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News The president confirmed this week that the industry is “the most important foundation for making our people’s lives richer”    South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol has announced that the country will spend a record 26 trillion won ($19 billion) on a support package for its chip businesses, saying the semiconductor industry is a vital sector for the national economy.  The investment will come through the state-run Korea Development Bank and will support for infrastructure deployment,...

Broadband network builder nexfibre, which shares some of the same parentage as retail UK ISP partner Virgin Media (VMO2), has been hit with fines and charges totalling £11.3k in Somerset and £30k in Devon (England) after the local courts found them guilty of various roadworks offences that “posed a danger to pedestrians“. Just for context. Telefónica, Liberty Global and InfraVia Capital Partners originally setup the new £4.5bn nexfibre joint venture in 2022 (here), which aims to deploy an open...

New customers looking to join either Smarty or iD Mobile, both of which are virtual mobile (MVNO) providers on Three UK’s network, may like to know that they’ve both slightly reduced their top SIM Only 4G and 5G unlimited data (mobile broadband) plans to £15 per month on a 30-day term. Both plans include the usual array of unlimited minutes and calls. In the case of Smarty, the main differing feature is that you only get EU Roaming with a 12GB (GigaBytes) fair usage limit. By comparison, the...

News The ‘Symbiosis Coalition’ will focus on “next-generation nature restoration projects” that can generate nature-based carbon removal credits    Tech giants Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Salesforce have joined together to form the ‘Symbiosis Coalition’, which pledges to reduce the companies’ carbon footprint by supporting nature restoration projects.  Together, the companies have committed to contract up to 20 million tons in nature-based carbon removal credits by 2030. Essentially, this...

News The data breach was one of the country’s biggest ever cyber attacks  Australia’s Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has begun legal action against Optus, the country’s second largest telco, over a data breach it suffered in 2022.  The watchdog has filed legal proceedings to the Federal Court, alleging that Optus “failed to protect the confidentiality of its customers’ personal information from unauthorised interference or unauthorised access,” and was therefore in breach of the...

News The event, co-hosted with the Republic of Korea, saw the UK government pledge new funding to researching AI safety measures, as well as convincing major tech firms to shore up their safety measures The AI Seoul Summit took place this week, bringing together the UK and South Korean governments to discuss AI safety alongside some of the biggest companies in the AI industry. The meeting saw 16 global AI companies commit to a set of safety outcomes building on those set out by the ‘Bletchley...

Merseyside-based ISP BeFibre, which is powered by FullFibre Ltd’s national FTTP network, has discounted some of their packages and moved to a fixed 12-month and 24-month pricing strategy in order to “give our customers much better value & assurance of what they will be paying for that fixed period” (i.e. the Be-Guarantee assures they won’t increase prices mid-contract). In terms of the new pricing, BeFibre’s entry-level 150Mbps (symmetric speed) package on a 24-month term with free...

Network operator nexfibre has just expanded their 2Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP / XGS-PON) broadband network, alongside partner UK ISP Virgin Media (VMO2), to cover an additional 24,000 premises in the Merseyside (England) borough of Wirral. Nexfibre has already covered 1 million premises across the UK with their new full fibre network, and they’re currently in the process of investing a further £1bn during 2024, which should enable them to cover an additional 1 million UK premises...

Insight We caught up with Ian Fogg, Research Director – Network Innovation at CCS Insight, to discuss some of the exciting infrastructure solutions on show at Mobile World Congress as the industry readies itself for 5.5G   It is well understood that 5G is evolving far faster than previous generations of mobile technology, with infrastructure innovation happening at a similarly blistering pace. With 3GPP’s Release 18 being frozen later this year, operators are already preparing for the next...

Press Release With the landing in Chania, the company strengthens Greece’s position as a digital hub for Internet traffic between Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia Sparkle, the first international service provider in Italy and among the top global operators, announced this morning the landing of the BlueMed submarine cable in Chania (Greece) during a press conference hosted at the Residence of the Ambassador of Italy in Athens and attended by Paolo Cuculi, Ambassador of Italy, Dimitris...