Connected

Back in June Google began rolling out RCS in the UK and France, bypassing carriers. Google is now doing the same in the US. If you already have Messages, you’ll be prompted to enable chat features in the coming weeks. If you don’t have Messages, you can download it on the Play Store. Google expects this service to be broadly available in the U.S. by the end of year.

Huawei's 5G MEC solution won the Wireless Innovation Award at the 21st World Communication Award Ceremony held in London by Total Telecom. The award reflects the industry's recognition of Huawei's 5G MEC solution in technical innovation, business, and ecosystem construction.

ETAS and BlackBerry QNX announced today the companies will cooperate to jointly develop and market a safety-critical platform for use in next generation connected and autonomous vehicles.

On the first day of AfricaCom, the biggest gathering of telecommunications companies in Cape Town, South African mobile operator MTN, together with Huawei, launched their C-band 5G trial as part of the operator’s network evolution plan towards 5G.

Huawei x Gentle Monster Smart Eyewear series is officially available to buy in the UK. Unlike Google Glass, there’s no heads-up display. Essentially, it looks like a normal earwear that has an integrated Bluetooth headset. It has built-in dual speakers with a semi-open design and dual microphones on the temple which uses AI for noise reduction

Huawei introduced SmartCare BOE (Business Operations Enablement at the TM Forum Digital Transformation Asia (TM Forum DTA) conference in Kuala Lumpur.

In a world first, Huawei has demonstrated a cellular IoT chip connecting to a Narrow-Band IoT (NB-IoT) network without using a SIM card.

Vodafone has signed a deal with BT to use its network to offer full fibre broadband service to up to half a million customers in three British cities.

Virgin Media is ditching the EE mobile network (BT) when its contract expires and will move its three million-plus mobile customers to Vodafone. A five year has been agreed between Virgin and Vodafone and extends until 2026. Virgin Media will have access to the full range of Vodafone technology and services, including 5G. Indeed, Virgin Media 5G will be powered by Vodafone even before the present deal with BT expires.

O2 has launched a new range of Pay-As-You-Go Bundles, which include unlimited calls and texts as standard but require you to top-up every month in order to get the allowance. The bundles include O2 Priority, (with unique member benefits and discounts).

Hyundai Autron has selected BlackBerry QNX to power its next-generation advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving software platform.

Huawei has officially released the AI Ecosystem Program in Europe and announced an investment of 100 million euros in the next 5 years. This program unlocks a new chapter for the computing industry in Europe.

Huawei unveiled the Huawei Watch GT 2 back in September, coming in 46mm series and 42mm series offerings. However, one of the most disappointing aspects of the smartwatch was the lack of NFC outside of China models.

Guo Ping, Huawei’s Rotating Chairman has encouraged the global developer community to take advantage of the "golden opportunity" offered by 5G combined with other technologies.

O2 is to provide 5G connectivity for the testing of connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) in the world’s most advanced urban testbed, the Smart Mobility Living Lab (SMLL) in London.

Türk Telekom and Huawei have achieved a single user 5G smartphone speed above 2.92 Gbps, in a live 5G test network, breaking the world record in this field. At the same time, Türk Telekom was also the world’s first operator to test 5G New Radio Carrier Integration Technology (C-Band NR Carrier Aggregation) with the Huawei Mate 20 X 5G smartphone.

The decision on whether to allow Huawei to play a role in constructing the UK’s 5G network has been delayed until after the general election. Outgoing culture secretary, Nicky Morgan, confirmed the decision would now be made after the general election on 12 December.

Telekom Malaysia and Huawei have agreed to cooperate in accelerating 5G commercialisation in Malaysia. Under the terms of the agreement, Telekom Malaysia and Huawei will explore a working mechanism covering spectrum, business case, ecosystem and key technologies.

Google has confirmed that it has officially entered into a definitive agreement to buy Fitbit at a valuation of $2.1 billion.  Fitbit is Google’s biggest acquisition in consumer electronics since it paid $3.2bn for smart home company Nest in 2014.

Samsung and IBM announced today a new joint platform leveraging IBM Cloud and AI capabilities, and Samsung’s mobile offerings. The collaboration between the two companies brings together IBM’s capabilities with the Samsung Galaxy ecosystem for enterprise customers.