Today’s telecom news includes announcements on Nepal Telecom, Huawei, SK Telecom, among others.
Nepal Telecom Drops Rs 5 Billion Billing System Bid, Huawei Excluded
Nepal Telecom has cancelled its nearly Rs 5 billion tender for a new real-time billing system, effectively removing Chinese tech giant Huawei from the process. The decision was taken due to procurement law concerns and issues in the bid documents, with only Huawei having initially qualified technically alongside one other bidder. Officials also noted potential links between bidders that may have limited competition. A fresh tender will be issued with stakeholder input, and Huawei may re-apply. The cancellation comes as Nepal Telecom shifts toward standalone 5G deployment.
SK Telecom Faces Record $91M Fine Over Massive Data Breach
SK Telecom has filed an administrative lawsuit with the Seoul Administrative Court to overturn a 134.8 billion won (about $91 million) fine levied by South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) over a massive data breach. The breach exposed personal information of 23.2 million subscribers, including phone numbers, SIM authentication keys, and other identifiers, and was deemed a result of negligence in protecting user data. SKT argues the penalty is excessive, citing its 1.2 trillion won investment in consumer compensation and security upgrades. The fine is the largest ever imposed by the PIPC.
Shafana Fazal
