SDxCentral’s Top 10 Articles — July 2020

Check out our top 10 articles for June 2020 covering the SDxCentral universe of SDN, NFV, and related topics. Rankings are based on unique visitors aggregated during the month.

Industry Voices — Moore: A farewell to Sprint

Very soon, the Sprint brand will be gone from the U.S. telecom market. “On August 2, we’re combining our Sprint and T-Mobile brands to operate as one T-Mobile brand nationwide,” T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert said on July 22.

Amazon plans to invest $10B in Project Kuiper

The FCC this week unanimously voted to approve Amazon’s plan to deploy 3,236 satellites as part of its Project Kuiper to deliver satellite-based broadband services across the U.S.

Charter adds its new Covid customers to sub count for Q2 2020

Charter Communications reported that its second quarter 2020 total residential and small- and medium-business internet customers increased by 850,000, compared to 258,000 during the second quarter of 2019. 

Nokia’s outgoing CEO marks surprise Q2 profit

Nokia President and CEO Rajeev Suri delivered his last quarterly earnings report Friday, saying the company achieved an unexpected improvement in profitability despite challenges related to COVID-19. Nokia’s net profit for the April-June period was up 22%, at $376 million.  

Dish picks VMware cloud platform for 5G network build

Dish Network named VMware as the latest vendor for its planned 5G network build, using the software provider’s telco cloud platform.

EA posts 20% growth thanks to global lockdown

Gaming has been one of the segments poised to profit from societal lockdown, and 20% year-on-year growth at Electronic Arts certainly qualifies.

COVID-19 demonstrates Silicon Valley power as Congress fights back

At a time where the influence of the internet giants is being challenged by the US Government, the champions of Silicon Valley have navigated turbulent times very prosperously.

Altice USA adds 70,400 broadband subs in Q2 2020

Altice USA reported that total unique residential customer relationships grew +1.8% year over year during its second quarter 2020. That number drops to growth of 1.4% when adjusted to exclude customers greater than 90 days delinquent due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Turkey’s internet crackdown has users flocking to VPNs

Prospect of much tighter controls on social media sparks renewed interest in privacy tools.

Amazon reports the best quarter ever amid global crisis

Amazon grew revenues by 40% and doubled net profit during the second quarter, while large parts of the world were in lockdown.

Nokia share price jumps 13% on improved 5G prospects

Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri has boasted of improvements to the radio portfolio, as the team bumps up full-year guidance.

BT loses 7% of revenues to COVID-19

BT has reported its financial results for the three-month period to June 30, with the revenues taking a 7% decline due to the impact of the coronavirus.

KT Launches New Smart Building Management Service

KT Corp., South Korea’s largest telecommunications company, plans to launch a suite of smart building services in cooperation with its subsidiary, KT Estate.

Casa's grasp extends beyond its cable core

Once a shop focused primarily on the cable access network, Casa's Q2 results indicate that the vendor is starting to find its groove in the wireless and fixed telecom markets.

Daily Roundup: VMware Scores Dish 5G Win

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.

T-Mobile is dragging its feet with 5G buildout, tower cos warn

Two of the nation's three big tower companies have begun fretting over T-Mobile's slower-than-expected 5G buildouts. Analysts are divided over whether it's time to worry.

Facebook shows hypocritical boycotters cannot hold it to ransom

The social media giant can be hard to like, but its stance on free speech is right, as the latest set of numbers shows.

Nvidia Readies $32B Arm Acquisition, Report Says

Will Nvidia buy Arm? According to a Bloomberg report, the United States’ largest chipmaker is not only interested, it has entered into “advanced talks” to take the British chip designer off Japanese conglomerate SoftBank’s hands for more than $32 billion.

Amazon's LEO ambitions include 5G and $10B price tag

Amazon joins SpaceX, OneWeb and others with plans to launch thousands of satellites to provide rural Internet connections, 5G backhaul and other services. The space remains full of unknowns.

Proximus in COVID 'containment' mode

Cost-cutting measures cushion Q2 pandemic impact.

Charter rakes in subs across the board in Q2

Cable op adds 842,000 broadband, 102,00 video and 325,000 mobile lines. However, the 'secular trends for video hasn't changed,' Charter's CEO warns.

Amazon Still Dominates Cloud, But AWS Growth Slows

Amazon still dominates the cloud with 33% market share during the second quarter, but the overall growth of its Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud business slowed slightly during the quarter. AWS revenue hit $10.8 billion in Q2, which was up 29% year over year but down slightly from the 33% growth it reported in Q1.

KDDI feels crisis over low 5G adoption

Japan's KDDI enjoys profit, ARPU boost thanks to COVID-19 – but feels a sense of 'crisis' over 5G.

WiCipedia: Female leaders bring higher profit margins

This week in our WiC roundup: Free online summit for trans people in tech; speaking up as the only Black person in the room; COVID-19's job insecurity woes; and more.

VMware Scores Dish 5G Telco Cloud Deal

VMware scored a significant 5G win with Dish Network selecting the vendor to provide the underlying cloud platform and infrastructure to power its open radio access network-based 5G network.

Nokia Hit by COVID-19, China, Eeks Out Profit

Nokia posted schizophrenic second-quarter financial results that only continue what has been a rollercoaster-like year for the Nordic vendor. Nokia’s latest quarter included plunging revenues, a surprise profit, and plenty of drama around its 5G portfolio and COVID-19.

Dish chooses VMware's cloud for 5G

Dish Network said it will run its network functions inside of the VMware Telco Cloud, and that the companies will work together to certify and install other vendors' software into the platform.

Nokia stock soars as profits recover after China 5G exit

Finnish equipment vendor counts the sales cost of coronavirus and Chinese setbacks but makes unexpectedly good progress on profitability.

BT revenue and earnings dive 7% in fiscal Q1 as COVID-19 bites

Slump largely blamed on reduced revenue from BT Sport, the closure of retail stores and a reduction in business activity at its enterprise units.

Eurobites: Inwit hits the heights in H1

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Deutsche Telekom and SAP join forces on COVID-19 app; T-Systems gets robotic; BT converges on micro-businesses; meet TIM Green.

Toward cloud-native 5G core

5G core must be part of a wider industry transition to 5G networks that incorporates massive investment in RAN, transport and cloud infrastructure.

Comcast adds 323,000 internet customers in Q2 2020

Comcast Cable added 323,000 high-speed internet customers in its second quarter 2020, resulting in its best second quarter in 13 years. That number does not even include over 600,000 additional high-risk or free internet essentials customers that are receiving Comcast’s internet service as part of its Covid-19 Keep Americans Connected pledge. “We'll only count these customers once they are in paid status,” said Dave Watson, President and CEO of Comcast Cable, on today’s earnings call.

American Tower sees slow start on T-Mobile's post-merger network

As American Tower reported second quarter earnings Thursday, executives indicated T-Mobile is moving slower than expected on post-Sprint merger network integration work.

U.S. Cellular expands 5G to 11 more states on 600 MHz spectrum

U.S. Cellular, the nation’s fourth largest infrastructure-based wireless carrier, is moving beyond its initial two 5G markets in Iowa and Wisconsin and is beginning to deploy 5G in 11 more states. Michael Irizarry, executive vice president and CTO of U.S. Cellular, said the company is deploying 5G by using an approach that targets “clusters” where there are large numbers of existing customers that are likely to use the upgraded technology.

Verizon gets praise from NYC’s former top cop

The battle for public safety clientele is as hot as ever as the nation reels from the COVID-19 health crisis and protests fighting for racial equality in cities across the country. One of the voices in that mix is William Bratton, who serves as chairman of the Verizon First Responder Advisory Council (VFRAC). 

Telegram adds another antitrust complaint for Apple to ponder

Following Rakuten and Spotify, messaging service Telegram has filed a complaint with the European Commission regarding Apple’s App Store.

Nokia fetes 5G SA call with China Unicom

Nokia is touting the successful completion of its first 5G standalone (SA) call on a live network with China Unicom—and it expects to achieve full deployment of numerous software solutions with the operator several weeks ahead of schedule.

Ahead of bankruptcy exit, Windstream posts loss of $162 million

With the expected emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in late August, sunnier days are ahead for Windstream Holdings. In what most likely will be its last earnings report before becoming a privately-held company, Windstream reported a net loss of $162.4 million in Q2 Thursday morning.

Huawei saga enters Brazil as US starts posturing

The US Ambassador to Brazil has warned the country would face severe consequences should it allow Huawei to supply equipment to 5G networks.

Verizon surprises with fixed wireless access on 4G for rural

In a surprise move, Verizon today unveiled a new fixed wireless access (FWA) home internet service built on its 4G LTE network. The company has been touting its 5G Home service for a while, but apparently the high demand for home internet, spurred by Covid-19, also spurred Verizon to quickly deploy FWA on its LTE network.

Altice USA sells 49.9% stake of Lightpath for about $3.2 billion

After shopping it around more than a year, Altice USA has found a partner for its Lightpath fiber business that serves the New York metro area. In a deal with an implied enterprise value of $3.2, Altice reached an agreement with Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners (MSIP) for the sale of a 49.99% stake in Lightpath.

Samsung’s CBRS Massive MIMO radio ready for all mobile operators

The shared Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) band remains in the spotlight this month, as Samsung today announced general availability of its CBRS Massive MIMO radio unit and other products.

AT&T's Saxena: Transformation is part of telco's DNA

Due to its software-defined networking (SDN) efforts and a culture that embraces change, AT&T was able to turn on a dime during the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

Qualcomm hints Apple 5G launch might be delayed

Qualcomm has warned 2020 financials might be impacted by a customer delaying a flagship launch, suggesting Apple might be facing some issues of its own.

Huawei usurps Samsung as global smartphone leader – Canalys

Estimates from rival analyst firms might contradict these figures, but Canalys is suggesting Huawei has overtaken Samsung as the worlds most popular smartphone brand.

Samsung boosted by increased online life during lockdown

Samsung Electronics’ solid Q2 has benefited from strong demand for semiconductors by datacentres and PC markets to satisfied online activities that have surged during COVID-19 crisis.

Telefonica reveals damage dealt by COVID-19 to financials

Most telecoms operators would have felt the pinch of the coronavirus pandemic, but it appears Telefonica is wearing bigger bruises than the majority.

1-Gig sell-ins gather steam at Altice USA

Using a mix of FTTP and DOCSIS 3.1, MSO has 1-Gig available to 75% of its footprint, with 24% of new broadband subs in those areas opting for gigabit service.

Leading Lights 2020 Finalists: Company of the Year (Public)

Five companies – Amdocs, Ciena, CommScope, Fortinet and Vonage – made the cut in the Company of the Year (Public) category.

Daily Roundup: Cisco Trails Switch Leaders

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Google Cloud Biz Jumps 43%, Alphabet Stung by First-Ever Revenue Drop

Google Cloud revenues jumped 43% year over year during the second quarter of 2020. The cloud boost helped parent-company Alphabet beat Q2 expectations, but its advertising and search revenue took a pandemic-induced hit and Alphabet reported its first revenue decline in its history.

Akamai CEO: We dominate edge computing

Akamai said its edge computing platform now covers 300,000 servers in over 4,000 locations, with roughly 1,500 network partners – a $2B revenue business.

Podcast: AT&T Business EVP on using AI to keep customers happy

Sorabh Saxena, AT&T Business's EVP of customer service and operations, discusses how AT&T has handled customer service during a pandemic, and how it can help other companies adapt to change.

Aryaka SASE Play Champions Choice

It seems like every SD-WAN and managed security vendor out there is scrambling to bring a secure access service edge (SASE) platform to market, and Aryaka is no different. But while many vendors have focused on building out a comprehensive SASE stack, the self-proclaimed “cloud-first” SD-WAN vendor instead aims to expand its addressable market by giving customers choice.

Verizon fashionably late to the LTE fixed wireless party

Verizon joins T-Mobile, AT&T and other telecom operators in selling LTE fixed wireless services. Verizon's second go at such a product allows for customer self-installs.

Arista, Juniper, Nvidia Switch Vendor ‘Leaders,’ Says Forrester

Arista Networks, Huawei, Juniper Networks, and Nvidia stood tall as “leaders” in Forrester Research’s latest Wave ranking of programmable switch vendors. That quartet led a group that included well-heeled rivals such as Cisco, Extreme Network, and Dell EMC among the dozen of vendors included in the report.

Telefónica to build new fiber network in Germany

The Spanish telecom giant is looking for equity partners for a new fiber project in Germany as assets go up for sale in Latin America.

Comcast rides broadband wave as pay-TV takes on more water

Cable op's Xfinity Mobile business climbs to 2.39 million lines as rate of growth slows due to pandemic-fueled store closures.

As industry races to 5G, Telstra and Optus row over 4G coverage

Telstra takes Optus to court over allegedly misleading ads.

Samsung looks chipper in Q2 as the world works from home

Strong semiconductor performance makes up for drop in smartphone sales. South Korean behemoth expects Q3 uptick at its mobile communications business unit.

Telefónica turns frugal as COVID-19 bites

The Spanish operator is selling assets, cutting jobs and reducing investments as its main subsidiaries are laid low by the pandemic.

Will Tech Pay More Than Lip Service to Diversity?

Big technology companies (along with most major brands) spent a lot of time this summer talking about diversity in their organizations. The shortage of women and people of color in the industry has been well documented — and a hot trade show topic in recent years. But the COVID-19 pandemic, with its opportunity to “reimagine” what the sector will and should look like, coupled with massive protests triggered by police killing black people, seemed to spur companies into real action.

Orange sticks to guidance despite COVID-19 squeeze in Q2

French telecoms group reports lower Q2 revenue and earnings due to coronavirus lockdown and a reduction in roaming, but keeps guidance for the full year.

'Shaw Mobile' banks on network convergence

Canada's Shaw's mobile offering has unlimited and by-the-Gig options, initially being sold to residential broadband subs in Alberta and British Columbia.

Eurobites: KKR offers €1.8B for stake in TIM's 'last mile' – report

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: TIM teams up on tech VC fund; UKCloud unveils new services; Ericsson scores in Indonesia.

AT&T, Verizon, TracFone show uptick in prepaid

After a rough first quarter, it looks as though the prepaid sector is making a comeback, with recent second-quarter earnings showing an uptick for the sector.

Juniper Networks drives AI into SD-WAN with Mist

Juniper Networks has driven the reach of its Mist artificial intelligence networking capabilities into the WAN for better insights and automation. After buying wireless LAN vendor Mist early last year, Juniper has been integrating Mist's AI capabilities across its LAN, WLAN and now WAN products and services to improve end-to-end optimization.

CBRS auction inches toward $600 million after round 8

After eight rounds of bidding, gross proceeds at the FCC auction for Priority Access Licenses (PALs) in the CBRS band inched toward $600 million, with Wednesday morning’s first round adding about $37 million in incremental bids.

Facebook, Google and Apple to argue they are a force for good

As US lawmakers scrutinise whether Silicon Valley has too much power and influence, Facebook, Google and Apple have all prepared statements to suggest the world would be worse off without them.

OTEGLOBE drops Cisco's 400Gbe into its IP core network

In order to fuel a 400G network, Athens, Greece-based OTEGLOBE has added Cisco's ASR 9900 line cards into its network backbone.

Reliance Jio active subscribers still heading south

The total number of subscribers is often a misleading statistic, and in Reliance Jio’s case, it certainly isn’t telling the whole story.

Juniper Networks grinds out better than expected results in Q2

Thanks in part to an increase in service provider revenues, Juniper Networks beat analysts' expectations in its Q2 earnings on Tuesday.

Google in talks for more prominence on Samsung devices: report

According to reports on Bloomberg, Google and Samsung are in preliminary talks to grant more search tasks to Google products on the Korean devices.

BT and Vodafone happy with Huawei removal timetable

Speaking to the House of Commons Defence Sub-Committee, both BT and Vodafone have suggested the 2027-end deadline to remove all Huawei 5G equipment is satisfactory.

New investors supercharge London alt-net with £400mn programme

With Warburg Pincus and DTCP acquiring the controlling stake in London fibre broadband company Community Fibre, a £400 million investment has been promised for the city.

EE the best, O2 the worst: RootMetrics on UK 5G

EE has been named the UK network leader for 5G experience in a report which sees itself and Vodafone pull clear of O2 and Three.

Qualcomm nabs Huawei deal, hints at 5G iPhone delay

Qualcomm said it inked a patent-licensing agreement with China's Huawei, removing a major cloud over the company. But it also warned of a 'flagship' 5G phone delay, likely referencing Apple.

SpaceMobile deal could kill all of AT&T's dead zones

SpaceMobile, the go-to-market brand from Midland, Texas-based startup AST & Science, said it is 'finalizing' a deal with AT&T that could give the carrier unprecedented cellular coverage in the US.

Juniper's Mist AI navigates fog in the WAN

The fourth generation of Juniper's Mist platform aims to utilize artificial intelligence to automate anomaly detection and take proactive actions in enterprises' WANs.

Six big questions about the FCC's $9B 5G fund

The FCC's 5G fund is supposed to bring advanced wireless services to rural areas. But there are big questions that need to be addressed before carriers take their place at the government trough.

Marvell Switch Silicon Emphasizes Edge

Marvell refreshed its enterprise switch silicon portfolio today with new Prestera switch and Alaska physical layer (PHY) chips. These chips are designed to scale from 1 Gb/s to 400 Gb/s to suit enterprise bandwidth demands from small business to large enterprise deployments.

Daily Roundup: Juniper Takes On Cisco

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Harmonic adds Vodafone to its 'CableOS' win list

Vodafone is using Harmonic's virtualization software, remote PHY devices and cloud-based management system for its DOCSIS 3.1 gigabit rollout in Germany.

Vecima deals for Nokia's cable access portfolio

Vecima is poised to raise its profile and accelerate its next-gen cable network roadmap by acquiring Nokia's DOCSIS distributed access product line and its EPON and DOCSIS provisioning over EPON portfolios.

Dickens, masks, meatballs and Cable Next-Gen

As Light Reading prepares for the digital version of Cable Next-Gen next month, Tien Fu and Alan Breznick discuss how they are coping with COVID-19... and without each other.

IBM Data Breach Report: Compromised Credentials Prove Costly

Across the board, 2020 has been a year marred by economic, social, political, and environmental decline – but sadly, the same can’t be said for the average total cost of a data breach, according to the latest IBM data breach report. 

Huawei preps for UK vanishing act with no-show at govt. hearing

The Chinese vendor seemingly didn't fancy another session in front of Trump-aligned UK politicians.

Juniper's Mixed Q2 Earnings Show Signs of Recovery

Juniper Networks continued its financial recovery during the second-quarter of 2020, despite COVID-19-related supply chain shortages and economic pressures affecting customer plans. While revenues were down 1% year over year, the company’s revenues were up 9% sequentially.

Podcast: What's the story with cablecos?

On this episode of 'What's the Story?' – a new series from the Light Reading Podcast – Alan Breznick talks with pod host Nicole Ferraro about cable companies' moves into wireless: the latest news, why it matters and what's likely to happen next.

Leading Lights 2020 Finalists: Most Innovative Telco Cloud Product Strategy

Seven companies – Affirmed Networks, Altiostar, DriveNets, Enea Openwave, Netcracker, Optiva and Volta – made the cut in the Most Innovative Telco Cloud Product Strategy.

5G transport: Upgrade motivations and the move to white box

Heavy Reading's Operator Strategies for 5G Transport Market Leadership Study explores how transport networks will evolve to support 5G services.

HPE Ezmeral Container Platform Gets Shiny Updates

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) bedazzled a handful of updates to its still shiny Ezmeral Container Platform to further bolster its hybrid cloud strategy that targets rivals VMware and IBM/Red Hat.

Eurobites: Openreach pushes fiber into 'final third' of UK

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: MTS bags 5G license; Ooredoo strengthens its core with Nokia; Arm UK wrestles Arm China.

Arista Gets Edgy With Multi-Cloud Networking

Arista Networks rolled out updates to its multi-cloud and cloud-native networking software and added an edge component with CloudEOS Edge.

Telefónica Deutschland takes COVID Q2 hit on core profits

The German arm's full-year outlook remains unchanged despite COVID. CEO insists 5G RAN contingency plans are in place should Huawei get the heave-ho.

Is edge computing the cure to videoconferencing's latency woes?

Executives at companies ranging from EdgeMicro to Deutsche Telekom have suggested that videoconferencing could be improved by edge computing. But others offer a decidedly less rosy view of the notion.

Juniper Takes On Cisco, Aruba With AI, WAN Two Punch

Juniper Mist extended its artificial intelligence-driven networking capabilities to the WAN today alongside the company’s virtual assistant Marvis. The introduction of SD-WAN functionality now positions Mist to compete directly against Cisco’s Meraki and Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s Aruba platform.

BT closer to 5G deal with Ericsson and lukewarm on open RAN

The odds shorten on a 5G deal between BT and Ericsson after comments by the UK incumbent's chief technology officer this week.

Ooredoo counts negative impact of COVID-19 in H1 results

Qatari operator says EBITDA dropped 5% in the first six months of 2020, in part because of actions introduced to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Cambium pushes pedal on CBRS with 20K devices deployed

Cambium Networks said market adoption for fixed wireless services using CBRS spectrum is speeding ahead, with around 20,000 of the wireless networking provider’s CBRS devices already deployed.

Entner: Attempts to close the Digital Divide count wins, losses

Over the past 15 years, there have been several government initiatives to expand the adoption of broadband in the United States. At the same time, industry has been busily focused on extending the reach and capacity of both fixed and mobile broadband networks. Yet, a digital divide still exists. Why? Let’s review the history here. 

CBRS put to the test by Utah school district

Salt Lake City’s Murray City School District wants to be the first district in the country to implement a private CBRS network for students in grades K-12. Private LTE in publicly available spectrum could be the key to bridging the digital divide for some students who lack internet access at home.

Google Cloud and Orange come together for edgy partnership

Google Cloud and Orange are the latest telco-cloud duo to announce a partnership focused on capitalising on edge computing enthusiasm.

Google Cloud chalks up a customer win with France's Orange

Google Cloud has struck up a strategic partnership with Orange to help the telco build its IT infrastructure, edge compute and cloud services. Orange is looking to tap into Google Cloud's artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities to speed up its digital transformation across its European footprint.

Verizon takes delivery of Ericsson’s U.S.-made 5G base station

Ericsson announced today that Verizon is the first recipient of a U.S.-manufactured commercial 5G base station from Ericsson’s new smart factory in Texas.

Windstream builds new board ahead of exit from Chapter 11

Ahead of its plan to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy near the end of August, Windstream Holdings announced a new board of directors. Current CEO and President Tony Thomas will continue in those roles while also serving on the new board.

CenturyLink reels in contract with state of Arizona

CenturyLink locked up a multi-year contract with the state of Arizona to provide network connectivity and managed IT services across all state government agencies. Under the new "AZNet" contract, CenturyLink will also provide local and wide area network management, Wi-Fi, security, unified voice communications, data center and cloud services.

T-Mobile targets workplace safety tech with two partnerships

T-Mobile Business is targeting workplace safety with LTE-connected products, including a contactless temperature screener, and connected hard hats through partnerships with PIMMAP and Guardhat.

5G infrastructure spend to double in 2020 – Gartner

With one eye keeping an eye on the troubles of Huawei, the likes of Ericsson and Nokia will be buoyed by Gartner predictions that 5G infrastructure should accelerate through 2020.

Juniper CTO welcomes Nokia to data center switching arena

Juniper Networks CTO Raj Yavatkar doesn't appear to be losing any sleep over Nokia's recent decision to compete against Juniper, Cisco, and Arista, among others, in the data center switching sector

Rome wants end to gladiatorial display between TIM and Open Fiber

Italy’s Government once again pushes for fibre asset merger to create single fibre-to-the-premise network.

Bidding war for Brazil’s Oi begins to emerge

Telecom Italia, American Movil and Telefonica have renewed a joint effort to purchase Oi’s mobile business unit after being outbid by US private equity firm Colony Capital.

Intel kicks off corporate musical chairs in wake of 7nm shortcomings

Intel has announced its Chief Engineering Officer Murthy Renduchintala will leave the business on August 3 after its 7nm chips will be delayed until at least 2022.

‘Copy-acquire-kill’ to come under spotlight in US antitrust probe

This week will see the next step in the currently floundering mission to bring Silicon Valley to heel as US lawmakers examine the strategies which made the technology industry the force it is today.

Altice USA to sell a big piece of Lightpath

Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners has agreed to acquire 49.99% of the fiber-fueled Lightpath business services unit in a deal carrying an implied enterprise value of $3.2 billion.

Axiata and Telefónica form enterprise services tie up

The Telefonica/Axiata partnership will focus on sales of cybersecurity, cloud and IoT/Big Data services and cooperation in strategic projects.

Daily Roundup: Intel Shakes Up Exec Team

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Demand outstrips supply in first US midband spectrum auction

Amid sustained demand for CBRS spectrum licenses, some industry watchers expect up to $10B in total bids. Others are predicting far lower proceeds.

Hughes to plow $50M into OneWeb

Hughes, a unit of EchoStar, will keep its hand in the low-Earth orbit satellite game by joining a consortium that's acquiring OneWeb out of bankruptcy.

Verizon Snares Ericsson’s First US-Made 5G Gear

Ericsson delivered its first U.S.-made commercial 5G base station product to a customer. That delivery came nearly two years after Ericsson began its journey toward making products for its North American customers in North America.

CES 2021 to go all-digital in January

The annual consumer electronics event, which drew more than 171,000 to this year's show, will pivot to an all-digital format in 2021 due to the pandemic.

Why Cybercriminals Can Demand $10M Ransoms in the COVID-19 Era

Ransomware continues to be the top security threat to corporations as cybercriminals cash in on COVID-19 themed campaigns.

Leading Lights 2020 Finalists: Most Innovative Business Cloud Service

Four companies – Comcast Business, Orange, Vonage and Unified Office – made the cut in the Most Innovative Business Cloud Service category.

Google adds Orange to its expanding European edge empire

Following agreements with Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Vodafone and now Orange, the search engine giant looks set for a major role in the region's future market for edge-based 5G services.

Philippines' Duterte threatens PLDT, Globe with expropriation

Philippines' Duterte warns of 'expropriation' if telcos don't improve services.

Másmóvil, más clientes

Spain's high-flying challenger keeps racking up double-digit net customer adds.

Nokia, Ericsson Score U.S. Cellular 5G mmWave Deals

U.S. Cellular expanded 5G network equipment deals with Ericsson and Nokia to now include millimeter wave (mmWave) gear and support for the regional carrier’s IoT and use of the 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) band. The expansion comes as a new report from Gartner predicts 5G network spending will double this year.

Google Taps Dr Pepper, Spills Cloud Services, Pushes Edge With Orange

Google Cloud unveiled a slew of services, a multi-year deal with Keurig Dr Pepper, and a partnership with Orange on 5G, mobile edge computing, and artificial intelligence (AI). All of these moves play into the No. 3 cloud provider’s quest to oust Microsoft Azure from the No. 2 seat.

Intel Shakes Up Exec Team After 7NM Setback

Intel’s lead engineer Venkata Renduchintala is leaving the company after CEO Bob Swan announced sweeping changes to its leadership team Tuesday. The news comes less than a week after Intel revealed its next-generation 7-nanometer chips were behind schedule as a result of a flaw in the manufacturing process. The revelation sent Intel’s stock price tumbling nearly 16% following the announcement.

Trio revises offer for Oi mobile biz after Highline bid

TIM Brasil, Telefônica Brasil and Claro revise binding offer for mobile assets after bankrupt operator Oi starts exclusive talks with Highline.

Backblaze Scorches AWS With S3-Compatible APIs

Backblaze is taking its fight with the big three cloud storage vendors — Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Storage (GCS) — to the streets with the general availability of its S3-compatible APIs for its B2 Cloud Storage (B2). 

Eurobites: Italy considers independent 'broadband champion'

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Google hooks up to UK and Spain; Eir EXFOliates; Prysmian files cable patent lawsuit.

The Telecoms.com Podcast: Huawei in Europe, towers and India

All the latest news, plus babygrows and repressed British emotion. What's not to like?

Verizon nabs AWS exec to oversee sales to feds

Jennifer Chronis will lead Verizon's 'Federal' business, having left Amazon Web Services' (AWS) after that company failed to win the US Department of Defense's massive JEDI contract.

Vodafone CEO Read targets 'urban' open RAN in 2022

The European service provider plans to launch a rural open RAN network in 2021 and to follow up with an urban deployment the following year.

U.S. Cellular begins deploying mmWave with Ericsson and Nokia

The Chicago-based carrier provides 4.9 million connections in 20 states. Its 5G deployments to date have only been on 600 MHz spectrum in parts of Iowa and Wisconsin. In late 2019, U.S. Cellular selected Ericsson as a network equipment vendor for 5G New Radio (NR) hardware and software in Iowa and Wisconsin.

T-Mobile 5G unlimited offer ‘nothing new’ - analysts

T-Mobile made a splash last week when it unveiled a new unlimited promotion, offering four lines with 5G access for $100 per month. Still, some financial and industry analysts don’t see the deal as that disruptive, or even all that new.

There’s a starRAN waiting in the sky

AST & Science counts on Orbion’s new-fangled (and cheaper) plasma rocket thrusters to launch fully-fledged SpaceMobile network.

Segra serves up enterprise-grade remote office LAN

While remote work from home solutions (WFH) have been cropping up like dandelions this summer, not all of them are created equal, according to Segra's president and COO.

Deutsche Telekom brags of 50% 5G population coverage

Population coverage is of course not the same as geographical coverage but hitting the 50% mark is certainly healthy progress none-the-less.

Nokia signs up for HPE multi-vendor 5G test lab

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has created a new 5G lab where telcos and suppliers can test and validate the performance and interoperability of various network core functions using multiple vendors.

Wi-Fi Alliance makes WPA3 mandatory for device certification

Beginning July 1, any device that’s certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance must support the latest generation of security, known as WPA3.

Walker: Jio and Rakuten have 5G ambitions, but one has an edge

The $214 billion market for telecommunications network infrastructure (telco NI) may have a couple of more suppliers soon, if claims from Mumbai and Tokyo are to be believed. Reliance Jio (now Jio Platforms) and the Rakuten Group, both telcos, have each signaled recently their interest in becoming vendors of mobile NI to telcos abroad.

Marek’s Take: Wireless industry might just be pandemic-proof

Every day we hear in the news about industries (retail, restaurant, fitness) that may never recover to their pre-pandemic status. But the wireless industry doesn’t appear to be one of them. As the second quarter 2020 earnings season ramps up, it’s becoming increasingly clear that for the most part the wireless industry is resilient to the pandemic.     

COVID-19 takes 5% chunk out of Verizon revenues

Verizon has reported its financials for the second quarter with revenues declining 5%, a $4.9 billion reduction in debt offered some positivity to proceedings.

ACCC sues Google over Australian data collection

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is taking Google to court claiming the search giant did not appropriately collect user consent when its expanded data collection.

US firm swoops into Brazil with Oi bid

It’s three domestic rivals might have teamed up to buy out the competition, but it appears US private equity firm Colony Capital sees potential in the Brazilian telecoms market.

Huawei cutting staff in India as prospects turn sour – report

Reports have emerged suggesting Huawei is laying off staff and cutting revenue objectives in India, as the anti-China sentiment gathers steam around the world.

13 member states falling behind on supply chain evaluations: European Commission

The European Commission has released an update regarding progress to improve resiliency of 5G supply chains, finding 13 member states are failing to move at an adequate pace.

UK Gov comes up with £200,000 plan to fix railway not spots

The UK Department of Transport has announced a £200,000 research programme to create a new type of radio antenna designed for clipping onto existing rail infrastructure.

SK Telecom Introduces 5G-Powered Augmented Reality Tour for Changdeokgung Palace

SK Telecom today announced that it, together with the Cultural Heritage Administration and Google, launched ‘Changdeok ARirang,’ an augmented reality (AR) service based on 5G edge cloud to provide an immersive experience for visitors of Changdeokgung Palace.

Anterix wants to be a private LTE network powerhouse

An FCC ruling paves the way for startup Anterix to begin leasing its spectrum for private wireless networks. A number of utilities are jumping at the prospect.

Cable data 'tailwinds' set to carry MaxLinear to strong Q3

Maker of DOCSIS and MoCA silicon is also confident it will close the $150 million acquisition of Intel's home gateway business in the third quarter.

Leading Lights 2020 Finalists: Outstanding Digital Enablement Vendor

Six companies – Amdocs, Matrixx Software, MDS Global, Netcracker Technology, Openet and Whale Cloud – made the cut in the Outstanding Digital Enablement Vendor category.

U.S. Cellular firms up mmWave, CBRS deployment plans

U.S. Cellular intends to deploy 5G in millimeter wave spectrum for both fixed and mobile applications, and will use CBRS spectrum to improve its 4G network.

T-Mobile sizes up streaming dongle for 'TVision' service

More evidence about T-Mobile's plans for a new Android TV-powered device has surfaced at the FCC.

Jio winning great game of monopoly with India economy

Over $20 billion of investment by global tech giants like Google and Facebook fuel fears Jio's march to monopolize India's telecoms industry is unstoppable.

Daily Roundup: SAP Rides Cloud in Q2

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.

As EU dithers, Vodafone prepares for Huawei removal

With or without a Europe-wide ban, one of Europe's biggest service providers looks far too reliant on the Chinese vendor.

Huawei takes charm offensive online

Huawei will host an online summit on the potential to tackle coronavirus and the climate crisis through its 5G and mobile tech.

Riverbed Punches Office 365 Accelerator

Riverbed expanded its application acceleration capabilities today with two cloud-based offerings designed to enhance Office 365 and software-as-a-service (SaaS) application performance. The company claims these services help enterprises achieve 10 times higher performance in Office 365.

Deutsche Telekom 5G Covers Half of German Population

Deutsche Telekom upgraded about 18,000 antennas to support 5G over the last five weeks, thus expanding its live 5G network across more than 3,000 German cities and towns.

SAP Rides Cloud in Q2, Plans Qualtrics IPO

SAP’s increased focus on cloud operations allowed it to again soar above the COVID-19 uncertainty during its second fiscal quarter of 2020. The vendor also said it will float a portion of its Qualtrics customer experience business to further heighten its bottom line.

KPN sticks to 2020 guidance despite impact of COVID-19

Dutch operator sees full impact of the coronavirus pandemic in Q2, but says business has proved to be resilient despite a fall in revenue.

Force Point Unveils Two-Pronged SASE Strategy

Forcepoint pinned its future on secure access service edge (SASE) with the launch of two new offerings in the company’s Dynamic Edge Protection suite.

Eurobites: DT gung-ho on 5G – but is trouble in store?

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: European Commission wants 5G-supplier diversification; Ooredoo tests 200MHz spectrum; Virgin Media extends fiber network.