Science and technology

Several new European and American rockets are set for blast off in 2024, at a time the aerospace industry faces a shortage of launch vehicles fueled by the rise of satellite constellations. Here are the maiden flights space watchers can look forward to next year. Countdown for Ariane 6 The Ariane 6 rocket, which carries Europe’s hopes for space autonomy from the United States and Russia, is set to make its inaugural voyage between June 15 and July 31, after four years of delays due to the pandemic and other difficulties. The project was launched in 2014 in response to the rise of SpaceX’s Falcon 9. Building on Ariane 5, Ariane 6 should be half as expensive as its predecessor thanks to new production methods. With a planned 28 launches even before its first flight, the rocket, available in two versions, will carry payloads to both geostationary orbit (11.5 metric tons) and low Earth orbit (21.6 metric tons), using reignitable upper-stage engines. Once launched, the challenge for ...

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has signed a Share Purchase Agreement (SPA) with the shareholders of Telenor Pakistan to buy 100% of TPL’s shares, based on an enterprise value of Rs108 billion. According to PTCL’s filing on the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Thursday, the deal will be done on a cash-free, debt-free basis and PTCL will fund the acquisition through external debt that it will raise. Telenor Pakistan is a leading mobile operator serving 45 million subscribers with reported revenue of Rs112 billion and EBITDA margin of 43% based on the last twelve months (LTM) September 2023 financial reporting. The transaction will enable in-market consolidation in the telecom sector, which will improve the long-term outlook of the industry. PTCL’s major assets include Ufone, a mobile operator in Pakistan with over 20 million customers. Telenor Group said in a press release that the sale is part of its strategy to build scale and market-leading players in Asi...

Google’s stunning defeat in a legal battle with “Fortnite” maker Epic Games may clear the way for rival app stores on its Android mobile system but a lengthy appeals process will likely prevent any changes for years, according to analysts and legal experts. A jury in California found on Monday that the Alphabet-owned company’s Play app store operated as an illegal monopoly, quashing competition and charging app developers unduly high fees of up to 30%. Epic Games will now have a chance to submit a court filing on how it wants Google’s Play Store to be fixed — potentially putting at risk what Wells Fargo estimates is $10 billion in annual revenue from app sales and in-app purchases for the tech giant. “This is a big win for Epic,” said Pinar Akman, professor of competition law at the University of Leeds. “The usual remedy in such case … would mean Google may be required to allow developers to use payment systems other than Google’s. If such a remedy is adopted, then that will have ...

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Wednesday unveiled its Cyber Security strategy for Pakistan’s telecom sector, a comprehensive and ambitious plan set to span from 2023 to 2028. This strategy is a significant step in the implementation of the National Cyber Security Policy – 2021 and marks a monumental stride towards bolstering digital security in the country’s rapidly evolving telecom sector. According to PTA, the strategy is built on six foundational pillars, each targeting a specific aspect of cyber security, such as legal framework, cyber resilience, proactive monitoring and incident response, capacity building, cooperation and collaboration, and public awareness. Press Release: PTA has issued its #CyberSecurity Strategy for Pakistan’s #Telecom Sector, a comprehensive and ambitious plan set to span from 2023 to 2028. pic.twitter.com/wL2eH7eV2W — PTA (@PTAofficialpk) December 12, 2023 The strategy emphasizes a multi-stakeholder approach, foster...

“Fortnite” maker Epic Games has prevailed in its high-profile antitrust trial over Google, which alleged the Play app store operated as an illegal monopoly, in a ruling that if it holds could upend the entire app store economy. Jurors found for Epic on all counts, a court filing showed, after more than a month of trial in Epic’s lawsuit, which accused Google of taking action to quash competitors and charge unduly high fees of up to 30% to app developers. The court in January will begin work on what remedies to implement. The ruling marks a stunning defeat for Google, which alongside Apple operates one of the world’s largest app stores. If the ruling holds, it has the potential to give developers more sway over how their apps are distributed and how they profit off them. Google said it would appeal. “We will continue to defend the Android business model and remain deeply committed to our users, partners, and the broader Android ecosystem,” Wilson White, vice president of government ...

A WhatsApp-like messaging application, Google Messages, is soon expected to be getting an ‘Edit’ message feature for its users. The Android news website, TheSPAndroid, spotted a code in a beta version of the application which suggested that the app may soon let users edit sent messages. It looks like the tech giant recently added four new flags to the app labelled ‘bugle.enable_edit_ui’, ‘bugle.load_edit_history’, ‘bugle.process_outgoing_edits’ and ‘bugle.process_incoming_edits’, but they seem to be placeholders since enabling them at the moment reportedly doesn’t do anything. The Google Messsages application has previously added some features like end-to-end encryption in the past, however, the edit feature is not a surprise for its users. Moreover, it is still unclear if messages sent using Google Messages will have a time limit, as is the case with both iMessage and WhatsApp, which let you edit messages two minutes and fifteen minutes after you hit the send button. It is pert...

JAKARTA: TikTok will take a controlling stake in an e-commerce unit of Indonesia’s biggest tech firm, PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia (GOTO.JK), a partnership that will see the video app invest $1.5 billion over long term, the companies said on Monday. The deal comes after Indonesia in October banned online shopping on social media platforms to protect smaller merchants and users’ data, forcing TikTok to close its e-commerce service TikTok Shop. Under the deal, TikTok will buy 75.01% of GoTo’s PT Tokopedia, Indonesia’s biggest e-commerce platform, for $840 million and inject TikTok Shop’s Indonesia business into the enlarged Tokopedia entity. “The strategic partnership will commence with a pilot period carried out in close consultation with and supervision by the relevant regulators,” the two firms said in a joint statement. Many of Indonesia’s more than 270 million people are active social media users. TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, has 124 million users in the country and has been...