Sprint again raises the price of its most expensive unlimited plan

Sprint again raised the price of its most expensive unlimited plan with the introduction of its new “Unlimited Premium” pricing plan.

Fitbit fights back at Apple in the smart watch market

The latest smart watch numbers from analyst firm Counterpoint reveal Apple is still the dominant player but Fitbit is giving it a run for its money.

GTT CEO Rick Calder discusses more deals and SD-WAN

With more than 30 deals in hand, GTT Technologies CEO Rick Calder isn't about to push away from the M&A table.

Google faces yet another antitrust probe, this time in the US

US Senator Orrin Hatch has written to the FTC requesting the body investigate whether it is using it dominant position in search and digital advertising to stifle the market place.

Vodafone India and Idea Cellular officially tie the knot

The merger of Vodafone India and Idea Cellular to create India’s largest MNO has finally been completed.

CenturyLink garners AWS MSP Partner status

After a nearly six-month process, CenturyLink has gained Amazon Web Services' stamp of approval by being named as a Managed Service Provider Partner.

Ciena is doing well and is only going to get better – Jefferies

Off the back of its quarterly results, investment bank Jefferies is confident business at Ciena is only going to get better.

Analysts wonder where wireless phone growth is coming from

Growth in wireless raised questions among Wall Street analysts as to exactly where all these new customers are coming from.

Amazon Pay acquires app aggregator platform Tapzo

Amazon has acquired Indian app company Tapzo in a deal to bolster its digital payments offering.

Is Serverless the Future of Open Source and Software Development?

Serverless Inc. CEO Austen Collins said that the open source community has accounted for 90 percent of contributions to the Serverless Framework.

Nutanix Sees ‘Immense’ Networking, Security Opportunities

SDxCentral spoke with Nutanix CEO Dheeraj Pandey immediately after the company’s fourth quarter fiscal 2018 earnings call. Nutanix posted revenue of $303.7 million, up from $252.5 million a year ago.

Huawei appeals to FTC to talk sense into Trump administration

Huawei has written to the FTC asking it to have a quiet word with the FCC and Congress in its bid to gain a foothold in the US telecoms industry.

T-Mobile expands connected car ambitions into prepaid

Following the launch of its own SyncUp Drive product, T-Mobile announced it will essentially extend that offering into its MetroPCS brand.

SDxCentral's Weekly Roundup — August 31, 2018

Vodafone Idea becomes the largest mobile operator in India; CenturyLink and VMware launch an IT partner program; AWS released its relational database service on VMware.

Voice over 5G NR infrastructure market to be worth $13.6B by 2023: report

Voice over New Radio infrastructure is expected to become a $13.6 billion global market by 2023, according to Mind Commerce.

Vodafone Idea Is Born, Topples Airtel to Become India's #1 Service Provider

India's giant mobile market of more than 1 billion subscribers has a new market leader.

AT&T Picks Indy as 7th Mobile 5G City

City joins AT&T's rollout plans for Dallas, Atlanta, Waco, Charlotte, Oklahoma City and Raleigh.

California Streamin': State Gets Tough on Net Neutrality

In a 59-18 vote, California takes another step toward overturning the FCC's rollback of network neutrality rules.

McBride on Why CenturyLink Delivers 'Home-Brewed' Flavors of NFV & SDN

During his keynote at Light Reading's NFV & Carrier SDN event in Denver next month, CenturyLink's Kevin McBride plans to address real-world challenges for service providers in monetizing and scaling the deployment of SDN/NFV and cloud technologies.

WiCipedia: Power Suits & the Gig Economy Pay-Gap Surprise

This week in our WiC roundup: Diversity vs. inclusion; custom suits raise confidence; female freelances have a pay gap too; and more.

Eurobites: Deutsche Telekom Sets Out Its 5G Stall as Auction Approaches

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: DT gets into smart-speaker game; Vodafone's Indian merger completes; MTN's Ghanaian IPO falls short.

ZTE loses another billion bucks but expects a profit in Q3

ZTE has, for some reason, decided to report earnings for the nine months ending 30 September 2018 and while they’re not good, they could be worse.

The odds that Sprint, T-Mobile will merge are improving: analysts

According to the Wall Street analysts at Macquarie Research, the odds are improving for a merger between Sprint and T-Mobile.

Marvell Nixes the Programmable Xpliant Chip It Inherited From Cavium

When Marvell acquired Cavium a couple months ago, it “had to make decisions." Marvell decided to focus all our efforts on its Prestera switching chip line.

Carriers, vendors unite for MEF18 blockchain demonstration

Blockchain will be put through its paces during an inter-carrier proof of concept by several vendors and carriers at MEF18 in October.

Colt expands availability of SDN-based services

Colt Technology Services has rolled its On Demand service into Singapore while also launching SD-WAN in Asia Pacific and the United States.

Via MVNOs, Comcast, Charter eye mobile business market

Comcast and Charter said they are currently evaluating whether they should chase business users in addition to mass market consumers.

UK eyes Africa for technology conquests

Millions across the continent are shaking in fear, not in anticipation of a technology-orientated wave of colonialism, but in anticipation of UK Prime Minister Theresa May dancing in celebration.

Apple looks set to get into the augmented reality glasses game

Gadget giant Apple has acquired a startup that makes a glass technology which can display holographic AR images.

T-Mobile US and Sprint finally get some support for merger

Budget MVNO Ting Mobile has come out in support of the proposed T-Mobile US and Sprint merger, standing pretty lonely opposite the waves of opposition.

Battleground Indianapolis: AT&T, Verizon to face off in 5G

AT&T announced that it plans to launch its mobile 5G service in Indianapolis late this year.

Facebook rolls Watch out to everyone, everywhere

Facebook has decided to roll Watch video platform out worldwide, increasing the fragmentation of online content.

Constant Updates Key to Fighting Spectre, Meltdown, Foreshadow

It's common for hardware to have bugs. It's up to the kernel to provide mitigation.

Despite What VMware Says, Not Everyone Wants to Deploy Containers in VMs

OpenStack’s Rocky Release makes it easier to deploy containers on bare metal.

Former LinkedIn, Yahoo, Cisco Execs Target Cloud Security at Avid Secure

The startup uses artificial intelligence and automation to detect and respond to security threats and ensure compliance in cloud environments.

Merged Vodafone Australia and TPG plan to raise convergence game

Competition and convergence are the key words as Vodafone Australia and TPG announce merger plans to lodge a challenge to market leaders Telstra and Optus.

AT&T, Charter among presenters at CBRS event

The CBRS Alliance will have a bevy of experts on hand when it convenes during Mobile World Congress Americas 2018, including those from AT&T, Charter and…

SUSE Touts Financial Growth, Hints at Future Acquisitions

CTO Thomas Di Giacomo said the company plans to invest more into its operations including a focus on acquisitions.

Eurobites: MTN's Stock Slumps as Nigeria Demands Return of $8.1B

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Vodafone's Aussie merger confirmed; Qatar's 'first 5G customer'; Bouygues on the up; UK releases more full-fiber cash.

Didja Tries to Crack the Code for Streaming Local TV

Startup hopes a 'freemium' business model will entice the Big 4 broadcasters to play ball.

CSPs Brace for Changes in Assurance Wrought by Virtualization, Automation

Half of the communications service providers (CSPs) in the Thought Leadership Council say they'll need to supplement their current service assurance tools as they virtualize networks.

Huawei Site Integration Services: Facilitating Transformation in the Site Infrastructure Industry & Enabling Operators to Achieve Digitalization

Digital site service capabilities, innovative ideas for solutions, and ecosystem-building systems have allowed Huawei to facilitate transformation in the site infrastructure industry and enabled operators to achieve digitalization.

5G Fixin' to Become 'Largest Existential Threat' to Broadband Providers – Analysts

5G's combined threat of reach and speed presents risk to cable's dominant position in the US in-home broadband market.

'Volumetric' AR Poised to Ride the 5G Wave

Jaunt adds volumetric capture capabilities to platform as content category starts to surface as a 'new media type' for mobile devices that will need fast speeds, low latencies, CEO says.

Ciena Eyes More Software M&A

It's a great big Blue Planet out there and Ciena might do some shopping to shore up its automated management capabilities.

Look Who's Talking Too! Verizon Gives Voice to 4G IoT

Security systems will be among the first Cat M IoT panels arriving.

Are DIY Telco Networks DOA? If True, Great for VMware

VMware is gearing up to be a leading vendor to service providers, and may be getting a boost from a shift away from DIY networks and toward integrated stacks.

Ciena CEO: We're Killin' It!

Sales are up 12%, stock is up more than 13% and CEO Gary Smith's excitement level is through the roof.

Sprint discontinues Virgin ‘Inner Circle’ $1/month iPhone plan

Sprint confirmed that its prepaid brand Virgin will no longer offer its “Inner Circle” service plan.

Google rebrands payments app ahead of international assault

Google has announced it will rebrand its Indian digital payments app, Tez, to Google Pay as the team readies a launch into new international markets.

HCI Heats Up in Vegas With VMware, Cisco, Veeam, and Pivot3

At VMworld and at home this week, all four of the top hyperconverged infrastructure vendors made news with their HCI platforms and partnerships.

UK Gov releases another £95 million for local full-fibre diets

Over the last year, the UK Government has been proudly preaching of massive investments into digital infrastructure. It’s questionable how much has made its way into reality, but an additional £95 million has been released today.

Ookla says Telenor is the world’s fastest mobile operator

Telenor Norway registered an average download speed of 72 Mbps in Q2 2018 according to measurement service Ookla.

CWA, Dish and Altice USA join the T-Mobile/Sprint opposition

With conflicting predictions on the outcome of the industry’s biggest will-they/won’t-they flying everywhere, opposition to the deal from a communications union, Dish and Altice has started to scrap for attention.

Hanna, a top Qualcomm 5G spokesperson, departs company

Sherif Hanna, one of Qualcomm's most visible 5G representatives, said he is leaving the company.

Report: uCPE market will cross $1B by 2022

The universal customer premises equipment market is poised for a significant growth spurt, according to a report by IHS Markit.

Verizon gives a voice to its LTE M network

Verizon announced that, after more than a year of operating its LTE M network, the offering now supports voice services.

Japan is reportedly thinking about blocking Huawei and ZTE too

Hot on the heels of the Australia ban it is now being reported that Japan is thinking of taking similar action.

Cloudian’s $94M Funding Round Signals SD-Storage Is Officially Exciting

This brings its total to $173 million and marks a “watershed moment in storage,” says CMO Jon Toor.

Net neutrality resistance continues to gain PR support

There is usually resistance towards anything the ruling party does in the US, but net neutrality is proving to be a very bad smell for the Republicans as the Writers Guild of America West and small businesses join the push back.

Q&A—Adtran's Robert Conger: SDN is on a well-defined path

While Adtran has a strong foundation in the world of fiber optics, it has also embraced SDN, according to Adtran's Robert Conger.

HPE’s Hyperconverged Segment Attains Annual Run Rate of $1 Billion

HPE CFO Tim Stonesifer will be stepping down. And HPE CEO Antonio Neri has selected Tarek Robbiati to fill the role effective Sept. 17.

Juniper Research: Far East 5G Operators Top US as 'Most Promising'

NTT DoCoMo, SK Telecom, LG U+, KT Telecom, and SoftBank topped Juniper Research’s list of the “most promising” 5G network operators.

AT&T looking to buy more spectrum for 5G

AT&T is letting the FCC know that it is fully engaged in the 5G arms race and will be acquiring more spectrum.

Google Transfers Kubernetes Operational Control to CNCF

Internal Google policies had prevented the ability to add non-Google employees to deal with some of the management.

Loon files to test balloons using LTE bands 20, 28

Loon, the “crazy” balloon project that originated within Google, is asking the FCC for permission to expand tests at its launch facility in Nevada.

Google continues work on Project Soli waiver

Google says it has been working with Facebook to resolve concerns related to its waiver request for Project Soli.

VMware User Group VMUG Counts 125,000 Members

Membership in VMUG is free. The group makes its money by selling sponsorships for its in-person events, and it also sells an upgraded membership.

When Disaster Strikes: A New Opportunity to Build a Fail-Safe Network

Once a brick, always a brick? In preparation for disasters, users around the world are turning to technologies that use smartphones to create a resilient mesh network layer that underlies the current cellular network.

VMware Sees 'Enormous' Telco Opportunity

SD-WAN is driving deals where VMware partners with telcos to sell to enterprise customers.

Unlicensed CBRS 4G Service Coming Q4 2018

But don't hold your breath for a licensed 3.5GHz spectrum auction in 2019.

Amazon to Open New Front in Streaming Wars – Report

Amazon said to be sparking up ad-supported video offering for Fire TV devices similar to The Roku Channel.

New Business, New Operation, New Networks – Huawei's HBB Service Drives a Growth in Value

Huawei's premium home broadband (HBB) solution improves business, operation, and network indicators, identifies weaknesses and bottlenecks, and redefines business processes, operation, and network construction to help carriers monetize their networks.

Eurobites: Merger Set to Create New Cable Giant in Poland

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Telenor claims mobile broadband speed record; Tele2 announces leadership team as it completes Com Hem acquisition; Vodacom reportedly in talks with Telkom over roaming deal.

Disney's Ben Havey: Collaboration & Content in a 5G World

To help its parent company connect with consumers as a new kind of service provider, The Walt Disney Studios is creating new entertainment experiences, solving tech problems and getting ready for 5G networks.

Trump declares war on Google

US President Donald Trump has tweeted that Google search results about him are biased in favour of leftwing media.

Toyota invests half a billion dollars in Uber to save both companies

Japanese car maker Toyota has invested $500 million dollars to expand its collaboration with ride-sharing company Uber in autonomous driving cars.

Here are the top 100 winners of the FCC’s $1.5B CAF II auction

The FCC released the names of the winners of its Connect America Fund Phase II (CAF II) auction.

YouTube mobile app now tells you how much of your life you’re spending on it

Google seems to be concerned about pathological use of its YouTube video platform to it has made some new tools to help manage addiction.

China's Huawei calls for hearings at the FTC

Huawei called for the FTC to conduct hearings this fall on whether the company should be allowed to compete in the U.S. market.

VMware takes on edge computing

VMware is throwing its weight behind edge computing by developing a framework that takes its hybrid cloud and multicloud environments to the edge.

Facebook introduces Express Wi-Fi Certified

Facebook unveiled a new partner ecosystem program called Express Wi-Fi Certified.

Nokia gets half a billion euros from Europe to get better at 5G

Finnish kit vendor Nokia has been granted a €500 million loan from the European Investment Bank to help with its 5G R&D efforts.

Dish, Altice, C Spire lead opposition to Sprint/T-Mobile merger

Dish, Frontier, Windstream, the CWA and others are beginning to file their opposition to the proposed merger of Sprint and T-Mobile.

GTT closes in on integration of Interoute

GTT Communications is starting to tie up the loose ends of its $2.3 billion deal to acquire Interoute, which was first announced in February.

Hyperscale Capex Soars to $53 Billion in First Half of 2018

A Synergy Research Group report found that Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, and Facebook accounted for 70 percent of total hyperscale capex.

Gremlin Chaos Engineering Now Attacks Docker Containers

The software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform recreates common Docker container failures across three categories: resource, network, and state.

Altice USA Urges FCC to Deny, Alter T-Mobile/Sprint Deal

Ahead of its plans to launch mobile services in 2019, Altice USA claims that T-Mobile has made 'no tangible commitments' to support current MVNO partners.

ZTE Back in the Game, Seeking Trust & 5G Deals

But the road ahead looks steep, despite domestic support and opportunities.

Could Japan Also Bar Huawei, ZTE?

Or are we into FUD territory?

OTT Carves Out Bigger Slice of Pay-TV Pie

Virtual MVPDs tack on 868,000 subs in Q2, expanding their combined total past 6.73 million.

VMware Flies to Public Cloud With CloudHealth Acquisition

VMware says CloudHealth will give MSPs visibility into public cloud workloads, complementing VMware's existing insights into private clouds and applications.

DC Cloudification & Consolidation Smooths Digital Transformation for Operators

Four steps to cloud transformation heaven.

Eurobites: Nokia Bags €500M EU Loan for 5G-Focused Research

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Proximus invests in transport network upgrade; Vodacom boasts Africa's first 5G service; KPN tweaks its management team; and CyrusOne buys into Europe.

Dell EMC to Sync Hyperconverged Updates With VMware Software

The new Dell EMC VxRail G560 will be the first and only HCI appliance jointly developed with VMware to provide integrations that seamlessly work with VMware Cloud Services.

VMware scoops up startup CloudHealth

VMware announced Monday that it has struck a deal to buy CloudHealth Technologies as part of its plan to provide more multicloud based services.

Arista Founder Takes Aim at Cisco With VMware NSX ‘Open Framework’

“Proprietary is not a word in our dictionary,” said Andy Bechtolsheim, founder, chief development officer, and chairman at Arista.

ODPi Group Launches Egeria Project to Manage Metadata

The project is housed in the Linux Foundation and is a standardized way for managing the flow of metadata between different big data technologies and vendor platforms.

Michael Dell at VMworld: Edge Is Where It’s At

Dell said edge products and services represent a massive opportunity, and VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger outlined his company’s telco strategy.

VMworld Opener: CloudHealth Acquisition, Edge Preview, and Gelsinger’s New Tattoo

In addition to scooping up a cloud-monitoring startup and developing an edge strategy VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger took some time to get a new tattoo before VMworld.

5 possible conditions on the Sprint / T-Mobile merger

According to some analysts, don't expect Sprint and T-Mobile merger discussions to turn to conditions until later this year.

VMware kicks off VMworld with cloud-related announcements

VMware announced on Monday a tranche of cloud-related services across multiple clouds during the first day of its VMworld conference in Las Vegas.

Could a security breach de-rail the magenta express train?

T-Mobile, ably led by wild-eyed CEO John Legere, has been causing chaos throughout the US wireless market, but a data-breach could impact the brands credibility in the eyes of customers.

Vendor touts momentum in RCS market

The RCS market in the United States appeared to receive a slight boost as Mavenir announced a new business messaging partner program.

Adtran's Conger: Telecom needs a clear commercial plan

Virtualization has a lot of upside for carriers, but Adtran's Robert Conger says there's more work to be done on monetization and NFV.

Lavelle Networks Launches SD-WAN NFV for Microsoft Windows Hosts

The Lavelle Networks SD-WAN software appliance sits within an NFV container in a Microsoft Windows environment for greater control and enhanced network management.

Nokia Scores $583 Million 5G R&D Loan From European Commission

The funds come at a critical time as analysts have noted Europe is lagging behind North America and Asia on 5G deployments.

IDC Predicts the Orchestration Segment of Telecom NFVI to Grow Fastest

For its inaugural telecom NFVI report, IDC says an example of orchestration would be ONAP.

Government launches fund to increase diversity in tech

The UK Government has announced launch of a £1 million Digital Skills Innovation Fund to help people from underrepresented groups gain the necessary skills to work in the digital economy.

Ruckus reiterates 3.5 GHz rule stance

Ruckus Networks is still holding strong to the position that any rule changes in the 3.5 GHz CBRS band should benefit various industry sectors.

VMware Cloud on AWS Hits AWS Asia-Pacific Region

Updates to the hybrid cloud platform include deeper integration with NSX networking and security capabilities and a high-capacity storage option via integration with Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS).

How Can The Fabric of a Simple Dress Be Part of Our 5G Vision?

Explore use cases that illustrate how industries transformed by 5G will enrich people's lives.

VMware Buys CloudHealth for Multicloud Ops

CloudHealth provides a unified platform to help managed service providers manage cloud costs, usage, security and performance in one place.

TelcoCraft Enables Network Automation Through Digital Services

TelcoCraft is a brand-new offering from Huawei's cloud family. Thanks to extensive experience with its in-house innovation, Huawei releases TelcoCraft to storm ahead in the race to become a leader in the telecom cloud industry.

VMware Buys CloudHealth for Multi-Cloud Ops

CloudHealth provides a unified platform to help managed service providers manage cloud costs, usage, security and performance in one place.

The New Video Playbook: Be Everywhere

Traditional programmers as well as video services conceived in the digital domain are taking any and all routes to the viewer.

VMware Challenges Cisco With AWS & Microsoft Pacts

VMware is extending its NSX networking across private clouds, Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, and partnering with Cisco rival Arista for switch interoperability.

AI Takes on Telecom Customer Service

AI-driven solutions are being used in telecommunications to support various elements of the customer experience that most CRM systems just can't handle.

SDN & NFV: Convergence & Divergence Down in Denver

Since the launch of Light Reading's NFV & Carrier SDN event, the trajectories of SDN and NFV have continued to converge while also diverging and separating more than we expected.

CableLabs to Host First CBRS Alliance Interop

Event set for next week will test interoperability between CBRS-based access points and spectrum access systems.