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26 I Companies & Markets bne December 2019
“There are lots of micro-miners,” he said. “If you ask
a very simple question to the ministry like which sector is consuming [energy] Georgia doesn’t have this kind of analysis.”
“Actually, in reality we don’t know what’s going on or how many consumers are [mining Bitcoin],” Chapashvili added. The environmental pressure organisation is one of the groups that estimate that Bitcoin mining is using more than 10% of Georgia’s energy supplies.
“People were without power for almost a week because
of Bitcoin mining that caused protests. We held talks with miners in one of the villages and agreed that they would stop working. But this can repeat tomorrow and the day after tomorrow,” governor of Mestia town in Svaneti, Kakha Zhorzholiani, said.
Poland teams up with commercial telecoms to develop 5G network
bne IntelliNews
Polish state-owned telecom Exatel and the state’s Polish Development Fund have signed a memorandum
of understanding with commercial telcos Orange, T-Mobile, and Polkomtel with the aim of building a business model for Poland’s future 5G infrastructure company, Exatel said on October 28.
“Today we have shown that the policy of building our country's cyber-sovereignty is based on
the cooperation of state and private, domestic and foreign operators”
The memorandum is seen as the first major decision of the Law and Justice-led government after the election, which gave it another four years in power. Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has repeatedly pledged to support
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Georgia is a net electricity importer and experiences a deep seasonal power production deficit during the winter when
its hydroelectric production capacities cannot cover demand. Placing cryptomining facilities near power plants to capture peak consumption would seem an option – but strengthening interconnections with Turkey and other neighbours from which electricity surpluses can be exported during the summer seems a much better option. Furthermore, even if the country holds massive hydropower capacities not yet developed, their development poses significant environmental problems.
Talking to the BBC, Georgia's Economy Minister Natia Turnava highlighted the country's electricity export potential. “We have ambitious plans for submarine high-voltage electricity cables that could unite Georgia's Black Sea coast with Europe's Black Sea coast. This is an idea and a good way to become more integrated into the European energy system, "the minister said.
the development of the Polish economy with cutting-edge technology.
The future 5G company, #5GPolska, will build, own, and manage infrastructure for the development of the ultra-fast mobile and internet standard that is expected to provide
a tech basis for a new generation of mobile services.
Examples of 5G technology-enabled services include remote surgery or secure and reliable autonomous cars. That is thanks to download and upload speeds of up to 20 gigabits (Gb) per second and up to 10 Gb per second, respectively, and minimal latency – or delay in sending and receiving data – which could, in theory, be as low as a few milliseconds.
“Today we have shown that the policy of building our country's cyber-sovereignty is based on the cooperation of state and private, domestic and foreign operators,” said Nikodem Boncza Tomaszewski, CEO of Exatel.
Poland hopes to deliver its first commercial 5G network by 2022 at an estimated minimum cost of PLN20bn (€4.7bn).