A week in telecoms: NTT DoCoMo ties with Project Kuiper, Singtel announces quantum safe network

Welcome to the Inform news round-up, where we take a look at a selection of recent telco news and how it impacts the wider industry.

SK Telecom takes further steps towards the metaverse, while KT increases AI focus

SK Telecom (SKT) is a regular presence in telecoms news round-ups when it comes to new innovations. The South Korean operator has just announced a raft of partnerships to drive the development of ifland, its metaverse service.

SKT unveiled collaborations with Malaysian operator CelcomDigi Berhad; Agate, a game developer and publisher in Indonesia; and Cosmic Technologies, an IoT platform provider and consumer electronics and mobile devices supplying company in the Philippines, “to create mutually beneficial business opportunities through publishing partnerships” for ifland.

SKT noted that it will focus on areas that apply to all global versions of ifland, such as service planning and operation and content creation, and its partners will carry out activities to boost ifland in their local markets through localized content and marketing, and primary customer support. It recently signed MoUs with Agate and Cosmic Technologies, and said it will further expand its partnership with CelcomDigi, which began in February 2023.

SKT began expanding ifland to the global market by launching the service in 49 countries in November 2022. Since then, it has been making diverse efforts to increase ifland’s global presence. For example, in February 2023 it signed MoUs with Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile US and Axiata to promote ifland.

Discussions about the metaverse are not always positive, with some not entirely sure what it will be nor how it will be monetized. However, a study by Nokia and EY earlier this year suggested that certain enterprise and industrial metaverse use cases are already proving to be successful.

Meanwhile Telecom TV reports that KT (Korea Telecom) is stepping up its emphasis on AI under the leadership of its new CTO, Oh Seung-pil as its CTO. He will head up a new technology innovation division, born from a merger between the operator’s IT division and its R&D unit ) to “innovate the entire technology development process from the research stage to service implementation” with a particular focus on AI.

Singtel develops national quantum safe network

Singtel has announced that it will be developing Singapore’s first National Quantum-Safe Network Plus (NQSN+), for enterprises, in partnership with ID Quantique (IDQ). The telco was appointed by Singapore's Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) to develop the network as part of the nation’s Digital Connectivity Blueprint which includes the goal of being quantum-safe in 10 years. Singtel intends to launch the network in mid-2-24. It will employ quantum key distribution and post-quantum cryptography to help secure against attacks from quantum computers. Several telcos worldwide are developing quantum security solutions, as we explored in a recent feature.

Orange wins 2023 Terra Carta Seal

Orange Group has won plaudits for the measures it is taking to achieve Scope 3 targets, as recently outlined by Jérôme Goulard, Chief Sustainability Officer at Orange Business. The France-based operator Orange is one of 17 global companies (and the only telecoms operator) to have been awarded the Sustainable Markets Initiative’s 2023 Terra Carta Seal, which recognizes global companies that are actively leading the charge to create a climate and “nature-positive” future.

In 2019, Orange committed to be Net Zero Carbon by 2040. To achieve this, the Group has set itself interim targets, such as reducing CO2eq emissions in scopes 1 and 2 by 30% in 2025 compared with the 2015 level; reducing CO2eq emissions in scope 3 by 14% in 2025 compared with the 2018 level; and reducing CO2eq emissions in all three scopes by 45% in 2030 compared with the 2020 level.

Goulard said reducing Scope 3 emissions “is the big, big topic for most companies today”. Orange focuses on collecting data about suppliers and the actions they are taking to reduce their own carbon footprint and then combines this data with its marketing analytics tool and distributes it to the company’s various business units to provide an overview of the carbon footprint of products and services.

Goulard also highlighted how Orange has been using AI and data for some time to improve the environmental performance of its network, including within the long-running Green ITN program that focuses on reducing network emissions.

NTT DoCoMo ties with Project Kuiper

Although Japan is well served by terrestrial communications technology like fiber and wireless, the country’s mountainous terrain and many islands makes it challenging to restore connectivity in the event of natural disasters and other emergencies. Therefore, NTT, NTT DoCoMo, NTT Com and SKY Perfect JSAT have formed a strategic collaboration with Project Kuiper, the low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite broadband network developed by Amazon, to bring satellite connectivity to customers in Japan.

NTT and SKY Perfect JSAT said they plan to distribute Kuiper connectivity services to enterprises and government organizations in Japan. The companies also plan to use Kuiper to provide their customers with new connectivity options to build out resilient, redundant communications networks. NTT DoCoMo in turn aims to use Kuiper to connect rural and hard-to-reach parts of Japan to its core telecom network “without the time and expense required to build out fiber and fixed wireless infrastructure.”

Amazon has yet to launch any satellites, so delivering access is unlikely before 2024. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has granted Kuiper permission to deploy its LEO constellation of 3,236 satellites. Several communications service providers (CSPs) are linking up with satellite service providers to solve backhaul and rural connectivity challenges. For instance, Vodafone also intends to use Kuiper’s network to extend the reach of 4G and 5G services in Europe and Africa

Deutsche Telekom has a partnership with Skylo and Intelsat, while Telefónica is collaborating with Sateliot. More recently, KDDI announced an agreement to use SpaceX’s Starlink LEO network for D2D services, extending mobile connectivity to areas including remote islands and mountains. A recent report from MTN Consulting argued that intense competition and a harsh funding climate mean satellite operators are moving deeper into the telecoms space for new market opportunities such as broadband internet, D2D and IoT market segments to find new revenue streams.

However, the analyst company said satellite operators are more likely to be a partnership opportunity than a threat to CSPs in traditional telecoms markets.

Telecom Italia launches NetCo ahead of KKR sale

Telecom Italia (TIM) took a further step towards its long-term goal of splitting off and selling its fixed network, currently dubbed NetCo.  The operator said it has formally created a NetCo business unit that includes the fixed network infrastructure and related real estate, the wholesale business and the entire stake in the subsidiary Telenergia. The division consists of more than 20,000 people and will be integrated with the existing FiberCop business. That means the services component (dubbed ServCo) will employ a total of about 16,300 full time equivalents, which TIM said corresponds to about 17,500 people. This unit will include the mobile network business.

By making this move, TIM is preparing for the sale of the NetCo unit to investment firm KKR for €18.8 billion. The transaction is expected to complete in summer 2024.  TIM is not the first operator to separate its network from its services business: TDC in Denmark has already created TDC Net and Nuuday, for example. However, it is the first tier-1 operator to take this step.

The key aims of the transaction are to cut debt and improve TIM’s positioning. The Italian telecoms market is extremely competitive and has proved challenging for all of the incumbent operators.  Vodafone Group has already indicated it is exploring options for Vodafone Italia, with latest speculation suggesting that Fastweb is interested in a potential deal for the Italian business. WindTre is also hoping to sell a majority stake in its fixed network grid to Sweden’s EQT Infrastructure.

Brazilian operators launch three Open Gateway APIs

As part of the GSMA Open Gateway initiative, Brazilian mobile operators Claro, TIM and Telefónica Vivo unveiled three network API services that focus on improving digital security.

The move also represents the first launch of Open Gateway APIs by Telefónica, which acts as champion for the initiative in Brazil and Spain. The operators collaborated with strategic partners Infobip as technical integrator and Microsoft Azure as services platform provider.

The three APIs are:

Number Verify, for verification of a user’s mobile number by providing the next generation of strong authentication and user experience.

SIM Swap, to check whether a given phone number has recently changed SIM cards. This helps prevent account takeover attacks, in which fraudsters take control of the account owner’s SIM card

Device Location, which allows developers to confirm whether a certain device is in a certain location, which can help spot and prevent fake transactions.

Open Gateway, announced at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2023, aims to open operator network capabilities through global APIs that have been standardised within the CAMARA open source project hosted by the Linux Foundation. According to the GSMA, the initiative is now backed by nearly 40 mobile operator groups worldwide, representing 228 mobile networks and 64% of global connections.

TM Forum is also supporting the Open Gateway goals, as the industry looks towards new ways of exposing and monetizing the capabilities of programmable networks. In March, George Glass, Chief Technology Officer, TM Forum, said the industry “needs Open Gateway working with the TM Forum’s widely adopted Open APIs and Open Digital Architecture (ODA), as well as a few other elements to successfully monetize Network-as-a-Service and related network capabilities.”

Also noted…

Telefónica is set to make about 2,500 staff in Spain redundant in the telco’s first enforced job cuts program for more than a decade, according to reports that cite local unions.

Orange Group opted to withdraw from a process to acquire a 45% stake in Ethiopia’s state-owned operator Ethio Telecom.

Digi Communications reportedly reached a preliminary agreement that could help achieve regulatory approval of the proposed Orange-Masmovil merger in Spain.

NOS launched a 5G standalone network in Portugal.

Telecom Italia (TIM), Iliad Italia, WindTre and Vodafone Italy are to provide 5G on all metro lines in Rome.