Introducing the next 6 digital media startups from the BBC’s accelerator in London
The BBC’s young accelerator program, called BBC Labs, has launched its latest batch of London digital media startups. Read more »
Telefónica steps up its security game with Eleven Paths “hothouse”
The startup-within-a-telco comprises a Spanish team with a track record, who will try to develop speedy solutions to network and mobile vulnerability problems. Read more »
Telefonica is setting up a digital services firm with Spanish banks
This is more than just a partnership: it’s a full-blown joint venture that will see a new company tackle P2P mobile payments and create a digital “community” for retailers and customers around the world. Read more »
Using a Samsung phone on a Telefónica network? Get ready for carrier billing
The world’s top handset manufacturer has signed up for Telefónica’s carrier billing service, which will let customers buy apps and content through the Samsung app store and charge it to their phone bill. Read more »
So UK carriers are selling anonymized customer data? That may not be a bad thing.
photo: Lightspring
British privacy advocates have reacted with horror to the idea of EE and market research firm Ipsos Mori selling anonymized customer data. On balance, they shouldn’t worry so much. Read more »
Intel banks on enterprise mobile app development again, leading $9M FeedHenry round
Intel Capital and others have put $9 million into Irish outfit FeedHenry, which provides a mobile app development and deployment platform, along with backend-as-a-service, for mostly enterprise customers. Read more »
Intel, Samsung, Telefonica endorse anticipatory computing, invest in Expect Labs
Expect Labs more than doubles its current funding with latest round. The startup wants computers to be able to predict the kind of information we need instead of us having to ask for it. Read more »
Chat apps have overtaken SMS by message volume, but how big a disaster is that for carriers?
photo: Flickr / whiteafrican
According to analysts at Informa, IP-based platforms such as WhatsApp now carry more messages than SMS infrastructure does. However, we should be cautious about how we interpret the figures. Read more »
Telefonica’s Tu Go shows that, finally, a telco has figured out the value of the app
Tu Go extends essential functionality to Wi-Fi-connected devices, making the service you’re already paying for more relevant and easier to use. It may be the first time a telco has created a genuinely sensible OTT app. Read more »
BSkyB buys Telefónica UK’s fixed-line business for $300M
The deal will make Sky the UK’s second-largest fixed-line broadband and voice player. It also makes it more likely that the O2 UK mobile business will be open for a merger with one of its rivals. Read more »
T-Mobile’s M2M provider Raco goes international with Sprint, Telefónica deals
photo: Flickr / D. Miller
Raco Wireless is already connecting plenty of appliances, vehicles and gadgets to the internet of things using T-Mobile’s 2G networm, but with new carrier partnerships the M2M specialist can connect those things in more places. Read more »
The results are in: UK 4G spectrum auction has five winners, raising $3.62B
EE, Vodafone, Three, O2 and BT have all won spectrum in the auction, which the regulator Ofcom says will lead to full 4G coverage by the end of 2017. Read more »
Telefonica and FeedHenry partner up on enterprise mobile app development
The Spanish telco has beefed up its enterprise cloud portfolio by integrating its recently-announced Instant Servers IaaS play with FeedHenry’s Mobile Applications Platform. Read more »
Carriers finally get a cut of Skype Credit sales, starting in Russia
Mobile operators have treated Skype as a threat for years. Now they’re going to profit off it by allowing customers to buy Skype Credit directly through their phone bill or pre-paid allowance and taking a cut. Read more »
UK carriers may all be able to roll out 4G using existing spectrum
EE has been able to roll out 4G earlier than its rivals because it’s been allowed to reuse its 2G and 3G spectrum for LTE. Now its rivals look set to get the same opportunity. Read more »
Firefox OS dev phones appear, with Telefonica as the driving force
An obscure Spanish manufacturer has revealed two test devices for Mozilla’s mobile operating system. Telefonica, which is pushing hard on Firefox OS, will be showing them off at a Sao Paolo event later this month. Read more »
Spain’s carriers unite on Joyn – is this the future of mobile?
The three biggest mobile operators in Spain have all launched Joyn, the consumer-facing brand name for Rich Communications Services. But, with entrenched over-the-top rivals such as WhatsApp, is this long-gestating platform too late? Read more »
How Orange hopes to benefit from a future of free calls and messaging
The France-based operator group is the latest to deploy an app that competes directly with the likes of Skype and WhatsApp, but also potentially steals away its own paying customers. Apart from evolving because it has to, what does it hope to gain? Read more »
Ireland should finally get 4G in 2013, after spectrum auction shatters expectations
You know what’s cool? $1.1bn. Especially when, like the Irish government, you were only expecting a fifth of that. And, with carriers finally free to roll out 4G, that won’t be the only boost to the Irish economy. Read more »
Telefónica squares up to Amazon with Instant Servers global IaaS offering
The Spanish telecoms giant has made its big infrastructure-as-a-service play with Instant Servers, which it claims will beat entrenched rivals through better reliability and scalability. Read more »
Subscriber Content
New solutions for the evolving mobile network
photo: Bytemarks
Mobile data will grow 18 times over the next five years. To successfully address the shift from voice-to data-centric usage models, operators need to act on multiple fronts, because no single solution will be sufficient in isolation. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Apigee launches product as telcos prep software defined networks
Many interested in deploying software defined networks are eager for the agility and programmability they can provide. But the fear of breaking their network means IT is leery of deploying SDNs. Apigee has updated its API management products to work on SDNs to alleviate those fears. Read more »
Telefónica bets on augmented reality with Aurasma tie-in
The deal will see the Spanish telecoms giant bundle augmented reality tech with its advertising offerings and promote the Aurasma app to its 300 million customers. But will marketing use-cases finally make the technology fly? Read more »
API manager Apigee gets $20M for mobile focus
Apigee, a company that helps manage and monitor APIs, snagged a $20 million round of funding led by new investor Focus Ventures, with participation from current investors Bay Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, SAP Ventures and Third Point Ventures. Read more »
Subscriber Content
Opportunities with Communications-as-a-Service
Communications-as-a-Service (CaaS) technology brings together business applications, the Internet and the world’s public-switched telephone network (PSTN) to provide businesses with new ways of enabling communication. Here’s how to leverage this new technology. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Voda-O2 pact may help UK get 4G faster than expected
Vodafone and O2 are joining forces in Britain to share their grid and try to roll out 4G services faster than planned. It’s being painted as a great deal for consumers — but it’s actually being driven by the actions of their rivals. Read more »
What does Telekom really want from hub:raum startups?
Up to €300,000 in seed funding and a pro mentor to boot? Sounds great – but it seems the equity demands for Deutsche Telekom’s new Berlin-based ‘incubator’ hub:raum are pretty fuzzy indeed. Read more »
Deutsche Telekom and General Assembly set out Berlin plans
Hot on the heels of Telefonica’s Wayra accelerator, Deutsche Telekom has opened up a rival incubator in the German capital Read more »
Hotel booking app Blink scores $2.5m in funding
Spain’s Blink Booking offers last-minute hotel reservations, so it’s only appropriate that one of the several high-profile names in its funding round is that of Lastminute.com co-founder Brent Hoberman Read more »
Telefónica set to launch Wayra accelerator in Germany
After similar launches in the UK and Ireland, mobile giant Telefónica is bringing its Wayra accelerator program to Germany later this year — with a six-month scheme for tech startups that comes with up to €50,000 in seed funding. Read more »
Subscriber Content
Key technologies for the smart city
Five key technology sectors are enabling the smart city: smart grids, smart transport, smart water and waste management, smart building systems, and the enabling ICT platforms for the smart city. Key players like IT companies, telcos and utilities must learn how to harness those technologies, and quickly. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Threatened by startups, telcos try to think like entrepreneurs
At MWC executives of two prominent operators said the industry has significant challenges in the form of over the top providers commoditizing their revenue streams without those companies putting any significant investment of their own into the network. Here’s what operators should do. Read more »
Do we need another mobile OS? Mozilla thinks so
Searching for a new lease of life, Mozilla is joining forces with Spanish operator Telefónica to build handsets that have web technologies at their heart. But can Mozilla succeed where Palm failed? And is there room in a difficult market for more players? Read more »
It’s the end of the line for telco
Martin Geddes thinks the telecom industry has reached its peak. As he explains, telecom is like the railroad business at the height of the railroad barons. It has acquired its maximum share of the economy, and the only way now is down. Read more »
Tough for Telefónica as Euro mobile goes down the pan
Spanish telecoms giant Telefónica — the world’s third-largest mobile firm — saw profits cut in half after a troubled year. With Nokia, Siemens and Deutsche Telekom all facing a torrid time, is the writing on the wall for Europe’s mobile businesses? Read more »
As CDMA dies in Latin America, 3G drives a data boom
Mobile data is picking up momentum in Latin America as the number of 3G connections in the region doubled in 2011. Operators in Latin and South America are shutting down their CDMA networks, replacing them with UMTS systems, resulting in a huge surge in data adoption. Read more »
Carriers Have Only Around 100 Million Pay-TV Users, Less Than 60% Via IPTV
photo: Shutterstock / alexmillos
Some numbers out today that underscore the challenge telecoms operators have had in attracting customers to their pay-TV platforms, includin… Read more at paidContent »
Roll On, Digital Reorganization. Telefonica Posts First Loss In Nine Years
Telefonica (NYSE: TEF) has put its digital eggs into one basket — centralizing all its global digital operations into one new unit — and w… Read more at paidContent »
U.S. Cellular: iPhone buy-in price too steep
Apple’s smartphone could’ve been available on five carriers this fall instead of just four, according to U.S. Cellular’s CEO Mary Dillon. Dillon revealed during the carrier’s earnings call that her company turned down the iPhone because Apple’s “terms were unacceptable from a risk and profitability standpoint.” Read more »
VMware and Verizon team up for mobile virtualization
VMware has signed deals with Verizon and Telefonica to offer virtualization on phones provided by the operators. The net result of this deal is that employees who want to combine their work phone and their personal phone will soon be able to do so. Read more »
