Canada belatedly bans Chinese vendors from its 4G and 5G networks

US neighbour Canada is the last of the ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence alliance to formally ban Chinese vendors from its mobile networks.

Inmarsat tunes up Orchestra to tackle network congestion

UK-based satellite firm Inmarsat has completed trials of the terrestrial element of its Orchestra network, the portion designed to ease congestion in busy shipping ports.

RCS could be finally justifying its existence

Much-maligned Rich Communication Services (RCS) are said to be proving their worth to advertisers.

North American smartphone shipments are a lot healthier than China’s

Smartphone shipments in North America clocked in at 39 million units in Q1 2022, contrasting with Chinese figures which have taken a nosedive.

Dish boosts fibre offer with AT&T deal

Dish Network is boosting its fixed Internet service portfolio via a new distribution deal with AT&T that will allow it to extend its fibre reach.

AT&T taps Ericsson’s Cradlepoint for managed wireless WAN service

US telco giant AT&T aims to capitalise on the growth of hybrid working with the launch of a wireless WAN service.

Orange extends phone recycling scheme across Europe

French telco group Orange is expanding its ‘Re’ scheme, which provides phone recycling, refurbishment, repairs and returns, across all the European regions it operates in.

Zero Covid policy is killing the Chinese smartphone market

Chinese smartphone sales have fallen off a cliff this year as the country continues to try to close its borders to a virus.

BT makes some promises to business customers in new ‘charter’

BT has unveiled a new ‘charter’ for business customers, which is a grand way of saying it has published a series of intentions regarding research investment and commitments to roll out new services in the future.

Three partners with Currys to offer business services in store

UK MNO Three has partnered with retail group Currys to offer its portfolio of business services through the firm’s chain of stores.

Bansal leaves as part of major Ericsson restructure

Swedish kit vendor Ericsson has created two new divisions in order to capitalise on cloud-native networking and the adoption of private mobile networks.

BT uses ‘excited atoms’ to supercharge 5G

Captain’s Log, star date 18/05/22: UK telecoms group BT is trialling cutting edge quantum receiver technology, which it thinks could open up future 5G and IoT applications.

Telcos customer service still not good enough in UK and US

Telecoms operators on both sides of the Atlantic still have work to do when it comes to customer service and satisfaction.

Ericsson and Intel open cloud RAN technology hub in California

The straightforwardly titled Ericsson-Intel Tech Hub will be tasked with coming up with new cloud RAN applications to release to the market.

The Musk Twitter saga hits an impasse

Billionaire Elon Musk is unconvinced by claims that less than 5% of Twitter users are fake or spam and seems set to abandon his acquisition bid.

Vodafone cites German performance as drag on 2022 results

UK operator group Vodafone pointed to an ‘unsatisfactory’ commercial performance in Germany as well as inflation as main pain points in its FY2022 financial results.

EU and US step up collaboration on tech and supply chain issues

The second EU-US Trade and Technology Council (TTC) meeting in Paris fleshed out various areas of transatlantic cooperation, including semiconductor supplies and AI policy.

Indian PM makes highly ambitious 6G pledge

India is working towards the launch of 6G services by the end of the decade, we were somewhat surprised to hear the country’s prime minister announce on Tuesday.

NTT is mining a rich seam of US private networking deals

Japan’s NTT is proving to be a popular choice of private mobile network partner for US heavy industry.

Twilio ploughs $750 million into Syniverse

Communications platform Twilio has become a significant minority owner of telecoms transaction processor Syniverse with a $750 million investment, which it describes as a strategic partnership.

GSMA says telcos are getting stiffed on network infrastructure costs

The telecoms industry body and organiser of MWC throws its weight in on the question of who pays for the internet?

Nokia gets on the amber nectar

Finnish kit vendor Nokia has got involved in creating a ‘connected digital microbrewery’ in Australia, as 5G finally starts to make itself truly useful.

US to splurge $45 billion on affordable Internet

The US government has launched an ambitious new broadband funding scheme with the stated aim of closing the digital divide by the end of the decade.

Etisalat ploughs $4.4 billion into Vodafone

The telco formerly known as Etisalat – e& – has made good on recent pledges boost its telecoms footprint with the $4.4 billion purchase of a sizeable chunk of Vodafone.