Latin America’s Richest Man Takes 3.2 Percent Stake in BT Group
The richest man in Latin America, Carlos Slim (worth around £72bn), has just become one of the largest shareholders in UK telecoms and broadband giant BT Group. The telecoms billionaire has taken out a 3.2% stake in the company, which is said to be worth around £400 million, but his intentions remain unclear. At present BT’s biggest shareholder is still French billionaire Patrick Drahi via Altice UK, which holds a 24.5% stake in the business. After that it’s T-Mobile Holdings Ltd. (aka –...
ISP Sky Broadband UK Deploying IP Address Sharing via MAP-T
Some customers of Sky Broadband have noticed, via our forum (here), that the ISP has quietly deployed a modern type of Internet Protocol (IP) address sharing called MAP-T that seems to be a notable improvement on other sharing solutions, like the often maligned Carrier Grade Network Address Translation (CGNAT). Let’s start with a little context. The reason why some ISPs adopt IP address sharing is to help balance against dwindling stocks of older IPv4 addresses (e.g. 123.45.76.200), which are...
Digicel Deploys Infinera’s GX Series for Deep Blue One Subsea Cable System
Digicel Deploys Infinera’s GX Series for Deep Blue One Subsea Cable System San Jose, Calif. – June 12, 2024 – Infinera (Nasdaq: INFN) announced today that Digicel has deployed Infinera’s GX Series, featuring Infinera’s ICE6 800G and FlexILS solutions, to light the Deep Blue One subsea cable connecting French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago. The deployment offers service providers new, best-in-class connectivity to the southern Caribbean region. Deep Blue One is a new...
Telefónica Germany and Ericsson renew core network partnership
News The deal extends their initial core partnership, which first began back in 2020 Ericsson and Telefónica Germany have agreed to extend their core network partnership. The company’s dual-mode 5G Core and cloud infrastructure solutions already provide mobile connectivity to 45 million O2 Telefónica subscribers, covering 5G Standalone (SA), 5G non-Standalone (NSA), 4G, and 2G. The agreement, the companies say, will allow them to increase innovation and functionality in the core network in...
Vodafone Germany partners with FlyNex on industrial drone platform
News The launch comes on the fifth anniversary of Germany’s first 5G auction Vodafone Germany has partnered with German data collection company FlyNex to set up a platform called ‘DroNet Hub’, designed to plan and manage commercial drone flights. DroNet Hub will serve as a database for critical operational factors for drone flight, including the radius drones can be flown in, no-fly zones, approvals for a last-minute drone flights, and knowledge of local mobile network coverage to ensure...
Rubbish Trucks to Help Map 4G Mobile Coverage in Mid Wales
The Growing Mid Wales (GMW) programme has launched a major new project in Mid Wales, which aims to identify areas with poor 4G mobile (mobile broadband) coverage and network capacity (“mobile not-spots“) by installing “advanced mobile data-capturing devices” on waste collection vehicles across Powys and Ceredigion. Under this approach, the waste collection vehicles will continue their regular routes, while ensuring thorough data collection and without the additional logistical costs of needing...
Rural Broadband ISP Airband Fined £11k for Roadworks Offences
Alternative network operator Airband, which aims to reach 400,000 UK premises in rural areas via a mix of fixed wireless access (FWA) and full fibre (FTTP) networks by 2026, has been hit with fines and charges totalling more than £11k in Somerset for “failing to ensure the safety of the public while doing work” in the County. The operator, which has recently been going through a period of restructuring that disrupted some builds and caused redundancies (here and here), has otherwise spent the...
Police Arrest Two Men Over Illegal UK Phone Mast and Smishing
In somewhat of a first for the United Kingdom, Police in the City of London area last week reported that they had arrested two men in connection with the investigation of an “illegitimate telephone mast” and antenna that is believed to have been setup for the purpose of acting as an “SMS blaster”. For the uninitiated, Smishing (aka – SMS Phishing) describes a text message that attempts to trick people into divulging personal information. Smishing texts are often designed to look authentic and...
Telstra’s network APIs to be added to Vonage platform
News The new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will see application developers get greater access to Telstra’s network capabilities This week, Australian telco Telstra has signed a new MoU with API specialist Vonage, now a part of Ericsson, that will see its network APIs added to Vonage’s platform. The non-exclusive agreement, the partners say, will help them to increase collaboration on API development and open a clear pathway for developers to gain better access to Telstra’s network...
Sparkle and Telecom Namibia Partner to Deliver Enhanced Connectivity for Namibia’s Digital Transformation
Press Release The agreement allows Telecom Namibia to leverage a diversified, low-latency route between Africa and Europe Rome 12 June 2024 – Sparkle, the first international service provider in Italy and among the top global operators, and Telecom Namibia, the national telecommunications operator, have signed an agreement for provision of capacity services on the Equiano subsea cable connecting Portugal to South Africa, with the common objective of accelerating Namibia’s digital...