Tag - telecoms

 
 

TELECOMS

Rakuten CEO Hiroshi Mikitani says the company sees an opportunity in Japan, which has been a laggard in the adoption of digital and AI-powered technologies.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 21, 2025
Rakuten founder defends costly mobile foray with big AI bet
Rakuten Mobile and its 8 million-plus users help train an AI poised to expand the conglomerate’s business, according to billionaire founder Hiroshi Mikitani.
The oil tanker Eagle S sits anchored near the Port of Kilpilahti in Porvoo, on the Gulf of Finland, on Jan. 7. The vessel is believed to have dragged its anchor for long distances, damaging an undersea cable in late December.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jan 14, 2025
Baltic Sea cables damage can’t be accident, EU tech chief says
There have been three incidents involving damage caused to underwater power lines, data cables and a gas pipeline over the past 15 months in the Baltic Sea.
Cook Islands-registered oil tanker Eagle S is seen anchored near the Port of Kilpilahti in Porvoo, on the Gulf of Finland, on Monday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jan 14, 2025
Oil tanker crew were poised to cut more cables when caught, Finland says
The Eagle S vessel carrying Russian oil is suspected of damaging the Finnish-Estonian Estlink 2 power line and four telecoms cables by dragging its anchor across the seabed.
The Chinese bulk carrier Yi Peng 3 is anchored near the city of Granaa in Jutland, Denmark, on Nov. 20. Sweden's foreign minister said last month that China had denied a request for prosecutors to conduct an investigation of the ship linked to recently severed Baltic Sea cables.
EDITORIALS
Jan 10, 2025
Be ready for the new Cold War, under the sea
In the South China Sea, a least one cable fault is reported in the waterway every few weeks; in other parts of the world it’s one incident a year.
Taiwanese authorities are investigating a Chinese-owned cargo ship suspected of dragging its anchor over an international subsea telecoms cable northeast of the island.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 9, 2025
China says Taiwan 'hyped' sea cable damage claims
Taiwanese authorities said they were investigating a Chinese-owned ship suspected of dragging its anchor over an international subsea telecoms cable.
Taiwanese authorities are investigating the Shun Xing 39, a Chinese-owned, Cameroon-flagged cargo ship, on suspicions of damaging a subsea telecoms cable northeast of the island, Taiwan's coast guard said on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 8, 2025
Ship alleged to have damaged Taiwan's undersea cable ‘has multiple IDs’
Taiwan says the Chinese-linked ship appeared to use two sets of Automatic Identification System equipment, which is used to broadcast a vessel’s position.
A photo taken on Dec. 28, off Porkkalanniemi, Kirkkonummi, in the Gulf of Finland, shows Oil tanker Eagle S (left), which flies under the flag of the Cook Islands, next to tugboat Ukko.   AFP-JIJI
WORLD
Jan 7, 2025
Finland's Elisa says Baltic undersea cables were torn apart by external force
Baltic Sea nations are on high alert after a string of power cable, telecom link and gas pipeline outages since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
A member of the Taiwan Coast Guard monitors a Chinese vessel in waters east of Taiwan on Dec. 9.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 6, 2025
Taiwan says Chinese ship broke subsea cable in alleged sabotage
The incident follows another Chinese vessel’s suspected involvement in the severing of data cables in the Baltic Sea in November.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket in Cape Canaveral, Florida
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 6, 2025
Italy plans $1.6 billion SpaceX telecom security services deal
In 2024 alone, Elon Musk’s SpaceX has added more than 20 nations to its Starlink satellite internet service.
A Starlink antenna placed at a public facility in disaster-hit Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Dec. 10
JAPAN
Dec 31, 2024
Ishikawa municipalities weigh Starlink service one year after earthquake
Municipal officials think that Starlink is effective in securing communication methods in the early days of a disaster.
A woman walks past a store of Ukraine's telecommunications company Kyivstar in Kyiv on Dec.12, 2023.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 31, 2024
Starlink to roll out direct-to-cell services in Ukraine
Ukraine will be one of the first countries in the world with direct-to-cell connectivity and the first conflict zone where Starlink will roll out this technology.
Oil tanker Eagle S anchors outside the Port of Kilpilahti on the Gulf of Finland on Saturday.
WORLD
Dec 30, 2024
Finland finds drag marks on Baltic seabed after cable damage
Baltic Sea nations have been on high alert after a string of outages of power cables, telecom links and gas pipelines since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
The Finnish Border Guard's ship Turva and oil tanker Eagle S sail on the sea outside the Porkkalanniemi, Finland on Thursday
WORLD
Dec 27, 2024
Finland boards vessel possibly behind power cable and internet outages
"From our side, we are investigating grave sabotage," said the director of the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation.
Sharp revealed in June that it had started talks on building an artificial intelligence data center with KDDI and system integrator Datasection. On Monday, Sharp said the project will proceed without Datasection.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 10, 2024
KDDI to build AI data center on Sharp's LCD plant site
Construction of the data center in the city of Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, will commence by March, with KDDI aiming to begin operations in fiscal 2025.
A communications ministry panel did not make a clear judgement on the Liberal Democratic Party's proposal of abolishing the law restricting NTT's business.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 27, 2024
Panel defers decision on scrapping Japan's NTT law
In its final report, the panel concluded it was appropriate for the Japanese government to maintain its obligation to hold at least one-third of NTT shares.
China’s recent breach of the innermost workings of the U.S. telecommunications system reached far deeper than the White House has described, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said on Thursday.
WORLD
Nov 23, 2024
China’s hacking reached deep into U.S. telecoms
Chinese activity in the past year has taken intrusions to a new level, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Thursday.
Hackers infiltrated the networks of multiple U.S. telecommunications companies to steal customer call records and compromise the communications belonging to a "limited number” of people in government and politics, officials said.
WORLD
Nov 14, 2024
U.S. accuses China of vast cyberespionage against telecoms
The hackers infiltrated the networks of multiple telecommunications companies to steal customer call records and compromise communications.
Operators respond to telephone directory inquiries from Tokyo at a call center in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, in October 1997.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Nov 11, 2024
As NTT ends its Dial 104 service, Okinawa's call centers look elsewhere
Naha and Nago were home to Japan's biggest call center operations, receiving around 125,000 calls a day at their peak in 1999.
Singtel uncovered the breach of its network after detecting suspicious data traffic in a core back-end router and finding what it believed was sophisticated, and possibly state-sponsored, malware on it, according to a person familiar with the investigation.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Nov 6, 2024
Chinese group accused of hacking Singapore's Singtel in telecom attacks
The breach of Singtel, which has operations throughout Southeast Asia and Australia, was seen as a test run by China for further hacks against U.S. firms.
A 15,000-pound undersea cable for transportation to Brazil, at Dulles International Airport in Virginia on June 8, 2009.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 31, 2024
U.S. agency to launch review of undersea cables and national security risks
More than 400 subsea cables form the backbone of the internet, carrying more than 99% of the world’s data traffic.

Longform

Atsuyoshi Koike, the president and CEO of Rapidus, says there is a “sense of urgency” when it comes to Japan’s efforts in manufacturing semiconductors. “We have to make sure we are successful,” he says.
Atsuyoshi Koike’s big game: Fourth down and 2 nanometers to go