TELECOM – THIS WEEK (2141)
1.????Spain issues $148 million fine on rail cartel involving Siemens, Nokia
Spain's competition watchdog has fined eight companies including Siemens, Nokia?and ACS?a combined 127.3 million euros ($148 million) for allegedly rigging public contracts relating to rail-signalling systems. Between 2002 and 2017 the companies acted as a cartel to illegally share out contracts valued at 4.1 billion euros awarded by national rail-infrastructure operator Adif, the CNMC watchdog said on Friday.
2.????Mavenir launches next-gen operations support system
Mavenir has announced its next-generation Operations Support System (ngOSS), expanding the MAVscale platform. The new solution integrates?artificial intelligence (AI),?analytics,?automation, and orchestration to enable intelligent?network?operations. With a microservices-based architecture, Mavenir's ngOSS deconstructs monolithic systems into smaller,?autonomous?components that provide insights, intelligence, and network control. The Service Order Management feature, integrated with Mavenir’s business support system (BSS) solution, automates all parts of network operations, including service design,?5G?slice management, and network service orchestration.
3.????Beris Consulting will be acquired by Tech Mahindra for approximately Rs 60 crore
According to a regulatory filing, Tech Mahindra will pay 7 million euros, or approximately Rs 60 crore, to acquire Beris Consulting Gmbh, a German IT consulting service provider. Beris employs over 125 people and has annual revenues of 10.1 million euros. Tech Mahindra intends to acquire an equity stake in IBM in order to capitalise on emerging trends in the automotive industry such as electric vehicles, sharing, and mobility. We recently announced six acquisitions in the cloud and digital space. Manish Vyas, President, Communications, Media & Entertainment Business, and CEO of Network Services at Tech Mahindra, told BusinessLine that the cloud business will grow by double digits.
4.????Huawei Telco Infrastructure Slides $1.48B as Ericsson, Nokia Gain $2.47B
Telco network infrastructure vendors booked a 5.1% year-over-year increase in revenue during the second quarter, reflecting a significant pullback from a 10% gain in the previous quarter, according to MTN Consulting. Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia, and ZTE maintained dominance in the market as the top providers of 5G infrastructure. MTN Consulting placed China Comservice in the No. 5 spot, followed by Cisco, Intel, Commscope, NEC, and Fiberhome rounding out the top 10.?Ericsson and Nokia reported the largest year-over-year jumps in?telecom?network infrastructure sales during the first half of 2021, up $1.46 billion and $1.01 billion respectively. Huawei meanwhile reported a $1.48 billion year-over-year decline in sales during the same period, according to MTN Consulting.?
Hyperscalers are also increasingly crashing the telco party, Walker explained, adding that AWS, Azure, and Google all experienced “dramatic growth” in telecom-related revenues during the last few quarters.?
5.????Telesat-Nelco to offer commercial satcom services by 2024
Canadian?Telesat?and Nelco, a?Tata group?company, are likely to kickstart commercial satellite communications or?satcom?services together by 2024 with a focus on offering affordable tariff to ring fence business-to-business (B2B) customers in a developing market that would also have the US-based?SpaceX?and UK-headquartered?OneWeb?stakes.
Last year, the two companies said that they collaborate on areas such as terrestrial facilities, commercial distribution and regulatory frameworks, and the Mumbai-based company, as a part of arrangement, would offer Telesat low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite services with a superior enterprise connectivity in India.
6.????Sky talks on partnering with Virgin Media O2 hit BT
British pay-TV company?Sky?is in talks about investing in?Virgin Media?O2's plan to extend its network to 80% of the country, including the possibility of spinning out the cable company's entire network into a joint venture, a source said. Virgin Media 02, jointly owned by?Liberty Global?and?Telefonica, following a deal completed on June 1, has announced a plan to upgrade its cable network serving 15.5 million premises to full fibre by 2028, stepping up its challenge to?BT.
BT has embarked on its own infrastructure programme, taking fibre to 25 million premises by the end of 2026, two years ahead of Virgin Media's network upgrade target. It expects Sky to remain a wholesale partner for its full fibre network build, a separate person familiar with the situation said on Monday. BT is also seeking a partner for some of its investment plans.
7.????Tata Communications, Cisco expand global strategic partnership
Tata Communications?and?Cisco?on Monday said they have extended their longstanding global strategic partnership with the integration of Cisco Meraki-based Wi-Fi solutions and SD-WAN services into the Tata Communications ecosystem. Cisco Meraki will enable Tata Communications to offer cloud-managed Wi-Fi services based on Wi-Fi 6 and Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) services across various industries.
8.????XL trials Huawei LTE backhaul in remote region
Indonesia-based XL Axiata completed tests of wireless broadband equipment from Huawei which uses LTE for backhaul, enabling the operator to overcome a common obstacle to expanding coverage in hard-to-reach locations. The trial of the vendor’s RuralStar Pro kit, carried out in Kalimantan on the island of Borneo, enabled LTE backhaul to be automatically connected to a base station. The distance between the relay station and the host location was about 31km, supporting a downlink transmission speed of up to 106Mb/s, the operator said in a statement.
9.????Ericsson, Nokia miss big China Mobile 5G tender
China Mobile awarded a network contract valued at CNY7.5 billion ($1.16 billion) to the country’s major equipment vendors Huawei and ZTE, with Ericsson and Nokia left out in the cold after recently winning slices of major deals with domestic operators. The final size of the converged 4G/5G core network contract wasn’t disclosed, but?C114.net?reported Huawei and ZTE submitted similar bids of CNY7.49 billion and CNY7.46 billion respectively (suggesting they may have been the only two vendors to bid).
10.?IP network automation may help telcos avoid 65% of operational costs: Nokia study
Telecom operators can expect up to a 65% cost avoidance by deploying?IP network automation?across three operations categories — service fulfilment, network lifecycle management, and network and service assurance processes, according to a joint study by Finnish telecoms equipment maker?Nokia?and research firm?Analysys Mason.
11.?Ooredoo Group selects Ericsson as Digital Transformation and Business Support Systems (BSS) transformation partner
The Ooredoo Group, a major multinational communications service provider with operations spanning the Middle East, Africa and Asia, has selected Ericsson as its next-generation digital transformation partner for Business Support Systems (BSS) solutions. The companies have signed a five-year group frame agreement spanning the deployment of the latest Ericsson BSS solutions across several Ooredoo Group operating companies. The deployment will give Ooredoo a new set of capabilities across its business operations in the customer, product, revenue and service management domains. The solutions will serve any type of customer or partner, network technology or chargeable event. Ericsson BSS solutions will help Ooredoo to drive innovation and boost customer satisfaction through shortened time-to-market, more flexibility and increased efficiency.
12.?AT&T Managed LAN Service Expands to Further Simplify Operating Environments Globally
AT&T is giving businesses even stronger network management capabilities with new SD-LAN and SD-Access features, providing an easier way to optimize data traffic. AT&T Managed LAN powered by Cisco enables more visibility, insights and analytics, and the ability to segment and apply a unified policy for both wired and wireless users. AT&T Managed LAN is a local area network (LAN) solution that extends management from an organization's Managed WAN Service to the LAN and wireless LAN (WLAN) equipment.?
With an end-to-end network management platform, AT&T Managed LAN provides?proactive, predictive monitoring and enables preventive maintenance?of Managed LAN-supported devices.?The platform empowers users with network?performance data to help?improve network operational efficiency.
As organizations continue to adapt to new ways of working and the demands of digitization, employees increasingly need network access from anywhere, anytime, no matter the type of device. With application use and the number of connected devices on the rise, maintaining security policies in-house is challenging and costly. Many organizations don't have the technical expertise to manage remote locations, limiting their ability to address operational risk and service performance issues quickly and effectively. Managed LAN helps organizations simplify their operating environment and increase networking efficiencies through highly secured network management.
领英推荐
13.?The ability of 5G to connect rural India showcased by Airtel and Ericsson
Ericsson and Bharti Airtel announced their collaboration for building intelligent and predictive network operations. Leveraging on its developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation, Ericsson will support Airtel to proactively address network complexity and boost user experience.
Combining deep domain expertise with advanced technologies like AI and automation, Ericsson managed services provides the performance, reliability, and flexibility to meet the dynamic needs of consumers and enterprises as well as intelligently monitoring and managing networks to drive operational efficiencies.
Ericsson and Airtel are industry leaders in the use of?AI and automation, driving the future of network operations. Having completed proof of concept trials, the companies are expanding their co-creation partnership to industrialize AI use cases.
14.?IHS Towers Signs Agreement with EDCI to Build and Lease Telecom Towers in Egypt
IHS Netherlands EGY B.V. and IHS Netherlands GCC B.V. (together “IHS Towers”) have signed a partnership agreement with Egypt Digital Company for Investment S.A.E. (the largest shareholder of Egypt Towers for Technology Services Company) to obtain a license from the National Telecom Regulatory Authority (“NTRA”) to erect and lease telecom towers in Egypt. On completion, a new company, IHS Telecom Towers Egypt S.A.E., will be formed.
15.?Google to Invest $1 Billion in Africa Over Five Years to Ensure Access to Fast, Cheaper Internet
Google plans to invest $1 billion in Africa over the next five years to ensure access to fast and cheaper internet and will back start-ups to support the continent's digital transformation, it said on Wednesday. Google said a programme pioneered last year in Kenya in partnership with?Safaricom?that allows customers to pay for 4G-enabled phones in instalments would be expanded across the continent with mobile operators such as?MTN,?Orange,?and?Vodacom.
16.?Ericsson sues Apple to clear proposed 5G patent licensing rates
Swedish telecom giant Ericsson Inc has sued Apple Inc in federal court in Texas seeking a declaration that the rates it offered Apple to license its 5G wireless patents are fair and reasonable. Ericsson accused Apple of using improper tactics to lower the royalty rates it must pay and refusing to license the patents under anything other than its proposed terms in the?lawsuit?filed Monday in Marshall, Texas.
17.?Nokia to deploy Digital Operations software for India’s Lightstorm
Finnish telecoms equipment maker?Nokia?said it has been selected by India’s carrier-neutral infrastructure platform,?Lightstorm, to deploy its Digital Operations software. Under the deal, Nokia will automate Lightstorm’s service fulfillment and service assurance processes, which will enable the latter company to make inroads in the Network-as-a-Service (Naas) market as a greenfield operator, and create new revenue streams. The Digital Operations software will enable Lightstorm to quickly quote, design, deploy and assure connectivity services with assured service level agreements (SLAs). The solution will also offer closed-loop automation.
18.?Telstra Purple unveils 5G-enabled edge compute offering
Telstra and Ericsson have set up one of the world's first 5G radio test beds in Melbourne, and staged a public demonstration of its capabilities, outside Telstra's Global Operations Centre. Telstra’s managed services business Telstra Purple has revealed a 5G-enabled edge compute offering for enterprise customers. Telstra demonstrated downstream speeds totally 20Gbps to two mobile devices using 800MHz of spectrum in the 15GHz band. The demonstration used 64-way MIMO and beam steering, which Telstra described as an important technology that directs a mobile signal straight to a device rather than sending it out in all directions or to a particular sector as it does today.
The telco said the offering would extend private connectivity and cloud services to the network edge to bring compute, storage, and marketplace services closer to customers. It added that Branch Offload would also serve as an automated, scalable, and secure platform for a variety of industries.
The demonstration is a key milestone in the extension of collaboration efforts between Telstra and Ericsson to ensure Australia is ready for 5G. While major deployment of 5G is not expected immediately, work around standards, testing, and spectrum is ongoing and Telstra, in partnership with Ericsson, is at the forefront of these developments.
19.?Ericsson announces new Cloud Native and Orchestration Center in North America
Ericsson is doubling down on cloud native with the new Cloud Native and Orchestration Center in North America. Cloud native is a modern approach to building and running software applications that takes advantage of the flexibility, scalability and resilience of cloud computing. Focusing on North America, where operators are at the forefront of the transformation to cloud native, Ericsson has launched the new Cloud Native and Orchestration Center. Bringing together more than 100 experts from across the U.S. and Canada, Ericsson’s new center will leverage this expertise to design, develop, implement and support the life cycle management of cloud native solutions for customers globally.
20.?Nokia launches off-the-shelf edge solution for enterprise
Nokia announced the launch of a cloud-native industrial edge solution for accelerating digitalization initiatives at the enterprise level. Described as “the industry’s first off-the-shelf, mission-critical Industrial Edge” to accelerate the journey to Industry 4.0, the new Nokia MX Industrial Edge is designed to meet the needs of?industries such as manufacturing, energy and transportation. It combines compute, storage, wired/wireless networking, one-click industrial applications and automated management onto a unified platform.?Enterprises that adopt the Nokia MX Industrial Edge solution will benefit from an on-premise cloud architecture that unifies edge requirements in an easy-to-use, deploy everywhere, as-a-service package.
21.?Ericsson and Singtel power up Singapore’s 5G enterprise ecosystem with global industry partners
Ericsson and Singtel have partnered to accelerate 5G adoption across multiple industries and leverage industry partnerships to develop and deploy advanced 5G solutions in Singapore. The partnership utilizes Ericsson’s networking expertise and Singtel’s 5G network, test facilities and capabilities and also involves collaboration with global industry partners across various industries such as oil and gas, maritime, pharmaceutical, aerospace, financial services, retail and construction.
The global partners are ABB, Axis Communications, Bosch, Bosch Rexroth, DHL Supply Chain, Hexagon, PTC and Rohde & Schwarz as well as Cradlepoint (part of Ericsson and provider of enterprise 5G wireless edge solutions). Singtel recently announced a ramp up of its 5G roll out across Singapore to accelerate the adoption of 5G by enterprises.
22.?China's energy crisis is hitting everything from iPhones to milk
In recent days, factories in 20 of China’s 31 provinces have suffered a loss of power, forcing many to shut down production, at least for hours at a time.?Millions of households?in the north-east of the country have also lost power and found that they cannot use electricity to heat or light their homes. Most analysts believe it could take several months for the Chinese authorities to get a grip and match energy production with rising demand.
The hit from China’s?energy crunch?is starting to ripple throughout the globe, hurting everyone from Toyota Motor Corp. to Australian sheep farmers and makers of cardboard boxes. Not only is the extreme?electricity shortage?in the world’s largest exporter set to hurt its own growth, the knock-on impact to supply chains could crimp a global economy struggling to emerge from the pandemic.