Telecommunications has been a lucrative revenue source for governments worldwide over the past decade. For example, the Canadian government recently raised more than $5.3 billion by auctioning spectrum licenses to telecom companies. Beyond one-time spectrum sales, many jurisdictions also collect ongoing taxes on voice and data services supplied by local providers. The potential revenue from … Read more

South Korea’s largest mobile carrier has been hit with a record fine after a major data breach exposed the personal information of nearly half the country’s population. The Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) announced on Thursday that it fined SK Telecom 134.8 billion won (about US$97 million) for weak security measures and failing to report … Read more

With an unlimited subscription plan, mobile users can use data services—downloading and uploading—without limits for a stated period (typically one month). By contrast, a limited subscription plan grants a fixed amount of data for a fixed period (also usually one month). If users do not manage their consumption carefully, they may exceed that allowance before … Read more

The latest UK Mobile Performance Review from RootMetrics finds that EE remains the operator to beat. EE secured first place across all seven of RootMetrics’ performance categories: Overall Performance, Reliability, Accessibility, Speed, Data, Call, and Text. The operator claimed 109 of 112 RootScore Awards across major metropolitan areas. Patrick Linder, Senior Director of Marketing and … Read more

Italian Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio announced on Sunday that the government is exploring the creation of a single national broadband provider to manage the country’s internet infrastructure. Di Maio, leader of the Five Star Movement, revealed the proposal during an interview with La7 television. He said the government is “working to set the … Read more

Google has joined a four-way partnership investing $100 million in a wholesale broadband infrastructure initiative designed to deliver fast, reliable internet to cities across Africa. This effort builds on Google’s existing Project Link programme, first introduced in Kampala, Uganda in 2013 to give local internet service providers (ISPs) and mobile networks access to more efficient, … Read more

(Image Credit: iStockPhoto/Ursula Alter) The UK government has set a national broadband speed target of 10 Mbps by 2020, a goal it expects to meet. While that figure is easily attainable, a new report from the Institute of Directors (IoD) criticizes the government for what it calls a “poverty of ambition” on broadband policy. Dan … Read more

Nokia has introduced a set of new products designed to strengthen its AirScale baseband portfolio and help operators meet growing traffic, performance and sustainability demands. The lineup includes two next-generation baseband capacity cards, Levante and Lodos, and an ultra-performance baseband control card called Ponente. Built around Nokia’s ReefShark System-on-Chip (SoC) technology, these cards deliver higher … Read more

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has dealt a major setback to advocates of net neutrality by blocking the recently reinstated rules from taking effect. The court’s order extends a prior temporary pause, effectively suspending the new net neutrality protections until the appeals court completes a fuller review. The stay was granted after the court … Read more

Japan has set a new internet data-transfer speed record of 319 Tb/s, breaking the previous milestone set less than a year earlier. Last year, a collaborative effort between researchers in Japan and the United Kingdom produced a record speed of 178 Tb/s. That achievement was remarkable, but the new result from Japan’s National Institute of … Read more