The winners and losers of telecoms will be decided by convergence

There are still naysayers about the benefits of convergence, but those who ignore this trend will fast find themselves sleep-walking the path to utilitisation and irrelevance.

Multiple US states open Facebook antitrust investigation

An investigation has commenced in the US into possible abuses of Facebook’s market dominance regarding data, advertising and consumer choice.

Forkbeard challenges Bluetooth for indoor positioning

Forkbeard Technologies is taking on Bluetooth in a battle for accurate indoor positioning.

Rakuten delays network launch to work out the bugs

Japan’s fourth mobile operator has said it will delay its launch, originally set for October 1, in favour of a limited trial for 5,000 users.

Telenor and Axiata pull the plug on mega-merger

Operator groups Telenor and Axiata had intended to merge their Asian operations but have now decided it’s just too much hassle.

LG doubles down on games and multi-tasking with new dual-screen

LG first started touting its smarts with a dual screen at Mobile World Congress in February, but at IFA it has launched the LG G8X ThinQ, an updated version of the concept.

Tech Mahindra wins multi-year cloud deal with AT&T

AT&T is covering all of its cloud bases with yet another cloud announcement, this time with IT vendor Tech Mahindra.

T-Mobile workers seek job assurances from DT CEO

Promises from T-Mobile USA management are not enough; workers want to know from DT's CEO that their jobs are safe if the merger with Sprint goes through.

Comcast Business bolsters security with Fortinet and Akamai

Comcast Business is teeing up more cybersecurity options with Fortinet for mid-sized and enterprise customers that use its ActiveCore platform.

KPN poaches Proximus CEO

Dominique Leroy has played Benelux musical chairs by moving from Belgian Proximus to become Dutch KPN’s new CEO.

Qualcomm chips to extend 5G to more phones

Qualcomm announced new chips to bring 5G to more phones, but 5G is about far more than just phones, according to company President Cristiano Amon.

Rakuten delays full launch of 4G mobile network

Rakuten also designed its own smartphone: the Rakuten Mini is for women who don’t want to lug a huge cell phone.

Cisco's Mora highlights importance of Acacia deal

Cisco's $2.6 billion deal to buy coherent optics company Acacia Communications is a key element of the company's long-term plans and strategies.

AT&T & Verizon: All Quiet on Narrowband IoT

AT&T is 'readying things' on NB-IoT, while Verizon remains silent on customer traction on the narrowband technology.

AT&T & Verizon: Surprisingly Quiet on Narrowband IoT

AT&T is 'readying things' on NB-IoT, while Verizon remains silent on customer traction on the narrow-band technology.

U.S. Cellular's New 'Fairness' Campaign to Include Rural 5G Component

U.S. Cellular is embarking on a new advertising campaign that will include how it plans to expand 5G into rural areas.

Samsung to Make 80% of 5G Smartphones in 2019

Samsung said it expects to ship fully 4 million 5G smartphones in 2019, which according to figures from Strategy Analytics would make it responsible for fully 80% of all 5G phones sold this year.

Australia's Huawei Ban Is Hurting TPG & 5G

A decision to exclude Chinese vendors from the 5G market on grounds of security has taken a heavy toll on TPG and could put Australian 5G at risk.

RJio Set to Disrupt India's Wired Broadband Market

The operator that wreaked havoc in India's mobile market has now launched its fixed-line broadband service.

Even AT&T Can't Fly Solo to the Cloud

This week's Tech Mahindra partnership shows that even a Tier 1 behemoth like AT&T needs help moving to the cloud.

Smokey & the NFV Bandit

NFV has many naysayers, but it's alive, kicking and thriving, with SD-WAN as a significant catalyst.

Rakuten Delays Launch of Cloud-Native Network

The Japanese ecommerce giant is delaying the launch of services on its mobile network over performance concerns.

AT&T Hires Tech Mahindra for Cloud Move

Tech Mahindra will help AT&T migrate its back office applications to the cloud, building a business foundation for 5G.

WiCipedia: The Whitest Black Candidates & Conferences Take a Political Stand

This week in our WiCipedia roundup: Google whitewashes its diversity hires; tech conferences for women get political; the sponsor search continues; and more.

Eurobites: Ericsson's Ekholm Tells Employees He's Going Nowhere

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Dominique Leroy leaves Proximus for KPN and massive pay rise; TIM and Ericsson test cloud-native 5G network; Telenor's merger with Axiata is off.

Telenor, Axiata Scrap $13B Merger Over 'Complexities'

The failure of the merger deal could weigh heavily on the two operators.

T-Mobile staff start getting twitchy over Sprint merger

A letter has emerged from T-Mobile Workers United, with the union asking Deutsche Telekom executives to confirm jobs will be safe following the merger between T-Mobile US and Sprint.

Weak Chinese Switch Market Quashes Global Growth, Says Dell'Oro

Several factors led to a softening switch market in China during the quarter, not least of which were actions taken by the U.S. government banning trade with Chinese networking giant Huawei.

Did you make it onto the 2019 Glotel Awards shortlist?

It’s that time of year when even Brexit and the Ashes pale into insignificance compared to the unveiling of the Global Telecoms Awards shortlist.

StreamSets Reaches for the Sky With Cloud Service Launch

Its namesake cloud data integration platform aims to address variables that come with ingesting and transforming modern data types. 

AT&T makes more executive moves

AT&T is making a few more tweaks to its leadership team.

Altice Mobile launches its wireless service at $20/month

The operator is offering unlimited plans at a locked-in price of $20 per month to current Optimum and Suddenlink customers.

Azure is on a spending spree

Cloud has led the Microsoft recovery in recent years, and the Azure team is doubling down on that momentum with a third acquisition in as many months.

NY lawsuit alleges T-Mobile sold used phones, claiming they were new

The complaint says T-Mobile’s "pervasive" illegal activity spanned 56 Metro stores in all five boroughs.

AT&T tries to breathe McElfresh air into its communications division

US operator giant AT&T has unveiled lifer Jeff McElfresh CEO of AT&T Communications, replacing the retiring John Donovan.

DT inches towards the 5G dream

The German telecommunications industry is doing everything it can to dispel the stereotype of German efficiency, but Deutsche Telekom is making progress in the 5G world.

Research indicates strong demand for digital services delivered by telcos

BSS vendor Openet has published some new research that suggests consumers have a better perception of operators as digital brands than had been feared.

Ciena's stock yo-yos during its 3Q earnings conference call

Ciena posted solid Q3 numbers Thursday morning, but its stock swung to a loss during the conference call with analysts.

US starts edging towards mid-band spectrum release

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has released a statement all the telcos have been waiting for; there is finally going to be a spectrum auction for the 3.5 GHz band.

Pureport's Multicloud Fabric Now Supports AWS Transit Gateway

The addition of AWS Transit Gateway to Pureport's Multicloud Fabric platform means users can now connect their on-premises networks directly to their Amazon Virtual Private Clouds.

Sprint and T-Mobile US Coordinate 5G Strategies

Executives from both carriers highlighted the combined strengths of their networks at the Mobile Future Forward conference.

Microsoft Moves on Movere to Maximize Cloud Migration

Movere will complement Microsoft's Azure Migrate platform and the cloud provider’s integrated partner offerings.

Is $170 million a big enough fine to stop Google privacy violations?

Another week has passed, and we have another story focusing on privacy violations at Google. This time it has cost the search giant $170 million, but is that anywhere near enough?

Pureport hooks up with AWS Transit Gateway

Pureport, which enables private connections to clouds, announced its Multicloud Fabric platform now supports connections to AWS Transit Gateway.

EdgeConneX, Lume Bring Hybrid Cloud Services to the Edge

EdgeConneX teamed up with Lume in a move that gives the data center company’s customers access to edge-based hybrid cloud services.

Headcount: Firings, Hirings, and Retirings — August 2019

Chris Kozup returned to Aruba Networks as CMO; Mike Sicoli bids farewell to GTT; plus the latest executive hirings, promotions, and staff changes.

FCC moves toward June 2020 auction of CBRS spectrum

The wireless industry now has a proposed date for when the licensed portion of the 3.5 GHz CBRS band goes up for auction: June 25, 2020.

VMware Drops $2.1B on Carbon Black. Now What?

Perhaps VMware’s most surprising recent acquisition was Carbon Black, the endpoint security vendor that VMware plans to buy for $2.1 billion.  

Meet AT&T's New Communications Division Leadership

AT&T's biggest business unit now has a new leadership team. Here's a look at who is likely running the company's wired and wireless networks, and its overall mobile and wired Internet offerings.

LoRa, NB-IoT Tussle in the LPWAN IoT Arena

LoRa expected to be a de facto standard, according to Semtech, even as NB-IoT deployments grow.

Ciena CEO: Carriers No Longer Hooked on Huawei

International operators are set to ween themselves off Huawei, claims Ciena CEO Gary Smith.

5G Is Not Among Trump's R&D Priorities

5G is no longer named as one of the nation's R&D priorities for federal spending. The White House last year specifically pointed to 5G as a technological priority.

Comcast Sparks Streaming App for LG TVs

Beta of Xfinity Stream app for LG supports Comcast's live TV, VoD and cloud DVR services and works on 4K and HD models from 2017 to 2019.

Is There a Payoff for Free Wireless?

Several wireless providers, including Sprint, T-Mobile and FreedomPop, have toyed with 'free' service offerings. However, the freemium business model appears tricky to implement.

AT&T, Verizon Perfect 5G Showboating With NFL Stadium Deployments

Both AT&T and Verizon said they will show off 5G services in NFL football stadiums. But the details of their announcements highlight the fact that it's still early days in the 5G space.

Altice Mobile Expects to Be in the Black Within 12 Months

'We wouldn't be in this business if we didn't think it would become a profitable standalone business,' Altice USA CEO Dexter Goei says.

Altice Mobile Debuts $20 Per Month 'Price for Life' to Optimum & Suddenlink Subs

Altice USA's new 'Unlimited Everything' offering, underpinned by its MVNO deal with Sprint, will be sold for $30 per line per month to non-Optimum and Suddenlink customers in or near its 21-state footprint.

Web-Scale Business Fuels Ciena's Growth but Stock Takes a Hit

Transport gear and software vendor reports year-on-year revenue growth of more than 17% to $960.6 million, with a hefty chunk of revenues coming from web-scale customers, but investors reacted negatively to outlook.

Deutsche Telekom Finally Gets to Launch 5G

The German operator has been given the spectrum it needs to provide 5G services three months after the country's 5G auction wrapped up.

Eurobites: MTS Gets 2.1 Gbit/s From Samsung Device in Trials With Nokia & Qualcomm

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: MegaFon microwaves with Ericsson; Vodafone enters Oman with OFT; Gorgeous Gavin turns up at Salesforce.

Eluvio Aims to Elude Video Transcoding & the CDN

Startup led by former Aspera CEO Michelle Munson enters the global OTT scene with a low-latency 'Content Fabric' designed to disrupt the streaming video market.

Eutelsat exit won’t impact C-band proposal, CBA says

Eutelsat’s formal withdrawal from the C-Band Alliance (CBA) won’t impact the group’s ability to deliver on its proposal for selling C-band spectrum for 5G in…

FCC's Pai proposes $950M to fix broadband in Puerto Rico

While Hurricane Dorian is front and center in the news, FCC chair Ajit Pai is proposing funding for broadband in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Containous Maesh Barges Into the Service Mesh Morass

The company claims that simplicity and familiarity are what make Maesh different from other service mesh platforms on the market like Istio and Linkerd.

Industry Voices—Raynovich: VMware a cloud juggernaut

VMware has a cogent and potent plan to own the cloud. All of it.

AT&T scores GWS ‘Best Wireless Network’ ranking

AT&T’s SVP of Wireless Technology Igal Elbaz called the win a big accomplishment and discussed the carrier's network upgrades, sub-6 GHz 5G and…

Ericsson makes 5G data call using dynamic spectrum sharing

Verizon’s CEO frequently touts DSS as a big part of the carrier’s 5G strategy. One analyst surmises how that strategy may play out.

CenturyLink expands partner program in EMEA region

CenturyLink is looking for new partners across its Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region by expanding its global channel partner program there.

Samsung unveils its first 5G integrated chipset for smartphones

Samsung Electronics introduced Exynos 980, its first 5G integrated mobile chipset for the mainstream market. Mass production will start by the end of the year.

Report: Red Hat the market leader for container software revenue

Red Hat currently stands tall as the market leader for container software revenue, but that could change with VMware's new Kubernetes strategy.

Splunk Buys Omnition, Its Second Acquisition in Two Weeks

Splunk today said it acquired Omnition, a startup developing a observability platform for cloud-native, microservices-based applications.

YouTube flexes its editorial muscles

As video sharing service YouTube strives to censor ever more rigorously, can it still be considered a neutral platform?

Commvault Pays $225M for Hedvig, Harmonizes SDS and Data Management

"This acquisition demonstrates how Commvault is leading the way towards the intersection of storage and data management," said Sanjay Mirchandani, Commvault CEO

ThousandEyes Expands Its Gaze With Synthetic Monitoring

The company claims the platform alleviates performance monitoring challenges associated with API-heavy and internet-dependent applications.

Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners and Salesforce invest in PerimeterX

Perimeter X has upped its Series C financing round to $57 million with an additional $14 million from DTCP and Salesforce's venture arms.

Orange hints it might be ready to take Romanian fixed assets off DT

Last week, reports emerged Deutsche Telekom had been given the green-light to sell its fixed network stake to Orange in Romania, and the French telco isn’t quashing the rumour.

Cloudflare IPO Targets a $483M Haul, $3.5B Valuation

The vendor claims it competes against companies like Amazon, Cisco, and Oracle. It also directly competes against content delivery firms like Akamai, Limelight, and Fastly.

30 Attorney Generals on verge of announcing Google probe – sources

Sources familiar with the matter have suggested an antitrust probe involving more than 30 State Attorney Generals could be launched as soon as next Monday.

Huawei hits back, claiming US is threatening its employees

Perhaps this is the first hint of a new media strategy from the under-fire vendor as Huawei suggests the US Government is encouraging threats and menace to turns its employees against it.

U.S., Poland sign 5G pact as Huawei concerns persist

Both countries pledged to implement Prague Protocols on 5G Security, which were developed by a coalition of cybersecurity officials from dozens of countries…

Amazon Stokes Up Fire TV Platform as Active Users Surpass 37M

Amazon introduces 15 smart TVs that run Fire TV, alongside a new 'Cube' device with 4K and Dolby Vision support.

Samsung Intros First Chipset With 5G Built-In

Samsung intros an integrated 5G processor as manufacturers prepare a new wave of 5G silicon.

America's First Big 5G Midband Spectrum Auction Will Be in June 2020

The FCC said it will auction 70MHz of 3.5GHz CBRS spectrum starting on June 25 of 2020. That's likely a relief to companies like AT&T and Verizon that have said they need more midband spectrum for 5G.

TiVo Hones 'Edge' DVR Ahead of Company Split

New family of connected devices for cable TV customers and cord-cutters will reportedly pack six tuners, 2 terabytes of storage and support 4K and Dolby Atmos.

Deconstructing the Telco Cloud

The term 'telco cloud' is used often, but it can mean different things to different people.

Getting Ready for the Visual Cloud

In a half-day conference at IBC in Amsterdam next week, Intel and partners will show off the visual cloud and demonstrate how it can deliver rich, immersive, interactive video experiences and graphics-based workloads.

Altitude TV Says OTT Doesn't Make Enough Dollars or Sense

The embattled regional sports network claims that the economics of a direct-to-consumer subscription streaming model don't add up.

New 5G Chips Put Huawei at the Forefront

China's biggest network equipment vendor is now emerging as a 5G chip powerhouse.

The Telecoms.com Podcast: SVoD, Content Investment & Ericsson

Ovum's Ed Barton is the special guest this week, bringing SVoD insights and more. Also: What's going on at Ericsson?

The Edge Is Coming but Are Networks Ready?

Edge computing brings high-performance storage, compute and network resources closer to users and devices than ever before.

Eurobites: EE Trumps Rivals in UK Network Test

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: A1 replaces Vip brand in North Macedonia; MobileLinks increases capacity with Net Insight; Sky offers WiFi guarantee.

Qualcomm Looks to a Multimode – & More Competitive – Future

Qualcomm is planning for a multimode 5G future as it faces up to more competition and reduced sales to Huawei.

Fastweb, Wind Tre Take 5G Network Sharing to the Limit

A 5G network-sharing agreement between the Italian operators could help to validate network slicing and provide a new paradigm for Europe's ailing service providers.

Eutelsat Surprise Splits 5G Spectrum Alliance

European satellite operator Eutelsat said it is leaving the C-Band Alliance, but will still participate in the sale of C-Band spectrum for 5G – adding another layer of complexity atop an already complex situation.

Losing face in seconds: the app takes deepfakes to a new depth

Zao, a new mobile app coming out of China, can replace characters in TV or movie clips with the user’s own facial picture within seconds, raising new privacy and fraud concerns.

Operators Dish on 5G Strategies for Enterprise

5G heralds a new framework for mobile connectivity and has enterprises poised to gain entirely new models for operating their business.

Jeff McElfresh named CEO of AT&T Communications

AT&T revealed company veteran Jeff McElfresh will be the new CEO of the carrier’s AT&T Communications unit.

Lanner signs up for Open Compute Project

Lanner Electronics has joined the Open Compute Project as a community member in order to help accelerate white box solutions for edge data centers.

FierceTelecom top 5 stories - August 2019

Donovan was instrumental in AT&T's Domain 2.0 effort, which set AT&T on a pathway to have 75% of its core network virtualized by 2020.

Poland signs agreement with US to shore up 5G security

The US and Poland signed an agreement on 5G security, effectively barring Chinese companies from participating in building 5G networks in one of the largest markets in central Europe.

SDxCentral’s Top 10 Articles — August 2019

HCX, VMware’s Top-Secret Sauce, Comes Out; VMware Buys Veriflow for Network Monitoring, Verification; Sprint and Nokia Fall Behind on 5G Launch.

Lanner Joins Forces With Hot OCP Ecosystem

Networking manufacture Lanner, well known for its uCPE and white box appliances, is the latest industry partner to join the Open Compute Project.

Veon raises outlook as it unveils diversification strategy

Telecoms group Veon has increased its EBITDA guidance for FY 2019 and is looking beyond connectivity for future growth.

CWA releases terms of contract for AT&T Southeast employees

On Friday, CWA released some of the terms of its tentative five-year agreement with AT&T for AT&T workers across nine Southern states.

Nokia looks beyond 5G delays

Nokia got some of the blame for making Sprint late in launching 5G in four of its markets last week, but the head of network marketing at the infrastructure…

FierceWireless top 5 stories - August 2019

While T-Mobile, Sprint and Dish all have an upside in the merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, they all have different downsides.

American Tower inks new MLA with AT&T

American Tower has inked a new multi-year master lease agreement (MLA) with AT&T, and separately bolstered its U.S. portfolio, closing an acquisition of…

Huawei Accuses US of Cyberattacks, ‘Menacing’ Its Employees

Huawei accused the U.S. government of using cyberattacks and “every tool at its disposal” to disrupt it and its partners’ business operations.

AT&T Asks to Play With Its mmWave 5G Spectrum

The carrier has asked the FCC for early access to the 24 GHz spectrum it won during a recent government auction to test 5G capabilities.

AT&T Taps Jeff McElfresh to Lead Telecom

McElfresh will replace John Donovan, who abruptly announced last week that he would be leaving the company effective Oct. 1.

Report: Data center switch market down in Q2 due to China

A slowdown in spending in China suppressed the overall growth of the data center switch market in Q2, according to research by Dell'Oro Group.

Huawei claims 50 5G commercial contracts worldwide

At its Asia-Pacific Innovation Day Huawei announced it has now signed 50 commercial 5G contracts globally and shipped 200,000 5G modules.

Doyle: MSPs tackle larger role for SD-WAN

The adoption of SD-WAN continues to impact the more than $40 billion market for managed business services and MSPs will play a larger role.

WBA, NGMN Alliance aim to bridge Wi-Fi, 5G technology gaps

The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) and the Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) Alliance just released a a white paper exploring the issues and…

AT&T's American Tower Deal Hints at Progress in Tower Play

AT&T inked a new, long-term deal with US tower giant American Tower. While the details of the deal remain unclear, it appears to signal some movement in AT&T's broader tower strategy.

Huawei: 'I Know What You Are, but What Am I?'

After years of defending itself against US spying accusations, Huawei claims the US government is spying on it.

OSTV Now Stalls on the Launchpad

Countdown to the debut of a new video streaming service connected to Omniverse CEO Jason DeMeo featuring 50 'top' US TV channels starting at $50 leads to nothing... so far.

Poland Gives Huawei, ZTE the 5G Cold Shoulder

Poland's prime minister and the US vice president have signed an agreement that effectively bars Chinese vendors from the European country's 5G market.

China's 5G Rollout to Reach 300 Cities in 2020

The ramp-up is set to accelerate next year as all three Chinese operators seek to sign up 5G customers.

US Broadband Subscriber Slowdown Could Spark ARPU Gains

A deceleration in broadband subscriber growth could amplify cable's focus on broadband with higher prices and even less emphasis on retaining less profitable pay-TV customers.

McElfresh Takes Over for Donovan at AT&T, Stankey Named COO

John Stankey and Jeff McElfresh are stepping up to take over leadership at AT&T in the wake of John Donovan's departure. McElfresh specifically will be in charge of AT&T's move into 5G.

Eurobites: Iliad in Talks Over Fiber Joint Venture

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Telia seeks to smooth path to Bonnier acquisition; VEON sets out its long-term strategy; Deutsche Telekom connects the car to the smart home.

South Korea Closed July With Nearly 2M 5G Subs

Government data shows SK Telecom with more than 41% of 5G users at the end of July; country's 4G subscriber numbers start to decline.

Openreach cuts costs by 75% to attract builders to fibre diet

Openreach will be slashing the cost of installing fibre wires in new residential developments of less than 30 plots, as it looks to tempt housing developers onto a fibre diet.

Iliad confirms Nokia for France and Italy 5G push

In a much needed win for Nokia, the Finnish network vendor will be the central cog to the Iliad 5G deployment strategy across France and Italy.

Vodafone challenges new Ofcom rules on leased line rates

Vodafone has lodged a complaint with the Competition Appeal Tribunal, challenging new rules which it believes will give Openreach too much opportunity to abuse customers.

Juniper pays $11.7m to make SEC bribery investigation go away

The network vendor has never admitted or denied it participated in any activities related to bribery, though apparently its bank accounts were simply too full to continue.

Huawei hasn’t given up on Australia as it plugs 6G smarts

Even though Australia blindly followed the US down the Huawei-accusation rabbit hole, the Chinese vendor hasn’t given up on the country, using the 6G carrot to tempt the Aussies back into the fray.

Nokia found to be best brand for prompt Android updates

There is significant variation in the performance of the leading Android smartphone makers when it comes to updating Android, according to new research.

Sky and Liberty Global allegedly in talks for full-fibre investment

Sky is reportedly in discussions with Liberty Global to add further fuel to the full-fibre machine which is engulfing the UK at an increasing rapid rate.

Eurobites: Nokia Lands 5G Deal With Iliad

Also in today's EMEA round-up: Sky linked to Liberty Global hook-up on fiber; Pence talks 5G security in Poland; 4G in Ethiopia; TalkTalk lands schools' MPLS deal.

Pressure on Huawei Shifts Closer to Home

The US campaign to pressure others into snubbing Huawei has had an impact in Vietnam and has now also moved underwater.

For VMware, It's All About the Edge

VMware is looking to the edge to seize its 5G opportunity.

Eurobites: Nokia Lands 5G Deal With Iliad

Also in today's EMEA round-up: Sky linked to Liberty Global hook-up on fiber; Pence talks 5G security in Poland; 4G in Ethiopia; TalkTalk lands schools' MPLS deal.

Podcast: Orange Silicon Valley CEO Helou on Tech as a Social, Economic Game-Changer

Mireille Hellou recently took charge of an Orange business unit bringing together Californian innovation and the European telco. She talked with Light Reading editor Mitch Wagner about how that focus can be about more than profits.