What parameters did the study use to assess brand value? Brand is defined as the trust, reputation, and goodwill a company builds in people’s minds. Kantar tried to evaluate that goodwill and trust: the higher the number on the score, the more valuable the brand was and the more competitive the company was in the marketplace.

The study, titled “Top 50 Most Valuable German Brands,” reports the venture’s current brand value at USD 124.6 billion, putting the company well ahead of SAP, Siemens, Aldi, BMW, and Lidl. Compared to 2025 (USD 105.7 billion), the company’s brand value has grown by approximately 18%. Since 2020 (USD 44.9 billion), the pace of increase has hit a remarkable 177.5%.

What is driving this growth? According to Kantar’s experts, three factors stand out. First, Deutsche Telekom has invested heavily in building and improving its network infrastructure, the physical backbone for calls, internet, and data services. Second, it has managed its brand consistently across different countries, not just in Germany. Third, it has run value-based campaigns at home, including anti-hate speech initiatives, which have helped position it as a company people can trust.

That last point matters a lot. The BrandZ study does not just crunch financial numbers. It also surveys consumers. By that measure, Deutsche Telekom is among the most popular and iconic brands in Germany.

Ulrich Klenke, Chief Brand Officer of Deutsche Telekom, highlighted the company’s commitment to continue investing in its network, expanding its services, and advancing in artificial intelligence (AI).

“Our brand continues to gain significant ground in both national and international competition. The crucial thing now is to continue setting the right strategic course,” the official remarked.

“The T stands for quality, reliability, and responsibility. We want to build on this. This means: targeted investments in our high-performance network infrastructure, in innovative products and our service, and in shaping digital sovereignty to reduce dependencies and expand value creation in our markets. At the same time, we are driving the democratisation of artificial intelligence and consistently developing our brand globally – towards even greater relevance, significance, and, above all, trust,” he added.

The broader picture for German brands is also encouraging. The combined value of Germany’s top 50 brands rose 13% to USD 571 billion this year, with 38 of the 50 brands increasing in value, a sign of resilience despite a slow-recovering economy.

The post Deutsche Telekom remains Germany’s most valuable brand appeared first on International Finance.

The independent internal investigation revealed that Optus provided incorrect instructions to its contractor, Nokia. On top of that, the Finnish telecoms equipment maker selected and approved an incorrect method to proceed with the upgrade, which shut down key equipment but did not redirect calls. The error impacted both normal voice calls and the emergency number “Triple Zero,” but the consequences were different, said Kerry Schott, the report’s author and transport and infrastructure business executive.

“While voice calls found an alternate pathway and their service continued, Triple Zero calls failed,” the report noted.

The outage lasted for almost 14 hours, during which 605 callers sought “Triple Zero” emergency services and assistance of some kind. About 75% of these calls could not connect, with two of them resulting in fatalities.

“Three issues are clear during this incident. The first is the very poor management and performance within the networks and their contractor, Nokia. The process was not followed, and incorrect procedures were selected. Checks were inadequate, controls avoided, and alerts given insufficient attention,” the report remarked.

Apart from finding gaps in process, accountability, escalation, and information protocols, the report also highlighted “challenges in Optus’ organisational culture that have impacted decision-making and response times.”

The review has made 21 recommendations, with prominent among them being strengthening network change-management and escalation processes, improving incident detection and crisis response for emergency services outages.

On December 16, the Optus board conducted a meeting, where it accepted the recommendations and agreed to move swiftly with their implementation.

“The board is taking further action in relation to individual accountabilities flowing from the incident, which will extend from financial penalties through to termination in appropriate cases,” Optus Chairman John Arthur said.

The post Optus emergency call outage: Probe finds failures in firewall upgrade appeared first on International Finance.

“As a subsidiary of Meralco, the country’s largest electric distribution company, we leverage our extensive infrastructure to deliver high-speed, secure, and stable data and internet services,” Radius President and CEO Quiel Delgado told International Finance.

Radius prides itself on its 100% pure fibre-optic network, which provides a higher service level availability in terms of uptime. Compared with traditional copper-based connections, fibre technology enables faster data transmission, making it ideal for businesses.

“With our extensive reach across Metro Manila and key provinces, we continue to expand our coverage, bridging the digital divide and enabling more Filipinos to access world-class internet services,” he added.

As the demand for faster and more reliable internet continues to grow, Radius Telecoms banks on partnerships with reputable institutions that further solidify its network infrastructure and service offerings.

In February 2025, Radius Telecoms partnered with globally leading distributed denial of service (DDoS) cybersecurity solution provider Nexusguard for the latter’s scrubbing centre in Hong Kong.

This significant development strengthens Radius’ security posture for its business-to-business (B2B) direct internet access service, ensuring enhanced protection against the growing threat of DDoS attacks. These attacks usually involve the loading of a target server, website, or network with excessive traffic to overwhelm a system and make it inaccessible to legitimate users.

Radius COO Al Solis said, “This new investment allows us to block DDoS attacks in real-time that also impact our target latency in our traffic routing. The availability of a scrubbing centre within our network guarantees that we maintain the high reliability of our internet service and ensure our low-latency commitment to our enterprise customers.”

In support of the Philippine hyperscale industry, Radius teamed up with ST Telemedia Global Data Centres Philippines (STT GDC) in December 2024 for the latter’s new data centre in Fairview, Quezon City. This is STT GDC’s largest, most interconnected, and sustainable data centre to date.

The partnership enabled STT GDC to offer reliable connectivity to its local and foreign clientele, further solidifying Radius’ position as a trusted provider of premium connectivity solutions. This highlights both companies’ dedication to enhancing the country’s digital infrastructure and connectivity.

Pioneering Connectivity In The Philippines

Building on its commitment to enhance the country’s digital advancement, Radius has a strong foundation rooted in innovation and strategic growth.

The deregulation of the Philippine telecommunications industry through Republic Act No. 7925 in 1995 opened the doors to ICT growth in the country. During this period, Meralco leveraged fibre-optic technology to interconnect its substations, enhancing its monitoring capabilities across its franchise area.

In 2000, Meralco launched e-Meralco Ventures (EMVI), which later became Radius Telecoms.

With a 100% fibre-optic network, Radius entered the local market with business-application-tested metro ethernet service, delivering secure, layer-two connectivity.

In 2012, Radius received its global certification and membership acceptance from the Metro Ethernet Forum, becoming the third Philippine telecom to achieve this milestone, after industry giants Globe and PLDT.

From its early role as a carrier’s carrier, Radius has evolved into a full-service telecom provider for top corporations. It now offers high-capacity, secure network solutions powered by Nokia, Cisco, and Juniper. Recognised globally for innovation, the company has continued to expand its services, catering to the growing demands of data centres and enterprise customers.

Quiel Delgado said, “Our presence in the country reflects the strength of the Philippine economy. The growing demand for connectivity and ICT solutions continues to drive progress, and niche providers like us still have a market that we can serve. This also benefits customers by giving them more choices and greater flexibility.”

“This year marks Radius’ 25th founding anniversary, and with ongoing investments in data centre infrastructure, the emergence of next-wave cities, and the increased demand for next-generation networking solutions, we will continue to set new standards in the Philippine telecommunication sector, ensuring secure, reliable, and world-class services,” he concluded.

The post Radius Telecoms delivers fast, reliable network solutions to Filipinos appeared first on International Finance.

The US start-up will soon open its regional headquarters in Riyadh, while working with STC Group on localisation, skills development, and new infrastructure initiatives. We will discuss more on Graphiant in today’s episode of the “Start-up of the Week,” as the company seeks to revolutionise the public sector, telecom, and enterprise spaces through its single, unified network solution for AI, cloud, SaaS, B2B, and branch networking.

Specialising In The Unified Network Solution Front

When enterprise networks included only data centres, campuses, branch offices, and a cloud connection, network provisioning was easy. IT owned, had visibility into, and controlled everything.

However, as things changed in the 21st century, the enterprise networks have gone on to include elements like hybrid cloud, remote workers, partners/customers, edge networks, and thousands of connected devices, resulting in a situation where network traffic crosses a “digital wilderness” that IT does not own, control, or have visibility into. This makes it impossible to provision enterprise-grade networks with the agility today’s business requires.

Graphiant, led by Viptela co-founder Khalid Raza, has set out to solve this particular problem. The start-up’s flagship service, the Graphiant Network-as-a-Service, has combined private network performance with Internet-class agility to enable IT to deliver enterprise-grade networks.

To extend its industry-leading features and functionality, Graphiant has tied up with established industry players like Dell Technologies, Intel, Amazon Web Services, IBM Cloud, and Lanner, thereby enhancing the experience of enterprise customers.

The start-up has also entered into partnerships with “Go-To-Market Partners” like World Wide Technology, Trace 3, and Redvine, thereby setting up a network of system integrators and value-added resellers to provide the global scale and integration expertise that an enterprise needs from Graphiant’s network.

Here Are The Key Solutions

The 21st-century enterprise networks need their data to be future-proofed, and the rise of AI and the explosive growth of data are reshaping the modern economy. Companies that move quickly to harness their data will lead, while others risk falling behind. Against this backdrop, Graphiant, through its cloud-native and software-defined “AI Networking,” is positioning the organisations to stay ahead, enabling secure, agile, and profitable data-driven transformation.

Graphiant believes that the enterprise networks should accelerate companies’ AI initiatives instead of being a bottleneck. The start-up’s agentless, hardware-agnostic platform makes deployment effortless, integration seamless, and scaling unlimited. It also ensures maximum performance, unmatched visibility, and robust security, helping businesses turn their networks into their greatest competitive advantage.

AI Networking streamlines deployment and instantly integrates AI workloads into an enterprise’s existing hardware. A secure AI agent then communicates across the businesses’ entire network without creating additional complexities.

In the process, AI Networking also eliminates attack vectors and secures data flows end-to-end, ensuring their client companies’ AI workloads operate securely across the enterprise networks, while minimising technical overhead and operational complexity so the client enterprises’ teams can innovate and iterate their AI solutions faster.

Next is “Data Assurance,” which addresses “Blind Spots” in an enterprise network, which, if left untreated, can lead to cyber risks. The solution provides granular, real-time visibility and precise control of a company’s data in transit. It clearly defines secure paths for the network, proactively excludes high-risk regions, and maintains a confident compliance posture at all times.

Most importantly, businesses get to govern their network with precision by gaining real-time, granular visibility into every movement the data makes, ensuring the businesses always know exactly what is happening across their networks.

Data Assurance defines the geographic and logical pathways data takes, empowering businesses to manage network flows with unmatched accuracy, and to proactively assess risk posture with Graphiant Assurance Posture Scores (GAPS), enabling immediate action to mitigate emerging threats. The companies can also streamline adherence to complex regulations with intuitive policy management tools and auditable real-time visibility of data transit paths.

Graphiant’s “B2B” simplifies secure business collaborations with fast, easy-to-configure extranets while ensuring granular security, real-time visibility, and effortless compliance, all in one intuitive platform, therefore eliminating long onboarding cycles and frustrating extranet complexities.

Businesses get to turn partnerships into immediate profit opportunities through secure, scalable, and easy-to-manage networking, as the solution replaces legacy VPNs with a cloud-native solution that delivers Zero Trust security, encrypted traffic, and simplified policy control.

The “Cloud Gateway” solution makes it easy for enterprises to connect to major cloud providers with fast, secure, and scalable networking. Onboarding happens in minutes, followed by optimum performance across regions. The tool has become a cost-effective solution for hybrid cloud, global expansion, and high throughput workloads without the complexity of traditional setups.

Also, Graphiant’s software-based connectivity solution instantly transforms network complexity into simple, agile connections, apart from effortlessly managing high-volume data across distributed infrastructures, ensuring secure, seamless, and scalable data flows. Graphiant Network Edge is a Network-as-a-Service that gives enterprises a fast, simple, and easy way to build enterprise networks.

Secure Networking For Defence Critical Infrastructure

Defence Critical Infrastructure (DCI), including essential utilities, control systems, and security networks, demands uncompromising uptime and advanced cybersecurity. Traditional MPLS and SD-WAN networks are facing limitations under growing cyber threats and operational pressures.

Graphiant’s Protected Core Network-as-a-Service (PCN) meets these stringent demands, offering secure, high-performance connectivity tailored specifically for defence environments. The start-up’s cloud-native, stateless architecture ensures that data moves securely and efficiently, backed by geographic-based routing, proactive path assurance, and robust data sovereignty controls.

Essential utilities, control systems, and security networks can rapidly deploy, monitor, and adapt their networks to maintain seamless command-and-control, achieve precise synchronisation, and ensure the data remains within compliant geographic boundaries, keeping pace with evolving regulatory and operational demands.

The teams handling the operations of defence critical infrastructure can act faster and smarter in a dynamic threat landscape while remaining confident of the security and sovereignty of their sensitive data, as tools like real-time telemetry, AI-driven anomaly detection, and adaptive network policies keep infrastructures secure, agile, and ready for any challenge.

Through “Ultra-Synchronised Connectivity,” Graphiant’s Protected Core Network-as-a-Service ensures seamless command-and-control across all devices, achieving ultra-synchronisation essential for operational reliability and real-time responsiveness, while simplifying complex operations, minimising technical overhead, and accelerating mission readiness.

Unleashing Revolution In Telecom Sector

The rise of AI as a Service (AIaaS) has created urgent demands on telecom infrastructure, something that legacy MPLS and internet-based SD-WAN networks cannot meet. Graphiant’s advanced SDN platform addresses this need by enabling telecom providers to deliver agile, secure, and high-performance connectivity tailored specifically for AI-driven environments.

Telecom sector players can gain proactive protection with advanced telemetry and anomaly detection through Graphiant’s active monitoring, which continuously adapts, securing companies’ data in transit.

Businesses also avoid vendor lock-in and rigid hardware limitations, with the start-up’s cloud-based, stateless core enabling rapid scalability, seamless multi-cloud integration, and instant deployment. Through agentic AI, telecom sector players can address the massive data-sharing challenges by practicing robust visibility, precise control, and secure, compliant exchange of data.

The post Start-up of the Week: Graphiant advances telecom shift appeared first on International Finance.

Recognising the critical role of connectivity in driving social and economic development, Ethio Telecom is making significant investments in expanding its network infrastructure, particularly in rural areas. One of Ethio Telecom’s most significant initiatives in recent years is the deployment of 100 new rural mobile solutions across 305 kebeles. This impactful initiative has already brought telecom access to over 903,000 residents, which will improve their lives and opportunities.

“We believe that access to communication and digital services is a fundamental right, not a privilege. We focus on bridging the digital divide and empowering all Ethiopians, including those in the most remote areas. While financial viability is a consideration, our commitment to inclusion and serving all segments of society takes precedence. We are driven by a vision of a connected Ethiopia where everyone has the opportunity to thrive,” Ethio Telecom stated.

The deployment of these 100 new rural mobile solutions is aligned with Ethiopia’s broader goals of achieving universal connectivity and leveraging digital technologies to drive socio-economic development.

These eco-friendly, solar-powered systems provide essential 2G and 3G services, with the potential for future 4G upgrades. Crucially, these solutions eliminate the need for rural residents to make long-distance travel to access telecom services, saving valuable time and resources.

The modular design of these systems allows for easy upgrades as technology advances, ensuring that rural communities remain connected to the latest digital innovations. These rural mobile solutions, however, are not only scalable and sustainable models for rural development but also solar-powered systems designed to operate efficiently in off-grid areas, reducing reliance on traditional energy sources and minimising operational costs. This approach ensures that the solutions are both economically viable and environmentally friendly, aligning with global sustainability goals.

These rural mobile solutions provide a gateway to essential digital services in critical sectors such as education, healthcare, agriculture, and finance. This access empowers communities to improve their livelihoods, access vital information, and participate more fully in the digital economy.

Additionally, it empowers the community to access mobile financial services through its mobile money platform, telebirr, promoting financial inclusion. This allows rural residents to perform transactions, save money, and access micro-loans without the need for physical bank branches.

Ethio Telecom’s dedication to connecting the unconnected underscores its commitment to building a more inclusive and connected Ethiopia. The company remains steadfast in its mission to expand connectivity and digital services, ensuring that all Ethiopians have the opportunity to benefit from the transformative power of technology.

The post Ethio Telecom: Connecting the unconnected appeared first on International Finance.

The antitrust watchdog, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), approved the USD 19 billion Vodafone-Three UK deal on November 5 after accepting the companies’ claim that improved networks would boost competition and boost the economy.

The CMA further said the combined group’s network investment plan would drive competition in the long term, dropping its objection that a move from four to three networks could push up prices.

“We believe the merger is likely to boost competition in the UK mobile sector and should be allowed to proceed – but only if Vodafone and Three agree to implement our proposed measures,” the regulatory body stated.

The CMA angered Microsoft by outright blocking its USD 69 billion Activision Blizzard deal due to concerns about competition in the emerging cloud gaming market. Now the approval comes 18 months later.

Microsoft’s behavioural remedies, which included promises about how the combined company would conduct itself to preserve competition, were rejected at that time because they would be hard to keep an eye on.

A revised deal was approved by the increasingly isolated CMA after Microsoft objected to Britain being closed for business.

It agreed to behavioural remedies for the Vodafone-Three deal, giving telecoms regulator Ofcom the responsibility of monitoring pricing and investment commitments to allay its competition concerns. This is a shift in the regulator’s strategy.

In October 2024, Keir Starmer told a group of foreign investors that the CMA, which has been more involved in merger control since Britain’s exit from the European Union, and other regulators needed to take “growth as seriously as this room does.”

When the deal was announced in June 2023, Margherita Della Valle, the CEO of Vodafone, put growth at the forefront of her pitch, and that message resonated with her.

Recently, she asserted that “the UK’s economic growth ambitions and many aspects of our lives depend on good connectivity.”

In terms of 5G availability and download speeds, Britain ranks 22nd out of 25 European countries, offering some of the slowest mobile speeds in the continent, according to analytics firm OpenSignal.

Operators across Europe have argued that regulators’ focus on low prices has hurt investment and left its digital infrastructure trailing the United States and Asia, hampering the continent’s economies.

The four-to-three mergers that were allowed required the creation of challenger brands to keep prices low. The CMA’s latest action now marks the first time a major European market has allowed such a deal without structural remedies.

Instead, Vodafone and Three, Britain’s third and fourth operators respectively, committed to spending 11 billion pounds (USD 14 billion) on a 5G network that would serve 50 million customers, including the subscribers of Vodafone’s network sharing partner Virgin Media O2 (VM O2).

It also sold spectrum to VM O2, pledged to cap some tariffs and agreed to set contract terms for mobile virtual operators.

The CMA accepted that three stronger operators – Vodafone-Three, current market leader BT and VM O2 would provide enough competition to deliver a better service for customers.

Della Valle, however, said it was too soon to say if the group would keep both main brands and its Voxi and Smarty value brands.

Analyst Karen Egan at Enders Analysis told Reuters that the approval was the right outcome after Hong Kong’s Hutchison warned it was struggling to invest because it did not make a return on its capital.

“Three high-quality networks instead of four inferior ones will serve consumers and businesses better, and the industry can move away from the low returns, low investment cycle that has dogged it,” Egan said.

Vodafone will own 51% of the combined company and will have the option to buy the remainder after three years subject to certain conditions.

The post Vodafone-Three merger approval marks United Kingdom’s major antitrust shift appeared first on International Finance.

SMS can be used to send welcome messages, promotions, and other offers to customers. It can also be used to remind customers of appointments, confirm orders, and provide delivery notices. SMS can help build relationships with customers and reduce user abandonment. SMS can also be used to speed up the onboarding process for new hires. SMS-driven pre-boarding can help companies save time and accelerate the onboarding process by one to two days.

Against the backdrop, today’s episode of International Finance’s “Start-up of the Week” will talk about a relatively new French venture named Prelude, whose operation focuses on SMS verification. The start-up hit the headlines in November 2024 as it announced new funding from Singular (Paris-based venture capital firm) and Seedcamp (European seed-stage venture capital fund).

What Prelude Is All About?

Prelude founder and CEO Matias Berny and co-founder Quentin Le Bras met each other working for Zenly, a popular location-sharing app with tens of millions of users that was acquired by Snap (and got shut down in 2023). These two individuals were part of the Zenly team that worked extensively on SMS verification codes and how to make them more reliable.

While users typically don’t pay for text messages on their smartphones, telecom providers still charge businesses for those messages. If a company has a large user base, SMS verification can become a significant expense. Prelude is addressing this issue by offering a powerful and easy-to-use API that allows users to send One-Time Password (OTP) codes worldwide through the most suitable channel based on the user’s context.

“Businesses typically see a 20-30% increase in conversion compared with their previous provider, while saving 30-40% monthly. Prelude also detects and prevents fraud using algorithms trained on tens of millions of data points,” the venture narrated.

“What we’ve been building at Zenly — and now at Prelude on a larger scale — is really the Skyscanner of phone number verification. We’ll find the best route at any given moment to verify the user’s phone number,” Berny told TechCrunch recently.

Using Prelude, a business can send verification messages at scale without paying for spam or added mark-up, while cutting down costs by 40% with the smartest SMS API. With just one setup, Prelude claims to open the door of businesses to over 20 leading global and local text-message providers, offering a network of more than 1000 routes across 230 countries, while blocking 99% of spam and fraud using algorithms trained on tens of millions of data points. Prelude uses four channels to reach 99.99% deliverability and 95% conversion rate worldwide.

“Beyond the smart routing aspect of the product, there are many other problems to solve. Fraud is one of them. There are fake users who ask for fake codes to validate fake numbers with the aim of receiving a portion of the cost of the SMS,” Berny continued.

According to the start-up, fraudulent intermediaries that generate fake users to create artificial SMS traffic can represent as much as 30% of SMS verification codes. That’s why Prelude tries to identify fake, virtual numbers with a variety of signals to stop text messages in the first place.

Prelude doesn’t charge its customers depending on the number of text messages issued by the start-up, aligning the incentives with its own customers as it charges per verification.

“That’s also why Prelude supports other messaging services, such as WhatsApp and Viber; it’s more about verification than SMS. Many popular consumer apps, such as BeReal and Locket, are already using Prelude. Companies in the fintech or crypto industries, such as Alma, Sunday, and Bitstack are also relying on Prelude to verify phone numbers,” TechCrunch reported.

Here Are The Technologies

Prelude’s flagship technology is its anti-fraud system, which helps its clients save their phone number verification budget with the most effective protection against fake traffic and IRSF (International Revenue Share Fraud). Prelude uses four layers of protection, while using a cross-signal risk scoring to identify spam with the best accuracy.

The anti-fraud system uses four elements: Heuristics (which effectively reduces fraud through basic rules, thereby blocking 70% of the attacks), AI Models (to back up heuristics), Data Provider (which helps to enrich the start-up’s analysis with commercial databases for more precise fraud detection) and Cooperation (where Prelude shares its knowledge across its client base).

The start-up’s granular approach enables its clients to connect with real users, even in countries that are significantly affected by fake or fraudulent traffic. Through the “Look-up API,” these businesses “can check the risk-scoring of any number with a simple endpoint.” They can also save their phone number verification budgets with the most effective protection against fake traffic and IRSF. Behind its minimalist API, Prelude acts as a real-time broker and selects the optimal route based on the business’ user’s context and history. It also prevents fraud transparently, without requiring any additional configuration.

The anti-fraud system also comes equipped with a dashboard, and an analytics platform tailored for product people and enhances the client business’ acquisition strategy with analytics, measure improvements and achieve optimal conversion rates. This dashboard is made purely on the philosophy of “Of and For the Clients,” as the businesses, using the tool, can take control of their acquisitions with instantaneous, real-time data visualisation, empowering their users and delving deeply into metrics for strategic insights.

The businesses can see the whole authentication lifecycle information on retries, channels and pricing transparency, effortlessly managing their routes and channels per-country basis. The tool integrates crucial acquisition metrics for the clients including acquisition analytics, by country, platform and application version, transparent prices (real-time acquisition cost), conversion performance to adjust onboarding processes and how long it takes for users to validate the code is an important KPI to avoid churn.

The Way Ahead

Prelude, established in 2022, has seen its technology being used to protect over 100 million user accounts across 230 regions, apart from winning the trust of enterprise clients representing sectors such as social services, finance, travel, retail, and food technology.

One such client is Sunday, a global payment solution for restaurants, whose CTO Arnaud Lemaire told the media outlet EU-Startups, “Operating across Europe and North America with international customers, we needed a solution that could keep up with our global reach while maintaining competitive prices—our previous provider fell short. With Prelude, we’ve completely transformed our messaging strategy. Now, we send OTPs worldwide effortlessly, with full visibility into deliverability and conversion rates. Plus, their responsive support team is always ready to help, ensuring we stay on track.”

The fresh funding of 7.6 million euro will allow Prelude to further innovate, broadening its services beyond one-time password verification and expanding its mobile-first onboarding tools. The company is aiming to empower businesses to streamline user verification, onboarding, and engagement in the coming months.

The post Start-up of the Week: Prelude & the art called fraud-resistant SMS verification services appeared first on International Finance.

The new strategy will be centred on creating comprehensive AI infrastructure integrating AI data centres, graphic processing units as a service (GPUaaS) and edge AI. Under the plan, the mobile carrier will build a hyperscale AI data centre with an electricity capacity of over 100 megawatts in the country and later expand the capacity to a gigawatt level.

“SK Telecom is working to build the AI infrastructure superhighway to help South Korea make a leap and become one of three global leaders in AI,” Ryu said at a Seoul conference, named “SK AI Summit.”

A testbed for the data centre will first open in Pangyo, south of the capital Seoul, and will be equipped with the latest semiconductors developed by Nvidia, along with cutting-edge technologies related to AI chips and data centres, the company told the media.

The Korean company also plans to transform its data centre in western Seoul into an AI data centre and provide GPUaaS in cooperation with global cloud provider Lambda starting in December 2024. SK Telecom will also invest a combined 100 billion won (USD 72.9 million) into developing a sovereign AI tailored to the needs of the Korean market in 2025.

“SK Telecom will also work to develop edge AI technology, which refers to a technology integrating telecommunications networks and AI computing, as part of efforts to apply the AI infrastructure on the sixth-generation network,” Ryu added.

SK Telecom also unveiled ‘Aster(A*)’, an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven personal assistant tailored for global users, at the “SK AI Summit 2024.” The product is scheduled for a closed beta launch in North America later 2024, with a full market launch planned for 2025.

“Aster is designed as an ‘Agentic AI,’ which goes beyond simple Q&A or search functions by understanding users’ intentions to set goals, make plans and complete tasks on their behalf,” the telecom player explained its new solution in the mentioned words.

The venture plans to further enhance Aster’s capabilities through partnerships with global search providers, LLM developers and third-party applications to establish a comprehensive AI ecosystem for North American users.

“With Aster, users are interacting with a single app, but they’re actually tapping into an extensive AI ecosystem,” said Chung Suk-Geun, head of the Global/AI Tech Business at SK Telecom.

Meanwhile, SK Telecom reached 16.58 million 5G subscribers, making up over 73% of its total user base. The numbers not only reflected strong growth in 5G subscriptions, but also highlighted SKT’s successful network expansion and user adoption.

The telecom company’s consolidated revenue increased by 2.9% to 4.5321 trillion South Korean Won, with operating income up 7.1%. This growth was bolstered by steady performance in the roaming and enterprise segments, along with efficiency improvements driven by AI implementation.

“SKT’s enterprise business expanded by 8%, with cloud services seeing substantial 30% YoY growth. AI-driven enterprise solutions are becoming a core part of SKT’s B2B business strategy, aimed at increasing orders across industries,” Telecomlead reported.

The post SK Telecom bets big on AI for Asia-Pacific & North America expansions amid robust Q3 report appeared first on International Finance.

The acquisition seeks to establish a highly integrated, globally scalable optical company, through vertical integration and enhanced internal technological capabilities.

Infinera is valued at USD 6.65 per share in this transaction, for an enterprise value of USD 2.33 billion.

Both Nokia’s and Infinera’s boards of directors have unanimously approved the acquisition. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2025, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.

In particular, in North America, the acquisition enhances Nokia’s optical standing. It expedites the diversification of Nokia’s customer base and increases the company’s market share in the web-scale space.

Enhancing Nokia’s optical scale in the region and bolstering its strong positions in APAC (Asia Pacific Region), EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), and Latin America, Infinera has established a robust presence in the North American optical market, accounting for approximately 60% of its sales.

Nokia anticipates that the transaction will be accretive to its comparable operating profit and EPS in the coming years, with over 10% comparable EPS accretion predicted by 2027.

In order to better serve clients, the combined company wants to develop new optical products and solutions more quickly. Nokia feels that this is in line with its strategy, given that webscale customers make up the fastest-growing market segment.

Overall, Nokia’s acquisition of Infinera is a big step toward improving its optical networking capabilities and broadening its global reach.

Nokia acquired Fenix Group in 2023 by incorporating the creative broadband tactical communications products from Fenix Group into its current solutions portfolio.

Furthermore, Nokia recently reached a deal with the French government to sell ASN, its market-leading submarine network business.

Meanwhile, the Nokia 220 4G and Nokia 235 4G phones were released in India by HMD Global, the company that is authorised to produce phones under the Nokia brand.

This expands the company’s 4G feature phone line-up. Unisoc chipset and 2.8-inch IPS display are features of the phones. A detachable 1450 mAh battery is included with the 4G phones.

The post Nokia to acquire open optical network provider Infinera for USD 2.3 billion appeared first on International Finance.

The platform, featuring AI-enabled breach and attack simulation, automates the process of inspection and detection of telecom networks. Also, the software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform doesn’t require additional software, reconfiguration, or maintenance costs with constant uptime and availability.

SecurityGen’s other solutions include an intrusion detection (IDS) platform and a next-generation firewall (NGFW). These two elements combine visibility with intelligence and high-powered analytics, enabling telecom providers to build, reinforce, and roll out secure and robust network operations, with a focus on 5G networks.

Knowing The Company In Detail

Headquartered in London, SecurityGen was established in 2022 by thought leaders and pioneers from the domain of network security, with the simple goal of having a global cybersecurity start-up, which will focus on telecom security.

In the age of 5G and the Internet of Things (IoT), network owners need to deal with vulnerabilities within their network, vulnerabilities which SecurityGen believes can’t be addressed in a passive/defensive manner.

The start-up is helping its clients to stay ahead of threats by delivering a solid security foundation to drive secure telco digital transformations and ensure next-gen enterprise intelligent connectivity.

The overall goal is simple here: to protect the backbone infrastructure of LTE and 5G network, along with the private and legacy ones, proactively detect, evaluate and mitigate attacks upon networks and services.

SecurityGen is covering every aspect of telecom, including the RAN, core, and all interconnections, apart from assessing network, mitigating potential cyber flaws, and boosting subscriber trust and revenue.

Here Comes The Product Line-up

Among SecurityGen’s flagship products, we have ACE, which is the first-of-its-kind AI-enabled breach and attack simulation platform for continuous inspection, detection, and protection of telecom network.

ACE automates the entire process of inspection and detection by giving network owners continuous and efficient 24×7 protection and saving millions of dollars. The inbuilt AI module enables ACE to constantly learn, enhance performance, and incorporate real-life scenarios and attack vectors from the field, thus strengthening the network security posture.

“ACE natively integrates with the 5G-ready Next-Generation Signalling Protection Platform (NGFW). This synergy of ACE and NGFW imparts enhanced security coverage by combining the inspect module with detect and protect one. ACE continuously reports the results of security assessments that help to cross-validate and check if signalling protection is ready and up-to-date. With ACE being available 24×7, security teams can now continuously keep a keen watch on the security posture without incurring additional expenses,” the venture noted.

“ACE is a SaaS platform that boasts of rapid set-up support, zero maintenance costs, and 24×7 availability. It works remotely and can be installed inside verified systems, with zero ‘agents’ and NO additional software or reconfiguration requirements,” it added.

ACE breach and attack simulation solutions ensure that mobile network operators proactively assess and safeguard against possible vulnerabilities even after network changes. The system helps to evaluate and ensure that adequate security countermeasures are in place and provides valuable information in case network security levels are lowered.

There is an increasing concern among banks, crypto-wallets, and online payment platforms about the inability of communication service providers to withstand fraudulent SMS interception. ACE ensures customer security by performing comprehensive checks to keep SMS data content thefts at bay.

Next is IDS (Intrusion Detection System Platform), which, powered by business intelligence (BI) modules, ensures comprehensive security monitoring and signalling traffic analysis.

In a digital world driven by critical infrastructure and sensitive data, all legacy networks, 2G, 3G, 4G, LTE, and even 5G are easily exploitable. Flaws in signalling protocols allow attackers to compromise subscriber privacy, intercept calls, track subscriber locations, carry out fraud, and cause a denial of service.

Network providers therefore require a strong deterrent to the more advanced cyber threats. SecurityGen’s IDS platform is the perfect solution here as it empowers telecom operators to respond to threats as they occur. It offers end-to-end coverage, from security monitoring and up-to-the-minute anomalous-activity detection, to protecting signalling network perimeter across HTTP/2, Diameter, GTP-C and SS7 signalling protocols.

IDS offers end-to-end network coverage, from security monitoring and up-to-the-minute anomalous-activity detection, to protecting signalling network perimeter across HTTP/2, Diameter, GTP-C and SS7 signalling protocols. Coupled with rich analytics and reporting capabilities, the IDS platform prevents hacker attacks, and protects the client’s core network while enhancing the company’s goodwill among subscribers.

The platform provides complete visibility of the core telecom network and easily integrates with SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) and SOAR (Security Orchestration) systems empowering SOC (Security operations centre) with real-time threat detection.

Next is NGFW, which is a 5G-ready next generation signalling firewall advanced telecom signalling security system.

“The massive environment created by 5G, and edge-based computing presents a new and highly vulnerable threat landscape. As cloud, data, and IoT threats merge, it provides a pathway for adversaries to spread malware via IoT network, disrupt core functions and use routers as IoT botnets to launch DDoS attacks. Given that 5G network currently interoperate with existing 4G legacy network, and a minority of 5G network will be built base up, CSPs would require a fundamental shift in security approach to ensure holistic signalling security across both 5G and legacy LTE network,” SecurityGen remarked.

“Built using cutting-edge technologies and our team’s global expertise in advanced telecom security systems, SecurityGen’s Next Generation Signalling Firewall (NGFW) is a state-of-the-art platform built on cutting-edge technology that combines comprehensive visibility, with intelligence and high-powered analytics to protect the 5G and LTE network ecosystem. It also provides enhanced protection by integrating detection and protection capabilities and allows for complete application-level inspection and intrusion prevention,” it added.

NGFW scans incoming traffic for malicious attack patterns, and upon detailed analysis, verified messages are looped back and passed to the client’s core network. With SecurityGen’s signalling firewalls, the client then can quickly analyse and secure core networks and subscriber data. SecurityGen’s signalling firewalls can simultaneously detect and analyse cross-protocol attacks, a new class of threats targeting all network protocols in tandem.

SecurityGen is also working actively on the GTP (GPRS Tunnelling Protocol) front. GTP, defined by the 3GPP standards, has been a fundamental protocol in the evolution of mobile networks. GTP has evolved from connecting and enabling seamless roaming access in GPRS to acting as a liaison between old and new technologies across 3G and 4G.

The GTP protocol, despite its widespread usage in 4G and 5G networks, is also known for inherent vulnerabilities. One of them is the absence of a robust and built-in security mechanism. These vulnerabilities can result in the protocol being the hotbed of malicious acts like denial of cellular service, data interception, fraud, subscriber impersonation and data disclosure. These incidents can undermine the security and reliability of 5G networks.

Addressing the above worries, “GTP Firewall” shields mobile networks from potential risks associated with GTP. The firewall, a vital part of SecurityGen’s Telecom Security Guard (TSG) platform, provides robust security for 3G, 4G, and 5G networks, maintaining secure and seamless telecom services.

Covering A-Z Of Telecom Security

SecurityGen has started its “5G Security Programme” to help mobile network operators (MNOs) reinforce their security strategy and offers comprehensive guidelines for maintaining the reliability and resiliency of 5G network and services.

How is the programme helping the MNOs? by identifying the threats the businesses are facing and evaluating the challenges, along with offering clear, actionable recommendations for ongoing 5G security strategy, providing guidance for immediate remediation of critical weaknesses and vulnerabilities, assuring security for a range of service offerings and last by not the least, verifying compliance with industry recommendations.

Using the ACE SaaS model, SecurityGen is reinforcing measures to control signalling threats and ensure heightened security. ACE is enabling independent testing of signalling network. Once enabled, apart from conducting a thorough security assessment of the client’s signalling premises, creating a report highlighting critical issues and delivering it to the relevant teams.

Under the “Telecom Security Assessment,” SecurityGen’s expert team is providing complete visibility into the actual state of signalling protection throughout the telecom infrastructure, with the goal of highlighting potential attack vectors on signalling network and other risks, thus keeping the network and subscribers safe. These professionals are also running programmes related to fraud risks and telecom incidents (probing vulnerabilities in a signalling network).

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