TELECOM – THIS WEEK (2147)
1.????Kyndryl spreads its wings post-IBM with Microsoft cloud deal
Kyndryl inked a strategic partnership deal with Microsoft, planning to target enterprise customers with new co-developed cloud solutions. The move is?one of?Kyndryl’s first since it completed its separation from IBM earlier this month to become a standalone managed infrastructure services company.
2.????BT’s Chief Architect sceptical about Open RAN’s cost-saving potential
Open RAN will be part of BT’s future network rollouts but the benefits it brings will be functional and operational rather than directly financial via lower capex, the UK national operator’s Chief Architect Neil McRae told industry media and analysts during a briefing in London.?Keen to overturn the perception that BT is anti-Open RAN, McRae noted the telco has been exploring the potential of open mobile network architectures and elements for some time at its R&D facilities and is ramping up its Open RAN activities, with plans to set up a dedicated lab at some point in the near future. But he also made it clear that there’s a long way to go before Open RAN becomes any part of BT’s production network and that he is sceptical about some of the potential claims being made for the architecture, especially those related to costs.?
3.????Nowhere to hide for single-market European telcos
Deutsche Telekom ups dividend on strong domestic performance. Orange and Telefónica?offset domestic issues with overseas growth. But BT and TIM struggle to spin Q3 numbers.
4.????Telenor taps Google Cloud’s AI and analytics expertise to target a bigger slice of the digital transformation market
Telenor wants to play harder and faster in the burgeoning digital transformation market, and to that end it has struck a wide-ranging strategic partnership with Google Cloud partnership that appears to tick a lot of boxes for Telenor: Not only does it give Telenor access to Google's global data centre footprint and expertise in analytics, machine learning and AI, it also comes with a commitment to co-develop and sell new products and services. The two companies will also look at using Google Cloud to add new bells and whistles to Telenor's IT and networks. They include the potential development of new virtual network functions and edge computing, with a focus on IoT and 5G services. The partnership covers Telenor's consumer and enterprise operations; however, there is a clear emphasis on the latter customer segment.
5.????American Tower gains an edge with $10B CoreSite purchase
American Tower is ramping up its edge ambitions with plans to buy CoreSite for $10.1 billion. Boards of directors of both companies have approved the agreement, in which American Tower will pay $170 per share in cash and assume or repay CoreSite’s existing debt. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2021. CoreSite’s portfolio consists of 25 data centers, 21 cloud on-ramps and over 32,000 interconnections in eight major U.S. markets.
6.????Lumen finds a third of the largest DDoS attacks in Q3 targeted telecoms
A new cybersecurity report from Lumen Technologies?identified the telecommunications industry as the leading target for distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks in Q3 2021 and warned such threats are becoming increasingly complex. The telecommunications industry faced 956 incidents in Q3, including both the largest bandwidth attack (612 Gbps) and the largest packet-based attack (252 Mpps) overall across all the segments Lumen tracked. There’s been an uptick in attacks on voice-over-IP services using a combination of different methods. The two most common are reflection and application specific attacks.
7.????Nokia, Bell Canada stake claim with first 25G trial in North America
Nokia and Bell Canada teamed up to test next generation fiber technology in the operator’s Advanced Technical Lab in Montreal, marking the first trial of 25G PON in North America.
8.????Verizon’s acquisition of TracFone wins CPUC approval
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on Thursday voted to approve Verizon’s acquisition of TracFone with conditions. The deal, valued at nearly $7 billion, still must be approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), but the CPUC’s approval marks one of the last big hurdles for the transaction.
9.????Deutsche Telekom CEO goes fishing (again) for towers deal
The closing weeks of 2021 appears to have some of Europe’s major telcos assessing their asset options, with?Deutsche Telekom in the thick of the action following unambiguous comments from CEO Timotheus?Hoettges that the German giant is open to discussing a mobile towers merger with a peer.
10.?Ericsson makes its Open RAN debut with automation platform ft. RIC
Ericsson, one of the companies set to be impacted the most if disaggregated mobile networks become globally popular, has made its first foray into the Open RAN sector with the launch of its Intelligent Automation Platform, a network management product that cleverly targets what is likely to be the prime need of the vast majority of mobile network operators – a single software stack that can introduce automated management processes into existing ‘traditional’ networks as well as Open RAN-based deployments.?The Intelligent Automation Platform handles the orchestration of services and resources against demand. It provides the intelligence to manage conflicting demands and limited resources – it’s the brains of the operation. The SMO can take in multiple external data sources, such as location data, or weather data to create AI/ML driven models.
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11.?Colt, Icade, ADVA, Airspan Networks, Athonet, Accedian and Tibco join forces to deploy enterprise private 5G pilot in France
Colt Technology Services, Icade, ADVA, Airspan Networks, Athonet, Accedian and Tibco today announced the launch of a private 5G enterprise connectivity pilot. The incubation project is one of the first to test end-to-end private 5G in real estate using disaggregated architecture. The consortium will provide private 5G networks to the PB5 La Défense building in Paris, enabling the exploration of varied use cases for the co-working space environment managed by Imagin’Office, an Icade subsidiary. This field lab ecosystem will test 5G use cases, including creating immersive experiences for the future workplace for a variety of industries.
12.?Ericsson partners on 5G Core with SK Telecom to facilitate new mobile services
Ericsson is partnering with Korean communications service provider, SK Telecom, to support 5G Standalone networks through the deployment of cloud-native dual-mode 5G Core on its Cloud Native Infrastructure (CNIS). With the rapid uptake of 5G subscriptions, communications service providers increasingly require cloud-native applications design, faster time to market and more efficient use of cloud infrastructure.
13.?Samsung to test 6G communication technology this week in US
Samsung Electronics Co. is preparing for 6G frequency testing on its new telecom equipment in the U.S. this week when its head Jay Y. Lee starts his North American trip to finalize a mega-billion foundry project and discuss cooperation with Moderna. According to the industry sources on Monday, Samsung Research America (SRA) filed for permission to use radio waves for 6G testing with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last Thursday and the authorities immediately approved it.
14.?L&T Technology Services to support Mavenir and NVIDIA for adoption of AI-on-5G
L&T Technology Services announced that it has been selected as an engineering partner by Mavenir and NVIDIA, to accelerate adoption of the industry's first converged AI-on-5G. LTTS will support Mavenir with customization, integration and deployment of AI applications for deployment on NVIDIA's AI-on-5G Platform AI is already transforming many industries across the globe. When combined with the power of 5G networks, the two technologies will enable powerful new use cases in a quick, secure, and cost-effective manner.
15.?Nokia announces new SaaS offerings for CSPs
Nokia Data Marketplace (NDM), Nokia's SaaS offering launched earlier this year, is now commercially available through a SaaS framework, enabling CSPs to securely share and access?data. What’s more, NDM's new SaaS version offers enhanced productivity, efficiency, and scalability to a variety of industry verticals, including energy, transportation, and smart cities. Additionally, Nokia’s NetGuard Cybersecurity Dome, slated to be released in 2022, will enable CSPs to monetize?5G?security services. Nokia Anomaly Detection, a?machine learning?service focused on detecting and remediating network anomalies, will also be offered through a SaaS model by early 2022.?
16.?Secretive Chinese committee draws up list to replace U.S. tech
China is accelerating plans to replace American and foreign technology, quietly empowering a secretive government-backed organization to vet and approve local suppliers in sensitive areas from cloud to semiconductors, people familiar with the matter said.
Formed in 2016 to advise the government, the Information Technology Application Innovation Working Committee has now been entrusted by Beijing to help set industry standards and train personnel to operate trusted software. The quasi-government body will devise and execute the so-called “IT Application Innovation” plan, better known as Xinchuang in Chinese. It will choose from a basket of suppliers vetted under the plan to provide technology for sensitive sectors from banking to data centers storing government data, a market that could be worth $125 billion by 2025.
17.?Ericsson: Actually, open RAN is more expensive
Ericsson, one of the world's largest 5G networking vendors, claims open RAN equipment is ultimately more expensive than traditional, classic RAN equipment. "The reality is that the performance of open RAN does not compare to integrated RAN," the company?told the FCC. "Even if the cost saving estimates were true on a per-unit cost basis, the two pieces of equipment are not delivering the same level of performance. Ericsson's own estimates have indicated that open RAN is more expensive than integrated RAN given the need for more equipment to accomplish what purpose-built solutions can deliver and increased systems integration costs."
18.?Etisalat to acquire elGrocer to strengthen its digital services portfolio
Etisalat Group, the UAE's biggest telecommunications operator, signed an agreement to acquire 100 per cent of Dubai-based grocery delivery platform?elGrocer DMCC, strengthening both its digital portfolio and consumer engagement.
19.?Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone send each other tower partnership signals
Deutsche Telekom?CEO Tim H?ttges, once again, has expressed an interest in doing something with the Group’s tower assets (other than just sitting on them as it has so far). "I'd love to have an industrial partner and I'm willing to deconsolidate," he told a Morgan Stanley European Technology, Media and Telecoms (TMT) conference,?as reported by Reuters. H?ttges reiterated his view that he didn’t care for an IPO and selling a minority stake (the route taken by Vodafone with Vantage Towers), and that he wanted to retain some control in decision-making following any deal.