The Microsoft Worldwide Telecommunications Industry team is pleased to share with you the November 2020 Telecommunications Industry Newsletter, available to both internal and external audiences. We encourage you to share it with your colleagues and distribute it to your customers and partners as appropriate. Transforming to a digital business is a key theme across global communications service providers and many industry leaders are pursuing a new paradigm by leveraging agile new technologies, systems, and services to enable this transformation. This newsletter showcases how the telecommunications industry leverages Microsoft and partner technologies like 5G, cloud, artificial intelligence, big data, virtual network functions, and blockchain to accelerate the transformation to digital services.

1. Telecommunications Industry Newsletter
November 12, 2020
The Microsoft Worldwide Telecommunications Industry team is pleased to share
with you the November 2020 Telecommunications Industry Newsletter, available to
both internal and external audiences. We encourage you to share it with your
colleagues and distribute it to your customers and partners as appropriate. As
always, we welcome your input, feedback, and suggestions!
Transforming to a digital business is a key theme across global communications
service providers and many industry leaders are pursuing a new paradigm by
leveraging agile new technologies, systems, and services to enable this
transformation. This newsletter showcases how the telecommunications industry
leverages Microsoft and partner technologies like 5G, cloud, artificial intelligence,
big data, virtual network functions, and blockchain to accelerate the transformation
to digital services.
MICROSOFT CUSTOMERS PARTNERS EVENTS

2. Microsoft in the News
Telecommunications industry news featuring Microsoft, Affirmed Networks, Metaswitch
Networks, products, services, and OEM hardware partners.
Top use cases for IoT-enabled by 5G - Microsoft Industry Blogs
5G opens the doors for new enterprise IoT cases. The fifth-generation cellular standard
offers increased security, support for large numbers of connected, low-power devices, and
both low-latency and higher-speed performance. However, building an end-to-end IoT
solution with cellular connectivity is complex. It requires expertise in embedded systems,
connectivity, real-time, time series-based systems, antenna design, cloud computing, and
more. As a business decision-maker, how can you simplify your project? To address this
challenge, we see telecom operators offering market-ready IoT platforms to capitalize on
new service opportunities enabled by 5G.
more
MEF Welcomes Microsoft
MEF and Microsoft Azure have joined forces to
strengthen the collaboration among cloud and
communications service providers and contribute
to expanded development of MEF 3.0 SD-WAN
and SASE standards.

3. Azure Space – cloud-powered
innovation on and off the planet
Today, Microsoft is taking the next giant leap in
cloud computing – to space. I am excited to share
the work we are doing to make Azure the
platform and ecosystem of choice for the mission
needs of the space community with Azure Space.
Microsoft partners with SpaceX to
launch Azure Space—Here's what to
know about the initiative
Tom Keane, Microsoft Corporate vice president in
charge of Azure Global, joins 'Squawk Alley' to
discuss the company's partnership with SpaceX to
bring worldwide satellite connectivity to cloud ...
Verizon and Microsoft bring together
Azure and 5G Edge
Microsoft and Verizon are expanding their long-
standing partnership to bring together Microsoft
Azure and Verizon’s mobile edge computing
(MEC) platform 5G Edge, with a view to accelerate
the delivery of 5G applications and provide
businesses with …
Fujitsu, Microsoft Japan test private 5G
system in manufacturing sites
Fujitsu, in partnership with Microsoft Japan, has
tested a system that uses private 5G to visualize
real-time data within the facility, with a view
toward manufacturers’ digital transformation
(DX).

4. Bring compute, storage, and intelligence
to the edge with Azure Stack Edge
Bring compute, storage, and intelligence to the
edge with Azure Stack Edge, including telco
specific workloads and VNFs to support Private
5G/LTE networks, virtual SD-WAN appliances,
firewalls, and more!
Ep 5 - The BFCs: Putting Microsoft Azure
to the test for telcos
The latest episode is out! I talk to Microsoft about
Azure for Operators - check it out, and thanks to
Rick Lievano for coming onto the podcast!
STIR/SHAKEN – how do I “tag” calls in
my network?
In our last blog entry, we explained how and
where to implement STIR/SHAKEN in a carrier
network in accordance with FCC requirements..
The long and the short of that discussion was as
follows.. You need to ensure that SIP traffic you
exchange with …
New action to combat ransomware
ahead of U.S. elections
Today we took action to disrupt a botnet called
Trickbot, one of the world’s most infamous
botnets and prolific distributors of ransomware.
As the United States government and
independent experts have warned, ransomware is
one of the largest threats

5. A Look Inside The TrickBot Botnet -
Lumen
Bolstered by contributions from Black Lotus Labs
and others, Microsoft and FS-ISAC recently took
court action to disrupt a particularly insidious
botnet called TrickBot – a significant source of
ransomware and banking credential theft..
Daily Roundup: Microsoft Wins Trickbot
Court Order - SDxCentral
Microsoft won a court order to take control of IT
infrastructure being used to infect devices with
Trickbot, which is a very prolific ransomware
distributor that poses a threat to the November
election.
AT&T’s Fuetsch: cloud, telco networks
complementary for 5G applications
Speaking at a TM Forum event Wednesday,
AT&T's Andre Fuetsch said by network operators
working together with cloud players, it helps
bridge gaps for future latency-sensitive
applications.
Building & Scaling Shared Broadband
Infrastructure - ETI
This podcast hosted by ETI features Crown
Castle's Vertical Markets Manager, Jessica Collins
talking about partnering with Microsoft to close
the Digital Divide and more.
Our opportunity to define the world we
want to live in
In telecom, two analysts at T-Mobile used Power
Platform to build an app that helped the
company keep retail associates employed and
keep customers, including first responders,

6. connected during the critical first weeks of the
crisis.
Microsoft Glazes 5G Operator Strategy -
SDxCentral
Microsoft is mounting a more comprehensive
effort to position multiple services, some
developed internally and others brought in via
acquisitions, for 5G operators. The company’s
recently ...
Microsoft announces plans to establish
its first cloud region in Austria to
accelerate local innovation
Today’s announcement represents much more
than building data centers. It’s an opportunity to
bring to Austria the tech needed for people,
businesses & government agencies to reimagine
and transform operations, grow enterprises, and
gain new digital …
Microsoft to establish its first datacenter
region in Taiwan as a part of its
“Reimagine Taiwan” initiative
With Taiwan’s expertise in tech and partners like
Chunghwa Telecom, FarEasTone
Telecommunications & Taiwan Mobile, we look
forward to greater transformation, advancing
what is possible with 5G, AI and #IoT capabilities
spanning the intelligent cloud
Three Critical Capabilities for CSPs to
Deliver Internet of Things Profitability -
Affirmed Networks
Executive Summary. Communication service
providers (CSPs) are capitalizing on enterprises’
demand for Internet of Things (IoT) solutions. And
while there are a lot of opportunities, CSP’s IoT

7. business units are faced with challenges in
meeting profit
Microsoft's cloud continues to lift its
bottom line in the first quarter
Driven in part by the coronavirus pandemic,
Microsoft's cloud sectors continued their torrid
streak in the first quarter. Revenue growth for
Azure, the company’s flagship cloud computing ...
Microsoft Teams displays now available!
Reimagine your workday with Microsoft Teams
displays, a new category of Teams device
solutions that combine productivity, collaboration
and artificial intelligence into one seamless
experience. Teams display is the first all-in-one
touchscreen device
TM Forum - Laying the AI foundation
“You need sophisticated systems that are ever
learning to combat a cyber-attack. Your #AI
models are as good as your data.” - Michal
Braverman-Blumenstyk, Microsoft
A time of resiliency, change and
innovation: How cloud-focused business
strategies are driving transformation
To help its service technicians more efficiently
repair and maintain its models, Mercedes-Benz
USA is outfitting all of its authorized American
dealerships with HoloLens 2 headsets. The
devices are equipped with Microsoft Dynamics
365 Remote Assist,

8. Metaswitch enabled NIMS platform
wins "Best Network Transformation
Initiative"
At yesterday's World Communication Awards,
Deutsche Telekom were awarded "Best Network
Transformation Initiative" for their highly
innovative Next Generation IMS (NIMS) project.
They beat many other cloud automation projects
to win the accolade with …
Microsoft trials last-mile content
delivery technology to drive reach in
remote geographies
Successful pilot enables consumers in low
bandwidth areas to browse and download Eros
Now media content Bengaluru, November 3,
2020: In an effort to catalyze digital
transformation and bring rich visual content to
low bandwidth geographies, Microsoft
UnityCloud Ops Brings Together
Orchestration, Management, and
Automation for Accelerated DT
Digital transformation is central to everything you
do. It’s what determines how you build your
network. It’s what sparks innovation in your
business. It’s what will drive the great customer
experiences of tomorrow. But without a new
approach to orchestrate …
DTWS: AT&T and Microsoft share
insights into their cloud partnership
Microsoft and AT&T announced a partnership
late 2019 to combine AT&T’s 5G network and
Microsoft’s Azure cloud to deliver converged
mobile and cloud services at the network edge.
Bob De Haven, GM, Microsoft and Igal Elbaz,
Senior VP, AT&T share ...

9. IoT beyond the Hype with leaders from
the industry (Microsoft, McKinsey,
Semtech & Ericsson)
What's left after the IoT hype is gone? Find out
from industry leaders at Microsoft, McKinsey,
Semtech & Ericsson in this panel, discussing the
obstacles that have impeded IoT forecasts to be
fulfilled, like the slow speed in adoption.
Advancing global network reliability
through intelligent software—part 1 of
2
In our two-part series on advancing global
network reliability through intelligent software,
we explain how we’ve approached our network
design, and how we’re constantly working to
improve both reliability and performance.
AI Checklist Cards - TM Forum
We are proud to introduce our new AI Checklist
Cards that offer guidance from procurement to
development, deployment & to end-of-cycle.
They have been endorsed by Amdocs Ericsson
Microsoft Netcracker Prodapt Tecnotree & more
Microsoft Azure Security Fundamentals
- SDxCentral
Microsoft Azure security fundamentals include
security threat plans, identity access
management, authentication, automation, data
encryption, and firewalls.

10. Ready Telco One: Gamified customer
journeys enabled by a dynamic
ecosystem & marketplace
Learn how the Ready Telco One Catalyst featuring
Netcracker, Radisys, Mahindra Comviva,
Microsoft, KDDI Research, Ncell and Orange is
gamifying the customer journey to increase
loyalty and value. Visit their virtual booth to learn
more.
Time crunching 5G RAN rollout with AI
The Time crunching 5G RAN rollout with AI
Catalyst featuring Everis, Blue Prism, Creativity
Software, Microsoft, Viavi Solutions, Brightcomms,
Nokia and Claro is looking at ways to accelerate
the implementation of 5G RANs.
Smart networks for Smart Cities Catalyst
Find out how the smart networks for smart cities
Catalyst featuring DGIT, Quortus, Fujitsu,
Federosllc, Microsoft, iGR_Inc & Dublin, OH are
creating a single network solution for any smart
city use case.
Differentiating with Intelligent Apps |
Microsoft
Learn how you can include AI in your applications
and increase your margins as a result. Give your
customers the best app experience—download
the e-book

11. Maximize Power BI, Tableau, and Qlik
investments | Microsoft Azure
Telcos use many data visualization tools like
Power BI, Tableau, or Qlik. Those that perform
their Analytics in Azure do so 14x faster and at
94% less cost than other cloud providers.
Cloud anywhere: Azure for hybrid,
multicloud and edge environments
Manage your infrastructure more efficiently,
reduce your costs, and achieve global
scalability—while meeting local and industry
regulations—with a secure and seamless hybrid
cloud on Azure. Read this e-book to get an
overview of hybrid cloud fundamental …
A Developer’s Guide to Building AI Apps
AI is everywhere. Once the sole domain of
researchers and institutions, this technology has
emerged in a wide variety of areas, including
network infrastructure, platforms, and services.
With AI, software developers now have the means
to build a …
Azure Communication Services SMS and
Telephony now available in Public
Preview
Azure Communication Services is a fully managed
communication platform that makes it easy for
businesses and developers to add voice, video,
chat, and SMS capabilities to mobile apps,
desktop applications, and websites with just a few
lines of code.
Customer Stories

12. New telecommunications customer stories, case studies, and more. Visit our website for
more case studies.
Verizon Teams with Microsoft to Offer
Private 5G Mobile Edge Computing
Verizon is joining forces with Microsoft Corp. to create new ways for enterprises to
accelerate the delivery of fast and secure 5G applications, benefiting from reliable and low
latency connections. Verizon’s on-site 5G Edge network integrated with Azure edge services
can enable ultra-low latency, many times faster than the blink of an eye, which can help
businesses tap into real-time data analysis and delivery.
Applications incorporating computer vision, augmented, mixed and virtual reality, digital
twins or machine learning can be enhanced with 5G and MEC on the customer premise,
helping transform the way industries such as retail, transportation, and logistics operate:
Think of automated high-precision asset localization, tracking and positioning in
manufacturing. In healthcare, the increased speed, reduced latency and high bandwidth
connectivity of 5G networks could enable real-time precision medicine leveraging mixed
reality and AI capabilities as well as seamless and fast sharing of large files to improve
patient care.
more

13. First commercial 5G Standalone Private
Network in Taiwan launched by ASOCS,
Affirmed Networks
5G private networks for industry 4.0. This is
the first software-only 5G SA network
based on industry licensed spectrum, used
in a live smart-manufacturing production
line, and driving Industry 4.0 benefits.
Millicom Selects Affirmed Networks as
the Strategic Partner to Deploy Its
Cloud-Based, 5G-Ready Core Network
Acton, Massachusetts, U.S.A., February 11,
2020 – Affirmed Networks, a leader in
mobile network 5G transformation,
announced today that Millicom, a leading
provider of cable and mobile services in
Latin America operating under the TIGO
brand, has selected Affirmed …
SKT to Expand 5G Content Business via
Jump Studio
SK Telecom announced that it has
expanded and relocated Jump Studio,
Asia’s first Mixed Reality Capture Studio
using Microsoft’s volumetric video capture
technology, to its headquarters (SKT-
Tower) and unveiled plans to promote 5G
content business
Insights from Microsoft Workplace
Analytics help Lumen drive ‘anything is
possible’ mentality
As a world-class leading technology
company, Lumen (formerly CenturyLink)
recognizes that sales is the foundation of
the company’s success. In this video,
Meghan Wilkinson, Vice President,

14. Application Engineering for Global
Enterprise Commercial …
Client Solutions digitally transforms
Tesco Mobile with Microsoft Azure
Tesco Mobile is one of the most successful
MVNO’s in Europe. Despite a highly
competitive market, they’ve grown to
serve over 400,000 customers in Ireland
alone. Tesco Mobile’s success is based on
excellent customer service and a deep
understanding …
Affirmed and Orange Partner on Wi-Fi
Roaming
TelecomTV: Orange is working with
Affirmed Networks to launch a Wi-Fi
roaming service, providing secure and
reliable connectivity over unlicensed
spectrum networks.
AT&T Launches Looney Tunes 5G Experience

15. AT&T launches Looney Tunes 5G experience to boost customer experience.
"What's up, Doc?" Learn how Microsoft #AI powers a custom #VoiceFont that AT&T and
Microsoft created together. Shawn Wright, principal creative director of Mixed Reality at
Microsoft, discusses the #MachineLearning approach that enables unique voice experiences
for customers.
Nokia’s strong Power BI foundation
enabled quick solutions for critical HR
insights when COVID-19 surfaced
Being in the networking industry, Nokia is
naturally a data-driven company. However,
introducing data analytics into the human
resources (HR) department was a new
challenge. Under the leadership of David
Shontz, Global Head of HR Workforce
Analytics

16. Indus Towers takes advantage of
Microsoft Teams and SharePoint to
empower its workforce to collaborate
Headquartered in Gurugram, India, Indus
Towers Limited is one of the largest
telecom tower companies in the world.
Indus Towers is a joint venture between
leading telecom players Bharti Infratel
Limited and Vodafone Idea Limited. An
independently …
Swisscom uses Azure to drive
innovation, market leadership with
multilingual voice assistant
Although voice assistants are increasingly
common on our smart devices,
Switzerland’s largest telco, Swisscom,
wanted to create more engaging customer
experiences by building a voice assistant
that uniquely represents its brand. Using
the Speech service, part of Microsoft Azure
Cognitive Services, Swisscom has given its
customers access to an intelligent,
multilingual voice assistant, helping
improve the customer experience and
accelerate its own digital transformation.
Health data analytics company
accelerates critical data insights with SQL
Server 2019 Big Data Clusters
Vital answers to overarching health care
trends, such as COVID-19 test results,
demand accuracy and fast delivery times.
That’s why companies like Telstra Health
subsidiary Dr Foster are so key to
improving care. Based in London, the
health …
Partner News

17. Telecommunications industry partner press releases, highlights, achievements, and
more.
Samsung Advances Innovation in
Cloud-Based Private 5G Network
Solutions on Microsoft Azure
Samsung is announcing an agreement to
collaborate with Microsoft on an end-to-end
cloud-based private 5G network solution.
Agreement will advance the virtualization of 5G
solutions by deploying Samsung’s virtualized
RAN, virtualized core and …
5G-ready AI-enabled Network
Operations: Nokia AVA on Azure
Leveraging decades of telecom network
knowledge, Analytics, Virtualization and
Automation (AVA) by Nokia Cognitive Services
(NCS) through partnership with Microsoft Azure,
Carriers can now realize immediate cost savings
while simultaneously ...
Cerillion unlocks full value of CSP data
with advanced analytics and insights on
Azure
The combination of Cerillion’s modular & pre-
integrated product set, adherence to industry
standards like TMF Digital ODA, & the cloud
deployment flexibility of Azure, are a compelling
proposition for CSPs looking to accelerate time to
market ...
Ice Mobility Testing Partner of Verizon
and Microsoft Offering of Private 5G
Mobile Edge Computing
What you need to know: Combining Verizon’s
on-site 5G Edge network capabilities with
Microsoft Azure can bring more computing
power even closer to end customers, allowing

18. businesses to create extremely low lag
experiences …
Metaswitch and siticom Partner to
Address Industry 4.0 Market in Germany
Strategic reseller agreement will deliver
innovative hybrid cloud solutions for private
5G/LTE networks. Metaswitch, a Microsoft
company, today announced an agreement with
siticom, a leading German managed service
provider, to deliver private LTE and …
How Microsoft Teams builds a
collaborative contact centre – Enghouse
Interactive Blog
In a fast-changing world, organisations need to
transform how they operate, breaking down
internal barriers between departments to become
more agile.
ServiceNow Microsoft extend
agreement for Singapore Regulated
Industries
ServiceNow announced the Now Platform and
SaaS solutions will be available on Microsoft
Azure in Singapore for highly regulated
industries, from January, 2021. ServiceNow’s
highly regulated industries environment on
Microsoft Azure
How Telcos are profiting now more
than ever by offering a smarter IoT
solution | Axonize
Business leaders are facing more uncertainty
today than they have for decades. That is why
Axonize, a no-code, smart enterprise platform
that enables telcos to easily deploy and scale
smart business ...

19. Accelerating the move to the cloud
Leading CSPs like AT&T are working with
Microsoft and Amdocs to move more of their IT
and BSS workloads to the public #cloud “to get
more agility and more exposure to fast-growing
developer ecosystems and toolsets that these
cloud players bring to the table....
Events & Webcasts
Recent and upcoming telecommunications industry events and webcasts featuring
Microsoft, customers, and partners.
TM Forum Digital Transformation World
2020
Now in its 20th year, Digital Transformation
World will continue its successful legacy by
providing a platform for the telecommunications
industry’s change-makers to share ground-
breaking innovation, market developments, major
announcements and learnings from their
transformation journeys. All digital this year!
Digital Transformation World Series -
The cloud native advantage
This session featuring speakers from AT&T,
Microsoft, CSG, Amdocs, AWS, Openet & more
will cover why cloud-native is a ‘must-do’ for
telcos & what the roadmap towards cloud native
IT looks like …
Digital Transformation World Series -
Laying the AI foundation
Innovating with AI to develop smarter networks
and enhance operational efficiency, featuring
Michal Braverman-Blumenstyk, Corporate Vice
President, Cloud & AI Security CTO, Microsoft

20. The IoT Unicorn Podcast with Pete
Bernard: The Past, Present, and Future of
5G with British Telecom
In this episode of The IoT Unicorn Podcast, Matt
Chatterley and Tom Bennett of British Telecom
discuss some of the benefits and challenges of
implementing 5G.
How Telcos and the Hyperscalers can
work together at the Edge, Edgenomics
Summit | TelecomTV
To embed our video on your website copy and
paste the code below: Major telcos have been
forging strategic edge partnerships with Azure,
AWS and Google Cloud over the past few years.
But what does this means for the telcos and their
public cloud ...
OPEN GENERATION 5G SUMMIT
Affirmed's Ron Parker will be participating in a
panel on ‘Accelerating The 5G Innovation
Ecosystem’ at the MITREengenuity Open
Generation 5G Summit. Register today!
5G Connected Edge Cloud for Industry
4.0 Transformation - 2020 ONF
December 10, 2020 - 8am PST | 11am EST | 4pm
UTC Don't miss Albert Greenberg, Corporate Vice
President, Microsoft Azure Networking on the
intersection of edge cloud, 5G and programmable
networks as the foundation for building exciting
and power ...

21. Virtual Africa Tech Festival On-Demand
AfricaTechFestival, delivered by InformaTechHQ,
kicked off today with talks from Microsoft,
Ericsson, and more!
INTELLIGENT CONNECTIVITY IN ASIA |
Telecoms World Asia | 27 - 29 October
2020
Starting today! We're glad to be part of
#TelecomsWorldAsia where our VP of APAC Sales,
Ray Tseng will be on a panel discussing Building
the next generation network.
5G Ecosystem Digital Symposium -
KNect365
5G offers unparalleled performance in
mobile/wireless networks. Microsoft / Metaswitch
is proud to be a gold sponsor for the #5G
Ecosystem Digital Symposium on Oct 19-21
CBRS Week Fall | Fierce Digital Tech
Events
It's CBRS Fall Week! Be sure to check out the
panel discussion on The Road to Private Wireless
Networks featuring Microsoft / Metaswitch SVP of
5G Solutions, Shubh Agarwal.
CCA Annual Convention
Microsoft / Metaswitch is excited to be presenting
at the CCA Annual Convention where our Director
of PLM Mobile Solution, Jorge Cañas, will provide
a session on a Flexible approach to 5G

22. Sharpen your AI Edge skills with
Microsoft Learn and Oxford University
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For more information on the Microsoft Telecommunications industry visit:
microsoft.com/telco @MSFTTelco