Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Deutsche Telekom integrates mobile network with Teams; Telecom Italia digitizes truckers; OneWeb delivers connectivity to Kazakhstan.

Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe

September 14, 2022

2 Min Read
Eurobites: BICS, Thales combine on eSIMs for IoT devices

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Deutsche Telekom integrates mobile network with Teams; Telecom Italia digitizes truckers; OneWeb delivers connectivity to Kazakhstan.

  • BICS, the international services arm of Belgium's Proximus, has teamed up with Thales to make it easier for enterprises to use eSIM technology within IoT devices such as smart meters or smart appliances. According to BICS, enterprises have struggled to do this in the past due to the level of integration required with mobile operators. BICS will enable the provisioning of eSIMs inside Thales Cinterion modules; these modules can then connect to mobile network operators anywhere in the world with the Thales IoT Connectivity Activation service. Figure 1:

    • Deutsche Telekom and Microsoft have come together to allow businesses to integrate their customers' mobile phone numbers into the ubiquitous Teams collaboration software. Under the new system, users can make calls directly in Teams regardless of their location and devices and make and receive national and international calls with their own mobile phone number.

    • Telecom Italia (TIM) has signed an agreement with FIAP, the Italian hauliers' federation, aimed at fostering digital innovation in the logistics industry. TIM will draw on the expertise of its specialist units – Noovle for cloud/edge computing, Olivetti for IoT and Telsy for cybersecurity. Areas of focus include monitoring and tracking of vehicle fleets as well as interactive communication between vehicles and goods manufacturers/distributors.

    • OneWeb, the satellite broadband company that is co-owned by the UK government and India's Bharti Global, has completed field trials of low-Earth (LEO) based broadband in rural areas of Kazakhstan. OneWeb says the trials demonstrated how the company can provide connectivity across remote areas of Northern Kazakhstan using electronically steered user terminals from Kymeta, a company specializing in flat-panel antennas.

    • GlobalPlatform, a company that allows device makers and others to certify their products, has published a white paper highlighting what it describes as the potentially confusing implementation of security levels in the EU Cybersecurity Certification Scheme (EUCC) proposed by the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) as part of the Cyber Security Act (CSA). In a statement, Olivier Van Nieuwenhuyze, chair of the GlobalPlatform Security Task Force, said: "In differing from well-established security levels used in industry, the EUCC has introduced confusion and disturbed ecosystems founded on existing security schemes."

    • Sweden-based Sinch has launched AskFrank, an AI-enabled question-answering search engine. According to Sinch, AskFrank integrates with a business's existing customer engagement chatbots, contact center, website or knowledge base. If you're wondering, it's called AskFrank because the answers it gives are "frank, direct and honest": It's nothing to do with this Frank or this Frank.

      — 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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