ILUMI TECHZ: February 2019

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

2019 will come with cybernetic and intelligent superataques

The cybercrime industry is estimated at 1.5 trillion dollars

This year, Spain , if there are no last minute changes, will close the year as the third country that has received the most online attacks , only surpassed by the United States and the United Kingdom. That means that one in three Spaniards has been the victim of a cyber attack , according to the Norton Cyber Security Insights Report 2018 study.

The number of phishing attacks increased by 27.5% in the third quarter of 2018, exceeding 137 million, and this type of malware has had a special impact in Spain, which has become the third country in the world with more of these threats.

According to Norton, the cyberattacks received to date in Spain have cost a total of 2,000 million euros . One of the preferred targets for cybercriminals is small and medium-sized Spanish companies. Each security incident, according to Advancegroup, involves losses of 74,000 euros.

The security breaches and data leaks have been news more than once this year and have affected the main companies in Silicon Valley, the last to be attacked has been the Marriott hotel chain.

«The evolution of cyber attacks and cybersecurity in the last 25 years has been rapid and continues to accelerate», explains the general manager of Checkpoint for Spain and Portugal, Mario García. The ransomware has been in 2018 an easy money source for criminals, as well as a camouflage to hide more destructive purposes.

New types of malware
Some reports put the business of cybercrime at more than 1.5 trillion dollars which would make this activity, if considered as a country, the thirteenth world economy, at the level of, for example, Russia.

The forecasts for 2019 are not very positive in terms of security, the experts point to stronger attacks and, above all, smarter ones. This exercise we have familiarized with the ransomware and from January we will know the steamworms or malware without file.

This type of attack, according to the WatchGuard Threat Lab team, will allow self-propagation by exploiting software vulnerabilities. Malware without files is more difficult to identify and block for detection in traditional endpoints because it runs entirely in memory, without ever dropping a file into the infected system.

In addition, security experts are betting on a DDoS attack that will be directed against the protocol that controls the Internet and that "could knock down important websites". The authorship, according to WatchGuard, will point to a State and they do not give names.

The emergence of new technologies and their use implies new hazards almost immediately. It has been seen with cloud technologies, the appearance of cryptocurrencies and their popularization, which has led to the emergence of new types of malware.

The boom of personal devices and IoT can be exploited for different criminal purposes, which will give rise to a new generation of attacks characterized mainly by its volume and scope. "The next generation of attacks will be even smarter," says Garcia.

Smarter attacks that will end one of the trends of 2018. A large biometric attack will be the beginning of the end of single-factor authentication. As biometric logins such as Apple's FaceID become widespread, hackers will take advantage of the false sense of security they convey and decrypt a biometric-only login method to carry out a major attack

All this will lead the main countries, according to the experts, to work together and sign a multinational Cyber Security Treaty in 2019.

Artificial intelligence to teach reading to deaf children

Huawei launches Storysign, an application that translates the words of a story into sign language

The magic of stories has a great impact on the brains of children . It is a common ritual that every night parents sit with their children to read some texts at bedtime, a tradition that children with deafness can not generally share. At least until a while ago, because Artificial Intelligence - so fashionable nowadays - and technology, can change many difficulties positively .

And is that deafness affects more than 5% of the world's population , that is, 360 million people worldwide. Of these, 32 million are children, according to WHO data. In Spain between one and five newborns, of every thousand, are born with some type of deafness, according to figures from the National Institute of Statistics. Statistics indicate that these children generally fall behind in the process of learning to read with respect to their fellow listeners.

To help in this , StorySign was born , an application that Huawei has launched and that translates the words of a selection of children's books into sign language. Developed using artificial intelligence, the app helps open the world of books to deaf children and their families. Users should only place the camera of their phone over the words of the story and the avatar, baptized Star, will translate the printed words into sign language.

Its operation is very simple: just open the app, choose a title from the StorySign library and hold the phone on the pages of the physical copy

The application is compatible with ten current sign languages and can be run on any Android device with version 6.0 or higher.

The image recognition allows the smartphone to recognize the words on each page , while the optical character recognition (OCR) ensures that the application works with greater precision. The performance of artificial intelligence also allows increasing the speed at which the pages of the book are loaded into the application, preventing children from having to wait to discover what happens next in each chapter of the story.

90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents and 51% of parents of deaf children in Spain have little knowledge about sign language or are completely unaware

"We are confident that this tool will have a significant impact on the deaf community, helping more deaf children learn to read at the same level as children without hearing problems. We also hope that the launch of StorySign will generate more conversation about the importance of the equality of deaf people throughout Europe in all aspects of their lives, "said Mark Wheatley , executive director of the European Union for the Deaf.

93% of the funds invested in technology startups go to companies created by men

Spain is positioned as the third destination for technological talent in Europe, after the United Kingdom and Germany

The technology sector grows five times more than the rest of the European economy but has a problem, diversity and inclusion . 93% of the funds invested in technology startups were allocated to those whose founding teams are made up only of men . The data is clear from a report by Atomico and Slush on the situation of the European technology sector .

The study points to the strong growth of investment in technology, which again breaks records in 2018, which has turned this sector into the engine of the lagging European economy. "The importance of technology for the economy as a whole will only increase," say the authors of the document.

According to the data collected, the Spanish technology-based startups will double this year the investment received compared to 2017. It is estimated that in 2018 these companies will receive 1,800 million dollars (1,590 million euros) compared to 938 million dollars in 2017. No However, the figure obtained is far from those obtained by Germany or the United Kingdom, which will capture more than 4,000 million and 7,400 million, respectively, according to the same report.

Investments in this sector in Europe have reached the record high of 23,000 million dollars (about 20,200 million euros) so far this year, 21% more than in 2017. Growth draws attention if compared to capital Invested in European technology companies only five years ago, when the figure barely reached 5 billion dollars (4,300 million euros).

According to Atomico, in 2018 a total of 17 European technology companies exceeded the threshold of one billion dollars of market value.

This same year, four European companies - Spotify, Farfetch, Adyen and Elastic - went public and managed to surpass the 5,000 million dollars (4,400 million euros) of stock market capitalization on their first trading day.

Regarding the workforce, Atomico points out that the technology sector is attracting a growing number of professionals, both young developers and experienced executives from other industries.

Spain and startups
Spain has positioned itself as the third destination for technological talent in Europe, after the United Kingdom and Germany; Madrid and Barcelona are already among the 10 most important technological communities in Europe (fifth and sixth, respectively), and the Spanish developer community grew faster than any other in Western Europe. This community now has 308,500 members compared to 268,000 in 2017.

Pegasus, the most sophisticated spy on your mobile

This is how the spy program of Israeli origin works, which allows to know in detail all the communications of a person with a click and which is now related to the murder of the Saudi journalist Khashoggi.

Pegasus, the spy program of the Israeli NSO Group, continues to travel around the planet, infecting technological devices. Once installed on the mobile phone, it is able to retransmit in detail all the communications of a person, whether they are encrypted in an app or not, whether it is an Android or Apple system that operates in the terminal. Now, the spyware, or spyware, is again in the spotlight having been linked to the investigation of the Khashoggi case, the Saudi journalist killed in the Turkish embassy in Turkey.

Discovered in 2016, Ahmed Mansoor, a human rights activist from the United Arab Emirates, turned out to be one of the first victims of one of these attacks, called by experts 'spear phising'. How was it activated? Mansoor received several messages about cases of human rights abuses and a message appeared in the text itself. "Do not trust the messages of suspicious senders", point out cyber security experts.

The activist followed the steps recommended by the experts and delivered the messages to security researchers from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto. Indeed, there was a 'malware' behind and researchers from Lookout dubbed it 'the most sophisticated attack they had ever seen'. Now, the last known victim appears to be Jamal Khashoggi, who was assassinated at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 by agents from Saudi Arabia.

Module system

Victim? Victim of Pegasus, yes. It is a modular 'malware'. «After analyzing the victim's device, it installs the necessary modules to read the messages and emails of the user, listens to calls, makes screenshots, registers keys that are entered, accesses the browser's history, contacts», explain the Kaspersky experts Lab.

This week, Omar Abdulaziz has revealed about 400 whatsapps that he exchanged with Khashoggi. The young man, who now lives in Canada, received an SMS and punctured last June. "Guilt is killing me," Abdulaziz explained.

That innocent action allowed to install, according to complaint Abdulaziz, Pegasus and monitor all their conversations. Talks and exchanges of messages that include the 400 messages of WhatsApp in which they talked about the creation of a youth movement in social networks and the internet in order to destabilize and pass accounts to the Saudi monarchy.

Ready to catch everything

Pegasus is ready to capture everything in the mobile. Camera images, microphone sounds, incoming and outgoing calls and also encrypted Telegram and WhatsApp messages. «With regard to the capture of messages from messaging services, we must bear in mind that WhatsApp encrypts messages in point-to-point communications, not while they are in the sending device or once they have been received by the receiver», points out Josep Albors, head of awareness and research at ESET Spain.

Researchers at the University of Toronto discovered that their phone had been hacked with this spyware from the Israeli company. A process that involves "checking the running processes to be sure they are not infected," adds Albors.

According to the text of the lawsuit, the NSO group sold its technology to Saudi Arabia in 2017 for 55 million dollars. The Israeli company notes that the "demand does not show that the company's technology was used. Even more, it has details that are not based on reality. NSO is a technology company that is not involved in the use of our products once they are sold to our customers. "

NSO Group is eight years old and was founded with funds from veterans of the intelligence unit. Saudi Arabia is not your only client. The Government of Mexico is also one of its main recipients.

At the service of governments

An investigation by The New York Times uncovered the espionage campaign in the Central American country and President Enrique Peña Nieto acknowledged that his government had acquired this technology.

To spy on 10 iPhone users with Pegasus, the software maker charges about $ 650,000, in addition to the installation fee of $ 500,000. The malware will self-destruct if it is not able to communicate with its command and control server for more than 60 days or if it detects that it has been installed on the wrong device with the wrong SIM card.

However, "the best way to prevent this spyware from achieving its goal is to have the device updated with the latest version of the operating system and thus prevent it from using the exploits to get installed and take control of the device," says Albors .

The 4G exceeds the speed of the Wi-Fi connection worldwide

4G mobile networks continue to advance in connection speed and number of active users

Despite the limitation in consumption associated with an Internet connection of this type, the 4G mobile network is gaining followers for many other reasons. Based on the data shown by an OpenSignal study, 4G has emerged as the preferred Internet connection in many countries. The 4G at home already exceeds in many areas fiber optic and ADSL.

The peculiarity of this particular confrontation between the different Internet connections comes from the fact that in many countries the speed of mobile networks is clearly higher. To give an example, in Australia the download speed in the Wifi network is 21.6 Mpbs compared to 34.6 Mpbs in mobile networks, a considerable difference.

Smartphones and the constant use of electronic devices has been a reason for the enormous evolution of 4G networks. The Internet connection through mobile networks has increased exponentially in recent years and there is already talk that the future of mobile networks goes through 5G connectivity. This type of technology offers a Gigabit connection at the same level as fixed broadband.

The study reflects such interesting data that, of the eighty countries in which it has been carried out, more than 40% have a higher speed of navigation through mobile networks than through WiFi connections. This study has been carried out mainly through connections with smartphones. Therefore, to find an explanation for this figure, it is because in many cases the configuration of the Wi-Fi network may penalize the maximum transfer rate available.

In Spain, some companies have already begun to launch unlimited mobile data rates to take full advantage of this technology without restrictions. However, many households are firmly committed to contract ADSL or fiber optic connections to get the most out of their leisure preferences. In general, the use of pay-TV platforms implies an Internet connection, and both speed and stability Internet connections from home are still the priority option.

The woman who wants (and will try) to end cancer

Laura Soucek does not stop receiving awards for Peptomyc, a 'spinoff' that seeks a global cure against cancer. In a year begins the trials of the treatment he devised by "intuition" while still studying

Laura Soucek (Rome, 1973) is an Italian-trained biologist trained in the USA who has been working in Spain since 2011. Her entrepreneurial drive is almost as great as her goal: a global cure against non-toxic cancer. Science fiction? For her, no. The solidity of his project, materialized in his company Peptomyc , deserved the support of the European Institute for Innovation (EIT) and the public prize of the event held this year. Now, about to start clinical trials, faces the hour of truth terrified but with hope.

- Could you describe your research project?

- Since I was a Biology student, I decided to focus on cancer research. The reason is obvious: I do not know anyone who has not known this disease directly or through their loved ones and who does not dream of being able to end it. Science seemed to me the most effective tool to do it. When I was a student I read about a protein called Myc, which is found in all cells, but which is specifically necessary for cancer cells to survive and resist treatments. I thought about inhibiting it. They told me that I was crazy, that Myc could not be attacked, because it is a protein that is hidden in the nucleus of cells, a compartment that is very difficult to penetrate with drugs, and for fear of the side effects that inhibit it could have in the normal cells.

- She has both positions at the same time: principal investigator in VHIO and ICREA and general director of her company Peptomyc. As it does?

-The two things go together and complement each other. For me, the two races are part of the same objective and do not involve any conflict. Carrying both papers is a significant workload, but I am very excited.

-What has been the transition from the field of research to that of the company? Why did he make that leap?

-Deciding from being an entrepreneur was a big change compared to a scientific career. I had to learn business, market research, profits and losses, risks and intellectual property, all aspects very far from my career in Biology. It meant getting out of my comfort zone and exploring a new world. But, from the beginning, I understood that it was the best and most effective way to translate what I had been doing in the laboratory a long time ago into something tangible and practical for cancer patients. It is simply the logical consequence of my path as a researcher, not a deviation.

-What is your main personal motivation?

- My purpose has always been to offer patients with cancer a more effective and, above all, less toxic therapy. I met too many people who decided not to be cured for fear of the side effects of the treatments. That is unacceptable. We are in the 21st century and we must offer them something better.

Autobiography

I was born in Italy, in Velletri, a town on the outskirts of Rome. I graduated in biological sciences at La Sapienza University, where I got my PhD in Genetics and Molecular Biology. I went to the USA for my postdoc at UCSF (University California San Francisco) and there I stayed 10 years, first as a postdoc and then as an Assistant Researcher in the laboratory of Prof. Gerard Evan. In 2011 I entered the Vall d'Hebron Oncology Institute (VHIO) in Barcelona, where I led my own research laboratory. Since 2014 I have been a professor at the Catalan Institute of Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA) and since 2015 a professor associated with the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). In 2014, together with Marie-Eve Beaulieu, I founded the Peptomyc spin-off.

-What defines you as an innovator?

-Yes, I like to think big or, as they say in English, 'out of the box', out of the box. I am very curious and I like to learn. In general, there are few things that seem impossible to me, and most of them perhaps are impossible today, but they will be possible tomorrow or in the not too distant future. That is my attitude.

-In his videos he talks about finding, not the personalized cure against cancer, but a "global" solution. It is very ambitious.

-Myc has an essential role in all types of cancer, because that means that, if we can finally inhibit it, we can treat most, if not all types of cancer, regardless of where they are, what mutations they carry or the cause that originated them That said, it's true that it looks like science fiction, but also getting on a plane and flying from Europe to America were in the 19th century.

-How do you rate the support of the European Institute for Innovation (EIT), which has just awarded it for its work.

-The EIT has supported us since the beginning of our project, when we were still looking for the first investments. We participated successfully in their Business Plan Aggregator, Catapult and Headstart programs and, in addition to receiving financial aid, we had the opportunity to join a European network of companies, investors and experts from the sector, who have supported us with mentoring programs and personalized tips for each step of our development program.

-What other supports have you received?

-Marie-Eve Beauleiu and I founded Peptomyc with our personal savings (not many being scientific!) And the support of VHIO and ICREA . Since then we raised 2.2 million euros in public funds (from the Spanish government, the Generalitat de Catalunya and prestigious European programs such as Horizon 2020) and 5.2 million euros in private capital, thanks to Business Angels, Healthequity and our main investor Alta Life Sciences. We anticipate that we will need approximately 10 million more to complete phase I / II clinical trials before licensing the product to a pharmaceutical company that completes its commercialization.

- Will you see your research turned into real treatment?

-Our plan is to start clinical trials on patients in 2020 in at least two indications, lung and breast cancer. If all goes well, then we can expand the use of our peptides to more indications. This has been a long journey, which has led me to live in three different countries, to learn four languages and make personal and family sacrifices, but at last we have reached the moment of truth: we will soon know if, when I started all this as a student I had the right intuition. That terrifies me and excites me at the same time.

PlayStation Classic, back to childhood with nuances

The iconic Sony console in mini format, with a great design and with titles as recognizable as Metal Gear Solid or Final Fantasy VII, but with details to polish

Just thinking about the first PlayStation console to one shudders. An impulse that arises from the nostalgia of remembering an icon in the world of video games and that supposed a revolution in this industry. Sony Interactive Entertainment Spain (SIE Spain) launched on December 3 PlayStation Classic , a faithful reproduction of the original Sony console. However, despite having many good things, such as its design, is missing a broader catalog and adaptation to Spanish of some of the most iconic titles in the series.

It's been 24 years since the first PlayStation came on the market. And with Christmas around the corner, the Japanese multinational has decided to create a miniature replica 45% smaller than the original. In addition, with the idea that it becomes a unique collector's item, it has launched the 'Vuelve la peseta' campaign, with which it will offer an exclusive package for those interested who pay the total amount of the 'PS Classic' in pesetas ( specifically 16,630 pesetas, equivalent to 99,00 € ).

How is the PlayStation Classic?

It is clear to simple you saw that it is a true reflection of the original video game console. Its coquettish size and light weight make it ideal to be moved. A clear point in favor of the user as it will allow you in the blink of an eye to plug it anywhere and remember 'past times' with family or friends. As for the gameplay, the same sensations occur with their 'father'. Or his 'grandfather' rather.

For example, when you fight with a friend to a classic of the fight like 'Tekken 3' using each a command (there are two in the package), there is almost no difference with respect to what it felt like as a child doing exactly the same thing. Undoubtedly, one of the most important points when we created a video game console of this type: remember past times. The usual actions to save games, suspend when you want one of them and change virtual disk if one of the games requires it, also work with complete ease.

However, it is not all pink. It lacks a wider menu of video games -includes 20 titles- where we can not find such recognizable classics as 'Spyro The Dragon' or 'Crash Team Racing'. In addition, it is strange to play Metal Gear Solid - or the rest of the games in the package - and listen in English to the voice of 'Snake' without the narration of the Spanish Alfonso Vallés. Regardless of the fact that at the time they were released in our country subtitled and even dubbed into our language, that detail is missing. At the same time, it is somewhat uncomfortable - with the current television screens - to play a video game in a 4: 3 format where the black borders can not be disguised. In conclusion, PlayStation Classic comes to market with the memory and the gameplay of times gone by, but with some details to polish.

5G, beyond an ultra-fast connection

Connected cars, artificial intelligence and smart cities just around the corner

This year is coming to an end and the 5G is already on the launching ramp . A new concept that is just around the corner despite the fact that 3.67 million Spaniards live in an area where there is no 4G coverage.

Five years after their arrival, LTE or 4G technology is still not available in 8% of Spanish homes , so they can not be born online through their mobile devices. Technology expected in 2020 and whose first tests are being carried out in Segovia and Talavera.

These are Telefónica's test bank, but Vodafone and Orange have also done their experiments with Huawei and Ericsson , respectively. The 5G has offered, at least in the laboratory, speeds up to 100 times faster , than those currently available.

The construction and deployment of 5G throughout Europe is expected to require an investment of close to 56,000 million euros . According to the estimates of the European Commission, the benefits of introducing 5G technology in four productive sectors (Automotive, Health, Transport and Utilities) will progressively increase to reach 62,500 million euros annually in the European Union, in the year 2025.

If we also consider the economic impact of improving the efficiency of cities, homes and workplaces, the total annual benefits expected would amount to 113,000 million euros. This growth, moreover, would translate into 2.4 million jobs in the EU. "Spain is ready to lead the development of 5G in the European Union," said Francisco Polo, Secretary of State for Digital Advance in the presentation of the 5G National Observatory this November.

However, the arrival of this new concept goes beyond an ultra-fast connection. The broadband , despite being unknown for 8% of Spanish, will be deployed by the Iberian Peninsula and the connection will reach all objects : cars, speakers, televisions, kitchens, toothbrushes, homes, etc ...

«More than a mobile network»
The 5G is the perfect match for the now famous internet of things . That fifth generation will allow faster data connections and more information circulation than those currently known.

Its structure is based on three fundamental points: reducing the delay of communications, increasing the flow of information transfer and improving coverage. The auction of spectrum in the 1.5 GHz and 3.5 GHz bands will allow the development of this new type of connection and will be the red carpet for the definitive disembarkation of autonomous vehicles in smart cities .

"Systems like driverless cars and maintenance drones will increasingly depend on real-time telemetry to work. The 5G is more than the mobile network that provides connectivity; It is the connective tissue that unites all of them, which allows operators to extract vast data sets to obtain useful ideas that will be crucial to achieve sustainable urban growth, "explains Ericsson.

Precisely that connective tissue that unites everything also does so virtually. Low latency is the perfect broth to expand virtual reality. Precisely, the Swedish Ericsson in collaboration with NeuroDigital Technologies and doctors from King's College London, used an artificial patient to demonstrate how a surgeon can use a virtual reality glasses and a special glove to control a robotic arm that performs the operation in another place.

The glove has haptic feedback engines that activate when the artificial organ is touched, which gives the feeling that you are really touching it. Other tests have shown to drive remotely a vehicle of small dimensions located 50 kilometers away and under a latency of 30 milliseconds, a speed lower than they are able to capture the senses of a human being.

In the case of Spain, according to an estimate made by the Government, it is foreseen that with the appropriate investments, indirect annual benefits will be obtained in the four aforementioned productive sectors of 14,600 million euros, starting in 2025.

Experts ask to face facial recognition

The rapid expansion of the biometric security system has been carried out in the absence of regulation

Unlocking the phone with a smile, tagged in photos on social networks through artificial intelligence or that facial recognition has become the big brother of S.XXI are some of the uses that machine learning has at your disposal for control and monitor from a privileged position to society.

A powerful tool that has begun to take off in recent months and has not yet found its limits or maybe yes. A report from the AI Now Institute, a major research center in New York (United States) has asked the authorities to control and monitor the uses that is being given to facial recognition.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are continually receiving information to build a large network of data and patterns very quickly. Among the tasks they carry out are the identification of objects, or even individual faces, even in images and videos of low quality.

"The implementation of AI systems is expanding rapidly, without adequate governance, oversight or accountability regimes," AI Now Institute experts say in their report.

The text, directed in this case to the Administration of Donald Trump, the investigators ask the government of the United States to take into consideration the regular use of this technology to protect the rights of the citizens of the country.

The document suggests that the public should be warned when facial recognition systems are used to track them and that they should have the right to refuse the use of such technology.

In China, the government of Beijing has turned the country into a great chapter of Black Mirror. «Social Credit», this is the name of the initiative », although detractors have described it as massive espionage.

With this new regulation, China has established a new scoring system that allows sanctions to its citizens that would prevent them from using certain public services. The country has the network of cameras equipped with the largest facial recognition in the world.

Also according to the latest news from the country, in the next few months will introduce a biometric tracking system known as bio-ID. This system would rely on a network would rely on facial recognition systems and scanners for the palm of the hands.

The AI Institute Now report itself warns of this indiscriminate use. "The role of AI in generalized surveillance has expanded greatly in the United States, China and many other countries in the world," they say.

It is not a technology used without control only in China. The United States is also carrying out its experiments. Recently, Delta Airlines has launched a facial registration system at the Atlanta airport and, according to various US media, the CIA works on a similar system for the White House.

AI Institute Now researchers are calling for more regulation and transparency about the information gathered in these recognition systems. The American Civil Liberties Union (UCLA for its acronym in English) has warned of the problems of this type of security systems and ideological biases that move.

In an experiment, this association used the Amazon tool called Rekognition to compare the faces of US federal lawmakers with 25,000 publicly available police photos. "To perform our test, we used exactly the same facial recognition system that Amazon offers the public, that anyone could use to find matches between face images," UCLA said in its research.

The result was surprising. The Rekognition system found that 28 members of Congress incorrectly matched known criminals. Currently, several US police departments. UU They are using this recognition. "If the police are using Amazon Rekognition, it's not hard to imagine a police officer getting a" match "that indicates a person has a previous arrest for weapons, biasing before a search begins," says UCLA.

The AI Institute Now text suggests that the public should be warned when facial recognition systems are used to track them and that, in addition, they should have the right to reject the use of such technology.

Cellnex teams up with Bouygues to develop 5G networks in France

The total investment planned for the deployment of these centers reaches 250 million euros

Cellnex Telecom and Bouygues Telecom have reached an agreement that will reinforce and extend the collaboration they started in 2016 and 2017, by which they will build up to 88 strategic telecommunications centers in France in the next five years , which will be able to house data processing capacity.

The total investment planned for the deployment of these centers reaches 250 million euros , which will be obtained from the available cash and future cash flows of Cellnex France.

According to Cellnex explained to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), once completed the deployment of 88 centers, by 2024, will achieve an additional gross operating result (Ebitda) of about 19 million euros.

Cellnex will deploy up to 88 new strategic telecommunications centers - voice and data traffic hubs - known as "Central Offices" and "Metropolitan Offices", with the potential to house data processing capacity.

The French operator Bouygues Telecom will be the main customer of these new centers, for which both companies have signed a service provision agreement.

Distributed data processing capacity is one of the critical elements to reach the levels of performance in terms of data volume and latency associated with 5G.

"The agreement that we have reached today not only reinforces our position in the French market, but, thanks to the collaboration with a 'premium' client such as Bouygues, will allow us to develop key and decisive elements of the 5G ecosystem and the service that we offer our customers, as the data processing capacity distributed on the network, without which the potential of the 5G would not be a reality, "underlined the CEO of Cellnex Telecom, Tobias Martinez.

The agreement will be executed until 2024 with a planned investment of 250 million euros

This agreement reinforces the collaboration of Cellnex with Bouygues Telecom after the agreements reached in 2016 and 2017 that foresee, until 2022, the acquisition and a new deployment of more than 5,000 locations in France.

"This project is completely aligned with the corporate purpose of Cellnex and its international expansion strategy (...) It also fully complies with Cellnex's policy of return and creation of value", the company highlighted.