Tag: Telecoms

CITIC Telecom CPC Launches SmartCLOUD Object Storage Solution Based on Cloudian Object Storage Platform

HONG KONG AND SAN MATEO, Calif., Mar 18, 2021 – (ACN Newswire) – CITIC Telecom International CPC Limited ("CITIC Telecom CPC"), a wholly owned subsidiary of CITIC Telecom International Holdings Limited (SEHK:1883), and Cloudian today announced that CITIC Telecom CPC is introducing SmartCLOUD(TM) Object Storage solution based on Cloudian's HyperStore object storage platform. The offering, which will be part of CITIC Telecom CPC's SmartCLOUD(TM) solutions portfolio, includes backup with ransomware protection, archiving and big data management. As a VMware Cloud Provider Principal Partner with VMware Cloud Verified status, CITIC Telecom CPC's SmartCLOUD(TM) Object Storage solution further extends the array of service offerings running on a VMware-managed environment. CITIC Telecom CPC's customers will also benefit from Cloudian's limitlessly scalability, industry-leading security and cost effectiveness.

Enterprises face a growing challenge of efficiently storing and managing large volumes of unstructured data, including video and other multimedia content. At the same time, as data has become an increasingly strategic asset, it is also increasingly vulnerable to ransomware and other cyber attacks. As a result, CITIC Telecom CPC turned to Cloudian – via the VMware Cloud Provider Program – to provide a robust, modern storage foundation that would enable the company to continue delivering value-added services that address its customers' evolving data protection and management needs, including meeting various regulatory and compliance requirements.

CITIC Telecom CPC's SmartCLOUD(TM) Object Storage solution includes:

Ultra-secure data protection
– Offsite data backup with Object Lock for ransomware protection that creates an immutable data copy for fast, easy recovery of data in the event of an attack.
Data archive for compliance needs
– Addresses customers' regulatory and compliance requirements, including audits, with the ability to make data unchangeable for a set period of time.
Seamless accessibility
– Customers gain multi-cloud accessibility to datasets running on S3-based applications for greater convenience with lower overhead.
Scalable big data management
– Provides highly scalable, cost-effective storage for large datasets, with advanced metadata that facilitates artificial intelligence, machine learning and other analytics applications.

Great variety of connectivity options
– Supports connection with Internet, VPN (such as MPLS), point-to-point leased line and cross-connection within the same datacenter and SmartCLOUD(TM) Cloud Services Centers.
Simple billing model
– Basically only includes storage and data transfer out; API call for data access is free of charge.

In addition to limitless scalability, benefits of Cloudian's award-winning HyperStore object storage include:

Fully native S3 compatibility
– Ensures seamless integration with the expanding ecosystem of S3-based applications.
Advanced security
– Including Object Lock-based data immutability, secure shell, RBAC/IAM access controls, AES-256 server-side encryption for data at rest and SSL for data in transit, as well as certification with the most rigorous international security requirements.
Multi-tenancy
– Supports for secure, self-managed storage within a shared platform.
Geo-distribution
– Easy to manage storage across multiple locations, all from a single pane of glass.

"After considering various object storage solutions, we selected Cloudian for its rich feature set-particularly its geo-distribution, multi-tenancy and security-and its seamless integration with VMware," said Taylor Lam, Senior Vice President, Product Development & Management at CITIC Telecom CPC. "With the rising regulatory and compliance stringency on data management, we're excited about the new SmartCLOUD(TM) Object Storage solution for delivering a cost-effective storage service with enhanced data protection and management to our customers."

"CITIC Telecom CPC has been at the forefront in enabling enterprises to leverage new technologies to drive greater competitive advantage, strategic agility, and faster time to market," said Brian Burns, Vice President, Asia Pacific, at Cloudian. "We look forward to helping CITIC Telecom CPC continue to deliver on this strong customer commitment and further grow its business."

About CITIC Telecom CPC

We are CITIC Telecom International CPC Limited ("CITIC Telecom CPC"), a wholly owned subsidiary of CITIC Telecom International Holdings Limited (SEHK: 1883), serving multinational enterprises the world over by addressing their specific ICT requirements with highly scalable tailored solutions built upon our flagship technology suites, comprising TrueCONNECT(TM) private network solutions, TrustCSI(TM) information security solutions, DataHOUSE(TM) cloud data center solutions, and SmartCLOUD(TM) cloud computing solutions.

As a leading Global Local ICT Solutions Partner with worldwide footprint across East to West and native presence, we truly live our motto, "Innovation Never Stops." Being a preferred Digital Society Enabler, we lead our key markets at the forefront of pioneering ICT development, embracing AI, AR, Big Data, IoT, and other cutting-edge emerging technologies to transform technical potential into real-world value for our customers, helping them achieve higher productivity, agility, cost-efficiency, and ultimately, Digital Globalization.

As one of the first managed service providers in Hong Kong to achieve ISO 9001, 14001, 20000, 27001, and 27017 ICT-related certifications, CITIC Telecom CPC delivers on our superior quality commitment through a broad global self-managed infrastructure encompassing some of the highest growth markets in Asia, Europe and Africa, with over 160 points of presence, 18 Cloud service centers, 30+ data centers, and two dedicated 24×7 Security Operations Centers.

For more information please visit www.citictel-cpc.com.

About Cloudian

Cloudian is the most widely deployed independent provider of object storage systems, with the industry's most advanced S3 compatibility and an extensive partnership ecosystem. Its award-winning flagship solution, HyperStore, provides limitless scalability and cloud-like technology, flexibility, and economics in the data center. Cloudian's global data fabric architecture enables enterprises to store, find and protect object and file data seamlessly across sites, both on-premises and in public clouds, within a single, unified platform. Learn more at cloudian.com.

CITIC Telecom CPC Media Contact
Rowena Leung
CITIC Telecom International CPC Limited
rowena.leung@citictel-cpc.com
+852-2170-7536

Cloudian Media Contact
Jordan Tewell
10Fold Communications
cloudian@10fold.com
+1-415-666-6066


Copyright 2021 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

UNISOC and Ericsson Complete 5G NR 700MHz DL 4×4 MIMO Tests

SHANGHAI, Mar 8, 2021 – (ACN Newswire) – As a leading global supplier of mobile communications chipsets and IoT chipsets, UNISOC, a core subsidiary of Unigroup, together with Ericsson, has successfully completed the 5G SA NR 700MHz downlink 4×4 MIMO test compliant with 3GPP R15 specifications. The latest Interoperability Development Testing (IoDT) was carried out at Ericsson Beijing Lab on Ericsson's 700MHz 4T4R wireless network and 5G Customer Premise Equipment with UNISOC's 5G chipset V510 inside.



Based on the 5G CPE with UNISOC V510 chipset inside and Ericsson n28 frequency band network, the average peak of download rate could reach more than 600 Mbps. The results of the interoperability test, which were much higher than 700MHz 1T2R commercial mobile phones, broke the record for 5G network downlink peak rate under the sub-1GHz low frequency band, expanding the application field of 5G low frequency.

"The collaboration between Ericsson and UNISOC on 5G NR 700MHz extends the 700 MHz ecosystem from cellphones to a wider range of terminal forms including CPE, providing more scenarios for the use of 700 MHz in China and the global commercial market," said Peng Junjiang, General Manager of the Research and Development Department of Ericsson in Northeast Asia.

Xia Xiaofei, Vice President of the UNISOC Market Management Department, said: "The successful interoperability test of the downlink 4×4 MIMO in the 700MHz frequency band will support operators to deploy new 5G NR network more efficiently. We will continue to deepen cooperation with Ericsson and accelerate the commercialization of global 5G networks. Together, we will contribute to the growth of 5G industry."

UNISOC has launched a number of 5G chipsets, including the world's first 6nm EUV 5G SoC, the UNISOC T7520, UNISOC's first 5G baseband chip based on Makalu communication technology platform, the UNISOC V510, and its first 5G smartphone solution, the UNISOC T7510. The UNISOC 5G chipset solution has now completed interoperability testing with 5G infrastructure vendors, as well as 5G chip authentication, enabling UNISOC-powered 5G terminal adaptability across mobile operator world networks. See www.unisoc.com.

Media contact:
UNISOC Technologies Co., Ltd
Contact: Yueying Tang, PR Team
E-mail: yueying.tang@unisoc.com

Copyright 2021 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

CITIC Telecom Announces 2020 Annual Results

HONG KONG, Mar 4, 2021 – (ACN Newswire) – CITIC Telecom International Holdings Limited ("CITIC Telecom" or the "Group"; stock code: 1883), a leading international integrated telecommunications and information and communications technologies services provider in Asia, reported profit attributable to equity shareholders of HK$1,023 million for the year ended 31 December 2020, representing a year-on-year increase of 2.1%, or a 4.4% increase if the effect of investment property valuation is excluded.
(from left to right): Mr. Esmond LI, Chief Financial Officer, Mr. XIN Yue Jiang, Chairman and Mr. CAI Dawei, Chief Executive Officer



The Group generated revenue from telecommunications services of HK$7,978 million, representing an approximate 7.9% growth over the corresponding period in the previous year. The Group's total revenue amounted to HK$8,923 million. Basic earnings per share was up 1.5% year-on-year to HK27.9 cents.

The Board has recommended a final dividend of HK16.0 cents per share for 2020. Together with the 2020 interim dividend of HK5.0 cents per share, total dividends per share for 2020 amounted to HK21.0 cents, representing 5.0% growth over the corresponding period in the previous year.

Mr. XIN Yue Jiang, Chairman of CITIC Telecom, said, "The year 2020 has been undoubtedly marked by great challenges, during which the sudden outbreak of COVID-19 devastated economies across the globe, and its unprecedented impact has brought grave difficulties to business operations. Amidst the difficult situation and under the management's leadership, our staff advanced qualitative corporate development in the persistent implementation of the new philosophy for development, while addressing the risks and challenges in a composed and robust manner. The Group was engaged in efforts to continuously improve its service quality and drive up scientific research and new product development, while protecting the health of all of its employees and maintaining the stable operation of our telecommunications network platform, as well as ensuring the uninterrupted provision of our services. The Group reported stability and progress in its overall operations with continuous growth in profit."

The Group has maintained a healthy financial position and a strong cash flow. As at 31 December 2020, the Group recorded cash and bank deposits of approximately HK$1,519 million, which was sufficient to meet its financial obligations and contractual capital commitments in the coming 12 months.

Business Highlights
Enterprise solutions enhanced its market development with better SD-WAN coverage. The Group's enterprise solutions in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Southeast Asia has achieved sound development. Revenue from enterprise solutions rose by 4.5% year-on-year to HK$3,227 million. The Group continued to deploy PoPs around the world to expand the coverage of the network. The private networks services have expanded to around 150 PoPs in over 130 countries. The Group also continued to keep up with the market and technology development trends, enhanced the level of network intelligence, and expanded the service area with better SD-WAN (software-defined wide-area network) coverage. During the year, the Group's global SD-WAN gateways have increased to 45.

Rising broadband users boosted revenue from internet business. The Group greatly developed the fibre broadband service in Macau, the number of broadband users grew by approximately 1.7% from the corresponding period in the previous year to over 196,200 users, resulting in an increase in revenue from fibre broadband services. Revenue from internet services amounted to HK$1,123 million for the year, representing a year-on-year increase of 5.4%. In addition, the construction of CITIC Telecom Tower Data Centre Phase III (B) progressed smoothly in 2020 and completion and commissioning are scheduled in June 2021.

Companhia de Telecomunicacoes de Macau, S.A.R.L. ("CTM") completed construction of 5G networks in Macau that will contribute to Macau's smart city development. The Group maintained its leading position in Macau with approximately 44.4% market share of Macau's mobile market and around 45.8% market share in the 4G subscribers of Macau's mobile market as at 31 December 2020. However, revenue from mobile services has fallen by 23.0% to HK$957 million compared to the previous year mainly as a result of various lockdown measures ordered by many governments in different countries around the world during the year and this has adversely impacted the Group's revenue from roaming-related services. During the year, the Group overcame difficulties brought about by the pandemic with the use of united efforts and it advanced the construction of the 5G network which was in full swing. Preparation work for the deployment of the 5G SA network was completed at the end of 2020. The Group is working towards providing full coverage of Macau with the 5G SA network by June 2021 and will strive for the commercial launch as soon as possible.

Embark on business innovation, seize market opportunities, International telecommunications services grew rapidly. Revenue from international telecommunications services increased by 39.8% year-on-year to HK$2,481 million. The Group continued to seize new business market opportunities that came about from the increasing demand in corporate messaging based engagement with customers, revenue from messaging services increased by 86.6% to HK$1,258 million from last year. The Group closely followed market changes, consolidated the scale of its international voice services, and recorded revenue growth in voice services.

Development Strategies
Looking ahead in 2021, the world's economy will continue to be subjected to the adverse impacts of the epidemic and other developments. Prospects for economic recovery are less than certain, and this will exert certain pressure on the Group's business development. However, the development and application from a global perspective of information technologies relating to the internet, Internet of Things, 5G, Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing, Big Data and others, will continue dominating the scene and offering abundant business opportunities. Pivoting to the latest trends, the Group will enhance technological innovations and new product R&D to advance business development.

The Group will continue to pivot towards the mobile services business and the internet business as the main direction of its development as it seeks further growth in the scale and revenue contribution of the mobile services business, further increase its market share of enterprise services, as well as further consolidate the leading position of its products. Robust measures will be adopted in a bid to sustain the stable development of its current businesses, while its international services will undergo strategic transformation into mobile and internet-based operations to cement its position in the mobile market and further enhance our development standards as an integrated internet-based telecommunications enterprise.

CTM will facilitate its 5G network construction and business development as it anticipates for 5G commercial launch in 2021. The Group will continue to actively participate in Macau's development as a smart city, as it strives to become a prime operator in a smart city and to ensure the provision of superior experience in integrated information services to customers.

The Group will continue to organise construction work with meticulous care as it proceeds to complete CITIC Telecom Tower Data Centre Phase III (B) in a move to bolster the Group's data centre business. It will also plan for the development of other floors in the building as it closely tracks market demands.

In the meantime, the Group will seize the major opportunity for development presented by China's new macro-economic landscape of enhanced internal circulation and dual domestic and international circulation, with a special focus on driving cooperation with advanced technology partners and carrier partners to provide information and communication technology (ICT) services to foreign companies looking to establish their presence in China, especially members of the Global 500, offering assistance in their digital transformation.

The Group will execute plans for the development of the Southeast Asian Company, which include stronger efforts in brand building and the expansion of service categories and business scope, as it strives to develop itself into a one-stop ICT service provider in Southeast Asia to generate a new driving force for the Group's business growth. With the official signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) of Southeast Asia, the region is expected to attract further investments from multinational corporations and global pioneers in technology, presenting new opportunities and driving force for our business growth.

Mr. CAI Dawei, Chief Executive Officer of CITIC Telecom, said, "In 2021, the Group will continue driving scientific and technological innovation, and promote the internet-oriented, intelligent and digital transformation of enterprises, persist in its development strategy of expansion and coverage of the international market from its foundation in the Mainland China market, taking Hong Kong and Macau as the base and connection, grasp 5G business development opportunities, greatly expand the integrated information services, resolutely implement new development philosophy and strive for further achievements on the way forward."

About CITIC Telecom International Holdings Limited (stock code: 1883)
CITIC Telecom International Holdings Limited was established in 1997 in Hong Kong, and it was listed on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited on 3 April 2007. As one of the largest international telecommunications hubs in Asia Pacific, the Group provides full-scale international telecommunications services to carrier clients around the globe, and integrated enterprise services in Southeast Asia through its wholly-owned subsidiary Acclivis Technologies and Solutions Pte. Ltd. CITIC Telecom International CPC Limited ("CPC"), the Group's other wholly-owned subsidiary, provides end-to-end information and communications technology solutions to international corporate clients and business clients. CPC is one of the most trusted partners of these clients in the Asia-Pacific region and provides a full range of ICT services to major enterprises and multinational corporate clients in Mainland China through its subsidiary China Enterprise ICT Solutions Limited ("China Entercom"). The Group holds 99% equity interest in Companhia de Telecomunicacoes de Macau, S.A.R.L. ("CTM"). CTM is one of the leading integrated telecommunications services providers in Macau, and is the only full telecommunications services and ICT services provider in Macau. With a leading position in the market, CTM plays an important role in the ongoing development of Macau. As at the end of December 2020, the Group has branches in 21 countries and regions around the world, employs over 2,500 professionals, and covers network nodes in 130 countries and regions connecting over 600 carriers and serving more than 3,000 multinational corporations and 40,000 local companies around the globe. CITIC Group Corporation, a large multinational conglomerate headquartered in the People's Republic of China, is the ultimate holding company of CITIC Telecom. For more information, please visit: www.citictel.com

Media enquiries:
Strategic Financial Relations Limited
Veron Ng Tel: +852 2864 4831 Email: veron.ng@sprg.com.hk
Keris Leung Tel: +852 2864 4863 Email: keris.leung@sprg.com.hk
Wilson Ngan Tel: +852 2114 4318 Email: wilson.ngan@sprg.com.hk
Email: citictelecom@sprg.com.hk


Copyright 2021 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

World Champion! UNISOC Tops the Tables at the MOT20 Challenge

SHANGHAI, Jan 25, 2021 – (ACN Newswire) – On January 19, 2021, at the internationally authoritative MOT20 Challenge (the benchmark for Multiple Object Tracking), the Multimedia Lab UNISOC algorithm outshone, exceeding 70 on the MOTA index, and wins the global championship! And its the only algorithm with more than 70 points on the MOT20 leaderboards, showing that champ UNISOC has taken the leading position in the field of multiple object tracking.




MOT Challenge, the most authoritative evaluation platform for multi-object tracking, was co-founded by Technical University of Munich, the University of Adelaide, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich and the Technical University of Darmstadt. Participants in the competition include relevant teams from the University of Oxford, Carnegie Mellon University, Tsinghua University, Technical University of Munich, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Microsoft and many other companies, universities and scientific research institutions.

MOT20-08 Sequence Result Display

The MOT Challenge provides highly accurate annotation data and comprehensive evaluation indexes to evaluate the performance of tracking algorithms and pedestrian detectors. The MOT20 benchmark contains 8 new video sequences, all extremely challenging scenarios. This dataset was first released at the 2019 MOT Challenge Workshop, with an average of 246 pedestrians per frame. A night sequence is added, presenting a challenge to existing MOT algorithms in resolving extremely dense scenarios, algorithm generalization, etc.

UNISOC delivers innovation in its algorithm for network structure design, loss function, training data processing, and others. For scenarios not involved in the training set in the competition, UNISOC adopts end-to-end simultaneous detection and pedestrian recognition strategies to ensure real-time performance of the algorithm when it is actually implemented. The network size can be flexibly adjusted for different end-side computing power, and deployment of multiple chip solutions can be flexibly matched.

As a key technology for surveillance, vehicles, UAVs and live events, multi-object tracking technology can accurately capture the key information in the video and provide support for further information extraction. It will be widely used in the fields of smart cities, the Internet of Things, etc.

In intelligent surveillance scenarios, the algorithm can automatically identify, track, and extract the target from complex scenes, understand the active state of the target, and then realize the scene state monitoring and recognition. The application of multi-object tracking technology can greatly reduce repetitive manual work, and improve work efficiency, the intelligence and security of the monitoring system.

In live event scenarios, the algorithm can automatically extract the athletes' motion state, so as to realize the functions of data statistics, automatic broadcast and so on, mining more data value. In the smart vehicle scenarios, the algorithm can obtain the movement information of vehicles and pedestrians on the road, and provide necessary decision data support for applications such as automatic driving, safety assistance, etc.

Image algorithms are being deeply integrated into more and more vertical industries, forming multiplier effects, generating innovative businesses and applications that make people's lives better and more convenient. Visit the MOT Challenge official website at https://motchallenge.net/results/MOT20/.

About UNISOC
UNISOC is a leading fabless semiconductor company committed to R&D in core chipsets for mobile communications and IoT. With 4,500 staff, 17 R&D centres, and 7 customer support centres in locations around the world, UNISOC is one of the largest chipset providers for IoT and connectivity devices in China, a global top 3 mobile chipset supplier, and the leading 5G company in the world. Please visit http://www.unisoc.com.

Media Contact
Company: UNISOC Technologies Co., Ltd
Contact: Yueying Tang, PR Team
E-mail: yueying.tang@unisoc.com

Copyright 2021 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

CITIC Telecom CPC Expands ASEAN Points of Presence to support Regional Proliferation of Innovative Technology Businesses and Smart Cities

SINGAPORE, Jan 12, 2021 – (ACN Newswire) – CITIC Telecom International CPC Limited ("CITIC Telecom CPC"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CITIC Telecom International Holdings Limited (SEHK: 1883), has recently completed its Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta network gateway deployments for its TrueCONNECT(TM) Hybrid (SD-WAN, Software Defined Wide Area Network) enterprise connectivity solution.

These latest SD-WAN gateways, powered by VMware, follow CITIC Telecom CPC's ongoing initiatives to anticipate and address demand for innovative, high performance, and agile Information and Communications Technology (ICT) solutions in the fastest-growing markets in ASEAN. In 2016 the company expanded Russian and Eastern European coverage to serve its customers better, encompassing CITIC Telecom CPC's full range of end-to-end managed services, including MPLS, cloud, and managed network security solutions.

By further enhancing the footprint and capacity of TrueCONNECT(TM) Hybrid in ASEAN, CITIC Telecom CPC (CPC) is catering to the significantly growing base of Innovative Technology Businesses and Smart Cities being created in the region. TrueCONNECT(TM) Hybrid's ASEAN coverage now includes Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok and Jakarta.

"We have always focused on identifying and serving the most important needs in the most important market segments," said Mr. Taylor Lam, Senior Vice President of Product Development & Management from CITIC Telecom CPC. "Within a year of its launch, TrueCONNECT(TM) Hybrid already covers nearly 50 gateways across 49 cities in 15 countries, including six (6) in Southeast Asia. These new ASEAN gateways in Malaysia and Indonesia underscore our commitment to ASEAN customers and highlight our continued strong SD-WAN partnership with VMware. More network gateways translate to better link quality, lower latency and overall improved performance."

With TrueCONNECT(TM) Hybrid, a fully managed and better secured SD-WAN connectivity solution, customers can leverage the most cost-effective bandwidth available without compromising QoS delivery. Enterprises can dynamically create hybrid networks that bind multiple access technologies into single logical paths, taking advantage of MPLS linkages' reliability, security, and performance, yet limiting associated expenses. Network traffic is steered intelligently on optimal paths at the best times to increase performance and reduce costs. It improves business agility, application performance, bandwidth conservation and maximizes business application accessibility. TrueCONNECT(TM) Hybrid achieves these compelling advantages without requiring the high traditional costs, additional in-house staffing or other ongoing overhead expenses, often prohibitive for companies with tight budgets and timeframes. IT managers also gain more visibility, traffic routing control, rapid deployment and recovery, all with almost zero on-site IT personnel.

The new Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta network gateways significantly enhance TrueCONNECT(TM) Hybrid performance across ASEAN, long popular as an ideal region for world leading technology companies expanding physical presence. In particular, Singapore's political and legal stability and transparency have attracted considerable investment from MNCs and global technology pioneers to the city-state, including purchasing significant real property in the central business district and establishing innovation research labs. ASEAN as a whole is receiving increasing venture capital from around the world.

"A huge percentage of the ASEAN population is digitally savvy," said Mr. Derek Ung, General Manager, Enterprise Sales, CITIC Telecom CPC. "Companies and people are eager to embrace and enjoy new technological products and services. ASEAN is still relatively under-represented in terms of tech startups. The potential for solutions that support all these new businesses and government projects especially smart city initiatives is huge, and creates opportunities for win/win/win for our company, our partners such as VMware, and our customers."

The latest Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is setting out the framework for becoming the largest free trade area in the world. It is a potential window to reshape the future of trade as well as to propel enterprises to capitalize new opportunities across Asia Pacific. Further, analyst research has pointed to potentially immense ASEAN growth of its digital economy to some $300 billion over the next five years, likely encompassing multiple areas including smart products and services in mobility, e-commerce, travel, social media, telecommunications and even healthcare, the latter driven by telehealth demands in Southeast Asian countries lacking sufficient medical workers, and COVID-19 social distancing impacts. The "Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity 2025" has also forecast up to $625 billion in annual economic impact in ASEAN by 2030, through disruptive technologies such as mobile Internet, Big Data, Cloud and Internet of Things applications.

"We may also see tremendous growth in fintech as the financial sector leverages new connectivity and computing technologies to innovate banking and investment services," added Derek, CPC. "Manufacturing is yet another area that will evolve, with many regional companies relocating or building out their supply chain in ASEAN. With our latest gateway deployment, we want to be ready to serve our customers in ASEAN and those moving to ASEAN."

The new ASEAN gateways for TrueCONNECT(TM) Hybrid fortify CITIC Telecom CPC's ability to maintain its high-quality SLA commitment to ASEAN enterprise customers, enabling high network performance without compromising on responsiveness or reliability. The enhanced network capacity is also crucial for the region's emerging new digital businesses and smart cities, including the New Normal "Work From Home" approach being adopted worldwide. Robust network performance without sluggishness or outages is especially relevant for organizations migrating applications and workloads to cloud platforms via business digitalization initiatives.

"We are very excited to partner with CITIC Telecom CPC and help them deliver TrueCONNECT(TM) Hybrid to ASEAN customers," said Abe Ankumah, senior director, SD-WAN and SASE Business, VMware. "VMware SD-WAN Gateways are a unique and key component of our architecture, and for even the most demanding connectivity requirements, enterprises will be well-supported by the many high-performance gateways deployed by CITIC Telecom CPC throughout this region."

"We are fully committed to the long-term success of our customers," said Taylor, CPC. "From Q1 2021, we plan to expand our network gateways to 10 more cities including in the Philippines, to ensure that we deliver the best experience to our customers."

About CITIC Telecom CPC
We are CITIC Telecom International CPC Limited ("CITIC Telecom CPC"), a wholly owned subsidiary of CITIC Telecom International Holdings Limited (SEHK: 1883), serving multinational enterprises the world over by addressing their specific ICT requirements with highly scalable tailored solutions built upon our flagship technology suites, comprising TrueCONNECT(TM) private network solutions, TrustCSI(TM) information security solutions, DataHOUSE(TM) cloud data center solutions, and SmartCLOUD(Tm) cloud computing solutions.

As a leading Global Local ICT Solutions Partner with worldwide footprint across East to West and native presence, we truly live our motto, "Innovation Never Stops." Being a preferred Digital Society Enabler, we lead our key markets at the forefront of pioneering ICT development, embracing AI, AR, Big Data, IoT, and other cutting-edge emerging technologies to transform technical potential into real-world value for our customers, helping them achieve higher productivity, agility, cost-efficiency, and ultimately, Digital Globalization.

As one of the first managed service providers in Hong Kong to achieve ISO 9001, 14001, 20000, 27001, and 27017 ICT-related certifications, CITIC Telecom CPC delivers on our superior quality commitment through a broad global self-managed infrastructure encompassing some of the highest growth markets in Asia, Europe and America, with over 140 points of presence, 18 Cloud service centers, 30+ data centers, and two dedicated 24×7 Security Operations Centers.

For more information please visit www.citictel-cpc.com

VMware, and VMware SD-WAN are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.

Media Contact:

June Tay
CITIC Telecom International CPC Limited
(65) 6692 8357
Email: june.tay@citictel-cpc.com


Copyright 2021 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

Dab the Perfume of Books and Fragrance of Ink on the 5G Era with Hisense A7

SHANGHAI, CHINA, Dec 28, 2020 – (ACN Newswire) – On Dec 22nd, Hisense's flagship A7 5G reading smartphone series was officially launched. This series is the continuation of the characteristics of Hisense A series' most typical ink screen design, namely e-ink screen, a kind of screen that uses electronic ink, which is also known as e-paper displays. This is the world's first 5G cellphone equipped with an ink screen, marking the official arrival of the 5G eye-caring reading era.






Thanks to the strong support of ink/colorful ink screen, the Hisense A7 series has a higher eye-protection level, which can avoid highly frequent flicker of screen images and harmful blue light. From the perspective of reading comfort, Hisense A7 still adopts exclusively customized ink screen of E Ink Holdings with a 6.7-inch screen and a screen pixel of 300PPI, plus the ultra-narrow frame design, which increases the visible area of the screen by about 33%. Featured with full-screen turning at a press of the volume button, this cellphone can bring users extraordinary reading experience.

At the same time, the Hisense A7 has also carried out comprehensive optimization and upgrading of its software. In-depth development and customization have been realized, with Android 10 being its bedrock. Besides, special functions such as intelligent contrast, dynamic refresh mode, application bleaching, 500+ customized icons, multi-font bolding, text anti-aliasing 2.0, inspirational stenography, locking-screen reading and so on, all make their appearance in this series, offering users smoother and more immersive reading experience.

The Hisense A7 5G reading smartphone is built with a strong 5G chipset – the UNISOC T7510, which displays strong computing performance and high processing efficiency. It also supports SA/NSA dual-mode 5G and a seamless switch between 5G and 4G. Meanwhile, it adopts the new WiFi MIMO dual-antenna technology to support 5G hotspot sharing.

It's worth mentioning that UNISOC T7510 is equipped with Hi-Turbo intelligent engine technology, based on which the Hisense A7 5G reading smartphone can intelligently identify a user's operations and schedule CPU resources for different levels of computing needs with flexibility, enabling it to maintain smooth experience and extend battery life.

In terms of sound effects, Hisense A7 5G is equipped with ultra-linear speakers, adopts dual-tone membrane structure design and HIFI chip AK4377AECB, allowing you to enjoy fine and pleasant music while reading.

Characterized by a 4770mAh large-capacity battery, Hisense A7 can provide super battery life, being able to accompany you as long as possible. The 5G reading cellphone also supports 18W safe and fast charging, so you can quickly replenish the battery in your spare time without interrupting the reading.

If you want to add a more elegant pursuit of poetry and distance to the new era of 5G, then owning Hisense A7 5G reading smartphone should be your top priority concerning mobile reading!

Media Contact:
Yueying Tang, PR Team, yueying.tang@unisoc.com, UNISOC Technologies Co., Ltd, www.unisoc.com.

Copyright 2020 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

UNISOC-powered Fibocom L610-EU obtains GCF/CE/NCC Certification

SHANGHAI, CHINA, Dec 23, 2020 – (ACN Newswire) – UNISOC, China's CTTL, and Fibocom have announced the successful GCF/CE/NCC certification of the Fibocom L610-EU Cat 1 Module. The Fibocom L610, based on the UNISOC 8910DM, the world's first LTE Cat 1 bis chipset platform, is an industrial-grade LTE Cat 1 module with maximum speeds of up to 10Mbps. GCF certification is a requirement for European operators, who require manufacturers to complete certification before entering the market.




Obtaining GCF, CE and NCC (National Communications Commission) certification is the result of close collaboration between Fibocom, UNISOC and CTTL (China Telecommunication Technology Labs). CTTL is the first laboratory with 3GPP Cat 1 bis GCF certification capacity and has provided rigorous certification services for the partnership. UNICOM, with a mission as the Digital World Eco-carrier, provides the core Cat 1 bis chip platform for the L610-EU.

Wei Ran, Director at CTTL, said, "CTTL has been paying close attention to the evolution of medium-speed IoT technology and market developments. We are optimistic that Cat 1 bis technology, which has been promoted by chipset manufacturers, most notably UNISOC, will achieve commercial success on a global scale by virtue of its data rate, terminal cost and network transformation cost. CTTL is the world's first institution to formally qualify for granting 3GPP Cat 1 bis GCF certification. We aim to help domestic manufacturers such as Fibocom to participate globally with outstanding products. It is also important that CTTL becomes a comprehensive and large-scale inspection and test base for electronic information and communication equipment for domestic and international manufacturers."

Judy Wei, Director of Product Marketing at Fibocom, said, "The Fibocom LTE Cat 1 L610-CN achieved domestic certification in April 2020, and the L610-EU has now achieved GCF/CE/NCC certification for Europe. Fibocom would like to thank UNISOC and CTTL for their strong support. With the GCF certification opening export to the world, the L610-EU, L610-LA, and other series products will be exported to Europe, Latin American, and other global markets. Based on L610-CN market reaction, we believe the L610 series will achieve great things in the global market."

Allen Huang, Senior Vice President at UNISOC, commented, "UNISOC 8910DM, the world's first Cat 1 IoT wide-area chipset platform, has quickly become the benchmark for medium-speed IoT products, with its advantageous technical specifications and technological maturity. The chipset platform has created many industry firsts since its release. Now, the 8910DM will officially enter the European, Latin American and other overseas markets based on the large-scale commercial experience of medium-speed IoT products accumulated in the domestic market over the past year. I am honoured to cooperate with our eco-system partners CTTL and Fibocom to create the successful launch of Cat 1 bis chipsets in overseas markets."

Fibocom's LTE Cat 1 Module L610 supports LTE, GSM dual-mode communication, VoLTE, audio, camera, LCD, keypad, and other functions. Formed as both LCC+LGA and MiniPCIe packages, it provides universal interfaces such as USB / UART / SPI / I2C / SDIO to meet various application demands of the IoT industry. The product covers the IoT market at medium- and low-speed and provides the perfect high-speed experience to all.

About UNISOC
UNISOC is a leading fabless semiconductor company committed to R&D in core chipsets for mobile communications and IoT. With 4,500 staff, 17 R&D centres, and 7 customer support centres in locations around the world, UNISOC is one of the largest chipset providers for IoT and connectivity devices in China, a global top 3 mobile chipset supplier, and the leading 5G company in the world. Please visit http://www.unisoc.com.

Media Contact
Yueying Tang, PR Team
e: yueying.tang@unisoc.com
UNISOC Technologies Co., Ltd

Copyright 2020 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

Telefonica Partners With Subex for Next-Gen Fraud Prevention

LONDON, Dec 21, 2020 – (ACN Newswire) – Subex, a pioneer in the space of Digital Trust, announced a partnership with Telefonica, one of the largest mobile network providers in the world, to provide the latest version of ROC Fraud Management. As part of the engagement, the operator will be deploying Subex's ROC Fraud Management, to all opcos in Telefonica's Hispam unit: Argentina, Chile, Venezuela, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay, and Colombia.

Telefonica is widely recognized as one of the most innovative companies on the digital front, by consistently providing its customers with trusted and secure new-age offerings. As a torchbearer of combatting fraud, Telefonica was keen to find the right partner that would enable them to transcend from fraud detection and management to a proactive fraud prevention approach.

Through ROC Fraud Management, Telefonica can leverage the solution's Big Data Hadoop architecture to reduce fraud detection time, improve scalability, and ease integration with Telefonica's local data lakes. The solution will also enable Telefonica to reduce Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), owing to its Open Source capabilities, and its low hardware footprint. Finally, and more importantly, Telefonica can leverage the AI/ML and Signaling Intelligence capabilities of ROC Fraud Management to detect and prevent traditional and new-age frauds across voice, data, and digital services.

According to GSMA, the Latin American market is growing at a promising rate, with a total mobile subscriber base of 440 million and an estimated penetration rate of 73% by 2025. This growth has also led to an increase in the overall digital engagements for the region. However, what this trend has also resulted in is an increased number of targets for cybercriminals to mark through means such as identity theft, social engineering and extortion.

Commenting on the partnership Shankar Roddam, Whole-Time Director & Chief Operating Officer, Subex, said, "This win marks another chapter in our long-standing relationship with the Telefonica group. It is extremely positive to see Telefonica, one of the largest operators in the world, taking such proactive measures to combat telecom fraud. It gives Subex immense pride to be working with them to protect their customers, in addition to our existing partnership with Telefonica's cybersecurity venture. Subex was selected post a very competitive and diligent evaluation process, which pitted us against all other fraud management vendors in the market."

Miguel Sancho Caceres, Deputy Global Director of Security, said, "Improving our effectiveness in the fight against fraud is one of the key priorities for us at Telefonica. Towards this goal, we consider it imperative to ensure that our services are equipped with state-of-the-art fraud prevention capabilities. To make this reality, we are pleased to partner with Subex and deploy the latest version of their ROC Fraud Management solution. This will ensure much faster processing and detection times, providing far more flexibility, easier access, and agility to our business operations."

Sandeep Banga
Marketing and Communications
+91 99168 24122
sandeep.banga@subex.com

Related Links
Subex https://www.subex.com/
Fraud Management https://www.subex.com/fraud-management/

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/70600

Copyright 2020 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

On the Wave of 5G, AsiaInfo (HKG:1675) Ready to Become a Legend Again

HONG KONG, Dec 18, 2020 – (ACN Newswire) – Back in 1995, China didn't even have dial-up networking when China Telecom planned to open two 64-k lines through Sprint, an American company, one in Beijing and the other in Shanghai, which became the earliest commercial Internet in China. AsiaInfo (HKG:1675) won this order, thus creating ChinaNet, the first commercial Internet backbone network in China. So to speak, AsiaInfo was the legend that opened the gate to the world of Internet for China, and it also became the first Chinese high-tech company that was listed on NASDAQ.



Twenty years later, AsiaInfo, an old telecome software giant, delisted from the American market and listed in Hong Kong, starting a new journey with a market value of HK 10 billion dollars. However, "the story of AsiaInfo" didn't draw much attention in Hong Kong. As a matter of fact, while maintaining its original business, it's also been exploring new fields so as to seize the opportunities in the 5G era. Based on some information made public recently, the author has conducted an analysis.

1. On the wave of 5G, does AsiaInfo have a chance for breakthroughs in its main business?

For AsiaInfo, BSS (Business Support System) remains its basic business, which had fundamentally supported the survival and development of AsiaInfo in the last two decades. AsiaInfo provides BSS service mainly for China's three main telecom operators, China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom, as well as China Tower, which was split and integrated from operators.

In many years of telecom operation and maintenance, AsiaInfo has built a deep binding relationship with operators, and gained an absolute dominating position in the field of BSS. Telecom operators can't run without AsiaInfo, and this part of business has become as firm as a rock and the core base of AsiaInfo.

With the advent of 5G, AsiaInfo advanced the BSS development for 5G operation in a timely manner, investing an R&D team of thousands of members. So far, it has launched such business support modules as 5G SA billing system, 5G end-to-end network slicing management, 5G cloud network integration support system and the support system of 5G integrated packages, indicating a continuous efficiency improvement of its core business of BSS.

As of June 30, 2020, it is providing services to 262 telecom operator clients, a year-on-year growth of 16.4%, with a customer retention rate of over 99%, indicating that its leading position in the BSS market of operators had continued to be solidified.

On the basis of 5G BSS business, AsiaInfo timely launched the 5G OSS business, an online smart system for telecom operators integrating planning, construction, maintenance and optimization. Through this new-generation network management system, telecom operators are enabled to construct a smart network management system with neutral network, neutral business and neutral factory based AsiaInfo as a neutral software supplier.

As a forward-looking new service line, 5G OSS is presenting a trend of booming. In the trial run in the first half of this year, its layout for commercial use continued to be deepened, with a rapid growth of implementation points. 7 categories of 5G OSS products have been launched, including network operation and maintenance, network layout, control management, service provisioning, smart analysis and customer perception CEM. These seven categories of products have been implemented for commercial use in 27 places, generating an income of over 15 million.

Among them, CSMF and NSMF provided by AsiaInfo are China's first operator-level 5G network slicing management systems, which are both groundbreaking products and technologies related to 5G network intelligentizing.

The value created by the new 5G software services of AsiaInfo hasn't been reflected in its market value in a timely manner. In fact, there are several American companies providing end-to-end 5G software, including Mavenir, Altiostar and Parallel, which have drawn wide attention, each with a valuation of over US$2 billion. Based on the huge market in China, the new 5G OSS business of AsiaInfo will be more rapidly applied in commercial fields, indicating a value in the future that should never be underestimated.

2. With multiplying breakthroughs in non-operator businesses, how strong a momentum does AsiaInfo have?

In the year of commercial popularization of 5G, with the core capacity it formed in the telecom industry in nearly 30 year, AsiaInfo has also extended its advantage to wider industries and markets, providing important infrastructure support for the digital transformation of governments and enterprises.

AsiaInfo has put great effort into the development of another two service lines, DsaaS (digital operation), vertical industry and enterprise cloud integration, aiming to open up a wider market.

The first half of 2020 witnessed a growth by over 90% in the service of DSaaS (digital operation), with a scale over 100 million. With the capacity in products, service, operation and integration it accumulated before, Asia has extended its scope of service from traditional network ties to a wider range of enterprise customers.

After the disappearance of the demographic dividend, operators have turned to stock operation and value operation. And AsiaInfo is providing services for the value operation of operators by making full use of its DSaaS data operation. In the mean time, it has applied its capacity of digital operation to non-operator customers in such industries as banking, insurance, government affairs, public service and broadcasting.

It's worth noting that on the basis of "desensitized operator data + customers' own data + external data", the DSaaS (digital operation) service provided by AsiaInfo protects its customers' privacy very well. Judging from the current progress, AsiaInfo has achieved model breakthroughs in the operator market, and has been continuously infiltrating in such vertical industries as government affairs, banking and insurance.

AsiaInfo managed to make rapid breakthroughs in the non-operator market for two reasons. First, with its technological accumulation in many years, it has the capacity to provide its customers with data-driven DSaaS service; and second, AsiaInfo adopts a business model of digital operation, thus allowing the customers to select from flexible operation models such as paying by results, SaaS subscription, paying by projects and paying by tool software, etc., which can facilitate AsiaInfo to rapidly occupy the market of vertical industries with SaaS products, help enterprises to carry out precise data marketing and help governments to improve their operation efficiency.

Another innovative service is AsiaInfo Cloud, which is an industrial cloud service and solution AsiaInfo created for vertical industries and cloud integration of enterprises, which is with an emphasis on a cloud-network integration. AsiaInfo Cloud aims to interconnect networks on the technical end and cloud on the business end, so as to provide precisely targeted IT digital capacity for customers in such fields as postal service, broadcasting, financing, energy, health care and retail through cloud products, industrial solutions and cloud MSP (management service provider).

It's worth noting that AsiaInfo Cloud is not in competition with other cloud providers, but rather cooperates with them in exploiting MSP business models. For example, the first phase of Oriental Shopping, an e-commerce platform has been successfully launched with AsiaInfo and AliCloud providing technical support together. AsiaInfo and AliCloud has established a cooperation to exploit the market of large enterprises in vertical industries and develop such industrial solutions as energy cloud, financial cloud and transportation cloud.

Not only does AsiaInfo work closely with AliCloud, it has also established cooperation with such cloud computing providers as Tecent Cloud, Baidu Cloud, Huawei Cloud, Amazon AWS, Mobile Cloud, E Cloud, Wo Cloud and UCloud. According to data of the first half of the year, AsiaInfo provides cloud service for 64 large enterprises in vertical industries, a year-on-year growth of 48.8%, with an income growth by 103%, reaching 68.15 million yuan.

With the three new businesses, respectively DSaaS digital operation, cloud service and 5G OSS, combined with the traditional business of BSS, AsiaInfo has entered a fast track in implementing the strategy of "one solidifying and three developments" it established in recent years.

3. The pandemic has a largely positive influence on AsiaInfo

The outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 disturbed the normal running of many companies, but it seems that Asia has not been greatly influenced. Its performance indicated that it's operation wasn't influenced by the pandemic and it has rather made breakthroughs in new services.

According to the interim performance report in the six months as of June 30, 2020, which has not been audited yet, AsiaInfo had realized an operation revenue of around 2.5041 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 1.0%, and a net profit of around 232.6 million yuan, a year-on-year growth of 228.8%. The income from new businesses had reached around 229.7 million yuan, a year-on-year growth of 77.7%.

The pandemic even helped AsiaInfo to exploit a new market. Based on its DSaaS products, technology and data, AsiaInfo responded fast and launched sixteen products and solutions for epidemic prevention and control.

Among them, the product of people and pandemic trend perception, 3D immersive data visualization solutions for sensitive areas and joint operation program for public health emergency of COVID-19 were recommended by the Ministry of Science and Technology; the demographic big data platform for epidemic prevention and control was recommended by CAICT and Open Source Industrial Alliance of Cloud Computing; and the program of epidemic prevention and control based on big data of space-time locations entered the list of industrial Internet platform solutions supporting epidemic prevention and control and work resumption made by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The health codes and epidemic prevention and control systems adopted by various provinces and cities are greatly supported by the products provided by AsiaInfo.

4. Why did China Mobile become a shareholder of AsiaInfo?

In April 2020, China Mobile entered into a strategic investment agreement with AsiaInfo, and purchased 20% of the outstanding shares with an investment of HK$1.385 billion. Some analysis pointed out that this was related to the gradual application of 5G in China. At present, there are some new changes in the application scenarios of 5G, the three application scenarios of eMBB, mMTC and uRLLC have enabled 5G to be applied in more industries.

The diversity of industrial application has posed higher requirements for stable performance, reliability, safety and adaptability to particular workplaces. In the process 5G energizes vertical industries, industrial perception is one of the difficulties it's faced with. In the context of varying logical systems of different industries, operators and vertical industries need to work together and conduct in-depth studies, so as to create effective products and solutions, thus enabling enterprises to achieve digital transformation based on 5G networks.

Since customers from vertical industries mostly construct exclusive or private networks in their application of 5G, 5G energizing is faced with the challenge of exclusive network integration; besides, it also faces such challenges as the integration of technical norms and standards, as well as business models. During this transformation, the relationship between operators and customers from vertical industries will gradually change from simply providing services to working together as partners.

For one thing, AsiaInfo has an operator advantage and strong capacity of communication networks; for another, it has professional teams dedicated to the service development and application for vertical industries, enabling it to combine business scenarios and network communication, especially data collection and transmission and construct exclusive 5G networks for various industries or vertical industries, thus forming a great advantage of the company in vertical industries and cloud service for enterprises.

China Mobile values AsiaInfo not just because of its traditional business of BSS. More importantly, it's because of AsiaInfo's ability to expand scenarios in vertical industries, including but not limited to the in-depth exploration in such fields as smart cities, smart energy, smart financing and smart medical service.

5. The valuation space of AsiaInfo

At present, the share price of AsiaInfo is HK$11.02. Calculated by adjusted net profit, its PE ratio hasn't even reached 13, with a total market value of HK$10.09 billion. AsiaInfo is obviously undervalued now.

Based on AsiaInfo's traditional business of BSS, it's expected to achieve a sales volume of about CNY6 billion and a profit of over CNY600 million in 2020, with an annual growth of 10%, which shows that the valuation of HK$10 billion is already an undervaluation, without even taking its three new services into account.

According to the data in the first half of the year, the growth rate of AsiaInfo's three new services reached 77.7%. According to an analysis on its innovation of business models, it's estimated that its new services will accelerate the generation of cash flow. Therefore, a valuation with a PE ratio of less than 13 times is extremely conservative and lagging.

Therefore, in the case of a 30x valuation, which is used for similar technology stocks, the reasonable market value of AsiaInfo may potentially reach HK$20 billion. At present, the company is still in a process of testing its new services. By March next year when AsiaInfo publishes its annual report, as soon as the market finds that great breakthroughs have been made in the new services of AsiaInfo, it may make another valuation of this company, which is worth looking forward to.

Media contact:
Heidi He, Peanutmedia
email: meiyu.he@hstong.com
https://www.peanutmedia.com


Copyright 2020 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

Founder Institute (FI) announces Pacer Ventures as Investor in Residence for its African Accelerators

PALO ALTO & LAGOS, Dec 14, 2020 – (ACN Newswire) – Founder Institute (FI), the world's largest pre-seed startup accelerator, today announces Pacer Ventures as 'Investor in Residence' for the Founder Institute's African Accelerator program. As part of the program, all startups that graduate the Founder Institute in Africa will be reviewed by Pacer Ventures for potential investment in their seed or pre-seed round of funding.



This development follows the announcement of Founder Institute as a strategic partner of Pacer Ventures for African early-stage start-ups that are solving some of the most critical problems on the continent. Pacer VC's purpose is aligned with FI's mission to empower communities of talented and motivated people to build impactful, technology-enabled companies worldwide.

"FI is quickly becoming the gold standard for pre-seed acceleration in Africa," says Ryan Micheletti, Head of Global Operations for the Founder Institute. "We are excited to strengthen our leadership position by partnering with Pacer Ventures to foster investment in FI Alumni all across the Continent."

FI has an Alumni strength of 100+ companies tackling various challenges across the continent and this is bound to grow with FI's expanded footprint in Africa and Pacer's move to increase access to early-stage funding.

Managing Partner of Pacer Ventures, Gbemi Akande, sees value in formalizing the partnership with the Silicon Valley based program. "Our partnership is in line with what Pacer VC was set up to accomplish. By partnering with Founder Institute, we at Pacer VC will accelerate our mission of supporting early stage companies. It is a win-win and we look forward to a mutually beneficial collaboration with FI."

Pacer Ventures was one of a handful of new funds selected to pitch to a global gathering of limited partners from around the world at the VC Lab Venture Forum, which has also led to increased interest from LPs around the world.

Geoffrey Weli-Wosu, General Partner at Pacer Ventures, said, "Founder Institute stands out as one of the top pre-seed accelerators across the African continent. Pacer Ventures is committed to supporting startups coming out of the program who can support the transformation of the continent."

Pacer Ventures will continue to leverage its strategic partnership with Founder Institute chapters throughout Africa to identify and recommend winning teams with scalable solutions that meet market needs. Similarly, Pacer Ventures has partnered with techbuild.africa to provide marketing and promotional support for FI portfolio companies across Africa.

General Partner at Pacer Ventures and FI Regional Director, Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata stated, "Africa faces many challenges, but within every challenge lies opportunity and young people are leveraging technology to solve these problems across the Continent. It is our duty to inspire and fund the entrepreneurs who are building valuable solutions to our most pressing problems. Africa is the future, and investors and LPs are now becoming aware of this."

About Founder Institute

Founder Institute is the world's largest pre-seed startup accelerator. Since 2009, we have helped over 4,500 entrepreneurs get the focus and support needed to build a business that matters. Based in Silicon Valley with chapters across 90 countries, Founder Institute's mission is to empower communities of talented and motivated people to build impactful technology companies worldwide. To learn more, please visit http://fi.co.

About Pacer Ventures

Pacer Ventures has a strategic relationship with Founder Institute, the world's premier pre-seed startup accelerator, to provide investment thesis support, structure, templates, tools, deal flow, potential seed, and mentorship support across all segments of the funding operation for African startups.

Pacer email: info@pacer.vc
Official website: https://pacer.vc/
Pacer blog: https://pacer.vc/blog/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/pacerventures
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/pacerventures/

Copyright 2020 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com