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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.

  • Apple reportedly is close to buying Intel’s modem chip business

    Apple reportedly is close to buying Intel’s modem chip business

    By April of this year, Apple was desperate. It was embroiled in a fight with Qualcomm that was playing out in numerous lawsuits including one that was taking place in San Diego with billions of dollars at stake. With Qualcomm apparently unwilling to sell it 5G modem chips, Apple was relying on Intel, the company that supplied it with the 4G LTE modem chips used on the 2018 iPhones. But there were questions about whether Intel could deliver a 5G modem chip in time for Apple to release a 5G iPhone by 2020.

    On April 7th, Intel said that it would be able to supply Apple with its 5G modem chip in time for the first 5G iPhone to be launched next year. But just nine days later, while closing arguments were taking place during the trial in San Diego, a blockbuster announcement was made; Apple agreed to pay Qualcomm an undisclosed amount (believed to be $4.5 billion) and in return Qualcomm gave Apple a six-year license (with an option for two additional years) and a multi-year chip supply agreement. All lawsuits were dropped. Intel could see which way the wind was blowing and later that same day, the chipmaker announced that it was quitting the 5G smartphone modem business. And last month, the rumors started about Apple buying Intel’s smartphone modem business. Such an acquisition, if completed, would help Apple achieve its goal of producing its own modem chips.

    The talks between Apple and Intel have heated up to the point where they are now classified as “advanced.” The deal, said to be valued at $1 billion or more, could be announced as soon as next week. This would be a big transaction for Apple as the company usually makes small purchases. For example, in 2012 Apple bought biometrics firm AuthenTec for $356 million and Touch ID debuted a year later on the iPhone 5s. In 2015, Apple paid a reported $20 million for imaging firm LinX. The acquisition helped Apple immediately step up its camera game.  The most money that Apple has ever shelled out to buy another company was the $3 billion it spent to buy Beats Audio in 2014. While most of these deals had almost immediate payoffs for Apple, even with Intel’s smartphone modem chip business, it might not be until 2022 or 2023 before Apple is able to be self-sufficient in this area.

    Apple has been hiring engineers, including some from Intel, and plans on opening an office in San Diego with 1,200 employees. If a deal is reached, Intel will be getting rid of a business that has been losing $1 billion a year. And while it will no longer be producing chips for smartphones, it will still work on 5G based components for other devices. Meanwhile, Apple is looking to move in-house as much of the iPhone’s supply chain as possible. Last year it spent $600 million to purchase facilities and engineers from Dialog Semiconductors so that it could start producing internally the battery-management chips that it had been buying from Dialog in the past.

    While Apple appears to have this deal locked up, when Intel first announced that it was exiting the business, it received indications of interest from other companies. Should Apple and Intel fail to come to an agreement, another buyer could step in to take Apple’s place. Meanwhile, investors rightly regard this as potentially bad news for Qualcomm. When the story broke after the 4 pm EDT close of the NYSE, Qualcomm’s shares dropped 1.8% to $74.55.

    If Apple ends up buying Intel’s smartphone modem chip business, it can easily afford it. After accounting for debt, Apple had $113 billion of cash available as of March 30th when its fiscal second-quarter came to an end.

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  • Verizon launches its fifth 5G device in its fifth 5G market

    Verizon launches its fifth 5G device in its fifth 5G market

    Verizon is taking another small step today towards a nationwide 5G coverage dream that continues to seem so annoyingly distant by expanding the list of cities embracing the next standard in mobile connectivity to five. As expected, St. Paul, Minnesota is joining Denver, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Providence, but fret not, as this sluggish rollout is about to substantially speed up.

    Big Red is not giving up on its rather ambitious goal of spreading the 5G love to “more than” 30 cities by the end of the year, although some of those locations remain under wraps and there are no words on future release dates. It’s also important to highlight Verizon’s “true” 5G Ultra Wideband network is only accessible in certain parts of the five aforementioned cities for the time being.

    As far as St. Paul is concerned, the new ultra-low latency and insanely high download speeds are available in “parts” of Downtown, Lowertown, and West Seventh neighborhoods “around” landmarks including the Minnesota Children’s Museum, the Minnesota Museum of American Art, the Fitzgerald Theater, Cathedral Hill Park, and the Alexander Ramsey House. That doesn’t exactly sound impressive, but it’s a start.

    Besides, the nation’s largest wireless service provider promises your 5G device will be able to seamlessly switch to 4G LTE connectivity where a 5G signal is out of reach. Speaking of devices, the Inseego 5G MiFi M1000 hotspot is exclusively available for Verizon subscribers starting today at an outright price of $650.

    This is the fifth 5G-enabled gadget released by Verizon, targeting both businesses and everyday consumers. The ultra-advanced hotspot allows up to 15 devices to connect simultaneously, supporting “near real-time” virtual reality and augmented reality experiences, as well as 4K and 8K video streaming with “near real-time downloads and virtually no buffering delays.”

    If $650 feels a little rich for your blood, you can get that price point down to $499.99 with a two-year contract or pay $27.08 a month for two years. Don’t forget you also need to pay a little something extra on your monthly plan to actually get 5G access.

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  • Judge’s ruling is bad for Qualcomm

    Judge’s ruling is bad for Qualcomm

    Back in May, Judge Lucy Koh ruled that Qualcomm’s business practices are anti-competitive. The judge, already known for presiding over the iconic Apple v. Samsung patent trial sat through the FTC v. Qualcomm non-jury trial held earlier this year. Judge Koh found that the chipmaker’s business practices violated antitrust laws. These included Qualcomm’s “no license, no chips” policy and its failure to license standard-essential patents to competitors at a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) manner. These are patents that companies need to license so that their products can meet technical standards. Qualcomm was also called out by Judge Koh for charging royalties based on the retail price of a phone instead of just the cost of its chips.

    Of course, Qualcomm says that it will appeal the decision since it requires the company to renegotiate its contracts and licensing agreements with manufacturers. Qualcomm is also complaining that all of these negotiations can make it difficult for it to complete talks with phone producers who want to purchase Qualcomm’s 5G modem chips. And the ruling would force the company to work out deals with its rivals over licensing of its standard-essential patents.

    Qualcomm also is seeking a stay of the decision until it exhausts the appeals process. This way it doesn’t have to go through the whole exhaustive renegotiation process and then reverse the new deals if it wins on appeal. Even though that might make sense to some, Judge Koh has denied Qualcomm’s request. A spokesman for the chipmaker says that it will immediately request a stay from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

    The FTC v. Qualcomm trial was held in January and featured testimony from employees of several phone manufacturers. Many testified about Qualcomm’s onerous terms for licensing its IP and how it bases the royalties it charges manufacturers on the entire retail price tag of a phone. So instead of paying a percentage of a $20-$40 part for each unit sold, phone manufacturers were charged a percentage of retail prices amounting to $400 and up for each phone rung up with a Qualcomm part. This is the difference between the chipmaker receiving dollars per phone or pennies per phone.

    One of those who took the stand was Apple supply chain executive Tony Blevins. At the time, Apple and Qualcomm were not on speaking terms and both companies had filed multiple suits against each other. But that all changed in April after closing arguments were heard in a trial that pitted Apple against Qualcomm. A settlement was announced that resulted in Apple paying Qualcomm an undisclosed amount (believed to be as much as $4.5 billion) and in return, Apple received a licensing agreement for six years (with a two-year option) and a multi-year chip supply agreement. In addition, both sides dropped all lawsuits filed against each other.

    One phone manufacturer happy with Tuesday’s decision is LG. It doesn’t want to see Koh’s decision stayed because it is currently negotiating a licensing and chip supply deal with Qualcomm and is worried that it might be forced to sign another “unfair” deal with the company. And needless to say, the FTC was also against a ruling that would stay the decision.

    Unless the decision has stayed, LG and other phone manufacturers will probably be working out new deals with Qualcomm while the appeals process goes on. It could take more than a year before a final decision is rendered by an appellate court. Wall Street weighed in with its decision and in after-hours trading on Wednesday (the market closed regular trading early for the July 4th holiday), the stock dropped by $2.49 or 3.25% to $76.63.

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  • Huawei opens flagship store outside of China

    Huawei opens flagship store outside of China

    Chinese tech firm Huawei has launched its largest international flagship store in Madrid.

    The new centrally located 1100sqm store showcases the company’s 5G and AI technologies as well as its range of smartphones and computers. More than 1000 people attended the launch.

    Huawei recently cooperated with Vodafone Espana to roll out the first commercial 5G service in Spain, which is now offering 5G roaming in four European countries. Huawei has already provided equipment for Britain’s new 5G network.

    The Chinese firm has already won 50 5G contracts around the world, but is at the centre of controversy in the US and Australia, among other markets, over allegations its systems can be used by Chinese government agencies to spy on users.

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  • Apple decision forces Intel to auction its smartphone modem patents

    Apple decision forces Intel to auction its smartphone modem patents

    Intel confirmed plans to exit the smartphone business a few months ago, but news about the auction of its smartphone modem assets emerged only today. The announcement follows Apple’s decision to buy 5G smartphone modems from Qualcomm rather than Intel.

    Although the US company said it will continue to produce 4G smartphone modems and honor all orders, it will no longer invest in 5G modem product line following the announcement. Instead, Intel will shift focus on its 5G network business, which is expected to grow in the coming years

    According to a new report from IAM, Intel has decided to auction all its IP relating to cellular wireless connectivity. There are no less than 8,500 patents that Intel is now looking to sell in order to recover some of the resources it invested. The report also mentions that Intel is launching this auction separate to its efforts to sell the smartphone modem division, hoping that a potential buyer for both will appear.

    Intel’s inability to meet Apple’s deadlines proved to be fatal for the business in the end, as the Cupertino-based company decided to make sure it’s got enough 5G modems in 2020. Left without the main client for its smartphone modem division, Intel is forced to cut its losses and refocus on those businesses that apparently bring much more money.

  • Docomo Pacific set to launch first VoLTE services for Guam and the CNMI

    Docomo Pacific set to launch first VoLTE services for Guam and the CNMI

    As part of the rollout of the next generation of wireless technology, DOCOMO PACIFIC is preparing to launch the first VoLTE services in Guam and the CNMI.

    VoLTE or Voice over Long-Term Evolution allows customers to place a phone call over your LTE connection instead of the traditional voice network, resulting in high-definition (HD) Voice services providing clearer audio quality.

    VoLTE lets you experience HD Voice calls with minimal background noise, making it much easier and clearer for both people on a call to hear one another. The mixture of voice and data to make calls will produce faster call setup times and quicker connections. Additionally, VoLTE services are less power-intensive than calls being made over a 3G connection, resulting in better battery life.

    VoLTE allows the efficient use of network resources, helping to lower operational costs. With the use of VoLTE, voice traffic is routed over the 4G LTE network used to transmit data, freeing up spectrum for the 5G technology that DOCOMO PACIFIC will launch soon.

    On June 19th, DOCOMO PACIFIC engineers made the first commercial VoLTE call on Guam and the following day they made the first VoLTE call to Saipan. The commercial launch of VoLTE services will begin to roll-out in July 2019 for VoLTE capable devices on DOCOMO PACIFIC’s network. VoLTE services will be an added value to our existing services and will not come at any additional cost.

    “DOCOMO PACIFIC is excited to be the first to bring another innovative service that improves the voice quality of calls for our customers in the Marianas. VoLTE is the future of voice communications and we can’t wait for our customers to have a higher quality experience while talking with family and friends. As we prepare to launch 5G technology soon, VoLTE is another step in our journey to be the technology leader and bring the best and fastest services to our customers,” DOCOMO PACIFIC President and CEO Roderick Boss said.

    In March 2019, NTT DOCOMO was the first to bring 5G to Guam with the opening of the DOCOMO 5G Open Lab Guam. The 5G Open Lab allows worldwide partners including businesses on Guam to test the first 5G environment and co-create practical solutions using 5G.

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  • China is reportedly behind huge hack of global cell networks

    China is reportedly behind huge hack of global cell networks

    Security research firm Cybereason reports that over the last seven years, hackers have been able to break into more than 10 cellular networks worldwide to gather information on calls made by at least 20 targeted individuals. The data obtained from this operation included the dates that calls were made, the times they were connected, the locations of the callers and more. The attack, dubbed Operation Soft Cell, has been active since 2012 and was spotted by Cybereason earlier this year.
    While the goal of the hackers was to obtain call detail records (CDR), other information obtained from this operation included usernames and passwords. According to the report, “the attackers worked in waves-abandoning one thread of attack when it was detected and stopped, only to return months later with new tools and techniques.” Cybereason says that it is very certain that this operation is a state-sponsored attack and is affiliated with China. The methods and tools used lead the security researcher to name APT10 as the so-called threat actor. This group reportedly works with Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS).
    So why would the MSS go to all the trouble of hacking into 10 global cell networks? As Cybereason points out, when a nation runs an operation like this, it is not about the money. It is often done to steal intellectual property or obtain information about some of the carriers’ subscribers. The data that was stolen allowed the hackers to get call records that provided the destination, and duration of a call, information on the device used to make the call, the version number of the phone and its vendor, and the physical location where the call was made. With that data, the MSS (assuming that they were behind this) was able to learn who the individuals they were targeting had been talking to, the devices they were using to make such calls and where these people were traveling to. The security research company says that this is the type of information used to gather dirt on politicians and to track law enforcement.
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  • Irfan Wahab Khan at MWC Shanghai 2019

    Irfan Wahab Khan at MWC Shanghai 2019

    Telecommunications has accelerated development of key sectors, spurring economic growth and opening countless avenues to empower individuals and societies, said Irfan Wahab Khan, Head of Telenor Group’s Emerging Asia Cluster and CEO of Telenor Pakistan, at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Shanghai. His keynote at MWC, ‘Pioneers of Intelligent Connectivity’, also shed light on how intelligent connectivity and Telenor Group’s disruptive innovation are transforming lives of millions, enabling basic civic rights through mobile birth registration and equipping the unbanked with mobile financial services, among others.

    MWC Shanghai 2019 highlighted how ICT-powered solutions and services are creating strong socioeconomic impact. Irfan highlighted the advent of the Asian Century and role of Telenor Group in transforming health, financial services and agriculture in Asia. In particular, he listed innovative mobile-based solutions like Bangladesh’s ‘Tonic’, Myanmar’s ‘WaveMoney’, and Thailand’s ‘Smart Farmer’, which are providing a myriad of digital health services, safe money transfers, and IoT farming solutions respectively to millions of people.

    In addition, he shared how Telenor Group is using big data to help predict outbreak of chronic diseases like dengue in Pakistan and malaria in Bangladesh. The partnership between Telenor Microfinance Bank in Pakistan with its Malaysian counterpart Valyou has also introduced Pakistan’s first blockchain-based cross-border remittance service, powered by industry-leading blockchain technology developed by Alipay of the Ant Financial Services Group.

    “Mobile connectivity and the internet are the greatest equalisers of our day. They impact nearly every aspect of life today, driving social interactions and creating new business opportunities. Through the power of connectivity, Telenor Group has been connecting people to what matters most for the past 160 years. We will continue to do so through disruptive innovation that empowers societies and improve lives, in order to secure a better future for all,” said Irfan.

    MWC Shanghai 2019 is focusing on technologies of the future that include 5G, IoT, AI, big data, blockchain and beyond. The event features the most influential and industry dominating companies and organizations coming together to explore the depths of Intelligent Connectivity. Through the MWC19 Shanghai platform, leading companies take charge of industry-focused discussions, influence the future of connectivity, and unveil new intelligently connected technologies. In addition to his keynote and other MWC engagements, Irfan is also set to hold meetings with global tech leaders, partners and innovators in technology to explore opportunities through the technology-driven ecosystem.

  • Vietnam’s Vingroup new factory to produce 125m smartphones

    Vietnam’s Vingroup new factory to produce 125m smartphones

    Vingroup JSC, Vietnam’s biggest listed firm by market value, said on Monday it has started work on a second smartphone factory with a capacity to produce 125 million units a year.

    The new factory in the capital, Hanoi, will vastly increase Vingroup’s current capacity of five million units at its facility in the northern city of Haiphong, the conglomerate said in a statement.

    Construction is expected to be completed by early 2020 and the jump in capacity will help the company meet orders from Europe and the United States, Vingroup CEO Nguyen Viet Quang said in the statement.

    “After a period of deploying and participating in the smartphone manufacturing industry, our products have been positively received by the market,” Quang said.

    “We received many processing orders from major partners in Europe and the United States. That’s why we have invested in a factory with 25 times the capacity of our current factory in Haiphong, to meet with domestic and international demand,” he added.

    A company spokesman declined to provide the names of the European and US partners.

    Vingroup launched its smartphone brand, Vsmart, in December last year, seeking to win market share from popular brands Samsung and Apple in Vietnam, which has a population of 95 million people.

    Vsmart phones use chips from Qualcomm and run Google’s Android operating system, and went on sale at a price of 3.39 million dong ($145) to 6.59 million dong ($282).

    In March, the company began selling Vsmart phones in Spain and planned to expand into other European markets. Its phones went on sale in regional neighbour Myanmar last month.

    It is part of a diversification strategy that has seen Vingroup, once focused on real estate and retail, become Vietnam’s first fully-fledged domestic carmaker in 2018.

    Electronics is a vital part of Vietnam’s economy as firms such as Japan’s Sony Corp and South Korea’s LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics reorganise production in the face of slumping global demand.

    Samsung said in December it will close one of its mobile phone plants in China as it focuses on low-cost countries like Vietnam, where it is the largest single foreign investor.

    In April, LG Electronics said it would stop making smartphones in South Korea and move production to Vietnam.

    South Korean chips-to-energy conglomerate SK Group said last month that it had agreed to buy 6.1% of Vingroup for $1 billion as it expands its investments in Vietnam.

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  • Ooredoo Myanmar and friends launch digital literacy campaign

    Ooredoo Myanmar and friends launch digital literacy campaign

    Ooredoo Myanmar, Facebook and the GSMA have jointly launched a digital literacy campaign to raise awareness and increase adoption of mobile internet in Myanmar. The “Internet 1O1” (Internet One on One) campaign aims to inform and educate first time and new internet users, through one-on-one training at Ooredoo retail points and exclusive stores across the country, particularly in rural areas.

    According to GSMA Intelligence, around 21 Million people are using mobile internet in Myanmar out of a population of 54.1Million people.

    One of the biggest barriers to connectivity is a lack of digital literacy. This initiative aims to guide users through the multiple uses and benefits of the Internet and help them to do so responsibly. Ooredoo Myanmar, Facebook and the GSMA believe that digital literacy initiatives across the countrywill support internet users in Myanmar to use the internet responsibly and be empowered by it.

    Internet 1O1 will be available to consumers in Ooredoo retail stores where in-store promoters will walk consumers through internet education materials including: an easy-to-understand video explaining: Whatthe internet is, how to access it and how to stay safe online as well as showing the type of useful information consumers might need.

    Ooredoo Myanmar’s CEO Mr. Rajeev Sethi said “We are very proud to partner with industry leaders like Facebook and the GSMA in this initiative to educate the people of Myanmar on how to safely be connected, well informed and benefit from the internet. This is the first step of our “Learn with Internet to enrich your digital lives” CSR program. This initiative will enhance Myanmar citizen’s digital lives.”

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  • Tencent launches first overseas video streaming in Thailand

    Tencent launches first overseas video streaming in Thailand

    Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd launched its first overseas video streaming service in Thailand on Friday, as it ramps up its presence outside China.

    Tencent is diversifying from its core Chinese gaming business, which has been beset by regulatory problems, pushing revenue growth to its slowest-ever in the first quarter.

    Tencent’s existing Thai user base made the country a good first target for its push into Southeast Asia, said Jeff Han, Senior Vice President of Tencent Penguin Pictures, which produces original content for the streaming business.

    “This is the market we need to first enter to try to see whether an overseas launch could be a success for us, so we can continue the challenge,” Han told reporters in a group interview in Bangkok.

    “We have our priority markets… the Chinese-speaking markets, which will be more receptive to our offerings,” he said.

    In Thailand, Tencent Video will be called WeTV and feature original Chinese content from Tencent Penguin Pictures with Thai dubbing, and content created with local partners, Han said.

    He declined to comment how much the company was investing overseas.

    WeTV adds to Tencent’s music streaming service JOOX and the mobile version of PUBG games in Thailand.

    Tencent’s video streaming subscriptions increased 43% in the first quarter of 2019 on an annual basis, contributing to a growth in digital content revenue, according to its latest results.

    Tencent Video in China claims over 89 million subscribers and more than 200 million daily active users.

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  • Globe Telecom launches SE Asia’s first 5G broadband service

    Globe Telecom launches SE Asia’s first 5G broadband service

    Philippines’ Globe Telecom Inc on Thursday launched Southeast Asia’s first 5G broadband service, with embattled Huawei Technologies Co Ltd providing the equipment, a win for the Chinese firm despite cybersecurity worries from Western nations.

    The telecoms firm aims to offer high-speed internet to tens of thousands of homes and offices in key urban centres as part of its $1.2 billion capital spending this year, Alberto de Larrazabal, Globe’s chief commercial officer, told reporters.

    Globe would use Huawei’s equipment like radios and modems to deliver 5G quality broadband internet, he added. Huawei and Finland’s Nokia were Globe’s equipment providers for its 4G service.

    The United States had warned that next-generation 5G equipment, which some telecoms experts see as more vulnerable to attack than previous technology, could be exploited by the Chinese government for spying if supplied by Huawei, which the company denies.

    Washington, a treaty ally of Manila, had persuaded governments and telecoms operators to shun Huawei, the world’s largest maker of telecommunications equipment.

    Globe hired independent firms “to ensure that our security protocols are up to date, to make sure privacy and security issues are addressed,” de Larrazabal said.

    Philippine consumers, the world’s top social media users, often get frustrated with slow and choppy internet connections. The Philippines’ mobile internet and fixed broadband speeds lag behind its neighbours, data from Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index showed.

    It ranks 107th among 178 countries in terms of fixed broadband speed at 19.55 megabits per second (Mbps) versus the global average of 59.6 Mbps. Among 140 countries, it ranks 107th in terms of mobile internet speed at 15.10 Mbps, nearly half of the 27.22 Mbps global average.

    Globe is owned by Philippine conglomerate Ayala Corp, with Singapore Telecommunications Ltd holding a minority stake.

  • Huawei reportedly cuts shipments of its phones

    Huawei reportedly cuts shipments of its phones

    After being banned from accessing its U.S. supply chain, Huawei decided in May to stop taking orders for its low and mid-range handsets that aren’t powered by the company’s Kirin chipsets. Huawei has reportedly stockpiled a year’s worth of chips and components in anticipation of such a ban, it is now cutting shipments of its higher-end handsets. The report states that earlier this month, the company started cutting orders for the Huawei P30 line, which includes the P30 Pro. The latter is the manufacturer’s most premium handset at the moment. While U.S. carriers can’t stock Huawei’s phones,  earlier this year retailer B&H offered U.S. consumers the Latin American version of the P30, P30 Pro and P30 Lite adding a one-year U.S. warranty. However, since the U.S. ban, B&H has stopped selling these models.

    Today’s report notes that Huawei has also started cutting orders for the upcoming Mate 30 series. Not expected out until October, the line includes the Huawei Mate 30 Pro; this model would normally be considered Huawei’s most technologically advanced phone of the year. With the ban, it isn’t clear what new features will be included in the device. Currently, expectations call for the Mate 30 Pro to sport a 6.7-inch AMOLED display with a QHD+ resolution. The device could be equipped with a pair of chips from Huawei’s HiSilicon unit, namely the Kirin 985 SoC and the Balong 5000 5G modem chip.

    Barring a sudden removal from the U.S. Entity List, Huawei’s new phones will most likely ship with its own HongmengOS (aka ArkOS) pre-installed. Huawei has its own app distribution platform called App Gallery, but it remains to be seen how much developer support ArkOS will get.

    Internally, Huawei expects its international phone shipments to drop by 40% to 60% this year. Of the 206 million units it delivered in 2018, about half were shipped out of China; that means that the company believes it will see total shipments drop by as many as 60 million handsets this year. Just last quarter, the manufacturer shipped 59 million smartphones worldwide, up over 50% year-over-year. At that pace, Huawei was on track to deliver just under 240 million units for 2019. Now the company is looking at a figure in the neighborhood of 140 million to 160 million smartphones. While Huawei planned on becoming the top smartphone manufacturer in the world next year, that goal will have to be scrapped for now.

    Once Huawei uses up the inventory of Kirin chips it does have, things are going to get tough for the company. With chip design firm ARM Holdings cutting ties with Huawei (the company is headquartered in the U.K. but uses some American technology), the company might have to turn to an open source replacement. And the software from U.S. companies that the manufacturer uses to design its chips will also have to be replaced. While Huawei apparently did have the foresight to develop its own operating system and stockpile chips and key parts, it appears that the company might not have alternate plans for everything it needs to be self-sufficient.

    For those coming in late, Huawei ended up in this predicament because of U.S. lawmakers’ fears that the company’s products will spy on American corporations and consumers. Under Chinese law, the communist government can demand that Huawei gather intelligence on its behalf. Huawei has repeatedly denied that its phones and networking equipment contain any sort of backdoors; its chairman, Liang Hua, said back in February that if the Chinese government asks him to spy, he will defy them. The executive added last month that he would sign a no-spy document with any country. Ironically, that took place on the same day that the U.S. first announced Huawei’s placement on the Entity List.

    While U.S. President Donald Trump admitted in May that Huawei was placed on the list for security reasons, he added that “it’s possible that Huawei even would be included in some kind of a trade deal. If we made a deal, I could imagine Huawei being possibly included in some form, some part of a trade deal. It would look very good for us.” At this point, Huawei brass is probably hoping that the U.S. uses the company as a bargaining chip to obtain better terms from China in a new trade agreement. After all, the president was able to save ZTE from its U.S. export ban and it too is considered a national security threat.

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  • Telegram CEO blames China for cyber attack

    Telegram CEO blames China for cyber attack

    One of the top ten most popular messaging apps in the world is Telegram, available for iOS and Android. Not as widely used in the U.S., the app offers end-to-end encryption and group chats for as many as 200,000 people. The app also can share videos, even those with large file sizes, and documents of any type. A tweet from Telegram CEO Pavel Durov blames China for a cyberattack that hit the Telegram app and affected its subscribers earlier this week.

    Durov says that a large Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack originated from internet addresses inside China. These DDoS attacks sent huge amounts of requests at one time to Telegram, clogging up the app and making it unusable for many subscribers. The executive called it a “powerful,” targeted attack that was related to the protests taking place in Hong Kong. Huge throngs of protestors are complaining about a new law that will allow people in the city to be extradited to China. Durov said that in the past, similarly sized DDoS attacks coincided with protests in Hong Kong,

    Because of the encryption used to hide the content of messages, Telegram is popular among protestors in any country, allowing them to coordinate plans with up to 200,000 people out of the eyeshot of authorities. A DDoS attack on Telegram would prevent the protestors in Hong Kong from making arrangements to gather at a certain place and time.

    The Chinese government denied that it was responsible for the attack. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a briefing yesterday that he was unaware of the incident.

  • Ericsson comes up with super high-tech anti-smartphone-theft solution

    Ericsson comes up with super high-tech anti-smartphone-theft solution

    Over the past few years, manufacturers have made great strides to discourage smartphone theft. These are usually locking mechanisms, which block the phone from ever being used by someone else than its user — either through biometric scanners or the good old passcode. And if a thief tries to reset your device, it will usually become a brick, which will not activate unless your personal password is entered on boot.

    But that hasn’t stopped thieves entirely. For one, they like to try their chances — some users still don’t lock their phones. And two, some phones can still be hacked into after a factory reset. So, additional solutions are always welcome. Swedish company Ericsson (remember the partnership Sony-Ericsson?) has come up with and patented a very high-tech anti-theft system. It’s called “Adaptive Friction” and currently only exists on paper, filed as a patented idea.

    Basically, the phone will use multiple sensors to maintain constant awareness of its contextual environment — whether it’s in a pocket, on a table, in a purse, et cetera. It will do this by analyzing data from its microphones, light sensor(s), camera(s), and gyroscope. Whenever a hand is laid on the device, it will quickly try to determine whether or not it’s being grabbed by its owner — it will do so by analyzing the grip (whether it’s a secure and confident grab, or a cheeky corner pinch) and even by utilizing biometric sensors to analyze the person’s heartbeat and compare it to known heartbeat patterns of the rightful owner.

    If the phone determines that it’s being nabbed by an unknown person, it will begin vibrating at ultrasonic frequencies, which should — in theory — make it super slippery and hard to pinch out of a pocket. Hence the name “Adaptive Friction” The patent does state that the technology can also be used to make the phone extra grippy and stick to the user’s hand when being used, thus making it harder to drop, which also sounds pretty interesting.

    Of course, this sounds like a whole ton of tech that needs to be tuned in order to make this work quickly and reliably. As with any patent — there’s no guarantee we’d see it in a phone any time soon (if ever), but this one definitely has some interesting “out of the box” thinking.