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Circles and e& international mark one-year success of JV & digital telco leadership

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SINGAPORE, Sept. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Circles, a global pioneer in telco digital transformation, and e& international, a leading telecommunications provider in the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan (MENAP) region, have completed the first successful year of the digital brand, Onic.

The digital telco brand has grown, setting a new benchmark for the industry by bringing simple, hassle-free access to high-speed data and digital lifestyle services to Pakistan.

Onic, which launched in Pakistan a year ago in partnership with Pak Telecom Mobile Ltd (PTML) ), has quickly emerged as one of the fastest-growing telco brands for digital natives in the country. It offers a 100 per cent digital payment experience with PIN less wallet journeys, auto-renewal options, and seamless digital payment processes. The strength of the partnership between Circles and e& international has not only accelerated Onic’s growth but has also reinforced e& international’s leadership in driving digital transformation across MENAP’s telco sector. Onic was named Best Mobile App and Digital Ambassador of the Year, garnering industry recognition for the joint venture’s Digital Mobile Operator (DMO) strategy.

“The joint venture with Circles has played a crucial role in achieving our strategic objectives,” said John McEvoy, CEO of e& international Digital Joint Venture. “Onic’s success reflects the synergy between e& international’s market leadership and Circles’ technological innovation. We are enthusiastic about continuing this journey and delivering even greater value to our customers in Pakistan and the region.”

“Onic’s rapid growth and market success within its first year is a testament to the strength of our partnership with e& international,” said Adeel Najam, Co-Founder of Circles. “We are proud to collaborate with e& international, a brand synonymous with innovation and excellence in the MENAP region. Together, we deliver an enhanced, best-in-class digital experience, achieving over 20 per cent subscriber conversion and expanding our market share. We are truly setting new standards for telco digital transformation and customer satisfaction.”

Since its launch, Onic has grown its digital subscriber base exponentially, positioning itself as the number one digital telco brand in Pakistan. This rapid uptake underscores the brand’s strong market fit and the effectiveness of the joint venture’s strategic approach.

With 20 per cent of its customer base adopting eSIM, Onic is well-positioned for a digital future in Pakistan, a country that is still on the path to digital maturity. In its first year, Onic has demonstrated how a digital telco can operate cost-efficiently while delivering high-quality services. This efficiency is further evidenced by the first-ever Pakistan marketplace launch with Daraz and Easypaisa, which act as distribution channels for SIM sales. Onic customers can reach customer service agents in under 10 seconds, reflecting the brand’s commitment to valuing customer voices and ensuring a seamless customer experience.

Powering Digital Lifestyles with an Enhanced Value Proposition

Onic has formed strategic partnerships with leading brands like Careem, Foodpanda, and Golootlo, providing customers with lifestyle benefits that offer value beyond telecom services. Its “Xplore” section, including an AI store and a gaming parlour, is designed to increase app engagement and offer customers interactive digital experiences.

Onic, which operates on Circles X, a cutting-edge technology platform that supports its digital telco model, continues to enhance its product roadmap with new features that will excite customers and further integrate into their lifestyles. Onic’s innovative approach has earned it industry awards while its marketing and branding efforts have gained international attention, including a feature on Times Square, further enhancing the brand’s visibility.

As the first project delivered by the Circles and e& international partnership, Onic’s success sets a new benchmark for excellence in the region. The partnership has proven to be a powerful combination of Circles’ cutting-edge technology and e& international’s market leadership, driving the future of digital telecommunications in MENAP together.

About Circles

Circles is a global technology company reimagining the telco industry with its SaaS platform. Partnering with operators in 15 countries across 6 continents, Circles delivers digital experiences to millions of people worldwide. Backed by global investors like Peak XV Partners, Warburg Pincus, EDBI, and Founders Fund, Circles continues to push the boundaries of digital transformation in the telecom industry.

About e& international

e& international is responsible for growing a vast network of modern, world-class digital telcos.

We operate in 16 countries and strive to be a leader in customer experience by providing our customers with the best connectivity, the most inclusive financial services, the richest entertainment and seamless business transformation.

With a growth mindset, we are accelerating the development of an exceptional customer experience, building leading digital capabilities and seizing opportunities to expand in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe through acquisitions and strategic partnerships.

To learn more about e& international, please visit: https://eand.com/en/international-telecoms.jsp.

 

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DeepL unveils industry-first Glossary Generator to solve business communication and brand consistency challenges

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Enhanced DeepL glossary functionality – including new glossary generator, expanded language support and more – will boost global business translations, saving time, effort, and costs

COLOGNE, Germany, Sept. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — DeepL, a leading global Language AI company, today announced several updates to its glossary feature, which is a powerful tool that enhances translation consistency and accuracy by enabling professionals and companies to personalize translations for specific terms. The tool now offers the industry’s first smart glossary generator, which helps simplify and speed up the process of creating glossaries for translations. Glossary is also available in several new languages and within DeepL’s browser extensions and integrations, fitting seamlessly into existing workflows to offer an even more accessible and smooth user experience across the web and applications like Google Workspace and Microsoft 365.

“AI-powered translations are essential for businesses looking to overcome language barriers in today’s increasingly connected world, and DeepL’s powerful glossary tool takes this a step further by ensuring translations are personalized to a company’s unique phrases and needs,” said Christopher Osborne, VP of Product, DeepL. “We’re always looking for ways to improve the DeepL experience and drive even more value and ROI for 100,000+ customers worldwide, and these new capabilities make our glossary even more efficient, accessible and user-friendly – empowering teams to achieve the customization and consistency they are looking for, while minimising time spent on costly alternatives like manual translations or find-and-replace tools.”

For global businesses aiming to drive revenue growth, investing in brand consistency across all communications and languages is essential to ensure that every message—whether technical terminology, product names, or branded terms—resonates clearly with teams, customers, and markets worldwide. Consistent branding has been proven to increase revenue by 20% or more[1] and enhance visibility by 3 to 4 times[2] – however, maintaining this consistency can be expensive and complex. DeepL’s glossary tool simplifies this process, helping businesses and professionals easily create and scale high-quality, consistent multilingual communications across teams. With glossary, companies can create and manage custom translation glossaries to ensure that specific words or phrases are translated consistently according to their unique terminology.

DeepL’s glossary now offers the following expanded capabilities:

The industry’s first smart, AI-powered glossary generator: DeepL’s new glossary generator is a first-of-its-kind tool enabling teams to create custom translation glossaries with a simple file upload. Previously translated files can be leveraged to generate entries for personalized DeepL glossaries, reducing the need for manual work and significantly enhancing efficiency, enabling teams to facilitate more consistent communication at scale.Expanded glossary language functionality: Glossary now supports Korean, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, and Romanian translations, bringing the total number of languages to 16. This allows for more precise and nuanced translations across a wider range of linguistic contexts, helping businesses reach a broader audience.More convenient access across DeepL platforms: Users are now able to access and apply the glossary directly within the DeepL browser extensions for Chrome and Edge, enabling consistent translations across the web, including Google Workspace applications. Furthermore, the glossary can now also be applied directly within DeepL for Microsoft 365 integrations, including Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint. Additionally, the glossary can be accessed through DeepL’s web browser, desktop apps, and API.

Unlike other find-and-replace tools, DeepL’s glossary excels with its advanced contextual understanding and ability to process complex grammatical elements—such as case, gender, and tense—to deliver nuanced, natural-sounding translations. This results in substantial productivity gains, largely due to the time saved in post-editing. Blind tests with language experts show that DeepL reduces post-editing time by 30% compared to Google Translate and 20% compared to Chat GPT-4. Furthermore, DeepL requires significantly fewer edits, with Google Translate and Chat GPT-4 needing two to three times as many feedback rounds.

Glossary with DeepL Pro also offers enhanced data security, including proprietary data centers, the highest level of certification and compliance standards (ISO 27001 certification, GDPR/SOC 2 type 2 compliance), data encryption, and a commitment to never using Pro customer data to train models.

DeepL’s glossary generator is now available to Pro Advanced and Ultimate subscribers with support for TMX/DOCX/PDF files. It is initially available for glossaries in German, Spanish, Japanese, Italian, French, and Russian (to and from English), with more languages coming soon.

Learn more about DeepL Pro and try out glossary yourself here.

About DeepL

DeepL is on a mission to break down language barriers for businesses everywhere. Over 100,000 businesses and governments and millions of individuals in 228 global markets trust DeepL’s Language AI platform for human-like translation and better writing. Designed with enterprise security in mind, companies around the world leverage DeepL’s AI solutions that are specifically tuned for language to transform business communications, expand markets, and improve productivity. Founded in 2017 by CEO Jaroslaw (Jarek) Kutylowski, DeepL today has over 900 passionate employees and is supported by world-renowned investors including Benchmark, IVP, and Index Ventures.

[1] Marq, “2021 Brand Consistency Report”
[2] Demand Metric x Lucid Press, “Impact of Brand Consistency” Report, 2016

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/deepl-unveils-industry-first-glossary-generator-to-solve-business-communication-and-brand-consistency-challenges-302254939.html

SOURCE DeepL

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Agoda: Chinese Travelers Post a 137% Increase in International Searches for Upcoming Golden Week

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SINGAPORE, Sept. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Digital travel platform Agoda has revealed a 137% year-over-year increase in international accommodation searches from China for the upcoming Golden Week. China’s second Golden Week of the year takes place from 1 to 7 October.

Agoda’s accommodation search data reveals a shift in Chinese travelers’ preferences for Golden Week. Last year, the top five outbound destinations were Tokyo, Seoul, Osaka, Kyoto, and Bangkok, respectively. This year, Seoul has emerged as the number one destination, leapfrogging Tokyo. Bali is a new entry in the top five and takes third place. Bangkok and Osaka continue to be among the most searched destinations and complete the ranking in fourth and fifth, respectively.

Taking place from 1 – 7 October this year, Golden Week is a prime travel period for Chinese families looking to take advantage of the week-long break. Golden Weeks are celebrated twice a year in China, around Lunar New Year and China’s National Day.

Top Outbound Destinations for Golden
Week 2024

(Based on Agoda’s accommodation search data)

      1. Seoul, South Korea

      2. Tokyo, Japan

      3. Bali, Indonesia

      4. Bangkok, Thailand

      5. Osaka, Japan

Andrew Smith, Senior Vice President, Supply at Agoda said, “The increase in outbound travel searches for China’s Golden Week suggests a growing confidence among Chinese citizens to explore international travel. It’s great to see destinations close to China’s east coast like Seoul and Osaka featured in the rank, as well as holiday favorites Bangkok and Bali further south.  With the unique advantage of its ‘Asia hotels’ network, Agoda is committed to helping Chinese customers to experience the rest of Asia for less with its great value deals.”

Agoda continues to support travelers by offering over 4.5 million holiday properties globally, more than 130,000 flight routes, and over 300,000 activities, all of which can be conveniently combined in the same booking. For more information on travel options during China’s Golden Week, visit agoda.com or download the Agoda app.

About Agoda

Agoda, a digital travel platform, helps anyone see the world for less with its great value deals on a global network of 4.5M hotels and holiday properties worldwide, plus flights, activities, and more. Agoda.com and the Agoda mobile app are available in 39 languages and supported by 24/7 customer support.

Headquartered in Singapore, Agoda is part of Booking Holdings (Nasdaq: BKNG) and employs more than 6,900 staff in 25 markets, dedicated to leveraging best-in-class technology to make travel even easier.

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AECOM supports the Highways Department in winning the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors Awards for innovative road safety technology

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HONG KONG, Sept. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — AECOM, the world’s trusted infrastructure consulting firm, today announced that a Road Defect Detection System (RDDS) technology it has developed in partnership with the Highways Department of HKSAR Government (HyD) has secured two prestigious awards from the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors (HKIS). This RDDS project, under part of the award-winning topic “Sustainability Strategy in Road and Tree Inspection by Advanced Geo-spatial Technology,” integrates advanced geographic information system (GIS) and artificial intelligence technologies to automatically detect road defects. The new technology aims to streamline the road inspection process, improving maintenance efficiency, effectively allocating resources and helping ensure public safety.

“AECOM is dedicated to delivering innovative solutions that meet our clients’ specific needs and address their complex challenges. From deploying the world’s largest tunnel boring machine for the Tuen Mun-Chek Lap Kok Link project to integrating GeoAI in our Road Defect Detection System, we harness emerging technologies to support the Highways Department in delivering landmark projects that span tunnels, bridges, highways, and now digital solutions,” said Ian Chung, chief executive of AECOM’s Asia region.

The jointly developed RDDS technology responds to the pressing need to effectively survey Hong Kong’s vast and complex road network. To provide a superior alternative to traditional inspection methods, the AECOM and HyD teams developed an approach that automatically detects defects from road images captured by a vehicle-based camera system.

Integrating the two organizations’ geospatial expertise, the technology uses AI to identify cracks and discolored road markings from road images, which can then be viewed on a web application platform that integrates data such as quantity, location, and severity for engineers to review and assess. The multi-step system simplifies the inspection process and allows for more efficient resource allocation — bringing greater efficiency to HyD’s road maintenance work and supporting a safer road network.

The HKIS honored the technology with the Innovative Surveying Award, which commends industry participants for outstanding project quality in innovative surveying technology, and the Post-occupation Category Grand Award, which recognizes the surveyors’ efforts in enhancing work efficiency and precision through innovative technology at post-occupation stage.

The HKIS Awards aim to recognize the outstanding achievements of Hong Kong surveyors. The awards align with the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations, affirming surveyors’ exceptional accomplishments in sustainable development projects and their contributions to improving environmental outcomes and promoting a sustainable future for Hong Kong.

For more details about the project, please visit here.

 

 

About AECOM 

AECOM is the world’s trusted infrastructure consulting firm, delivering professional services throughout the project lifecycle – from advisory, planning, design and engineering to program and construction management. On projects spanning transportation, buildings, water, new energy and the environment, our public- and private-sector clients trust us to solve their most complex challenges. Our teams are driven by a common purpose to deliver a better world through our unrivaled technical and digital expertise, a culture of equity, diversity and inclusion, and a commitment to environmental, social and governance priorities. AECOM is a Fortune 500 firm and its Professional Services business had revenue of US$14.4 billion in fiscal year 2023. See how we are delivering sustainable legacies for generations to come at www.aecom.com/hk/.

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SOURCE AECOM

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