Nokia and Taiwan Mobile are strengthening their long-standing partnership through a one-year 5G contract extension designed to enhance 5G performance and 4G/LTE coverage across Taiwan. The expansion follows Taiwan Mobile’s recent merger with Taiwan Star, positioning the operator for the 5G-Advanced era and significantly boosting service quality for its 10 million customers, including those in rural regions.
As part of the contract, Nokia will introduce its advanced AirScale equipment in Taiwan for the first time, deploying high-capacity, energy-efficient solutions such as the ReefShark System-on-Chip and Massive MIMO radios. Furthermore, Carrier Aggregation technology will be integrated to combine spectrum bands, thus improving data rates, throughput, and network capacity.
Overall, these upgrades directly support Taiwan Mobile’s commitment to exceptional service and environmental sustainability, with thousands of LTE sites set to be modernised for increased energy efficiency. In addition, Nokia and Taiwan Mobile are jointly committed to delivering robust connectivity nationwide.
By using advanced, energy-efficient technology, they aim to support Taiwan Mobile’s 10 million customers, including over 1 million IoT devices. Consequently, the partnership ensures that users in both urban and rural areas can experience the full benefits of 5G, thereby advancing Taiwan’s digital landscape and enhancing nationwide connectivity.
NTT DATA and Google Cloud have partnered to launch a new subsea cable linking Saudi Arabia and Egypt through the Red Sea to expand regional connectivity. The cable, owned by Mobily, connects the Arabian Gulf to Egypt’s Red Sea landing station and integrates with multiple subsea cable systems in Egypt.
This launch follows a memorandum of understanding signed two years ago between the two companies, marking a significant milestone in regional telecommunications development. The new cable is designed to extend an existing subsea network, enabling the operator to handle increased telecom traffic and improve communication flexibility between the Middle East and Europe.
The cable is also seen as a crucial step in strengthening Saudi Arabia’s position as a leading international hub for telecommunications services and data traffic, aligning with the goals of Saudi Vision 2030. The project underscores a commitment to expanding infrastructure and enhancing regional and international capabilities. Additionally, the partnership complements the newly established landing station in Sharm El Sheikh, with plans to develop new crossing routes to the Mediterranean Sea.
Batelco and Qareeb Data Centers have partnered to enhance digital infrastructure in Bahrain by signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at the Gateway Gulf Investment Forum 2024. The collaboration aims to develop the first White Space Data Centre in Bahrain, a key component of Beyon’s Data Oasis project, which will become the Kingdom’s largest technology hub.
The partnership aligns with Batelco’s strategy to expand its presence in the growing data centre market and digital infrastructure sector. Together, the companies will focus on delivering colocation services, implementing regional Data Centre initiatives, and offering managed digital services to meet the increasing demand for scalable and flexible solutions in the region.
As the data centre market in the region continues to grow, particularly in demand for local edge colocation services, Batelco and Qareeb Data Centers are well-positioned to capitalise on these trends. With Qareeb’s regional expansion objectives and Batelco’s established infrastructure capabilities, the partnership will drive advancements in Bahrain’s technology sector and contribute to the broader digital economy across the Gulf region.
Dubai Customs and DP World have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance digital trade and logistics solutions in Dubai, supporting the city’s ambition to become one of the top three global economic cities. The partnership aligns with Dubai’s economic agenda, D33, and aims to boost the city’s competitiveness as an international trade hub.
The MoU focuses on transforming customs systems by integrating advanced digital technologies, streamlining trade and logistics processes, and improving stakeholder experiences. By leveraging cutting-edge digital solutions, both organisations seek to modernise customs operations, offer faster, more efficient services, and facilitate smoother cross-border trade flows, ultimately meeting the evolving demands of international trade.
Furthermore, this collaboration highlights a commitment to fostering innovation within the trade and logistics sector, creating a more seamless business experience. The partnership is expected to propel the industry toward more efficient trading methods, reinforcing Dubai’s position as a competitive and connected business hub in the global trade ecosystem.
Germany’s SAP, the global software giant, plans to significantly expand its workforce in India, with the region soon set to surpass its German headquarters in employee numbers, CEO Christian Klein announced on Wednesday. SAP’s India division, with 15,000 employees, already hosts the largest number of engineers in the company worldwide and is among SAP’s top ten revenue-generating markets.
The company’s primary investments in research and development, as well as customer success roles, will be directed toward India, though specifics on hiring timelines were not disclosed. SAP is also building a new office in Bengaluru that will accommodate an additional 15,000 employees as part of this growth plan.
Despite concerns about generative AI’s impact on jobs, Klein expressed confidence that demand for new developers would continue to grow alongside Germany‘s SAP’s business. He also highlighted that India is home to SAP’s core AI development team, emphasising the country’s critical role in driving the company’s technology strategy.
JPMorgan Chase has revealed that its blockchain-based Kinexys platform, previously known as Onyx, will soon allow instant foreign exchange (FX) settlements between the dollar and the euro. The new service is set to launch in the first quarter of 2025, with plans to extend to sterling transactions in the future, pending regulatory approval. Using JPM Coin, the bank’s digital token, the platform provides 24/7 near-instant settlements, making cross-border transactions quicker and more efficient.
The announcement, made at the Singapore Fintech Festival, highlighted Kinexys’ potential to transform international finance by enabling real-time FX settlements, even beyond traditional market hours. The platform is already handling over $2 billion in daily transactions, and the new FX capabilities could encourage more firms to adopt blockchain for global payments. Alongside reducing settlement times, Kinexys aims to increase revenue for JPMorgan through fees on FX spreads and liquidity management.
JPMorgan envisions Kinexys as a key part of a larger blockchain-powered financial ecosystem that could simplify global finance by reducing reliance on traditional banking systems. The platform’s planned expansion includes privacy measures and identity management, further supporting secure digital asset transactions as the bank aims to modernise finance with Kinexys.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has charged Sitejabber, an online review platform, for violating its new rules on fake reviews. This marks one of the agency’s first enforcement actions under updated regulations designed to curb deceptive practices. The FTC alleges that Sitejabber misled consumers by using point-of-sale reviews—feedback collected before customers had received any products or services—to falsely inflate businesses’ review scores.
The company allowed its clients to publish these premature reviews, giving a false impression that they reflected actual customer experiences. The FTC has now ordered Sitejabber to stop this practice and prohibited it from assisting other businesses in misrepresenting reviews. The new rules, which took effect last month, aim to tackle deceptive online review practices, including those involving AI-generated reviews and fake review websites masquerading as independent.
The FTC’s crackdown is part of a broader effort to address the rising problem of fake reviews on e-commerce platforms like Amazon. With the new regulations in place, the agency intends to prevent misleading online content that could deceive consumers into making purchasing decisions based on false information.
Donald Trump’s 2024 election victory has led to a significant surge in Bitcoin wealth, creating over 11,000 new Bitcoin millionaires. On 6 November, the number of Bitcoin wallets holding $1 million or more reached 132,842, up from 121,061 just a month earlier. The increase follows a remarkable 7.8% rise in Bitcoin’s value within 24 hours.
The price of Bitcoin has recently broken its all-time high, now trading at $75,428, following a strong 20% gain over the past month. Trump’s commanding lead in the electoral race, coupled with renewed interest in Bitcoin, has contributed to this price surge. Analysts suggest that Trump’s pro-crypto stance may bring about a favourable regulatory shift, further boosting market conditions.
Some experts are even predicting Bitcoin’s price could soar to $250,000 by early 2025, as the market responds positively to these developments.
Researchers at the University of Manchester and The Christie Cancer Hospital have received a £5.9 million grant from Cancer Research UK to use AI in cancer treatment. The funding will support a project that simulates clinical trials to test the effectiveness of radiotherapy on ‘virtual’ patients, created using real-life data. This innovative approach aims to make cancer research faster, safer, and more cost-effective than traditional large-scale clinical trials.
The virtual trials will focus on patient-specific genetics and tumours, with a particular emphasis on comparing new proton beam therapy with conventional radiotherapy for lung cancer. AI will allow researchers to test treatments more quickly than through traditional trials involving real patients. This initiative is part of Cancer Research UK’s push to advance radiotherapy research, with Manchester being one of only seven centres of excellence in the UK to receive funding for this work.
Martin Storey, a lung cancer survivor who benefited from radiotherapy in a clinical trial, expressed his support for the project, saying that AI-driven trials could help more people survive cancer. Storey, who was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2009, believes that the use of AI could accelerate treatment advancements and improve outcomes for future patients.
The US Supreme Court is currently deliberating whether to allow a securities fraud lawsuit against Facebook, now Meta, to proceed. Investors, led by Amalgamated Bank, allege that the company misled them by failing to disclose details about a 2015 data breach involving Cambridge Analytica, which ultimately affected millions of users. The case questions whether Facebook’s public risk disclosures should have included specific details about this incident rather than presenting it as a potential future risk.
During the hearing, justices debated whether Facebook’s statements to investors were misleading by suggesting the risk was hypothetical. Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts noted that risk disclosures might imply past occurrences, while Justice Clarence Thomas highlighted how a lack of explicit detail might lead investors to believe the incident had never happened. The case has significant implications for the interpretation of the Securities Exchange Act, which requires firms to report business risks transparently.
This lawsuit is one of two upcoming US Supreme Court cases examining corporate transparency in investor disclosures. A ruling in favor of the investors could heighten the standards companies must meet in alerting investors to both past and potential risks, with the decision expected by June.
