight years, a deal that would value the firm at more than US$2 billion, according to Reuters’ sources. It’s been a long time coming: U Mobile has reportedly been planning to hold an IPO on the local stock exchange since 2014.

Proceeds raised will in all likelihood be used for mobile data network expansion, among other plans, though this has not been confirmed by the company, which says it will make announcements if there are any concrete developments.

The company also plans to be part of the tender to build Malaysia’s second 5G network.

Founded in 2006, U Mobile is Malaysia’s newest service provider. Figures are hard to come by but U Mobile is said to have crossed the 9 million subscriber mark last year. Maxis is just ahead at about 9.5 million subscribers, while the market leader, CelcomDigi, has about 20.4 million subscribers.

We reported last week that, according to Bloomberg, rival operator Maxis is in early-stage talks with U Mobile for a possible buyout deal to expand its network reach. However, the deal is apparently facing several major hurdles.

News 

The unrest centres around student protests over government job availability 

Bangladesh has entered the fourth day of a near-total internet shutdown following th outbreak of widespread student protests, in which 114 people have so far lost their lives. 

The unrest relates to the reintroduction of Bangladesh’s quota system for government jobs. The system reserves a third of government positions for relatives of veterans who fought for the country’s independence from Pakistan in 1971. This controversial system was scrapped in 2018 following pressure from the Student Quota Reform Movement but was reintroduced earlier this year after a court ruled the change to be unlawful. 

Following the quota’s reinstatement, student protests quickly erupted, which have since grown to include hundreds of thousands of people. Protests are still ongoing despite the Bangladeshi government backtracking and reducing the quota, meaning that now 93% of government jobs should be open to candidates based on merit. 

In an effort to curb the unrest, the country’s government has imposed a nationwide internet shutdown, a tactic that has been used by the country before.  

Telecommunications minister, Zunaid Ahmed Palak, said social media has been “weaponised as a tool to spread rumours, lies and disinfor mation,” according to the Guardian. 

“The government has temporarily suspended mobile internet services in the light of the ongoing situation in the country,” a spokesperson for Robi, the second-largest mobile operator in the country, told Rest of World in a statement. 

Palak said on Saturday morning that “government is trying to get the internet back but only after ensuring people’s physical and digital security.” 

The current protests and violence reflect broader dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s administration, which is accused of authoritarian practices and suppressing differences in opinion.  

Despite government efforts to stop the unrest, including ordering schools and universities to close indefinitely, the demonstrations are continuing with students demanding justice for those killed and an apology from the Prime Minister.  

Keep up to date with the latest international telecoms news by subscribing to the Total Telecom daily newsletter   

Also in the news: Also in the news:
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One network upgrade and three data center expansion projects: … [visit site to read more]

In the New York/New Jersey metro area there are a few iconic facilities that everyone in the industry knows.  One of those is Newark’s 165 Halsey, which has long been a key node in the region’s internet infrastructure, and which celebrated its 25th birthday in the telecom and infrastructure world this past spring.  With us today to talk about 165 Halsey and where it fits in the ecosystem is James Fitzgerald, EVP of Tishman Real Estate Services, which is the real estate investment and development firm that manages the facility. … [visit site to read more]

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News 

The outage has caused disruption for millions 

Today, an IT malfunction of unprecedented scale has sent shockwaves across the world, affecting critical services and impacting millions of people. 

Elon Musk, tweeting this morning, has labeled the event as the “biggest IT fail ever.”

Biggest IT fail ever

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 19, 2024

The cause of the huge outage lies in a software update issued by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. The company uses a cloud-based system that offers companies security over the internet, rather than local installations. It provides companies with real-time insights into security threats.  

A defect in the company’s latest update triggered a chain reaction, impacting Windows operating systems globally, meaning that many systems, including Teams and Outlook, went down. 

CrowdStrike president George Kurtz said that the issue has been caused by “a single content update for Windows hosts”. 

“CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed. Our team is fully mobilized to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers,” he wrote on X.  

Despite this, the residual impact and full recovery is expected to take several days, with many companies around the world being forced to restart their machines in safe mode. 

The company was quick to stress that the event was not malicious in nature. Despite acting like a cyberattack in many ways, the fault did not compromise the integrity of any users’ data. 

The ripple effects of this glitch have been far-reaching and are still arising. Nearly 1,400 flights have been canceled due to system failures, banks are struggling with transaction processing issues, as well as the broadcasting, retail and healthcare industries, amongst others. 

Keep up to date with the latest international telecoms news by subscribing to the Total Telecom daily newsletter  

Also in the news:
Power play: Thailand’s biggest telco to merge with energy giant
Germany implements long-awaited Huawei ban
Telecom Egypt readies for country’s first 5G services

News

Telcos will not longer be allowed to implement mid-contract price rises linked to unclear metrics like inflation

In December last year, Ofcom proposed the introduction of stricter rules surrounding mid-contract price hikes for mobile, pay-TV, and broadband customers, after an investigation found that many customers were confused

The issue primarily related to inflation-based price increases, where pricing would be linked to indexes like the consumer price index (CPI) or retail price index (RPI) – indices not well understood by consumers, leading to unexpected increases in their bills.

Now, following a consultation, Ofcom has announced that new rules will indeed be introduced, requiring telecoms operators to express mid-contract price rises “prominently and transparently” in pounds and pence.

Providers will also be required to clearly explain when price increases will occur,

“Providers must draw this information to the customer’s attention prominently before they are bound by the contract, in a clear and comprehensible manner (including during a sales call or other verbal sale such as an in-store sale) to enable them to make an informed choice. Providers must also set out when any changes to the monthly price will occur,” said Ofcom in a statement.

“With household budgets squeezed, people need to have certainty about their monthly outgoings. But that’s impossible if you’re tied into a contract where the price could change based on something as hard to predict as future inflation,” said Cristina Luna-Esteban, Ofcom’s Telecoms Policy Director. “We’re stepping in on behalf of phone, broadband and pay TV customers to stamp out this practice, so people can be certain of the price they will pay, compare deals more easily and take advantage of the competitive market we have in the UK.”

The new rules will officially come into effect from 17 January 2025.

Many of the UK’s providers had already made the required changes pre-emptively over the past six months, with BT notably having already announced its revised price increases for 2025.

The UK’s largest digital economy event is just around the corner! Join the telecoms community in discussion on key issues at this year’s Connected Britain conference

Also in the news:
Power play: Thailand’s biggest telco to merge with energy giant
Germany implements long-awaited Huawei ban
Telecom Egypt readies for country’s first 5G services

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Igor Cernjava, Product Manager at Quectel Wireless Solutions

The advent of 5G technology has revolutionized the telecommunications landscape, promising higher speeds, lower latency, higher network flexibility, higher security and increased connectivity. … [visit site to read more]

Nairobi-based IXAfrica Data Centres and Schneider Electric have launched what they say is the first AI-ready hyperscale data centre in Kenya, and the largest such data centre in all of East Africa.

According to media reports, Schneider Electric said in a statement that the new facility, labelled ‘NBOX1’, is a Tier 3+ carrier-neutral data centre capable of supporting advanced AI applications. The statement said that NBOX1 is “the largest and most technologically advanced digital habitat for cloud, colocation, and connectivity in East Africa”.

A LinkedIn post from IXAfrica Data Centres says NBOX, located at its 4.3-acre IXAfrica Nairobi Campus, sports 4.5MW of IT power. The data centre features 780 racks in three data halls, with 4,000 square metres of teleport space.

The facility is supported by Schneider Electric’s ‘EcoStruxure for Data Centres’ architecture and solutions, which Schneider says provides NBOX1 with “resilience, uptime and cost efficiency, enhanced security, and the ability to meet IXAfrica’s sustainability objectives.”

Schneider also said the power train for the facility is based around its MV and LV switchgear to offer “stable and reliable cloud services renewably powered by Kenya’s grid.”

“The solutions provided by Schneider Electric are engineered to support N+1 redundancy with four independent power trains, meeting IXAfrica’s immediate and long-term objectives, including design 1.25 PUE across the campus, as well as a 99.999% uptime guarantee,” said Ifeanyi Odoh, Schneider Electric’s country president in East Africa, in a statement.

IXAfrica CEO Snehar Shah noted that the Nairobi campus site “is built on land formerly part of Schneider’s complex, and the power engineering for the site was designed by Schneider’s local partners.”

IXAfrica Nairobi Campus One has been in the works since early 2021, backed by a US$50 million capital investment from investment firm Helios. In August last year, IXAfrica said it signed a deal with real estate developer Tilisi Developments to purchase 11 acres of prime land to build a second data centre campus in Nairobi.

Shah also touted Kenya’s role as a digital technology epicentre for East Africa, serving a regional population of over 300 million people and supporting an innovation ecosystem that includes a skilled workforce, cloud and content providers, and colocation and connectivity services.

“Kenya is a hypercloud-ready region with advanced cloud adoption propensities, a digitally savvy environment, access to diverse internet fibre connectivity, high availability, and low-carbon power sources,” Shah said. “All of this takes place in a country with a stable regulatory and political climate, as well as a strong economy expected to grow by 5.2% in 2024.”

In May this year, Microsoft and AI-focused UAE-based technology group G42 announced a comprehensive package of digital investments in Kenya as part of an initiative with the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy. With an initial investment of US$1 billion from G42, the package includes a green data centre built by G42 and its partners in Olkaria that will run on and provide access to Microsoft Azure through a new East Africa Cloud Region.

Telecom Fiji announced on Wednesday it has signed an agreement to become an authorised reseller for LEO satellite operator Starlink, and is already pitching it as a connectivity solution for businesses in underserved areas.

Telecom Fiji said that the Starlink reseller deal will help expand its broadband service footprint and target a wider range of customers, including rural communities, schools, health centres, and government departments.

Of those, the business sector seems to be the initial primary target, as Telecom Fiji said it is already putting together “comprehensive connectivity packages” for businesses to access cloud-driven ICT solutions using Starlink as a backhaul connection.

“We will be announcing our attractive and flexible product offerings shortly for small to large businesses, and customers will be able to order conveniently through our online portal,” said Telecom Fiji CEO Charles Goundar in a statement. “In addition to the Starlink kit, customers will be able to choose from various other service options such as managed firewall for cybersecurity, cloud applications, backup and storage at Telecom’s data centre, amongst other services.”

Goundar added that business customers will benefit from uninterrupted operations with mission-critical backup links, seamless integration with cloud-based applications and services, and efficient communications and productivity. “This collaboration allows us to bring advanced satellite technology to the most remote parts of Fiji, ensuring that every business and community can thrive in the digital age.”

Starlink officially went live across the more than 300 islands in the Republic of Fiji in May, six months after receiving a telecoms licence from the Telecommunications Authority of Fiji and a spectrum licence from the Ministry of Trade, Co-operatives, SMEs and Communications in November 2023.

Telecom Fiji is the second company to become a Starlink reseller in Fiji, following managed services provider Lightspeed Pacific, which sealed a deal with Starlink last week.

Lightspeed Pacific executive chair Richard Broadbridge told news portal Islands Business that he’s already seeing “big demand” from local shipping and tourism operators for Starlink receiver kits. He also said that around 600 Starlink kits will arrive in Fiji within four to six weeks, 30% of which have already been pre-ordered by customers.