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French and German firms collaborate on €18m 5G private network projects

Nick Booth
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French and German firms collaborate on €18m 5G private network projects

Four projects involve edge computing, industry and robotic surgery

The French and German governments have announced joint support for four collaborative projects on private 5G networks, financed with €17.7 million. It follows a joint call for projects launched between May 20 and 1 September, 2021. The four winning projects will demonstrate the added value of 5G in sectors such as Industry 4.0, business areas and hospitals.

European Edge

The projects are named, respectively: 5G4BP which aims to create a ‘European’ style edge computing; 5G OR project will create a new generation of operating theatres; 5G Forum asks how robotic medical devices can integrate with 5G OR; and 5G-Opera builds a Franco-German type of private 5G.

Sovereign Franco-German ecosystem

There was a joint call for projects in May 2021. The four winning projects involved 14 French and 16 German organisations, which tended to be smaller and medium sized enterprises. The unifying objective is to demonstrate the added value of 5G in the context of different use cases, in industry, commerce and health.
“A sovereign Franco-German ecosystem on 5G and future network technologies will play a key role in positioning Europe to be at the forefront of innovation on these themes,” said French economy minister Bruno Le Maire.
German Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck talked of taking ‘a big step towards a stronger digital sovereignty. “We not only want to introduce the latest mobile standards, but also participate in their development,” said Habeck.

Main players

The major players in the four projects are as follows: 5G-OPERA is about building an open ‘architecture’ by virtualising software and hardware functions. This will be the foundation to support the other three selected projects, so the work of these connectivity partners is vital. 
The German developers are Fraunhofer IIS, Fraunhofer HHI, IABG, Smart Systems Hub, TU Berlin, TU Dresden and Xelera. The French collective comprises Alsatis, AW2S, CEA-Leti, Ekinops, Eurecom, Kalray, IRT b-co and NXP.

European-style edge computer

It’s not clear yet what a ‘European’ edge computing system will entail, since most business problems are universal. The use cases for hospitals will emerge as a result of the creative efforts of the partners involved, who are Highstreet Technologies and Xelera Technologies who are in both nations. French perspectives will come from 6Wind, Alsatis, AW2S and Spectronite.
5G OR and 5G Forum are related, with the former finding new ideas for operating theatres and the latter creating devices to work in that environment. Private, robotic and data-driven 5G networks will be about creating personalised minimally invasive procedures using video imaging.
The developments will be interoperable and deployed in hospitals in Berlin, Mannheim and Strasbourg. The partners include Mannheim Hospital, Berlin Charity Hospital, Fraunhofer IPA, Karl Storz, SectorCon IHU Strasbourg (FR), IRT b-com and RDS.

Robot surgeon, network slicing

On the medical device side 5G Forum intends to show how local 5G networks can be used to improve patient safety and create synergies between medical devices. Demonstrators at RWTH University of Aachen and Grenoble will show how robotic medical devices can be integrated over 5G in an operating room, which will be equipped with 5G-enhanced conferencing for remote assistance and training.
Partners include Aachen University, Surgitaix, Uniklinik Aachen, AMA, eCential Robotics and Haventure. 

 

 

 

 

Telefónica España puts analytics on Google Cloud

Annie Turner
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0
Telefónica España puts analytics on Google Cloud

Spain’s biggest operator is migrating its on-premise data analytics ecosystem with Teradata Vantage

Telefónica España is continuing its ongoing relationship with Teradata, migrating its on-premises data analytics ecosystem to Vantage on Google Cloud.

Telefónica España has more than 40.5 million customers in Spain and is a long-standing user of Teradata Vantage to drive enterprise-wide analytics at scale.

Scale and speed

With Vantage on Google Cloud, the operator intends to take advantage of the cloud’s elasticity and scalability while maintaining the performance, security and speed provided by the Vantage platform.

Javier Tobar, Chief Data Officer, Telefónica España, commented, “We chose Teradata Vantage and Google Cloud because they offered us the fastest and lowest-risk cloud migration project, while continuing to provide the outstanding data & analytics technology and innovation capabilities that also speed our progress on our Digital Transformation journey.”
 
Teradata Vantage is the connected multi-cloud data platform for enterprise analytics. It enables ecosystem simplification by unifying analytics, data lakes and data warehouses.

The idea is that enterprises like Telefónica España can eliminate silos and affordably query all their data, all the time, regardless of where it resides — in the cloud, on multiple clouds, on-premise or any combination of the three — to get a complete view of their business.

Eric Joulie, VP for Western Europe at Teradata, said, “[This] is a notable development in our 23-year partnership”.

Last May Vodafone Group also choose to migrate its data analytics activities onto Google Cloud.

Minecraft DDoS attack wipes out Andorra’s ISP – foul play suspected

Nick Booth
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0
Minecraft DDoS attack wipes out Andorra’s ISP – foul play suspected

With a $100,000 at stake, was Andorra’s entire internet service taken down to nobble an eSports tournament’s favourite?

Andorra Telecom, the only ISP in the principality, came under heavy distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) fire during a multi-day Twitch gaming tournament, reports Tom’s Hardware.

Andorra is the New Zealand of SquidCraft Games, online tournaments which often have six figure prizes, with its eSports players punching way above their weight for a small nation. 

The DDoS attacks came during the scheduled SquidCraft Games tournament in Minecraft, which games analyst Esports Charts has described as a record breaking event in the world of Twitch Rivals tournaments.

However due to the flakiness of their network connection, at least eight Andorran contestants crashed out the tournament on the second day after DDoS attacks forced them to be repeated disconnected. 

The lights went out all over the routers

Foul play is suspected. There is suspicion that rival games player has planned the DDoS attacks on Andorra Telecom. Andorrans are keen players and a significant portion of the 150 SquidCraft games participants live in Andorra.

Taking out the Andorrran contingent would significantly improve a contestant’s chance to win the $100,000 prize.

The SquidCraft Games was a highly anticipated Twitch streaming event designed to emulate the hit Netflix series called The Squid Game in Minecraft. It had been a viral game streaming event with a peak viewership of over a million on day two of the event. The event ends on Tuesday.

This just isn’t SquidCraft

The early rounds of the tournament went without a hitch for all players, in terms of fairness. The games “green light, red light,” and “hide and seek” ran smoothly to their conclusions. 

The “cookie game” round had to be suspended on day two due to a programming glitch. Then the DDoS attack on Andorra Telecom began. At least eight Andorrans were still in contention until suddenly all the lights went out all over their routers. 

Their Twitch streams had all been cut simultaneously. This was no accident.

No ordinary cable outage had done this. Sadly the whole population of Andorra was affected as the principality had little or no internet connectivity for over half an hour after the start of the DDoS attacks.

Stream dried, twitching stopped

An hour after the DDoS the Andorrans were no longer Twitching and their stream had dried up. Andorra Telecom Tweeted to admit that it was getting back to normal after a DDoS attack. Until that time, the downed SquidCrafters could only guess on the reasons for their disconnects.

The Andorran contingent returned on the following day of the tournament, but another DDoS on Andorra Telecom left the ISP.

All the Andorran participants in the SquidCraft Games got eliminated from the Twitch tournament. The organizers had no choice, says Toms Hardware. 

Andorrans’ DDoS suspicions

Many suspect the DDoS attacks targeted Andorra Telecom because of the tournament, the size of the prize and fear of the Andorroan gamers. A tweet by internet observer NetBlocks confirmed that the Saturday evening attack was targeted at Team Andorra.

Meanwhile, The SquidCraft Games continues into day four of six today with 42 Twitch streamers left. 

Team Andorra has been ‘Scooby doo-ed’ [frightened off by spooks] and the hackers have got away with it – for now.

Qualcomm, Vodafone and Thales showcase the iSIM in Samsung labs

Nick Booth
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0
Qualcomm, Vodafone and Thales showcase the iSIM in Samsung labs

The integrated SIM has none of the baggage of the eSIM, which is headed for the eMuseum

Vodafone, Qualcomm Technologies and Thales have created a new integrated SIM (iSIM) which runs the functions at the speed of a processor. It could help mobile operators run better services for end users, simplify rollouts and massively extend the scope and range of devices the services run on, according to Thales.

The iSIM, which complies with GSMA specifications, embeds SIM functions into the device’s main processor, allowing for greater system integration, higher performance and increased memory capacity, the inventors claim. This technology is the latest evolution of SIM technology and follows close in the wake of eSIMs, which are also are embedded into devices. However, while the eSIM does empower the customer the downside is that it requires a separate chip. The iSIM, on the other hand, doesn’t have that baggage. A separate chip is no longer necessary and removes the need for dedicated space assigned to SIM services.

With no baggage the iSIM flies further

iSIM technology creates the possibility for new mobile services to be integrated into devices beyond the mobile phone. The inventors claim they are extending the mobile experience to laptops, tablets, virtual reality systems, IoT devices and wearables and whatever the metaverse turns out to be. 

The benefits include simplifying and improving both the design and performance of each device by releasing resources, such as processing power and memory.  Consolidation of functions into the device’s main chipset alongside other critical resources such as the two processing units (GPU and CPU) and the modem makes the operating system more efficient and robust. 

iSIM finishes work before eSIM is awake

An integration SIM can be provisioned remotely by the operator using the old eSIM infrastructure but with the power to add a whole new range of devices that eSIM technology couldn’t work with. Qualcomm’s release describes a proof of concept conducted in Samsung’s R&D labs using Vodafone’s advanced remote management platform.

A Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G powered by a Snapdragon 888 is connected to a Vodafone 5G network. The device had a built-in Qualcomm secure processing unit running the Thales iSIM operating system.

Operators dream of seamless connection

“Our aim is to create a world where every device connects seamlessly and simply to each other and the customer has complete control,” said Alex Froment-Curtil, Vodafone’s chief commercial officer, “the iSIM, combined with our remote management platform, is a major step in this direction.”

Vodafone customers can enjoy the ease of multiple accounts on one device while operators won’t need separate SIM cards or the additional plastic pollution. “We will continue working closely with Qualcomm Technologies and Thales to evolve further applications for this technology and accelerate its commercialisation,” said Froment-Curtil.

iSIM saves operators time and money

The iSIM systems offer great opportunities to mobile operators, they free-up valuable space in devices for OEMs and provide flexibility for device users to benefit from the full potential of 5G networks and experiences across a wide range of device categories, according to Enrico Salvatori, Qualcomm Europe’s president for Europe/MEA. “By engineering the iSIM technology into the system on a chip, we create additional support for OEMs in our Snapdragon platform,” said Salvatori.

“With new types of networks and devices rolling out, innovation in SIM technology is essential to best serve the connected world,” said Emmanuel Unguran, SVPP for mobile connectivity solutions at Thales.

Vodafone and Iliad in talks to combine Italian units?

Nick Booth
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0
Vodafone and Iliad in talks to combine Italian units?

Iliad entered the market with price war but operators are talking now according to Reuters

Vodafone and Iliad are apparently discussing a deal that would combine their respective Italian businesses in a bid to end cut-throat competition in the euro zone’s third-biggest economy, according to Reuters.

Discussions between the two companies are ongoing and both parties are actively studying ways to clinch a tie-up of their respective businesses in Italy, the sources say. Iliad, which is launching cable broadband in Italy on January the 25th, is working with investment bank Lazard on its strategic plans in Italy, the sources say.

Dial M for Merger 

If successful, an Iliad-Vodafone merger would create an uber telco with 36% of the mobile market and a €6 billion revenue. Iliad’s Italian CEO Benedetto Levi has previously mooted that the French firm might buy a rival player. “If a company, as a whole or in part, becomes available on the market we will consider it without any preconception,” Levi told financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore.

Iliad, Vodafone and Lazard have declined or been available for comment.

Un incontro di menti

Iliad, led by billionaire founder Xavier Niel, has been reviewing options to further expand in Italy in recent months as it seeks to take advantage of conditions for consolidation in Italy’s telecoms industry. Deals between companies could cease a price war that has minimised margins, the Reuters sources say.

Meanwhile turned Telecom Italia (TIM) is in the midst of a management shake-up having just appointed a new CEO and is pondering a possible €10.8 billion ($12.25 billion) takeover by New York private equity firm KKR aimed which could take Italy’s biggest phone group private and or see its assets re-packaged.

Price war good for customers

Niel founded Iliad in 1990 and sits on KKR’s board as an independent board director. Reuters says he wants to play kingmaker in the fragmented Italian telecoms market.  Iliad’s entry into the Italian mobile sector in 2018 was marked by an aggressive price war.

Iliad itself was allowed to enter Italy as part of the remedy package that Vimpelcom and Hutchison negotiated with European regulators to combine their Italian mobile operations in 2016 without altering the number of existing players.

Niel’s European ambitions

Last year, Niel made a 3.1 billion euro offer for full control of Iliad and subsequently delisted the company from the Paris stock market, signalling his intention to turn the group into a “leading telecommunications player in Europe.”

Industry executives have repeatedly stressed the need to pursue four-to-three telecoms mergers that could save money by pooling resources and avoiding duplication. The four players in the Italian mobile sector are TIM, Vodafone, WindTre and Iliad.

Vodafone has annual revenue of about 5 billion euros in Italy and a 28.5 percent market penetration among mobile phone customers, according to Italy’s communications watchdog Agcom.

Pandemic was good for business

Iliad’s Italian unit reported a revenue of €674 million euros in 2020 and a mobile market share of 7.7 per cent, says Agcom. The covid pandemic actually helped with its third quarter leaping by 21 per cent to €207 million in 2021.

Previously, Vodafone’s boss Nick Read has argued that Europe needs consolidation. In Italy, Spain and Portugal “all players are suffering,” Read has said. Meanwhile, Vodafone CEO Nick Read hinted at a combination with Three in a November interview with the Sunday Times.

Three UK’s CEO Robert Finnegan has also lamented the UK mobile market as “dysfunctional” and expressed his hopes that regulators will now be more open-minded to mergers. 

Merger most foul?

In Italy, any tie-up between telcos needs government approval and Italy’s telecoms infrastructure is regarded as an asset of strategic interest. UK regulator Ofcom has stood in the way of consolidation of mobile operators. In 2016, Three was blocked from buying rival operator O2 by the European Union with Ofcom’s backing. Other markets have started allowing deals that reduce the number of mobile players from four to three – including in Ireland, where Three acquired O2’s local business. 

Meanwhile, Britain’s phone companies are preparing to roll out their biggest price increases in years, says Bloomberg, which says they are ‘exacerbating a cost-of-living squeeze that has darkened the nation’s economic outlook.’ 

Christel Heydemann in line to be new CEO of Orange France says Figaro

Nick Booth
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0
Christel Heydemann in line to be new CEO of Orange France says Figaro

Stéphane Richard may continue as acting CEO for a few months

Verizon’s chief revenue officer Frank Boulben has written to the board of Orange withdrawing from the competition to head France’ flagship mobile operator, Le Figaro reported on Saturday. Earlier this month Reuter’s sources said that Boulben was one of three people on a shortlist of possible candidates. The others are Orange’s chief financial officer Ramon Fernandez and Schneider Electric‘s head of Europe, Christel Heydemann, who also sits on Orange’s board.

French daily paper Le Figaro has reported that Heydemann “seemed on track to succeed Stephane Richard” but that a board meeting to decide on the post, due today, has been rescheduled to January 28th.

Best Heydemann for job

Earlier this month, financial daily Les Echos reported that finance minister Bruno Le Maire favoured Heydemann for the post. The French state has a 23 per cent stake in Orange and has the final say on who runs the firm. Orange said in November it would find a successor to its Chairman and CEO Stephane Richard by January 31st after a Paris appeal court convicted him of complicity of misuse of public funds.

In a profile piece, Elsa Bembaron argues that Christel Heydemann is one step closer to the general management of Orange. 

The hidden hand of Bercy

“The Élysée Palace and Bercy [i.e the powers that be] have clearly shown their support for the candidacy of Christel Heydemann, to the detriment of that of Frank Boulben and that of Ramon Fernandez,” was Bembaron’s analysis.

At 47, the European VP of Schneider Electric, a polytechnician and a bridge engineer, Heydemann fulfils many of the criteria that Orange would want for its leader. The perfect operational boss for the group Heydemann is “an engineer, with international experience, who knows the telecom sector and is a woman”, argues Bembaron. Some may lament her “lack of experience in consumer telecoms” but Heydemann “seems to be in a very good voice to succeed Stéphane Richard at the head of Orange”.

Debate over Orange’s future direction

The succession is not complete because Orange’s board of directors has yet to approve this choice. It should have been held on Monday the 24th, but the meeting was shifted to the 28th as details still need to be refined, in particular regarding the remuneration of the future director. In addition, Stéphane Richard may continue as acting CEO for a few months. This point has yet to be clarified.

Need a new chair for the board

After that a chairman/woman will have to be appointed, to comply with the wish of the French government – the major shareholder – to separate management into two functions. Pascal Cagni, the former head of Apple Europe, founder of the investment fund C4Venture and president of Business France has reportedly received many supporters. But the decision will to be complicated as ‘this view is not universally held.’

TIM appoints Pietro Labriola as its new CEO

Nick Booth
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0
TIM appoints Pietro Labriola as its new CEO

Day 1: Vivendi wants a word, KKR is in reception and there’s a looming election

Telecom Italia has finally appointed General Manager Pietro Labriola as its new CEO, according to Reuters.

Labriola is a TIM stalwart who has run TIM’s Brazilian operations for the last three years. He was promoted to general manager in November when former CEO Luigi Gubitosi stepped after a run of profit warnings. There are two immediate challenges: to manage the takeover bid by US private equity firm KKR and to upgrade the network of the debt-ridden former monopoly. TIM needs to boost its backbone if it is to meet Italy’s digital plans to boost broadband speeds for millions of households and businesses.

Vivendi got its man

Labriola’s nomination was promoted by the group’s largest investor, French media giant Vivendi. The appointment was unanimously approved by the board on Friday, say witnesses.

Vivendi, which holds 24 per cent of TIM, and has criticised KKR’s €10.8 billion low offer, which it says massive undervalues Italy’s biggest telecoms operator – and halves the net worth of its own shares. Labriola must devise a business plan to revamp the group that would serve as a benchmark for the company’s board to weigh against KKR’s proposal.

Proposal to split the company 

In a preliminary presentation to the board of directors, Labriola drafted proposals to split the company’s fixed network operations from its services businesses. The NetCo comprising TIM’s infrastructure assets would focus on its wholesale-only business. It would include submarine cable unit Sparkle, while assuming a significant portion of the company’s debt and staff, Reuter’s sources say.

That could help revive a stalled plan to merge TIM’s fixed network assets with those of fibre optic rival Open Fiber, a project CDP earlier this month urged TIM to revive to avoid a costly duplication of investments.

The rise of CDP 

CDP, which owns 60 per cent of Open Fiber would likely emerge as a major stakeholder in any combined network venture with TIM.Vivendi could then focus on TIM’s retail service businesses, which include video content platform TimVision, one of the sources said. Vivendi had always opposed the idea of TIM handing over control of its prized network infrastructure, but it reversed its position in December. 

KKR is already a big stakeholder

KKR’s takeover proposal is conditional on backing by TIM’s board and the Italian government, which makes the group’s network infrastructure a strategic asset and it has special powers to block unwanted interest.

KKR already holds 37.5 per cent of TIM’s last-mile grid and plans to carve out the fixed assets and give CDP a leading role in overseeing them, the sources said. The situation is complicated another variable: by reliance on the government, which could have some say on how to address TIM’s situation. Italy’s government could change in next week’s presidential election. 

Vantage Towers invests in wind power from green energy start up Mowea

Nick Booth
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0
Vantage Towers invests in wind power from green energy start up Mowea

Mighty towers, tiny turbines, smalls bills and a Net Zero target

Vantage Towers has commissioned Berlin-based wind energy start-up Mowea to install 752 micro wind turbines on 52 of its towers in Germany in a bid to generate 650 MWh per annum. 

Under average wind conditions, these turbines are capable of cutting grid consumption and electricity bills at each of the Vantage Towers sites by two-thirds. That would save 239 tonnes of CO2 being emitted by a power station burning fossil fuels. 

The wind energy generated by the turbines is used to run the comms equipment of Vodafone, Vantage Towers’ largest customer, which in turn helps the telco meet its green targets. Installation of the Mowea micro wind turbines is scheduled for the second half of the year, if planning consent is granted.

Work in progress

Mowea claims its wind energy systems are modular and flexible enough to adapt to meet any energy challenge. It uses standardised wind turbines with communication interfaces for smart remote maintenance and control. An algorithm monitors and maximises performance with connectivity to standard battery and energy management systems. There are integrated brakes for higher levels of safety.

After the initial installation in December 2019, Mowea’s technology has been a work in progress, with adjustments made by Vantage Towers and the engineers from the University of Applied Sciences. Their work is to fine tune the systems in order to overcome a number of technical challenges associated with the integration of wind energy systems and towers. Mobile Europe has asked them to elaborate on these technical challenges.

Slashes power bills by two thirds

“We are very excited about the strategic partnership with Mowea because it enables us to generate cost-efficient and maintenance-friendly renewable energy at selected sites with their wind turbines,” said Vantage Towers CEO Vivek Badrinath. “We have more than 82,000 towers in Europe. If the pilot project is a success, there is clear potential for the future expansion of the partnership.”

Dr Till Naumann, CEO of Mowea, promised to keep the supply of wind energy flexible so that more industrial users can adapt the systems to their circumstances. “This collaboration is a fantastic example of a partnership between an established players and a startup in the battle to prevent climate change,” said Naumann.

Mini turbines can get everywhere 

Mowea’s mini turbines have crucial advantages for energy transformation because their modular design makes them adaptable in a way that traditional turbines were not. Local councils and building authorities are more likely to approve them, which is good in urban areas. The fact they operate independently of conventional energy sources, makes them suitable for remote locations. Unlike solar panels, the wind turbines generate power at night, so they can be used in conjunction with photovoltaic systems, said Naumann.

Vodafone meeting is targets

Vantage Towers clams its partnership with Mowea is enabling Vodafone to achieve its objectives of a 50 percent reduction in emissions by 2025 and climate neutrality by 2040. The towerco says its infrastructure is now powered entirely from renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar and hydro power. It has already installed solar panels at 90 sites and, if the test phase is successful, further solar panels will be installed at other sites. 

 

Safaricom scaling up to become Ethiopia’s second mobile operator

Nick Booth
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0
Safaricom scaling up to become Ethiopia’s second mobile operator

Investing €265 million to really put Safaricom Ethiopian on the map 

Safaricom Ethiopia is preparing for its launch by building a $100 million (€88.2 million) data centre in Addis Ababa, according to Ethiopian news source Addos Fortune. The entire structure was assembled in China before before transported to the capital via Djibouti. The data centre is part of the $300 million (€265million) investment budgeted for Safaricom Ethiopia’s first year of operation.

The company plans to install similar data centres in Adama and Dire Dawa as it scales up operations, according to Pedro Rabacal, chief technology and information officer at Safaricom Ethiopia. Rabacal said the facility was built over a number of weeks before being delivered to the capital via boat.

Remote purchase, assemble at home

The deployment comes as Safaricom looks to launch commercial services in the country and become Ethiopia’s second telecoms operator, reports DataCenter Dynamics. Safaricom Ethiopia MD Anwar Soussa said the company’s first data centre has arrived in Addis and the company is working on its network rollout.

“We are committed to bringing the best telecom technology to Ethiopia. We have invested 100 million dollars in our first data centre in Addis,” the company said in a LinkedIn post. “We need a number of data centres across Ethiopia to be able to cover the whole territory,” said Rabacal. “First we will expand to Adama, then Dira Dawa, and then further out.” 

Exciting competition developing

Until last year government-owned Ethio Telecom had a monopoly in the country. However, in May 2021 a consortium led by Kenya’s Safaricom, Vodafone and Japan’s Sumitomo were awarded a license to operate in the country.

The consortium, which included development finance agency CDC Group, paid $850 million (€750m) for the license and plans to invest more than $8 billion (€7 billion) in the country’s digital infrastructure. The telco will officially launch services in March.

Ethiopia’s inward investment

MTN had also bid to win the operating license, but lost to the consortium bid. The Government is also looking to sell off a stake in Ethio Telecom, for which Orange is interested in bidding. The government had intended to issue a license for a third operator to enter the country, but has since postponed the plans.

Ethiopia’s capital is enduring an influx of data centres, reports Data Centre Dynamics. In May 2021, Ethio Telecom opened a new Huaewei-made modular data centre in Addis Ababa. Data centre and communications specialists Raxio, Wingu.Africa and RedFox are also developing facilities.

Telenor Group partners AWS to speed core network upgrade, serve enterprises

Annie Turner
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0
Telenor Group partners AWS to speed core network upgrade, serve enterprises

The deal is designed to increase the operator’s use of cloud technology and enable it to offer 5G and edge services to enterprise customers.

Telenor group has outlined plans to work with Amazon Web Services (AWS) develop new services for industries including manufacturing, logistics and automotive.

As part of the agreement, Telenor will become join the AWS Partner Network, although the two already collaborated before this agreement was reached.

Vimla inspires

Telenor’s CEO, Sigve Brekke, told Reuters his company is preparing “for the next growth wave”  and highlighted the success of Telenor’s Swedish MVNO, Vimla, as an examplar of how intelligent application of new tech can disrupt existing business models.

Vimla’s core is based on AWS, and its services were developed and are offered as-a-service by Working Group Two (WG2).

This joint venture was set up in 2017 by Telenor, Cisco and Digital Alpha to develop a cloud-native mobile core on AWS that could be used by network operators, managed service providers or enterprises. It went live early in 2018.

Telenor has said it intends to take the same approach to other areas of the group, and to concentrate more on enterprise customers in the Nordics and Asia.

Horses for courses

Telenor signed up with Google Cloud in 2021 to access its AI capabilities.

Brekke explained to Reuters that while AWS’s strength is network components, the Google Cloud collaboration was more about products and analytics.

With AWS, Telenor currently offers what is calls “network on wheels” – a prototype that allows customers to set up private 5G infrastrucutre wherever they need it.

The prototype is in use by the Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency for critical communication and the public broadcaster Norsk Rikskringkasting (NRK) for remote production.

In Thailand, Telenor-owned dtac set up a 5G proof of concept private network for enterprises there, based on edge computing and the AWS Snow Family.

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