T-Mobile to Buy Sprint for $26.5B to Create US 5G Powerhouse

But the companies will need every ounce of spectrum to succeed

AT&T's Rice: Virtualization efforts 'much more mature'

AT&T is closing in on its stated goal of having 75% of its network functions virtualized by 2020.

AWS still tops in market share

Led by Amazon Web Services' continued dominance, first-quarter spending on cloud services increased by 51% from the same quarter a year ago.

T-Mobile is setting a low bar for its initial 5G efforts

A T-Mobile executive said that the operator’s 5G network will initially provide speeds that are 25% to 50% faster than the speeds it currently provides.

Apple seeks permission to conduct RF tests in Cupertino

Apple is asking the FCC for permission to conduct experimental RF tests at its Infinite Loop and Apple Park locations in Cupertino, California.

SoftBank’s CEO may be getting his way in Sprint/T-Mobile merger

Analysts parsing the news believe that Sprint and its 2.5 GHz spectrum may be squeezing more value out of the transaction.

Google Mimics Microsoft With Direct Kubernetes Link Into Its Cloud

The framework simplifies the connection between GCP services and a GCP-hosted Kubernetes cluster or an on-premises Kubernetes cluster.

Silicon Startup Innovium Closes $77M in Series D, Ships Samples

The company has developed Ethernet switch chips for data centers. It competes against Broadcom, Barefoot, and Cavium.

SDxCentral's Weekly Roundup — April 27, 2018

Ericsson brings 5G to Italy; Cisco enhances its SAN offerings; NetFoundry and AWS team up on IoT.

China Mobile’s 5G Trials Test Vendor Equipment Interoperability

The next phase of the operator's 5G trials will include at least 100 base stations in each of the five test cities. The trials will use equipment from multiple vendors including Ericsson, Nokia, Huawei, and ZTE.

Telefónica’s New Open Source Edge Project Cuts 5G Network Slices Into Strings

The operator’s latest open source project named OnLife tackles multi-access edge computing and other 5G use cases, using CORD-like software.

Canonical Taunts VMware, Launches Major Ubuntu Update

The company claims enterprises are looking for alternatives to VMware with better economics. It bids against Red Hat in many of its deals.

Rackspace-Managed VMware Private Cloud Is Now Everywhere

The new service builds on the Rackspace-managed VMware private cloud, launched last summer, to address data sovereignty laws and low-latency requirements.

US Ban on Huawei Would Trigger Turmoil in Telecom Industry

US authorities were said this week to be investigating Huawei for violating sanctions against Iran. Treating it like ZTE would trigger turmoil.

Where Charter's Chugging Along... & Where It's Not

Investors may be worried about the wrong things.

WiCipedia: Female Founders Find Funding & Automotive Careers for Women

This week in our WiC roundup: The NY Times' first female CIO; female founders get funding; women are needed in connected car jobs; and more.

We're Sorry If We Set Your Car On Fire – Love, Oracle

In which we receive an alarming email from Oracle.

Eurobites: Fiber Up or Fade Away, Ofcom Tells BT

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Comings and goings at Telecom Italia; Orange active in Africa; Proximus hits 2.94 Gbit/s in 5G trial; Facebook CTO gets a UK grilling.

T-Mobile, Sprint Close to Merger Deal – Reports

US mobile operators are close to reaching agreement on the terms of a deal, according to reports.

Amid cost cuts, Qualcomm tweaks patent-licensing business

Qualcomm reported a sharp decline in its quarterly profits, largely due to a reduction in the amount of money it obtains from licensing its patents.

Ericsson to virtualize Italian provider's core network

Ericsson has chalked up a customer win with Italy-based Wind Tre to virtualize the service provider's core network en route to evolving to a 5G core.

Juniper unveils multicloud management for data centers

Juniper Networks unveiled its Contrail Enterprise Multicloud.

Nokia pegs hopes on 5G rollouts in second half of 2018

Nokia reported sluggish results in its networks business in its quarter results yesterday.

5G-ACIA to focus on industrial uses

5G Alliance for Connected Industries and Automation strives to establish 5G in industrial production.

AT&T promises wireless service revenues will improve

AT&T reported wireless customer numbers that were slightly above some Wall Street expectations.

Verizon Sees Fixed 5G Opportunity Where AT&T Does Not

Verizon and AT&T have very different viewpoints on offering fixed 5G service. But both operators admit that there are lots of unknowns when it comes to 5G.

Service Providers Race Toward Network Automation, Incredible Hulk Style

When asked what superhero they want their future network to be associated with, respondents’ No. 1 pick was the Hulk.

Nokia Stumbles Out of the Blocks, But Is Upbeat on 5G, Rival Woes

CEO Rajeev Suri noted that "longer term, there might be opportunities." Nokia could potentially benefit from the woes of its competitors Huawei and ZTE.

Nokia unveils edge cloud data server for 5G era

Nokia launched a new server designed to meet the needs of 5G cloud computing.

Your Data Center Needs a Network Time Machine

Big Switch’s data center monitoring fabric will add support for public cloud environments including AWS and Azure later this year.

Amazon Cloud Revenue Leaps 49% to $5.44B

AWS isn't just growing fast; growth is accelerating.

FCC: High-Band 5G Spectrum Cleared for Take-Off in 2019

FCC says agency is ready for 24GHz, 28GHz and 39GHz auctions in 2019, and has plans to open up the 3.7GHz to 4.2GHz band for 5G.

Microsoft Crowds the Cloud With AI, Expansion Focus

Microsoft's Intelligent Cloud group, which includes server, enterprise products and services, reported that its revenues were up 17% to $7.9 billion.

Comcast & the Set-Top Double Bind

The set-top is Comcast's primary consumer interface, but it's not the best tool for smart home control.

AT&T Eyes Higher DirecTV Now Margins

AT&T CFO John Stephens explains the company's plans to wring greater profits out of its OTT video service by launching new features and cutting capex and opex.

Light Recap: The Light Reading Hall of Fame

Here, over three nostalgia-soaked pages, are the telecom heroes and villains that have made it into the Light Reading Hall of Fame since its inception in 2010.

AT&T CFO: Business Revenues Bouncing Back

John Stephens tells financial analysts there's a positive trend in AT&T's business revenues, even with another quarterly decline.

Using Open Source to Drive Automation

Open source is a product development model that should unleash faster innovation but may require business model changes for many vendors.

Always Hungry: Feeding Data Center Bandwidth Demands in the Cloud Era

Cloud applications have an insatiable appetite for east-west bandwidth inside the data center, as well as between data centers. What can service providers do about that?

Nimble Small Cell Vendors Find Another Market to Exploit

LTE and future 5G networks are evolving in a way that overcomes previous barriers to the use of standardized public-network technologies for private applications, and there is better support for features needed in mission-critical use cases.

Qualcomm Profits Hammered by Licensing Disputes

Qualcomm blames its legal battles with Apple and another licensee for a fall in profits but managed to grow sales thanks to its chips business.

Huawei, ZTE in the Eye of a Trade Storm

The increasingly tough US line against Huawei and ZTE form part of the resistance to China's state-driven, quasi-protectionist industry policies.

Eurobites: UK Bets Big on AI

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Telefónica, Orange and KPN reveal Q1 earnings; Ericsson lands Italian virtualization job.

WiC Leading Lights 2018 Finalists: Female-Led Startup to Watch

Libelium and Movandi and their founders are pioneering new technologies that are already changing the game for IoT and 5G, respectively, making them startups you want to keep an eye on in 2018 and beyond.

Nokia Tumbles on Weak Results, Insists Good 5G Times Lie Ahead

Finnish vendor insists the second half of 2018 will be much better than the first half as customers start to invest in long-awaited 5G networks.

AT&T CFO throws shade on Verizon’s fixed 5G plans

AT&T’s CFO said that the carrier has tested fixed 5G services, but doesn’t see much opportunity there.

How to Make Money in SDN

Automation and virtualization reduce costs and time to market for new services. And software allows companies to moving to an “everything-as-a-service” business model.

U.S. Justice Department Investigates Huawei

The bad news just won't stop for Huawei. This latest investigation seems similar to the case against ZTE because it involves selling equipment to Iran.

ADVA Trials Use ONAP, ONOS to Control Optical Network Assets

ADVA is not part of ONAP, but wants to support carriers like Verizon that are committed to the platform.

Concerns about cybersecurity driving SD-WAN market: report

With concerns about security and increasing reliance on data centers, North American companies are embracing SD-WAN technology.

Globalstar, FiberLight to merge in deal valued at $1.65B

Satellite company Globalstar is merging with metro fiber provider FiberLight in a deal facilitated by their owner, investment firm Thermo Acquisitions.

Straight Talk MVNO counts 9M customers in the U.S.

America Movil released its first-quarter earnings, and for the first time it offered insight into its brand performance in the U.S. market.

Huawei: We’re working with HPE. HPE: No, you’re not.

HPE publicly rebuked Huawei with a statement that may or may not be a full denial.

Comcast’s wireless business is doing better than expected

Comcast reported today that it added 196,000 new subscribers to its Xfinity Mobile MVNO service during the first quarter.

Ericsson: 70% of Service Providers Will Focus on Cellular IoT

The service providers interviewed believe that cellular IoT technologies, such as Cat-M1 and NB-IoT, will be “game changers.”

Juniper Unveils Contrail Software to Compete With Cisco, VMware

Contrail Enterprise Multi-Cloud focuses on the data center as part of Juniper's overall strategy to help enterprises deal with multiple clouds.

Nokia Puts a Physical Box at the Edge to Support Cloud, 5G

The box runs a real-time OPNFV-compatible, OpenStack-distribution built to run in small data centers or at base station locations.

AT&T Says the 5G Secret Sauce Is in the Software

5G trials from Kalamazoo, Michigan, to Waco, Texas, have helped the company fine-tune its commercial deployment plans. 

Verizon, Citrix, and Hitachi Invest in The Fabric’s Latest $20M Funding Pool

The investment firm was part of the funding behind VeloCloud, Perspica, and Appcito.

Cohesity SD-Storage Automates Data Backup in Public Clouds

The software integrates with public cloud APIs so that backups scale automatically as cloud workloads are added or deleted.

Google Launching G Suite 'Confidential Mode,' Including Self-Destructing Email

The new G Suite and Gmail security capabilities aren't bulletproof, but they add an extra layer of control.

Fierce Competition Batters Airtel Profits Again

Competition and adverse regulatory measures continue to squeeze the Indian operator's profits.

Bharti Infratel, Indus Towers Merge to Form $14.6B Giant

Indian operators merge their infrastructure assets to form the world's second-biggest towers company.

Hollywood Producer Talks Cosby, Caution & Cable

Executive Producer Janet Leahy shares her story with WiC, offers advice for the cable industry to better support women and gives us a sneak preview of what she's working on next.

No Containers Yet? No Worries

Containers seemed poised to take over the Earth, but they've proven slow to implement. Find out how people are implementing containers on real-world service provider networks at the Big Communications Event in Austin next month!

Telstra's Programmable Network Sidesteps a Slippery Slope

Telstra's Jim Fagan explains how service providers can apply lessons learned about automation in the cloud to delivering more automation in their networks.

Eurobites: Comcast Formalizes £22B Sky Bid

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Apple starts paying Irish back-taxes; Nokia gets edgy; Atos hooks up with Google for AI; Elisa trumpets NB-IoT network.

It's Miller Time: Light Reading's Hall of Fame Poll Is Now Open

The giants of cloud computing and the divergent minds of our regulatory body politic are well behind a PR entrepreneur who filled in her own nomination. How 2018 is that?

SAIL the Atlantic With CAMTEL

The South Atlantic Inter Link (SAIL) is an ambitious 6,000km submarine cable system that will connect Kribi, Cameroon with Fortaleza, Brazil.

Swisscom: Quick off the Blocks With 5G

Major players like Swisscom can't rely on yesterday's successes.

Vodafone-Liberty Merger Doubtful in Germany, Says Analyst

For all the banker excitement about a possible tie-up between Vodafone and Liberty, any deal in Germany seems highly unlikely.

Comcast Romps With Subs Gains, Sky Bid

Despite growing video subscriber losses, Comcast racks up big overall customer and revenue gains as it formalizes its $31 billion bid for Sky in the UK.

ACG Survey: Security Top Automation Worry

Automation takes human error out of the equation but adds the ability to screw things up much faster.

US Investigating Huawei for Sanctions Violations – Report

The WSJ reports that Huawei is in the Justice Department's crosshairs for its activities related to selling goods and services to Iran.

New Data on Pole Prices Power 5G Debate

The cost of 5G deployments depends in part on the cost of pole attachment fees.

Google Partners Compete on Ease of Cloud Connections

Network operators take different approaches to using new Google Partner Interconnect.

Six Key Takeaways From Facebook's Q1 Earnings Call

Facebook is doubling down on its ad business, and using AI to moderate hate speech and other inappropriate content.

AT&T on Track With 5G, Starts FirstNet Build

Market punishes AT&T for miss, but Ma Bell lauds 5G progress.

AT&T, union bicker over job numbers

The CWA said AT&T has cut 16,000 call center jobs in the past seven years.

HPE Denies It’s Partnering with Huawei, Taps Crisis Public Relations

HPE says that Huawei's claim that is is partnering with HPE is not true. This is just the latest public relations problem for Huawei in the U.S.

Madden: The impact of the ban on exports to ZTE

This is like dropping a hand grenade onto a crowded dance floor. Who will get blown up?

ZenFi, Cross River Fiber agree to merge

ZenFi Networks and Cross River Fiber, which both provide communications infrastructure and services in metro New York and New Jersey, are merging.

Nokia, DoCoMo to demo 5G NR at 90 GHz during Brooklyn 5G Summit

Nokia is collaborating with NTT DoCoMo to demonstrate 5G New Radio (5G NR) enhancements at 90 GHz during the Brooklyn 5G Summit this week.

Virtual Instruments Integrates With Cisco SAN Telemetry, AppDynamics

The performance management company released a new version of its platform that integrates with Cisco’s new SAN telemetry streaming and AppDynamics.

Verizon: 5G launch will feature a new OTT video service

Verizon CFO Matt Ellis said the carrier will offer a “compelling” video service alongside its 5G internet service.

Verizon holds Fios steady in Q1

Verizon lost Fios video customers while gaining Fios internet customers, reporting numbers in line with expectations.

Verizon's wireless biz shows signs of ‘stabilizing’

Verizon's wireless results led some Wall Street analysts to conclude that the carrier is making progress on steadying its position in the industry.

Physics Be Damned! Nokia, DoCoMo Test 5G in 90 GHz mmWave Band

The tests could break new ground in terms of supporting 5G use cases using very high mmWave spectrum bands.

Verizon Shifts Focus From 5G Fixed Wireless Trials to Commercial Launch

The operator said it is on track to launch 5G in a handful of markets later this year but is still cagey about the details. Launch cities remain a mystery.   

AT&T backs Pai's plan for Puerto Rico

AT&T is encouraging the FCC to devote close to $1 billion for disaster recovery in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

MVNO FreeUP launches rewards-powered mobile service

FreeUP Mobile is aiming at the price-sensitive segment of the prepaid market by offering subscribers a way to reduce or eliminate their monthly bills via ads…

WISPA disappointed in efforts to ‘shove aside’ rural interests

WISPA says it’s disappointed that efforts “shove aside” the interests of rural America and turn the “Innovation Band” into a “same ol’ thing” band.

Telco Journey to Cloud-Native: We Want What They've Got

Find out what it takes to transition telecom networks to cloud-native architectures at the Big Communications Event in Austin in May!

Telenor's Cost-Cutting Focus Rattles Investors

Norwegian incumbent loses 4% of its value in Oslo after analysts question focus on efficiency and accuse it of 'hoarding cash.'

Verizon Biz Bucks Continue to Slide

Revenues down about 5% despite investments in fiber and newer services based on virtualization.

Verizon Preps Fixed 5G but Mobile Gigabit-Speed Downloads May Not Arrive Until 2019

The Verizon CFO isn't sure a standards-based fixed 5G CPE will be ready until 2019.

Incompas Sues to Reinstate Net Neutrality

Petition to US Circuit Court of Appeals in DC says FCC went against its own previous findings to roll back Obama-era regulations.

Google Plugs in New Cloud Connectivity

Google Partner Interconnect is designed for enterprises requiring cloud connectivity who don't require full 10 Gbit/s of a dedicated circuit.

Verizon Targets OTT Video at 5G Markets

Unlike AT&T and other major pay-TV providers, Verizon is holding off on introducing a full-fledged OTT video service until it launches residential 5G service later this year.

How Will SPs Adapt to SD-WAN 3.0?

At BCE, panelists will discuss changing consumption models for SD-WAN, new approaches that vendors and carriers are taking in deploying SD-WAN, standards efforts and interoperability challenges and more.

The Telecoms.com Podcast: Come Together?

Is convergence a sound business strategy? Or is it best to stick with what you know? Also: Who'd be a Chinese vendor? Discuss. And they do.

Alphabet Splashes $7.7B on Capex Spree

The Google parent is spending hard to catch up on with Amazon in the home and cloud, and driving its businesses forward, including YouTube, hardware and Waymo self-driving cars.

Eurobites: Investment Group Makes £538M Bid for CityFibre

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Proximus strikes wholesale FTTB deal; Orange turns to Cisco for PoPs project; Ericsson's IoT findings.

Cloud Is a Strategic Imperative for Telcos

With 5G on the horizon, major new innovations in smartphones and the expansion of IoT devices and services, the cloud is more critical than ever in ensuring operators remain relevant.

CTIA, CCA submit compromise proposal on 3.5 GHz band

The Competitive Carriers Association and CTIA submitted a compromise proposal to the FCC regarding license sizes in the 3.5 GHz CBRS band.

T-Mobile’s IoT strategy gets clearer with Twilio’s launch

Last week, Twilio announced the official launch of its “Programmable Wireless” service for developers targeting the internet of things.

Cyxtera debuts on-demand services

Cyxtera Technologies launched the Cyxtera Extensible Data Center Platform, a software-powered data center architecture.

Verizon isn’t being appreciated by Wall Street, report argues

According to Barclays, Verizon’s prospects are looking up, and investors aren’t appreciating the company’s solid footing and growing options.

CenturyLink’s voice switch consolidation effort has a green side

CenturyLink reduced annual energy usage by 21.8 million kilowatt hours in 2017 in its voice network by consolidating aging network infrastructure.

AT&T proposes new make-ready process: self help

AT&T says the FCC can help the telecom industry reduce timelines for make-ready processes by allowing new attachers to be called project managers.

Does the race to 5G really matter?—Editor’s Corner

A lot of attention is focused on which region of the world will be first with 5G. But does it really matter?

Frontier to discontinue legacy busy signal services

Frontier Communications asked the FCC for permission to discontinue two legacy services: Busy Verification (BV) and Busy Interrupt (BI).

Huawei Names Vendor Partners for Its Three-Layered SD-WAN

Huawei is working with several third-party vendors to enhance its SD-WAN. These include Riverbed Technology, F5, and HPE.

Nutanix Teams Up With Data Center Company Cyxtera for On-Demand HCI

The service allows customers to provision dedicated HCI nodes without buying their own infrastructure.

Kubernetes Injected Into Yahoo Japan's OpenStack Infrastructure

The open source Gimbal platform was developed with Heptio to avoid having to rip out OpenStack and legacy backend systems.

Southern Theatres Cleans Up Messy Network With Mosaic NetworX SD-WAN

Before deploying SD-WAN, the company was using “a spaghetti mess” of handcrafted tunnels with combinations of Sonicwall firewalls, third party tunnels, and Cisco ASA firewalls. The result was “awful and unreliable” connections.

5G Brazil Project Focuses on Global Collaboration

The group is working on several different projects focused on spectrum, 5G standards, regulations, and infrastructure.

Networking Gets Entangled in Geo-Political Feuds

ZTE might look to judicial remedies after the U.S. ban; Huawei lays off its Washington, D.C. liason; and Twitter bans ads from Kaspersky Labs.

GSMA Puts eSIM Spec Dev on Hold as Feds Investigate AT&T, Verizon

Are the big telcos trying to handicap the eSIM and do what they can to lock down users and make it harder for them to leave?

Google Assesses Its Strengths in Its $1B Per Quarter Cloud Business

Open source and machine learning are strengths as Google Cloud Platform goes up against bigger competitors.

OpenStack Promises More Focused Edge Work

New strategic initiatives aimed at filling the technology gaps around specific use cases including NFV and the edge.

Telco Fat Cats: Still Worth It?

While some of the head honchos in telecom have taken hefty pay cuts in the last few years, they probably aren't yet worried about the price of milk.

AT&T Rolls Out Faux 5G in 100+ US Markets

The '5G Evolution' upgrades will help provide faster 4G connections to backstop initially limited 5G deployments.

Verizon on Drag & Drop Automation

Verizon's Srilakshmi Valisammagari addresses the operators' efforts to deliver automation to enterprise customers via Verizon Service Designer.

How Do You Future-Proof the Last Mile?

Time to gaze into the crystal ball.

Eurobites: London Fiber Challenger Secures £25M for Expansion

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Vodafone/Liberty chatter ratchets up a notch; Tele2's Q1 earnings up 7%; Sky sells stake in gaming business; 'Fitbit for cars' company wins funding.

The Roadmap to Reaching Zero-Touch Automation

At BCE, we'll dive into the topic of Zero-Touch Automation without trying to boil the ocean.

How to Unify Humans & Machines

To survive and thrive in the future, CSPs must find ways to prepare their employees for the integration of AI, automation, machine-learning and advanced data analytics in their operations.

Why Sky TV Digs Virtual Reality

Sky TV's Richard Mills explains how the British satellite operator is scoring with VR sports, dramas, highlights shows and other short-form programming.