Money Moves: June 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).

More than 2K postpaid, prepaid stores close for good – Wave7

The number of postpaid stores for Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint that closed permanently between November and June is estimated at nearly 1,500, while the number of prepaid stores that closed during the same time frame is estimated at more than 1,100, according to Wave7 Research.

Operators, Vendors Scramble for Standalone 5G Cores

Dozens of mobile network operators are posing as 5G carriers but none of them are the real thing. Not yet at least.

SCF: 68% of small cells will be enterprise by 2026

Enterprise is poised to account for a lion’s share of small cells deployed over the next several years, making up 68% of the total installed base by 2026, according to a Market Status Report by the Small Cell Forum (SCF).

Vodafone Business launches resource hub to help SMEs

Vodafone Business announced this week that it has launched a new resource hub to help businesses across the U.K., Germany, Spain and Italy bounce back from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dish presses FCC to reject SpaceX plan for 12 GHz band

Dish Network has been pretty quiet lately on the 12 GHz front, but this week its executives paid a virtual visit to the FCC urging commissioners to act on a long-standing petition for rulemaking and reject a call by SpaceX to use the band for satellites.

CenturyLink's Andrews: COVID-19's impact on digital overblown

One of the most cited trends from the coronavirus pandemic was that it pushed businesses and organizations of all stripes to dive into digital transformations in order to provision work-from-home policies, among other reasons for going digital.

Cox Business feeds fiber to Stream Data Centers' new campus

Data center provider Stream Data Centers is leaning on Cox Business' fiber network for its new data center campus in Goodyear, Arizona.

Amazon makes its IoT managed service generally available

AWS has been banging on about SiteWise, a platform designed to help businesses collect and process IoT data, for a couple of years.

UK and Aussie privacy watchdogs to investigate Clearview AI

Privacy authorities in the UK and Australia have announced a joint investigation into Clearview AI, a US firm which provides facial recognition technologies.

Nokia raises its data centre networking game with a new switching platform

The new Nokia Service Router Linux Network Operating System and Fabric Service Platform are designed to help with data centre scalability.

Analyst estimates are all over the place, but consensus is PC sales are up

The PC segment has been slowly declining quarter-on-quarter for years, but COVID-19 has seemingly offered a surge in interest, albeit a short-lived one.

Ericsson still seeks networking edge

Even without Edge Gravity, Ericsson is still pursuing an edge strategy focused on software and integration under a DIY model that extends a technical bridge between service provider networks and hyperscalers.

Get ready for a Q2 like no other

As companies like Ericsson, AT&T and Comcast prepare to report their second-quarter results, the industry will be listening intently for comments on the recession, network capex and what the future holds.

Daily Roundup: Nvidia Dethrones Intel

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.

Rackspace Ends Rumors, Files for IPO (Again)

Rackspace filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering (IPO) of its common stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the RXT ticker.

AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon prep for standalone 5G

Verizon and T-Mobile are racing to launch the standalone version of 5G in the coming months, but AT&T is avoiding putting any specifics to its own standalone 5G launch plans.

Frontier dinged $900K over hidden fees, Internet speed claims

Resolution with Washington Attorney General's office ends an investigation started in 2018 stemming from more than 600 complaints lodged by Frontier customers.

Bulked-up TPG set to take on Australian 5G market

Merged TPG is set to formally start operations on July 13 with a focus on 5G buildout as it takes on an Australian telco duopoly.

Nvidia Dethrones Intel as Top US Chipmaker

Nvidia dethroned Intel this week as the top U.S. chipmaker. Nvidia’s stock price soared to $424 per share Friday morning, pushing its market cap to $258.7 billion, outpacing Intel at nearly $250.4 billion.

Google Committed to CNCF Despite Istio Snub

Google maintains that the formation of its Open Usage Commons (OUC) group to initially house a trio of its projects – including the Istio service mesh – does not impact its ongoing commitment to already established open source groups like the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF). However, significant concerns remain over how that controversial move will impact the service mesh space.

Eurobites: Huawei frozen out of Italian 5G job – report

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Swisscom lands banking contracts; Vodafone helps out with drone delivery of medical supplies; Google may escape EU probe over Fitbit buy.

WiCipedia: Founders battle anti-racism, fight for equal-opportunity funding

This week in our WiC roundup: Traditional funding enters the 21st century; unpaid labor at work; Pinterest is not the good guy of social media; and more.

Trump steps up a gear against Huawei and ZTE

New regulations set to bar US government from buying products with Huawei and ZTE components.

UK bill for Huawei takeaway does not add up

Service providers in the UK have this week raised lots of unanswered questions about the cost of a Huawei ban.

BT, Vodafone UK complain about ripping out Huawei

Executives from BT and Vodafone told the U.K. Parliament’s Science and Technology Committee today that it would take from five to seven years to rip and replace all of their Huawei equipment, according to a report from Bloomberg.

NTIA: 3.45-3.55 GHz ‘good candidate’ for sharing

It’s no secret that the U.S. wireless industry is hungry for mid-band spectrum for 5G, and a new National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) report determined 100 MHz in the 3.1-3.55 GHz band looks most viable for near-term sharing with commercial wireless services.  

TIM reportedly shuns Huawei as Italy has a rethink

Italian operator TIM has invited nearly everyone except Huawei do bid for work on its 5G core networks according to a report.

Verizon readies shift to 5G standalone core

Verizon has completed the first data session on its new 5G standalone core and plans to start shifting mobile traffic over later this year.

Frontier hit with $900,000 fine in Washington over hidden fees

Frontier will pay a $900,000 fine to Washington state after the attorney general's office found it has misled customers about internet speeds and charged them undisclosed fees.

Verizon’s CBRS 3.5 GHz deployments on the rise – RootMetrics

Verizon is expected to aggressively bid in the Citizens Broadband Radio Services (CBRS) 3.5 GHz Priority Access License (PAL) auction that starts July 23. Until then, it’s more or less free to use as much unlicensed 3.5 GHz CBRS as it can muster. 

Nokia enters the data center networking arena with new NOS

After two years of heads down development by its engineers, Nokia has entered the data center switching arena with a new network operating system and intent-based automation and operations toolkit.

Huawei UK obituary is being written as telcos warn of digital blackouts

In evidence presented to the UK Science and Technology Committee, BT and Vodafone execs said completely removing Huawei by 2023 would cause major disruptions, even digital blackouts.

T-Mobile Center takes over Sprint venue in K.C.

The erasure of the Sprint brand continues, as T-Mobile announced the former Sprint Center in Kansas City will become the T-Mobile Center.

RtBrick debuts two APIs for telco networks

On Thursday, routing software vendor RtBrick took the wraps off of two new APIs for its software as part of its efforts to disaggregate hardware and software for telco networks.

Trilogy taps edge compute, private wireless for rural businesses

Boulder, Colorado-based Trilogy Networks sees an opportunity to serve rural American businesses with next-gen internet technologies, and it’s bringing together a variety of players and tools to do it. Those players include other vendors and regional service providers. And the tools include Internet of Things platforms, cloud software, licensed and unlicensed spectrum, edge compute and storage, and network connectivity across vast swaths of U.S. geography.

Law enforcement agencies are reportedly buying hacked data

An investigation by Vice has revealed the market in stolen data counts government agencies as customers, as they seek to bypass data privacy laws.

Telstra claims to have hit carbon neutral goal

Australian telco Telstra claims to have achieved its goal of being carbon neutral, though there is still plenty of work to be done to improve its green credentials.

Mobile app use jumps 40%

The latest data from App Annie reveals some of the effects the coronavirus lockdown had on patterns of mobile app use.

DT defends Huawei exposure as the heat rises

The German press and politicians are up in arms over Deutsche Telekom’s relationship with Huawei, but the telecoms group is attempting to ease tensions and add distance from the vendor.

How has COVID-19 influenced the telecoms industry so far?

The coronavirus pandemic forced the world into some very dramatic changes, with connectivity critical for continuity; but what are the trends worth keeping an eye on now?

TIA promises to end the Huawei security debate, once and for all

TIA is building a global standard and benchmarking tool that can measure the risks present in each vendor's supply chain in real time.

Five quintessential questions for Quibi

Among them, will many customers who signed up for a lengthy, 90-day free trial stick around and actually pay for the premium, short-form video service? A new study says no.

Instana Gives Monitoring Platform a Facelift

Instana put a new coat of polish on its application performance monitoring platform today, introducing a new user experience alongside several operational enhancements and monitoring technologies. These improvements are designed to make managing and monitoring cloud-native applications easier and more intuitive.

Daily Roundup: Juniper Jumps Into SASE

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.

Battle of the billionaires: Ergen and Dell face off against Musk over 12GHz

Companies backed by Charlie Ergen (No. 304 on Forbes' billionaire list) and Michael Dell (No. 33) are bickering with companies backed by Elon Musk (No. 31) over 5G in 12GHz.

Government rules are slowing down 5G phone launches, tech association warns

The Consumer Technology Association is pushing the FCC to relax rules around pre-orders and imports for 5G phones, arguing the move would improve the US marketplace for the next-gen network technology.

Small-cell newcomers means market growth – report

Small Cell Forum forecasts a growing number of new entrants as the business case surrounding private enterprise networks gathers strength.

Verizon Advances 5G Core, Declines to Name Vendors

Verizon today said it successfully completed an end-to-end data session on its standalone (SA) 5G core and network traffic will start hitting the new core before the end of the year. Full commercialization of the SA 5G core will occur in 2021, according to Verizon.

Eurobites: KCOM calls on ADVA to help it reach 10 Gbit/s in Hull

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Deutsche Telekom helps digitalize air traffic control; Orange gets the IoT call from McConnell Dowell; Dundee in line for larger slice of BT cake.

'Long way to go' to commercial network slicing, says China expert

The industry is still far from turning slicing into a seamless and monetizable service.

Juniper Jumps Into SASE With Connected Security

Juniper Networks detailed its secure access service edge (SASE) strategy today after dropping hints about it since the RSA security conference earlier this year. And, according to Samantha Madrid, Juniper’s VP of security business and strategy, it’s more than just marketing.

Eyeing $12B market, Nokia lands Apple deal for new data center switch

The Finnish vendor has today added a new switching line to its portfolio of optical and routing products, promising features that have not previously been available.

Former Comcast exec takes reins at MediaKind

Matt McConnell, an exec late of Comcast Technology Solutions, takes over as MediaKind's CEO, succeeding Angel Ruiz, who has been named chairman.

Google’s Istio Move Irks IBM, Confounds Industry

Google’s decision to move the Istio service mesh project into a newly formed open source organization focused on protecting the trademark of open source projects instead of into an already established open source organization is not sitting well with many across the open source ecosystem, and most specifically with IBM, which helped Google develop Istio.

Podcast: NTT Americas CEO Simon Walsh on providing services in a hybrid world

NTT Americas CEO Simon Walsh tells Light Reading's Kelsey Ziser and Phil Harvey about his company's challenge to help enterprise customers 'painlessly' connect to multiple clouds, multiple network operators and data sets in a secure, distributed workplace.

BT, Vodafone warn of blackouts if not given five years to be Huawei-free

UK mobile operators say a rapid swap-out of the Chinese vendor's equipment would lead to major disruption and cost billions in rip-and-replace costs.

Nokia Dives Into Data Center Market With Switch Platform

Nokia likes to talk about scalability a lot. So, it’s no surprise that scalability is at the heart of the company’s new data center strategy.

Use of multiple public cloud providers adds to security headaches – report

A new report from Sophos found that 70% of organizations experienced a 'public cloud security incident' in the last year.

Samsung: Huawei pricing not viable for profit-seeking company

Senior executive at South Korean vendor tells UK politicians that no company trying to satisfy shareholders would be able to price equipment at Huawei's levels.

Haivision snaps up P2P video tech startup Teltoo

Haivision says Teltoo, a Spain-based company with ties to the cable industry, will help continue its expansion into the video delivery product marketplace.

Ookla: Verizon fastest fixed U.S. broadband ISP

Verizon ruled the roost for fastest U.S. broadband speeds in Ookla's second quarter Speedtest results, and was also tops for lowest latency. For fastest fixed broadband speeds, Comcast, Cox, Charter, AT&T and CenturyLink, respectively, followed on the heels of Verizon.

Qualcomm makes its flagship phone chip a bit better

What’s the only thing better than the Snapdragon 865 5G Mobile Platform? The Snapdragon 865 5G Plus Mobile Platform, of course.

Industry Voices — Baker: Huawei smartphone shipments slump

It is more than a year since the United States first announced serious sanctions against Huawei. How much has this hit the world’s number two Android phone maker - Huawei - and where in the world has the impact been the most severe?

Alibaba Cloud stretches global reach with Equinix

Fresh off of last week's partnership with Aryaka, Alibaba Cloud announced it was working with Equinix to bolster its worldwide presence.

AT&T, T-Mobile outshine Verizon in Q2 mobile performance – Ookla

Both AT&T and T-Mobile nabbed bragging rights in Q2 mobile performance, according to new analysis by Ookla. AT&T’s 4G LTE network ranked fastest and most consistent, while T-Mobile’s 5G coverage dwarfed that of its two competitors.

Verizon may swap out Nokia in favor of Samsung, says Rosenblatt

According to Rosenblatt analyst Ryan Koontz, Verizon is planning to award Samsung a 5G radio access network (RAN) contract worth more than $1 billion per year for five to seven years. And it’s awarding this contract to Samsung, rather than Nokia.

Nokia and Orange team up on live 5th generation optical trial

Orange and Nokia announced on Wednesday that they completed a successful trial for testing 5th generation photonic service engine (PSE-V) chipsets.

AT&T broadens its SD-WAN reach with Cisco

With workforces becoming more distributed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, AT&T is serving up more security and better cloud support with a new SD-WAN service based on Cisco Secure SD-WAN technology.  

Facebook refuses to negotiate with blackmailers

A bunch of Facebook execs met with representatives of a group that is attempting to impose its will on the company by pressuring its commercial partners.

Huawei stresses there is no threat to existing UK supply commitments

With Huawei’s fate looking increasingly fragile as the US attempts to chop and chip at its supply chain, the vendor has stated it has the stockpile and capacity to meet all existing commercial contracts.

Arm to spin off IOT units as Softbank continues to search for loose change

The official line is the move will allow Arm to give more attention to its core semiconductor business, but it will also allow financially strained parent-company Softbank to sell a slice.

Verizon, Vodafone flesh out edge computing opportunity with AWS

Verizon and Vodafone announced their edge computing partnerships with Amazon AWS late last year. Now, they're offering further insights into what they hope to achieve from those partnerships.

fuboTV sees subs and revenues climb in Q1

The latest figures don't reflect the fuller, more recent impact of the pandemic, but the virtual MVPD is confident that consumers will turn to streaming services when live televised sports return.

AT&T, Accenture test private LTE network in Louisiana oil refinery

Phillips 66, one of the nation's biggest oil refiners, built a private wireless network across a third of its refinery in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, using AT&T's 700MHz and 1900MHz spectrum licenses.

Oracle Takes On AWS Outposts

Oracle’s final — or at least latest — frontier in its ongoing cloud war against Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the data center. Today, during an online Oracle Live event, CTO Larry Ellison announced Oracle Dedicated Region Cloud@Customer, a fully managed private cloud that brings all of Oracle’s cloud services into customers’ data centers, as a challenge to AWS Outposts.

Daily Roundup: Verizon Boots Nokia

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.

Podcast: What's the story with Dish Network?

On this episode of 'What's the Story?' – a new series from the Light Reading Podcast – Mike Dano talks with pod host Nicole Ferraro about Dish Network entering the wireless space: the latest news, why it matters and what's likely to happen next.

Comcast launches Sling TV on 'Flex' streaming platform

New integration supports Sling TV's various pay-TV packages, including its Orange and Blue offerings, on Comcast's new platform targeted to broadband-only customers.

SUSE Wrangles Rancher Labs to Boost Kubernetes Cred

SUSE is acquiring privately held Rancher Labs in a move to bolster its cloud-native credentials and more specifically its position in the Kubernetes ecosystem. The move also continues what has been an increase in acquisitions of Kubernetes-focused vendors.

Eurobites: Loon's balloons go up over Kenya

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Iliad founder worried over 5G scare stories; Sunrise chooses Comarch for IoT expansion; Proximus parts merge.

Synaptics Drops $250M on Broadcom’s IoT Business

Synaptics is getting serious about IoT. The company reached an agreement with Broadcom to purchase the chipmaker’s wireless IoT business in a $250 million, all-cash deal.

Arm drops IoT; leg-up for IPO?

UK chip designer gets backs to its roots and possible relisting.

Asian telcos grapple with 2G closures

With 5G on board, Asian telcos are now moving to shut down their 2G networks.

AT&T adds Cisco to managed SD-WAN menu

In addition to Cisco Secure SD-WAN Technology, AT&T has an existing partnership with VMware by VeloCloud for SD-WAN services.

Alibaba Cloud Expands Global Reach With Equinix Deal

Alibaba Cloud will extend its reach across the United States and globally via an interconnection deal with Equinix.

Meet Dish's 5G network team

Stephen Bye, Tom Cullen, Dave Mayo, Jeff McSchooler and Marc Rouanne are the five men charged with building a cloud-native, open RAN 5G network for Dish Network for $10 billion.

Ericsson CEO: Defining 5G Killer Apps Now is Futile

Ericsson CEO Börje Ekholm believes the next three years will be “critical in determining the 5G landscape,” but cautioned that seeking out a killer app for 5G at this stage is an exercise in futility. 

Huawei still has no fix to being cut off from TSMC

Chinese vendor says it can meet current demand in the UK but fails to reassure the market that a long-term solution to US trade restrictions is in view.

Cisco Joins AT&T’s SD-WAN Lineup

In a win for Cisco, AT&T today announced it added the vendor’s Secure SD-WAN platform to its managed services portfolio, which includes the carrier’s own network-based SD-WAN platform and VMware’s VeloCloud offering.

Synaptics snaps up Broadcom wireless IoT business

'Human interface' technology specialist to pay $250 million for wireless IoT rights and assets in an all-cash transaction.

CBRS PAL auction poised to be a doozy, possibly raising $10B

Even though the CBRS 3.5 GHz auction is part of a shared spectrum paradigm that some considered to be part of a grand experiment, it’s lining up to be a doozy, with 271 qualified applicants that could collectively bid anywhere from $4.4 billion to upwards of $10 billion based on analyst estimates.

Pompeo offers insight into US strategy in trans-Pacific political war

The on-going tension between the US and China is having a material impact on the telecoms industry, though the next stage of the battle plan might be to inhibit the Chinese app economy.

Telkom Kenya hosts first commercial deployment of Loon

Alphabet’s novel solution to connecting the unconnected has had its first non-emergency deployment in Kenya.

Loon launches service with Telkom Kenya

Loon, whose technology even its current CEO doubted was going to work, is now providing service to subscribers of Telkom Kenya.

Nokia commits to commercial products with open RAN interfaces

Nokia is coming up with a full suite of open-RAN-defined interfaces that will work with its existing AirScale radio access network (RAN) portfolio.

Report: Hyperscale data center count reaches 541 by mid-year

The growth of hyperscale data centers continues at a fast clip this year. According to Synergy Research Group, as of the middle of this year, there are 541 hyperscale data centers with another 176 in the pipeline. That number of data centers operated by hyperscale providers more than doubled the count from the middle of 2015, according to Synergy Research Group (SRG.)

Verizon, Ericsson fete IAB proof-of-concept trial for 5G

Verizon is a big fan of deploying its own fiber, but recently completed a proof-of-concept trial with Ericsson using Integrated Access Backhaul (IAB) technology that doesn’t rely on fiber for its 5G service that uses millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum.

Samsung joins commercial 5G vRAN party

Samsung’s fully virtualized 5G radio access network (vRAN) product will be commercially available this quarter, in shift away from dedicated hardware in favor of software elements that run on a general-purpose computing platform.

Telstra beefs up network infrastructure in U.S.

Due in part to increased connectivity demand into the Asia-Pacific region, Telstra is beefing up its network infrastructure in the U.S. by adding two points-of-presence (PoPs) and increasing bandwidth on its trans-Pacific subsea cables.

Adtran fuels XGS-PON deployment for rural electric co-op

Adtran is provisioning multi-gigabit speeds in rural Mississippi through the deployment of its XGS-PON technology.

Telefónica invests in cybersecurity company Nozomi Networks

Telefónica, through its venture capital arm Telefónica Innovation Ventures, has made an investment in cybersecurity company Nozomi Networks.

Iliad joins the Italian convergence race

Only a matter of days after Sky Italia expanded its offering, Iliad has inked a broadband wholesale agreement with Open Fiber to drive towards the convergence dream.

Telefónica beefs up its IoT security service with Nozomi investment

Spanish telecoms group Telefónica has a whole division devoted to managed security services and it reckons Nozomi Networks technology improves the IoT bit of it.

New video coding standard promises to halve data requirements

Versatile Video Coding (VVC) could revolutionise the video streaming and telecoms industry by massively reducing the file size of encoded video.

Nokia takes another step towards embracing OpenRAN

While it might seem unusual for one of the traditional Radio Access Network (RAN) vendors to be hyping OpenRAN, this appears to be incremental evolution to make Nokia more competitive.

Verizon Boots Nokia, Samsung Gets the Spoils

Verizon is preparing to kick Nokia to the curb and give Samsung roughly half of its radio access network (RAN) contract, Ryan Koontz, senior research analyst at Rosenblatt Securities, told SDxCentral.

Verizon reiterates support for Nokia amid rumors of a Samsung swapout

Rosenblatt analyst Ryan Koontz said Verizon is close to replacing Nokia with Samsung as its major 5G supplier. But the company said Nokia 'continues to be an important partner.'

Google Fiber returns to expansion mode through city pact

After a four-year pause on market expansion, Google Fiber is gearing up to start network deployments in West Des Moines, Iowa, via a new public/private partnership with the city.

Daily Roundup: Google Beats Cloud Rivals

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.

Huawei's possible demise is grounds for a UK U-turn

Threatening language by China's UK ambassador is inappropriate and overlooks the perilous nature of Huawei's current predicament.

5G iPhone could get a big boost from US wireless carriers

A Wall Street analyst firm is expecting the big American wireless network operators to heavily promote the 5G iPhone this fall. But they're warning against inflated sales expectations for the gadget.

With a record number of bidders, CBRS auction estimates rise to $10B

The FCC's upcoming 3.5GHz CBRS spectrum auction is generating plenty of bidding interest, causing industry analysts to boost their financial forecasts for the event.

Implementing automated security services: We are somewhat confident virtually here

Automation is vital for raising confidence levels that 5G services and networks can be fully secured in the post-pandemic world, writes Heavy Reading's Jim Hodges.

Afi Data Platform Release Tackles Kubernetes Resilience, Replication

The rise in containerized workloads brings with it the need to provide back up and disaster recovery. Afi, a cloud data management firm, threw its hat in the ring today and launched its namesake cloud-based replication and resiliency Data Platform for containerized applications and services.

F5 Defends Apps Against Bot Attacks Using Shape AI

F5 Networks added a tool to its Silverline application security services platform that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to protect websites from fake internet traffic.

Google Cloud Beats Rivals, Wins Deal With ‘Troubled’ Deutsche Bank

Google Cloud today inked a landmark, multi-year deal to provide cloud services and jointly developed financial applications to Deutsche Bank.

Promptlink tries to rise above the cable network noise

New AI-assisted tool is helping cable operators identify and pinpoint the source of upstream network noise during a pandemic that has caused peak usage to surge, CEO says.

Iliad ups fixed-line ante in Italy; TIM suffers

Open Fiber deal gives French telecoms Group an Italian route into broadband. Telecom Italia investors take fright.

Indian ban on Huawei in BSNL network opens 4G door for Tech Mahindra

A deal with BSNL would mark the arrival of Tech Mahindra as a 4G supplier to the Indian market.

US wireless carriers hide behind masks (and that's a good thing)

Masks are becoming de rigueur among retail stores operated by the nation's biggest wireless network operators. But that doesn't mean every store that sells cell phones requires a mask.

Samsung: Our 5G RAN is now open and virtualized

Samsung is joining Nokia in the move to sell fully open and virtualized 5G radio access network products. Those initiatives could put pressure on Ericsson to do the same.

Nokia and Samsung O-RAN moves put pressure on Ericsson

The Swedish equipment vendor is conspicuous by its absence from the recent O-RAN marketing activity.

VMware Bolsters Analytics Suite With True Visibility Buy

VMware is padding its vRealize Operations predictive analytics platform with the purchase of the True Visibility Suite business unit from Blue Medora. The acquisition mark’s VMware’s fourth so far this year and comes on the heels of last week’s Datrium buy.

The Telecoms.com Podcast: Huawei, broadband and ad boycotts

This could be the last time you get to see Scott's pile of overdue filing, so make the most of it.

Australia spots a Chinese Panda in Ericsson

Reports in the Australian press have drawn attention to a joint venture between the Swedish vendor and a Chinese company blacklisted by the Pentagon.

Samsung Pledges 5G vRAN Availability by Fall 2020

Samsung is joining the wave of 5G network virtualization. The vendor today said it plans to make its fully virtualized radio access network (vRAN) 5G offering commercially available before October. 

Eurobites: Telefónica beefs up cybersecurity offer with Nozomi investment

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: eSIM company claims 5G first; Swisscom tops eco-rankings; Openreach spreads fiber across Edinburgh.

Orange unveils new CEOs for Belgium and Poland

More musical chairs at the France-based group as it implements a wide-ranging reshuffle of top management at its European operations.

Elliott blasts Crown Castle’s fiber strategy

Activist investor Elliott Management, the same firm that trashed AT&T’s management last year, says Crown Castle International is in need of a makeover, most notably in its fiber strategy.

Messaging app firms refuse data requests from Hong Kong authorities

WhatsApp and Telegram are reportedly refusing any requests for user data from the Hong Kong authorities because they can’t be confident they won’t be misused.

UK plans to start Huawei 5G phase out – report

The U.K. government is reportedly initiating plans to phase out the use of Huawei telecom gear in its 5G networks this year, according to multiple media reports.

How would a Huawei ban impact the industry and the UK on the whole?

The Huawei question has once again been raised, and it does appear its future looks bleak in the UK, but what considerations need to be addressed before any decision is made?

Industry Voices—Raynovich: The cloud is swallowing everything

It's increasingly looking like the public cloud infrastructure is swallowing large swaths of communications applications and infrastructure. With the public cloud providers growing faster and approaching capital spending (capex) levels that rival, and in some cases surpass, the largest telecommunications providers, there's no reason to think this trend won't continue. 

Ericsson touts Standalone 5G software

Ericsson announced the general availability of its Standalone (SA) 5G New Radio (NR) software for low- and mid-band spectrum.

Masergy's Watson: 3rd phase of COVID-19 impact could be long

With coronavirus cases on the upswing in some states, there's an increased amount of uncertainty around how service providers and their enterprise customers will adjust to the new normal going forward.

OneWeb gets $1B from U.K. government, Bharti

Just a few months after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, OneWeb is getting back into orbit thanks to a consortium led by the U.K. government and India’s Bharti Global.

3GPP completes latest 5G NR spec with Release 16

In a milestone for 5G, global wireless standards body 3GPP finalized Release 16 on July 3, its second set of specifications for 5G New Radio (NR) technology.

Shatzkamer exits Dell EMC for Google Cloud

Industry veteran Kevin Shatzkamer has left Dell EMC to start a new job as managing director, digital transformation officer for telecom at Google Cloud.

France says oui to Huawei

In an interview with local press, the Director General of the national security agency has said there would not be an outright ban for Chinese telecoms equipment vendor Huawei.

3GPP finally freezes 5G release 16 and warns of further delays

The latest freeze of the 5G standard was delayed by a quarter coz of coronavirus and there are likely to be knock-on effects.

Sky steps up its Italian Job

Sky Italia has confirmed it will expand its broadband footprint in the Italian market as it seemingly eyes up the convergence dream.

UK Government steps in to save OneWeb with $500mn investment

The UK’s Business Secretary Alok Sharma has confirmed a Government lifeline of $500 million for OneWeb, the ambitious satellite firm which recently filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.

Tele2/Com Hem CEO decides to get a life

Anders Nilsson, CEO of Swedish telco group Tele2, has decided there’s more to life than hanging out in board rooms and bossing people about.

UK is at the behest of White House over Huawei conundrum

The rationale for US aggression against China has never been fully validated, but that is seemingly irrelevant as its sanctions increasingly push the UK to make an uncomfortable choice.

Optical Competition Heats Up in First Half of 2020

It’s safe to say the optical industry has been up and hopping. Over the past few months, leading optical vendors including Ciena, Infinera, Huawei, and Nokia have been pushing the limits of modern optics.

Daily Roundup: Ericsson Rolls Out Standalone 5G Software

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.

Dish Network's Ergen has a big appetite for 5G spectrum

Tucked away in Dish Network's announcement last week that it would enter the wireless industry was a promise to follow through with the $3.6 billion purchase of 800MHz spectrum from T-Mobile in 2023.

BT plans BAME 'baseline' for senior management roles

Following a data-gathering exercise to gauge the ethnic makeup of its workforce, the UK operator will set targets.

A Look Back on 2020 (So Far)

From deadly wildfires to President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, the death of basketball legend Kobe Bryant, Brexit, murder hornets, and social unrest over the killing of George Floyd – all under the cloud of the COVID-19 pandemic – 2020 has been a doozy and we’re only halfway through it.

Crown Castle's small cell strategy challenged by activist investor

Activist hedge-fund Elliot Management – the same company that pressured AT&T – is now urging Crown Castle to make changes that would pull the company away from small cells.

Will VMware (or Someone Else) Scoop Up Bitglass?

The perhaps not-so-surprising winners during the pandemic turned out to be security vendors with cloud access security broker (CASB), secure web gateway, and zero-trust networking technologies — all key secure access service edge (SASE) components. While these technologies’ stars were on the rise before COVID-19 forced the global workforce to telecommute from home, the pandemic gave them more urgency as employees began accessing corporate systems and cloud-based services from their home networks and devices.

Huawei now a surrogate for China threat as US gains some ground

The Chinese equipment vendor is being driven out of telco networks in the West as the US stays on the offensive.

Tele2 banks on new CEO to cut costs

CEO Anders Nilsson sails away. Telco operations veteran Kjell Morten Johnsen takes his place.

CNCF Leadership Change Targets Cloud Native ‘Second Wave’

The Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) recently changed up its leadership with Priyanka Sharma taking over from Dan Kohn as head of the Linux Foundation-based organization. The move comes at an important junction for the organization and the broader cloud native ecosystem that is becoming a bigger player in the cloud market.

Ericsson Releases Standalone 5G Software

Ericsson’s standalone (SA) 5G New Radio (NR) software for low- and mid-band spectrum is now commercially available. The development follows the vendor’s release of a dual-mode 5G core with cloud-native infrastructure earlier this year. 

France unlikely to ban Huawei, but will encourage operators to steer clear

ANSII indicates that it will limit authorizations to use Huawei equipment to between three and eight years.

Huawei alert system raised from amber to red in UK

The Chinese equipment maker faces a UK ban, according to press reports, because new US sanctions make it an even bigger risk.

Eurobites: Ericsson trumpets standalone 5G NR software

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Colt appoints new CCO; using drones to fix cell towers; smart home devices losing their luster in MEA.

Bharti Global, British government consortium wins OneWeb bid

The Indian conglomerate will become a major shareholder in the UK-backed alternative to the EU's Galileo initiative.