Asia Overview India’s telecom regulator acknowledged last Friday that the country is “well below” its goal of installing 10 million public Wi-Fi hotspots by 2022, and that its goal of installing 50 million hotspots by 2030 is also in jeopardy.
India wanted a large-scale WiFi rollout to provide connectivity and make online services available in places where mobile networks do not reach or are not affordable.
The Electricity Authority (TRAI) blamed the shortage on a system that uses private services for backhaul links and operators’ use of expensive leased lines to connect them.
TRAI’s proposed solution to this problem is to force carriers to charge retail prices for backhaul links, a proposal the agency has launched a consultation on.
– Simon Sherwood
New data centers opening in Fiji, Malaysia and South Korea
Fiji’s Deputy Prime Minister Manoa Kamikamika recently said: [VIDEO] Google plans to invest $200 million to build a data center at an undisclosed location in the country.
“Google gives us a huge opportunity to become a true ICT company and a hub in the Pacific region,” Kamikamika explained in an interview with local media.
The data center investment comes after Google also helped fund four more undersea cables to Fiji.
“Until Google came here late last year, Fiji only had one undersea cable, which means if someone cuts that cable, Fiji would be isolated from the world, like Tonga after the volcano eruption. Perhaps there will be satellite communications and Starlink options here and there,” the prime minister added.
Other Asian locations where data centers will be located include Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Seoul, South Korea.
AWS launched its first region in Malaysia last Thursday. Named ap-southeast-5, the region has three Availability Zones.
Meanwhile, in South Korea, SK Telecom announced it was partnering with GPU cloud provider Lambda to transform its current data centers into AI data centers using Nvidia GPUs.
Also in Singapore, Singtel has partnered with telecoms consortium Bridge Alliance to offer GPU as a service (GPUaaS) to customers by the end of 2024. The cloud-based service will be run by Nvidia H100 GPUs in Singtel’s upgraded data centres in Singapore.
As part of the agreement, Bridge Alliance’s 35 member operators will have access to Singtel’s GPUaaS services.
Australian investment fraud losses total $875 million this year
Financial services regulator the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) revealed last week that it had taken down more than 7,300 phishing and investment scam websites since July last year, including 5,530 fake investment platforms, 1,065 phishing links and 615 cryptocurrency scam sites.
ASIC highlighted the evolution of scams, particularly the use of social media and digital platforms to lure victims, detailing that investment fraud alone remains the most prevalent type of fraud, resulting in losses of A$1.3 billion (US$875 million).
South Korea announces brilliant results in Fukushima wastewater treatment
The South Korean government last week detailed that radiation tests in domestic waters, fishing grounds and ships’ ballast water have not shown to exceed safety standards at any time since the Fukushima nuclear plant began releasing wastewater last year.
Since the first release on August 24, 2023, through August 19, 2024, the South Korean government has completed 49,633 radiation inspections. During this time, seven releases from Fukushima have been completed, with an eighth currently underway.
The Hong Kong government also publishes daily test results. register These evaluations have not found any results that health authorities consider unsafe.
PC sales rise in mobile-first India
According to analyst firm International Data Corporation (IDC), India’s PC market is expected to grow 7.1% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2024.
Workstations had the highest growth rate at 12.4%, followed by notebooks (7.4%) and desktops (5.9%). Consumer revenues (11.2%) grew faster than commercial revenues (3.5%). The quarterly results marked the fourth consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth for the consumer segment.
India is widely considered a mobile-first country, with the majority of internet connections happening via smartphones.
APAC Deal Book
Recent notable partnerships and transactions register Incidents that occurred in the area last week included:
- Vietnamese technology giant FPT is investing $200 million to expand its operations in Japan, with a focus on cloud-based AI services and digital transformation solutions, according to Nikkei Asia.
The investment will reportedly support the deployment of Nvidia GPU infrastructure and the establishment of new data centers, with the service expected to launch by early 2024.
- South Korean AI chip makers Rebellions Inc. and Sapeon Korea Inc. have signed a merger agreement, the companies announced.
The silicon companies began merger talks in June.
- Indian information security company TAC Security said on Friday it was acquiring Cyber Sandia, a security consultancy that has a contract with the state of New Mexico for IT services.
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