Money Moves: April 2020

Here are some of the most prominent venture capital and merger and acquisition news items from the past month. If you’d like SDxCentral to report on your company’s VC or M&A activity, or if you have any tips on that activity, please send the information to Sydney Sawaya (ssawaya@sdxcentral.com).

A look back at the biggest stories this week

Whether it’s important, depressing or just entertaining, the telecoms industry is always one which attracts attention.

Rakuten Mobile ‘Working Like Crazy’ to Deploy 5G Next Month

Rakuten Mobile expects to overcome the impacts of the global pandemic, insofar as it relates to its 5G network deployment, much quicker than the technological challenges it faced during the last year. 

Ligado comes under DoD fire during hearing

Although the FCC recently gave the green light to Ligado Networks’ application to deploy a low-power terrestrial network in the L-Band, the years-long debate is not over yet, with legislators raising concerns as Pentagon officials continued to warn of harmful interference with civil and military GPS systems.

Qualcomm, Fujitsu validate 5G carrier aggregation

Fujitsu and Qualcomm Technologies are lauding their ability to complete a 5G New Radio (NR) data call with multi-gigabit connection using sub-6 GHz carrier aggregation.

Cincinnati Bell shareholders sign off on $2.9B acquisition deal

Cincinnati Bell's shareholders have put their stamp of approval on the company being bought Macquarie Infrastructure Partners for $2.9 billion.

Microsoft and AWS throw down on JEDI contract that Microsoft won

The brass knuckles are out in the dust up between Microsoft and Amazon Web Services over the $10 billion JEDI contract.

Cogent sees spike in corporate bandwidth demand due to WFH

Cogent Communications CEO Dave Schaeffer said his company has seen an uptick in the demand for corporate bandwidth from customers due to COVID-19. With millions of organizations' employees made the move to work-from-home in March, Schaeffer said his company saw a surge of corporate customers upgrading from 100 Mbps internet speeds to 1-Gig.

US pay-TV losses rocket to 2.15M subs in Q1 as virtual MVPD market unraveled

Fueled by the pandemic, subscriber losses among traditional pay-TV service providers fell to a record 1.8 million and OTT-TV players lost 341,000, according to new analysis from MoffettNathanson.

‘SD-WAN Has to Evolve,’ Says Cisco Exec

SD-WAN is in for some big changes, at least according to a panel of executives from Cisco, Itential, and Volterra, who discussed the future of the WAN during this week’s Open Network User Group (ONUG) Virtual Live conference.

Microsoft Revamps Its Azure VMware Platform

Microsoft this week quietly made a big change to its Azure VMware Solution that allows users to migrate their existing on-premises VMware applications to Azure without needing to re-architect them first.

Dish Fights Off Critics, Claims 5G Efforts on Track

Dish Network has cleared some hurdles in its long march to become a mobile network operator, but considerable work and uncertainty remains. 

Why telcos need open core surgery

Industry analyst Patrick Lopez on why telcos and their suppliers need to adopt processes that will help increase competition and allow a more flexible sourcing strategy.

WiCipedia: Is Oracle out of the frying pan on equal pay?

This week in our WiC roundup: Women are more likely to be promoted, kindof; Oracle faces a potentially major payout to female plaintiffs; universities keep pushing for STEM diversity even with classes moved online; and more.

Daily Roundup: Cisco Patches Firewall Bugs

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Podcast: How broadband traffic patterns change as the world works from home

Some states are opening up and that means we're seeing a shift in broadband traffic patterns (again). To get a handle on what's happening, we follow up with Plume CMO Todd Grantham.

Canada's TeraGo embraces 5G in mmWave spectrum for fixed wireless

TeraGo in Canada has long offered fixed wireless services in millimeter wave spectrum. Now, though, it's planning to upgrade its network to 5G with Nokia.

Amazon Files Another JEDI Protest, Microsoft Says ‘Stop Asking for Do-Over’

Amazon and Microsoft ratcheted up their JEDI fight this week, with Microsoft telling Amazon to “stop asking for a do-over” and Amazon, which filed a new protest against the $10 billion cloud contract, vowing it “won’t back down.”

Building Huawei alternatives will take time, collaboration and cash

With the US rushing to create alternatives to Huawei, it's important to examine why and how the Chinese firm rose to success in the first place.

Dish not worried about funding for Boost, 5G network

COVID-19 is wreaking havoc on Dish Network’s existing business, but it’s not backing off plans to build a greenfield 5G network that it intends to make the envy of the world.

Nokia, ExteNet build fixed wireless access CBRS network

ExteNet and Nokia have been working to help the wireless internet service provider (WISP) Cal.net build a fixed wireless access (FWA) network in northern California since 2017. They’ve recently transitioned the project from legacy WiMAX to LTE technology, using CBRS spectrum. It will still take about four more years to complete most of the project, which is expected to include from 2,000 to 3,000 sites and serve about 19,000 rural homes.

T-Mobile’s Ray: DSS still ‘bumpy’

Earlier this year, T-Mobile President of Technology Neville Ray predicted a tough year for dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) technology, which his rivals expect to use as part of their 5G rollouts. Based on his answer about DSS on Wednesday’s earnings call, he still isn’t a big fan.

Windstream Wholesale makes a move into Equinix's data center

Windstream Wholesale is setting up shop in Equinix's International Business Exchange (IBX) data center to offer services in the New York Metro area. With the expansion, Windstream will be able to offer its 10G and 100G wavelengths to the companies, which includes more than 90 network service providers, within Equinix's NY5 IBX data center that's located in Secaucus, New Jersey.

T-Mobile bags 452k subs as 5G starts to roll

An additional 452,000 branded postpaid subscriptions and churn of 0.86% should be enough to put a smile on the face of T-Mobile investors as share price soars 9%.

Virgin Media, O2 to merge U.K. businesses in $38.55B JV

Liberty Global and Telefonica have struck a $38.55 billion joint venture agreement to become a major fixed broadband/mobile provider in the United Kingdom. The 50-50 joint venture brings together Liberty Global’s Virgin Media broadband network and Telefonica’s O2 mobile platform in the U.K.

Report: Amazon, Microsoft reign supreme in European cloud market

Just as they are in the U.S., Amazon Web Services and Microsoft are the leading cloud providers across Europe based on cloud infrastructure revenues, according to first quarter research by Synergy Research Group (SRG.) Amazon is the top cloud provider in Europe and the leader in all of the major individual country markets while Microsoft is ranked second across the board. Below Amazon and Microsoft, SRG said the results varied across the countries.

Verizon targets reopening 50% of retail stores

Verizon is in the second wave of its retail redeployment program, with about 1,400 employees expected to head back to stores in the coming weeks, according to Ronan Dunne, head of Verizon’s consumer business, speaking on a Twitter webcast this week.

T-Mobile adds 452K postpaid subs in Q1

T-Mobile reported what it described as another record-setting quarter, adding 452,000 branded postpaid phone net additions in the first quarter of 2020 as the company scrambled to close retail stores and arrange work-from-home conditions for the majority of employees.

Charter makes the move to 100% virtual hiring during COVID-19

While Charter Communications has dabbled in virtual recruiting for several years, it made the move to 100% virtual hiring in mid-March due to the COVID-19 crisis. Charter has hired 3,000 new employees—all of them virtually—during the coronavirus pandemic and is still seeking applicants for thousands of additional jobs.

CenturyLink CEO: Future of work within company uncertain

CenturyLink CEO Jeff Storey had his doubts initially about the company's employees working from home during the COVID-19 crisis, but now he's a believer.

GSA forms working group for Fixed Wireless Access

The Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) has announced the launch of a working group to standardise the quickly developing fixed wireless access (FWA) segment.

Facebook hopes new Oversight Board will resolve censorship dilemma

Facebook’s Oversight Board has announced its first 20 members and will start hearing cases related to content dispute later this year, but the fundamental problems with censorship remain.

Submissions to UK 5G security review are mostly hostile to Huawei

UK Parliament is reviewing the government’s decision to allow the limited involvement of Huawei kit in its 5G networks.

O2 and Virgin Media are merging to form BT-busting connectivity giant

Telefonica and Liberty Global have confirmed plans to merge UK operations, O2 and Virgin Media, to challenge the connectivity market leader BT.

How Viasat Is Optimizing Its Network During the COVID-19 Pandemi

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way people live, work and communicate. Social distancing, working from home, e-learning, and sheltering-in-place are the ‘new normal’ – which has placed a dramatic increase in demand for residential and business internet.

Roku: Streaming spiked in Q1 but lack of sports tempered growth for OTT-TV services

Led by ad- and subscription-based apps and services, total streaming hours on Roku's platform jumped 49% to 13.2 billion while 'active' accounts neared 40 million.

SKT reports 5G revenue boost despite virus impact

SK Telecom said 5G helped drive up Q1 revenue – despite gaining fewer subscribers than projected and seeing a 6.4% fall in overall operating income.

BT stock plumbs new depths on dividend cut, lack of visibility

The UK incumbent is now trading at its lowest level in more than a decade and its job is not about to get easier.

Record funds for Indian telcos could signal revival

India's long-suffering telecom sector is managing to attract investors thinking about the country's long-term potential.

Daily Roundup: Fortinet Weathers Pandemic

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T-Mobile US Forecasts $667M COVID-19 Hit

“What a crazy quarter this was,” Mike Sievert, the new CEO at T-Mobile US, said to kick off the operator’s first quarter of 2020 earnings call. Indeed, the operator closed its acquisition of Sprint after a two-year battle, shuffled its executive ranks, and just as it was preparing to reintroduce the combined company with a massive marketing campaign, a global pandemic hit. 

Fortinet Weathers Pandemic Storm, Posts Robust Q1 Earnings

Networking and security vendor Fortinet barreled through a tumultuous first quarter of 2020 largely unscathed by the ongoing pandemic. The company enjoyed double-digit growth across the board during the quarter with revenues up 22% year over year for a total of $576.9 million. Meanwhile, product revenue for the quarter was up 18% over the same period to 192.3 million.

VEON backs off from giving 2020 guidance due to COVID-19

Amsterdam-based group describes first-quarter performance as 'balanced,' although a decline in roaming revenue offset greater demand for broadband services.

Linux Foundation, ToIP Foundation Unite to Tackle Digital Trust

Governments, nonprofits, and private sector firms across finance, health care, and enterprise software have teamed up with the Linux Foundation to build the Trust over IP  (ToIP) Foundation, an independent project to enable trustworthy exchange and verification of data between any two parties on the internet. 

Cellular-capable smartwatch shipments grow to 3M in Q1

Research and consulting firm Strategy Analytics reported that roughly 22% of all smartwatches shipped worldwide contained cellular connectivity (mostly 4G) in the first quarter of 2020.

What did the world do during quarantine? Watch more YouTube

A new report from Sandvine offers a cohesive look at how global lockdowns affected Internet traffic, essentially funneling it through fixed consumer broadband networks.

Telefónica weathers COVID-19 storm (so far at least)

CEO sees 'limited impact' on Q1 results and shareholders escape dividend cut.

COVID-19 stings Liberty Global financials

Europe's largest cable operator reports lower operating cash flow, slightly lower revenues and higher customer losses as the novel coronavirus spreads, but company maintains financial guidance for year.

Eurobites: TDC in need of TLC after Nuuday dents Q1

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: COVID-19 clobbers Nexans' earnings; 5G wipes the floor with Wi-Fi, says Opensignal; ADVA gets in sync.

Dish sizes up launch of a 5G network core in at least one market in 2020

Dish is in hurry-up-and-wait mode as it prepares to close the acquisition of the Boost business, but Chairman Charlie Ergen predicts the company will be in the postpaid wireless business a year from now.

Pandemic just one of big problems plaguing pay-TV, Dish's Ergen says

Dish's video sub losses ballooned to 413,000 in Q1 2020, including 281,000 sub losses at Sling TV.

Cable ops backburner DAA, virtualization projects during pandemic, CommScope says

Vendor has seen an uptick in CCAP software licenses and node splits that help MSOs add capacity to keep up with traffic demands. However, the impact of COVID-19 has caused sales to slump across the board.

Microsoft Nears $170M Deal to Buy CyberX, Reports Say

Microsoft is close to reaching a deal to acquire IoT security startup CyberX for upwards of $170 million, according to Israel-based media reports.

Cisco Firewall Bugs Leave Networks Vulnerable to Attacks

Cisco patched a dozen high-severity bugs in its Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) and Firepower 1000 Series firewall appliances and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) software used to protect corporate networks and data centers.

O2 and Virgin Media to merge in £31.4B deal

Mobile and cable giants come together to present a stronger challenge to BT, promising £10 billion of investment in the UK over the next five years.

Dish ‘for real,’ says SBA CEO

With the closure of the T-Mobile/Sprint merger, SBA Communications is as bullish as ever for its tower business, including the prospects of serving Dish Network.

Online gaming seems coronavirus proof, but is it recession proof?

Online entertainment and gaming companies are seeing COVID-19 surges in revenues, but are these businesses in a position to resist the pressures of a global recession?

Mobile app enables push-to-talk for public safety during COVID

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced healthcare workers and public health officials to interact frequently with first responders and at times to act as emergency responders themselves. The crisis underlines the importance of smartphone push-to-talk capability, which FirstNet announced during Q1. But while the public safety industry has been waiting for FirstNet’s PTT, a smartphone app created by L3Harris has been filling the gap for some jurisdictions.

Wi-Fi still faster than 5G in U.S. - Opensignal

In seven out of eight countries leading in 5G, the next-generation technology has outpaced Wi-Fi in average download speeds, with one exception: the U.S.  

Report: Capex models shift for cloud providers due to COVID-19

With a large number of first quarter earnings reports now in the books, the telecom industry is taking a look at the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Stealth CEO: Asymmetric broadband a chokepoint during COVID-19

With millions of employees now working from home due to COVID-19, asymmetric broadband offerings are a chokepoint for some business applications.

Alphabet’s Loon gets partner in AT&T to extend global coverage

Alphabet-owned Loon will be able to respond more quickly and effectively to disasters worldwide thanks to a new partnership with AT&T.

Half of Americans approve of using smartphones to track infected individuals

Pew Research Center asked thousands of US adults what they thought about how personal data should be used to help tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.

Taste of remote working whets employee appetites for more – O2

Research from O2’s enterprise business unit suggests the UK’s eyes have been opened to the benefits of working from home and employees want the temporary measures to remain, post-coronavirus.

Three UK turns to Virgin for 5G backhaul

Virgin Media Business has signed a deal with Three UK to provide dark fibre backhaul for a bunch of its 5G cell sites.

Streaming venture leads Disney to 29% revenue surge

The Walt Disney company has reported a 29% increase for year-on-year revenues thanks to its streaming bet, but COVID-19 has forced the team to withhold dividend payments.

Verizon to reopen half its retail stores by June

Verizon's new 'touchless retail' strategy will be in full effect.

T-Mobile CEO: COVID-19 might help us gain market share

T-Mobile officials suggested that the economic upheaval from the pandemic could push more customers to seek its cheaper plans, backed by its growing 5G network.

Altice USA lays off 'small percentage' of workforce

Cable operator also confirms it is seeking voluntary layoffs among some workers with the Altice Technical Services unit.

T-Mobile: COVID-19 might help us gain market share

T-Mobile officials suggested that the economic upheaval from the pandemic could push more customers to seek its cheaper plans, backed by its growing 5G network.

Synamedia extends bridge to ATSC 3.0 for cable ops

Video specialist says new receiver will enable cable operators to test next-gen broadcast signals on a small scale and allow them to tack on some of ATSC 3.0's more advanced features at their own pace.

US officials may avert 5G standards fragmentation

A new Reuters report indicates that US officials are working on rules that would allow US companies to work with Huawei on 5G standards. That effort could forestall a US-China split in the standard.

Daily Roundup: AT&T Recommits to SDN

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The political hijacking of open RAN

Open RAN was supposed to be about cost savings and innovation, but it is increasingly – and misguidedly – about shutting out the Chinese.

IBM Launches Cloud Satellite to the Edge

IBM this week offered a peak at its Cloud Satellite service, which will allow users to run their IBM Cloud service on-premises or in edge locations managed through a single pane of glass in the public cloud. The product moves IBM a bit closer to similar public cloud extensions announced by rivals Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.

Verizon to re-open half its retail stores by June

Verizon's new 'touchless retail' strategy will be in full effect.

TiVo unleashes the Stream 4K at retail for $49.99

TiVo enters the crowded and competitive streaming platform market with an Android TV-powered streaming dongle that delivers 4K and HDR video and supports the new TiVo+ service and a multitude of apps from Google Play.

Liberty Latin America preps for COVID-19 storm

Although it hasn't seen a big revenue hit yet, the big Latin American MSO is preparing for the worst by cutting capex and opex and withdrawing its financial guidance for the year.

AT&T Recommits to SDN Goal Amid ‘Unprecedented Network Surge’

This year hasn’t gone according to plan for any business or person, but AT&T this week said it’s goal to deploy nationwide 5G this summer and virtualize 75% of its core network functions by year-end remains on track.

China takes aim at foreign vendors with new security rules

The new measures will give the Chinese government additional tools to wield against foreign suppliers.

Finnegan's wake-up call to coronavirus yobs

Three's CEO gives update on vandalism, network usage trends and employees as UK lockdown enters seventh week.

Loon nabs partnership with AT&T, but not necessarily revenues

Loon – the balloon-based Internet services company that spun out of Google's R&D division roughly two years ago – now has an agreement with AT&T. That might pave the way to revenues later.

Arista On Track to Hit $100M Campus Revenue Target

Despite COVID-19, Arista Networks remains on track to hit $100 million in campus networking revenue by the end of the second quarter, said CEO Jayshree Ullal. This pushes Arista further into Cisco’s enterprise networking turf — a move Ullal alluded to as Arista’s mission to “disrupt 30 years of legacy and status quo” on the company’s first-quarter 2020 earnings call on Tuesday.

Pandemic Demand Bolsters Server Market

The global server market surged during the first quarter of 2020, driven by a wave of COVID-19 related demand from hyperscale cloud service providers, according to a new report.

Telefónica Deutschland confirms 2020 outlook after Q1 growth

The German operator said revenue and earnings growth outperformed previous quarters.

Eurobites: Iskratel gets busy with 10Gbit/s broadband in Slovenia and Croatia

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Scottish broadband buildouts; France lambasts Apple over iPhone intransigence; Vodafone invites itself to latest open RAN party.

Openreach still has a Huawei problem

Too much Chinese equipment in the UK's biggest full-fiber network will force Openreach to make changes at a difficult time.

T-Mobile turns on 5G ‘layer cake’ in NYC

T-Mobile today turned on its newly integrated 2.5 GHz spectrum in New York City, making it the first city to offer the operator’s full “layer cake” for 5G with a mix of low-, mid-, and high-band spectrum.

Report: Execs take a salary cut as VMware freezes employee wages

VMware has cut raises and is suspending 401 (k) retirement fund matches for its employees due to the COVID-19 crisis, according to a story by Business Insider. Business Insider also reported on Tuesday that CEO Pat Gelsinger and other members of the executive team are taking salary reductions and that the company is shifting from a semi-annual to annual bonus plan.

Verizon scores in new cloud gaming report

The oft-cited application for 5G known as gaming is getting validated by a new report from RootMetrics. The firm found that carrier speeds in Los Angeles were fast enough for nearly all cloud gaming, with 5G showing faster speeds than LTE for all four carriers.

AT&T, Verizon part of new 31-member Open RAN Policy Coalition

A new coalition, backed by a wide range of players in the mobile ecosystem, including U.S. operators AT&T and Verizon, has formed to advocate for government policy that helps drive open RAN adoption.

CSPs are being cut out of enterprise 5G projects – study

A new bit of research conducted by Omdia and BearingPoint//Beyond has found that only a small proportion of B2B 5G deals are being done by operators.

OpenRAN lobby group forms in US with 31 founding members

A new lobby group has emerged in the US, known as the Open RAN Policy Coalition, with a mission to guide policy making and encourage the promotion of the OpenRAN movement.

Raghav Sahgal is named president of Nokia Enterprise

Nokia Enterprise President Kathrin Buvac is planning to leave the company to pursue an unspecified leadership opportunity, and Nokia has named Raghav Sahgal as the new president of Nokia Enterprise and as a member of the Nokia Group Leadership Team.

AT&T: Damn COVID-19, it's full speed ahead for 2020's goals

AT&T has not only weathered the networking storm of the coronavirus pandemic, it has also stayed on track for some of this year's biggest goals.

Microsoft to invest $1B in Poland for new data center region

Microsoft will invest $1 billion in Poland to build a data center region in order to provide cloud services to businesses and government institutions, among other verticals. Microsoft inked an agreement with domestic cloud provider Chmura Krajowa to provide cloud services across Poland and parts of Central Europe.

Report: Telco software capex increases to $50B in 2019

Faced with tighter margins over the past five years, telcos are relying more on software to deliver value in their networks, according to a report.

IBM still searching for its place as it targets the edge

IBM’s struggle over the last decade has been well documented, but with a pivot following a pivot, the $34 billion Red Hat acquisition is beginning to make waves.

UK’s COVID-19 contact tracing app – will it work?

The UK has officially launched its NHS contact tracing app, but there remain many questions about how effective it can be.

Vodacom launches 5G in South Africa as broadband market looks vulnerable

With some lockdown protocols still in place and low broadband penetration, launching 5G with a fixed wireless access (FWA) spin is telecoms opportunism at its finest.

Cost of data in China drops 93% as US still looks overly expensive

China telcos have slashed the average price of data over the last twelve months, though the US, South Korea, New Zealand and Canada are still look incredibly expensive.

Disney+ subs climb to 54.5M, Hulu has 32.1M total subs

Hulu's live TV/SVoD combo ended the quarter with 3.3 million subs, up 65%. However, Disney has sidelined investments in Hulu's international expansion during this phase of the pandemic.

US providers remain mostly optimistic on 5G rollouts

Officials from T-Mobile, Crown Castle and Verizon are among those looking at a mostly untarnished landscape for 5G network rollouts. The same is not true in other countries around the world.

AT&T narrowly beats Verizon, T-Mobile in 5G cloud gaming tests

RootMetrics tested cloud gaming services across 4G and 5G networks in Los Angeles. The results show 5G was almost up to the task.

Daily Roundup: Nutanix Furloughs CA Workforce

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Nvidia, Digital Realty Team Up on Enterprise AI

Colocation giant Digital Realty deepened its ties to Nvidia with a service that allows enterprises to deploy Nvidia-powered artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning workloads on Digital Realty’s data center platform.

Oracle Claims It Will Beat Salesforce at Cloud CRM

Oracle today set its sights on overtaking Salesforce as the No. 1 cloud provider of customer relationship management (CRM) services. 

Midrange All-Flash Storage Market, Meet Dell EMC PowerStore

Dell Technologies concluded a two-and-a-half-year journey to modernize its midrange portfolio today with the launch of Dell EMC PowerStore, an all-flash storage array that the vendor says is up to seven times faster and three times more responsive than its previous midrange storage entries.

Huawei new VC arm set for windfall from chip firm listing

3Peak, one of the first investments of Huawei's venture arm Hubble Technologies, is aiming to raise 850 million yuan (US$120 million) on the Shanghai science and technology board.

What's next for MoCA?

Multimedia over Coax Alliance has a new man in charge as org seeks commitments for a new 10-Gig-capable MoCA 3.0 spec and fights for relevancy as Wi-Fi starts to encroach on pieces of MoCA's turf.

US sets up new open RAN group amid telecom slugfest with China

Led by a former official at the US Department of Commerce, the Open RAN Policy Coalition looks about as political as telecom gets.

NTT's Santos on cybersecurity defense for COVID-19 responders

In this Mentor Spotlight, Edith Santos explains how NTT is addressing the cybersecurity threat landscape in light of COVID-19 and why enterprises need buy-in at the top to implement a successful cybersecurity strategy.

Nutanix Furloughs 25% of Workforce Citing COVID-19

About 26% of Nutanix’s global workforce will take two, one-week long unpaid furloughs as the tech company attempts to weather the COVID-19 economy.

Coalition Forms to Address Open RAN Policies

The pursuit of disaggregated, open radio access networks (RAN) today coalesced into a more formally collective effort with a new coalition of 31 founding companies. The Open RAN Policy Coalition has support from seven operators and 24 vendors, though at launch it’s noticeably lacking support from the three largest RAN vendors.

Microsoft Azure Sentinel Powers Open Systems’ Threat Detection

Open Systems today announced a new managed detection and response (MDR) service powered by Microsoft Azure Sentinel security information and event management (SIEM) platform.

Podcast: University of Chicago's Nick Feamster on staying connected in a pandemic

Feamster joins the podcast to discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting Internet traffic.

Eurobites: Nokia bigwig Buvac makes tracks

Also in today's EMEA regional rounup: Openreach boss wants business rates cut; Virgin Media scores backhaul deal; Vodacom launches 5G in South Africa.

IBM Doffs Red Hat to Target 5G, Edge Deployments

IBM joined a growing list of tech giants targeting edge computing and 5G deployments, tapping into its multi-cloud expertise and subsidiary Red Hat for services to support the deployment and management of artificial intelligence (AI), IoT, and analytic workloads in an edge environment.

Former Check Point Execs Score $20M for Orca Security

Orca Security, a startup founded last year by Check Point executives, scored a $20 million Series A funding round to expand the reach of its multi-cloud visibility software.

Nvidia's diversification trail reaches Cumulus

GPU powerhouse makes further inroads into the data center.

The Telecoms.com Podcast: Nokia, China and quarterlies

Week six of the great coronavirus lockdown and the podcast crew's morale is flagging. But wait, here's the earnings season to cheer everyone up!

Telcos are making a mess of enterprise 5G, says new research

A new report from Omdia and BearingPoint/Beyond says operators have taken the lead on just a fifth of 5G projects so far.

Elliott splashes cash on Eko's quarrel with Quibi – report

Eko alleges that Quibi is infringing on technology that powers the new, premium short-form streaming service's 'Turnstyle' feature for mobile phones.

Intel snaps up MaaS specialist Moovit for $900M

Tech giant buys Israel-based urban mobility platform to enhance its Mobileye service.

O2 set to scupper next UK 5G auction

UK operator O2 is apparently unhappy with the way Ofcom plans to conduct the next 5G spectrum auction and could launch a legal challenge.

Due to COVID-19, broadband usage spikes 47% in Q1—report

The coronavirus pandemic has driven broadband usage levels by 47% year-over-year in the first quarter, according to a report by OpenVault.

T-Mobile touts multi-vendor milestones on path to 5G SA

T-Mobile announced several important milestones on its path to deploying standalone (SA) 5G later this year, naming Cisco, Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia, OnePlus and Qualcomm as partners in notching its “world first” achievements.

Sprint lost 348,000 postpaid phone subs in its final quarter

T-Mobile pre-released some of Sprint’s final numbers in advance of its first quarter 2020 earnings report this week, which will be the first combined report for T-Mobile and Sprint.

Nvidia nabs Cumulus Networks for networking software play

Fresh off of closing its $6.9 billion deal to buy Mellanox last week, Nvidia said on Monday that it's buying Cumulus Networks for an undisclosed sum. With Cumulus, Nvidia said it would be able to innovate across the entire networking stack from chips and systems to software, including analytics with Cumulus NetQ.

Nokia teams with Vodafone Australia on 5G field test

Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA) is using gear from Nokia in what’s being described as the first deployment of low-band 700 MHz spectrum for 5G in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.

Startup Movandi scores more funding to boost mmWave 5G

Irvine-based startup Movandi recently closed $27 million in C series funding and aims to help expedite 5G rollouts with its millimeter wave technology that promises to extend coverage and reduce deployment costs for operators.

Top AWS engineer resigns in 'dismay' over Amazon firing workers

Tim Bray, a vice president and distinguished engineer at Amazon Web Services, walked away from his $1 million plus job on Friday over Amazon's firing of employees who protested working conditions.

Xiaomi denies snooping claims

It was of course never going to admit it has been spying on customers, so Xiaomi has hit back at a Forbes article which suggests the smartphone manufacturer is eavesdropping.

Vodafone UK launches IoT heat sensor to help coronavirus fight

UK operator Vodafone has launched a connected heat detection camera that can be used to screen people for potential COVID-19 infection.

Ericsson under pressure to sell Iconectiv operations – report

Ericsson is allegedly under pressure from activist investors to sell OSS/BSS business unit Iconectiv, a deal which could be worth more than $1.5 billion.

O2 completes full convergence U-turn amid Virgin Media merger talks

Two years ago, O2 CEO Mark Evans said he was not convinced by the idea of convergence, but as merger talks between O2 and Virgin Media swell, the telco has entered into moonwalking mode.

Silver Lake pays a premium for a chunk of Jio Platforms

Private equity firm Silver Lake has shelled out $750 million for a 1.15% stake in the Indian telco, which represents a 12.5% premium on the price Facebook recently paid.

T-Mobile's revamped TV service deemed 'tech-ready' – sources

But T-Mobile expected to push the national launch of its new streaming service to sometime this summer while many of its retail stores remained closed in response to the pandemic.

After Facebook, Silver Lake invests $747M in India's Jio

The investment firm quickly follows Facebook into the Indian telecom market.

Disney's streaming strategy gains strength as the rest of its business suffers

Hulu and Disney+ are points of light amid dim times being cast across Disney's theme parks, movie studio and traditional TV businesses during the COVID-19 crisis.

Conversational AI means better bots, not just call center job cuts – CSG

Conversational AI has been a goal of carriers for several years but chatbots, dumb-bots and IVR systems have provided only artificial experiences without the intelligence.

Iconectiv's number might be up at Ericsson

Sale of the Swedish manufacturer's US call-routing unit is reportedly on the cards.

As Nokia bolsters 5G spend, other R&D is suffering

The Finnish vendor's efforts to restore the all-important 5G business have put a squeeze on other investment activity.

Daily Roundup: Cisco Debunks Security Myths

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 newsletter to get these stories in your inbox.

How Rakuten Mobile Corralled Vendors for Its Open RAN Vision

Assembling a greenfield mobile network with commoditized hardware surrounded by a moat of software from at least 10 vendors was an uphill climb for Rakuten Mobile. Complexities were abundant and corralling vendors for a virtualized, cloud-native, open radio access (RAN) network required intensive work that other mobile operators haven’t pursued yet. Especially at this level.

T-Mobile Claims 5 Standalone 5G Firsts

T-Mobile US today said it plans to activate its standalone (SA) 5G network later this year, following a series of successful tests in anticipation of that goal. The operator, which recently closed its merger with Sprint, has designed a SA 5G network core with an assist from multiple vendors, including Cisco, Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia, and Qualcomm.

Nvidia Will Buy Cumulus Networks

Nvidia today unveiled its plans to acquire Cumulus Networks for an undisclosed sum in a bid to bolster the chipmaker’s presence in the networking space.

Cisco Debunks Cybersecurity Myths

Of all the cybersecurity myths about small to midsized businesses, the most damaging is the widely held believe that SMB leadership doesn’t take security and data privacy seriously, says Wolfgang Goerlich, Advisory CISO at Cisco Duo. This myth must be stamped out immediately, he said. And while it’s myth No. 8 in a new Cisco report, “it really needs to be myth one.”

O2 realizes the future isn't mobile

Telefónica confirms it is in talks about a merger between its O2 business and Virgin Media that would bring an end to the mobile-only strategy.

Eurobites: Vodafone's IoT tech to play role in employee-scanning system for post-coronavirus return to work

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: O2 UK set to challenge Ofcom over auction rules; Christian Luiga steps down at Telia; the Isle of Wight's COVID-19 time to shine has come.

Millicom backs out of deal to buy Telefónica's Costa Rica unit

Millicom said Spain-based operator failed to gain regulatory approvals in time.