ReportWire

Tag: Telecommunications regulation

  • Thai regulator approves $7.3 billion telecoms carrier merger

    Thai regulator approves $7.3 billion telecoms carrier merger

    [ad_1]

    BANGKOK — Thailand’s telecoms regulator has agreed to allow a merger between the country’s two main phone carriers in a decision that raises worries over whether reduced competition will harm consumer interests.

    The $7.3 billion deal will merge True Corp. and smaller DTAC, a subsidiary of Norway’s Telenor Group. The new entity, to be called NewCo, will have about 51 million subscribers. The next largest telecoms carrier, AIS, or Advanced Info Service, has 44 million subscribers.

    True is owned by Charoen Pokphand (CP) Holding, one of the country’s biggest family-controlled conglomerates. It has 32 million subscribers to DTAC’s 19 million.

    Shareholders of True and DTAC, or Total Access Communication Plc., approved the merger plan in April.

    The regulatory go-ahead by the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission came late Thursday in a 3-2 vote in favor, with the chair casting a deciding vote after more than 10 hours of discussions.

    The commission imposed conditions that included price controls, keeping current service agreements in place and requiring the expansion of 5G coverage to at least 90% of the population within five years. It said it could cancel or add further conditions if it observes monopolistic behavior due to the merger.

    “The merger will create a long and lasting impact and make it impossible to turn back the clock,” Pirongrong Ramasoota, one of the two commissioners who voted against letting the merger go ahead, said in a Facebook post. She said the deal could result in unfair competition and prevent other companies from trying to enter the market.

    “The development of our country depends on the competitiveness of the mobile service industry, which also is a key to boosting the economy,” she said.

    The approval reflects the sway of the huge family-run conglomerates that own big chunks of Thailand’s economy, critics said.

    “Despite massive protest, comments, reports, analysis and plain common sense, it is no surprise that the NBTC ended up allowing the merger,” Yozzo, a telecoms, media and technology consulting firm, said in a report.

    “Big conglomerates in Thailand have long enjoyed market power in a regime that many perceive to be friendly towards the big family companies,” it said, adding that consumers and businesses will pay the price of having two companies be the virtual gatekeepers of going digital.

    True and DTAC have said they are merging to better invest in next-generation telecommunications to advance Thailand’s adoption of digital technology.

    The companies have said they plan to list the newly merged company on Thailand’s stock exchange as soon as November.

    ———

    Associated Press journalist Tassanee Vejpongsa contributed.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Australian police make first arrest in Optus hack probe

    Australian police make first arrest in Optus hack probe

    [ad_1]

    CANBERRA, Australia — A police investigation of a cyberattack on an Australian telecommunications company in which the personal data of more than one third of Australia’s population was stolen has resulted in its first arrest, investigators said Thursday.

    Police launched Operation Hurricane in cooperation with the U.S. Federal Bureau Investigation after Optus, Australia’s second-largest wireless carrier, lost the personal records of 9.8 million current and former customers on Sept. 21.

    The hacker dumped the records of 10,000 of those customers on the dark web last week as part of an attempt to extort $1 million from Optus, a subsidiary of Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., also known as Singtel.

    A 19-year-old Sydney man was arrested on Thursday and charged with using the dumped data in a text message blackmail scam, police said in a statement.

    The man, who has not been identified publicly, has yet to appear in court on two charges that carry prison sentences of up to 10 and seven years.

    Police allege he sent text messages to 93 Optus customers demanding 2,000 Australian dollars ($1,300) be deposed in a bank account or the data would be used in a financial crime. None of the targets paid.

    One of the extortion targets, identified only as Belinda and described as a mother of a 5-year-old child with cancer, told Nine Network News last week, “To be honest, it’s just not what we need.”

    “I guess they’re just trying to hopefully pressure people into paying,” she told Nine.

    Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Justine Gough said the investigation is continuing.

    “The Hurricane investigation is a high priority for the AFP and we are aggressively pursuing all lines of inquiry to identify those behind the attack,” Gough said.

    “Just because there has been one arrest does not mean there won’t be any more arrests,” she added.

    The Australian government announced changes to its telecommunications law to protect vulnerable Optus customers.

    The changes to the Telecommunications Regulations allow Optus and other providers to better coordinate with financial institutions and governments to detect and mitigate the risk of cybersecurity incidents, fraud, scams and other malicious cyber activities, a government statement said.

    Optus ran full-page ads in Australian newspapers on Saturday under the headline, “We’re deeply sorry.”

    The ad included a link to an Optus website that details actions that customers can take to avoid identity theft and fraud.

    The government can change regulations without legislative approval. But the government hopes to pass changes to the Privacy Act in Parliament during the final four weeks of its 2022 session in response to the Optus breach.

    The changes would include increased penalties for companies with lax cybersecurity protections and curbs on the quantities and types of customer data that businesses can amass, as well as the duration for which personal information can be kept.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Australia updates law to protect data after Optus hack

    Australia updates law to protect data after Optus hack

    [ad_1]

    CANBERRA, Australia — The Australian government announced changes Thursday to its telecommunications law to protect vulnerable customers after personal details were stolen in a major cyberattack on the nation’s second-largest wireless carrier.

    The changes to Telecommunications Regulations allow Optus and other providers to better coordinate with financial institutions and governments to detect and mitigate the risk of cybersecurity incidents, fraud, scams and other malicious cyber activities, Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said in a joint statement.

    “What this is all about is to try and reduce the impact of this data breach on Optus customers and to enable financial institutions to implement enhanced safeguards and monitoring,” Rowland told reporters.

    More than one in three Australians had personal data stolen when Optus lost the records of 9.8 million current and former customers including passport, driver’s license and national health care identification numbers in a hack discovered on Sept. 21.

    The hacker dumped the records of 10,000 of those customers on the dark web last week as part of an attempt to extort $1 million from Optus, a subsidiary of Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., also known as Singtel.

    Optus ran full-page ads in Australian newspapers on Saturday under the headline: “We’re deeply sorry.”

    The ad included a link to an Optus website that details actions customers can take to avoid identity theft and fraud.

    The government can change regulations without reference to the Parliament. But the government hopes to pass changes to the Privacy Act through the Parliament during its final four sitting weeks of 2022 in response to the Optus breach.

    The changes would include increased penalties for companies with lax cybersecurity protections and curbs on the quantities and types of customer data that businesses can amass, as well as the duration for which personal information can be kept.

    [ad_2]

    Source link