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Category: Telecom

Retail News Asia is committed to providing both local and global retailers with the latest Telecom & Telco news throughout the Asian market. This on a daily base.

  • OTT services like Telegram, WhatsApp must be managed locally

    OTT services like Telegram, WhatsApp must be managed locally

    Over-the-top media services, including popular messaging apps like Telegram, need to be managed under the Law on Telecommunications, according to amendments to it proposed by the government.

    The Ministry of Information and Communications said OTT services could be considered direct substitutes for traditional communications like calling and texting, and popular apps like Zalo, Viber, Telegram, and WhatsApp come under this category.

    “There are currently no provisions in the law for managing them, and so there is no way to protect users and information safety and security.”

    The ministry also called for a level playing field for domestic and foreign businesses. Specifically, for OTT telecom services that collect fees, domestic providers need to be approved to do so, while international providers need to have commercial agreements with an approved domestic provider to do so, it proposed.

    Even for OTT telecom services that do not have fees, the ministry proposed that their providers still need to register with the information ministry. International, large-scale providers with service in Vietnam meanwhile must either have commercial agreements or place their representative offices in Vietnam to make sure they abide by local law.

    At a conference held Thursday to discuss the amendments, Vu Tu Thanh of the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council said OTT service providers have no connection with telecom providers.

    “For instance requiring Viber to sign an agreement with VNPT … We don’t know exactly what terms such an agreement would have,” Thanh said.

    Officials proposing the amendments yet said managing OTT services will ensure users’ protection and information security.

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  • Providers of pre-activated SIM cards face suspension

    Providers of pre-activated SIM cards face suspension

    The Ministry of Information and Communications has announced that it will suspend network providers found distributing pre-activated SIM cards or cards registered under incorrect personal info.

    The providers need to publish a list of authorized salespoints on their websites and ensure that their employees only register subscribers who submit personal details in line with the national database, the ministry’s Telecommunications Authority announced Tuesday.

    The moves comes as part of a government effort to make sure that phone subscriber data matches the national database. Millions of subscribers have used pre-activated SIM cards registered under false information for years.

    Some salespeople even sell thousands of SIM cards registered with the same data, and buyers continue using them without updating the info.

    Pre-registered SIM cards are taken advantage of by many businesses for cold calling purpose. Last year, the Hanoi Department of Information and Communications had to request network providers suspend 882 subscribers from making spam calls and sending mass text messages to advertise their products or services.

    Network providers have been ordered to send text messages to falsely registered subscribers asking them to make corrections. After 15 days, if no changes are made, the user will be locked from making calls, while still being able to receive calls.

    There are 127 million phone subscribers in Vietnam, 96% of them belonging to VinaPhone, Viettel and MobiFone.

    Each of these three providers has 1.1 million to 1.4 million phone subscriptions with data that needs to be corrected.

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  • Google Fi reportedly drops US Cellullar service from main supported network to extended roaming

    Google Fi reportedly drops US Cellullar service from main supported network to extended roaming

    Although not officially confirmed, it appears that Google Fi has dropped US Cellular as main network partner, leaving T-Mobile as the sole provider to choose from when using the MVNO. However, US Cellular is still supported as part of Google Fi’s extended network.

    This was discovered by users of the service when reaching out to Google Fi’s customer service and was then promptly posted on Reddit where other users have chimed in confirming that they are receiving the same information. Chat representatives have responded to each query with somewhat conflicting information, but the one thing they agree on is that T-Mobile appears to now be the only main supported network that doesn’t involve roaming.
    This has been cause for concern for Google Fi customers who live in areas where the US Cellular towers are more prominent. In one chat conversation, Google Fi customer support assured that although US Cellular is not longer an official network for Google Fi, users may still be able to access it through roaming on the company’s Extended Network without incurring roaming charges while using it in the United States. Additionally, the MVNO has removed its dialer code, which was required for manual switching to the carrier.
    What this means for users is that they will no longer be able to manually choose a network as there is no other choice besides T-Mobile. Previously, although the setting wasn’t permanent, Google Fi would allow users to manually select their preferred network. Additionally, it would automatically switch between T-Mobile and US Cellular in locations where both networks were available but one had better coverage than the other. This latest change takes both of these options away.
    Now, T-Mobile will take precedence over US Cellular when both networks are available, despite the fact that US Cellular may have a stronger signal in some areas. This is a big change from when Google Fi started offering its MVNO services in 2015 by utilizing T-Mobile and Sprint, and then subsequently added US Cellular as a third partner a year later. However, options began to shrink once T-Mobile acquired Sprint in 2020, effectively combining those two options into one.
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  • Is it already ‘game over’ in the metaverse for Bondee, Singapore’s avatar-based app?

    Is it already ‘game over’ in the metaverse for Bondee, Singapore’s avatar-based app?

    After garnering two million downloads within two weeks of its launch, Bondee’s Gen Z users have got past the novelty factor. Bondee’s is a story of social media hype punctured by a sharp truth that the loyalty of digital natives is hard-earned, experts say

    The rise of Singapore-based metaverse newcomer Bondee was impressive: two million downloads within two weeks of its launch on Apple’s App Store.

    But that initial hype was short-lived as Singapore’s social media users quickly dropped the home-grown avatar-based app, retreating from yet another attempt by makers of the metaverse to capture the long-term loyalty of Gen Z in Southeast Asia.

    Yet Bondee’s moment in the sun may reveal the challenges that the region’s metaverse developers face, experts say, with none so far hooking a crowd large enough to trouble social media giants, such as Meta which has ploughed billions of dollars into the digital future.

    Bondee’s early adopters in Singapore were initially pulled in by the “cute” avatars, personalised rooms and picnic spaces, reminiscent of games like Habbo Hotel that many millennials dabbled in as teens.

    With shades of the Nintendo game Animal Crossing, which took the online world by storm during Covid lockdowns in 2020, Bondee allows users to personalise avatars and bedrooms that friends can visit.

    Friends are capped at 50 by the app’s Singapore-based creators Metadream, in an effort to keep the community tight, relevant and connected.

    Aqil Lim, 25, said he enjoyed being able to visit his friends’ virtual homes, even more as “we don’t have our own homes in real life” in the expensive Asian city state.

    As word of mouth of what was dubbed the “new Gen Z app” spread quickly across Asia, many shared the QR code of their Bondee account on Instagram and Twitter, prompting friends to add them.
    But the novelty quickly wore off as Bondee felt “primitive, with limited customisations and chat functions”, Lim said, adding that after a few weeks he hardly uses the app.

    By Wednesday, Bondee had fallen to 19th on Singapore’s Apple Store – just a month after it topped charts across Asia.

    This also comes after reports of social media users using the term #ripbondee while recording themselves uninstalling the app.

    Bondee’s is a story of social media hype punctured by a sharp truth that the loyalty of digital natives is hard-earned, experts say, since most of their allegiances are already captured by larger platforms like TikTok and Instagram.

    “Avatars alone can’t draw people in, it’s what the entire platform allows you to do with your avatar that gives the platform its stickiness,” said Lim Sun Sun, a professor of communication and technology at the Singapore Management University (SMU).

    The cutesy aesthetics and whimsical feel of Bondee was a “nice hook” but if there isn’t anything else after that, then it is quite literally, “game over”, she said, adding that this will be a challenge for metaverse developers to meet.

    Singaporean Joey Tan, 23, saw videos on TikTok about Bondee and became “curious about what the hype was about”.
    But given the newness of the app, not many of her other friends were on it, an apparent failure to reach a “critical mass” which quickly sees new tech fizzle.
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  • Huawei reportedly testing HarmonyOS 3.1 before it is pre-installed on P60 line

    Huawei reportedly testing HarmonyOS 3.1 before it is pre-installed on P60 line

    The last Huawei phone to feature the Google Mobile Services version of Android was the P30 Pro released in March 2019. Banned from using Google software and apps by the U.S. Commerce Department due to security issues, Huawei developed its own operating system called HarmonyOS. It was first used on a Huawei smartphone with the Mate 40 series and the Mate X2 foldable. Eventually, Huawei Mobile Services was also released in 2019 and includes the company’s AppGallery app storefront.

    Gizchina reports that according to an unnamed tech blogger, Huawei is currently in the process of testing HarmonyOS 3.1 internally. Version 3.0 of the operating system was pre-installed on the Mate 50 line that was released to a warm reception domestically last year. The latest rumor says that the new build kills off some bugs while improving system stability. The report also says that Huawei doesn’t have plans in place to update recently released handsets over the air with HarmonyOS 3.0.

    And it isn’t too soon to be thinking about version 4.0 of HarmonyOS. The report says the operating system’s next major build will include some new designs (we assume that the UI of the operating system is what will be changed) along with some new functionality. Now here’s the deal folks, while HarmonyOS-powered handsets make up only 2% of the world’s smartphones, that is good enough to make Huawei’s in-house operating system the third largest smartphone platform in the world after Android and iOS.
    In talking with our readers throughout the years, some believe that Huawei deserves all of the punishments placed on it by the U.S. because the company is truly a national security threat. And there are others who believe that the U.S. started punishing Huawei only to make sure that it didn’t negatively impact Apple’s businesses. No matter what you believe, the Chinese manufacturer may not have thrived as it did in the past, but it didn’t roll over and die either.

    And Huawei’s Mate 50 featured some innovations including the Emergency Battery Mode that even with 1% battery life remaining allowed users to make calls for 12 minutes, send messages, and stay on standby for up to three hours. The Mate 50 Pro became only the second handset to feature a camera with a variable aperture.

    One of the most interesting apps available from AppGallery is called Petal Search. The app allows users to obtain, “daily weather forecasts and top news; live sports scores and schedules; video, image, and music searches; and financial news and stock market updates.” If you’re about to travel, Petal Search will “search millions of hotels worldwide and book rooms; and check flights and travel info for top global destinations.” Petal Search will also “look up local services and businesses with comprehensive directories.” But there is even more functionality to this app.
    If you’re looking for a particular app that isn’t listed on AppGallery for one reason or another, search for it on Petal Search and even apps developed by Americans will show up if they are available to be sideloaded from a third-party app store. If an alternative source for such an app is found, you can install it directly from the Petal Search app. When we first wrote about the app three years ago, it allowed Huawei device owners to install American-developed apps such as Amazon, Snapchat, Speedtest.net, and AccuWeather.
    Now that the U.S. has banned Huawei from receiving the 4G-only Snapdragon chipsets from Qualcomm, the company’s continued existence in the smartphone industry will depend on whether Huawei receives a patent for a new light source it created for the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines that are used to etch extremely thin circuitry patterns on silicon wafers. It is crucial to the production of cutting-edge chips. One Ditch company, ASML, makes these machines and is banned from shipping them to China.
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  • MobiFone profits down in 2022

    MobiFone profits down in 2022

    Telecom giant MobiFone reported a decline in profits and revenues in 2022, and said they fell short of targets.

    At a review meeting on January 5 the company said revenues fell to VND28.329 trillion (US$1.18 billion), and profits to VND2.71trillion.

    They had been VND31 trillion and VND4.96 trillion in 2021.

    The bright spot in the business last year was that data revenues increased by 27%.

    In April it had launched MobiFone Pay e-wallet and Mobile Money e-money.

    With the telecom market saturated and revenues on a downtrend, the company this year eyes new businesses such as digital finance, digital health and digital education, chairman Nguyen Hong Hien said.

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  • UK carrier Vodafone achieves its fastest speeds

    UK carrier Vodafone achieves its fastest speeds

    UK carrier Vodafone has accomplished yet another milestone. In a new blog post, the mobile operator announced that it achieved its fastest-ever speed throughout the home during a trial with CityFibre — a company that owns, operates, and maintains fiber-to-the-building infrastructure in cities throughout the UK.

    Thanks to CityFibre’s upgrade of its York network to XGS-PON, which should be able to support speeds of up to 10Gbps, and Vodafone’s Ultra Hub modem and Super WiFi 6E Booster, the carrier’s Pro II Broadband plan managed to reach broadband speeds of up to 2Gbps. Vodafone stated that these speeds are twice as fast as the fastest services currently available on CityFibre’s network.

    But what does that mean for the end user? Well, with a 2Gbps Full Fiber service, you can download a 50GB game on your console in around three minutes and 20 seconds, which is more than 50% faster than Vodafone’s 910Mbps broadband. Or, if you prefer watching TV series, you can download a 3.53GB HD TV show in about 15 seconds, which is just incredible.

    However, in order to fully take advantage of such a fast broadband connection, you also need a powerful smartphone. And if you are in the market for one, feel free to check out our best Vodafone phone deals article and get one from there with a great discount. In case you are rocking with another carrier, you can see our best O2 phone deals, best Three phone deals, best EE phone deals, and best Virgin Media deals articles.

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  • Viettel profits highest in 5 years

    Viettel profits highest in 5 years

    Military-owned telecommunications giant Viettel Group earned pre-tax profits of VND43.1 trillion ($1.8 billion) in 2022, the highest growth recorded since 2017.

    The profits rose 3% from 2021. The group’s consolidated revenues increased by 6.1% to VND163 trillion.

    Viettel said telecommunications continued to be its main source of revenue, as the company remained the largest mobile telecommunications service provider in Vietnam, with a market share of 54%.

    Viettel’s telecommunications service revenue growth rate was 1.5 times higher than the world’s average.

    Last year, Viettel’s foreign investment for the first time reached nearly $3 billion. Meanwhile, it remitted home nearly $500 million, the highest amount in the last five years. By the end of last year, it had repatriated nearly 70% of its total investment abroad.

    The digital solutions and services provided by Viettel also had a breakthrough when revenues from information technology solutions surged by 58%.

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  • Huawei collected more from patent licensing than it paid out for the second straight year

    Huawei collected more from patent licensing than it paid out for the second straight year

    No matter how hard the U.S. tries to punish Chinese manufacturer Huawei for being a threat to national security, the company keeps fighting back. After losing access to its U.S. supply chain in 2019 and being forced to abandon the Google Mobile Services version of Android, Huawei developed HarmonyOS with version 3.0 of the software running the Mate 50 series. The following year, the U.S. forced chip foundries using American technology to produce chips to stop shipping cutting-edge silicon to Huawei.
    Right now, Huawei can use 4G versions of Qualcomm’s top Snapdragon chips. While China’s largest foundry is unable to match TSMC and Samsung when it comes to producing the most powerful and energy-efficient chipsets, this could eventually change. Huawei has a patent to develop its own Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machine. The EUV is used to etch circuitry patterns on wafers and with billions of transistors inside chips these days, these patterns must be a fraction of the width of a human hair.
    The top EUV lithography supplier is a Dutch firm called ASML, and it is not allowed to sell these machines to China. Since the invention of the EUV helped take chips to a 7nm process node and lower, Huawei’s patent could help China’s SMIC eventually compete with TSMC and Samsung Foundry. Right now, SMIC is believed to be able to produce 7nm chips for cryptocurrency mining but is limited to a 14nm process node for smartphone chips.
    Even with Huawei handicapped, the company continues to innovate, and according to Reuters, in 2022 it will generate more patent income from royalties than it pays out to license other firms’ patents. This will be the second consecutive year that Huawei has achieved this. Steven Geiszler, U.S. chief intellectual property counsel, said that Huawei signed or renewed 20 patent licensing deals this year.
    Some of the companies reaching an agreement with Huawei on these deals were non-U.S. automakers seeking to improve the communications capabilities of their cars. These firms include Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Porsche, and BMW. Geiszler pointed out the advantages to Huawei of making these deals when he said, “By getting a return on our R&D investment, it allows us to re-invest and re-invent.”
    This is a cycle that Huawei might be able to ride for some time even with the restrictions placed on it by the U.S. As Geiszler points out, the technology included in the patents that Huawei is licensing isn’t subject to U.S. restrictions. That’s because the technology is publicly disclosed.
    Huawei also agreed to extend its licensing deal with Nokia which collected revenue from Huawei when the deal was first signed in 2017. While Huawei has generated $1.2 billion from patent licensing over the last three years ending in 2021, it still has a long way to go to catch up with a company like Nokia which took in $1.59 billion in patent licensing revenue in 2021 alone. Huawei’s full-year 2022 patent licensing revenue won’t be computed until some time next year.
    The money generated by patent licensing still doesn’t make up for the billions of dollars in sales Huawei lost from the U.S. restrictions. However, the U.S. actions have helped Huawei become more aggressive when licensing its own patents. And with some cross-licensing deals, the company is getting money back from companies on the other side of the deal since Huawei isn’t producing as many devices as it used to.
    Huawei saw plenty of excitement earlier this year when it released the Mate 50 smartphone line using its homegrown Xmage photography system. One of the new features on the Mate 50 Pro is called the Low Battery Emergency Mode. When the phone is down to 1% battery,  it will deliver up to 12 minutes of phone calls or put the phone on standby for up to three hours.
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  • Vodafone launches Business Pro II, broadband made for small businesses

    Vodafone launches Business Pro II, broadband made for small businesses

    If you have a small business in the UK and need a new broadband connection, you might want to check out Vodafone’s latest offering. As the mobile operator announced in a blog post, it has launched a new broadband service called Business Pro II.

    Depending on the tariff, Business Pro II has average download speeds ranging from 67Mbps to 900Mbps. It starts at £32.50 a month — for the 67Mbp plan — and can go up to £53.50 — for the 900Mbps tier. Business Pro II customers also receive free unlimited landline and mobile calls, 4G backup, and Wi-Fi support from technical experts.

    Something that distinguishes the Business Pro II from the rest of Vodafone’s business broadband options is that it comes with Vodafone’s Ultra Hub router and Super Wi-Fi 6E Booster — a device you can use to eliminate Wi-Fi dead zone

    Both the router and the booster support the latest Wi-Fi 6E technology and let you connect over 150 devices simultaneously. Wi-Fi 6E offers faster speeds, and since devices that support it utilize the still-uncongested 6GHz frequency, you should also have a more reliable connection with less interference when using Vodafone’s Ultra Hub router and Super WiFi 6E Booster.

    Only new and existing small business customers with between one and nine employees can sign up for Vodafone’s Business Pro II broadband. If your company is eligible and you want to get Business Pro II broadband, dial 191 from your Vodafone mobile, go to a retail store, or visit Vodafone’s official website.

    In case you want a new phone as well, feel free to check out our best Vodafone phone deals and get one from there with an amazing discount. Or, if you are rolling with another carrier, you can visit our top Virgin Media phone deals, best O2 phone deals, best Three phone deals, and best EE phone deals.

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  • FPT Telecom Int’l, ViewQwest to offer one-stop DX services in Asia-Pacific

    FPT Telecom Int’l, ViewQwest to offer one-stop DX services in Asia-Pacific

    FPT Telecom International partnered with ViewQwest on Nov. 30 to elevate their capabilities in providing ICT and digital transformation (DX) services in Asia-Pacific, especially for large regional retailers.

    Known as one of the leading providers of telecommunications services and technology solutions in Vietnam, FPT Telecom International (FTI) has formed a strategic partnership with ViewQwest, an award-winning Singapore telecommunications, network and security solutions provider.

    ViewQwest will work with FTI in deploying digital transformation services in Vietnam and Singapore. Both companies will be establishing colocation facilities in FTI’s data center, providing on-ground technical and engineering support to ViewQwest’s customers in the two countries, including for software and hardware installation and troubleshooting services.

    “Businesses globally are being swept up by the digital transformation wave, none more pronounced than in the retail sector, especially enterprises with extensive multi-market coverage. Our partnership with FTI leverages their deep knowledge and experience in the Vietnam and Singapore market. The collaboration with FPT International Telecom will enable us to better serve our customers with regional operations,” said Vignesa Moorthy, Chief Executive Officer of ViewQwest

    Moorthy also affirmed that the cooperation had marked an important milestone in the Viewqwest’s journey of helping customers build and transform their network and security architecture with confidence, streamlining operations, driving cost-savings, and enabling business agility

    Tran Hai Duong, Chairman of FPT International Telecom expressed his desire to see positive results from the strategic partnership, stating that the two sides are ready to implement the commitments based on the agreement of FTI and ViewQwest.

    “The signing ceremony comes at an important juncture, where we use this agreement to further advance our partnership and support. I would like to emphasize FTI’s commitment to deliver the best values to customers and express our desire to focus on strategic engagement. We consider this partnership as an important part of a long and promising relationship,” said Tran Hai Duong.

    Established in 2001, ViewQwest is an award-winning telecommunications service provider in global and local connectivity, SASE and SD-WAN management, and managed security solutions. Consistently recognized as Singapore’s fastest fixed network from 2018 to 2022 by Ookla Speedtest Intelligence, ViewQwest is a partner of global multinational companies and leading enterprises in SEA in terms of building, transforming infrastructure and security.

    Headquartered in Singapore, ViewQwest expanded into Malaysia in 2016 as a fully-licensed operator serving the enterprise and residential market with its full suite of connectivity and managed network and security services. In 2019, ViewQwest commenced commercial operations in the Philippines. In 2022, the company expanded its market coverage to Hong Kong with Managed SASE, SD-WAN, and cybersecurity solutions.

    Established on May 22, 2008, FPT Telecom International is a member of FPT Telecom. Inheriting the experience and infrastructure of the mother company, one of the leading telecommunication services providers in Vietnam, FPT Telecom International has been operating independently since the beginning of 2008 and is now considered to be one of the top reliable services providers in Vietnam.

    FTI is one of Vietnam’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted Cloud and IT services providers, offering a full spectrum of services nationwide. Customers, including the fastest-growing startups, largest enterprises, and leading government agencies, use FTI to optimize their costs, as well as to promote the digital transformation process in the most effective way.

    The combination of FTI’s comprehensive digital solutions and ViewQwest’s regional network promises to bring many economic benefits and contribute to improving the competitiveness of businesses in the Asia-Pacific region.

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  • Ukraine Trusts Musk’s Starlink But Looking For Other Providers Too

    Ukraine Trusts Musk’s Starlink But Looking For Other Providers Too

    Ukraine trusts Elon Musk to continue providing internet access through his SpaceX rocket company’s Starlink satellite system despite a wobble last month, but is also seeking additional providers, one of its deputy prime ministers said on Thursday.

    Mykhailo Fedorov, in Portugal for Europe’s largest tech conference, the Lisbon Web Summit, said Ukraine had discussed Starlink directly with Musk and was confident the Tesla and Twitter boss would not shut the service down in Ukraine.

    Starlink has “worked, is working and will work in Ukraine”, Federov, who runs Ukraine’s digital transformation ministry, told a news conference in response to a question about the service from Reuters.

    “Elon Musk publicly spoke about this and we had a conversation with him about it, so we do not see a problem in this regard,” Fedorov said.

    SpaceX activated Starlink over Ukraine after Russia’s invasion in February and has since provided Kyiv with thousands of terminals, allowing Ukrainians to hook up to the internet in places out of reach of the domestic telecoms system. The links are used both by civilians and by Ukraine’s military.

    Last month Musk tweeted that SpaceX could no longer afford to provide the service to Ukraine indefinitely – only to backtrack two days later and say he would continue to do so as an example of “good deeds”.

    Around that same time, some Ukrainians complained of outages in the internet service near the front lines, while Musk also angered Ukrainian officials by promoting a peace plan under which Ukraine would cede some territory to Russia.

    Fedorov said Russian attacks that had knocked out 40% of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in October had increased the importance of maintaining communications systems.

    “One of the reasons why I came to the Web Summit is also to look for new partners and continue to develop and engage with new partners,” he said.

    “Communication is really crucial,” he said. “We are working on this issue 24 hours a day. Russia is hitting energy infrastructures and sometimes we don’t have light at home for eight hours.”

    Fedorov spoke at a joint news conference with Microsoft President Brad Smith, who announced around 100 million dollars of additional technology aid for Ukraine throughout 2023.

    “This will enable the government and other organisations in Ukraine to continue to run their services and serve Ukraine citizens through the Microsft Cloud and our public data centres spread across Europe,” Smith said.

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  • FCC bans new telecom gear from Huawei and ZTE

    FCC bans new telecom gear from Huawei and ZTE

    For years, even before 2019 when Huawei was placed on the Entity List banning it from access to its American supply chain (including Google), the company was considered a national security threat along with ZTE. The Chinese phone and telecom equipment makers were often accused of putting backdoors in their handsets and equipment, allowing them to obtain confidential information and send it to servers in Beijing. Both firms denied the allegations multiple times.

    Axios reports that the FCC announced new rules banning U.S. sales and imports of new telecommunications equipment made by both Huawei and ZTE.  In a tweet, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr wrote, “Today, the FCC takes an unprecedented step to safeguard our networks and strengthen America’s national security. Our unanimous decision represents the first time in FCC history that we have voted to prohibit the authorization of new equipment based on national security concerns.”

    To be clear, the ban affects new equipment only. Gear that has already received FCC approval can still be shipped to the states.
    FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel added, “These new rules are an important part of our ongoing actions to protect the American people from national security threats involving telecommunications.” Huawei told Axios that it had no comment and ZTE had yet to respond. Huawei and ZTE are among the largest suppliers of telecom equipment worldwide. Last year, the FCC voted to spend $1.9 billion to rip out Huawei and ZTE equipment already used by rural wireless firms.
    In 2019, a law was passed forcing carriers that receive federal subsidies to purge their networks of equipment supplied by companies considered threats to U.S. national security. Most rural carriers are subsidized by the Universal Service Fund (USF). The USF is funded by fees charged to subscribers of wireless providers and is managed by the FCC.
    The FCC was given one year after the passage of the Secure Equipment Act last November to vote on the order to ban Huawei and ZTE gear. Besides the two familiar names to phone enthusiasts, three lesser-known Chinese firms are affected by the order. These companies include telecom firm Hytera Communications, surveillance equipment producer Dahua Technology, and video surveillance firm Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology.
    Hikvision released a statement that says, “This decision by the FCC will do nothing to protect U.S. national security, but will do a great deal to make it more harmful and more expensive for U.S. small businesses, local authorities, school districts, and individual consumers to protect themselves, their homes, businesses and property.” The company will continue to do business with its U.S. customers “in full compliance” of U.S. regulations.
    This year the four bipartisan FCC commissioners have voted unanimously on robocall enforcement and on plans for spectrum-sharing. And now, the four have all voted in favor of banning new Huawei and ZTE telecom gear from entering the U.S.
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  • UK carrier Vodafone launches new refurbished phone range

    UK carrier Vodafone launches new refurbished phone range

    As many of us know, premium smartphones are powerful and, at least in theory, last longer. But one huge downside is that they also come with a premium price tag, which not everyone can afford. So, if you want an expensive phone but don’t want to spend a lot of money on a handset, and you live in the UK, you can now buy a phone from Vodafone’s latest refurbished range, which the carrier just recently launched. As the mobile operator stated in its announcement, its new offerings can help “price-conscious customers get the phone they want for less.”

    For example, clients can get a refurbished iPhone SE (2022) 64GB for £261 on a 36-month payment contract. The regular price of the phone is £451, so by buying a refurbished model, you are saving £190.

    As for the other phones that Vodafone is currently offering, you can buy a refurbished model of the iPhone 13, the iPhone 12, the iPhone XR, the iPhone 11, the Samsung Galaxy S21, and the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE. Furthermore, the carrier is offering a two-year warranty on every Pay Monthly refurbished phone. According to the announcement, Vodafone is the only major UK mobile operator to offer such a warranty.

    If you hesitate whether to buy a renewed phone or not, Vodafone assures that its refurbished handsets are in “Great” or “Pristine” condition. Also, every phone has passed a visual and diagnostic check, which ensures that all devices work without issue. Vodafone also stated that these phones have been deep cleaned and securely data wiped, and if there is any problem, you can take advantage of Vodafone’s 14-day no-quibble money-back guarantee.

    However, if you want to get a brand new phone with a great discount, you should check out our best Vodafone phone deals. Or, if you are rolling with another carrier, you can visit our top Virgin Media phone deals, best O2 phone deals, three phone deals, and EE phone deals.