By Beijing Correspondent Dr. Lin Sun In early 2011, China Telecom, the country’s largest fixed-line operator, launched its “Broadband Country-Op-Net Cities” initiative. The plan aimed to boost consumer download speeds roughly tenfold—targeting 20 Mbps for most urban households and 100 Mbps for most businesses by 2015. The targets were ambitious given the reality at the … Read more

(Image Credit: iStockPhoto/maljalen) Last month we reported that 73 percent of Brits were “completely unaware” of the Investigatory Powers Bill, commonly known as the Snooper’s Charter. New research from the popular VPN provider HideMyAss shows that when people were presented with short extracts from the bill, two-thirds of respondents believed the passages came from dystopian … Read more

AT&T has reached a milestone by delivering 20 Gbps symmetric speeds on a live production fiber network, an industry first. The company’s Hyper-Gig service is already among the fastest in the United States, offering 5 Gbps symmetric connections to both consumers and businesses. AT&T has continued pushing capacity to prepare its network for emerging applications … Read more

According to the latest IDC market research, HTC has overtaken longtime rival Samsung to become the fifth-largest smartphone maker in Japan. This represents a significant achievement for HTC. Although reviewers frequently praise HTC handsets — sometimes rating them above competitors, including Samsung — the company has typically struggled to match the marketing reach and carrier … Read more

Recent high-profile incidents have reignited public debate about how our data is protected and how much access government bodies should have. Some cybersecurity specialists suggest that certain alleged attacks—such as the vandalism of the CENTCOM Twitter account—might even be “inside jobs” used to justify expanded surveillance powers. New legislation will require cars to include a … Read more

LMT, together with port services and technical provider LVR Fleet, has completed a successful trial demonstrating 5G connectivity across maritime environments in the Baltic region. The pilot, carried out on the Daugava River in Riga, Latvia, proved smooth 5G communication both from shore to ship and between vessels. The test showcased a practicable approach to … Read more

By Michael Lantz, CEO, Accedo The Smart TV opportunity The Smart TV concept is compelling: built-in connectivity in the television enables direct access to apps and content from multiple providers without requiring an external device. Coupled with an integrated tuner, Smart TV platforms can interact with live broadcasts in ways over-the-top (OTT) devices cannot, creating … Read more

While competitors initially mocked AT&T for its “5G-E” branding, calling it misleading, Sprint has escalated the matter by filing a lawsuit against the carrier. Sprint says it commissioned a consumer survey showing that 54 percent of respondents believed networks labeled 5G-E were equivalent to, or better than, true 5G. Another 43 percent of those surveyed … Read more

Nokia has introduced three smart city services designed to help cities manage urbanisation challenges and enable operators to support digital city requirements: IoT for Smart Cities, Sensing as a Service, and Secure Mobile Virtual Network Operator (S‑MVNO) for Public Safety. The first offering, IoT for Smart Cities, is a modular, scalable and fully integrated framework … Read more

In a recent wave of disclosures, Edward Snowden released documents claiming the National Security Agency has monitored VTech users for “any suspicious activity” dating back to 1976, the year the electronic learning product company was founded. VTech has not issued an official response, but device owners have been quick to voice their reactions. Three-year-old Helen … Read more