Mobile & Wireless Roundup #100

Welcome to the 100th edition of this newsletter! I am delighted to see what started as a short-term project to keep me busy during ‘a break’ has now completed a century (in cricket terms). It’s been over two years and I am pleased to see nearly 8.5k subscribers. It’s also nice to see that my newsletters have inspired many others to start their own newsletters, either on LinkedIn or elsewhere.

During the year I met many people at various conferences, seminars and events who are avid readers of this newsletter. Now that we have reached this milestone, I would love to hear more from you on what you found useful and any feedback, even critical, on what else can be done.

I can’t guarantee that there will be another 100 editions but I will try my best to bring to you even more valuable content, fresh perspectives, and moments of inspiration. Here’s to many more milestones together ?? — thank you for being part of this journey!

Couple of months ago, I turned up to a conference after last minute registration. All the popular breakout sessions were full so I ended up in a skills session (I would have attended that anyway). It was a relaxed session with plenty of space to move around. Most attendees were people who had been in the industry for very long time.

I picked up some very valuable pointers, especially on the ways people were encouraged years ago to get them into STEM subjects and ended up as engineers. One of the funnier discussions was on how to sell Telecoms to younger people. In fact, everyone in the room struggled to define Telecoms!

Many people argued that Telecoms is the same as Connectivity and we should use that term if we are to attract younger people. I disagreed! We are in the process of making a video on this for our YouTube channel but in the meantime, I would love to know your ideas on how we can motivate young people to join our field.

For those of you who don’t know me, I am a technologist with over 25 years’ experience in mobile wireless technology, currently working as an independent advisor, analyst, consultant and a trainer. This newsletter is a summary of my posts and other news that caught my attention since the last newsletter.

? 6G

• Presentations and Videos from The 6G Series Workshop by Hexa-X-II (Feb 2024) (link)
• MWL: US, Sweden secure bilateral 6G partnership (link)
• RCR Wireless: Five 6G research organizations — green, equitable and agreeable (link)
• Free 6G Training: The Rise of 'giga MIMO' or 'gigantic MIMO' (gMIMO) (link)

? 5G

• 3GPP Release 19 Priority Topics in TSG SA and RAN (link)
• RCR Wireless: Is network slicing coming of age, finally? ‘You’re having a laugh, right?’ (link)
• Operator Watch Blog: Djibouti to Start Experimenting with 5G Soon (link)

? 4G/LTE

• Developing Telecoms: TRAI targets QoS with new 4G and 5G rules for India’s operators (link)

? 2G/3G

• HKT to terminate 2G services on 8 November 2024 reallocating spectrum resources for advanced mobile services (link)

? Open & Disaggregated Networks (including Open RAN, vRAN, etc.)

• Digital Catapult: Five innovators establish energy efficient Open RAN (link)
• Alok Tripathi on LinkedIn: An uphill battle ahead for OREX SAI, Inc.! (link)

? Spectrum

• Ofcom: Enabling mmWave spectrum for new uses (link, PDF)
• Luke Kehoe on LinkedIn: "The deployment profile of Ireland's mobile networks is converging as operators redistribute capital spending from greenfield site expansion to brownfield capacity enhancement in line with maturation of the 5G cycle and the phased sunset of 3G networks…" (link)
• RCR Wireless: India studies to reallocate some broadcasting spectrum for 5G (link)
• CmWave and Sub-THz: Key Radio Enablers and Complementary Spectrum for 6G (link)

? Private Networks

• Private Networks Technology Blog: China Unicom has Over 10 Thousand Private 5G Networks (link)

• Private Networks to Connect Industries and Transform them (link)

? Telecoms Infrastructure, Small Cells, Antennas & others

• Telecoms Infrastructure Blog: Upcoming “Line 15 South” Metro Line of the Grand Paris Express gets 4G/5G Mobile Infrastructure (link)

• The Guardian - What lies beneath: the growing threat to the hidden network of cables that power the internet (link)

? IoT / M2M / Smart Homes

• RCR Wireless: Deutsche Telekom boosts global IoT focus (link)

? Virtualization, Cloud & Edge

• Paul Rhodes on LinkedIn - Thursday School: Network Architecture of the Future 3! (link)

? Security & Privacy

• Developing Telecoms: AIS, Maxis and Singtel federate APIs via new regional API exchange (link)
• Nick vs Networking: Transport Keys & A4 / K4 Keys in EPC & 5GC Networks (link)

? Smartphones, Devices, Wearables & Gadgets

• Android Authority: It's not just the fans, Samsung's chairman is also mad at the Apple-inspired designs (link)

? AI, ML & Automation

• Core Analysis: The journey to automated and autonomous networks (link)
• Fierce Network: What happens to AI factories when AI moves to the edge? (link)

? Satellites, HAPS, Drones, UAVs & Space

• Ars Technica: China begins launching a megaconstellation, and it sounds a lot like Starlink (link)
• Swisscom Broadcast and Nokia build joint drone network across Switzerland (link)

? Public Safety Networks

• Computer Weekly: BT/EE win Emergency Services Network contract (link)

? Sustainability

• Tech Brew - This Paris Olympics pool has an unusual heat source: a data center (link)
• Sebastian Barros on LinkedIn - Data Centers: The Unseen Giants of Energy Consumption (link)

? Other News and Technology Stuff

• Telecom TV: Telcos lack long-term plans – report (link)
• Light Reading - Led by Ericsson, mobile traffic forecasts are looking suspect (link)
• Dean Bubley on LinkedIn: "NaaS (Network-as-a-service) is a connectivity model based on rapid, easy deployment and scaling of network resources, based on 3rd-party infrastructure and an OPEX-based pricing plan…" (link)
• Deutsche Telekom innovations for automated driving in port logistics (link)
• Paul Rhodes on LinkedIn: Back to the Future, Predictions from 1992! (link)
• Chatham House: Workplace AI in China (link)

? Picture of the week: A busy smart pole from Shimbashi Station in Tokyo, Japan courtesy of @denpa893 on X.

Happy to hear your thoughts. Feel free let me know what worked, what didn’t, how I can make this better, etc. Get in touch over LinkedIn!

PDF version of this and previous newsletters are available here.