In this week's roundup, we looked at the top news stories from the B2B tech & telecoms industry. The stories cover topics including streaming, satellites, open-RAN, 3G, telecom towers, NFT, cryptocurrency, network and cyberattacks.
Here are our highlights:
The number of Netflix subscribers grew to 222 million last year, but the streaming firm is facing a rocky road ahead as the surge of interest it saw during the pandemic fades.Overall, Netflix added 18.2 million members last year - roughly half the number who subscribed in 2020.
Read the full story here: https://bbc.in/35iinf0
OneWeb and Hughes Network Systems (Hughes) have formed a strategic six-year distribution partner agreement to provide low Earth orbit (LEO) connectivity services across India.
Read the full story here: https://bit.ly/3fRMjAM
Intelsat is the latest satellite company to offer services to reconnect Tonga after a volcano cut subsea cables. The company said it is now working with Telstra of Australia and Spark of New Zealand to connect Digicel Tonga and Tonga Communications.
Read the full story here: https://bit.ly/3rPsLm4
Open RAN revenues will account for around 15% of the overall 2G-5G RAN market by 2026, according to a new estimate from the Dell’Oro group. The Asia-Pacific region is dominating the open RAN market, says Dell’Oro, and will play a leading role throughout the forecast period, accounting for more than 40% of total 2021-2026 revenues.
Read the full story here: https://bit.ly/33N9Wb6
Vodafone UK is following the group’s German and Italian units by announcing plans to close down its 3G network. The company said that 3G was carrying 30% of data traffic in 2016 but less than 4% now. The UK company said 3G services would be phased out from next year, but it didn’t say how long that process will last.
Read the full story here: https://bit.ly/3ABizBr
IHS Towers has agreed to acquire 2,115 towers from a portfolio belonging to Grupo Torresur (GTS) for $315 million. The acquisition will boost IHS's local portfolio to approximately 7,000 towers across Brazil, in addition to its secondary fibre network covering approximately 6.4 million homes passed, which it currently operates.
Read the full story here: https://bit.ly/32zUjDd
Lamborghini is dipping its supercar toe into the non-fungible token pool. But unlike the primate-based computer-designed Twitter avatars that have come to represent the NFT community, the automaker is bridging the physical and digital world for its crypto offering.
Read the full story here: https://tcrn.ch/33VWLVl
Criminals laundered £6.4bn of cryptocurrency in 2021, up by 30% from the previous year, a report by blockchain data company Chainalysis says. It says police could strike a "huge blow" by targeting key services used to launder cryptocurrency by criminals.
Read the full story here: https://bbc.in/3KYzP8K
The partnership will allow customers of Lightstorm, an Indian carrier-neutral network infrastructure platform, to connect to the DE-CIX platform through its high-speed software-defined smartnet network. This new connectivity will enable Lightstorm to reduce latency for its customers, improve network resilience and deliver an optimised content experience to their users.
Read the full story here: https://bit.ly/3G2QJzn
UK organisations are being urged to bolster their defences amid fears cyber attacks linked to the conflict in Ukraine could move beyond its borders. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has issued new guidance, saying it is vital companies stay ahead of a potential threat.
Read the full story here: https://bbc.in/3rWz3jU