Money Moves: May 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 in our monthly Money Moves section, or if you have any tips on that activity, please send the information to Sydney Sawaya (ssawaya@sdxcentral.com).

AT&T closing some Cricket stores

The COVID-19 pandemic moved up plans by AT&T to shutter an unspecified number of stores that sell its Cricket Wireless prepaid brand.

Integration Woes Throw Monkey Wrench Into Open RAN

Integrating and achieving interoperability among various components that make up a traditional network configuration is no small feat, but it’s a relative walk in the park compared to the challenges encountered in an open radio access network (RAN).

Has fixed wireless finally found its success story?

Wireless internet service providers (WISPs) have long offered fixed wireless broadband services in rural areas where cable or wireline broadband is lacking. But now fixed wireless is seeing a bit of a revival in some urban markets thanks to Verizon’s 5G Home service and newcomer Starry’s fixed wireless 802.11-based service.

Wireline embraces open source slower than wireless

For the most part wireless operators have embraced the move to virtualized networks and away from closed proprietary systems because they realize it’s necessary if they want to stay competitive, keep their costs in check, and be able to deploy new services rapidly. But many of their wireline counterparts in the telecom world are moving at a slower pace.

Twitter bans thousands of accounts linked to the Chinese state

Microblogging platform Twitter has returned to more conventional forms of censorship by removing accounts found to be part of state-linked information operations.

Orange starts playing management musical chairs

With a new CTIO, Head of Europe, CEOs for Belgium and Spain and leader for the Engage2025 strategy, there are plenty of new faces in the Orange executive management team.

Mavenir and Altiostar join forces to exploit the US OpenRAN opportunity

The US government keeps promising to chuck money at OpenRAN technology, so it makes sense for companies involved to raise their game.

France begins 5G catch-up mission with September mid-band auction

French regulator Arcep has confirmed it will auction spectrum licences in the 3.4-3.8 GHz band, finally signalling the beginning of the 5G era in the country.

Hackers Cryptojack Microsoft Azure ML Clusters

Microsoft warned that hackers are hijacking Kubeflow, a machine learning (ML) toolkit for Kubernetes, and using the cloud computing resources running in Microsoft Azure to mine for cryptocurrency.

France's Arcep outlines plan to hold 5G auction in September 2020

French regulator Arcep was forced to delay the auction of 5G-enabling spectrum due to the COVID-19 crisis, but is now tentatively outlining a new schedule.

Amazon’s Custom Graviton2 Chips Arrive in AWS EC2

Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) latest data-center chip, the Graviton2, is now generally available in the company’s Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2).

Daily Roundup: Cryptominers Attack Azure

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WiCipedia: Black female founders take on VC discrimination

This week in our WiC roundup: Black female founders fight for a bigger slice of VC funds; can tech be less racist before society at large is?; COVID-19's impact on women of color; and more.

Top 3 Pandemic Security Lessons Learned (So Far)

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a boon to cybercriminals, who are having a heyday exploiting people’s fears about the virus and the vulnerabilities in work-from-home (WFH) networks. It exposes major gaps in enterprises’ business continuity plans and network security as CISOs scrambled to accommodate their newly remote workforce in just a matter of weeks. The silver lining here, should CISOs choose to take a glass-half-full approach, is that business can learn from the pandemic, beef up their security posture and employees’ security readiness, and be ready for the next big event, whatever that may be.

Is 5G Really More Secure? It’s Complicated

Vendors and operators frequently claim that 5G is more secure than previous generations of wireless technology, but corroborating evidence of that is cluttered.

Philippines' unlikely saviors make $5B network bet

China Telecom and businessman Dennis Uy step in to save the Philippines from its failing digital infrastructure.

Ciena's webscale sales show cloud growth, consistency

The optical networking firm has nine consecutive quarters with more than $100 million in direct sales to its webscale customers.

Eurobites: BT taps into pandemic broadband paranoia with second-line offering

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Orange revamps executive committee; Enea signs cloud contract with German Tier 1 operator; Proximus cozies up to local bank.

Top 5 Cloud Security Posture Management Deals

Although a relatively new class of technology, cloud security posture management (CSPM) brings a welcomed source of confidence in public cloud migrations by targeting two increasingly important business concerns: cloud security and data compliance.

Exploding Security Perimeter, Remote Worker Ramp Spotlights SD-WAN Limits

The pandemic has changed a lot more than how and where we work. It has also upended decades of networking and security conventions all while spotlighting the fact not all SD-WANs are created equal.

Cloud-Native Security Remains a Complex Organism

The cloud-native ecosystem continues to blossom as enterprises increasingly look toward taking greater advantage of their cloud infrastructure to speed up their internal operations and support for external services. However, that bloom has been impacted by the cloud of security concerns tied to nascent cloud-native technologies.

Cable operators put DAA on back burner to focus on COVID-19

The cable industry's distributed access architectures (DAA) initiatives were pushed to the back burner the first part of this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But even before COVID-19, DAA has been a slow moving train because despite its benefits, it's complicated.

C Spire debuts ‘no bull’ pricing

C Spire says it’s offering “no bull” pricing in the form of a $45 monthly plan, starting with the first line that provides unlimited talk, text and 10 GB of high-speed data.

Ericsson won’t attend MWC Los Angeles this year

While the outlook for large trade shows this year is still in question generally, telecom equipment giant Ericsson has already decided not to attend GSMA’s MWC Los Angeles event in 2020.

Managed SD-WAN isn’t for everyone: Special Report

The software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) has moved from being the new kid on the block to a relatively mature networking technology in a matter of a few short years. And telcos have swiftly embraced the technology to offer it as a managed service to their enterprise customers. The topic will be discussed Monday, June 15 during a free FierceTelecom virtual event "Strategies for SD-WAN 2.0."

Nokia names new CFO

Continuing along its period of transition, Nokia has tapped Marco Wirén as the vendor’s new finance chief, effective September 1.

Verizon touts network reliability during coronavirus pandemic

During the first 90s days of the coronavirus pandemic, Verizon maintained its pre-COVID-19 reliability levels despite spikes and shifts in demand.

Boost inventory suffers from Dish/T-Mobile rift—reports

As negotiations between T-Mobile and Dish Network continue, Boost Mobile appears to be suffering the consequences as its handset inventory reportedly languishes.

Amazon attempts to capitalise on society’s anger, but leaves questions unanswered

The general public is angry with authority today and it appears Amazon is attempting to capitalise on this sentiment with a shallow PR stunt.

Brits are among the least concerned about 5G and health

New research from strategic communications consultancy Kekst CNC reveals that the UK is one of the countries with the fewest worries about the health implications of 5G.

OnGo’s outlook for private LTE deployments in the CBRS band

Over the past four years, our members have contributed incredible amounts of time, energy and innovation to develop reliable, secure and cost-effective wireless services for the 3.5 GHz CBRS band. In January, this all culminated in the FCC’s authorization of full commercial deployments (FCD) – ushering in a new era of wireless services and opportunities.

Ritter builds a fiber connection for both sides of Texarkana

Regional broadband provider Ritter Communications has wrapped up a $16 million fiber project to bring faster services to Texarkana, Arkansas and Texarkana Texas.

Altiostar, Mavenir to develop open RAN radios for U.S. carriers

Even though they are competitors in the open radio access network (RAN) arena, Altiostar and Mavenir are going to work together to create a portfolio of radios for the United States wireless market.

Google ties into Spain's Telefónica for cloud and edge use cases

Move over Microsoft, Google Cloud is elbowing its way into Spain via a new partnership with Telefónica. In February, Microsoft announced it would open a new data center region in Spain by working with Telefónica, but on Thursday Google Cloud announced it would launch a new cloud region in Spain by using Telefónica's Madrid infrastructure.

U.S. Cellular latest to join coalition in Open RAN policy push

U.S. Cellular, the nation’s fourth largest carrier, is the latest member to sign on to the Open RAN Policy Coalition to advocate for policies supporting open and interoperable network systems. 

It's a long and winding road for Frontier's Chapter 11 filing

Frontier Communications is working its way through a maze of red tape as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. On Wednesday, the Public Service Commission of South Carolina approved Frontier’s application for the transfer of ownership related to its Chapter 11 filing, but the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) in Connecticut delayed its decision on Tuesday.

Zoom suspends Chinese activist account, while Europe probes TikTok

The geopolitical battle for the soul of the internet took another turn with the news that Zoom suspended the account of US-based Chinese activists.

US eyes $25bn plan to counter China chip surge at the expense of globalisation

It is increasingly becoming an ‘us or them’ situation, with tit-for-tat policies creating a fragmented ecosystem; an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind and no-one wins.

CityFibre announces major UK recruitment drive

Fibre network provider CityFibre couldn’t have picked a better time to announce it wants to fill 10,000 network construction positions.

Google makes more progress in telco cloud with Telefonica tie-up

Telco cloud services might still be in their embryonic days, but there is plenty of attention from the Silicon Valley internet giants as Google inks a deal with Telefonica.

Amazon Stops Selling Police Its Facial Recognition Tech

Amazon will stop selling its facial recognition technology to police — but only for a year.

Microsoft Joins Amazon, IBM With Facial Recognition Ban

Microsoft has joined technology rivals Amazon and IBM in stating that it will not sell facial recognition technology to police departments in the U.S., adding that it does not sell that technology today and is in favor of a national law to oversee the control of the technology.

Cable One snaps up ValueNet Fiber

Emporia, Kansas-based service provider delivers a mix of broadband and video services over its fiber-based network.

Verizon's 5G Home rolls into the Motor City, with perks in tow

New signups to the fixed wireless broadband service get some free access to YouTube TV, Disney+, Google Stadia and Verizon's relatively new Android TV-powered Stream TV box.

Google Taps Telefónica for Telco Cloud Edge Expansion

Google Cloud and Spain-based telecom giant Telefónica signed a deal that will see Google open a new cloud region in Spain that will tap into Telefónica’s Madrid-region infrastructure. The new setup will also have Telefónica use Google Cloud to bolster its own services and target 5G deployments using the public cloud provider’s Mobile Edge Computing platform.

TalkTalk on the up, up

Looks like the UK broadband provider had a good fiscal 2020 (helped by Openreach discounts).

SonicWall Adds SD-Branch Functionality, Switches

SonicWall today rolled out SD-branch functionality to its security-centric SD-WAN offering alongside a new line of multi-gigabit switches. It’s part of a push by SonicWall to extend stronger management and provisioning tools to distributed enterprises and channel partners.

Juniper CTO Dishes Edge Cloud Strategy

A trio of trends — increased migration to public clouds, the emergence of 5G infrastructure, and new applications fueled by artificial intelligence and data analytics — are converging and heralding the need for edge cloud, according to Juniper Networks CTO Raj Yavatkar.

Daily Roundup: Amazon Won’t Sell Facial Recognition to Police

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Huawei avoidance strategy is paying off for UK's O2

A decision to rely on Nordic vendors could translate into a huge 5G opportunity for O2 if the UK decides to ban Huawei.

WideOpenWest stops promoting its own pay-TV services online

Cable op still sells its new IPTV and legacy pay-TV products, but is suppressing their promotion as most of WOW's new customers opt for standalone broadband service.

Broadcom backs out of MoCA

As Intel nears the sale of its home connectivity unit to MaxLinear, the coax-focused organization could find itself with a sole chipmaker left on its membership rolls along with more questions about its long-term fate.

Google heads into Telefónica's edge: Alliance or landgrab?

A new 5G tie-up between the Internet giant and the telco raises further questions about the shifting balance of power in telecom.

India considers sweeteners to attract telecom gear manufacturers

Authorities are trying to persuade manufacturers to set up shop in India, and offering some juicy incentives to lure them.

CityFibre plans jobs splurge to boost UK fiber build

UK alternative fiber network provider plans to offer up to 10,000 new jobs, including to those without previous experience.

SD-WAN an Enterprise Favorite for Securing the Cloud

Enterprises are increasingly turning to SD-WAN to secure their public cloud deployments, according to a new report commissioned by Barracuda Networks.

Power struggle at Arm might mean giving China the elbow

Rumpus at UK chip company Arm could threaten its China business.

HPE piles pressure onto UK over Huawei ban

European boss writes to Boris Johnson urging him to consider 'open' 5G technologies as an alternative to 'potentially unsafe' vendors.

Eurobites: Pullola steps down at Nokia after 21 years

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Arun Bansal becomes an Ericsson EVP; Russia's MTS puts Ericsson in the microwave; more coronavirus app confusion in the UK.

FCC dismisses 5G slowdown pleas from local and national politicians

Despite pleas from politicians, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has refused to slowdown the 5G machine as a Declaratory Ruling slashes the red tape clogging the gears.

Verizon launches 5G Home in Detroit

Verizon said it’s now offering its fixed wireless access (FWA) 5G Home Internet to customers in parts of Detroit, making it the sixth city to get the service.

Vodafone UK warns of dire consequences if forced to swap out Huawei kit

As the UK government comes under increased pressure to ban Huawei from its 5G networks, Vodafone has once more urged it to think of the operators.

GSMA cuts 20% of staff – report

The GSMA has cut 20% of its workforce following the cancellation of its flagship MWC Barcelona and MWC Shanghai conference earlier this year, in an unfortunate example of how impacts related to the coronavirus pandemic continue to weigh on the global mobile industry’s trade body.  

MTN Consulting tallies the Q1 winners and losers in telecom

The first quarter was a decidedly mixed bag in the telecoms sector due to the onset of COVID-19 and Huawei's ongoing issues, according to MTN Consulting.

Nokia research identifies FWA as big opportunity for 5G

5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) is the top-ranked 5G use case among consumers globally—as long as it performs as well as current broadband services, according to new research released by Nokia.

IBM Cloud suffers widespread outage on Tuesday

IBM Cloud suffered a widespread outage Tuesday, which temporarily led to websites that it hosts going dark, as well as its own cloud status page.

Versa bows new SASE-based work-from-home SD-WAN offering

Versa Networks has launched Versa Secure Access, which was designed to provide SD-WAN and security capabilities for employees that are now working-from-home (WFH.)

Pompeo decides UK needs protection from Chinese Government

The US State Department has accused the Chinese Government of bullying the UK with the threat of retaliatory action against UK businesses should Huawei’s 5G role be threatened.

GSMA reveals the impact of COVID-19 on the organization

When the GSMA was forced to cancel MWC 2020 due to the emerging coronavirus pandemic, it left a massive hole in its finances.

FCC takes tech agnostic approach with $20bn broadband initiative

The digital divide is a problem which has plagued the US for years, though this latest initiative seems to be a more reasonable compromise between bureaucratic guidance and industry smarts.

Ericsson gets some more 5G RAN work with O2 UK

Having launched its 5G offering last October, the next phase of O2 UK’s 5G rollout will focus on the west of the country, with Ericsson as a key partner.

Rancher Labs Longhorn Ropes Kubernetes Storage Challenge

Amidst all of the controversies and atrocities plaguing the world right now, Kubernetes has carried on trailblazing the ever evolving technology landscape, As a result, customers are running more and more stateful workloads on Kubernetes clusters, Rancher Labs CEO Sheng Liang told SDxCentral. 

Nokia Mellows 5G Outlook for 2020

The COVID-19 crisis has, to varying extents, impacted research and development, supply chains, and the tempo of mobile network operator activities, Nokia executives said today during a media briefing.

Open RAN is vulnerable to an Ericsson, Nokia takeover

The big vendors could be to open RAN what Facebook was to Instagram and WhatsApp.

Here's why Mike Pompeo wants a watered-down open RAN

The US State Department is proposing an 'Integrated and Open Networks' (ION) approach to 5G and Huawei, but the effort doesn't seem to have much support beyond US Attorney General William Barr.

US vs. Huawei: Be careful what you wish for

The new sanctions leave Huawei's 5G contracts with operators up in the air, and could mean long-term harm to the US chip industry.

Fortinet lights up SD-WAN service for Spark NZ

Spark has a long-standing partnership with Fortinet for its security services and will now offer Fortinet Secure SD-WAN to corporate, enterprise and government customers.

Liberty Global: No need to alter network upgrade plans in the face of COVID-19

'The impact on the network has not been extreme at all' during the pandemic, though Liberty Global might look into minor changes in areas that are seeing some upstream congestion, a top engineering exec says.

Versa SASE Play Tackles Remote Workers

Versa became the latest SD-WAN vendor to embrace the secure access service edge (SASE) architecture with a new platform aimed at addressing the challenges faced by remote workers.

Nokia pins down FWA and video apps as biggest 5G drivers

Finnish vendor conducted research into which services will likely drive 5G takeup, with consumers citing fixed wireless access and enterprises pointing to video applications.

Ericsson bags more 5G RAN work with O2 UK

Nokia's still in the mix, though.

Coronavirus Claims 200 Jobs at GSMA

The COVID-19 crisis this week claimed about 200 jobs at GSMA, the telecommunications industry’s largest and most consequential body. Massive job cuts, which impacted about a fifth of the association’s workforce, hit four months after the group canceled its flagship annual conference in Barcelona.

The full list: Here are the actual bidders in the CBRS auction

Brian Goemmer, founder of spectrum-tracking company AllNet Insights & Analytics, offers a complete look at the entities bidding in the FCC's 3.5GHz CBRS auction.

Cox readies a re-entry into mobile

Cable provider Cox is positioning itself to join Comcast, Charter and Altice USA in selling mobile service and cellphones to its broadband customers.

Siemplify SOARs With Cloud-Native Security Operations

Siemplify rolled out what it says is the industry’s first cloud-native security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) platform.

Cable sets the stage for DOCSIS 4.0

There's no imminent need for DOCSIS 4.0, but operators are already exploring early, incremental moves to prepare their networks as new technologies and products based on the new CableLabs specs develop.

IBM Cloud Back Online After Mass Outage

IBM Cloud suffered a widespread outage that took services and websites hosted on the public cloud provider down for several hours Tuesday afternoon.

Daily Roundup: Coronavirus Claims GSMA Jobs

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Eurobites: NATO boss approves of UK's Huawei (re)review

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Vodafone warns on rip-and-replace costs; FTTH Council Europe formulates to-do list; virtual healthcare app needs treatment.

HPE Primera, Nimble Storage Get Smarter, Faster

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) updated its Primera and Nimble Storage with new automation capabilities that use artificial intelligence (AI) so they can act on insight from operations to optimize the performance of those systems. The updates are targeted at bridging the gap between the agility of public cloud-based storage platforms and the reliability of on-premises storage.

IBM Puts $50K Per Hour Price Tag on Cloud Breaches

Cloud security breaches can cost companies more than $50,000 in less than an hour, according to a new IBM Security report.

FCC advances 70-90 GHz changes to support wireless 5G backhaul

The FCC on Tuesday voted unanimously to advance changes for better use of the 70/80/90 GHz bands, including allowing smaller antennas to support wireless backhaul for 5G.

AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Cox, Charter among CBRS bidders

The FCC today said that it has received 348 applications from parties interested in bidding in the CBRS priority access licenses (PALs) auction, which is scheduled to begin July 23.  

COVID-19 forces 15% slowdown on broadband network spend – Dell’Oro

Dell’Oro’s latest market estimates suggest year-on-year spend on broadband access equipment dropped $2.5 billion, some 15%, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic.

FCC’s 5G Upgrade order passes 3-2

The FCC voted 3-2 to adopt a declaratory ruling that will streamline how 5G gets deployed in the U.S., but the two dissenting commissioners said it’s the wrong time—when local governments have the least amount of time and resources as they struggle with COVID-19 and protests on their streets.

AT&T ready to roll on 39 GHz following FCC license approval

The FCC last week granted long-form spectrum license applications for most Auction 103 winners, meaning AT&T and others can start to put their 5G millimeter wave winnings to use right away without special permission.   

Dish’s risk lies with the network—analyst

A lot of folks are waiting to hear more about Dish Network’s wireless network buildout strategy. After all, it’s teed up to serve as the nation’s fourth facilities-based nationwide carrier, replacing Sprint.

Network traffic stabilizes to 25% more than pre-pandemic levels

Nokia Deepfield's latest report finds that as cities and states are starting to re-open, network traffic has started to stabilize. In its June 4, update, Nokia Deepfield found that peak network traffic has normalized at 25% to 30% above pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels.

SCTE: The (virtual) Expo show must go on

After the cancellation of the live event in May, the SCTE•ISBE Cable-Tec Expo 2020 conference is now a virtual event Oct. 12-16. The first virtual iteration of the cable industry's flagship event is also free thanks to sponsorship from Charter Communications, Comcast, Cox Communications and the SCTE Foundation.

Survey: Upper management under scrutiny over lack of diversity

As Silicon Valley companies speak out against racism, they face in-house scrutiny over their own lack of diversity, especially in the executive ranks, according to a survey.

IBM exits facial recognition business in CEO letter to congress

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said in a letter to congress on Monday that his company was getting out of the facial recognition business while also asking for reforms to combat racism. 

TSMC relaxed about Huawei ban

The world’s biggest contract chip manufacturer thinks it wouldn’t be a problem to replace Huawei as a customer.

Telefonica sells €1.5bn tower assets to Telxius in debt reduction mission

The Telefonica Group is one business which has been under the pressure of debt for years, though it has chipped off another sizeable chunk by selling German towers to its subsidiary Telxius.

US Senate criticises FCC oversight of Chinese operators

The historical activities, or lack of, by the US telecoms regulator with respect to the presence of Chinese operators in the country have been investigated.

IBM exiting facial recognition as police can’t use it responsibly

In a letter to Congress, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna has said the firm would halt the development and sale of facial recognition software, as it is not being deployed in a fair and reasonable manner.

Daily Roundup: IBM Quits Facial Recognition Biz

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Huawei's patents won't save it, says leading analyst

The Chinese company's importance to the 5G standard has probably been overstated, says Richard Windsor of Radio Free Mobile.

SCTE/ISBE sets free, virtual version of Cable-Tec Expo

After cancelling the on-site event in Denver, the cable engineering and standards-setting organization will push ahead with a completely digital format for the event, which will take place October 12-16.

Cable network undergoing a 'radical transformation,' CableLabs CTO says

HFC is evolving into a connectivity and compute platform wovent together with virtualization as cable ops prepare to support a more diverse mix of apps and services, CableLabs's Belal Hamzeh says.

Verizon, AT&T, Charter, Cox, Dish among CBRS auction bidders

The FCC released documents showing the companies that may bid in its upcoming CBRS 3.5GHz spectrum auction.

Alibaba Cloud Kicks Off Hiring Surge

Alibaba Group plans to hire 5,000 people for its Alibaba Cloud operations, one of the ecommerce giant’s fastest growing business units, during the next 10 months. The workforce expansion comes less than two months after the company announced plans to invest $28 billion in its cloud platform during the next three years.

Aruba Assembles SDN Tech for Edge Services Platform

Aruba today announced its entry into the edge market with a new cloud-native platform that aims to automatically predict and fix issues at the network edge. Aruba Edge Services Platform (ESP) is comprised of 35 services, including a dozen new insights that were consolidated under Aruba Central, the company’s dashboard for network management.

IBM Stops Facial Recognition Support for Surveillance Activity

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna in a letter to the U.S. Congress said the tech giant is ditching its work with general purpose facial recognition or analysis software tied to the use of such technology for surveillance activity that can be used for racial profiling or to violate “basic human rights and freedoms.” The move comes as a number of technology companies have reacted to the recent murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis Police Department and subsequent protests against discrimination and police brutality.

TSMC Secures US Subsidies for Arizona Fab

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s (TSMC) planned $12 billion Arizona chip fab inched closer to reality Tuesday after Bloomberg reported the company has secured government subsidies.

Comcast's 'Stream' app adds Chromecast support

After initially rolling out a Chromecast extension to its browser-based streaming app, Comcast is now expanding Chromecast support to its Stream app for iOS and Android mobile devices.

How customer care is transforming amid the new normal

With many telecom retail outlets now facing permanent closure, digital care channels supplemented by self-service functions are becoming increasingly important for customers.

Finland's high-speed, low-cost 5G auctions send message to Europe

When it comes to awarding spectrum for telecom services, countries should try to be more like Finland and less like Italy.

The Telecoms.com Podcast: NEC, Balkanization and India

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson makes a brief guest appearance on this week's pod. Sort of.

5G to start in Taiwan on July 1

The debut of 5G in Taiwan will set off a new round of competition in one of the world's most fiercely contested markets.

US telcos asked to rip out Huawei and replace it with a quandary

The FCC has been tasked with ripping Huawei's equipment out of US wireless networks. Now it has to figure out what goes in its place.

Global broadband access equipment revenues dip 15% in Q1 – Dell'Oro

Meanwhile, cable access revenues declined 22% even as shipments of DOCSIS 3.1 CPE accelerated.

Telcos need to up their edge game – report

WWT warns carriers that enterprises think cloud service providers and tech companies are the 'edge experts.' The good news is that they can do something about it.

Eurobites: Telia goes with Google for call center AI assistance

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: DNA enhances TV offer with StreamBuilder; Ghana hopes to cut MTN down to size; Sky Italia gets hyper-personal.

A10 Bundles App Delivery, Security on Dell Hardware

A10 Networks teamed up with Dell Technologies to bundle A10 load balancing and security software running on top of Dell hardware.

Telefónica Deutschland to sell 10,100 sites to Telxius

Germany operator confirms plan to sell mobile sites to Telefónica-owned tower unit for €1.5 billion.

Just which 5G race are they talking about?

Don't be fooled into thinking that China is a long way ahead of the US in 5G.

Who's invested what (and why) in India's Jio Platforms?

Investors including Facebook have piled into the Indian firm in search of growth opportunities during the coronavirus pandemic.

Paolini: The long-term effects of US policies on Huawei

Much has been written about the impact that the U.S. Commerce Department sanctions announced on May 15, 2020 will have on Huawei. In the short term, they will blunt Huawei’s growth for sure. But the prevailing view among media and analysts is that the sanctions will not ultimately take the company out of business.

5G arsonist gets put away for three years

The first UK prosecution for vandalising mobile masts, following the 5G/coronavirus hysteria, has resulted in a lengthy prison sentence.

Finnish telcos start playing around with mmWave spectrum

Finland has finished its latest 5G spectrum auction in what would appear to be record time and without a single bidding war.

IDC: IT spending will be down this year despite ease of COVID-19

While most of the shelter-at-home and quarantine policies due to the COVID-19 pandemic have loosened, IT spending will be down this year.

Dish’s Boost closing: Where is it?—analysts

As part of the government's remedy in the T-Mobile/Sprint merger, Dish Network is supposed to buy Boost Mobile for $1.4 billion, but so far, that deal hasn’t closed.

NATE: Mostly uneventful weekend on 5G protest front

While the nation continued to see massive protests across the country in support of Black Lives Matter, this past weekend was quiet and mostly uneventful on the 5G protest front according to NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association. NATE had heard that protests were planned for Saturday, June 6, associated with Global 5G Protest Day. Given that many of its member companies were expected to be working over the weekend, the organization wanted to get the word out.

Blaber: mmWave addresses growth, change in mobile traffic

The mobile industry has seen significant growth in recent years as the advent of 4G and now 5G has created new business models, engaging apps, facilitated new ways of working and transformed economies. This has led to an exponential growth in data usage. Ericsson states that global mobile traffic rose an enormous 49% in 2019. In recent months, operators have noted a surge in data consumption owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ericsson preps for temporary hit from China 5G contracts

Ericsson expanded its business in China, having secured 5G contracts with the country’s three major mobile operators, but on Monday said that a planned write-down of assets will result in a cost impact in the second quarter of about SEK 1 billion ($108.6 million).

Telefónica moves up its zero emissions target to 2030

Driven in part by the COVID-19 pandemic, Telefónica now plans to reach its target of zero emissions across four main markets by 2030 instead of 2050. Telefónica announced its new goal on Friday, which was World Environment Day.

South Florida is booming for CenturyLink's fiber-based services

The fiber business in CenturyLink's South Florida market is booming due to it being the nexus point between the U.S. and Latin America, and across growing communities.

Parallel Wireless attacks Huawei amid geo-political tensions

The majority of the telecoms industry is attempting to avoid the mudslinging between the US and China, but OpenRAN firm Parallel Wireless has charged in headfirst.

Huawei launches new UK charm campaign, but misses the point

Running through various newspapers as full-page adverts, Huawei has written an open letter to validate its position in the UK, but that is unlikely to be enough to remove the ‘high risk vendor’ label.

Ericsson reveals cost of doing business in China with €100 million write-down

Swedish kit vendor Ericsson is writing-down the value of its Chinese inventory by around a billion krona in Q2 2020.

Buoyed by remote working trends, Gamma issues battle cry for remainder of 2020

COVID-19 has dealt numerous companies a very unusual set of cards, but for Unified Comms firm Gamma Communications, there is plenty to be optimistic about.

Reliance Jio carves off another 1.16% to sixth investor

Reliance Industries founder Mukesh Ambani has found yet another private investor for Jio Platforms, selling 1.16% for $750 million to the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA).

Will COVID-19 Advance Plans for 5G Network Slicing?

In 2019, network slicing was actively pursued as a revolutionary new way to deliver customized service to separate verticals and use cases. Investments began increasing, and communication service providers (CSPs) were working on their plans to monetize 5G. 

How Viasat Ensures the Best Customer Experience

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Viasat has been working nonstop to manage the increased demands on its network. Now that more people are working and learning from home, Viasat has intelligently implemented systems to make sure that all customers can carry on with their jobs, educate their children, and stay connected to the latest news and their families.

Real-Time Monitoring Critical to Service Assurance

Service providers are rapidly modernizing their networks in an effort to satiate enterprises’ growing appetites for higher performance and superior user experiences. However, as service providers adopt virtualization and SDN capabilities, they are being held back by monitoring techniques that can’t keep up,  a recent Analysys Mason white paper concluded.

Fiber remains plentiful as Akamai builds private network backbone

Akamai began construction of a private fiber backbone three years ago. Today the effort stretches across North America, Europe and parts of Asia.

Daily Roundup: AT&T First to Activate DSS

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.

Android TV set to make a run at the smart TV market

Deal to integrate Android TV in a line of TCL-made TVs amps up retail competition in the smart TV market and emerges as HBO Max runs into trouble getting distributed on the Roku and Amazon Fire TV platforms.

No attacks reported in US for 5G Protest Day

Despite a warning of possible attacks on infrastructure or technicians during '5G Global Protest Day' last week, most US officials reported a quiet weekend.

Huawei's UK marketing campaign is doomed

Huawei's role in the UK's 4G and fixed broadband history does not justify its involvement in the country's rollout of 5G networks.

AT&T Trumpets First US Activation of Dynamic Spectrum Sharing

AT&T today became the first U.S. mobile operator to deploy dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS), a technology that it claims to have developed in AT&T Labs before pushing it into 5G standards.

Survey: Chinese want 5G, but that might be bad for operators

A new survey found that 50% of Chinese respondents plan to purchase 5G in the next 12 months. But the analysts behind the survey don't believe Chinese operators will have much to cheer about.

Ericsson plays the long game with Chinese 5G contracts

Swedish vendor sees negative impact from 5G business in China in Q2 but expects 'healthy profitability' ahead.

Ericsson Burns Cash to Gain China 5G Deals

Pre-commercial 5G network equipment for the Chinese market is weighing Ericsson down to the tune of $108.5 million in the current quarter. The Swedish vendor today reported a write down related to those assets, making good on previous guidance about a profitability decline in the highly competitive Chinese market.

Chef Dishes Compliance, Desktop Automation

Chef launched a pair of new products designed to help enterprise IT departments manage the security of their diverse workforce from a single console. This angle is becoming increasingly important for organizations grappling with employees being forced to work remotely due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

On-demand TV: From also-ran to number one

The COVID-19 pandemic may have changed how Americans define television and what they think of as their primary source of entertainment.

French government itching for 5G action

Targets auction in September and launch by December.

German regulator defends 5G industrial plan after Orange attack

Numerous German companies want to build their own networks and avoid public systems operated by telecom service providers, say German authorities.

Eurobites: Finland fires up second 5G spectrum auction

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: England's mobile phone stores prepare to reopen; Openreach encourages Scotland to spend big on digital infrastructure; Sky plans canned noise for supporter-less soccer matches.

US cable's 'disproportionate' mobile share gains to extend into Q2 – analyst

Like the incumbent carriers, cable's wireless activity has been stunted by the pandemic, but MSOs are expected to keep the pressure on and seek ways to drive in new customers.