A look back at this week’s biggest stories

Whether it’s important, depressing or just entertaining, the telecoms industry is always one which attracts attention.

Interface Security Systems adapts its services for COVID-19

Businesses and their service provider partners have found previously unexpected use cases for technology during the coronavirus pandemic. Case in point: Managed services provider Interface Security Systems became a crucial cog for enabling retail stores and restaurants to either re-open or provide curbside service.

WISPA members average $25K hit from COVID-19 pledge

A survey of Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA) members shows some of them have taken a significant hit when it comes to keeping customers connected during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Huawei’s planned $1B UK R&D facility prompts U.S. warning

The U.S. is urging the U.K. to carefully assess long-term impacts of giving China’s Huawei access to sensitive information, after a local council in England approved the first phase of a more than $1 billion Huawei project to build a new R&D facility in the country.

Cisco teams up with Schneider Electric for smart building IT

Schneider Electric and Cisco have joined forces on connecting building management systems to Internet Protocol (IP) networks. The two companies said they have developed, tested and validated designs to bridge operational technology and IT building management systems for smart buildings.

Charter Communications promotes Srinivasan and Ray

Charter Communications has promoted Magesh Srinivasan and Adam Ray to key positions on its executive team. Ray steps into the newly created position of executive vice president, multi-dwelling unit (MDU) markets while Srinivasan was promoted to executive vice president of network operations.

FCC’s Pai bullish on open RAN, virtualization

The FCC had to postpone its forum on 5G virtualized radio access network (RAN) due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said on Thursday that he’s eager to get that back on the calendar once it’s safe to do so.

US sulks over UK Huawei campus decision

Once more the UK has failed to do what it’s told regarding its policy towards embattled Chinese telecoms vendor Huawei.

Comcast first ISP to sign up for Mozilla's TRR program

Mozilla announced on Thursday that Comcast was the first ISP to provide Firefox users with private and secure encrypted Domain Name System (DNS) services through Mozilla's Trusted Recursive Resolver (TRR) Program.

NTT buys 5% NEC stake to add more momentum to ‘open’ ecosystem

NTT has announced a joint research programme with NEC, while also purchasing a 5% stake in the network infrastructure vendor.

Verizon’s Facebook boycott is not what it seems

Censorship advocates are celebrating the addition of US telco Verizon to their campaign against Facebook, but they’re mistaken.

US government prepares for further action against Chinese companies

The fact that the Department of Defense is linking Huawei to the Chinese military should surprise few, but this could be viewed as a bureaucratic tick-box exercise for a renewed assault.

Daily Roundup: HPE Sells Software Strategy

In case you’ve been stuck in video conference meetings all day, here are today’s top stories from SDxCentral. Also, make sure to subscribe to our daily newsletter to get these stories in your inbox.

SES Launches Space WAN From Orbit

Global satellite operator SES this week announced South Sudan-based service provider RCS Communication had deployed its SD-WAN platform.

Cryptojackers Target Docker Containers for Monero Mining

Palo Alto Networks and Aqua Security threat researchers say cryptojackers are increasingly using Docker containers to make money by inserting malicious images into the containers to mine for Moreno.

Clearing up my view of the telco cloud

A former cloud insider returns, with an outside-in, peek-behind-the-curtain look at the telco industry's road to becoming more cloud native.

Huawei Cops To Lack of US Ambition

Some of Huawei’s top U.S. executives shifted their tone this week on the company’s U.S. outlook. 

VMware Tanzu Mission Control Gains Data Protection

VMware added a disaster recovery component to its Tanzu Mission Control product that should allow IT departments to sleep better at night.

WiCipedia: How tech can evolve beyond performative activism

This week in our WiC roundup: How companies can get past performative activism; steps to support women at work; Melinda Gates does it again; and more.

Nebulon Blasts Off, Brings Cloud Storage On-Prem

Wouldn’t it be nice to control data services like fleet management, automated software updates, predictive maintenance and faster troubleshooting? Nebulon, a Bay Area startup that emerged from stealth mode this week with an API-based approach designed to democratize enterprise-class storage, sure does. 

Eurobites: Ericsson tells UK it can fill void left by Huawei ban

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Deutsche Telekom integrates e-SIM onto Qualcomm chipset; Telia takes control of rail signaling in Oslo; Bouygyes Telecom buys Credit Mutuel subsidiary.

5G protest movement keeps marching on

The campaign against the new mobile technology flared up in Ireland this week, and it's not just about the coronavirus.

Mavenir flags standalone 5G core trial with Deutsche Telekom

Emerging open RAN player reveals collaboration with German operator to validate what it describes as 'web-scale technologies' for the 5G standalone core.

Can HPE Sell Its Ezmeral Software Strategy?

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) rolled out a new software strategy and software brand Ezmeral this week at its HPE Discover event that boosts its hybrid cloud play and puts competitors like VMware and IBM in its crosshairs.

What will Jio do with its recent windfall?

The Indian operator has attracted billions of dollars from a range of investments. Debt reduction might not be the only option.

Verizon sees 30% drop in unwanted robocalls

Over the last year, regulators and legislators put robocalls increasingly in their crosshairs. As service providers implemented more consumer protections, it appears there’s been some progress in the fight to reduce the influx of unwanted robocalls that most Americans are all too familiar with.  

T-Mobile strikes 600 MHz spectrum leases

T-Mobile has applied for instant spectrum leases with Channel 51 License Company and LB License Co. to lease 600 MHz spectrum in a number of major markets, including Houston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, New Orleans, St. Louis, San Francisco, Dallas, Atlanta and Seattle, among others.

Windstream's restructuring plan gets green light from judge

It looks like all systems are go for Windstream to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in late August after a judge confirmed its restructuring plan.

U.S. Secretary of State names non-Huawei telcos he calls ‘clean'

In his attacks against Huawei, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo went so far as to issue a statement today listing service providers around the world whom he considers “Clean Telcos” because they don’t use equipment from Huawei.

Huawei gets the green light for £1 billion Cambridge R&D centre

Cambridge City Council has officially given Huawei permission to construct a 50,000 sq. meter R&D centre to focus on optoelectronics, serving as the international HQ for the segment.

Most Brits reckon contact tracing data will be misused but will provide it regardless

Identity software company Okta has surveyed a bunch of people in the UK and found that we’re among the most willing to provide location data to help fight COVID-19.

Colt dishes up multi-cloud connectivity on its SD-WAN service

With organizations moving more applications and workloads to the cloud, SD-WAN on ramps to cloud providers have become essential. In order to provide more frictionless connections to cloud providers, Colt Technology Services has announced the launch of multi-cloud connectivity on its SD-WAN service.

FCC investigates T-Mobile outage, asks for public input

The FCC is asking for public input about what happened during T-Mobile’s June 15 network outage and impacts to public safety and general consumers.

Verizon trials Pivotal’s 5G network repeaters in Michigan

Verizon today said it’s trialing Pivotal Commware’s 5G repeaters in Dearborn, Michigan. Pivotal, a Verizon Ventures portfolio company, strategically places its intelligent repeaters to boost Verizon’s 5G signal on mmWave spectrum.

GSA: mmWave gains followers as 97 operators acquire licenses

Millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum has been the subject of much debate over the years due to its propagation characteristics. Now, the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) reports that 97 operators in 17 countries/territories hold public licenses enabling 5G in mmWave spectrum.

Equinix tees-up $142M expansion of Dallas data center campus

In order to support 5G and edge testing efforts, Equinix is also launching its 5G and Edge Proof of Concept Center (POCC) in Dallas. Equinix is also expanding its Dallas Infomart Data Center campus by building a new $142 million data center. 

U.S. Cellular joins O-RAN Alliance

The O-RAN Alliance gained another operator member as U.S. Cellular announced it has joined the effort to drive openness in the Radio Access Network (RAN).

As part of a SASE platform, VMware blends zero trust and SD-WAN

VMware is putting its weight behind creating a secure access service edge (SASE) platform by blending zero-trust networking into its SD-WAN. VMware has integrated its VeloCloud SD-WAN with its Workspace ONE end-user client to enable zero-trust networking down to the device level.

Vodafone UK lands Ford private 5G network gig

5G seems to be finally entering its useful phase as Ford UK is the latest to buy into private networks for smart factories.

Telecom Italia becomes latest to cash in on tower popularity

Telecom Italia (TIM) has announced it has sold stakes in mobile tower group INWIT to French private equity firm Ardian and Canson Capital Partners, collecting €1.6 billion in the process.

Singapore snubs Huawei over 5G

Singtel and Starhub have celebrated winning 5G licenses by announcing Ericsson and Nokia as their respective kit vendor partners.

Europe congratulates itself for GDPR, but more needs to be done

While some might be looking for holes to pick in Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation, the rules have laid the foundations of a safer and more consumer-empowered digital economy.

Consumers culling SVoD services, TiVo study finds

Some 21% of pay-TV subs and 11% of broadband-only customers have removed a subscription VoD service within the last six months. Meanwhile, adoption of ad-based streaming services remains strong.

Verizon's 'enhanced' 5G Home lands in Houston

The company also touts a repeater technology trial with Pivotal Commware designed to enhance and boost Verizon's millimeter wave 5G signals.

AWS Honeycode Sweetens the No-Code/Low-Code Pot

Amazon Web Services (AWS) jumped into the no-code/low-code space with the beta launch of its Honeycode platform that is designed to make it easier to build mobile and web applications in the AWS environment. The launch continues what has been an increased focus into the no-code/low-code space by the market’s large hyperscalers.

VMware jumps on the SASE train with zero-trust access service

VMware is integrating its SD-WAN service and Workspace ONE to provide the zero-trust service, and will deploy the service in over 100 locations.

Daily Roundup: VMware Jumps Into SASE

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Singapore ties up 5G loose ends

Provisional 5G license winners given all-clear after doing necessary paperwork. (Oh, and Huawei is given a wide berth.)

Huawei to build new £1B UK R&D center after local council gives blessing

The go-ahead by authorities in Cambridgeshire will anger US officials and put further pressure on the government as it considers Huawei's future role in the UK.

Cable One will boost data plans, but not scrap its cap

Cable operator will permanently increase most residential data plans by up to 300 gigabytes starting July 1 and extend other pandemic-related relief measures through the end of 2020.

Dell VxFlex Joins Power Family as PowerFlex

Dell Technologies today introduced its Dell EMC PowerFlex software-defined storage (SDS), a high-performance system that the vendor said completes its three-year journey to simplify its infrastructure portfolio.

Instana Serves Up App Insights on AWS Fargate

Instana today extended its application performance monitoring (APM) platform to Amazon Web Services (AWS) Fargate. The Chicago-based APM vendor claims to be the first to support application monitoring on AWS’ container deployment platform.

SK Telecom Waxes 5G Standalone Core R&D With Intel

SK Telecom and Intel today shared some updates about their collaborative research and development on a 5G standalone (SA) mobile core. Intel’s second-generation Xeon Scalable processors and Ethernet 800 Series network adaptors were used to develop a 5G SA user plane function (UPF) based on the 3GPP’s Release 15, the companies said.

How NB-IoT bombed: An IoT tale of hubris and no-show

Last year, there were hardly any NB-IoT connections outside China. Just what happened to the technology that was hailed as such a revolutionary thing?

Eurobites: Ericsson offers 'try before you buy' 5G SA kits to enterprises

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Telecom Italia sells Inwit stakes; Colt goes multicloud; Becks plows dough into esports.

Vodafone partners with Ford to deploy private 5G network in UK

Ford becomes first carmaker to deploy a private mobile network based on 5G in the UK, with the aim of supporting the future production of electric vehicles.

NTT takes $560M stake in NEC to forge 5G, optical alliance

The companies said in a statement that they will develop and sell 'ICT products utilizing innovative optical and wireless technologies.'

VMware Rolls Agent, Zero Trust Into SASE Play

VMware is adding zero-trust networking and agent-based access to its VeloCloud secure access service edge (SASE) platform.

Security a key part of Nokia's new Digital Operations Center for 5G

Nokia's new Digital Operations Center supports network slicing for 5G, among other offerings, but also provides a focus on network security.

Cisco Expands Joint Venture, Open vRAN Trial With Telenor

Cisco is expanding its joint venture with Telenor and embarking on an open virtualized radio access network (vRAN) trial at the Norwegian multinational operator’s headquarters.

Samsung tackles 4G/5G antenna optimization with drone, AI

Samsung is taking the task of 4G/5G antenna configuration off the tower and into a smartphone with a new drone-based measurement tool that leans on AI to collect visual data and deliver it to engineers on the ground for faster analysis.

VMware expands its VMware Ready for Telco Cloud program for 5G

VMware is offering two new certifications for its VMware Ready for Telco Cloud program, which was formerly known as the VMware Ready for NFV program.

Internet use inevitably spikes in lockdown Britain

Average daily time spent online by UK adults topped four hours for the first time in April of this year, with much of the country compelled to stay at home coz of coronavirus.

Netherlands consults on joining the network sharing craze

The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) has launched a consultation to identify the pros and cons of a more collaborative approach in telecoms.

Dish to raise $1B for 'general corporate purposes'

Dish Network said today that it is offering about $1 billion of its senior notes to institutional investors. It said the net proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes.

Cox Business launches work-from-home broadband tier

In order to provide a more robust WFH service, Cox Business has launched a separate connection for home use that includes broadband, WiFi and related security services.

Nokia unveils 5G cloud RAN, giving O-RAN a push

Nokia this week introduced its new 5G Cloud-RAN solution that’s also architected for Open RAN with O-RAN compliant interfaces.

Verizon rewards prepaid customers who stay

Verizon is giving customers who switch to its Verizon-branded prepaid service another reason to stay: They can save $5 after three months and another $5 after nine months.

T-Mobile asks CPUC to roll back jobs, 5G requirements

T-Mobile is telling the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) that some conditions attached to its approval of the T-Mobile/Sprint merger are not valid, including those related to 5G buildout tests and adding jobs.

Verizon, Digital Catapult join forces on 5G accelerator program

In order to make all of the spectrum investments and other technology developments payoff, 5G needs to find use cases outside of just providing faster speeds. On that note, Verizon announced on Wednesday that it has teamed up with the U.K.'s Digital Catapult to develop 5G use cases and applications for enterprises.

Digital Realty and Vapor IO reach lift-off for edge in 3 cities

Vapor IO and Digital Realty have launched their integrated platform that reaches from the network core to the edge in three cities. After announcing a partnership in October, the combination of Digital Realty's PlatformDIGITAL and Vapor IO's Kinetic Edge platform is now live in Atlanta, Dallas and Chicago.

Ericsson claims 5G RAN win in Croatia

Hrvatski Telekom Croatia has given Ericsson’s Croatian associated company all its 5G RAN work, which is apparently the first 5G deal in Croatia.

US Senators fly in the face of the greater good with encryption ban

Three US Senators have ignored the Law of Unintended Consequences by proposing new legislation which would end-to-end encryption as we know it today.

Huawei leads the 5G patent race

A recent report aimed to sift through the confusing mess of information around standards essential patents (SEP) and concluded Huawei is the clear leader for 5G.

T-Mobile backtracks on California merger commitments after 12 weeks

It might have taken 653 days for the T-Mobile and Sprint merger to be approved in the US, but it has only taken 84 for the Magenta Army to ditch its promise to the Californian regulator.

Technicolor sets restructuring plan, expects 'good year' for Connected Home unit

The key supplier of gateways and set-tops plans to obtain €420 million in new financing under the restructuring plan as the company continues to grapple with the financial impact of the pandemic.

Nutanix Rolls Out Software to Support Remote IT Teams

Nutanix today rolled out three products to help remote IT deploy, upgrade, and troubleshoot cloud software from home or a central office.

Equinix Expands 5G, Edge Test Bed in Dallas

Dallas, America’s ninth most populated city, is now a bonafide test bed for 5G and edge computing. Equinix, one of the world’s largest colocation data center providers, today opened an international business exchange data center in the city coupled with a 5G and edge computing proof-of-concept center.

Nokia Glides Into Network Slicing Market

Nokia today revealed details about its network slicing software that will be commercially available before the end of the year. The vendor- and network-agnostic software will allow network operators to spin up and scale down virtual slices of their respective networks for various uses.

Why Amazon is sizing up a 'live' video play for Prime Video

Adding a curated, linear-style streaming component to its video platform will help Amazon promote its broader on-demand fare, according to analysts and industry experts.

Daily Roundup: HPE CEO Talks Racism

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Light Reading's Leading Lights 2020: The Finalists

Light Reading is delighted to announce the finalists for this year's Leading Lights Awards program, which is now in its 16th year.

Dell Again Mulls VMware's Future, Report Says

Dell Technologies saw its stock spike this morning following a report that the company was looking at a way to monetize its VMware subsidiary. The report, which also sent VMware’s stock soaring, is the latest in a long line of moves tied to Dell Technologies attempting to unlock the financial value of its growing VMware business.

Could COVID-19 finally make broadband universal in the US?

Microsoft's CEO sees a future of 'remote everything.' As a result, there's a growing consensus among lawmakers that Internet access is no longer a 'nice to have' but a 'need to have.'

Eurobites: Ericsson nudges 5G rivals aside in Croatia

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Telefónica boss spies the sunlit M&A uplands; Telia turns to Motorola for push-to-talk; Elisa goes streaming with NENT Group.

NetFoundry Touches Down in Google Cloud Platform

NetFoundry today announced the availability of its zero-touch network access platform on Google Cloud Platform’s (GCP) marketplace.

Was T-Mobile California dreamin'?

Pledge to create 1,000 full-time new jobs in the sunshine state goes out the window.

Podcast: What's the story with HBO Max?

On this episode of 'What's the Story?' – a new series from the Light Reading Podcast – Jeff Baumgartner talks with pod host Nicole Ferraro about HBO Max: the latest news, why it matters and what's likely to happen next.

Verizon begins pushing prepaid as recession dawns

Verizon is reducing the cost of its unlimited prepaid option, a move that coincides with a wider emphasis by the company on prepaid amid the beginnings of a recession in the US.

The labors of Lundmark: Herculean turnaround faces new Nokia boss

Pekka Lundmark will join Nokia as CEO in August, returning to a company he previously worked for 20 years ago. The task ahead of him looks immense.

China 5G numbers soar as prices sink

Chinese telcos are slashing prices in a short-term, unsustainable effort to drive up 5G subscribers.

Cloud Foundry Touts Kubernetes Progress, New CLI

The Cloud Foundry Foundation’s embrace of Kubernetes has seemingly opened up new doors for a platform that at one point was being subsumed by what has become the de facto container orchestration standard.

Dell said to be considering 'options' for VMware stake

Report says Dell is looking at options including a spinoff of its $50 billion stake in the enterprise software specialist.

Vapor IO Deploys Edge Concept Markets With Digital Realty

Vapor IO and Digital Realty today announced the availability of Vapor IO’s software-defined Kinetic Edge interconnection technology in Digital Reality’s colocation facilities in Atlanta, Chicago, and Dallas. The companies first announced the partnership to enable a core-to-edge offering in October 2019, and plan to eventually deploy the Kinetic Edge technology in all of Digital Realty’s U.S. colocation facilities. 

The Telecoms.com Podcast: Nokia, Huawei and social media censorship

Parental advisory: Includes tub-thumping and eye-rolling.

Technicolor hopes to have sorted its finances out

Video streaming tech vendor Technicolor has been trying to restructure its debt for most of the year and seems to have finally got somewhere.

China satellite launch completes Beidou 3 ahead of GPS assault

It might have taken 20 years, but China has welcomed itself to the space era with the launch of the final networking satellite to complete the Beidou 3 constellation.

AT&T, National Labor Relations Board complete task order for EIS

AT&T announced on Tuesday that it had completed the delivery of managed trusted internet protocol services (MTIPS) to the National Labor Relations Board. The MTIPS task order was delivered in March under the General Services Administration's new Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) technology procurement program.

Mavenir boasts RCS interconnection in Europe

Mavenir is beefing up its Rich Communications Services (RCS) game, announcing that it completed RCS interconnection with the networks of Telefónica, Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom Germany.

Nokia boosts SDN Communications' IP and optical networks

SDN Communications has picked Nokia to upgrade its IP and optical networks ahead of its launch of 5G services. SDN Communications, which is a business-to-business service provider primarily with customers in South Dakota and southern Minnesota, is using Nokia's Network Services Platform (NSP) to reduce costs and automate its IP and optical networks.

Ex-Sprint CEO takes on T-Mobile shares as SoftBank shrinks stake

SoftBank is selling off its T-Mobile stock, worth around $21 billion, with ex-Sprint CEO taking on 5 million shares and Germany’s Deutsche Telekom waiting with the option to control 51.8% of the U.S. mobile operator.

Report: SD-WAN sector will boom in the second half of 2020

While the SD-WAN sector did see a slight slowdown in the first quarter due to supply chain and sales issues related to COVID-19, it's set for another banner year.

Federated readies ‘Airbnb’ for secondary CBRS spectrum market

As the industry prepares for the start of the CBRS 3.5 GHz Priority Access License (PAL) auction on July 23, Federated Wireless is getting ready to play a big role in the secondary market that’s expected to develop once the auction is complete.

TM Forum builds momentum for its Open Digital Architecture

TM Forum recently announced it has signed up 11 new companies, including four service providers, for its Open Digital Architecture Manifesto. On the vendor side, Amdocs, Netracker, Nokia and Oracle have now adopted the collaboratively developed Open Digital Architecture (ODA), while BT, Deutsche Telekom, Telefónica and Telenor are among the new signatories.

Microsoft packs in its gaming voyeur venture

Facebook has announced that Mixer, Microsoft’s gaming streaming service, will be folded into its own as the internet giant admits defeat in the segment.

Consumer broadband interest surges, but be wary of a recession

Customers are increasingly becoming more interested by ‘big ticket’ broadband services, but this demand might well be diluted by adverse economic conditions.

Nokia lands a few much-needed wins

Nokia’s rollercoaster ride continues with an up day, following the launch of its latest 5G Cloud RAN and a couple of handy deal wins.

Network as a Service Demand Is Transforming the Enterprise Marke

Enterprise customers demands from communication service providers (CSPs) are high and rapidly evolving. Network as a Service (NaaS) is an exciting new opportunity for CSPs to offer the crucial enterprise segment. Not only does NaaS revolutionize the network, but it also delivers a service that improves enterprise customer experience and retention as organizations widely migrate to the cloud consumption model.

After three years of development, US operators' password app languishes

More than six months after launching, the ZenKey 'single sign-on' app from AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon shows just a handful of downloads and no named supporting companies.

John Chambers: 50% of Fortune 500 Won’t Exist in 10 Years

Former Cisco CEO turned venture capitalist John Chambers sounded a stark warning to business leaders at HPE Discover.

HPE Challenges VMware, IBM Red Hat With Ezmeral

Despite its CEO Antonio Neri announcing he tested positive for COVID-19, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) kicked off its virtual Discover event today. It also rolled out a new software brand and portfolio, HPE Ezmeral, and additional GreenLake cloud services.

Daily Roundup: HPE Ezmeral Eyes VMware

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NBCU's Peacock cuts streaming deal with Google

Agreement covers entry on Android, Chromecast and Android TV devices ahead of Peacock's national debut on July 15.

SD-WAN market to exceed $4B by 2023 – report

While the COVID-19 pandemic slowed SD-WAN market momentum in the first half of 2020, Futuriom forecasts a pickup in the second half of 2020 and into 2021 as more enterprise employees work from home and require secure, remote access services.

StorONE, Intel Optimize Optane Tech in All-Flash Array

StorONE is revitalizing the all-flash array with its new All-Flash Array.next (AFAn) product that combines Intel Optane solid-state drives (SSDs) and Intel quad level cell (QLC) 3D NAND Storage Tiers. The launch is a boon for enterprise on-premises storage arrays that are thwarting off hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) and the public clouds.

What went wrong at Edge Gravity?

Edge Gravity, Ericsson's internal startup focused on the development of a global edge computing cloud, is said to have suffered from an 'innovator's dilemma' that hinders large companies from changing their ways.

ITIF says WTF on Huawei, ZTE

US think tank accuses China of artificially beefing up its telecom equipment suppliers and holding back 5G innovation.

HPE CEO Talks COVID-19, Racism, Edge-to-Cloud Strategy

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) CEO Antonio Neri delivered the HPE Discover opening keynote from his living room after the global pandemic forced the annual event to go digital and after Neri tweeted last week that he tested positive for COVID-19. But before diving into the company’s cloud and software announcements, he railed against systemic racism.

After 3 years of development, US operators' password app languishes

More than six months after launching, the ZenKey 'single sign-on' app from AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon shows just a handful of downloads and no named supporting companies.

Verizon expected to go big in CBRS 3.5GHz auction

Verizon is widely anticipated to spend heavily in the upcoming CBRS spectrum auction. But factors including spectrum sharing and power output levels could temper its bidding enthusiasm.

Big telcos have cut headcount by 9% since 2015

Telco staff are reeling as operators announce pandemic-era layoffs after years of cutbacks by many of the world's biggest companies.

Optical network automation gets real

The needle is moving firmly toward an automated optical future, writes Heavy Reading's Sterling Perrin.

Arm Wrestles Intel, AMD for New Ground

In a blow to Intel, Apple this week announced it had begun the transition to its own Arm processors across its product line. But while Apple grabbed the headlines this week, Arm has been encroaching on the x86 strongholds for some time, making major inroads in the data center, cloud, and even in high-performance computing (HPC).

China edges forward on 5G private networks

Local government and industry experts in China push back against a 5G private network monopoly.

Supreme Court shoots down Comcast's request to review TiVo patent case

The US High Court shoots down Comcast petition centering on an earlier Federal Circuit court decision involving two TiVo patents that describe remote DVR recording functionality.

Illumio, CrowdStrike Extends Zero Trust to Endpoints

Illumio teamed up with CrowdStrike and extended its microsegmentation technology to endpoints.

Nokia Readies Aggressive Open RAN Portfolio

Nokia today put more pieces in place to reframe its business model around open radio access networks (RAN) and the goal of disaggregated hardware and software. The gamble, which places Nokia ahead of its peers in supporting open RAN with a commercial offering that will be available next year, could also help the Finnish vendor regain momentum following early challenges with its 5G portfolio.

SoftBank to offload most of T-Mobile US stake

Former Sprint parent company to give Deutsche Telekom the option to buy a further 101 million shares in T-Mobile US by June 2024.

Eurobites: Nokia gets the nod for Ireland's national broadband plan

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Irish coronavirus app poised for deployment; Sky Germany looks ahead; InCoax lands US MoCa deal.

Nokia is first big kit vendor to unveil O-RAN suite

Finnish kit vendor says a full set of O-RAN-compliant products will be ready in 2021, putting pressure on Ericsson and other traditional rivals.

COVID-19: What's next for the communications industry

CSPs must start planning for what comes next and the role they can play in helping societies and economies recover in the pandemic's aftermath.

Lowenstein: What happened to some hyped wireless projects?

Most of the news in the comms landscape is focused on 5G, Covid, broadband and CBRS. But I’ve been thinking about a host of initiatives that received quite a bit of attention and hype in their day but seem to have disappeared from view: LTE Broadcast; Globalstar’s TLPS; TV White Spaces; AT&T’s Project AirGig; T-Mobile’s TV Service; MulteFire; LightSquared/Ligado. Here’s an update on these projects, with my subjective call on their status.

Telia brings in some fresh executive talent

Swedish telco group is having a bit of a strategic rethink, so it has decided for a changing of the guard at the top table too.

UK psychologists make link between 5G conspiracy theorists and violence

Psychologists at Northumbria University believe they have provided the first scientific evidence between 5G COVID-19 conspiracy theories and violence towards the telecoms sector.

Report: U.S. networks out perform Europe's during COVID-19

U.S. fixed and mobile networks out-performed their European counterparts during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report.

Rakuten Mobile’s new U.S. general manager talks about her plans

Azita Arvani is heading up Rakuten Mobile’s new office in the United States, where the Japanese company plans to sell its Rakuten Communications Platform to operators in the Americas.

Verizon taps Ericsson, Nokia for DSS trials

Verizon announced that it has completed successful trials of dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) technology using low-band spectrum in Texas and Minnesota.

Nokia seeks to cut roughly 1,233 jobs in France

Nokia on Monday confirmed reports that it plans to cut roughly 1,233 jobs in France.

Windstream Wholesale inks network transport agreement with NCTC

Windstream Wholesale and the National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC) have signed a network transport agreement that gives NCTC's members preferred pricing and terms for Windstream's transport connections.

Qualcomm pitches 5G NR-U ahead of ratification

3GPP is expected to announce the completion of Release 16 early next month, making 5G NR in unlicensed spectrum, or 5G NR-U, another step closer to reality. 

COVID-19 drives uptick in BT's visibility-as-a-service offering

Now that some employees have moved back to their office spaces on a full or part-time basis, they want to take some of the work-from-home applications and services with them, according to BT's Adrian Comley.

Nokia set to cut over 1,000 jobs at Alcatel Lucent

Finnish kit vendor Nokia is going to cut 1,233 jobs at its Alcatel-Lucent subsidiary in France as part of its continued search for profitability.

UK security officials tell telcos to stock up on Huawei gear – report

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has reportedly written to UK telecoms operators suggesting stockpiles of Huawei equipment are developed in response to US sanctions.

FCC urges US telcos not to cut-off the poor

On June 30, the pledge to keep the US connected will end, with millions of citizens potentially facing a digital void unless bills are paid.

Corporate virtue-signalling starts to hit Facebook’s revenues

A coalition of political pressure groups has called for a companies to suspend advertising on all Facebook platforms, in protest over it hosting political messages they don’t like.

Nokia starts US C-Band trials as Intelsat begins to clear airwaves

While it won’t be until the end of 2023 until Intelsat has completely shifted operations out of the valuable 3.7-4 GHz spectrum band, slow progress is at least progress.

CenturyLink evolves its bare metal compute services

CenturyLink already sells bare metal compute services to enterprises, but it’s evolving the technology.

Converged SDN Transport Architecture

Traditional network architectures are comprised of networking layers that rely on line cards for service hand-off between the layers. This kind of layered architecture is highly inefficient as it consumes too much Capital Expenditure (CapEx) resources and relies on manual operations for service hand-off between the layers. Moreover, each networking layer has its own control and management planes associated with it, which operate independently from each other. This creates huge complexities in service assurance, fault correlation, path optimization in terms of network utilization, as well as network planning and optimization.

T-Mobile pulls in Sprint exec to oversee IoT

Ivo Rook is now SVP of IoT for T-Mobile, reporting to Dow Draper, T-Mobile's EVP of emerging products. Previously Rook was SVP of IoT and product development for Sprint.

Verizon will likely launch 5G in Baltimore next

Startup Aurora Insight, which operates mobile sensors that can geolocate transmitters in a specific area, picked up an unannounced mmWave 5G network from Verizon while scanning in Baltimore.

Nvidia Builds Top 10 AI Supercomputer in Less Than a Month

Nvidia today took the cloak of its first Ampere-based supercomputing cluster called Selene. The cluster was built in the month since the announcement of Nvidia’s new Ampere architecture and A100 artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators.

Daily Roundup: Is Cisco Zeroing In on Zero-Trust Security?

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Nokia, Samsung, Ericsson start salivating over 5G sales for C-band

Nokia, Samsung and Ericsson are beginning to preen and posture for operators' attention ahead of a C-band auction poised to generate billions of dollars in equipment sales.

Microsoft Buys IoT Security Startup CyberX

Microsoft confirmed it acquired IoT security startup CyberX as part of its pledge to invest $5 billion in IoT by 2022.

Discovery resets streaming team amid exit of top direct-to-consumer exec

Discovery said three execs will expand their roles amid the departure of Peter Faricy, a move that comes as the programmer looks to expand its streaming and direct-to-consumer efforts.

Charter asks FCC to drop restrictions on data caps, network peering deals

Citing the surge of OTT video and the need to create network efficiencies, Charter asks the FCC to sunset its prohibition on data caps and paid peering deals five years after its Time Warner Cable deal closed.

Deutsche Telekom Set to Spin Its IoT Biz

German telecom giant Deutsche Telekom is spinning off its IoT business that will soon host an IoT hub platform using standardized interfaces to ease the deployment of IoT applications and services.

Should India go for Wi-Fi 6 till 5G comes of age?

With India's 5G spectrum auction postponed till 2021, the commercial availability of the technology is at least 18-20 months away. Is the unlicensed 6GHz band for Wi-Fi the answer for the retail and enterprise markets?

Nokia Cuts French Jobs

Nokia today confirmed that it plans to cut 1,233 jobs in France, largely impacting research and development positions at its Alcatel-Lucent subsidiary. 

ZTE seeks another $6.8B in state bank credits

ZTE is applying for more state bank credits as it attempts to revive its business.

Nokia confirms plan to slash 1,233 jobs in France

Latest cuts in France come after the Finnish firm's annual report shows that 5,000 jobs disappeared across the entire business in 2019.

Germany's United Internet goes down Rakuten route with plan to build 5G network based on open RAN

Germany's new entrant aims to follow Rakuten's example, and indicates it is in advanced negotiations with three vendors.

India's Jio wants to test in-house 5G

The Indian service provider seems eager to construct 5G networks that are based at least partly on its own technical expertise.

Eurobites: Deutsche Telekom offers glimpse of 'world's first open IoT network'

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: UK government states the bleedin' obvious; telco capex in a time of COVID-19; Proximus offer Apple TV 4K.

Telia new broom makes sweeping management changes

After barely two months as CEO, Allison Kirkby overhauls the boardroom.