Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Telia Carrier tackles number provisioning with Telesmart.io; Ofcom leans on operators to tackle scam calls; Tesco's online outage.

Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe

October 25, 2021

3 Min Read
Eurobites: Let's get time-critical, says Ericsson

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Telia Carrier tackles number provisioning with Telesmart.io; Ofcom leans on operators to tackle scam calls; Tesco's online outage.

  • Ericsson is launching a software "toolbox" that it says will resolve lags and interruptions in mobile networks, aiming it squarely at service providers that want to beef up their 5G offerings to make them better able to cope with the demands of "time-critical" applications, such as gaming and industrial IoT. Called Time-Critical Communication, the software can be deployed as a software upgrade on public and private 5G networks on any 5G frequency band. It is based on the 3GPP-specified ultra-reliable, low latency communication (URLLC) standard.

    • Telia Carrier has plumped for Telesmart.io's direct inward dialling (DID) inventory management platform, which will allow the Nordic operator to automate how numbers are provisioned and simplify number management. According to Telesmart.io, the platform is ideal for "bring your own operator" models that require numbers to be quickly provisioned for enterprise customers across multiple markets.

    • Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, has got the major phone networks to agree to automatically block almost all VoIP calls coming from abroad if they pretend to be from the UK, according to a BBC report. The move is intended to clamp down on the millions of scam calls and texts being sent to UK users. One (unnamed) operator has already put the measures in place, the BBC report added.

    • In related news, UK mobile operator EE has been trumpeting the success of the anti-spam filter it introduced in July, claiming it has blocked more than 42 million text messages since its launch. According to EE, the filter "proactively" blocks spam text messages by analyzing patterns of content as they reach EE's network and is also able to detect new scam trends, one of the most recent relating to the UK's recent fuel shortages.

    • Tesco, the UK's largest retailer, is licking its wounds this morning after an attempted hack stopped its online ordering system from functioning over the weekend. As the Guardian reports, the problems began on Saturday and continued well into Sunday. Predictably, droves of would-be customers took to social media to vent their frustration at being unable to procure competitively priced comestibles and being forced to languish in Tesco's "virtual waiting room."

    • Virgin Media Business has landed the contract to bring full-fiber infrastructure to schools, doctors' surgeries and libraries in the southern English district of West Berkshire. The first 15 sites covered by the £1.7 million (US$2.3 million) project will be connected at the beginning of next year.

      — Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading

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About the Author(s)

Paul Rainford

Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading

Paul is based on the Isle of Wight, a rocky outcrop off the English coast that is home only to a colony of technology journalists and several thousand puffins.

He has worked as a writer and copy editor since the age of William Caxton, covering the design industry, D-list celebs, tourism and much, much more.

During the noughties Paul took time out from his page proofs and marker pens to run a small hotel with his other half in the wilds of Exmoor. There he developed a range of skills including carrying cooked breakfasts, lying to unwanted guests and stopping leaks with old towels.

Now back, slightly befuddled, in the world of online journalism, Paul is thoroughly engaged with the modern world, regularly firing up his VHS video recorder and accidentally sending text messages to strangers using a chipped Nokia feature phone.

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