Mobile & Wireless Roundup No. 109

Welcome to the 109th edition of this newsletter. You may have heard the quote, “I’m at that stage in my life where I keep myself out of unnecessary arguments, so, even if you tell me 1+1=5, you’re absolutely correct, enjoy”. This is often attributed to Keanu Reeves, but the true author remains unknown .

As my LinkedIn network has expanded, so has the volume of discussions appearing in my feed. I genuinely value these conversations and try to read many of them. However, with the demands of reading, writing, and creating content, it’s challenging to find the time to comment as often as I’d like. There’s simply not enough bandwidth to participate in every intriguing discussion.

On a related note, a topic that’s come up in recent conversations is effective speaking. In two separate discussions, people shared that despite their expertise, they feel they struggle to keep their audience engaged and even put them to sleep. A long time ago I used to be quite reserved because I wasn’t good at speaking and then I discovered Toastmasters !

“Toastmasters International is a nonprofit educational organization that builds confidence and teaches public speaking skills through a worldwide network of clubs that meet online and in person. In a supportive community or corporate environment, members prepare and deliver speeches, respond to impromptu questions, and give and receive constructive feedback. It is through this regular practice that members are empowered to meet personal and professional communication goals”. My experience with Toastmasters was transformative, and I still rely on the invaluable advice I received there.

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

• Free 6G Training: Presentations from Hexa-X-II 6G workshop at VTC-Fall (link )
• Light Reading: 6G experts find that the map for a new 'G' is still downloading (link )
• Dell’Oro Group: 6G RAN to Approach $30 B by 2033 (PR )
• Light Reading: An early look at what 6G might look like in the US (link )
• Dean Bubley on LinkedIn: The 6G vision needs a Reset (link )

? 5G

• Operator Watch Blog: 5G is Growing Slowly in Croatia (link )
• Mavenir 5G Core Powers ice Norway Network Slicing for Norwegian Armed Forces (PR )
• Wireless Brew: Measurement Report Event A2 in 5G NR (link )
• '5G-Advanced Standardization Trends' from NTT Docomo Technical Journal, Oct. 2024 (link )

? 2G/3G

• Hrvatski Telekom in Croatia has already started shutting down their 3G network with the final switch-off at the end of Jan. 2025 (link )

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

• Light Reading: Deutsche Telekom's 'open RAN' plan slips after Huawei reprieve (link )
• MWL: US DoD places bets on open RAN-based architecture (link )
• KDDI Selects Samsung To Deploy Open RAN Powered by Virtualized RAN in Japan (PR )
• ODIN: KDDI to expand Open RAN deployments with Samsung (link )
• Keith Dyer on LinkedIn: "Looking ahead to tomorrow on day two of Deutsche Telekom capital markets day(s) - the slides are already public, helpfully. And I love the "who, us?" tone of this comment on Open RAN. "And yet, the industry evolved more slowly than expected."…" (link )
• e& UAE and Nokia Publish White Paper on Cloud RAN (link ) – Alok Tripathi’s take on LinkedIn here .

? Private Networks

• Light Reading: Amarisoft powered Orange 5G at Olympics in best open RAN example yet (link )
• Nokia and NTT DATA expand global Private 5G partnership with new deployment in Brownsville, Texas (PR )
• Light Reading: 5G private networks growing at 20%, says study (link )
• Ericsson Private 5G pilot takes off at Schiphol Airport, the world’s third busiest airport by international passenger numbers, to investigate use cases of a cutting-edge private 5G network. (PR )
• T?Mobile Announces ‘5G On Demand’: A Portable 5G Private Network Solution (PR )
• Private Networks Technology Blog: Private Networks Growth in APAC (link )

? Telecoms Infrastructure, Small Cells, Antennas & others

• Connectivity Technology Blog: Presentations and Videos from ATIS WSTS 2024 Tutorial Session (link )
• Vodafone Germany: These are Germany's craziest 5G stations (link )
• TelecomTV: This is why vendors are hurting (link )
• Paul Rhodes on LinkedIn - Thursday School: Wonderful Wetherby! (link )

? IoT / M2M / Smart Homes

• CETIN, O2 Czech Republic and Ericsson reach milestone for scaling RedCap-enabled 5G use case with commercial devices (PR )

? Virtualization, Cloud & Edge

• TelecomTV: Containerised applications and CNF workloads (video )
• Paul Rhodes on LinkedIn - Monday Musings: Can you See the CRAN? (link )

? Security & Privacy

• RCR Wireless: Verizon, AT&T, Lumen among telcos hacked by Chinese group: Reports (link )
• Alok Tripathi on LinkedIn: A potentially catastrophic security breach... (link )
• Lory Piccirilli Thorpe on LinkedIn: "The 5th Post Quantum Network Seminar took place this week, a key theme was to discuss what's next, following the announcement of the first standardised NIST PQC algorithms in August…" (link )

? AI, ML & Automation

• Ruth Brown on LinkedIn: "??Confronting network energy costs. Operators must deploy new hardware and automate to lessen the impact of network energy costs…" (link )
• Light Reading: Artificial intelligence to eat jobs at Deutsche Telekom (link )
• Singtel launches RE:AI, an AI Cloud Service offering to democratise AI for enterprises to drive innovation and growth in the region (PR ) – Light Reading’s take on this here .
• Paul Rhodes on LinkedIn - Wednesday Wonders: AI Aerial Antennas? (link )

? Satellites, HAPS, Drones, UAVs & Space

• Video of a lecture by Prof Andy Sutton on 'New Space: The future of satellite communications' at IET Anglian Coastal Local Network (link )

? Wi-Fi

• Dean Bubley on LinkedIn: "A key topic at the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) #WGCEMEA summit has been evolution of #OpenRoaming (OR), as well as #WiFi #PassPoint…" (link )

? Metaverse & Extended Reality (XR)

• The Register: Microsoft throws in the towel on HoloLens 2 (link )

? Public Safety Networks

• MWL: T-Mobile US employs test sat service in hurricane response (link )

? Sustainability

• Total Telecom: Brits urged to go ‘urban mining’ for copper in ‘drawers of doom’ (link )

? Other News and Technology Stuff

• Developing Telecoms: Orange Burkina Faso says 15% of sites too dangerous to access (link )
• ETSI video series on "What is Standardization, and how does it work?" (link )
• Deutsche Telekom: Capital Markets Day 2024 (link ) – Analyst James Crawshaw’s take on LinkedIn here .

? Picture of the week: The European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) Operations team regularly shares updates on X (f.k.a. Twitter). Just before the recent Hera mission , ESA shared some pictures of their ground stations in an X thread that will be used to communicate with satellites anywhere in the solar system. Here is a collage of some of them.

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 .