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Rakuten Symphony’s Open RAN Customer Experience Centre

Nick Booth
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Rakuten Symphony’s Open RAN Customer Experience Centre

Some get ORCEX from champagne

Rakuten Mobile yesterday announced the long awaited opening of an Open RAN Customer Cxperience Centre for Europe, ORCEX, as was first reported here in November 2022. It’s claimed its Open RAN Customer Experience Centre in Weybridge, 30 minutes from London, already has vendor partners already installed on-site, weighing up their RAN options, of which there are many. The site was developed with £1.85 million (€2.1m) in funding from Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC). There was no direct UK government funding in response to a what Ofcom’s Lindsey Fussell, Group Director Network and Communications at Ofcom, called a vital missing piece in the nation’s telecom’s infrastructure.

While the priorities of the UK government might be open to question, the ORCEX launch was opened by Rakuten Symphony UK Nastasi Karaiskos, who runs a team of about 30 staff across the UK, and Rabih Dabboussi, chief business officer at Rakuten Symphony, who flew in from Japan for the launch. After sixth months of publicity, two UK It already has a cloud-based radio access network in place with tech from Symphony, NEC and Nokia. Symphony hopes to attract operators, integrators and vendors to use the facility, which is funded by the Japanese government. Another Rakuten facility will open later this year in Bangalore, India

The two UK government bodies involved, Digital Catapult, and regulator Ofcom, exemplified the problems that Open RANs may experience. The opening of its new Open RAN testing facilities was presented as part of its SONIC Labs (SmartRAN Open Network Interoperability Centre) programme, funded by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).

At the official opening of the new facilities in Kings Cross, London, Digital Catapult delegates heard from i14Y Lab based in Germany and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) from the US. Digital Catapult has also welcomed nine companies to the next activity in the SONIC Labs programme, including global Open RAN vendors new to the UK market such as Taiwan based WNC and US based Airspan Networks.

For now all activity will focus on exploring the RAN Intelligence Controller (RIC), a system that controls the radio access networks (RAN) for optimised performance. Getting government bodies to work, the source of funding for ‘innovate RAN engineers, may prove terminally frustration. But human comms are the key to getting instant insights and decisions. Unlike their mechanical networker, they’ll be denied digital intelligence tools to expedite research and decision making. Engineers can use Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning based algorithms for informed decision-making and better network performance. The four networkers are set to bring their RIC products for interoperability testing and integration, including Accelleran and IS-Wireless.

“We’re proud to be expediting the Open RAN products testing,” said Digital Catapult CTO Joe Butler, “our SONIC Labs programme is diversifying the UK telecoms supply chain market.” The programme continues to evolve and extend its activities to push the potential of the Open RAN products. The next activity will be exploration of outdoor activity and testing the performance of the indoor multi-vendor systems.  Field trials in indoor and outdoor environments will give them a more realistic take on Open RAN systems and the maturity of the products.  New companies joining the next SONIC Labs activity include Accelleran, Airspan Networks, Benetel, IS-Wireless, Phluido, WNC and Radisys. More vendors are joining the fold.So far, 15 vendors and 36 six Open RAN products have collaborated with SONIC Labs, signifying the largest concentration of Open RAN vendors coming together to collaborate in a commercially neutral environment in the UK.

The government’s £250 million investment in facilities like SONIC Labs is boosting competition in the telecoms market and driving the development of new mobile technology, according to Julia Lopez, the UK government’s Digital Infrastructure Minister, “These new facilities exemplify how the UK is at the forefront of telecoms innovation, supporting our diversification strategy by boosting business and growing the economy.” To put that crisis funding in context, it’s slightly less than the £2.3 million that Baroness Mone was given to provide useless PPE equipment to the NHS during a mis-spending outbreak that went viral in the UK.

Data management is increasingly complex as cloud deployments diversify 

Annie Turner
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Data management is increasingly complex as cloud deployments diversify 

Only 40% of those surveyed have 100% visibility of where their data resides

Vanson Bourne conducted a fifth global annual survey on behalf of Nutanix to measure and analyse enterprises’ adoption of cloud. This year’s Enterprise Cloud Index (ECI) showed that IT infrastructure is increasingly diverse which is making integrating data management and control harder.

The research showed most IT teams use more than one IT infrastructure and this trend is expected to intensify the future, although teams are already struggling with visibility of data across environments. Only 40% report complete visibility of where their data resides, which presumably raises all sorts of issues regarding compliance with data regulation such as the EU’s GDPR and countries such as Germany.

The ECI has seen in a big shift respondents’ attitudes over the last five years, towards use of multiple IT environments. In 2018, well over half of respondents said they envisioned running all workloads exclusively in either a private cloud or the public cloud one day.

Rather than working to consolidate on a particular infrastructure or IT operating model, as seemed desirable in 2018, most enterprises now appear to see running workloads across public cloud, on-premises and at the edge as being inevitable. 

The goal is to make this hybrid operating model more efficient, especially managing IT environments from the edge to the core. Tools that allow organisations to provision, move, manage, monitor and secure applications and data from a single console, uniformly, is a growing priority.

Key findings from the report include: 

• Most organisations (60%) use more than one type of IT infrastructure and this is expected to increase to 74% in “the near future” and 94% say they’d benefit from having a single place to manage applications and data across diverse environments. Editor’s note: this is what Nutanix offers.

• Data security and management considerations dictate enterprises’ IT infrastructure choices – data security, protection and recovery, and sovereignty top the list of key drivers b and visibility is a growing challenge.

• Controlling cost ranks as a top IT challenge for 85% of respondents, while 34% rank it a “significant” challenge; specifically, application migration across clouds is an acute pain point for organisations according to 86% who think it can be complex and costly.

• Additionally 46% plan to repatriate some applications to on-premises datacentres to mitigate cloud costs in the year ahead. 

• Nearly all respondents (96%) have begun using Kubernetesorchestration but cite designing and configuring the underlying infrastructure, storage, and database services as among the top challenges.

• Sustainability is a higher IT priorityto their organisation than it was a year ago accordingto 92% of respondents, primarily driven by corporate Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) initiatives (63%), supply chain disruptions (59%), and customers’ purchasing decisions (48%).

“In the coming years, there will be hundreds of millions of applications created, which will generate unprecedented amounts of data,” said Lee Caswell, SVP, Product and Solutions Marketing at Nutanix.

“Organisations are grappling with current application and data management across the edge, different clouds and in the core. What this year’s ECI shows and what we’re hearing from customers is that there’s a need in the market for a cloud operating model to help build, operate, use and govern a hybrid multi-cloud to support all types of applications – starting today and planning for tomorrow.”

Weather hell Malawi! The complaint Airtel customers never make

Nick Booth
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Weather hell Malawi! The complaint Airtel customers never make

Any port in a storm

Airtel customers can now easily call mobile numbers from other networks in Malawi through an already popular voice bundle portfolio, Chezani, which has been revamped by adding three new bundles. Better communications will be vital to Malawi as it is faces a new climate crisis with the dry season approaching. This comes in the wake of the deaths and destruction caused by Cyclone Freddy. Whilst Liwonde National Park (pictured) was mostly spared from the devastating effects of Cyclone Freddy, the tourist’s dollar is vital to Malawi’s economy and Airtel Malawi is anxious to do its bit for the nation, creating a comms infrastructure that can orchestrate a faster response and save lives.

Airtel Malawi (AM) has announced that the three voice system bundles will create seamless inter-operator comms: Chezani Daily, Chezani Weekly and Chezani Monthly. According to Duncan Mlanjira, writing in the business section of the All Africa news site, AM marketing director Thokozani Kamkondo-Sande said the three Chezani bundles is on promotional offer for 90 days, which should cover the tourist season. From Tuesday March 28 until June 26 users can click on the ‘Airtel to all networks’ option and not worry about a clunky change-over, which is vital in a sandstorm.

“With the world becoming more connected than ever, it’s essential for friends, family, and colleagues to always stay in touch regardless of the network that they are using,” said Kamkondo-Sande. “And that is why we have created these new Chezani bundles to keep Malawians connected anytime, anywhere. The new bundles were tailored for anyone who wants to make a few quick calls or chat for hours on end.”

With an HQ in Lilongwe, the Malawian division of multinational Airtel offers 4G/LTE, 2G and 3G wireless networks and high speed fixed broadband internet services. The multinational also offers the largest mobile commerce service in the country through Airtel Money which was launched in Malawi in February 2011. Airtel Africa is present 14 countries across Africa, primarily in East Africa and Central and West Africa.

The Human Factor in a World Running on AI and Automation – White Paper from Comarch

Annie Turner
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0
The Human Factor in a World Running on AI and Automation – White Paper from Comarch

The Human Factor in a World Running on AI and Automation

Is the work of people still important despite the growing popularity of software and systems using artificial intelligence? Deep automation and the use of artificial intelligence allow users to perform network and parameter reconfiguration operations simply, quickly, and reliably. It eliminates the inconvenience of having limited access to an expert workforce. It should be noted that the point is not to completely eliminate human work, but to facilitate the performance of duties. This is especially important when planning and implementing services based on the 5G network, such as private networks and network slicing. All that should be accomplished very discreetly, because of the big competition.

The use of an AI-powered orchestrator helps you respond faster and better to the needs of today’s customers. They do not want to hire or employ highly paid telecommunications and IT specialists, which translates into much less access to the processing capacity of experienced experts. What they do want is, for example, to take full control of the configuration of what is happening in their network without waiting for the CSP to carry out their order.

The fourth episode of Comarch’s “Creating Innovative Values in Telco” campaign is now available, which will help you explore the topic of orchestration based on artificial intelligence. Download the latest white paper, entitled “Run Your Business Like an Orchestra with AI-powered Orchestrator”, and don’t wait to implement changes.

DOWNLOAD NOW

TalkTalk voted worst ISP in Britain – and that’s up against stiff opposition

Nick Booth
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0
TalkTalk voted worst ISP in Britain – and that’s up against stiff opposition

Come into the garden, Zen

An extract from the latest by biannual 2023 survey by consumer champion Which? has found that TalkTalk is currently the worst provider in Britain. This is a remarkable achievement given that, in the words of former BT executive Tucker George, pictured, there is no regulator tough enough to hold the big ISPs feet to their fire. The MD of new start up Rebel Internet told Mobile Europe that any start up ISP could disrupt this market just by offering new technology that’s well supported. These are too revolutionary for the dictators of the UK market, so this bad service study has a depressing familiarity to it.

The competition for worst service provider seemed to be the biggest companies with the largest market budets. Disappointed TalkTalk customers gave it the lowest possible ratings for technical support, customer service and broadband speed. The CSP always seemed to be having ‘exceptionally’ high numbers of ‘customers to help’, said one customer. If it’s always over run, but then is not an exceptionally high volume of calls.

Many people are under the illusion that TalkTalk has its own infrastructure and 20% left TalkTalk because they couldn’t understand why their connections were so slow. Among those current customers a further fifth said they would not recommend TalkTalk to anyone. In spite of this, TalkTalk is about to jack up its broadband prices by 14.2% next month, a rise that is way above the rate of inflation-.

BT is also structuring its process over and above inflation, with a 14.4% price hike in April, which Ofcom seems happy to tolerate. In a recent U-Switch survey, 90 of people were not happy with these over the top price hikes. For this reason nearly four in ten customers who had departed BT said this was due to the price rise. Overall, according to Which? BT managed better ratings than the other ‘Big Four’ providers but it was easily outshone by smaller competitors. The customer service and value for money came in for criticism. Expect to see a BT advertising campaign telling everyone exactly the opposite.

Virgin Media is also introducing an inflation-busting mid-contract price hike in 2024. However, it made the concession current customers will see costs rise by an average of 13.8% next month. This year, affected customers are still able to switch away. Which? said that might be worth considering. However Virgin Media received lacklustre ratings from customers, particularly around customer service and technical support. Alongside that, two in five Virgin Media customers told ISP Review they pay more than £40 per month for their connection. This could explain why this provider had some of the lowest ratings value for money ratings.

This is another broadband provider that pretends that it owns its own infrastructure, making a call with the Indian call centre very confusing for people who get wi-fi mixed up with broadband. It has clauses covering inflation-based price rises in its contracts, so customers can switch away penalty-free when notified of price hikes. This year’s price increases that come into force this Saturday averaged at 8.1%, well below that of the Big Four. But what good is a discount on a terrible service?

Sky ranked between BT and Virgin Media in ISP Review’s rankings. Its customers were the most likely to have experienced an issue with their connection in the past year, though it was considered easier to contact than both TalkTalk and Virgin Media.

The Which? survey was conducted online in January 2023 with 3,975 members of the public. This study may have had a major flaw in its execution. Critics of the worst ISPs would presumably has struggled to get online, so TalkTalk’s popularity may be even worse than the figures suggest. This excerpt release by Which? (the full report must be purchased) quizzed customers about customer experience criteria such as speed, reliability, value for money, ease of contacting, customer service and technical support. ISPs were also awarded an overall customer score (%), based on their satisfaction and likelihood to recommend.

In other news, 81% of customers of Britain’s best internet service providers found themselves to be a state of calm attentiveness and enlightenment, which is why Zen Internet was voted as Britain’s ISP. They might have got more votes but the customers were too relaxed to fill out a survey.

Ofcom asks for Spectrum Sharing proposals for building private 5G

Nick Booth
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Ofcom asks for Spectrum Sharing proposals for building private 5G

A shared access wireless license

UK regulator Ofcom has asked telecoms industry players how it can reallocate Shared Spectrum Licences that were previously the exclusive the domain of mobile network operators. Amalgamating these radio spectrum bands could give small businesses a ‘license’ to create their own local wireless broadband.

The existing Shared Access Licence (SAL) framework was first established in 2019 and since then over 1600 licences have been issued across four bands, the 3.8-4.2GHz, 1781.7-1785MHz paired with 1876.7-1880MHz, 2390-2400MHz and the lower 26GHz indoors. Around 850 of those licences have been issued since 2020. As a result, says analyst Mark Jackson in ISP Review, the UK has seen businesses and other organisations establish multiple different networks in the shared spectrum. Ports and factories, for example, have private 5G mobile networks, while some rural communities have created new fixed wireless access systems to improve indoor coverage. The problem is that progress on improving these SALs, with the adoption of the Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA), has been slow. It relies on the support of a fully automated central database of available bands and competence in configuring it.

Ofcom will examine the experiences that pioneers have had with the SAL framework since it was introduced. How would they like to see it evolve? What are the technicalities?  Is funding all this work a problem? Ofcom has also published a new discussion paper, which considers the potential benefits of more flexible and ‘adaptive’ spectrum management systems, like the aforementioned DSA. “We consider that more automation, and better availability of interference and spectrum usage data, can deliver significant gains in efficiency and user experience,” said Ofcom.

The industry needs a more flexible spectrum management as demand for spectrum soars as people try to do what the telcos have failed to do. Dynamic sharing, where spectrum supply comes and goes, may be most beneficial where the user has access to other spectrum, according to Dr Martha Suarez (pictured) president of the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance.

So far Ofcom has made a number of recommendations, including: creating and using more automation guided by better data: a system of dynamic access that guarantees bandwidth by instantly allocating spectrum. The vendors of telecoms components need to widen the range of equipment they offer, in order to support greater flexibility, says Ofcom, although that’s not as easy as it sounds. To support this movement, the industry must provide a blueprint for more open interfaces between devices and spectrum management databases could open new opportunities, said Ofcom.

“There is potential for such dynamic and adaptive approaches to play a part in addressing future spectrum management challenges, including spectrum access for wireless broadband evolution to 6G, and supporting a range of users with growing spectrum demands,” said Ofcom, in a statement. “We will look to our Spectrum Sandbox programme as an opportunity to further explore this with industry and academia over the coming months.” There is no guidance on allocation of time and money to support these developments. This is something that stakeholders could mention in their feedback. The call for input is expected to run until 16th May 2023 and then a main consultation, which may contain several proposals to change the current approach, is likely to be launched late in the second half of 2023.

How Big Tech could defeat EU with the dark arts of corporate activism

Nick Booth
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How Big Tech could defeat EU with the dark arts of corporate activism

Talk mawkish, act hawkish

When TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was grilled for 5 hours by the US House of Representatives Energy & Commerce Committee witnesses marvelled his endurance. His ability to withstand head seemed to defy the laws of physics. But Chew’s pacing was not a detail left to chance, according to analyst John Strand, pictured above, MD of Strand Consult. Chews had developed an impenetrably thick skin, thanks to dark arts of one of a new breed of specialised witness preparation consultants that law firms use to improve outcomes for their clients. We’d never heard of them either but they’ll soon be in every court room drama on any self-respecting TV show that wants appear authentic and believable.

People like authenticity and if you any big technology company can learn how to fake it, they become bullet proof to the regulators. The tactic is beginning to be copied here and we will watch in despair as Big Telco and Even Bigger Tech CEOs run rings around market regulators at the next hearing. How do these CEOs stonewall the likes of Ofcom? Telecoms analyst John Strand and South Korean legislator Lee Kyung-min have spoken out about this trend. As Tik Tok’s US, Chew can hire the best that money can buy in every field, from political spin doctors to acting coaches. These constitute the A-Team in crisis communications.    

Strand Consult’s report Follow the money – Net Neutrality Activism Around the Globe details the transnational strategies deployed to create the appearance of grassroots efforts in service of corporations. This technique was most recently exposed by South Korean lawmaker, Lee Kyung-min, in a piece for the Korean Times, that accuses Google and its surrogates of evading tax disclosure and stoking fake outrage.

Chew knew how to pull the heartstrings of the US inquisitors. TikTok acknowledged Congress’ concerns and proposed measures to ensure safety, privacy, and security, amounting to a “firewall around American data on American soil overseen by American personnel.” Huawei attempted similar tactics according to another report Fact Check: 10 Myths That Drive Huawei’s Media Narrative.

Chew pleaded this these measures amounted to more than any company has ever attempted to placate Congress. However, this comes off as authentic as a fake Louis Vuitton bag in Thailand’s Patpong Road, Strand says in his newsletter. Counterfeits have a striking resemblance to the real thing, but they are not the real thing. In the same way, for all its attempts to be Made in Texas, TikTok is still Made in China.

The central issues, and one that Chex must distract people from, is the Chinese government’s ownership of networking hardware. This means that even without ownership of data that travels on it, any information, anywhere, that isproduced on Chinese software or hardware is available to the Chinese government at any time for any reason, says Strand Consult’s study of the OpenRAN Alliance.

An expert witness knows how to manage questions and answers. Watch the grilling of an executive for a while and soon a pattern emerges. When answers have been rehearsed they’re issued immediately, repeated in slightly different terms and summarised in alliterative terms. This is a subject who has memorised the script. When it’s a hard question, they begin by thanking the inquisitor for the opportunity to answer their question. Meanwhile, they are frantically backpedalling. This buys enough time for the coach to shout instructions into a hidden piece in their ear. The sort of touchline coaching should be banned. “The witness can also delay with a promise for a substantive written answer at a later date or decline to answer for legal, ethical or personal reasons,” said Strand.

During Huawei’s testimony to a Select Committee in the Houses of Parliament it declined to answer questions about China. While Huawei employees claimed to have freedom of speech although UK Huawei employees Dr Yao Wenbing, VP of Business Development and Partnerships and Victor Zhang, Vice President and Huawei’s Chief Representative in the UK,  told a different story (See the Parliament Live 9 minutes and 36 seconds in).

The Chinese government has celebrated its loyalists. Huawei´s CFO Meng Wanzhou received a hero’s welcome after returning from Canada following a court settlement. It is standard procedure for Chinese companies outside the People’s Republic to state that they have no relationship with the Chinese government.

Meanwhile, Strand Consult reports that some countries have increased their use of Huawei and deployed their cloud infrastructure. US companies get significant workarounds on Huawei restrictions from the Department of Commerce. Strand Consult said it is not aware of any foreign company that can receives similar due process in China. No foreign person presents in front of the legislature in a live, broadcasted and recorded hearing nor can provide hearing remarks which are made available for public view. Strand Consult’s report You’re Not Welcome: An Analysis of Thousands Foreign Technology Companies Blocked by China Since 1996 describes the many double standards with China and the trillions of dollars foreign companies have lost not having access to China’ market, to say nothing of competition, fairness and freedom.

The US Congress needs another hearing to uncover all that things which CEO Chou Zi Chew declined to answer directly. It was very clear that there was a long list of critical questions which he could not answer and which he would rather answer in writing once the cameras were off and the public focus had cooled down. The tactics of corporate activism, which big companies pay ‘influencers’ to pretend to be in favour of centralised power and oligarchies, will be one of Britain’s most lucrative growth markets.  

RDK for Broadand gives CSPs the tools to serve delicious customer experience

Nick Booth
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RDK for Broadand gives CSPs the tools to serve delicious customer experience

Credit to Comcast and OpenSync

RDK Management (RDK) has created a better system of network management and telemetry for the entire stack of telco service providers, from systems integrators to mobile network operators. It achieved this by forging a single software management component that unifies Wi-Fi for residential gateways, access points and mesh extenders. The new open-source software library (see pic) was created in a collaboration with Comcast, Plume Design and the OpenSync community. 

The system, RDK for Broadband (RDK-B), comprises open-source software components that standardise the core functions used in broadband customer premises equipment (CPE) across network access technologies including DOCSIS, GPON, DSL and Fixed Wireless. It makes life easier for network systems integrators by giving them a consistent technical approach for a range of jobs that need to be configured. Now routing, device management, diagnostics and DNS settings and Internet of things (IoT) interfaces, such as Bluetooth, Thread and Zigbee, will be a lot simpler and more timely to code. Standardising these functions liberates service providers to develop a consistent set of applications and services that works with across any chipset or hardware supplier.

One of the key components of RDK-B is Wi-Fi management software. The new RDK-B Wi-Fi management software standardises core functions used in Wi-Fi gateways, access points and Mesh extenders for any operator running OpenSync or Wi-Fi EasyMesh. It provides common methods to manage features like band steering, device telemetry and interoperability with cloud-based Wi-Fi management systems via the common RDK message bus (RBus). Since Comcast and the OpenSync crowd both worked jointly on the contributed component, it will become the default for RDK-B and RDK Management will maintain it.

“Wi-Fi connectivity, monitoring and optimisation are foundationally important to operators throughout the RDK community,” said Jason Briggs, President and General Manager of RDK. “The new Wi-Fi management software is designed to address these critical needs.”

A powerful set of tools is the easter egg that the RDK crowd desperately wanted as it brings everyone together with a common desire, according to Labeeb Ismail, Senior Vice President of Global Devices Software for Comcast and Sky. It’s everyone’s cup of tea too, since it supports cloud-based Wi-Fi connectivity services for the broadband devices used by Sky, Comcast and its syndication partners. “The collective efforts of Comcast, Plume, OpenSync, RDK and the rest of the gang have chipped in vital contributions to the key underlying software charged with delivering an exceptional home Wi-Fi experience to our customers,” said Ismail.

Liem Vo, Chief OpenSync Officer at Plume said standardising certain core functions created access to over 50 OpenSync-certified devices. “This is a great time saver for mobile network operators as they can concentrate on differentiating services across the board and instantly roll them out across the entire diaspora of their network,” said Vo. “This gives them license to deploying the kind of advanced cloud platforms that are really needed to bolster the customer experience.”

RDK’s new Wi-Fi management software component is interoperable with various cloud Wi-Fi management platforms from leading third-party providers. These kinds of SaaS platforms generally deliver a wide set of key performance indicators. These ‘real time’ and historical KPIs use sophisticated cloud data analysis to help the Support, Operations and Engineering teams to measure and manage the connectivity and performance given to the subscribers. Ultimately this could help telcos provide better customer experiences.

Nokia mounts DAC attack on Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Nick Booth
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Nokia mounts DAC attack on Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Operation Ocean Clean Up

Nokia’s private wireless has been mentioned in despatches in the war on plastic dumping, which is responsible for 80% of the marine pollution of the seas that cover 71% of the world. Nokia is to lend its intelligence gathering skills and networking hardware to orchestrate The Operation Ocean Cleanup’s plastic harvesting assault on what’s been dubbed as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Nokia will offer private wireless connections, network edge equipment and analytics for The Ocean Cleanup, the international non-profit project working to develop and scale technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic. Nokia will play a major role through the use of its subsea optical fibre networks, inventions such as acoustic sensing technology, remote environmental monitoring or private wireless. Nokia’s DAC (digital automation cloud), private wireless network and edge computing will ensure reliable, cost-effective voice and data communication between the two ships involved in the clean-up operation. By creating secure coverage on the open seas it is enabling video and analytics, improving worker safety and improving visibility in the search for target clean-up areas.

The collaboration is in line with Nokia’s enhanced Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy and a long standing commitment to minimising environmental impacts. The Finnish equipment vendor was recently recognised by environmental lobby group Ethisphere as one most ethical companies in the world, one of only two from the telecoms industry. According to UNESCO, up to 10 million metric tons of plastic end up in the ocean every year.

Nokia and MCS, which distributes the Nokia Digital Automation Cloud (DAC), are already running the first Nokia DAC private wireless system for The Ocean Cleanup’s operations in the North Pacific. More systems will be deployed as necessary.  Nokia DAC is a high-performance, end-to-end private wireless networking and edge computing platform. The Nokia connectivity, Nokia MX Industrial Edge (MXIE) and analytics will be used for applications such as high-end video connectivity over 4G technology, to help navigate The Ocean Cleanup’s operations while harvesting plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Private wireless, 5G, edge computing, sensors, AI-based analytics, drones and other advanced technologies will play an increasingly critical role in conserving the natural environment by providing immediate up-to-date and constant information on the status of the environment, whether on land or in the sea. Working with The Ocean Cleanup provides the opportunity to explore that role further, according to Subho Mukherjee, Head of Sustainability at Nokia.

“We are proud to support and collaborate with The Ocean Cleanup and look forward to seeing how our technology can protect critical natural resources and habitats,” said Mukherjee.

How UAE will spend $20bn mobilising economy by 2026 – report

Nick Booth
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How UAE will spend $20bn mobilising economy by 2026 – report

Invest wisely, double GDP

Industries in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will invest $20 billion in the next three years on mobile-supported apps like artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, blockchain, Fintech, robotics and the mobile infrastructure to support according to a new report by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Digital technology fuelled at least two thirds of the growth in national productivity in the past decade and will account for 25 per cent to 30 per cent of global gross domestic product (GDP) over the next decade, the report said. The UAE is well positioned to double the contribution of its digital economy to GDP to 19.4 per cent from 9.7 per cent within the next 10 years, according to a report in Emirates news site The National.

The government of the UAE recently unveiled a 10-year plan to double size of Dubai economy, which hinges on the country’s digital economy strategy, the global consultancy added. The UAE’s national digital economy is expected to surpass $140 billion in 2031, an astonishing growth rate from today’s estimate of around $38 billion, as reported by  the Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy. His Eminence Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications, Chairman of Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy, said that doubling the contribution of the digital economy to the UAE’s GDP from 9.7% to over 20% by 2031, reflects Dubai’s endeavours to establish itself as a key tech hub and leading global destination for digital companies.

The UAE Cabinet also approved the formation of the Higher Committee for Government Digital Transformation last year. Greater use of automation, robotics and a “historic explosion of data and intelligence in the coming years” present significant opportunity for unprecedented disruption and wealth creation in the UAE, according to the BCG report. “For government decision makers, the digital economy’s expansion carries major strategic implications,” it said.

Dubai is seeking to cement its position as a global capital of the digital economy and recently launched the ambitious Dubai Economic Agenda (D33) plan. The strategy aims to catapult the city into the world’s top cities by economic strength in the next 10 years and envisages a programme to support 30 private companies to achieve unicorn status, worth more than $1 billion (about €0.933 or Dh3.67 billion).

The D33 plan also unveiled Sandbox Dubai, a ringfenced area in which to harness the testing and commercialisation of new technologies and promote Dubai as a market-leading innovation hub, BCG said. “In a rapidly transforming world, new agile governance structures are required to prioritise considerations around how digital ecosystems can help various sectors grow,” Faisal Hamady, managing director and partner at BCG and co-author of the report, said.

“The digital sector’s multi-trillion-dollar expansion leaves leaders and decision-makers with only two options: adapt to its accelerating pace or be left behind. By considering how systems can change at the same pace as technology, governments can recalibrate the regulatory framework for a digital-first world.” This approach can help lead to the right investments in infrastructure, specifically in emerging value pools, to spur innovation and economic opportunity, said Hamady.

Policies must encourage investments in digital infrastructure and research and development into frontier technologies, such as AI and robotics. It’s vital that they create an environment for innovation that trains or attracts highly skilled and specialised talent, the report said. Collaborating with other public entities will align strategic priorities on digital inclusion, social prosperity and questions over digital ethics.

“For governments, the digital economy is not an elective. It marks a profound departure from the way that economies have historically been organised and regulated,” Hamady said, “tackling this brave new world head-on will prove essential to remaining competitive and relevant on the global scene.”

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