An iTWire publication www.itwire.com Editor: Stan Beer Friday 7 June 2019 US DRIVES HUAWEI INTO LOVING ARMS OF RUSSIA CommsWire (ISSN 2202-4549) is published by iTWire Pty Ltd. 18 Lansdown St, Hampton, Vic, 3188 CommsWire/Telecommunications Editor: Stan Beer Staff writers: Peter Dinham, Alex Zaharov-Reutt, Sam Varghese. Columnist: John de Ridder Advertising: CEO and Editor in Chief, Andrew Matler: [email protected] • Tel: 0412 390 000 RUSSIAN NATIONAL CARRIER MTS SIGNS 5G DEAL WITH HUAWEI Russian national telecommunications operator MTS has signed a 5G deal with Western snubbed Chinese telecommunications equipment vendor Huawei Technologies, with the network to be developed and implemented over the next year. Among a number of reports, the website Fierce Wireless said the deal was agreed during a meeting in Moscow between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. MTS said the agreement would include developing 5G technologies and the rollout of a pilot 5G network in 2019-20. The Russian firm is the biggest mobile operator in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, with more than 100 million mobile subscribers in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Armenia. MTS also has about nine million fixed-line customers who use its voice, broadband Internet and pay-TV services in Russia. Huawei has been hit by a US ban imposed in May that prevents it from using American components in its products. Soon after it was put in place, Washington relaxed the ban until August. China and the US have been involved in a tit-for-tat trade war for almost a year now. A trade deal that looked likely last month, now looks unlikely unless Xi and US President Donald Trump reach some kind of agreement during the G20 leaders' summit at the end of June. Sam Varghese Friday 07 June 2019 No: 190607 iTWire Pty Ltd www.itwire.com page 2 ARM FOUNDER URGES NON-US FIRMS TO RESIST TRUMP BULLYING The co-founder of smartphone chip designer ARM Holdings, Dr Hermann Mauser, has urged non-American technology companies not to give in to what he has characterised as "bullying" from the White House in the US-China trade war. The British website Business Weekly reported that Dr Hauser was annoyed about the fact that the Americans had forced ARM to end its relationship with Chinese telecommunications equipment vendor Huawei Technologies. ARM, a British company, is owned by Softbank, a Japanese fund. In May, Washington placed Huawei on a list that prevents it from buying American components for its products without government approval. The order was later relaxed until August. Dr Hauser, who is also a venture capital investor and co-founder of Amadeus Capital Partners, told the website: “I consider this an extremely serious issue for Europe and any other non-American country as it is a question of sovereignty which we must not compromise on. “At present we have no option given the legal situation. The solution is to design out American IP and stand on our own two feet unless we want to become vassals to the ESG (Extremely Stable Genius) as Trump describes himself.” He said the ban would hit ARM and US companies like Google and Apple in the long run. Huawei would be affected in the near term but the ban would make other companies wary and they would try and limit their exposure fearing that future decisions would also hurt them. “Every single supplier in the world will start thinking of how to reduce the threat of their production being terminated by an American president," Dr Hauser said. “All the discussions I have with companies in Europe at the moment are about them going through their intellectual property portfolio and designing American intellectual property out, which is terribly sad and destructive. “Every company in the world must now be thinking: ‘Do I want to be in a position where the American president can shut me down?’ When I talk to people in the industry, they are being very careful about not buying American products.” Sam Varghese Friday 07 June 2019 No: 190607 iTWire Pty Ltd www.itwire.com page 3 AMAYSIM'S WINTER GIGS: MORE DATA FOR YOUR DOLLARS amaysim says Aussies can get "giggy" with its newly enlarged plans, and at the keener pricing, you may well get giddy and giggly with delight at the difference. Ok, so as of the 6th of June, Amaysim's OLD plans for unlimited talk and text with varying amounts of data were as follows – with the new plans listed below the ad: $10 with 1GB data $20 with 2.5GB data $30 with 10GB data $40 with 20GB data $50 with 40GB data $60 with 60GB data Now, as of 9am on the 7th of July, amaysim has changed its plans, adding much more data for the money. The company hasn't stated in its media release what has happened to the $10 and $60 plans, but the NEW plans (with unlimited calls and text in Australia) that it has unveiled are as follows: $20 for 5Gb data $30 for 30GB data $40 for 45GB data $50 for 60GB data The $30, $40 and $50 plans also include unlimited talk and text to 10 countries, while the $40 and $50 plans also include 300 minutes of "standard calls' to 22 countries. "Smartphones remain at the heart of Australians’ digital life with the average smartphone mobile data usage up by 62% in the last year. This growth is primarily driven by an uptake in streaming services." Alex Zaharov-Reutt Friday 07 June 2019 No: 190607 iTWire Pty Ltd www.itwire.com page 4 IINET OFFERS SYMMETRICAL GIGABIT PLANS FOR BUSINESSES TPG Telecom-owned ISP iiNet has launched a plan to provide a symmetrical gigabit fibre connection for businesses at a monthly cost of $878.90, including GST. The plan will be available on a 36-month contract, the company said in a statement on Thursday, adding that additional charges would apply for data, voice and cloud services. Including installation, it would cost $32,739.30 over the three years. Gigabit connections are not available for regular NBN users apart from some locations like Tasmania, where fibre was laid before the technology change implemented by the LNP. Last year, Damian Ivereigh, chief executive of Launtel, a Launceston-based ISP, said his was probably the only company which would sell a gigabit connection over the NBN at the moment – and only in Tasmania. "I believe that we are one of the reasons why Tasmania has a higher than average number of FttP upgrades going on, because you can get gigabit here," Ivereigh told CommsWire. "iiNet Fibre1000 is the type of broadband Aussie businesses need to confidently move operations to cloud-based applications and large-scale hosted phone/SIP solutions," iiNet said. "The symmetrical bandwidth means businesses can upload as fast as they download to save time where it matters and the easy to use online portal makes it possible to share 1000Mbps bandwidth as desired across voice, cloud, data or Internet services for prioritisation and security." iiNet said the plans came with unlimited data, 99.95% service level agreement, 24x7x365 priority business support, and a dedicated account manager and project case officer. Sam Varghese Friday 07 June 2019 No: 190607 iTWire Pty Ltd www.itwire.com page 5 SENSEN AWARDED MULTI-YEAR CONTRACT WITH GOLD COAST Melbourne-based AI solutions provider SenSen Networks has secured a contract with the City of Gold Coast to supply an automated parking enforcement solution. The ASX-listed SenSen has been contracted jointly with its distribution partner and integrated parking solutions provider, Duncan Solutions. Commencing this month, the contract with the City of Gold Coast covers the City’s purchase of an initial two SenFORCE mobile parking enforcement units, “with upfront revenue for the systems, software and commissioning of the units”. SenSen says it will also earn annual recurring revenues and fees for the software licence, maintenance and support services, under the three-year term of the contract. Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate recently announced a proposed $544 million spend on specific traffic congestion management initiatives over the next four years, after presenting a “mid-life review” of the City’s 2013-2031 tansport strategy. SenSen says the review highlighted the need for a multi-pronged approach to meeting the Gold Coast’s emerging transport challenges, which will include “53 projects over four years that focus on managing congestion across the city”. “These include major road projects, intersection upgrades, applying the latest technology to better manage our network, more active and public transport initiatives and travel demand management.” SenSen says City of Gold Coast parking inspectors will utilise SenFORCE across the municipality to improve safety in school zones and to improve parking space availability and congestion. Peter Dinham Friday 07 June 2019 No: 190607 iTWire Pty Ltd www.itwire.com page 6.