Businesses in eight countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region see the digital transformation as bringing “multiple benefits,” with improved security being “the top objective in five of the eight countries surveyed,” GSMA said in a report released Tuesday. Revenue-related goals “are deemed slightly more important” than cutting costs. The survey came as GSMA holds its first Mobile World Congress for the region in Doha, Qatar.
China will “further consolidate its 5G-Advanced leadership position” and has a “head start” on developing 6G technologies, but “progress may slow” due to “existing process limitations” in the country’s semiconductor production, said a TechInsights connectivity report released last week. “Huawei continues to diversify its portfolio of home-grown mobile RF technologies.”
Orange announced Tuesday the launch of Message Satellite, a service offered in partnership with Skylo that allows customers based in mainland France to send and receive SMS messages, as well as their geolocation, via satellite when mobile or Wi-Fi coverage is unavailable. The service is the first direct-to-device offering in Europe, the companies said. The offer is “available for Orange's 5G and 5G+ customers and will be initially proposed, on an exclusive basis, to those owning a Google Pixel 9 or 10 smartphone.” It will be available Dec. 11.
The Croatian Personal Data Protection Agency slapped an unnamed telecom operator with a 4.5 million euro ($5.2 million) fine for GDPR violations, it announced Nov. 14. The breaches related to "the transfer of personal data without a valid transfer instrument or transparent information to data subjects, the processing of copies of employees' identity cards and other documents without a legal basis, and the failure to perform appropriate prior checks on a [data] processor," the watchdog said.
GSMA on Monday welcomed an opinion by the European Commission’s Radio Spectrum Policy Group that recommends using the upper 6 GHz band spectrum for licensed wide area coverage by carriers. The opinion “marks a positive step toward building a robust spectrum roadmap for the launch of 6G in Europe,” GSMA said. “Europe needs to strengthen its position in quality, speed and resilience of mobile networks and to remain competitive against other major markets -- in particular East Asia, the Gulf and the USA.” In the U.S., the 6 GHz band is dedicated to unlicensed use.
In what the companies said was a surprise, Costa Rica’s Board of Telecommunications Superintendency rejected a proposal to combine the operations of Liberty Latin America and Millicom International Cellular in that country. Both companies had “maintained an open and ongoing dialogue” with the regulator, said a news release Thursday. “The companies remain convinced that the transaction would have enabled greater technology investment, strengthened market competitiveness, and accelerated the expansion of next-generation networks, directly benefiting users and Costa Rica’s digital ecosystem.” Liberty is based in the U.S. and Millicom in Luxembourg.
Turkcell on Wednesday unveiled a strategic partnership with Google Cloud to create a “cloud region” in Turkey. Turkcell will enhance its operations through the partnership and act as a “trusted partner” to resell Google Cloud solutions in Turkey, the company said.
Pindrop, an authentication and fraud detection company, announced a strategic partnership Wednesday with BT Group to offer voice security solutions for the telecom provider's business customers across the U.K. Contact center fraud has surged more than 100% since 2021, and today one in every 599 calls is fraudulent, Pindrop said.
AST SpaceMobile and Vodafone said Friday that they anticipate commercial launch in 2026 of their joint satellite mobile broadband service. The companies announced in March that they were partnering on a European direct-to-device satellite service (see 2503030015). Mobile network operators in 21 EU member states and other European nations have expressed interest in the service, they said Friday. The command center for the satellite service will be in Germany, they added.
BT now offers 5G stand-alone service to 66% of the U.K. population and is on track to cover 99% by the end of FY 2030, the carrier said Thursday. It also announced an agreement with SpaceX to offer Starlink's high-speed satellite connectivity to BT and EE Limited consumer broadband customers. The agreement will help the provider serve “the hardest to reach parts of the UK,” with service expected to be available in the latter half of next year.