The Distillery #16: AWS & Microsoft Outages Raise Cloud Questions, as World Bank Eyes ASEAN Digital ID

October 2025

Telecoms & Connectivity

Juniper Research

Analyst House

First AWS, now Microsoft.

Last week, a DNS failure caused a major AWS outage in the US; triggering a cascade that took down services including Disney+, Fortnite, and Zoom. And yesterday, Microsoft’s Azure platform ran into the same problem; disrupting everything from Minecraft to London Heathrow Airport.

Here's some food for thought: Are enterprises overestimating cloud reliability? And is time to take mutli-cloud strategies seriously?

Also in this edition:

• The World Bank sets its sights on ASEAN; launching a major assessment of cross-border digital identity readiness.
• We’ve rolled out the Juniper Research Competitor Directory — here's how you can see your company’s place in the global tech landscape.
• The travel eSIM market just had a record year — but what’s this driving this growth?
• Our latest insights on business messaging, private networks, fraud prevention, quantum computing, and smart buildings. 

FINTECH & PAYMENTS

World Bank Targets ASEAN for Cross-border Digital Identity Push

The World Bank has issued a call for proposals to assess how ready the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is for cross-border digital identity systems — a move that could mark a major step toward regional interoperability.

The project aims to create a shared framework for digital identities across Southeast Asia; evaluating the region’s technical standards, trust frameworks, and existing capabilities.

Distilled…

🟣 ASEAN is well placed to test interoperable digital identity schemes. Several member states — including Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand — already run national programmes, and the ASEAN Digital Masterplan 2025 signals a strong commitment to becoming a fully digital economy and society.

🟣 Cross-border mobility, digital services, and payments already drive much of ASEAN’s economy, so digital authentication is already second nature for many citizens. Our latest figures show the region’s digital identity app base jumping 407% over the next five years; from 166 million in 2025 to 842 million by 2030. Interoperability could push that even further.

🟣 Success will hinge on coordination. Unlike the EU’s supranational model, ASEAN’s consensus-driven structure makes cooperation critical. Any regional framework — comparable to Europe’s eIDAS and EUDI initiatives — must reflect ASEAN’s infrastructural diversity and political realities. Still, its youthful population and mobile-first economies could make it one of the most promising regions for cross-border digital identity adoption.

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ANNOUNCEMENT

Introducing the Juniper Research Competitor Directory!

We’ve just rolled out our new Competitor Directory — a searchable database of 900+ technology vendors across the fintech, telecoms and IoT ecosystems. It’s the first time you can see every company featured in our reports, awards and leaderboards in one place; offering a clearer picture of the global technology landscape.

We have plans to add more features and expand the existing content, but in the meantime, we’re inviting you to take a look through the directory to see how your organisation appears — and where you stand among your peers. If you’re not yet listed, or something needs updating, get in touch with our team to make sure your profile reflects your position in the market.

VISIT THE DIRECTORY

TELECOMS & CONNECTIVITY

Travel eSIM Just Had a Record Year — Here’s What Comes Next

The summer holiday season might be over, but the travel eSIM market hasn’t cooled off. With more travellers keeping their phones connected abroad, revenue is set to jump 85% this year to $1.8 billion — up from $989 million in 2024.

To mark the launch of our new travel eSIM research, we’ve pulled out three insights, exclusively for readers of The Distillery, on where the market is heading — and what providers can do to ensure they don’t hit turbulence any time soon.

🟣 Mobile operators are steadily carving out a greater share of the market. Third-party providers still dominate — accounting for 92% of travel eSIM revenue today — but operators are striking back; launching their own services and integrating them into mobile plans and loyalty programmes to re-engage 'silent roamers' and reclaim revenue that once flowed elsewhere. By 2030, their share is set to reach 18%, or around $1.5 billion.

🟣 Partnerships are quickly becoming the backbone of the travel eSIM ecosystem. Our Partnerships Matrix shows that the providers making the biggest impact are those meeting travellers at the right moment — when they’re booking flights, checking in, or planning their stay. By working with airlines, online travel agencies, and hotel groups, they’re making connectivity part of the travel experience itself, rather than a post-arrival afterthought.

🟣 Growth markets such as Brazil, Mexico, South Africa and Thailand are emerging as key battlegrounds for travel eSIM adoption; fuelled by partnerships with airlines and neobanks bundling connectivity into their offerings. But expansion into these regions also brings greater regulatory scrutiny. Recent restrictions on travel eSIM providers in India and Turkey underscore the need to prioritise compliance, localisation, and data sovereignty as the market scales.

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ICYMI

The Last Drop

We can’t fit all our work from the last fortnight in one issue, so here’s a hand-picked selection of blogs, infographics, and insights that deserve your attention.

💬 OTT business messaging traffic is set to surge 45% globally by 2028, as enterprises double down on channels such as WhatsApp to cut through the noise of traditional SMS.

🏆 Fresh from Thales’ latest Future Digital Award win, we caught up with SVP Guillaume Lafaix to talk about how private networks are evolving.

🤖 AI agents are taking centre stage; promising customer experiences that feel more human than ever. We’ve unpacked the key takeaways from Amazon Connect Horizons 2025 — and what they reveal about where CX is headed next.

🧠 Fraud detection and prevention spending will climb to $21 billion by 2029; driven by the growing sophistication of online scams.

⚛️ Quantum tech is having a moment. Big breakthroughs and even bigger investments are driving industry buzz — but how much is hype?

🏙️ Smart building interoperability frameworks will underpin $241 billion in spend by 2028, as property developers, utilities, and tech vendors align around common standards.

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