Rakuten Claims Open RAN Performance Gain Is Imminent

Rakuten Mobile this week dismissed critics that blame its uneven network performance on its open radio access network (RAN) infrastructure.

Headcount: Firings, Hirings, and Retirings — January 2021

Here are some of the latest executive hirings, promotions, and staff changes that happened in January. 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.

Biden Bolsters Open Source, Recruits Coders

The open source community is by no means a secret anymore, but its place in the broader technology ecosystem could gain a new round of accolades under the U.S. President Joe Biden administration.

6 GHz and Wi-Fi 6 create buzz in the Wi-Fi community

In the U.S., the FCC last year voted to open 1,200 megahertz of 6 GHz spectrum for unlicensed use, which is creating excitement and momentum in the Wi-Fi ecosystem.

States push for Lifeline protections in Verizon/TracFone deal

The attorneys general from 16 states and the District of Columbia sent a letter to the FCC urging the agency to request additional information from Verizon about its planned TracFone Wireless acquisition.

AT&T, FirstNet prepped for NFL championship

AT&T and FirstNet are ready as fans and first responders gear up for this Sunday’s NFL championship.

T-Mobile: 2020 best year yet with 5.5M postpaid net adds

T-Mobile’s success in the fourth quarter of 2020 was expected, as the operator previously announced 824,000 postpaid phone net adds, but it reported more metrics on Wednesday, saying 2020 was its best year yet.

Cisco TIPs into disaggregation across an optical vendor ecosyste

Cisco is among the vendors that have tossed their hats into the ring for the Telecom Infra Project's Phoenix project.

Rakuten Mobile’s got a math problem: Editor’s Corner

I’m a reporter, so by definition, I’m terrible at math. (I wasn’t always bad at math, but once I became a reporter and surrounded myself with people all saying that reporters are bad at math, I joined in that self-fulfilling prophecy).

Twitter expands its partnership with Google Cloud

Twitter and Google Cloud announced they have inked a multi-year partnership that includes using Google's machine learning to improve Twitter's data insights. Twitter is moving its offline analytics, data processing and machine learning (ML) workloads over to Google's Data Cloud as part of its cloud migration strategy.

Saddleback Communications wraps up FTTH build for SRPMIC

Members of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC) are now able to tap into broadband speeds of up to 500 Mbps thanks to a FTTH build.

TIM joins Euro OpenRAN fest

The last of the major European economies is now represented in an operator cabal created to do something or other about OpenRAN technology.

Most of Europe fails to enact new telecom rules

The vast majority of EU member states have failed to enact new telecoms legislation so the European Commission is taking action…

Ofcom removes Chinese propaganda outlet from British airwaves

The UK’s communications regulator has decided to revoke the licence to broadcast by the TV channel China Global Television Network, an overseas branch of China’s propaganda network.

Netherlands agrees to telcos going Dutch

Telecoms operators in the Netherlands may work together in various ways to speed up mobile network rollouts, according to new rules from the country’s competition body.

News bites: Adtran's big little customer mix

Also in this news roundup: Chunghwa is aiming to buy and build a lot of base stations to grow 5G in Taiwan, plus some other headlines.

Rakuten counts 15 international customers for communications platform

'These are not small customers. Some of them are very, very massive,' Rakuten's mobile networking chief Tareq Amin says of the buyers of the Rakuten Communications Platform (RCP).

Fortinet's OS facelift includes ZTNA, SD-WAN upgrades

Fortinet has added 300 new features to its operating system, including updates to ZTNA, SD-WAN, SASE and more.

Daily Roundup: Fortinet CEO Stakes Out SD-WAN Domination

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Some big RDOF winners lean away from fixed wireless

LTD Broadband – the top winner in the FCC's RDOF auction with a total of $1.3 billion in funding – said it will use fixed wireless for 0.1% of its network buildout.

Viasat drops more hints about super-capacity satellite

Company chairman predicts that ViaSat-4, currently in the design phase, could deliver up to 7 terabits per second.

Bitglass Boasts SASE Blitz With Fortinet, Other SD-WAN Vendors

Cloud security vendor Bitglass today announced a blitz of integrations with SD-WAN vendors Aruba, 128 Technology, Fortinet, and Silver Peak.

Open RAN no sure winner, but back it anyway, says UK report

A parliamentary report on 5G diversification reveals a political cluelessness about 5G technology and the road ahead.

WiCipedia: The workplace culture that creates 'hackathon queens'

This week in our WiC roundup: How the pandemic has affected various demographics at work; FirstBoard ensures board diversification; the importance of skill-based mentorship; and more.

Kuaishou debut shows Hong Kong IPOs are still on fire

Short video platform Kuaishou's $5.4 billion Hong Kong listing shows TikTok owner ByteDance there is still fizz in the IPO bottle.

Apple's data privacy changes continue to spark alarm

Plan by the iPhone maker to make it harder for apps to track user data prompts more companies to warn on potential business impact.

India's Bharti Airtel touts 5G network readiness

India's second-largest service provider, Bharti Airtel, claimed the network is ready for a quick launch of 5G services during the recent earnings call.

NTT DoCoMo weighing NTT Communications

Tight cost control drove NTT DoCoMo's profit in the first three quarters – and it's looking to further slash costs by acquiring affiliate NTT Communications.

RSA NetWitness XDR Adds AI Threat Hunting

RSA added cloud native analytics and machine learning engines to its NetWitness security platform to give the extended detection and response (XDR) an artificial intelligence (AI) threat hunting boost.

Starlink surpasses 10,000 users

Starlink user figure surfaces in FCC petition seeking to designate the satellite broadband service as an Eligible Telecommunications carrier following phase I of the RDOF auction.

Eurobites: TIM signs up to operators' open RAN fan club

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: TDC's earnings down, despite cost-cutting; Iliad bond raises €1.3 billion to help bankroll Play acquisition; Telenor, Intelsat add 4K channels.

Omnispace raises $60M to pursue ‘hybrid’ 5G network

D.C.-based Omnispace closed $60 million in equity financing to further develop its satellite-based service for 5G and IoT, which plans to leverage partnerships with mobile operator for the ground-based component of what it dubs a “global 5G hybrid mobile network.”

Nokia cites mobile progress but braces for challenges in 2021

Nokia reiterated expectations for a challenging year ahead as it works to implement a turnaround focused on its mobile networks. The Finnish vendor reported some bright spots in Q4, though net sales declined overall including its key networks business.

UK Parliament reckons having just two telecoms vendors isn’t great

Fresh from its stunning insights into the broadband market, UK Parliament has decided it’s time to fix the mobile sector.

Shentel to use wireless sale proceeds for special dividend

Shenandoah Telecommunications Company (Shentel) is exiting the wireless business that it entered as an affiliate of Sprint back in 1995, but that doesn’t mean it’s getting out of wireless entirely.

Virgin Media Business bolsters SASE security with Zscaler

Virgin Media Business has tapped cloud security vendor Zscaler to further beef up its SD-WAN and SASE capabilities for remote workers.

Colt tees up proof-of-concept trials on new network edge nodes

Colt Technology Services has booted up network edge nodes across five cities in order to kick the tires on next-gen applications and services.

Profits down spending up at BT

BT saw revenues and earnings decline in the nine months to the end of 2020, while spending on fixed and mobile network infrastructure increased.

Nokia unlikely to reward investors anytime soon

Finnish kit vendor Nokia reported flat sales in Q4 2020 and a decline for the full year, and its outlook indicates that trend is set to continue.

NYPA plans private LTE network for several use cases

New York Power Authority calls itself the energy of New York, and for the past several years the utility’s strategic energy has been decidedly digital. “Back in 2013 we embarked on a journey to become the first end-to-end digital utility,” said Ali Mohammed, director of NYPA’s digital transformation office. The first major step on that journey was building 700 miles of fiber optic infrastructure. A large portion of NYPA’s fiber network is in parts of the state that don’t have reliable cellular connectivity, and much of its transmission network covers similar terrain. So the next big step in the utility’s digital transformation will be a private wireless network.

Cellnex pays way more for French towers than KKR did two years ago

Cellnex is at it again. The Spanish infrastructure specialist has brokered a €5.2 billion deal to acquire Altice’s French towers portfolio which it plans to finance via a sizeable capital hike.

Huawei’s Harmony OS revealed to be an Android fork – what a surprise

An investigation has found little difference between Huawei’s in-house smartphone OS and Android, which it’s supposed to be replacing.

How SK Telecom is Monetizing the 5G Opportunity

The telecommunications industry has been talking about 5G for so long that it’s easy to forget 5G deployments are still in their infancy. The architectures have been painstakingly mapped out, the use cases thoroughly discussed, and the projections for revenue impact clearly outlined. The only question that remains unanswered for wireless operators is perhaps the most crucial question of all: Where are the best 5G revenue opportunities for our business right now?

T-Mobile's 5G customers consume 15% more data than 4G subs

T-Mobile said its lowband 5G service, covering around 280 million people, is roughly twice as fast as its 4G network. The operator's midband 5G offering provides peak speeds up to 1 Gbit/s.

Clearfield CEO on wading out of the mire of middle management

In part two of this Mentor Spotlight series, Light Reading's Women in Comms caught up with Clearfield President and CEO Cheri Beranek to discuss how far the needle is moving for women in telecom who are interested in historically male-dominated roles.

T-Mobile Kicks 5G ‘Network Machine’ Into Overdrive

The wind in T-Mobile US’ sails is a long-duration breeze, not a short burst gust or squall. The operator, following its long and hard fought battle to acquire Sprint in 2020, closed the year with sustained performance and an outlook that puts it markedly ahead of AT&T and Verizon. 

Fortinet Foresees SD-WAN Dominance, Post Q4 Earnings Beat

Fortinet beat Wall Street’s expectations and reported double-digit fourth quarter and full-year 2020 revenue growth. On an earnings call with investors, Fortinet founder and CEO Ken Xie said his company’s secure networking approach drove its Q4 success, and he expects the company’s Secure SD-WAN to become a market leader “within a few years.”

BT hits Q3 turbulence, but Captain Jansen says all under control

Despite severe COVID-19 headwinds, BT CEO says it was all expected and reiterates full-year outlook.

Can fixed wireless leverage rural successes into urban expansions?

Already around 7 million Americans use fixed wireless Internet services. But they're mainly in rural areas. Can providers expand into suburban and urban areas to capture a $20 billion opportunity?

Operators debate whether to stick with DOCSIS or upgrade to FTTP

Schurz Broadband Group is among those weighing what to do with their HFC networks amid competition that's already delivering symmetrical gigabit services.

Xilinx to Power Fujitsu 5G O-RAN Gear

Xilinx will supply its chip architecture to Fujitsu to power that vendor’s open radio access network (O-RAN) 5G radio units for deployment in the U.S. The move further embeds Xilinx into the still evolving O-RAN space.

Cellnex market power grows with new €5.2B deal

The Spanish infrastructure firm will own about one half of the mobile sites in France. That should prompt concern about competition.

Nokia Pins Bulk of 5G Recovery on Challenging 2021

Nokia’s overhaul is beginning to steady some areas of the business, and new CEO Pekka Lundmark said he expects to regain 5G competitiveness by 2022. 

Daily Roundup: IBM Gifts $3M for School Security

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Having bagged bandwidth, Orange launches nine 5G labs

As anti-5G sentiment keeps Europe's rollout behind the US and Asia, Orange announces nine 5G use-case labs to build on last year's big bandwidth wins.

Swisscom maintains a steady course in 2020

Swiss operator remains in cautious mode for 2021, predicting flat revenue and core earnings for the year.

SoftBank lifts forecasts after strong COVID-19 performance

SoftBank Corp has raised its full-year forecasts after an unexpectedly strong performance during the pandemic.

ADVA MicroMux Pluggable Aggregator Targets Data Center, Edge

ADVA today expanded its MicroMux family of pluggables with the launch of two news models designed to ease the adoption of higher speed network interfaces in the data center and at the edge.

Bharti Airtel's focus on quality finally turns a profit

India's second-largest service provider, Bharti Airtel, continues to gain momentum, with a return to profitability after reporting six quarters of loss.

Can Cisco AppDynamics Unite Security Teams and Developers?

Cisco moved into application security with a new AppDynamics integration to help developers and security teams detect vulnerabilities in production and automatically block attacks.

VMware Drives Developer-Ready Updates Into Cloud Foundation

VMware dumped a ton of updates into its Cloud Foundation software stack including S3-compatible object storage support and enhanced scaling capabilities that company executives say will make the platform developer-ready to build cloud-native applications.

Podcast – The Divide: How Starry connects cord cutters and the underserved

This week: Virginia Lam Abrams, senior vice president of Government Affairs and Strategic Advancement at alternative broadband provider Starry.

Eurobites: Lawmakers fret over UK's tech strategy

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Jordan's Umniah taps Ericsson; Swisscom slips up in Switzerland, makes hay in Italy with Fastweb; 5G on the waterfront, again.

NTT DoCoMo Leads Enterprise-Focused 5G Group

Japanese telecom giant NTT DoCoMo is headlining a new enterprise-focused 5G group targeted at providing a unified deployment and marketing package for private 5G networks across the Asia-Pacific region.

Nokia faces a long road to mobile recovery

The Finnish equipment vendor expects a 'significant' fall in mobile sales this year but sees the green shoots of recovery.

IBM Gifts $3M to Boost School Cybersecurity

IBM today said it will award $3 million in grants to help public schools boost their cybersecurity efforts. The grants, valued at $500,000 each, will go to six U.S. school districts and be delivered via IBM’s Service Corps Program to help the districts proactively prepare for and respond to cyberattacks.

Facebook’s open mobile packet core project to reside at Linux

The open source project Magma, which has developed mobile core network software, is coming under the management of the Linux Foundation.

Charter President and COO Bickham to retire at the end of 2022

Charter Communications President and COO John Bickham will ride off into the sunset when he retires at the end of 2022. To date, Bickham has spent 35 years in the cable industry with additional stops at Time Warner Cable and Cablevision before the latter was bought by Altice USA.

Kerravala: How SD-WAN is transforming manufacturing operations

The manufacturing industry is undergoing a transformation to becoming more digital. The Internet of Things (IoT) is making factories smarter, supply chains are becoming more agile, and key applications are moving to the cloud. With additional challenges created by COVID-19, more than ever manufacturing needs reliable, high-performance, secure networks to support remote sites and apps scattered globally across multiple clouds.

SBA pays $973M to lease PG&E electric towers for wireless gear

Tower company SBA Communications has struck a $973 million deal to buy license agreements from Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E). The license agreements apply to over 700 towers, which PG&E currently leases to wireless providers under 100-year leases.

China’s anti-trust authorities march to beat of own drum

As China has become a major global economy and grows more assertive on the global stage, the country has discovered the power of anti-trust legislation. While created on three common pillars of fighting anti-competitive agreements between companies, the abuse of a dominant position, and mergers that may eliminate or restrict competition, the implementation is increasingly different.

Lumen, VMware team up on innovation lab to drive edge computing

In order to accelerate the use of edge computing, remote work and security capabilities, Lumen and VMware are forming a Joint Innovation Lab.

Google Cloud's revenue continues to grow, but losses mount

Alphabet is pouring billions into boosting Google Cloud as it works to close the gap on AWS and Microsoft Azure, but the results have been mixed.

Ofcom tries to make broadband switching even easier

UK telecoms regulator Ofcom reckons it’s still too much of a hassle to switch broadband providers, which results in people paying more than they need to.

BT polishes its Halo in latest convergence push

BT has launched the latest iteration of its home broadband and WiFi product, BT Halo 3+, as it focuses its efforts to get ahead of the game in convergence in the UK.

AWS' Jassy to helm Amazon as Bezos steps aside from CEO role

After 27 years of leading Amazon, founder Jeff Bezos will step away as CEO of the company on July 1 to be replaced AWS CEO Andy Jassy. The move, which is slated for Amazon's fiscal third quarter, will also include Bezos becoming executive vice chairman.

Amazon faces a great reset as Jeff Bezos does a Bill Gates

Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of internet giant Amazon, has decided it’s time to step back and spend more time with his other projects.

AT&T borrows $14.7 billion to buy spectrum

AT&T has entered into a loan agreement worth US$14.7 billion with Bank of America as it seeks to raise money for what looks set to be a hefty bill from the ongoing C-band spectrum auction.

Post Office offloads broadband business

The UK Post Office has sold its broadband business to Shell Energy Retail for an undisclosed sum.

HFR, Inc. Announces my5G™, Standalone Whole Network for Private Wireless

HFR, Inc., the leading ICT company in Korea, announced availability of a pre-integrated private 5G standalone whole network. This 3GPP R15-compliant package includes key components such as vCore, vCU/DU, indoor and outdoor RUs, plus an integrated CPE and business management platform.

The great 5G land grab gets complicated

SBA is leasing space on thousands of structures owned by utility PG&E for a period of 100 years. It's an example of the increasingly complicated market for vertical real estate.

Omniverse awarded $50M in suit against HovSat

But chances that Omniverse will be able to collect any of that money seems remote given that the purported owner of HovSat remains an elusive figure.

Extreme Networks Broadens Cloud, Eyes 5G Opportunities

Extreme Networks is no longer just a wireless and LAN switching business, it’s a cloud networking company, CEO Ed Meyercord told SDxCentral in a recent interview.

Amazon’s Leadership Change Signals Cloud-Centric Future

Jeff Bezos is joining an exclusive club of tech heavyweight founders that left the CEO position earlier than expected. Among the world’s most powerful tech companies — Amazon is currently the third-most valuable company in the world — only a few are still run by their founders.

Daily Roundup: Google Cloud Lost Billions in Q4

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Comcast delays charging data overage fees in the Northeast

Agreement with the Pennsylvania Attorney General postpones data-related overage charges until July, and enters the frame after Comcast faced mounting pressure from lawmakers in the region.

Podcast: Orange injects AI and automation into supply chain management

Orange Business Services joins the podcast to discuss how AI, automation and RPA can improve supply chain management for the operator's customers.

Verizon escalates interoperability battle with AT&T, FirstNet, others

Verizon is preparing to mount a public relations campaign against AT&T, FirstNet and others over the topic of interoperability. Caught in the middle are millions of public safety customers.

Hyundai’s Kia latest focus of Apple self-driving car rumors

Local report suggests that Apple and Kia are set to sign a $3.4 billion deal on February 17.

How Health Care CISOs Can Fight Ransomware

Health care CISOs, in addition to dealing with a deadly pandemic, faced unprecedented cyberattacks in 2020 as hackers looked to cash in on the COVID-19 induced chaos.

5G and new businesses drive SK Telecom profit

Growth in 5G and its non-mobile businesses have helped SK Telecom to a 21.8% spike in full-year operating profit.

Verizon escalates interoperability battle with AT&T, FirstNet

Verizon is preparing to mount a public relations campaign against AT&T and FirstNet over the topic of interoperability. Caught in the middle are millions of public safety customers.

Vodafone plans one-for-all European strategy to boost profits

The UK operator will stop developing products and platforms for individual markets as it tries to slash costs, speed up service launches and attract partners.

Can Biden’s Climate Plan Beef Up Clean Tech Investments?

Green is the new greed on Wall Street, or about to be, as the new Biden administration is poised to unleash a wave of climate and clean energy reforms.

Charter, Comcast beef up biz services play with Cisco's Meraki

Charter taps Cisco's platform for modular, national service offering for SMB and enterprise customers, while Comcast uses it to expand on its new teleworker product.

Ads spell strongest quarter in years for Alphabet

Christmas shopping boosted Google's ad revenues by 23%, its best quarter in years, but it still has a way to go to turn a profit out of the cloud.

Eurobites: Telia teams with Nokia, Digita for private networks push

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: BT launches 'unbreakable' Wi-Fi; Sparkle supplies voice services to EU satnav agency; Mobily extends billing deal with CSG.

Veeam Adds Google Support, Completes Public Cloud Trifecta

Veeam rounded out its public cloud support today with the launch of Veeam Backup Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Extending support to GCP secures the trifecta of major public cloud platforms included within Veeam’s offerings.

T-Mobile turns on 2.5 GHz, 39 GHz ahead of Super Bowl LV

T-Mobile is prepped for Super Bowl LV this Sunday, having bolstered the Tampa area with mid-band spectrum for 5G and bringing all three “layers” of the carrier’s 5G to Raymond James Stadium.

T-Mobile to buy Shentel wireless assets for $1.95B

T-Mobile and Shenandoah Telecommunications Company (Shentel) settled their dispute over the purchase price of Shentel’s wireless assets, with the final price coming in at $1.95 billion.

AT&T secures $14.7B loan, probably for C-band

Rumors that AT&T was shopping for a loan to pay for C-band spectrum have proven true. AT&T filed an SEC Form 8-K, indicating that it has secured a $14.7 billion term loan credit with Bank of America. AT&T’s new loan is available for a single draw at any time before May 29, 2021 with maturity coming one year after borrowing.

AT&T to pilot 5G for healthcare with U.S. Veterans Affairs

AT&T has installed a 5G distributed antenna system across (DAS) the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Puget Sound Health Care System, with plans to pilot healthcare applications using mobile edge compute.

Comcast doubles download speed of its Internet Essentials tier

Starting March 1, Comcast Internet Essential subscribers will be getting a large speed increase at no additional cost. Comcast will double the downstream speed of its Internet Essential tier to 50 Mbps while the upload speed is set to increase from 3 Mbps to 5 Mbps.

Aryaka racks-up several multi-million deals in EMEA region

During the pandemic, Aryaka has landed several multi-million dollar contracts with customers across the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. Among those deals, Aryaka reeled in a $10 million subscription contract with a company in the financial services sector.

FCC, NTIA support NSF spectrum research initiative

The past few years have seen government agencies fight over spectrum policies, but the FCC and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) both have agreed to support the Spectrum Innovation Initiative by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Comcast Business broadens reach of Teleworker VPN with Cisco

In order to better connect enterprise customers with their remote workers, Comcast Business has added Cisco Meraki into its Teleworker VPN portfolio.

Windstream gears up to break ground on FTTH RDOF build outs

Windstream CEO Tony Thomas is confident his company can meet its RDOF requirements for building out FTTH internet to unserved rural areas over the next six years.  But Thomas was skeptical about some of the other big winners in the Federal Communications Commission's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) reverse auction that were announced in December.

Vodafone has first go at Nokia 100G PON tech

Nokia Bell Labs has only gone and found a way to deliver 100 Gbps on a single Passive Optical Network wavelength.

French football rights failure suggests content clamour could be cooling

France’s football governing body has failed to sell off a premium packages of content rights to top-flight games, not due to lack of interest, but because the interested parties declined to meet its reserve price.

Ford goes all-in on Google

US automotive giant Ford is not only making all its cars Android-native, it’s also betting its corporate future on Google Cloud.

Charter shares $5 billion broadband plan and pole concerns

Charter Communications has outlined plans to spend US$5 billion on the rollout of gigabit broadband to 1 million or more customers in unserved areas, with a quarter of the funding coming from the government.

AWS chief Jassy to succeed Bezos as Amazon CEO

Bezos says move will let him pour more energy into projects such as the Day 1 Fund, The Washington Post and the space-faring Blue Origin program.

Dwayne Benefield exits T-Mobile, heads to Telus

Benefield, an exec who helped pull together T-Mobile's new TVision streaming product, has joined the Canada-based service provider as SVP of Connected Home and Entertainment.

AWS Revenue Swells 28% to $12.7B in Q4

Amazon stressed the importance of its cloud business in dramatic fashion today, elevating the leader of Amazon Web Services (AWS) to run the entire company.

Google Cloud Revenue Soared 47%, Still Lost Billions in Q4

Google’s cloud business reported an operating loss of $5.61 billion last year on $13.06 billion in revenue for 2020.

Omnispace raises $60M to beam 5G from space

With backing from the likes of Fortress Investment Group and Columbia Capital, Omnispace wants to build a global 5G network with its 2GHz spectrum using both satellites and terrestrial cell towers.

AWS’ Andy Jassy to Replace Jeff Bezos at Amazon

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is stepping down. The company today announced that Amazon Web Services (AWS) CEO Andy Jassy will take over this summer as Bezos transitions to an executive chair role on the company’s board.

Daily Roundup: Arista Dives Deeper Into Security

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Cohere CEO: New product, customer names coming this year

Startup Cohere Technologies was founded in 2011. Today, the company's CEO said it is 'very well funded into the future' and should begin naming operator customers this year.

Facing down the China 5G challenge: Don't panic

China's 5G market has some big numbers, but the country may struggle to execute its strategy.

Will Biden Break Up Big Tech?

The past year saw the call to break up big tech companies go from a political talking point to action, culminating in the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filling an antitrust suit against Facebook aimed at reversing the company’s acquisition of WhatsApp and Instagram. And now with a new president at the helm, the question becomes: is Facebook just the beginning?

T-Mobile buys 1.1M Shentel customers for $1.95B

After an evaluation of Shentel's wireless business, T-Mobile agreed to acquire the company's 1.1 million customers for $1.95 billion.

Telenor Q4 hit by COVID-19 disruption in Asia

Heavy exposure in Asia takes its toll on the top line, but Oslo-based operator predicts 'gradual recovery' in the region during H2 2021.

Comcast Tackles Remote Work With Cisco Meraki

Comcast Business will deploy Cisco Meraki VPN gateways in remote worker’s homes as part of the network operator’s newly unveiled Teleworker VPN program.

Eurobites: Telefónica boss tells regulators to get with the 5G program

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Nokia and Vodafone tout 100G technology; Orange explains the point of 5G; Aryaka notches wins; who's using 5G in the UK?

Singtel partners Azure as public clouds continue edge advance

The latest edge tie-up between an operator and a US technology giant should worry the telecom sector.

Arista Dives Deeper Into Security Market With Zero Trust, Group Segmentation

Arista Networks pushed further into the security market with group segmentation and a zero-trust framework.

Is Biden’s $10B Enough to Make US Cybersecurity Great Again?

President Joe Biden made cybersecurity a top priority for his administration even before he took office last month.

Tele2 CEO sees no return to business as usual for now

Sweden-based operator expresses cautious confidence as the pandemic continues to hamper business growth.

Vestberg chairs Edison Alliance to close global digital divide

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has created the Edison Alliance to mobilize the global telecom ecosystem with the aim of closing the digital divide. And Verizon’s CEO Hans Vestberg will be the first chairman of the Edison Alliance board.

SKT starts looking into flying cars

Autonomous vehicles are so 2020 and the cools kids are all about the Urban Air Mobility these days.

Telefonica’s O2 trials open RAN with NEC using Altiostar

Telefónica’s O2 completed an open RAN trial on the mobile operator’s core network in the U.K., with NEC acting as system integrator to design a customized architecture that used Altiostar vRAN software.

Dish strikes tower deal with Vertical Bridge

Dish Network struck its second tower deal, this one with Vertical Bridge, which will give Dish immediate access to Vertical Bridge's portfolio of towers, rooftops, utility transmission structures, billboards, convenience stores and other sites used for wireless infrastructure. 

Verizon makes $80M investment leading up to Super Bowl LV

The Super Bowl traditionally is a time to showcase new tech, and this year is no exception. The pandemic is putting a focus on the virtual experiences for fans of the big game.

Ford hitches its cloud wagon to Google for connected vehicles

Google and Ford announced a six-year partnership that included naming Google as Ford's preferred cloud provider. In addition to cloud computing, Ford will also tap into Google's artificial intelligence, software and applications such as Google Assistant and Google Maps.

Lumen teams up with SAP to offer SAP HANA in the cloud for SMEs

In order to help simplify cloud services for small and medium-sized enterprises, SAP has teamed up with Lumen to offer SAP HANA on Lumen's cloud platform.

Charter splashes some details on its rural fiber build outs

With the RDOF quiet period ending on Friday, Charter is spilling some details on its multi-year rural broadband deployment plans across 24 states that will be fueled by a $5 billion investment.

Telia to monetise tower assets, expand network-sharing

Telia has put its M&A chief in charge of a new business unit that will house its tower assets and is actively looking for investors for the entity.

Xiaomi inevitably sues US over blacklisting

The US belatedly added Chinese gadget giant Xiaomi to its list of dodgy companies a couple of weeks ago, forcing it to call in the lawyers.

TIM calls for investors to share FTTH cost burden

TIM is pushing ahead with plans to roll out fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) in urban areas of Italy through its new FiberCop unit, via a shared investment model.

O2 UK chooses NEC for OpenRAN trial

Following the decision of parent company Telefónica to follow Rakuten’s lead on OpenRAN, O2 UK completed a trial of the new tech in partnership with NEC.

The 3G shutdown and how to minimize the impact on your busines

A disruption in cellular service can cost businesses millions of dollars and cause numerous issues across a wide-range of industries, as revenue-generating, business-critical, and even life-critical devices in the field are unable to communicate.  Imagine loss of connectivity for a security system that is now unable to notify the police, utility meters that can no longer transmit billing data, medical devices that cannot send patient information to their doctors, or an automobile that can no longer request assistance in case of an accident.

Opening Up ORAN

With the advent of 5G and the Internet of Things (IoT), the pressure on wireless networks is growing exponentially. But expansion is expensive and many operators are looking at options for open and virtualized RAN (ORAN, vRAN). At cell sites and data centers around the world, the RAN is being disaggregated into virtualized, cloud-optimized units. Rakuten has successfully launched ORAN while Dish has also committed to deploying ORAN.  Telefonica Deutschland Deutschland has launched an ORAN pilot project and initial estimates are that the ability to select from a larger range of providers rather than dependency on traditional RAN vendors could cut radio network costs by 30 percent going forward.

Xiaomi sues US to reverse Trump blacklisting

Facing a late Trump-era blacklisting, Xiaomi sues the US Defense and Treasury to reverse its designation as a Chinese Communist military company.

CTIA Claims 5G Could Create 4.6M New US Jobs

5G networks will create up to 4.6 million jobs and contribute as much as $1.7 trillion to the U.S. economy by 2030, according to a new report.

Harmonic 'CableOS' rollouts rise to 44 customers, 2.6M cable modems

Vendor says pace of rollouts is picking up, but current deployments represent just 5% of the cable modems served by its initial customers.

Verizon's new 3G shutdown target: January 1, 2023

In 2016, Verizon said it planned to shutter its 3G network on December 31, 2019. Now the carrier believes it will be finished with that effort no later than January 1, 2023.

Daily Roundup: Cybersecurity Set for Post-Pandemic Push

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 newsletters to get these stories in your inbox.

Ciena Lights the Way for Vietnam’s FPT Telecom

Vietnam-based network operator FPT Telecom today tapped Ciena’s coherent optics to power its modernization efforts.

IoT Clock Turned Back by COVID-19

The COVID-19 crisis has delayed or otherwise diminished plans and aspirations aplenty, IoT notwithstanding.

O2 Touts Open RAN Trial Success

United Kingdom-based operator O2 touted the successful completion of an open radio access network O-RAN trial with its network vendors NEC, Altiostar, GigaTera Communications, and Supermicro. The trial builds on what has been a strong push by operators to advance the Open RAN ecosystem.

5G action gathers pace in India

The Indian government has tweaked policy to expedite the launch of 5G, reducing notice from one year to six months to offer new spectrum technology.

Eurobites: Telia, DNA extend shared Finnish network

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: O2 nears mobile agreement with Sky; CBNG appoints new CTO; the sound of ancient phones.

Charter plans $5B broadband expansion to 1M+ locations

Charter said it would hire 2,000 contractors and employees to facilitate the buildout, but says speed of the deployment will hinge on how rapidly it can clear pole permitting and other 'external factors.'

Ericsson calls for 'tech neutrality' after telco open RAN pleas

Predictably enough, the Swedish equipment vendor thinks Europe should focus on mainstream 5G. It has a point.

Why Verizon keeps promoting 5G at the Super Bowl

Although Verizon's overall 5G strategy has been mostly corona'ed, there are plenty of reasons for the company to continue pushing its '5G Built Right' advertising campaign.

SDxCentral’s Top 10 Articles — January 2021

Check out our top 10 articles for January 2021 covering the SDxCentral universe of SDN, NFV, and related topics. Rankings are based on unique visitors aggregated during the month.

Italy's TIM seeks co-investors to share cost of FTTH

Telecom Italia unveils co-investment plan ahead of FiberCop launch, as the last-mile network grid waits for a verdict by Italy's competition authority.

Cybersecurity Primed for Post-Pandemic Push

COVID-19 forced a lot of changes in the way we work, learn, and socialize, but perhaps one of the most long-lasting effects post-pandemic will be the increased focus on — and investment in — cybersecurity.

Biden Sticks to Nuanced Hardline on Telecom Policy

Changes abound as power changes hands at the uppermost levels of the U.S. government, but the broad stroke of policies that impact telecommunications and technology will be less weighty.

Myanmar military shuts down Internet

Myanmar's military cut off much of the nation's connectivity after they rounded up civilian leaders in the early hours of Monday morning.

Telefónica tightens open RAN connections with NEC

Spanish giant's open RAN trial in the UK leans heavily on NEC's system integration capabilities and ecosystem partners (just like it does in Germany).