Latest news with #JubyBabu
Japan Today
4 days ago
- Business
- Japan Today
Elon Musk's Starlink network suffers rare global outage
SpaceX logo and miniature satellite model are seen in this illustration taken, March 10, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo By Juby Babu, Raphael Satter and Joey Roulette (Reuters) -SpaceX's Starlink suffered one of its biggest international outages on Thursday when an internal software failure knocked tens of thousands of users offline, a rare disruption for Elon Musk's powerful satellite internet system. Users in the U.S. and Europe began experiencing the outage at around 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT), according to Downdetector, a crowdsourced outage tracker that said as many as 61,000 user reports to the site were made. Starlink, which has more than 6 million users across roughly 140 countries and territories, later acknowledged the outage on its X account and said "we are actively implementing a solution." Starlink service mostly resumed after 2.5 hours, Michael Nicolls, Starlink vice president of Starlink Engineering, wrote on X. "The outage was due to failure of key internal software services that operate the core network," Nicolls said, apologizing for the disruption and vowing to find its root cause. Musk had also apologized: "Sorry for the outage. SpaceX will remedy root cause to ensure it doesn't happen again," the SpaceX CEO wrote on X. The outage was a rare hiccup for SpaceX's most commercially sensitive business that had experts speculating whether the service, known for its resilience and rapid growth, was beset by a glitch, a botched software update or even a cyberattack. Doug Madory, an expert at the internet analysis firm Kentik, said the outage was global and that such a sweeping interruption was unusual. "This is likely the longest outage ever for Starlink, at least while it became a major service provider," Madory said. As Starlink gained more users, SpaceX has focused heavily in recent months on updating its network to accommodate demands for higher speed and bandwidth. The company in a partnership with T-Mobile is also expanding the constellation with larger, more powerful satellites to offer direct-to-cell text messaging services, a line of business in which mobile phone users can send emergency text messages through the network in rural areas. SpaceX has launched more than 8,000 Starlink satellites since 2020, building a uniquely distributed network in low-Earth orbit that has attracted intense demand from militaries, transportation industries and consumers in rural areas with poor access to traditional, fiber-based internet. "I'd speculate this is a bad software update, not entirely dissimilar to the CrowdStrike mess with Windows last year, or a cyberattack," said Gregory Falco, director of a space and cybersecurity laboratory at Cornell University. An update to CrowdStrike's widely used cybersecurity software led to worldwide flight cancellations and impacted industries around the globe in July last year. The outage disrupted internet services, affecting 8.5 million Microsoft Windows devices. It was unclear whether Thursday's outage affected SpaceX's other satellite-based services that rely on the Starlink network. Starshield, the company's military satellite business unit, has billions of dollars' worth of contracts with the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies. © (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2025.
Time of India
5 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
T-Mobile boosts subscriber forecast on demand for premium wireless plans
By Juby Babu T-Mobile raised its annual forecast for postpaid net customer additions on Wednesday and added more wireless subscribers than expected in the second quarter, signaling steady demand for the telecom giant's top-tier mobile services. Its shares shot up 5% in extended trading. The carrier now expects to add between 6.1 million and 6.4 million subscribers in 2025, compared with its prior projection of 5.5 million to 6 million additions. T-Mobile's postpaid Experience plans, launched in April, have resonated well with customers. These plans bundle streaming services such as Netflix and Apple TV+ and come with a five-year price guarantee. "About 60% of the new accounts that join us are taking the Experience More and Experience Beyond plan," Jon Freier, president of T-Mobile's Consumer Group, told Reuters. The plans also include the carrier's satellite service T-Satellite that was made available to its own users and those of rivals Verizon and AT&T earlier on Wednesday. The carrier's aggressive promotions and add-on perks have helped it maintain an edge over rivals and increase market share. T-Mobile added 830,000 postpaid phone customers in the second quarter, surpassing FactSet estimates of 700,300 additions. It also reached a deal to sell its entire portfolio of 800 megahertz licenses to private investment firm Grain Management for $2.9 billion in cash and all of Grain's 600 MHz spectrum licenses. The Bellevue, Washington-based company plans to close its $4.4 billion acquisition of regional wireless carrier United States Cellular on August 1, CEO Mike Sievert said on a post-earnings call, after the U.S. Federal Communications Commission approved it earlier in July. T-Mobile, the last among the big three U.S. telecom carriers to report results, posted second-quarter total revenue of $21.13 billion, beating analysts' estimates of $21.02 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. AT&T beat quarterly profit estimates on Wednesday and added more wireless subscribers than expected, while Verizon raised the lower end of its annual profit forecast on Monday.
The Star
5 days ago
- Business
- The Star
T-Mobile raises forecast for annual subscriber additions
FILE PHOTO: A T-Mobile logo is seen on the storefront door of a store in Manhattan, New York, U.S., April 30, 2018. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo (Reuters) -T-Mobile raised its annual forecast for postpaid net customer additions on Wednesday and added more wireless subscribers than expected in the second quarter, signaling steady demand for the telecom giant's top-tier mobile services. Shares of the Bellevue, Washington-based company rose 3.5% in extended trading. The carrier now expects to add between 6.1 million and 6.4 million subscribers in 2025, compared with its prior projection of 5.5 million to 6 million additions. Telecom operators in the U.S. have boosted their plans with attractive trade-in deals and price guarantees to fend off competition as they grapple for a shrinking pool of new users. T-Mobile's postpaid Experience plans, which bundle streaming services such as Netflix and Apple TV+, come with a five-year price guarantee for customers. Its aggressive promotions and add-on perks have helped the company maintain an edge over rivals and increase its market share. It added 830,000 postpaid phone customers in the second quarter, surpassing FactSet estimates of 700,300 additions. T-Mobile, the last among the big three U.S. telecom carriers to report results, posted second-quarter total revenue of $21.13 billion, beating analysts' estimates of $21.02 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. Rival AT&T beat quarterly profit estimates on Wednesday and added more wireless subscribers than expected, while Verizon raised the lower end of its annual profit forecast on Monday. (Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
Time of India
10-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Meta buys 3 per cent stake in Ray-Ban parent co; shares jump
By Elisa Anzolin and Juby Babu Shares in EssilorLuxottica , the maker of Ray-Ban glasses, jumped on Wednesday after reports that Meta Platforms had acquired a stake of nearly 3% in the Franco-Italian company. The shares, which are listed in Paris, rose 5.4% to 252 euros by 0925 GMT, the biggest gainer on the pan European STOXX 600 index. Facebook-parent Meta, which has a partnership with the company for the production of smartglasses, has acquired a nearly 3% stake in the eyewear maker, a source told Reuters on Tuesday. Bloomberg said that Meta had bought a stake worth around 3 billion euros ($3.5 billion) in EssilorLuxottica and is considering further investments that could build its holding to around 5% over time. EssilorLuxottica declined to comment, while Meta did not immediately respond when contacted by Reuters. "The investment should be read as a vote of confidence in EssilorLuxottica in the smart-glasses opportunity," said analysts at Bernstein. Last year both EssilorLuxottica and Meta confirmed they discussed a potential investment by Meta in the company, after the Wall Street Journal reported the U.S. group was in talks to buy a 5% stake. In September Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said it would have been a "symbolic" gesture to cement their long-term partnership. Sprucing up its wearable technology with artificial-intelligence capabilities could help Meta attract new users as it invests billions of dollars in bolstering its AI infrastructure. The social media giant announced earlier this year it teamed up with Oakley, another EssilorLuxottica brand, to release AI-powered smart glasses , expanding its push into wearable tech after the success of Ray-Ban Meta glasses, millions of which have been sold since their launch in 2023. The "Oakley Meta HSTN" will feature a hands-free high-resolution camera, open-ear speakers, water resistance and Meta AI capabilities. EssilorLuxottica planned to boost its production capacity for smart glasses and hopes to expand its collaboration with Meta to other brands, Chief Executive Francesco Milleri had said in February.
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Meta takes around 3% stake in Ray-Ban-parent EssilorLuxottica, source says
By Elisa Anzolin and Juby Babu (Reuters) -Meta Platforms has acquired a nearly 3% stake in eyewear maker EssilorLuxottica, a source told Reuters on Tuesday, amid growing consumer interest in AI-powered wearable devices. Sprucing up its wearable technology with artificial-intelligence capabilities could help Meta attract new users as it invests billions of dollars in bolstering its AI infrastructure. EssilorLuxottica declined to comment, while Meta did not immediately respond when contacted by Reuters. Meta bought a stake worth around 3 billion euros ($3.52 billion) in EssilorLuxottica at the current market price and is considering further investments that could build its share to around 5% over time, according to Bloomberg News, which reported the development earlier in the day. The social media giant teamed up with Oakley to release AI-powered smart glasses last month, expanding its push into wearable tech after the success of Ray-Ban Meta glasses, millions of which have been sold since their launch in 2023. The "Oakley Meta HSTN" will feature a hands-free high-resolution camera, open-ear speakers, water resistance and Meta AI capabilities. EssilorLuxottica planned to boost its production capacity for smart glasses and hopes to expand its collaboration with Meta to other brands, Chief Executive Francesco Milleri had said in February. ($1 = 0.8527 euros) Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
