Get the latest announcements from MEF Members across the mobile ecosystem globally in this weekly review of member news…
Lenderwize secures €100m investment from Fasanara Capital
Lenderwize, the fintech platform for digital commodities, has announced that it has received €100m in funding from Fasanara Capital, an alternative lender in Europe.
Lenderwize, which is headquartered in London, will use the funding to accelerate its international expansion plans. These include launching operations in France, Germany, Spain and the United States during 2022.
Lawrence Gilioli, CEO and co-founder of Lenderwize, said: “Lenderwize is proud to have secured new funding from institutional investors. This is further proof of the validity of our digital platform and our ability to provide risk mitigation services to investors, clients and insurers.”
Augusto Pellegrini, Director of Strategic Partnerships and co-founder of Lenderwize, said: “The working capital provided by Fasanara Capital will allow us to quickly pursue our international development plans, which include entering new markets in Europe and the US as early as the first quarter of 2022.”
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Mavenir Launches 4G Open RAN Small Cell for Outdoor Deployments
Mavenir on Thursday announced the commercial availability of its 4G Open RAN small cell for outdoor deployments, expanding the MAVair radio and access portfolio of small cells to meet CSPs growing need for enhanced network capacity and coverage.
The solution had already been tested and deployed in commercial operation with a Tier 1 European CSP.
Mavenir’s Aniruddho Basu, SVP and GM of Emerging Business – By leveraging our modular hardware architecture and cloud-native scalable software, Mavenir is capable of delivering new products in an agile fashion which integrate and work seamlessly with other network components deployed by CSPs. This 4G outdoor small cell is the precursor for a completely new line of 4G and 5G Open RAN-based small cell products with integrated DU, as well as Multi RAT radio access solutions in general.
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Emptying Out the Cookie Jar: Challenges and Opportunities for Marketers
This is the era of privacy. The modern consumer expects truly personalised experiences on whatever touchpoint they engage with your brand. Challenge accepted. But here’s the kicker, they want this complemented by heightened privacy, tighter data controls and the right to have the information erased with the click of a button.
During the recent Cheetah Digital Signals21 event, Richard Jones, CMO of Cheetah Digital, Tim Glomb, VP Content, Cheetah Digital and Scott Cunningham, Founder, IAB Tech Lab dissect ways to break the personalisation and privacy paradox.
Richard Jones, CMO of Cheetah Digital explains, “They moved out the timeline for phasing out cookies, giving a new period of grace for advertisers and publishers that we’ll see in late 2022. With stage two, which is the phasing out of cookies, it will start in mid-2023, and then end in late 2023.”
In the past, consumers surrendered their data in exchange for convenience, however with all these changes coming in the next couple of years, the consumer has never been more aware of how they are being tracked online.
Richard says, “We can certainly see more consumer awareness around what marketing tactics are considered creepy versus cool.”
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Rakuten Viber Partners with Lasith Malinga
Veteran Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga partners with Rakuten Viber to launch his first official community on Viber. His fans can now experience his iconic style through AR-powered Lenses and his popular cricket lingo through custom sticker packs.
Cricket fans can rejoice as Rakuten Viber partners with Sri Lankan cricket legend Lasith Malinga to deliver a cricket experience like no other through a range of exciting features and activities for fans worldwide. The partnership aims to combine all of the most loved features of the popular messaging platform into one explosive cricket experience featuring the veteran fast bowler.
“We thought this would be a great opportunity to celebrate and share in the joy Malinga has brought for his fans during his career,” said David Tse, Senior Director of Rakuten Viber. He added, “we’re always working towards leveraging our digital technology to enable users discover newer aspects of entertainment. And we’re really honored to partner with Malinga to allow cricket fans to enjoy a total-cricketing experience on Viber.”
Viber has continued to raise the bar in terms of user experience for its subscribers, especially cricket enthusiasts, throughout the years. Users have embraced features like “Cricket Talks Community,” AR-powered lenses, and more with sheer excitement. And as Viber continues to innovate, create, and evolve, it leaves no doubt as to why the messaging platform has seen an incredible surge in its growth.
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Telefonica bringing industrial 5G services to market in 2022
The offerings will reportedly include 5g-powered robots, drones, and remote assistance equipment powered by a standalone (SA) 5G network
Beginning in January 2022, Telefonica will begin offering a range of industrial 5G services to industrial partners for the first time.
This is quite a milestone in the journey of 5G. Until now, numerous operators throughout Europe have been conducting various tests for 5G use cases, but barely any have announced the launch of commercial services.
Telefonica itself has tested nearly 80 use cases across various sectors in recent years, a number of which are now ready to go to market.
More specifically, Telefonica, via its Telefonica Tech unit, will move to commercialise three specific 5G use cases for industry: autonomously guided vehicles (ATGs), remote assistance solutions, and drone solutions.
These three use cases should require little explanation, having been a central focus of 5G use cases not only by Telefonica but by other operators around the world.
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GlobalConnect to acquire Telenor’s Swedish fibre business for SEK 3bn
GlobalConnect Sweden has entered an agreement with Telenor Sweden, to acquire communications operator Open Universe and Telenor Sweden’s SDU fibre assets for SEK 3 billion ($330 million).
The deal includes approximately 200,000 connected homes on Open Universe’s platform and 14,000 connected homes in Telenor Sweden’s SDU fibre infrastructure. The transaction supports GlobalConnect’s ambitions to bridge digital divide and promote social inclusion across Sweden.
“We see market consolidation as a natural development in our industry, which will ultimately accelerate digitization and social inclusion across society,” said Martin Lippert, CEO of GlobalConnect Group.
“We will therefore continue to explore possible acquisitions across all our markets, given that they fit our business model and can contribute to an even stronger offering to our customers. Acquiring Open Universe and valuable fibre assets from Telenor Sweden fits perfectly into our strategy.”
In addition, thanks to additional resources and dedicated focus, GlobalConnect’s aims to deliver more, and improved fibre based broadband services to households across Sweden. The transaction will also position GlobalConnect Sweden as one of the leading communications operators in the country.
