ITU Newsletter

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As ITU prepares to host the annual ITU Telecom World in Bangkok next week, here are your key ICT trends and insights this week: China announces new video streaming regulations, Google rejects EU antitrust charges and Alibaba's cloud business skyrockets.

Spotlight
ITU Newsletter Standards for the 5G era ITU membership gathered at the quadrennial World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA-16) have accelerated support for standards work on 5G, IoT, smart cities, fintech - and more.

ICT Trends

Video streaming in China: China’s streaming services will be required to log user data and content for 60 days under a 24-point regulation that will come into effect on 1 December. Meanwhile, Indonesia has amended the Electronic Information and Transactions Law to reduce penalties, set clearer definitions, and introduce a ‘right to be forgotten’. 

Regulation in Africa: The Communications Authority of Kenya has fined operators KES190 million (USD 18.7 million) in the past year for poor quality of service. (No operator has met targets for three years running, so the regulator has raised its fines.) Meanwhile, ministers at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development agreed that domestic regulations remain a barrier to free trade across Africa .

Gender equality goes mainstream The GEM-TECH Award winners will be announced next week at ITU Telecom World in Bangkok. Meanwhile, GEM-TECH Award finalist Girls in Tech Indonesia asks: '#whynot?"

 

Competition: Google formally rejected European Union antitrust charges that it unfairly leverages its online search dominance to promote its online shopping site. EU regulators will make a ruling next year, potentially imposing a fine of up to USD7.4 billion on the Internet giant.  

Cybersecurity: The UK government reaffirmed £1.9 billion commitment over the next five years for a new cybersecurity strategy which will include automatic defences to protect businesses.


IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...

  • 4G: Vietnam’s largest mobile operator by subscribers, Viettel Telecom, plans to launch its 4G LTE network in the first quarter of next year.
  • Broadband: Inmarsat has announced the Commercial Service Introduction (CSI) of Jet ConneX, its next generation in-flight broadband service which it claims is on par with the broadband available on the ground. 
  • Space: China introduced Long March 5 last week. The booster will be a ‘workhorse, used as a launch vehicle for commercial satellites, space station modules, and deep space probes.
  • Cloud: Alibaba's cloud business skyrockets. The Chinese e-commerce giant's nascent data center services division hopes to give market leader Amazon Web Services a run for its money within four years. Its 130% growth rate for the latest quarter makes that a reasonable aspiration.

Insights

Fintech isn't threatening traditional banking, yet But how policymakers regulate fintech will have a big impact on the rapidly evolving sector.

Technology vs doctors “Can a supercomputer with artificial intelligence take better care of you than your doctor can?” Jen Wieczner asked healthcare executives from IBM Watson and Athenahealth.

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