Google and Vodafone Spain recently faced a EUR14 million fine by the country’s data protection authority, with reports revealing that the total number of fines for GDPR enforcement now totals EUR1.6 billion. Four years after the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect in the EU, the threat of fines for businesses continues to grow as a host of new regulations and enforcements are set to come into effect this year, including the Data Governance Act and ePrivacy Regulation…

Google and Vodafone Spain recently faced a EUR14 million fine by the country’s data protection authority, with reports revealing that the total number of fines for GDPR enforcement now totals EUR1.6 billion.

Four years after the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect in the EU, the threat of fines for businesses continues to grow as a host of new regulations and enforcements are set to come into effect this year, including the Data Governance Act and ePrivacy Regulation.

Dufrain, the data consultancy, today urges telcos businesses to do more to ensure they have proper data governance processes in place to protect both themselves and their customers from data breaches. As such, it outlines the steps telcos can take to manage their data effectively and mitigate risk.

Sorting out unstructured data
Unstructured data, that is data held by an organisation that cannot be used or detected by technology, presents a serious compliance risk for telcos, which are typically exposed to huge amounts of personal customer information. Common examples of unstructured data include emails, PDFs or documents saved via Microsoft Teams, but data left in this way can mean businesses breach data protection laws and face the threat of potentially crippling fines.
Bespoke technological solutions can be implemented to bring unstructured data under control in the same way as structured data, making it easier to manage and mitigate risks before they arise.

Prepare properly for mergers and acquisitions
Deal value for M&A in the telecommunications sector rose by 48% in 2021 with ‘scale deals’ – when companies merge to increase market share – making up the bulk of activity.
To reap the full benefits of M&A activity and scale up, the data of the two companies must be combined. However, this migration is often slow and inefficient as businesses have to merge masses of data from many disparate systems. Technical solutions that are designed to speed up and simplify the data migration process can be extremely cost effective and allow businesses to properly integrate data from an acquired or merged business into their reporting. Ensuring that businesses have oversight of all data guarantees it is stored properly, while also driving better informed business decisions and profitability.

Implementing a strong data governance strategy
By developing an overarching data governance strategy, businesses improve the quality of data to drive effective decision making for the future while also ensuring that all information is stored safely to eliminate the threat of fines for non-compliance. Data consolidated in one central, organised system means that insights from all areas of the businesses can be drawn upon to inform decisions that enable growth and better meet customer needs.

Gerry Goodwin, Sales Director at Dufrain, said:
“The fine imposed on Google and Vodafone shows that, four years on from the implementation of GDPR, the regulators are as stringent as ever in its enforcement. Focusing on implementing a data strategy that encompasses all aspects of data usage, ownership and management is vital for avoiding potentially crippling fines, especially as the world becomes increasingly digital. In the first instance, that means knowing where all their data is and how its stored and used, both to mitigate data breaches as much as possible, but also to ensure that they can make the most of the data in a compliant way to develop the business and drive growth.”
 

Today, Telus has announced its purchase of human-resources firm LifeWorks for $2.3 billion, including debt, with plans to combine it with the operator’s existing healthcare subsidiary, Telus Health.
Toronto-based LifeWorks currently runs pension plans, absence management, and other health support services for corporate clients…

Today, Telus has announced its purchase of human-resources firm LifeWorks for $2.3 billion, including debt, with plans to combine it with the operator’s existing healthcare subsidiary, Telus Health.

Toronto-based LifeWorks currently runs pension plans, absence management, and other health support services for corporate clients. 

These capabilities will be integrated with Telus Health’s existing service offerings, creating a holistic mental health and wellness platform.

Once combined, Telus Health will have a revenue of roughly $1.6 billion, with corporate clients in over 160 countries. 

“Today’s announcement will enable us to combine the respective skills and capabilities of LifeWorks and Telus Health, creating a globally leading, end-to-end, digital-first employee preventative and mental health and wellness platform covering more than 50 million lives,” said Darren Entwistle, President and CEO of Telus.

Telus Health initially began life back in 2008, when the operator purchased Emergis, a Canadian medical records business. Since then, the company has now grown to offer a wide variety of healthcare-related services, including virtual medical care, health benefits management, and e-proscription services. 

The motivation for the acquisition appears to be primarily one of scale, with Telus suggesting that the changing corporate environment post-pandemic is putting an increasing emphasis on employee-wellness services.

“Access to care is a big challenge, and mental health is a growing theme across the world,” said Telus Health’s VP of virtual care Daniel Martz. “Employees are increasingly expecting to receive broader health and wellness and work-life support in this environment.” 

As always, the acquisition will await the typical approvals from regulators and shareholders, with Martz telling analysts on a conference call earlier today that he expected the process to the “smooth sailing”. 
 

This week, reports from the covert activist group Justice for Myanmar (JFM) suggest that Burmese operator Mytel is helping the military junta track defecting soldiers via their SIM cards. 
Back in 2018, before the commercial launch of Mytel, the operator launched a sales campaign called Aung Ta Khon (‘Banner of Victory’), handing out free SIM cards to soldiers with the backing of military leadership. 
Having been given access to data pertaining to the soldiers&’…

This week, reports from the covert activist group Justice for Myanmar (JFM) suggest that Burmese operator Mytel is helping the military junta track defecting soldiers via their SIM cards. 

Back in 2018, before the commercial launch of Mytel, the operator launched a sales campaign called Aung Ta Khon (‘Banner of Victory’), handing out free SIM cards to soldiers with the backing of military leadership. 

Having been given access to data pertaining to the soldiers’ name, rank, and ID number, Mytel then assigned SIM cards to each soldier that corresponded to the soldiers’ military ID, typically prefixed with 0969. In this way, the military could easily identify its troops by their phone numbers alone.  

It is worth noting that the choice of 0969 is seemingly no coincidence: the 696 Movement is a Buddhist nationalist movement that broadly opposes the Islamic religion within Myanmar. 

Now, JFM is alleging that the military is using these SIMs to track the movements and conversations of its soldiers, saying that a number of soldiers trying to defect had been arrested after having used their Mytel SIMs.

“Two soldiers connected with us via their Mytel SIM cards because they cannot buy another SIM card at the frontline,” explained Nyi Thuta, a former captain the Burmese military who defected after the coup and now helps others to do the same. “Later, they were arrested while on their way to us.”

Following the Aung Ta Khon promotion, similar SIM cards were given to government officials and business leaders in the country, many of whom, including State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint, have since been detained by the military junta following the coup.

JFM is calling on Mytel to be sanctioned by the international community, saying that the company’s profits are being used by the military to commit crimes against humanity.

« Mytel is a product of the Myanmar military’s systemic corruption, supporting war criminals including Min Aung Hlaing and the illegal military junta that he is heading, with revenue, technology and intelligence,” said JFM spokesperson Yadanar Maung speaking to Radio Free Asia.

As a joint venture between the Burmese military and Viettel, controversies surrounding Mytel’s relationship to the military are nothing new.

Granted a telecoms licence in 2017, the company has since been embroiled in numerous scandals due to its links to the military, including having receiving preferential treatment by the government and launching nationalistic disinformation campaigns over social media.

Following the military coup d’état against the government in February 2021, Mytel has been boycotted by Burmese consumers, with the resulting campaign reportedly resulting in a loss of around $25 million in profits and two million subscribers in the two months following the overthrow.

Since then, the company has seen hundreds of its mobile towers sabotaged by resistance groups, with its leadership even being targeted for assassination. In November last year, Thein Aung, Mytel’s chief financial officer and a former navy officer, was shot dead outside his home in the capital of Yangon. It is currently unclear who was responsible for the attack.

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Also in the news: 
ITU’s Partner2Connect project sees $18.5 billion in pledges to connect the unconnected
Telefonica strikes deal with German fibre association to connect 5G sites
Enterprise data opportunities in the 5G era 

The Malaysian government is this week standing firm against pressure from telcos to change its strategy surrounding 5G mobile services. 
Rather than auctioning off 5G spectrum, as is the norm in most countries around the world, in 2021 Malaysia chose to set up a national wholesale 5G network operator, DNB. The government reasoned that this would allow for a faster and more equitable rollout of the new technology across the country and greatly reduce unnecessary overbuild by rival operators…

The Malaysian government is this week standing firm against pressure from telcos to change its strategy surrounding 5G mobile services. 

Rather than auctioning off 5G spectrum, as is the norm in most countries around the world, in 2021 Malaysia chose to set up a national wholesale 5G network operator, DNB. The government reasoned that this would allow for a faster and more equitable rollout of the new technology across the country and greatly reduce unnecessary overbuild by rival operators. 

The existing mobile players, however, disagreed, saying that the prices DNB charged were too high and that they would have been able to deploy 5G in a more effective and affordable way themselves. 

By the end of 2021, only a few very minor mobile players had signed up for DNB’s services, leading the government to change tack in early 2022 and offer the telcos a combined 70% stake in DNB.

While this plan was initially met with approval from the telcos, upon closer inspection they insisted that individual minority stakes would still not offer them good value. The four largest operators – Digi Telecom, Celcom Axiata, Maxis, and U Mobile – made a joint suggestion that those four alone should own a combined 51% stake of DNB, but this was rejected by the government last month. 

Now, the operators have a deadline of the end of the month to agree to a stake or else lose out on access to 5G spectrum entirely. 

Today, despite pushback from the mobile industry, the Malaysian government is sticking to its guns, saying that the end-of-the-month deadline will stand. If the telcos refuse, then licences could instead be offered to new market entrants.

« The larger issue is Malaysians’ and businesses’ access to 5G technology. If telcos, particularly the larger ones, continue to delay providing 5G services to their customers, as recently mentioned by the Minister of Communications and Multimedia, his Ministry will consider other options such as issuing new licences to new players to enable the speedy delivery of 5G services in the country,” said Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul to The Straits Times. « Indeed, the interests of Malaysia and its people must take precedence over the telcos’ narrow commercial interests. »

The Malaysian government has estimated that the rollout of 5G could create around 750,000 high-value jobs and boost the economy by almost $15 billion by 2030.

He said that no operator will be allowed to hold a stake in DNB greater than 20%, or 25% in the case of mergers between the operators, while the Ministry of Finance will retain its 30% stake.

“All 5G spectrum will be available only through DNB,” he said. “DNB is able to obtain financing to fund the network rollout because 5G services will undoubtedly be in demand in the country. I am aware that DNB has discussed financing with various banks.”

According to sources, various private equity firms are also interested in taking stakes in DNB.

Nonetheless, Tengku Zafrul said that telcos would be prioritised over any foreign investors if they do choose to invest. 

With less than two weeks to go, the future of Malaysian 5G is balanced on a knife edge.
 

Want to keep up to date with the latest developments in the world of telecoms? Subscribe to receive Total Telecom’s daily newsletter here

Also in the news: 
ITU’s Partner2Connect project sees $18.5 billion in pledges to connect the unconnected
Telefonica strikes deal with German fibre association to connect 5G sites
Enterprise data opportunities in the 5G era