This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Ragu Masilamany, VP and Global Head of Solutions Engineering and Labs at Amdocs
As communications service providers (CSPs) want faster monetization of 5G, recession fears loom, and the cost of energy increases, some have formed a shortsighted view of 5 G’s true long-term impact. However, leading into 2023, this perspective could be what separates the leads in 5G from those who delay investment due to “5G” fatigue. … [visit site to read more]
Dallas, Texas, January 26, 2023 – How to deliver America’s connected future will be the focus of Connected America – a brand new conference featuring a prestigious line-up of speakers from national, state and local service providers, the public sector, enterprises and suppliers.
Taking place at the Irving Convention Center, in Dallas, Texas, from March 29-29, Connected America is organised by news provider Total Telecom, which is hosting the event for the first time following the huge success of its 2023 line-up. This included the UK’s largest connectivity event, the award-winning Connected Britain, Connected North and Connected Germany.
Connected America will bring together more than 150 speakers to explore the big picture for delivering enhanced connectivity in the USA; what does a truly Connected America look like and how can it be delivered? Other focus areas include investment and regulatory strategies, fibre and 5G, the opportunities and challenges of delivering smart places and connected transport, the factory of the future and rural connectivity.
“We have observed the US market for some time and believe now is the right time to launch Connected America,” said Total Telecom’s Managing Director Rob Chambers. “All the factors are aligned, there is the political will to ensure that every American has access to reliable high-speed internet; public and private finance is falling into place and communities are demanding better broadband to work, to learn, for healthcare, and to stay connected.”
The conference will see more than 1,000 attendees from organisations transforming U.S. connectivity. It is supported by the Fiber Broadband Association, Association of American Public Broadband, Broadband Bunch, Broadband Communication, and Competitive Carriers Association. Confirmed speakers include:
For more information or to register to attend Connected America, visit: https://www.terrapinn.com/conference/connected-america/index.stm
About Total Telecom
Since 1997, Total Telecom has provided the connection between the buyers and sellers in the global telecom market. We do this through high quality editorial content and events to facilitate discussion on industry issues, and recognise innovation and excellence by companies and individuals.
Our community of 120,000+ telecom professionals relies on Total Telecom for daily news and regular in-depth insight, delivered through a number of channels including online, video, social media, and at our series of events.
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.
Two more executive leadership appointments and a key 5G partnership: … [visit site to read more]
t3 Broadband are one of the companies you can meet at Connected America, making place in Dallas this March. Find out more here
Tell us about your start up
t3 Broadband is a company that specializes in providing engineering services and products for broadband access solutions. Our offerings include RF engineering, wireless engineering, fixed and mobile wireless products, optical products, and GIS. We work closely with our operator customers to effectively solve their business needs by providing the correct product, solution and service set that help achieve their goals. Customers are service providers, utilities, tribes, and other entities that provide broadband and mobile services to their subscribers, typically but exclusively to the rural markets.
What is your USP
t3 approaches each customer opportunity with an economic-first approach, working with our customer to solve their broadband network questions in the most cost-effective manner possible. We also take a solution- and vendor-neutral position, and given our background in both fixed and mobile networking, partner with our customers to find the best options to fit their budgets and their needs, many times creating a hybrid network solution that combines wireless and fiber components. We also bring unique intellectual property to our customer engagements that combines business and technical domains that are aligned to meet each customer’s budget and solution requirements.
What is your relationship with the telecom sector?
Telecom service providers are t3’s customers. These service providers may be fixed wireline operators such as traditional telephone or cable companies, mobile operators migrating their 3G and 4G networks to 5G, and tribes, municipalities, and utilities providing broadband to their communities.
How have you got to your current stage of development?
We are in a growth mode, self-supported with some key customers and partners, leveraging both the national broadband infrastructure investments and network modernization trends across both fixed and mobile operators.
Why did you establish the business?
Based on the management team’s background with large multinational companies, we started t3 to provide similar services to rural and smaller operators to assist them in bridging the digital broadband divide with value-based economic solutions.
What is your motivation?
Our motivation is the need for advanced digital services in rural parts of the country and our ability to help our customers provide these services to their communities.
What does the future hold for your business?
With broadband becoming a critical service, we see continued growth with the expansion into the unserved and underserved markets and communities.
COMPANY CV
HEADQUARTERS: Council Grove, KS USA
LAST FUNDING TYPE: Self-funded, private investment
WEBSITE URL: www.t3broadband.com
FOUNDER: Chris Crowe, Owner/CEO
Welcome to our latest product update for PBXware! This blog post will highlight the main features and updates introduced in PBXware version 6.7, with the SP Edition at the forefront.
If you are an administrator of a multi-tenant PBX system, you know how difficult it can be to manage a large number of tenants and clients. Luckily, there is now an efficient and powerful solution to help you manage your MT systems: SP Edition.
This new edition enables users to manage and access data from multiple PBXware systems in a centralized location, simplifying administration tasks and making it easier to edit settings on external systems.
PBXware SP (Service Provider) Edition offers a range of features that make it the ideal solution for multi-tenant PBX system administrators:
However, it is important to note that PBXware SP Edition is not a standalone PBX system and does not offer features such as Call recordings, IVRs, Queues, Ring groups, or Extensions (extensions exist on the system only as multiuser extensions when calls go through the SP), etc. It is intended to be used in conjunction with a separate PBXware system.
In conclusion, PBXware SP Edition is the ultimate multi-tenant PBX management solution. It streamlines the search process, offers SSO capabilities, and automates trunk setup, making it easier than ever for administrators to stay on top of their systems.
With its advanced features and streamlined processes, the SP Edition gives administrators the tools to quickly and easily manage their multi-tenant PBX systems.
Next, we have the addition of Meeting licensing in PBXware v6.7. Administrators will now be able to use the ‘Licenses’ section to assign Meeting licenses to specific extensions and filter the data by extension or license package (No License, STARTER, BUSINESS, or ENTERPRISE). However, only the STARTER and BUSINESS packages will be available for use in this version, with the ENTERPRISE package to be implemented in future versions.
The ‘Licenses’ section also displays information on the number of available and assigned licenses, allowing administrators to track and manage Meeting licenses for their extensions easily.
With this update, all current Meeting users will be automatically assigned Starter packages for all the extensions on their tenant/system with a Meeting license, regardless of their current PBXware software version. This includes Business, CC, and Supervisor gloCOM editions but does not apply to the Office edition.
Users who wish to upgrade to a Business package will need to upgrade to PBXware v6.7. Additionally, a new version of BRM for Meeting pricing will be introduced for all Meeting users.
Finally, PBXware v6.7 also introduces the ability to edit gloCOM features permissions per extension from the Editions & Modules section. Previously, these permissions could only be modified from the Apps -> Permissions page, so this update should provide a more streamlined user experience.
In conclusion, PBXware v6.7 brings a range of new features and updates that are designed to improve the user experience. The PBXware SP edition makes it easier to manage and access data from multiple PBXware systems, while the new Meeting licensing features provide administrators with more control over license assignment and management. The ability to edit gloCOM features permissions per extension is also a welcome addition, streamlining the process for users.
We hope these updates will enhance your experience with PBXware! Once you have tried these new features, we would love to hear from you about how this improved your business. Please feel free to comment below.
If you have any questions about the new features in PBXware v6.7 or any other Unified Communications products, do not hesitate to reach out to us.
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A new update for our Unified Communications apps gloCOM & gloCOM GO is here with fresh new features for our business users. With version 6.7, gloCOM users will experience efficiency and a better user experience overall, thanks to the many benefits that the new features bring to the table.
Here are the highlights of the latest gloCOM and gloCOM GO 6.7 product updates:
Group chats can be easily misused when many people are involved in the conversation, and sometimes it becomes hard for the group to stay focused on the topic. The Mention feature in gloCOM and gloCOM GO 6.7 helps bring back the focus on a specific person or topic.
The Mention feature works wonders for getting someone’s attention. It allows you to mention one or more participants in a group chat and to give additional context. When you tag a colleague’s name in the message, they will get a notification that they have been mentioned, even in a conversation they have currently muted.
To mention a participant, you simply enter the @ sign followed by the name of the desired participant. There are two ways to select someone from the list of participants:
The participant you tag within the conversation are colored in blue, and clicking on their name will bring a pop-up menu with options to call them, chat with them in a private chat, or open their contact information.
Overall, Mention is a great feature and will improve your productivity while collaborating in group conversations. It’s one of those features that will eventually become a standard communication method within group chats.
The Mention feature is available in both the gloCOM desktop application and the gloCOM GO mobile app on the gloCOM GO 6.7 (Android/iOS).
The Call Quality feature will allow users to monitor their calls and their network quality. Using this feature in gloCOM 6.7 will help your staff diagnose better and troubleshoot problems that may arise during a call.
During a call, a Call Quality indicator will appear in the upper right corner of the call window, providing you with information about the call and network quality. The Call Quality window will appear by clicking on it, providing more detailed information about various metrics, such as MOS Score, Round Trip Time, Packet Loss, and Jitter.
You also have the option to export Call Quality information and check out the Diagnostic Logs for the last 50 calls.
By default, Outlook Calendar Presence incorporates your gloCOM Desktop Presence status based on the appointments you’ve set up in Outlook. You can still change your presence status to suit your requirements, though. Additionally, you can configure a specific Presence description that will be displayed to your contacts anytime an active Outlook appointment is present.
Communication affects teamwork, and good communication can transform that team into a super-team. But what about new additions to your super-team? How to effectively integrate them into your group, and fast?
If you need to share every piece of discussion with every participant in a group, Shared Groups may be exactly what you have been looking for.
If this is the case, check the option Allow full history visibility when creating the group to enable everyone to access the historical content if they join after the group is created.
This way, even the new team members will be in the loop with the rest of the group.
Suppose problems with a network connection affect audio quality during a meeting. In that case, a notification will pop up in the lower-left corner of the Meeting, informing you about the issue of bad audio quality.
The Network Quality Statistics view holds all the details if you have issues during a meeting. The statistics include metrics (latency, jitter, bitrate, packet loss, etc.) about Audio, Video, and screen sharing quality.
Network Quality Statistics View will make it easier to resolve any potential network problems that can come up during your meetings.
As of gloCOM 6.7, when you start a meeting from the chat, an invite link will be automatically sent to the chat participants. With the provided link, you can quickly join meetings via web or mobile application, no matter where you are.
This feature provides an additional layer of effectiveness for you and your colleagues.
We have another great Outlook-related update for you. Starting a meeting in gloCOM always was a breeze. But now, with the Outlook Desktop Plugin introduced in gloCOM 6.7, scheduling a meeting is even more effortless as you can do it from Outlook.
The gloCOM Outlook plugin enables work in Outlook and, at the same time, allows for a seamless transition to collaboration.
This gloCOM Outlook plugin enables you to:
With the ability to add a visual element to the chat, you can now communicate better and express yourself more naturally. With this new feature, the gloCOM GO app takes another step towards helping people communicate more naturally and effectively.
From within the chat conversation screen, you can send media files from your gallery, take photos or record a video.
After taking a photo or recording a video, you can choose whether to save the file to the gallery, discard it, or send it in the chat.
gloCOM GO version 6.7 also brings the option to send multiple files at once.
You can now preview images and videos inside the gloCOM GO app by pressing the media thumbnail on the chat screen.
When you click on the image thumbnail inside the chat screen gloCOM GO app, a new screen opens up, from which you can preview the image, zoom in and out, share it via an external app, forward it to another chat inside the gloCOM GO app, delete the message, and more.
And that’s not all. You can also preview video files you want to share with your colleagues. The gloCOM GO app is packed with great options, so video sharing also offers several valuable features too. You can preview the video file you want to share with full playback controls (play/pause/seek), mute and unmute audio by pressing the speaker icon, and much more.
Our Unified communications app for those who don’t want to miss anything even when they are on the move, gloCOM GO, is fully integrated with the freshly launched Meeting GO app. This integration lets you schedule or join meetings even when you are not in your office or don’t have your laptop.
Available for both Android and Apple users, the gloCOM Meeting GO app lets you collaborate on the go and connect with multiple people simultaneously while offering the following:
NOTE: Meeting is now commercially available, and in addition to the desktop version, web and mobile applications are also available. We currently offer two different editions, ‘Starter’ and ‘Business,’ with specific conditions and limits, with the ‘Enterprise’ edition coming out in 2023.
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Alongside new features and options, you notice that with every new iteration, we squash several bugs and fix various issues, and it’s the same with version 6.7. Rest assured that we have many great things in the works for you. You ask, we listen!
Stay tuned, and make sure to update your gloCOM apps to the latest version and enjoy a brand-new set of features. Please visit our website for more information about gloCOM and gloCOM GO and our other UCaaS line of products.
Do not hesitate to contact us for any additional information.
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 new executives, some new money, some new DWDM, and a deal closure: … [visit site to read more]
Mobile towers have always been an attractive prospect for investors, with their low operational costs and steady long-term returns denoting them as relatively low risk. In recent years, however, investor appetite for infrastructure has reached unprecedented heights, prompting enormous consolidation worldwide, particularly in Europe and Africa.
In many ways, this activity has been driven by the broader state of the telecoms industry as a whole. Network operators are currently in the process of rolling out expensive 5G and fibre networks, while at the same time seeing . As a result, offloading their passive infrastructure becomes an appealing proposition, with major telecoms groups like Orange and Vodafone spinning off their tower units into independent companies.
Throughout this global consolidation, Spanish infrastructure giant Cellnex has emerged as one of the voracious of all towercos, buying up a huge amount of European assets, including a €10 billion deal to purchase all the European towers belonging to CK Hutchison. It is currently the largest independent tower company in Europe, with over 130,000 thousand sites in 12 markets.
In the last year, however, the global economy has taken a turn for the worse. With interest rates on soaring, the debt used to finance Cellnex’s enormous acquisitions will need to be refinanced at a higher rate, cutting painfully into the company’s bottom line.
In November last year, Cellnex announced that its insatiable M&A spree was officially over, with CEO Tobias Martínez saying that the company now needed to “face and beat inflation”.
The company has net debt of €17.1 billion and is seeking to reduce its leverage from roughly eight-times its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to below seven-times.
The company’s share price has fallen almost 40% over the last year, presumably a major factor in the resignation of Martínez as CEO two weeks ago.
Now, rumours suggest that this lowered share price is attracting attention from potential rivals, with Spanish media suggesting that American Tower and Brookfield Asset Management are considering a joint takeover bid.
While no financial details were mentioned, analysts suggest that such a deal would be worth around €50 billion.
Cellnex, American Tower, and Brookfield have all refused to comment, while other media sources have cited other unnamed sources refuting the rumour.
It should go without saying that if such a takeover were to materialise, it would have enormous implications for the European mobile market, making the combined entity a dominant force in markets like the UK, France, and Spain.
As a result, various regulatory bodies would closely investigate such a tie up, with American Tower surely forced to offload a significant amount of its own towers that overlap with Cellnex’s portfolio, at the very least.
This would be nothing overly surprising – Cellnex itself has already shown a willingness to pursue this sort of compromise, offloading some of its overlapping towers in the UK in order to gain clearance for its acquisition of CK Hutchison’s towers in the market.
But perhaps the largest obstacle to such an acquisition is not some regulatory complexity, but simply cash. While American Tower and Brookfield could, at a stretch, likely afford such a giant investment, they would surely need a hugely favourable valuation of Cellnex to truly consider such a purchase.
With Cellnex already taking steps to consolidate their position, reduce debt, and encourage organic growth, the company will surely argue that the company is undervalued, making reaching an amiable takeover agreement unlikely.
Also in the news:
T-Mobile reveals yet another data breach affecting millions of customers
Samsung and KDDI’s latest 5G trial highlights RIC and network slicing
NTT turns AI capabilities to farming edible crickets
