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UK’s Online Safety Bill hands Ofcom ominous powers

Nick Booth
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UK’s Online Safety Bill hands Ofcom ominous powers

Censors and censor abilities reviewed

UK media regulator Ofcom will soon have greater surveillance powers than spy agencies under the Online Safety Bill, according to a legal analysis by the Index on Censorship. The amended legislation being proposed today (Tuesday) gives Ofcom the authority to make technology companies clamp down on the content being published over networks. Nominally, this ban would be a crackdown on material judged as “child abuse” and “terrorism” but it puts unchecked powers of censorship into the hands of the regulator.

Some claim that, by forcing all communications to be scanned, such as end-to-end encrypted messaging platforms like WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, and Facebook Messenger, the law is using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, and dispensing the license to snoop too freely. According to Reclaim The Net, the safety legislation has created a backdoor for authorities into the end-to-end encrypted messaging applications.

Human rights lawyer Matthew Ryder, in a legal opinion commissioned by Index on Censorship, said that the powers that Ofcom would be afforded by the bill allow “allow the state to compel [tech companies] to carry out surveillance of the content of communications on a generalised and widespread basis.”

The regulator would not need prior authorisation before making a demand to a tech company to scan messages. Worse still, there would be no independent oversight over how the regulator uses its powers. “We are unable to envisage circumstances where such a destructive step in the security of global online communications for billions of users could be justified,” said Ryder.

Ryder said it is doubtful if conversations between by journalists, whistleblowers and victims would be safe any more. Neither is it clear if Ofcom would make public the demands it issues or whether it would keep them secret. “The Online Safety Bill has privacy at the heart of its proposals,” said Tom Tugendhat, the Minister for Security, has told The Times. It “ensures we’re able to protect ourselves from online crimes including child sexual exploitation,” Tugendhat claimed, “It’s not a ban on any type of technology or service design.”

“Where a company fails to tackle child sexual abuse on its platforms, it is right that Ofcom as the independent regulator has the power, as a last resort, to require these companies to take action,” said Tugendhat, “strong encryption protects our privacy and our online economy but end-to-end encryption can be implemented in a way which is consistent with public safety. The Bill ensures that tech companies do not provide a safe space for the most dangerous predators online.”

Nokia says SDAN can deliver on du’s information highway

Nick Booth
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Nokia says SDAN can deliver on du’s information highway

Hands off the network – it can run itself

Nokia is installing Software Defined Access Networks (SDAN) for du, the mobile network operator service run by Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (EITC), in order to create a self managing network that needs no human intervention. The mobile network operator has high hopes for a network unspoiled by human hands, AKA a ‘zero touch access’ system, because machines are much better at catering for people and only an automated network can keep pace with services such as cloud gaming and augmented reality. The three-year project is built on the two companies’ long-term relationship that brings Nokia’s latest technologies to the UAE.

As one of the first operators in the Middle East to run a zero-touch network, du said it is encouraging invention in order to expedite the deployment of new services on its existing fibre broadband network. It is using Nokia’s Altiplano cloud system to evolve into a virtualised network with the intelligence to automatically control the network. This will balance the supply of network and computer resources to support new demands as they emerge. The anticipated use cases will be 5G backhaul, augmented reality, virtual reality, cloud gaming and network slicing for enterprises.

Adding SDANs to the du infrastructure is essential for keeping up with the demands of the business as it moves faster and becomes more virtualised, according to Saleem AlBlooshi, Chief Technology Officer at du. If the telco can drive future value by integrating smart apps, artificial intelligence and a higher level of automation then user experience will be as seamless as possible. “We can offer a better customer experience and meet their growing demands by automating operations and running zero-touch services,” said AlBlooshi.

Nokia’s end-to-end SDAN solution is changing the way service providers operate their networks, said Rima Manna, the VP of Middle East Business at Nokia. “A single cloud gave du the tools that unlock new business opportunities and use cases,” said Manna.

Lower paid BT staff secure substantial pay rise after strikes

Annie Turner
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<strong>Lower paid BT staff secure substantial pay rise after strikes</strong>

Separately, CEO Philip Jansen looks to combine global and domestic divisions

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) and Prospect have recommended the deal offered by BT’s management to their members.

The long-standing disagreement between the unions and BT’s management finally seems resolved. All UK workers who earn less than £50,000 will be given a £1,500 pay rise from January 1. This covers most frontline staff and about 50% of managers in the UK.

In combination with an increase last April, the worst paid workers will receive an increase of more than 15% since last autumn. All of the employees covered by the negotiations got at least 6%.

A change of tune?

In October, up to 30,000 BT engineers and 10,000 call centre workers, including emergency  call handlers went on strike over pay.

BT Group’ CEO, Philip Jansen said in a statement: “This award is based on the principles we have followed throughout this difficult period.

“It gets help to as many of our colleagues as possible, favours our lower paid colleagues, and gives people the security of a built-in, pensionable increase to their pay.

“Crucially, it has been worked on in conjunction with the CWU. As I’ve said throughout, whatever our differences, our unions are vital partners. We will now build on this collaboration.”

CWU deputy general secretary Andy Kerr said: “I wish to pay tribute to our members for coming out to strike in such serious numbers.

“Their determination has moved BT into a position where they could no longer ignore the case for a consolidated pay rise – without such unity, the company would have offered a cost-of-living bung at the very best.

Merging enterprise units

Having ticked that one off the to-do list, Jansen is still looking to cut costs:The Daily Telegraph reports thatBT is preparing to merge its struggling international and domestic  enterprise divisions.

Earlier this month Jansen announced he wanted to save an another £500 million, in addition to his target of £2.5 billion savings, by the end of the year. BT is facing flat revenue growth but soaring inflation and energy costs.

Last week it announced it is slowing fibre build-out to reduce costs but is widely expected to drop its wholesale prices in a bid to increase take-up, known as Equinox 2, which could be challenged in court by competitors.

The plan is to combine its Global Services division, which primarily offers security and cloud computing services around the world, with its UK Enterprise unit, which serves business and government customers in the UK.

The Telegraph’s source said the thinking is that a merger could reduce costs by between £10 million and £20 million, although no final figures have been agreed

Whether amalgamating two struggling businesses will create a thriving one remains to be seen, as does whether the hoped-for benefits of consolidation, including scale, exceed the substantial costs involved in a merger.

The walking wounded

The Enterprise division lost a big contract with Virgin Mobile in 2019 and despite bringing in Rob Shuter from MTN to head up the division in 2020, it has continued to struggle and shrank 5% in the first half of the year while profits fell by close to 25%.

Revenues from global services fell 2% – the division has never recovered from the Italian accounting scandal that erupted in 2016 and has been a drag on BT Group ever since. Jansen tried and failed to offload the Global Services division to private equity companies, although some parts have been sold off piecemeal.

A BT spokesman reportedly commented, “We know that there is some overlap of activities between our Global and Enterprise units, and we are working on ways to eradicate this.”

When 6G hits the sky, we will know how and why – Amadora

Nick Booth
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When 6G hits the sky, we will know how and why – Amadora

Nokia R&D centre creating 100 tech jobs in Portugal

Nokia is opening a new research and development centre that will discover the future of 5 and 6G mobile network technology at its Portuguese campus in Amadora, a satellite town of the capital Lisbon. A range of professionals will be brought in to solve the mysteries of today’s 5G and future 6G networks. The centre will oversee the full cycle of embedded and real-time software development from early analysis to final delivery. It will recruit professionals from diverse technical disciplines, including software engineers, product owners and technical leads to work alongside teams around the world.

The research and development centre will create multiple highly skilled jobs, focusing on the advanced development of software to support mobile networks. It helps that it’s based only 10km from the capital Lisbon, whose extended metropolitan area comprises nearly 3 million people with multiple technology institutes and universities pumping out graduate engineers. Lisbon is Portugal’s chief seaport and its subsea cable links and knowledge base have made it a major European technological hub. Nokia can easily attract talent as Lisbon was recognised as the seventh most livable city in the world in 2021 by lifestyle magazine Monocle.

“The centre’s vital work will continue to expand the possibilities of mobile networks, critical for seamlessly connecting people, businesses, and industries,” said Tommi Uitto, President of Nokia Mobile Networks, “this will be a hub for innovation, will reinforce our 5G technology leadership and make a 6G pioneer.”

Nokia has 2,800 employees in Portugal, whose ‘vibrant technology ecosystem, highly skilled talent pool, stability and location’ were contributing factors for the location of its R&D centre. The units in Amadora and Aveiro and hosts services centres remotely manage broadband networks for the world’s top mobile operators, says Nokia. Last year’s strategic agreement with the Portuguese government to open a Global Business Services Centre persuaded Nokia to promote digital skills in the area.

“The announcement made today is a testament to the continued solid operation of Nokia in the country, reinforced once again by a collaboration with the Portuguese Government,” said Sérgio Catalão, Country Manager of Nokia Portugal. “This project reinforces our commitment to supporting Portugal’s digital transformation with our market-leading technology by working in close cooperation with academia, as well as bolstering our team with the best talent.”

Belgian government stumps up €2m to help fight SMS fraud

Annie Turner
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Belgian government stumps up €2m to help fight SMS fraud

Also, next year Belgian prepaid customers can take unused credit with them

Telecommunications Minister Petra De Sutter agreed with telecom operators to step up the fight against – smishing – fraud via SMS, according to the Brussels Times.

The Minister said the government would contribute €2 million from the European recovery plan to help Telenet and Proximus in their efforts to combat this fraud as the Christmas season looms along with an expected rise in smishing, according to the IMEC research centre.

The Minister wants the operators to develop software to combat fraudulent SMS that is active within a year.

“Last year, the FLUBOT virus caused thousands of victims. Users mechanically clicked on a link sent to them via SMS, which allowed an application to intercept their access codes to mobile banking services,” she said.

Take your credit with you

Last week there was more good news for Belgian mobile users. The Belgian Times reported that from next year, the country’s almost 2 million prepay customers who rely on top-ups will be able to switch operator without losing unused credit.

“A lot of people use prepaid cards and they lose their remaining credit when they change operator. I find this absurd: you paid a certain amount, so in the event of a change of operator, you should be able to keep it. From 2023, customers will keep their call credit,” De Sutter said.

This money will not be automatically moved to the balance of the new phone provider. Instead, “holders of a prepaid card can ask their former telecom operator to reimburse the remaining amount.”

The refund will typically be refunded to customers’ bank accounts within four weeks. To receive it the customer must have already taken the steps to open a new prepaid account with their new operator and transfer their existing number.

Phone providers will still be allowed to charge customers €5 for switching to a new operator.

Vodafone to resell Deutsche Glasfaser’s national FTTH infra

Annie Turner
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Vodafone to resell Deutsche Glasfaser’s national FTTH infra

The deal will last at least 10 years and potentially give Vodafone access to 6m premises

Vodafone will retail Deutsche Glasfaser’s national FTTH infrastructure as part of a wholesale joint agreement that will last at least ten years.

Deutsche Glasfaser said in a statement that the cooperation will bring it closer to its goal of rolling out fibre to Germany’s rural and suburban areas “quickly and comprehensively” through providing open access to other service providers.

It adds that these service providers can then differentiate themselves through services – presumably including prices – while making efficient, responsible use of resources. Which is likely to mean avoiding the idiotic, disruptive, expensive and wasteful practice of overbuilding.

Autumn 2023 activation

From autumn 2023, Vodafone will have access to the German fiber optic network as part of the wholesale agreement and the potential to reach up to 6 million additional households.

However, that’s about a year away and one of Vodafone’s biggest problems is its poor performance in the German broadband market as it loses market share. It is looking unlikely that Nick Read will still be Vodafone Group CEO by that time.

Andreas Pfisterer, CEO of the Deutsche Glasfaser group of companies said, ” Everyone benefits from Open Access: the fibre optic customers in the country have freedom of choice…In doing so, we promote the fair competition of the offers and services and advance fiber optic expansion in Germany”.

Africa needs 5G to feed growth – report

Nick Booth
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Africa needs 5G to feed growth – report

Returns on agricultural output could be seven fold

Africa is paying the price of hesitance over 5G, according to The Future Value of Mobile in Emerging Markets. The return on investment made by its ‘emerging economies’ could be seven times the amount they paid for 5G equipment, says management consulting firm Analysys Mason (AM), which compiled the report on behalf of equipment vendor Ericsson. The study looked at the growth domestic product of 15 countries across the world that could be classified as ’emerging national markets’, including South Africa and Nigeria.  

The top line conclusion is that any growing economy, such as those in Africa, could grow between 0.3 and 0.46% more between now and 2035 if they invested in 5G technology. This projection was made by AM on the basis of the potential economic, consumer and environmental benefits of 5G connectivity to the sample group, which comprised ’emerging’ nations on every continent outside Europe. With the right regulatory and government support, mobile broadband and fixed wireless access (FWA) alone could stimulate consumer demand, boost industrial output and improve public services to move the entire national economy upwards by nearly 0.5% in GDP terms.  

Though the sample group was a mixed basket of economies, ranging in size from Bangladesh to India, the world’s sixth biggest economy, the one unifying trait is that Agriculture is a crucial sector- accounting for up to 10 percent of GDP in some markets. The report estimates that enhanced rural 5G coverage could deliver up to 1.8 percent uplift in long-term GDP from agriculture. 5G will also promote sustainable farming methods, increase efficiency and reduce agricultural waste.

Expanded Mid-Band 5G coverage is identified as the key factor in the delivering about 80% of the promised economic benefits. Improvements to Smart Industry and Smart Rural clusters can account for 90% percent of the total economic benefits in each emerging market. The social benefits of 5G will be greatest from 5G-based FWA, smart factories, freight and logistics, agriculture and health.

AM’s figures suggest 5G mobile broadband can generate consumer surplus between €1-10 billion per country, with coverage extension giving 20-30% extra consumer surplus. The baseline 5G investment needed would be €3-8 billion per country with an additional 20-35% required to extend coverage. The report expounds further on how spectrum, installation and economic miracles can be achieved.

 “This report provides a detailed breakdown, based on comprehensive research into realistic and achievable scenarios in each of the 15 countries, of the potential economic, social, environmental and national benefits of 5G in these markets,” said Andrew Lloyd, Head of Government and Policy Advocacy, Ericsson.

With the backing of governments, regulators and policy makers, each of these 15 countries, and their citizens, stand to benefit significantly from 5G connectivity, said Lloyd, who said  climate impact, social inclusion and the digital divide could be ended in areas where fixed infrastructure availability is poor.

“The study highlights the benefits from having the right spectrum available for 5G deployment,” said Janette Stewart, Partner, Analysys Mason.

Block-building Concept for Telco Services: The Power of Catalogs – White Paper from Comarch

Annie Turner
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Block-building Concept for Telco Services: The Power of Catalogs – White Paper from Comarch

These days, it is necessary to use tools that support continuous development of digital telecoms. The worsening shortage of experts causes increased demand for automation of many processes for business, and zero-touch management is becoming essential in order to better manage all available assets.

Comarch presents an easy way of creating new services, based on playing with building blocks. But, instead of building a toy castle, it is possible to establish a multi-access edge computing data center or more using existing components to create new services or products. All elements can be saved in the catalogs. Just drag and drop to utilize them in a fully new composition. Among the modules in the Telecom Application Map, there are catalogs for resources, services, and products. Moreover, for the contents there is the TM Forum Information Framework (SID), so it is possible to integrate various systems. Catalogs limit the amount of manual work required, and guarantee the most efficient utilization of network resources.

What does creating new services have in common with playing with building blocks? What is the role of network slicing in service composition? How can you manage service implementation with simple tools? The newest episode of Comarch’s campaign entitled “Creating Innovative Values in Telco” has the answers for those questions

DOWNLOAD NOW

Orange links with 1&1 for global roaming

Nick Booth
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Orange links with 1&1 for global roaming

German start up operator gets access to French giant

1&1 and Orange have agreed to provide international roaming services through the 1&1 mobile network, which is Europe’s first fully virtualised mobile network based on OpenRAN technology. Germany’s challenger mobile operator 1&1 will give its customers reliable mobile services when they travel abroad, said Orange.

Under the terms of the pact 1&1 customers will get access to all international roaming services based on Orange’s worldwide roaming footprint. The services use Orange’s state-of-the-art systems, including 5G and voice over Long Term Evolution (VoLTE). By using Orange, 1&1 benefits from a one-stop shop roaming experience, given that it’s one of the world’s biggest mobile operator groups. Orange said it will give 1&1 an immediate roaming coverage and a completely customised roaming system providing a large array of value-added services and anti-fraud solutions.

“By joining forces with Orange, we have gained a strong and well experienced partner for international roaming that will enable us to automatically offer to our customers excellent network performance even when they are abroad,” said Ralph Dommermuth, CEO of 1&1 AG. “The 1&1 OpenRAN will launch its broadband services for the home at the end of this year, followed by the mobile services in the summer of 2023. All roaming services will be available as of this point.”

“This partnership will benefit 11 from our customised and innovative roaming model for mobile operators,” said Michaël Trabbia, interim CEO Wholesale & International Networks of Orange says.

Vodacom launches M-Pesa Rallonge in Democratic Republic of Congo

Nick Booth
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Vodacom launches M-Pesa Rallonge in Democratic Republic of Congo

M-Pesa makes finance more inclusive

Vodacash is launching a new addition to the fintech service M-Pesa to give subscribers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) vital assistance over their cash flow. The new Rallonge offering is aimed at M-Pesa users with little or no balance who could use an instant overdraft in order to cover a transaction. Vodacom’s primary intervention is to help its subscribers send money without being stung by withdrawal fees.

Other situations from which the Vodacom finance experts want to save their customers include buying personal credit, buying new phone packages for themselves and shopping for consumer products. In a classic symptom of the digital age, a major problem that Vodacom has identified among the population is the need to finance repeat subscription to cable channels. One of the problems experienced by consumers in the DRC is that channels like Canal+, Startimes, Easy TV and Bleusat, only accept payment in dollars.

It is a fairly exclusive offer. Only customers with an active premium account who make regular transactions via M-Pesa will be eligible. The overdraft is currently only available in Congolese francs and its limit ranges from 50 to 100 thousand FC, subject to interest charges and penalties for violating the terms and conditions. “M-Pesa continues to provide the DRC with the solutions that can benefit the population and promote digital and financial inclusion,” said Vodacash MD Hashim Mukudi, “together we can drive economic development and provide services to those in dire need of access to financial services in rural and remote areas.”

In the Central and East African regions M-Pesa is the largest mobile money brand with a 61% market share. In the Democratic republic of Congo it constitutes a 10% contribution to GDP through its 6 million customers. Vodacash is a subsidiary of Vodacom Congo, which in turn is a subsidiary of the Vodacom Group in South Africa and the UK Vodafone Group.

With its M-Pesa brand, VodaCash offers a products and services at quality/price ratio adapted to the spending power of the Congolese population. Vodacom said the 6 million subscribers make it a key player in the DRC financial inclusion programme, which is endorsed by the Central Bank of Congo (BCC).

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