Consumers in the UK are paying less for their communications services than they were five years ago, even though data usage is increasing, according to Ofcom’s latest Pricing Trends report. However, the regulator also noted that a number of big names in the industry have hiked prices in recent months and warned telcos that they
Tech
iPadOS 14.7 has been released just a couple of days after Apple brought iOS 14.7. This is the first time when the Cupertino company split up iPadOS and iOS releases as it normally brings software updates for both together, thanks to the same underlying architecture. The iPadOS 14.7 update brings improvements to the Home app
A couple of Democrat Senators want to make social media companies liable for public health ‘misinformation’ on their platforms. We have long argued that Section 230 needs reforming as, in its current form, it grants social media giants all the editorial privileges of a publisher with none of the liability. This initiative, however, which seeks
The UK government wants to protect us from online horridness but seems confused about how best to go about it while also protecting freedom of speech. A parliamentary committee has published a report in to government digital censorship proposals contained in the draft Online Safety Bill. The report is titled ‘Free for all? Freedom of
Google has pulled the last Chrome OS update that was causing users to lock out of their Chromebooks due to a major bug and announced the development of its fix that is expected to release later today (July 21). The issue emerged after users downloaded Chrome OS version 91.0.4472.165. It restricted users from logging back
Spain has finally auctioned off spectrum in the 700 MHz band, but bidding was lacklustre at best, with the final total only just exceeding the reserve price. The sale brings in €1.01 billion, with the big three operators – Telefonica, Vodafone and Orange – all taking home frequencies, but no mention of challenger player Masmovil.
Bharti Airtel has inked a mobile networks deal with Intel that will see it tap into the flexibility of OpenRAN technology as it rolls out 5G. The companies call it “a collaboration to drive network development of 4G and 5G virtualized radio access network (vRAN) and open radio access network (RAN) technology to transform Airtel’s
The drama never stops in the crazy world of telecoms test and measurement, with US outfit Viavi persisting with its unsolicited bids for Canadian rival Exfo. Viavi has chucked $8 per share onto the table, having had its previous offer of $7.50 thrown back in its face a month ago. On the other side of
UK operator group Vodafone and Finnish kit vendor Nokia have been mucking about with artificial intelligence to detect network anomalies. On first inspection this seems like the kind on self-organizing/optimizing network (SON) tech that has been knocking around for years, so it’s not immediately obvious why both companies felt it was worth an announcement. Then
Tom Clancy’s is going Fortnite. On Monday, Ubisoft announced a new free-to-play first-person shooter in Tom Clancy’s XDefiant that will offer “fast-paced 6-v-6 arena combat with faction-based abilities”. The factions in XDefiant will be inspired by the other Tom Clancy’s series in the past, including Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell, and The Division (which is getting
Dish has inked a mobile network services deal with AT&T that is worth in excess of US$5 billion over the next decade. It’s essentially an MVNO and national roaming agreement. Under the terms of the deal Dish’s various mobile brands will use AT&T’s network, while its yet-to-be-launched 5G service will roam on AT&T’s infrastructure in
As anticipated, Ericsson was awarded just 2% of the available base station work for China Mobile’s 700 MHz 5G rollout, with even Nokia getting more. China Mobile seems to have only published the results of its 700 MHz tender in Chinese, so we’re reliant on Google for the translation, apart from the numbers, which seem
Google Duo will soon get a home screen redesign with a ‘New Call’ button. The new button is said to help make calls more easily. The ‘New Call’ button will also let users call their Assistant “Home” device. The new home screen user interface (UI) still retains the search bar at the top of the screen
Djibouti has confirmed that it will sell of a chunk of its incumbent telecoms operator, but questions remain over how attractive the asset will prove to would-be investors. The government of the Republic of Djibouti on Sunday revealed that ministers had adopted a bill to allow the sale of state-owned enterprises, thereby paving the way
Mid-sized US operators can now apply for money to swap out Huawei and ZTE kit from their networks. US Congress scraped together $1.9 billion of public money at the end of last year, to bribe operators to get rid of any Chinese gear they may have in their networks and replace it with nice, wholesome
Deactivating UPI payments becomes one of the important tasks if you’ve lost your mobile phone. Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has become a prominent payment system in India, with UPI transactions crossing over 2,800 million in June. Starting from bill payments to transferring money from one bank account to another, UPI can be used for most
US B2B comms outfit Lumen Technologies is looking to raise US$5 billion or more by selling certain consumer operations, according to a rumour that emerged this week. When Lumen adopted its current brand just under a year ago, it appeared the writing could be on the wall for the legacy CenturyLink side of its business,
Ericsson and Telia have successfully trialled a new feature that can improve smartphone battery life and lower latency in 5G standalone networks. The pair worked with Qualcomm to test Radio Resource Control (RRC Inactive), a feature that essentially creates a new inactive state for smartphones, reducing the amount of signalling required as the device transitions