TELECOM – THIS WEEK (2149)
1.????BT opens new London HQ as part of major transformation programme
BT has opened its new global headquarters in Aldgate, London, as part of the firm’s ongoing root and branch transformation program, which includes its offices across the UK.
2.????Reliance denies plans for BT bid as M&A buzz hits fever pitch
The M&A buzz around BT is getting louder that Reliance Industries,?the powerful conglomerate run by Chairman and Managing Director?Mukesh Ambani that counts India’s largest operator, Reliance Jio, amongst its telecom assets, was exploring the possibility of a bid for BT. But a strong denial was soon issued by the Indian giant. “We categorically deny any intent to bid for the UK telecoms group, BT, formerly British Telecom, as reported in the article titled “Reliance Mulling Bid for UK’s Telco BT Group” published in The Economic Times dated November 29, 2021,” Reliance noted in a statement release Monday morning UK time (afternoon India time). “The article is completely speculative and baseless. We expect greater diligence and verification of facts before publishing such articles.”?
3.????European telcos submit an over-the-top plea to the EU
More than a dozen telco executives have joined forces in what appears to be an over-the-top and pointless attempt to persuade the European Union’s member nations that the successful ‘big tech’ companies should be made to contribute to the costs of building out telco infrastructure and platforms, and that EU policymakers should find a way to make this happen. The idea of Netflix, Amazon, Google, Facebook, and various other Web services behemoths somehow sharing the burden of investing in the networks over which their services are delivered is hardly new: This has been a hot topic for more than a decade. There may once have been a time when we thought it could happen, but in recent years the industry appears to have settled into a resigned acceptance of the?status quo. Or so we thought. Reuters?named 13 operators whose chief executives had signed the letter, including Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Vodafone, Telefónica?and BT.?
4.????TIM CEO falls on his sword as Board chews over €10.8 billion bid
Luigi Gubitosi became the second major European telco CEO to quit in recent days when he resigned his post as the lead executive at?TIM (Telecom Italia)?late last Friday: Only 48 hours earlier,?Orange?CEO?Stéphane Richard stepped down. Earlier on Friday it was revealed that Gubitosi, who has been under fire from TIM’s largest stakeholder Vivendi for the operator’s recent financial track record, had offered to step down in an effort to help kickstart the assessment of a €10.8 billion takeover offer made by private equity firm?KKR, which he believed was being stalled by certain parties.?
5.????Home network of the future: Deutsche Telekom offers hybrid solution for 5G
Deutsche Telekom offers the best of both worlds - and now enables hybrid with the modern wireless standard 5G. In combination with an outdoor 5G receiver, the Speedport Smart 4 router enables more bandwidth and a more stable home network. As part of a field test, 5G will be available exclusively and free of charge as an add-on option to existing fixed-network rates.
In combination with a 5G receiver, the Speedport Smart 4 offers an even more faster home network with all the benefits of Hybrid 5G. To achieve this, the weatherproof 5G receiver is attached to the outside facade or a window, for example. This is where it can best receive the signals from the 5G network.
6.????Ooredoo Group and Nokia sign strategic partnership to drive digital transformation and enhance customer experience
Following successful discussions at a top-level meeting at Ooredoo Headquarters, Ooredoo Group and Nokia signed two agreements as part of a strategic partnership intended to drive Ooredoo’s digital transformation and enhance experiences for its customers. The partnership aims to enable exploration of future areas of collaboration, strengthen the business engagement that will support Ooredoo’s strategy and boost the experience Ooredoo can deliver to its customers. Enhancements to customer experience would include access to the latest technology solutions and innovative digital product offerings such as smart home services and Internet of Things (IoT). In addition, customers will be able to access the latest device portfolios, the highest grades of security and reliability while using Ooredoo’s services, and a superior connectivity and network speeds.
7.????Rakuten Mobile and the University of Tokyo Begin Joint R&D into IoT Ultra Coverage Utilizing LEO Satellites
Rakuten Mobile, Inc. announced that it has begun joint research and development into “IoT ultra-coverage utilizing low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites” with the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Engineering. The research topic is one of the R&D themes of the “Beyond 5G R&D Promotion Project,” which the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) recently publicly invited applications for proposals. The two organizations will use satellite communications to expand geographical coverage to 100% and enable long distance communications with existing NB-IoT and IoT devices with the aim of achieving IoT ultra-coverage.
8.????Smartphones rule as Ericsson ups 5G forecast
Smartphones are certainly driving rapid 5G uptake. Ericsson, which published the latest iteration of its Mobility Report this week, has upped its forecast on 5G adoption for the full year on the back of device availability: The Swedish vendor now predicts there will be 660 million 5G subscriptions globally by the end of this year. "This is an increase from our previous estimate and is mainly due to stronger than expected demand in China and North America, impacted partly by decreasing prices of 5G devices," the firm's report reads.
9.????As quantum computing hits the public headlines, research into neuromorphic networks accelerates
Last week the Biden administration in the US added Chinese quantum computing companies to the nation’s Entity List and coverage of the technology and its potential application to artificial intelligence (AI) quickly spread across traditional news media. What has yet to receive much, if any, popular public coverage though is the growing scientific debate about the relative merits of quantum computing and neuromorphic computing when it comes to future generations of AI.?In neuromorphic computing a computer imitates the biology of some of the neurons and synapses in the human brain via very-large-scale integration systems containing electronic circuits that mimic neuro-biological architectures present in the human nervous system. It uses algorithms to emulate the ways in which the human brain understands and interacts with the surrounding world to produce computing power and capabilities that are considerably closer to those provided by our cognitive abilities.
10.?Nokia and Türk Telekom successfully test 25G PON technology in Turkey
Nokia?and?Türk?Telekom have completed the first successful 25G PON trial in Turkey making it the?fastest fiber network in?the country.?The?laboratory trial took place in?Türk Telekom Ankara Innovation Center?and achieved downstream speeds of 20Gbps?over a single wavelength. Türk Telekom is exploring how to deliver superfast services to support smart city, office and home services.
11.?Vodafone Spain upgrades to Netcracker Digital BSS in IT transformation project
Netcracker Technology?announced today that Vodafone Spain will upgrade to?Netcracker Digital BSS?as part of an overall IT transformation project. The leading telecommunications company requires a more advanced and real-time solution to support its B2C and B2B customers across both fixed and wireless lines of business.
Vodafone Spain will upgrade from a previous version of Netcracker's billing and revenue management software to the latest version of?Netcracker Revenue Management, part of the Digital BSS product suite. Netcracker Revenue Management provides converged pricing and charging capabilities to monetize a variety of services — including prepaid, postpaid and hybrid — across networks and business models. The real-time capabilities of the solution will help Vodafone Spain to reduce costs and speed time to market.
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12.?Global satellite broadband SAM expected to grow to 330 million premises by 2026
According to global technology intelligence firm ABI Research, the serviceable addressable market (SAM) for global satellite broadband over geostationary (GEO), medium earth orbit (MEO), and low earth orbit (LEO) satellites will stand at 330 million premises, equivalent to 1.3 billion household members in 2026. SAM has grown by 5.3% compared to 2021. Fiber-optic deployment continues, as does 5G and 4G coverage. However, they are still insufficient to address consumer, business, and Small Office/Home Office (SoHo) premises’ wide-ranging broadband needs as populations and economies continue to grow. As the world’s economy becomes increasingly reliant on broadband communications, there is mounting pressure on telecom service providers to provide resilient broadband and additional capacity for all geographic locations within their markets. Satellite communications support a “Network of Network” solution, augmenting existing network communications systems such as mobile cellular and fiber-optic, enabling greater resiliency and on-demand capacity boosts.
13.?Nokia upgrades 5G testing facility in Mexico
Nokia has upgraded a 5G equipment testing facility in Guadalajara, Mexico that it says will support both Latin America and North America. The Finnish telecom vendor called out the unique location of the lab and the free trade agreement between U.S., Mexico and Canada that makes it easier for goods and services to flow between the three countries.
14.?Mavenir launches 4G Open RAN-based outdoor small cell
Mavenir's 4G Open RAN small cell for outdoor deployments is now commercially available. The network software provider says its latest solution expands the MAVair radio and access portfolio of small cells to meet communication service providers (CSPs) growing need for enhanced network capacity and coverage. The solution is a customer-driven product that addresses the need for outdoor small cells supporting both distributed and centralised Open RAN architectures and has already been tested and deployed in commercial operation with a Tier 1 European CSP.
15.?VMware, Mitacs set sights on discovering sustainable path for 6G
A partnership between VMware and Mitacs is aiming to play a critical role in paving a sustainable path for 6G. Mitacs, a non-profit organisation that connects industry with Canadian academic institutions, has launched its Digital Equity Grid Innovation initiative, also known as TETRA. Aligned with?VMware’s Automated Life vision, the organisations plan to establish a TETRA research and innovation (R&I) centre in Montreal in partnership with the?IEEE Future Networks Initiative?(FNI), a technical community of IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional organisation that aims to advance tech for the benefit of humanity.
16.?T-Mobile poised to launch 2.5 GHz 5G carrier aggregation
T-Mobile is on a path this year to launch 5G carrier aggregation using 2.5 GHz channels. Initially, it was all about carrier aggregation with 600 MHz and 2.5 GHz so they could prioritize the downlink on the higher performing channels and the uplink to extend coverage, said Ryan Sullivan, VP of Device & Technology at T-Mobile, speaking on the sidelines of the Snapdragon Tech Summit, an event sponsored by Qualcomm. “Now we’re focusing on 2.5,” he said. Aggregating two high-performing 5G 2.5 GHz carriers together will provide more than 100 MHz of capacity. That’s always been the goal, and now, it’s very close at hand.?
17.?Network Automation at the Domain Controller Layer Drives Significant Benefits to Operators
Many operators have begun their network automation journeys but are at different stages and have taken different approaches. Different operators serving diverse customer bases and geographies, and at different scales of operations have varying needs for automating tools to suit their situation.?
18.?AWS surprises with AWS Private 5G
AWS today announced the availability of a private 5G service for enterprises named?AWS Private 5G. In his Tuesday morning keynote at AWS?Re:Invent 2021, AWS CEO Adam Selipsky described this new service, available as a preview in the U.S. with other markets to follow. AWS is making available an easy-to-procure starter kit for a fully-managed, pay-as-you-go, private cellular service. This service lays the groundwork for expanded offerings, both direct-to-enterprise and through AWS's communication service provider (CSP) partners.
19.?AWS isn't going to war with telcos on private 5G
Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced a lot of new products this week, but its Private 5G offer is perhaps the one that’s grabbed the most attention. The news was greeted with speculation that AWS is looking to go head-to-head with operators on 5G, positioning itself as a competitor rather than a collaborator. But AWS executives and AvidThink analyst Roy Chua told Fierce that’s not the case.
20.?NEC, with big open RAN ambitions, helps NTT Docomo trial 5G SA
NTT Docomo and NEC — collaborated to test 5G standalone (SA) with open radio access network (RAN) interfaces. The companies upgraded a 5G non-standalone baseband unit on Docomo’s commercial network to 5G SA, via a software upgrade. The 5G SA disaggregated CU/DU baseband conforms to open RAN interface specifications. And the test interoperated the 5G baseband with radio units from different vendors.
21.?AWS drills down into automotive, industrial, financial sectors with new services
Amazon Web Services (AWS) zeroed in on a handful of key verticals, moving beyond general cloud capabilities to offer new tailored solutions aimed squarely at the automotive, industrial and financial services sectors. Fresh offerings include AWS IoT FleetWise and IoT TwinMaker, as well as a new Financial Cloud for Data analytics product the company built with Goldman Sachs.
22.?Cracks appear in West’s 5G strategy after Huawei
After banding together to boot Chinese telecoms out of critical networks, the United States and Europe are struggling to agree on what 5G should look like without China's input. American concerns about China's telecoms equipment have shifted to worries that the industry is overly reliant on Huawei's two main competitors, Sweden's Ericsson and Finland's Nokia, and that the U.S. itself lacks homegrown vendors to pick from. Meanwhile, in Europe, attempts by the telecoms industry to design a new, "open" 5G architecture known as Open RAN have raised fresh security concerns.