EE plugs transport hubs as priority for 5G

As telcos jostle for top-spot in the 5G stakes EE has added further colour to its network deployment plans, with the UK’s busiest transport hubs taking priority.

Teen-focused social app TikTok bans political advertising

TikTok, a video selfie app popular with teenagers, has sensibly decided political advertising doesn’t fit in with its vibe.

Italy challenges Netflix tax strategy

The Italian Government is investigating Netflix after the streaming giant failed to file a tax return in the country.

UK, US and Australia demand security delay from Facebook

Politicians from the UK, the US and Australia have penned an open letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg requesting the team delay end-to-end encryption plans.

Malaysia makes a big show of backing Huawei on 5G

Malaysian operator Maxis is using Huawei gear in its 5G network and for some reason the country’s Prime Minister decided to get involved in the signing ceremony.

Ossia Readies Wireless Power for IoT Asset Tracking at Walmart

Ossia is working to commercialize its Forever Tracker with T-Mobile and Xirgo.

Can Cable Bridge the 'GAP'?

Charter and a group of vendors are championing a node standardization initiative called the Generic Access Platform that's showing signs of promise, but the effort needs more buy-in from suppliers and MSOs.

Telcos Must Get More Enterprising in 5G

A new study from BearingPoint shows that CSPs have a lot of work ahead of them if they are to appeal to enterprise customers.

At Vonage, It's Not Just About Technology

Sanjay Srinivasan, Vonage VP and chief architect, talks with Light Reading's Mitch Wagner about the company's VoIP strategy and explains why SD-WAN is important to Vonage.

For Trump's Attack Dogs, There's No Stopping Huawei

Most governments and operators have shown little inclination to heed US warnings about the consequences of using Chinese suppliers.

Eurobites: Telefónica Wheels 5G Into the Operating Theater

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: 5G arrives at London train stations; EBU wants 5G-Broadcast mode; UK doesn't want Facebook encryption.

US Cellular Plots 600MHz 5G in Iowa & Wisconson in Early 2020

The fifth-largest mobile carrier in the US will be one of the first in the country with lowband 5G.

WiCipedia: Tech's Tipping Point, Speaking Up & Surging STEM Job Applicants

This week in our WiC roundup: Tech jobs at non-tech companies; speaking up at work; STEM jobs might not require tech-specific college degrees, and more.

Like Politics, All 5G Is Local

Denver city officials acknowledge that 5G could dramatically improve residents' lives, but ongoing concerns over permitting for and radiation from 5G cell sites remain obstacles.

Bigleaf Receives Divine Inspiration for SMB SD-WAN

Bigleaf provides cloud-based SD-WAN as a service for small businesses with big connectivity needs, inspired by a conversation with a church IT director.

VEON Digs Into Digital Diversity

The Eurasian operator has flipped its digital strategy to give greater autonomy to its geographically diverse operating companies.

The 'Ostiguide' to Observability

At 5G Asia, Accedian's founder and Executive Chairman Patrick Ostiguy explains the difference between 'observability' and visibility for monitoring and service assurance of 5G networks.

Telecom Acronyms Going OTT (TAGO)

LMAO @ SCTE.

US warns Italy over the Huawei job

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is back in Europe and this time he is attempting to scare the Italians into line.

Europe wants Facebook to implement its censorship requests globally

A new ruling by the EU Court of Justice seems to compel social media companies to enact EU censorship demands even outside of its jurisdiction.

India mobile subs continue to climb as fixed falls

Mobile subscriptions are continuing to rise in India, though the fixed market is increasingly looking prime for disruption as the number of users falls once again.

Apple rejects crowdsourced map app used by Hong Kong protesters

HKmap.live is a crowdsourced web app that shows the location of Hong Kong protests and police activity. Apple has rejected the app version of it.

Mavenir demos 5G O-RAN interface at Swedish innovation center

To kick off its new innovation center, Mavenir demonstrated the transmission of data traffic over an O-RAN interface in a 5G New Radio.

uSwitch warns 5G won’t cover 4G’s inadequacies

Comparison website uSwitch.com has put somewhat of a dampener on 5G festivities with a warning that the 4G journey has not been completed just yet.

Trump gives shout-out to Nokia—and CWA reacts

It’s not every day the president of the United States calls out your global leadership in 5G, but that’s what Nokia got. And, then the CWA union called out…

Microsoft gets into the Android smartphone game, or does it?

At an event devoted to its Surface device range Microsoft teased a new, dual-screen Android smartphone called the Surface Duo.

Google takes a step towards accessibility and personalisation

Google has announced the launch of Action Blocks, allowing users to customise commands for its personal assistant.

U.S. Cellular CTO touts ‘clean’ 600 MHz channel for 5G

U.S. Cellular plans to launch 5G service in Iowa and Wisconsin early next year, but the nation’s fifth-largest carrier is taking a slightly different approach…

Ciena set to buy service assurance vendor Centina

Ciena has inked a definitive agreement to buy service assurance analytics vendor Centina in order to add it into Ciena's Blue Planet division.

Spectrum Enterprise's Parimi draws virtualization blueprint

When it came to drawing up its virtualization playbook a few years back, Charter decided to drill down on a few key areas.

Madden: Myriad questions permeate edge cloud market

Edge computing is in the early phase of the hype cycle now. Multiple business models and technologies are up for grabs… so thousands of possible applications…

MobiledgeX CEO cites challenges at the edge

MobiledgeX's CEO Jason Hoffman is a bit of a futurist. He talks about the changing way consumers interact with the internet.

Nextlink blazes fixed wireless trail

A small wireless internet service provider is expanding, having just acquired another internet service provider in Nebraska, and its sights are set on even…

Zuckerberg comes out swinging in face of break-up tension

Via a leaked audio-recording of a Facebook townhall meeting with employees, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has taken a combative position in the face of increasing pressure.

Frontier's Irwin on the Security Benefits of Managed SD-WAN

DALLAS -- Scott Irwin, senior director of SD-WAN for Frontier Communications, explains how Frontier's customers are increasingly moving to a more centralized managed SD-WAN platform. This centralized approach provides customers with a more complete view of their network and application layers, plus centralized firewall and security services. Irwin also shares his prediction on whether the industry

Trump Praises Finland's Nokia While Touting US 5G Leadership

President Trump called out Nokia and its US operations during a press event with Finland's president. The CWA union wasted no time in calling out the situation.

Latest TiVo-Comcast Patent Scrum Ends in Draw

Both sides declare victory in mixed court opinion centered on a TiVo video search patent.

Edge Technology Options & Deployment Models

With hype around all things 'edge' on the rise, Heavy Reading launched a research study to gain a realistic understanding of how edge computing will affect the future of network connectivity.

Mavenir Opens Radio R&D Unit in Ericsson's Backyard

When the time came to open a new R&D facility focused on radio technology, the US software company could find no better place than Stockholm.

Ciena Agrees to Buy Centina, Keeps Kicking OSS

Ciena's latest acquisition is another piece of a larger back office puzzle for carriers, but the vendor said it's not aiming to become the new OSS stack.

Facebook's TIP Is Desperate to Add Friends

Three and a half years after its birth, the Telecom Infra Project is trying to be more collaborative than confrontational.

NBN Faces Penalties but Deeper Issues Can't Be Fixed

Australia's national broadband network faces rising costs while customers remain unhappy.

Eurobites: Deutsche Telekom & Audi Seek Vorsprung Durch 5G

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: BT lands Spanish government deal; Ericsson completes on Kathrein; Sparkle boosts its presence in Milan; French facial recognition.

Spectrum Enterprise's Gunnar Peters Looks Ahead

Gunnar Peters from Spectrum Enterprise discusses how the company listens to customers and decides what services to offer next.

Revamping the IT Stack for 5G

At the recent 5G Asia event in Singapore, MATRIXX Software CTO Marc Price talked about the importance of cloud-native functionality as service providers revamp their IT stacks as part of their 5G strategies.

Backdoor to Google services closed for Huawei Mate 30

There was a brief glimmer of hope for Huawei users that Google services might have been an option for its latest smartphones, but the workaround has now been closed.

Openreach maps out fibre plans for the next 18 months

BT’s fixed line wholesale division has created a new website that allows everyone to see how its fibre roll-out is going.

Vodafone first to take advantage of spectrum sharing rules

Vodafone has announced it has entered into a three-year agreement with StrattoOpencell to share the use of it 2.6 GHz spectrum assets to deliver connectivity in Devon.

Ericsson closes acquisition of Kathrein

Ericsson is boosting its 5G technology expertise, closing on the acquisition of Kathrein’s antenna and filter technology division.

Adtran gets into the managed SD-WAN game

Adtran on Wednesday announced it was joining the SD-WAN fray with its version, which is targeted at businesses and distributed enterprises.

Nokia invents the press release montage

Not content with its countless 5G ‘firsts’, Nokia has broken new marketing ground by inventing the press release montage and then issuing a press release about it.

US courts open the door for net neutrality fragmentation

A US Court of Appeal has seemingly put the final nail into the net neutrality coffin at a federal-level but has opened-up the option for state-specific rules.

U.S. Cellular to launch 5G in Wisconsin, Iowa

U.S. Cellular plans to launch 5G in the first quarter of 2020 using low-band 600 MHz spectrum.

Telus buys ADT Canada for $700M

In a move to broaden its security horizons, Telus is buying ADT Canada for about $700 million, the company announced Tuesday.

Industry Voices—Sharma: 5G requires new network metrics

The industry needs to get away from average speeds as the defining metric for network competition.

Samsung ceases handset production in China

Samsung Electronics has stopped its mobile phone production operations in China, according to Reuters, closing its last factory in the country.

ETSI Tackles AI Security

New specification group at ETSI is 'exceptionally important,' says industry analyst.

Charter Envisions a Fixed Wireless Triple-Play With CBRS

Charter's Craig Cowden expands on the MSO's interests and intentions involving the CBRS band and provides updates on the company's recent set of fixed wireless, mobile-facing 'dual-SIM' market trials.

TiVo Debuts Pricey Connected DVR Lineup, Ad-Supported Streaming Service

Company adds TiVo Edge models for cable customers and cord-cutters, tags content partners for soon-to-launch ad-based OTT service called TiVo+.

Six Months of 5G: What We've Learned From South Korea

What has gone well and what has gone badly for South Korea's early 5G movers?

Meet ZenKey: Telcos' Doomed Single Sign-On Service

ZenKey is the new 'single sign-on' service from the nation's four big wireless network operators. If history is any indication, it won't last long.

Eurobites: Openreach Looks Further Down the Fiber Road

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Vodafone UK shares 4G spectrum to help bridge rural connectivity divide; Finnish president endures face-time with Trump to thrash out 5G options; smart lighting gets a bit smarter.

The Importance of Culture Management in a 5G World

At the 5G Asia event in Singapore, Ericsson's Rodrigo Beyer Fernandez outlines the cultural changes needed in telco IT operations teams, and the importance of automation, as network operators embrace 5G.

Inside T-Mobile's New 'Home Internet' Business

A deep dive into T-Mobile's fixed wireless service over LTE – complete with detailed commentary from a current customer – offers some interesting insights into what it means for Internet service in the future.

CTIA, WISPA claim victories in court’s net neutrality ruling

The court’s decision, which applies to both mobile and fixed broadband providers, drew immediate responses from all sides of the net neutrality debate, with…

Creating a competitor will only help us – Huawei CEO

In the latest edition of ‘A coffee with Ren’ the Huawei founder graced a wide range of topics from data protection to 6G, but perhaps the most important area was the licensing idea which has been floated.

Federal appeals court upholds overturn of net neutrality

It was a mixed bag Tuesday after a federal appeals court upheld the FCC's decision to get rid of the net neutrality rules.

Verizon buys into alternative realities

Verizon has announced the acquisition of Jaunt XR, adding augmented and virtual reality smarts to its media division.

AT&T moves Sambar from FirstNet

Sambar led the FirstNet program since April 2017. Even the activist investor Elliott Management speaks highly of FirstNet.

AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint rally behind ZenKey

AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon will announce the next phase of the ZenKey mobile authentication platform at MWC Los Angeles later this month.

KPN goes in-house to resolve CEO soap opera

Having bailed on its new CEO within days of announcing her, Dutch operator KPN has taken the safe option with its next pick.

Vodafone Australia and TPG told to wait three months for merger decision

The final arguments have been presented to the Australian courts and now Vodafone Australia and TPG will have to wait until early 2020 for the decision on whether the $15 billion merger will be allowed.

WBA: 78% say 6 GHz key to network strategy

A new report from WBA finds that plans for next-generation Wi-Fi 6 deployments are widespread, and that extension into the 6 GHz band is key to network…

WOW deepens relationship with analytics vendor OpenVault

Broadband analytics vendor OpenVault announced on Tuesday an extension and enhancement of its longstanding relationship with WOW.

What did we learn from the Tory Party Conference?

In a couple of words; not a lot.

Presidential hopeful criticizes lack of tech knowledge in US Government

Senator Elizabeth Warren has launched a Twitter tirade to blast Government officials who are seeking regulatory advice from those who will be subject to the stricter regulation.

Polte raises $12.5M for location alternative to GPS

Location technology company Polte Corporation announced it has raised $12.5 million in strategic funding.

Nokia and Etisalat hit more than 50 Tbps in network field trial

Nokia and Etisalat have laid claim to trialing the first terabit-per-second, single-carrier data transmission over an operator deployed fiber network.

Blaber: 5G a game-changer for smartphone system-level design

5G promises a fundamental change in smartphone performance, quality and ultimately the chipset supply landscape.

Net Neutrality Is Dead Yet Again

States still have the option of enacting their own net neutrality regulations following today's DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruling upholding the FCC rollback of net neutrality rules.

Mentor Spotlight: MATRIXX's Founder on 5G's 'Tremendous' Impact for Women in Comms

MATRIXX's Founder Jennifer Kyriakakis says 5G will enable the creation of many new opportunities in the telecom industry, especially around microservices, networking, automation and security.

HFC May Never Die

The cable industry, in partnership with CableLabs, is exploring how to deliver services at 6GHz and beyond, Cox exec says.

Alaska's Rakuten Preps for 4G Launch

Japan's Rakuten isn't the only operator in the world building a new, greenfield wireless network with an open, software-powered architecture: OptimERA is working to do the same in a tiny part of Alaska.

Podcast: Where 5G May Be in 5 Years

Ovum Chief Analyst Ed Barton talks to Light Reading's Ray Le Maistre about the services and opportunities 5G unlocks for consumers – and what new capabilities are just around the corner.

The Telecoms.com Podcast: KPN, 5G Core Summit & Huawei

This week: Dutch ructions at KPN; 5G core, baby; and some good news for Huawei!

China's CBN Starts 5G Trials Amid Doubts

China's smallest 5G operator has begun 5G trials, but it remains a long way behind its bigger rivals.

Másmóvil Investors Bullish on Orange 5G Deal

Spain's fourth operator has upped its profit expectations after extending an agreement with Orange to cover the use of its 5G networks.

Silver Peak Heats Up SD-WAN Telco Romance

The SD-WAN vendor is looking to increase sales through service providers, as enterprises turn to SPs to outsource networking needs.

Omniverse: It's All HovSat's Fault

Faced with a copyright lawsuit led by major Hollywood studios, Omniverse accuses its erstwhile partner of breach of contract and negligent misrepresentation.

Eurobites: Ericsson's Latest Smart Factory Nears Completion

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Colt hires new marketing boss; ADVA trumpets its eco-commitments; Zain Jordan upgrades its billing systems.

Joost-in-Time Replacement: KPN Names New Boss After Leroy Turmoil

Dutch incumbent says chief operating officer will become its permanent CEO a day after canceling the appointment of Proximus ex-boss Dominique Leroy.

Cable experts chalk the 10G pathway

SCTE-ISBE Cable-Tec Expo is chock full of panels and sessions on 10G, but when the cable industry actually deploys or needs it is an open question.

Obituary: Dr Stuart Sharrock

Dr Stuart Sharrock was a rarity among journalists of the time.

Tories promise another £5 billion to fuel fibre and 5G drive

Speaking at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid has suggested an additional £5 billion will be made available for connectivity upgrades.

KPN cancels CEO appointment following insider trading investigation

Dominique Leroy was due to switch from Proximus to KPN but now she’s CEO of neither following an investigation into insider trading.

WISPA keeps watchful eye on CBRS auction rules

Burned by the commission’s prior decision to reject census tract-sized licenses for CBRS, the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association said it’s keeping…

Ericsson and Nokia both claim to be KDDI primary 5G partner

In a strange turn of events, both Ericsson and Nokia have made announcements claiming to be the primary partner for the efforts of Japanese telcos to drive towards 5G.

FierceTelecom presents its inaugural class of Rising Stars

The FierceTelecom editorial team selected nine executives are rising up the ranks and making an impact in telecom in 2019.

Altice USA taps Cisco to expand its SD-WAN offering

Altice USA is broadening its SD-WAN horizon by tapping into Cisco's Managed Services Accelerator (MSX) platform.

Japan’s KDDI taps Ericsson, Nokia for 5G

KDDI expects to launch commercial 5G services in Japan by March of next year using Ericsson and Nokia gear.

UK starts laying groundwork for another assault on privacy

UK Home Secretary Priti Patel is reportedly to sign a transatlantic agreement offering the UK Government more clout over the stubborn messaging platforms.

Editor’s Corner—Early CBRS deployments: Indoors or out?

The success of the Citizens Broadband Radio Services (CBRS) band appears to be a foregone conclusion, but is it?

Sprint’s 5G network extends to MVNOs

MVNOs riding on Sprint’s network already have access to 5G in one city, with additional markets planned soon.

2019 FierceTelecom Rising Star — Verizon's Kevin Smith

Smith, an electrical engineer, was initially hired as an outside plant engineer where he learned about Verizon from its legacy copper network to its fiber…

Industry Voices—Raynovich: SES takes SD-WAN to space

SES recently launched a managed SD-WAN service, extending enterprise communications to its multi-orbit satellite networks.

SCTE-ISBE CEO Dzuban: Spotlight on 10G at Cable-Tec Expo

The cable industry's 10G initiative will be front and center at this week's SCTE-ISBE Cable-Tec Expo in New Orleans.

Amazon: From the Sensor to the Sidewalk

Amazon readies its low-power protocol Sidewalk for long-term IoT and smart home projects.

From the Sensor to the Sidewalk

Amazon readies its low-power protocol Sidewalk for long-term IoT and smart home projects.

Verizon Doubles Down on AR/VR With Jaunt Acquisition

Verizon purchased some of the assets of AR company Jaunt, a move that further reinforces Verizon's interest in AR and VR content and technology.

DOCSIS 4.0 Ends Cable Network Feud

DOCSIS 4.0 unifies previously feuding Full Duplex DOCSIS and Extended Spectrum DOCSIS proposals for boosting network bandwidth.

When Will Cable Need 10G?

No one knows exactly for sure, but one top industry network engineer believes cable operators will need access network capacities of 'at least' 10 Gbit/s by 2035.

Edge Cloud Deployments – Operator Proof Points

There's early evidence that network operators are getting to grips with the opportunities associated with 5G edge cloud architectures.

Fiber Cheaper Than 5G for Broadband – XL Axiata

The Indonesian operator is making a counter-intuitive move with its deployment of broadband services in a mainly rural market.

Why AT&T's Latest Open Source Contribution Matters

AT&T has shared its distributed router specifications with the Open Compute Project and a leading disruptive data networking startup is flagging its support for the model.

Tower Visionary Marc Ganzi on 5G, Small Cells & Edge Computing

Marc Ganzi is described as a 'leading visionary and entrepreneur' in his company's biography, and given his recent investments its easy to see why. Here's what he has to say about hot topics like 5G, build to relocate, small cells and edge computing.

Harmonic's 'CableOS' Adds More Fiber to Its Diet

Vendor extends capabilities of its access network virtualization platform as some MSOs deploy fiber-to-the-premises in targeted and greenfield scenarios.

Dutch Ditch Dominique: KPN Gives Leroy the Kiss-Off

'We wish her all the best,' says operator, as it puts the kibosh on Leroy appointment.

Eurobites: Nokia Touts Its Terabit in UAE

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: UK government promises £5 billion for broadband and mobile rollout in the sticks; private equity firms vying for Vivacom; Telefónica agrees deal with Spanish labor unions.

Infinera: Making Optical Interesting Again

The vendor's new XR Optics technology could cut carrier opex and capex in service providers' metro networks. But can the company get everyone else to buy into coherent optical sub-carrier aggregation?

The Eye-Watering Cost of Multivendor Networks

Operators face tricky decisions as they try to get virtualized networks off the ground.