Before the pandemic, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned about worsening food scarcity as the world’s population grows in the next few decades. Following the COVID-19 outbreak, the United Nations reported that the severity of a food scarcity has been brought forward – doubling in numbers in the Asia-Pacific region to affect more than 265 million last year.
Semiconductors are enablers that support the rise of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and IoT. Though tiny in size, these wafer-like circuit chips are instrumental in raising low-latency and reliable connectivity with the 5G and 4.0 industrial revolutions, compounded in this pandemic-stricken landscape.
Powered by 5G, eSIM or embedded subscriber identity module is a rising technology that is threatening to replace traditional SIM cards. With 5G revolutionizing connectivity, eSIM emerges as a seamless way to harness greater connectivity between a future of billions of IoT devices. Instead of relying on physical SIM cards, eSIM is the embedded alternative that uses remote SIM provisioning (RSP) to download a user’s profile onto a device, to provide users full control of connectivity management and the ability to switch networks as desired.
Access to traditional banking services is limited in developing countries. The World Bank estimates that 1.7 billion adults are unbanked, yet more than 65% of them own a mobile phone. For this group of underserved in developing countries, mobile money is a technology that enables them to receive, store and spend money using just a mobile phone, in the absence of a bank account.
In an exclusive interview with Samer Halawi, chief commercial officer, Intelsat, Telecom Review has gained insights about network convergence and the important role of satellites for modern connectivity. In addition, we are enlightened on the innovating steps the leading satellite communications provider has taken to serve the needs of telcos and transform into reality the needs of businesses and governments across numerous verticals.
The telecommunications industry is the backbone of technological growth and digital transformation. While revenues in the telecom sector declined in the first half of 2020, owing to economic impact as a result of the pandemic, GSMA reported that recovery took place in the second half of the year with increased consumers and households acquiring integrated bundle services and high-speed connectivity becoming sought after across all rungs of society.
The fourth industrial revolution, led by enabling technologies such as IoT, AI, cloud computing, and big data, serves as the impetus for enterprises to migrate their services to the cloud. Fueled by countries’ tech imperative and national strategy to digitalize economies and societies, enterprise cloud adoption is poised to grow, with IDC predicting that 85% of enterprises will have deployed new digital infrastructure in the cloud by 2025.
Singapore helms the top spot as Asia Pacific’s most innovative country according to the latest Global Innovation Index released in 2020. This makes it the seventh consecutive year that Singapore covets the first spot across economies in the region. Globally, Singapore is in the eighth spot, behind countries such as Switzerland in the top spot, the US, Britain, Denmark and Finland.
While 5G promises endless possibilities with low-latency and high-speed connectivity, an increased number of IoT and smart devices open doors to new vulnerabilities. Not only will there be more entry points for cyberattacks, 5G can also lead to faster spread of botnet activities.
China is bent on taking the lead in technology, with the nation pressing ahead in its quest for technological dominance, as highlighted in its fourth session of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) held over two days in early March.
