Saturday, November 07, 2020

Headcount: Firings, Hirings, and Retirings — October 2020

Here are some of the latest executive hirings, promotions, and staff changes that happened in August. If you’d like SDxCentral to report on your company’s movers and shakers, or if you’ve got a tip about layoffs and restructuring, please send the information to Sydney Sawaya (ssawaya@sdxcentral.com) for inclusion in the monthly headcount column.

Friday, November 06, 2020

AT&T puts some diversity at head of its board: Editor’s Corner

Today, AT&T’s board of directors named William Kennard to serve as its new chairman, replacing Randall Stephenson as chairman effective January 2021. Kennard will serve as an independent chairman, which means he’s not also the CEO of the company. Kennard’s been on AT&T’s board of directors since 2014, where he currently serves on the corporate governance and nominating committee and the public policy and corporate reputation committee.

Windstream names former Lightower CEO to its board

Windstream has added in-depth institutional fiber knowledge to its board of directors with the recent appointment Rob Shanahan. Shanahan was president and CEO of Lightower Fiber Networks for 17 years before it was sold to Crown Castle for $7.1 billion in cash three years ago.

Emerging technologies win big at the 2020 Glotel Awards

The spoils were shared evenly at this year’s Global Telecoms Awards, but emerging technologies such as OpenRAN caught the eyes of the judges. You can see the full list of winners below and find that only one company one more than once – last year’s big winner SK Telecom – which grabbed the ‘best operator’ […]

Thursday, November 05, 2020

T-Mobile reports record 1.9M net adds in Q3

During a quarter where there wasn’t a lot of customer switching going on between carriers – and there’s an international pandemic – T-Mobile reported its highest ever number of postpaid net additions, coming in at 1,979,000. Total net additions were just over 2 million.

T-Mobile told to tone down some post-merger claims

Some of T-Mobile’s claims about network prowess due to its merger with Sprint are OK in the eyes of the National Advertising Division (NAD), but the organization recommended T-Mobile modify other claims that made it sound as if certain benefits were imminent for most customers.

Greenblatt: Wireless purchase experience improves through Covid

While it is one thing to muddle through and simply meet the minimal demands and expectations of customers through difficult times, the wireless industry has gone several steps beyond this performance in a year like no other. The wireless industry -- as a whole -- has managed to actually elevate the experience of consumers who have purchased new phones and subscribed to new services through the COVID-19 pandemic. 

ZTE launches new Bug Bounty Programs

23 October 2020, Shenzhen, China - ZTE Corporation (0763.HK / 000063.SZ), a major international provider of telecommunications, enterprise and consumer technology solutions for the Mobile Internet, today has launched new Bug Bounty Programs to encourage security researchers and organizations worldwide to identify vulnerabilities in ZTE’s products and services. ZTE Bug Bounty Programs cover four categories of products, specifically, the web application system including core applications and general applications, the wireline, the wireless, as well as the terminal such as mobile internet products.  The wireline refers to fixed network optical access products, fixed network multi-service access networks (MSAN), fixed network terminals, and multi-media products while the wireless includes cloud core networks and wireless networks.  In case that there is a potential security vulnerability with  ZTE’s product or service as listed above, researchers or organizations can submit a report via email to ZTE PSIRT (Product Security Incident Response Team) at psirt@zte.com.cn.  If the submitted vulnerability meets the awarding criteria specified in the bug bounty programs, the reporter may receive a bounty award in accordance with the program terms. As an advocate for transparency and openness, ZTE has been committed to continuously improving the security of products and services, so as to provide users with a secure and reliable service experience.  For further details, please check here.

Wednesday, November 04, 2020

Oracle Flies Overall Leader Flag Over AWS Camp

Oracle gained new bragging rights in its ongoing cloud war against Amazon Web Services (AWS). The latest KuppingerCole Analysts report, Leadership Compass: Enterprise Databases in the Cloud, ranks Oracle Autonomous Database the “overall leader” in product and innovation. However, AWS maintains market leadership.

IBM Managed Security Services Tops Global Market Rankings

IBM won the coveted “leader” title in IDC and Forrester’s latest global managed security services market reports, narrowly coming out on top of Accenture in IDC’s MarketScape and beating several tier-one operators’ managed security arms including AT&T Cybersecurity, CenturyLink, NTT, and Telefónica’s ElevenPaths.

IBM Hoists Umbrella Cloud Platform for 5G Operators

IBM today hoisted a new umbrella for its open, hybrid cloud technology targeting 5G network operators. IBM Cloud for Telecommunications organizes and repackages multiple IBM services — Red Hat OpenShift, IBM Cloud, IBM Edge Application Manager, and IBM Telco Network Cloud Manager — into what IBM describes as a more “holistic hybrid cloud offering” for mobile carriers. 

T-Mobile settles Sprint Lifeline investigation for $200M

The FCC on Wednesday announced that T-Mobile will pay a $200 million penalty to the U.S. Treasury to settle an investigation into Sprint’s misuse of the federal Lifeline program for collecting federal subsidies for inactive users. According to the FCC, the penalty is the largest ever fixed-amount settlement it has secured to resolve an investigation.

CCA, others urge FCC to take new look at 12 GHz band

They’ve said it before and they’re saying it again. A group of diverse stakeholders, including the Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) and Public Knowledge, is urging the FCC to move forward with a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to consider making 500 megahertz of spectrum available in the 12 GHz band for 5G.

BT Group hits 100% renewable electricity milestone globally

BT Group announced that its network, offices and shops worldwide are now powered by 100% renewable electricity. BT, which says it's the joint-largest purchaser of electricity in the U.K, plans to run its global operations on renewable energy wherever markets allow, and purchase the remainder from nearby markets until local solutions can be sourced.

Etheric Networks plans use of CBRS spectrum for fixed wireless

Etheric Networks, a provider of fixed wireless access (FWA) in the San Francisco Bay Area, secured 21 priority access licenses (PALs) in the recent FCC auction of CBRS spectrum. It got licenses in seven counties that span a mix from rural regions to upscale areas near San Jose and the Los Altos hills. The company spent about $367,000 for its PALs.

Tuesday, November 03, 2020

Stressing out about the network

How are the carriers adapting to address the network stressors brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic? They are simplifying, automating and aiming for the fully virtualized, cloud-native network.

Intel's AI Passion Erupts in Buying Spree

The fires of Intel’s AI ambition were stoked once again today with the acquisition of Israeli machine learning startup Cnvrg.io. The news comes less than a week after Intel signaled its intent to acquire U.S.-based artificial intelligence (AI) modeling company SigOpt.

Daily Roundup: Dish Sidesteps 5G Timeline

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.

Amazon Teases Image Registry to Duck Docker

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is set to circumvent a recently instituted fee structure put in place by Docker Inc. that will allow developers to share and deploy container images publicly to construct their applications.

Boingo wins DAS contract with SDSU

San Diego State University (SDSU) awarded 15-year distributed antenna system (DAS) rights to Boingo Wireless to build, operate and maintain a 5G-ready, neutral host cellular DAS network for the university’s new Aztec Stadium, which is due to be completed for the 2022 football season.

Monday, November 02, 2020

Hopes fade for a cell tower boom

Companies like Crown Castle and SBA Communications still expect to derive growth from catalysts like Dish Network's 5G plans and the C-band auction. But the timing remains somewhat unclear.

Daily Roundup: Arista Aims for Cisco

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.

Amazon Amps Up Cloud With Nvidia A100s

Nvidia’s top-shelf GPUs have arrived on Amazon Web Services (AWS). The cloud provider announced this week the general availability of its P4d instances, powered by Nvidia’s Ampere-based A100 GPUs.

Intel Wins Dish Open RAN Deal

Intel this week won its first open radio access network (RAN) compliant deal, landing an agreement with Dish Network to provide multiple pieces of hardware and its FlexRAN software reference architecture to the greenfield 5G network operator. 

Dish offers DoD a slice of its 5G network

At a time when most of the wireless industry is questioning the intentions behind the Department of Defense’s (DoD) recent Request for Information (RFI) about 5G, Dish Network told the DoD that it’s first-of-a-kind network can offer the DoD a network slice for its domestic operations.

Rakuten Mobile user experience dragged down by roaming

Rakuten Mobile users experienced better quality on the operator’s own network in Japan compared to roaming on others, according to new analysis from Tutela. The report suggests throttling while roaming on au’s network dragged down Rakuten’s consistent quality score.  

AT&T wraps up sale of Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands assets

AT&T announced it has completed the sale of its wireless and wireline operations in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to Liberty Latin America. The deal, which was first announced over a year ago, gave AT&T's coffers a $1.95 billion cash infusion, which it said would be used to redeem all of the preferred interests in a subsidiary (PR Holdings).

Casa takes on network equipment giants in private wireless

Casa Systems has found its foothold in wireless, and now it’s ready to go toe-to-toe with the likes of Ericsson and Nokia. The Massachusetts company has been a longtime supplier of network equipment for cable operators, but as that market has slowed, Casa has turned its attention to wireless network equipment. On its most recent earnings call, the company said wireless revenue now exceeds cable revenue, adding that it recently introduced high-power 5G millimeter wave customer premise equipment. The 5G antenna was developed in partnership with fixed wireless access specialist NetComm, which Casa recently acquired. 

AT&T teams up with IBM to connect hybrid cloud to MEC

AT&T and IBM have teamed up to offer hybrid cloud services at the mobile network edge for enterprises in order to give them right-sized solutions. AT&T has turned its network core into a software virtual network function that can work with IBM's Satellite Cloud platform to deliver services and applications to enterprises through AT&T's multi-access edge network (MEC.)

Private equity firm pays $8.1B to buy Wave, RCN, enTouch, Grande

Wave, RCN, Grande and enTouch have passed from one private-equity firm to another with Sunday's news that they were sold for $8.1 billion. The U.S. cable operator group, collectively known as Astound Broadband, was sold by TPG Capital and Patriot Media Management to Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners for $8.1 billion, including debt. The deal appears to be the largest private equity acquisition this year in the U.S.

Sunday, November 01, 2020

Which Tech Firms Dropped $83M on 2020 Elections?

The presidential election that’s caused so much anxiety and vitriol is finally here. When the dust settles, hopefully sooner than later, more than $14 billion will have been spent across U.S. presidential and congressional campaigns during this election cycle, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

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