Money Moves: October 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).

Open RAN Takes Lumps From Ericsson

Don’t expect Ericsson to become a leading provider of open radio access network (RAN) infrastructure any time soon. The Swedish vendor formally embraced the framework, in part, with the recent introduction of its Cloud RAN offering, that it expects to begin shipping by late 2021. However, open RAN specified software will only compose about 3% of its total volumes by 2025, Fredrik Jejdling, EVP and head of business area networks, said this week during a presentation.

SAP Pushes Back on Enterprise Modernization Claims

SAP’s recent move to postpone an ambitious financial plan to take advantage of its cloud business was part of a deeper analysis by the vendor that found enterprise customers were not following up on statements that they planned to increase digitization spending during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dish, SpaceX trade shots in 12 GHz fight

The fight for the use of the 12 GHz band remains as hot as ever as spectrum licensees like Dish Network contemplate its usefulness for 5G while SpaceX argues it’s already being used for satellites.  

Qualcomm says C-V2X ‘ready to go,’ urges swift access to 5.9 GHz

At its open meeting next week, the FCC will vote on a revamped 5.9 GHz band, including reassigning 30-megahertz of spectrum for Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) technology, but some things aren’t moving fast enough for Qualcomm.

Verizon shrinks 5G Home install time to under an hour

It looks as though Verizon has managed to get the install time on its 5G Home Internet product down to a level that CEO Hans Vestberg can get behind.

Digital Realty, Vapor IO and Hivelocity team up on core-to-edge

Digital Realty and Vapor IO are collaborating with Hivelocity on a core-to-edge bare metal platform in Atlanta. The combined platform gives developers the availability to deploy edge-to-core workloads on Hivelocity's bare metal edge cloud, first in Atlanta and then in other cities nationwide.

OpenVault: Power broadband users and gig speed adoption ramp up

The migration to faster speeds and increased broadband usage by power users were two of the main trends in OpenVault's latest report.

Fresh rumours surface of EQT’s interest in KPN

Reports of a private equity firm wanting to buy a European incumbent can often be dismissed as far-fetched unless, as in the case of EQT’s alleged interest in KPN, those reports persist.

UK telecoms complaints decline despite lockdown

You’d think people would moan more about telecoms services when that’s all they have, but the latest Ofcom numbers paint a different picture.

Rakuten defends its record and promises more disruptions

Japan’s disruptive greenfield operator has defended its underwhelming subscriber growth and declared it is prepared to disrupt more markets.

Deutsche Telekom rides a Sprint-fuelled gravy-train to Q3 riches

There’s nothing quite like the acquisition of a nationwide US mobile operator to put a sheen on the old balance sheet.

Austria gives itself the power to censor Facebook globally

The Austrian Supreme Court has decided that any censorship demands it places on Facebook must be implemented globally.

Vecima scooped up Nokia's cable access assets for just $4.87M

That acquisition, which includes products for new remote MACPHY architectures, is expected to represent an incremental revenue boost of 10% to 15% for Vecima in fiscal 2021.

AT&T: 3G shutdown won't stall connected car biz

AT&T plans to shutter its 3G network in the early part of 2022. But the company, and some top analysts, don't expect the action to affect many of the 40.5 million cars connected to AT&T.

CK Hutchison to sell almost 25,000 towers to Cellnex

Six-country deal to push towerco's assets to over 100,000 sites, while Hong Kong group plans share buyback program.

Trump fires parting shot at China

US investors barred from Chinese firms deemed to have links with the country's military. China Mobile and China Telecom among the 31 blacklisted companies.

Podcast: Analyst Erin Dunne's forecasts for fiber and SD-WAN markets

Vertical Systems Group's Erin Dunne explains how organizations such as MEF are impacting the standardization of SD-WAN, and shares predictions on how the SD-WAN market might fare in 2021.

Daily Roundup: Cisco Revenue Drops, Stock Still Rises

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.

US-ByteDance dispute TikToks to an appeal

The Commerce Department appeals its dispute with ByteDance, day after the original deadline for the Chinese company to divest TikTok's US operations.

Cisco, Aruba, Extreme, Juniper Top Gartner's LAN, WLAN Leaderboard

Cisco, Juniper Networks, Aruba, and Extreme Networks topped the charts of Gartner’s latest Wired and Wireless LAN Access Infrastructure Magic Quadrant report this week. The four vendors were classified as leaders in the market.

Huawei Sets Stage for 5.5G

5G deployments are only just now making inroads in developing countries, but Huawei is already making plans for the technology’s evolution. The China-based vendor explained that the foundation for this “5.5G” evolution will be laid by improved IoT capabilities and scenarios, uplink centric broadband communication (UCBC), real-time broadband communication (RTBC), and harmonized communication and sensing (HCS).

ServiceNow: Keeping service experience as the focus of digital transformation

As communications service providers continue to wrestle with the speed and the shape of their digital transformation, Light Reading's editor in chief, Phil Harvey, and ServiceNow's GM and AVP for global telecom, media and technology, Chris Bauschka, sit down for a brief chat on the progress of digital transformation initiatives across the global telecom landscape.

Latency 'not a major deal' for satellite broadband – HughesNet CEO

HughesNet's Pradman Kaul notes that 80% of traffic is for latency-insensitive video services and believes that HughesNet's economic model holds an advantage over Starlink's.

Cybereason Joins XDR Party, Brings $1M Breach Warranty

Cybereason joined the extended detection and response party this week with its XDR that fuses endpoint telemetry with behavioral analytics.

US telcos engage with Indian vendors for low-end devices

US operators like Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile are exploring replacing China's cheap handset manufacturers with Indian companies, as the trade war continues.

Huawei sets out its stall for 5.5G

AI, drones and fast uplinks are among the technologies that could feature in what comes next.

WiCipedia: AR-enabled murals meld science and art

This week in our WiC roundup: AR-enabled murals celebrate women in STEM; tech unicorns are lacking in female leaders; how to excel in engineering; and more.

Eurobites: Telecom Italia pushes forward on fiber

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Three Ireland chooses Viavi for 5G testing; Three UK leaves stranded customers high and dry; Telia goes underground; Telenor brainstorms AI.

Rakuten prioritizes private over public cloud in RCP push

The Japanese company is pitching its tools and applications to other service providers and says it can satisfy demands for ownership and data privacy.

Disney+ subs soar to 73M

Hulu ends period with 32.5 million SVoD subs and 4.1 million customers on Hulu's pay-TV streaming service as The Mouse continues its pivot toward streaming and direct-to-consumer video services.

Industry Voices—Raynovich: Cisco bounces back in Q1

Cisco shares rose as much as 8% in after-hours trading after the company reported an upbeat first fiscal quarter of 2021 (FQ21) after markets closed. Earnings exceeded the substantially lowered expectations the company had set after its last downbeat earnings report that resulted in the company issuing annual revenue guidance for a 10% decline. 

Rakuten Mobile speeds up its network deployment by 5 years

Time is not on Rakuten Mobile’s side as it needs to garner more subscribers and move toward profitability as the new mobile operator in Japan.

Dell, Switch and FedEx to build multi-cloud edge hubs in U.S.

In yet another permutation of the edge, Dell Technologies, FedEx and Switch are pulling their collective resources to develop technology hubs across the U.S.

Verizon CTO: We’re thrilled with DSS performance

Armed with a bevy of 2.5 GHz spectrum from its merger with Sprint, T-Mobile increasingly has been a thorn in the side of long-time network leader Verizon, and it’s made no secret of its plans to take the network crown in 5G.

Dish looking ahead with Qualcomm collaboration

After announcing a collaboration with Qualcomm to test solutions containing its new open 5G radio access network (RAN) platforms, Dish Network is looking ahead at future equipment deployments for its planned 5G network, according to the service provider’s network chief Marc Rouanne.

BT launches software-defined network services with VMware

BT announced it has launched a new generation of cloud-optimized managed services with the first offering based on VMware's SD-WAN technology.

Charter's Spectrum Enterprise expands presence in federal arena

Spectrum Enterprise is teaming up with Core Technologies Inc. (CTI) to resell services and solutions to government agencies.

Verizon, AWS use mmWave spectrum to test autonomous driving apps

Verizon and Amazon Web Services have added two more 5G mobile edge compute (MEC) cities: Dallas and Miami. This brings the total cities to seven, including Atlanta, New York, Washington, DC, Boston and the San Francisco Bay Area. The partners are still on track to have Verizon’s 5G Edge deployed in 10 cities by year end.

Will Cisco's CEO Robbins provide color on company's layoffs?

Cisco is reporting its first quarter earnings today and hope springs eternal that CEO Chuck Robbins will provide some details on the company's job cuts. But don't hold your breath.

Japanese telcos voice opposition to NTT’s DoCoMo bid

KDDI, Rakuten and Softbank are among 28 companies that have raised concerns about NTT’s $40 billion plan to take full control of its mobile arm DoCoMo.

Cellnex completes massive CK Hutchison tower acquisition

The rumoured €10 billion, 30,000 site, European tower megadeal between Cellnex and CK Hutchison has been completed.

The antitrust dragnet closes on Google

As the EU faces fresh calls to investigate Google for abusing its market dominance, the internet giant flexes its muscles once more by starting to charge for Google Photos.

Telstra shake-up will see towers put on the block

Never one to do things by halves, Australian incumbent Telstra is doing it by thirds instead, via a major restructuring that will divide the company into three separate legal entities.

Verizon explains exactly how it will make money from 5G

Verizon officials outlined the company's 5G buildout efforts, as well as 5G revenue opportunities spanning 5G smartphones, 5G fixed wireless services and edge computing.

Cisco CEO sees positive signs ahead as the company powers through the pandemic

Chuck Robbins talks up a 'solid start' to the fiscal year as Cisco gains more visibility into its business. Overall revenues slipped in Q1, Cisco expects revenues to be flat or rise 2% in fiscal Q2.

Cisco Skips Layoff Talk, Posts Q1 Beat Despite 9% Revenue Drop

Cisco kicked off fiscal year 2021 with a 9% revenue decline. But that first-quarter drop wasn’t as steep as investors had expected and that beat, coupled with a relatively sunny Q2 outlook, sent Cisco shares up 9% late Thursday.

Daily Roundup: Verizon Faces 5G Skeptics

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Podcast: Everstream CEO on fueling fiber expansion

CEO Brett Lindsey joins the podcast to discuss the company's strategy around building fiber networks in the Midwest.

Deutsche Telekom shrugs off virus and lifts outlook

The German operator seems to be outperforming its European rivals and can still count on the US market for growth.

Charter invests in CTI, takes aim at federal government market

Spectrum Enterprise now serves as a subcontractor for connectivity and other services to Core Technologies (CTI), one of a small group of players bidding for Enterprise Infrastructure Services government projects.

SonicWall SASE Taps Perimeter 81 ZTNA, Revamps Firewalls

SonicWall deepened its relationship with security vendor Perimeter 81 today to add zero-trust network access (ZTNA) to its emerging secure access service edge (SASE) offering. The announcement came alongside a swath of new appliances from SonicWall, including revamped enterprise and small branch next-generation firewalls running the company’s SonicOS 7 operating system.

Podcast: What's the story with Orange and TRC?

This week: Iain Morris breaks down a deal for France's Orange to acquire a controlling stake in Telekom Romania Communications (TRC).

Verizon Brass Faces 5G mmWave Skeptics

Verizon executives this week batted down pointed criticism and ongoing concerns about its millimeter-wave (mmWave) 5G strategy during an event with analysts and investors. Verizon’s 5G effort began with a heavy push on mmWave to deploy its 5G Ultra Wideband network, but the coverage of that network remains narrow and sporadic, sometimes from city block to city block. 

US-TikTok clock ticks as Trump forgets deadline

The Trump administration appears to have forgotten about its November 12 deadline for ByteDance to divest US operations of the TikTok app.

Apple, Google start working on 6G

The first 5G phones from Apple and Google are barely out of the box, yet both companies have joined the Next G Alliance to 'advance North American mobile technology leadership in 6G.'

India launches PLI scheme to boost local manufacturing

The government has cleared the Production Linked Incentive scheme supporting 4G, 5G, next-generation RAN, IoT access, enterprise and wireless equipment.

Eurobites: Deutsche Telekom builds 5G-ready IP network with Nokia

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Tele2 launches LTE-M network; BT goes large on SD-WAN; Sky chooses Amdocs for charging.

2 Security Superstars Score $367M in 2 Days

Security unicorn SentinelOne and almost unicorn Menlo Security raised hundreds of millions of dollars in late-stage funding this week.

Singtel underlying profit down 36% as COVID-19 still bites

Singapore-based operator continues to feel the effects of the pandemic in H1 FY21, but sees signs of 'modest recovery.'

Rakuten plots capex splurge with subs at just 1.6M

The e-commerce giant's telecom revolution has yet to attract many followers. That may be about to change.

Google Cloud's Serverless Database Migration Takes Flight

It took a global pandemic for enterprises to pick up their database migration pace from a walk to a sprint, but Google is looking to accelerate that motion with a preview launch of its serverless Database Migration Service (DMS) that offers a first-class flight to fully managed cloud databases like Google Cloud SQL.

Telstra restructures into service, tower and fixed businesses

With eye to NBN sell-off, Telstra embarks on sweeping restructure, breaking into three entities including a tower business, and reveals energy reseller ambitions.

Entner: Economics work against government-owned networks

Telecom networks, whether they are wireless, wireline, or cable, have high fixed costs and low variable costs. This means that it is very expensive to build and maintain the networks to connect customers, but once they are connected, it is not very expensive to serve them.

Microsoft names former McAfee CEO as EVP of business development

On Wednesday, Microsoft named former McAfee CEO Christopher Young as its executive vice president of business development. Young steps into the role that was previously held by Peggy Johnson who left Microsoft in July to become the CEO of Magic Leap.

UK government wants to poke its nose into telecoms M&A in the name of security

The National Security and Investment Bill seeks to give the UK government to block any mergers and acquisitions it doesn’t like the look of, even in retrospect.

Trump’s FCC nominee grilled during Senate hearing

President Trump’s nominee to replace Commissioner Michael O’Rielly at the FCC, Nathan Simington, was the center of attention during a nominations hearing Tuesday.

AT&T wins cool SD-WAN contract with refrigeration company

AT&T has reeled in an SD-WAN customer win with multi-national commercial refrigeration company Epta. The Italian-based company will replace its current IT environment, which includes various vendors and technologies, with AT&T's SD-WAN-based network.

Amdocs partners with AWS to deliver cloud BSS offerings to CSPs

Amdocs has entered into a multi-year agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to deliver intergrated, cloud-native business support systems (BSS) offerings to communications service providers (CSPs). As part of the deal, AWS is now Amdocs’ preferred cloud provider for Amdocs’ internal IT transformation. 

5 notable things about C Spire’s 5G plans

C Spire rolled out initial 5G service last month, starting with two locations in Mississippi, and the company says it has an “aggressive plan” to launch additional markets in 2021.

CommScope, Nokia solve for antenna problem associated with 5G NR

CommScope and Nokia have solved for an antenna problem that they anticipate as carriers upgrade to 5G New Radio (NR), using both low-band and mid-band spectrum.

Verizon debuts Business Internet Secure for small businesses

Verizon Business is now offering small businesses a new business-grade security package to protect them where they're the most vulnerable. Business Internet Secure provides cybersecurity protection where attacks occur the most; employee devices and the internet.

Lumen snares two Veteran Affairs network services contracts

Lumen's winning streak for nabbing federal government contracts continued with two recent wins with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Orange links up West Africa

At AfricaTech, Orange formally launched its pan-West African network, designed to remove the need for complex cross-border interconnections in the region.

Huawei selected to build Cambridge Wireless private 5G testbed

Telecoms research community Cambridge Wireless has refused to bow to UK political consensus by partnering with Huawei for its latest 5G venture.

Dish to use Qualcomm’s 5G RAN platforms

Dish Network announced it will work with Qualcomm on its efforts to build an O-RAN-compliant 5G network, with plans to use the chipmaker’s 5G RAN platforms through Dish’s network vendors and device partners.   

TIM’s new data centres and cloud unit to launch in Q1

TIM’s board of directors has approved the spin-off of the Italian telco’s data centres business into a new company that will start operations in 2021 and is on the look out for external investors.

Apple M1 chip represents another big win for mobile over the PC world

Gadget giant Apple has launched its first Macs using a souped-up version of its mobile chip instead of Intel ones.

Telecoms industry has weathered the 2020 storm – survey

The industry professionals participating in Telecoms.com’s annual industry survey have shown plenty of resilience and optimism in a year overshadowed by COVID-19.

Comcast adds trimmed-down, DIY-focused video security service

New 'Self Protection' service features connected HD cameras along with 24/7 video recording for Comcast broadband customers with gateways outfitted with company's 'xFi' home network management platform.

Verizon inks 'expanded and extended' MVNO deals with Comcast, Charter

Verizon's Ronan Dunne said the operator's new cable MVNO deals ensure that 'we're their primary provider of connectivity for the foreseeable future.'

Openet acquisition, customer cloud migrations boost revenue for Amdocs

Predictably solid results are sweetened by an AWS deal expansion, making the cloud giant the preferred provider for Amdocs' internal IT transformation.

Daily Roundup: Palo Alto Networks Pays $670M for Expanse

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C Spire opens up about its 5G rollout

C Spire is using equipment from Nokia to deploy non-standalone 5G across its PCS, 700MHz and 600MHz spectrum holdings, with plans to add 28GHz in the future.

Google faces antitrust investigation in India over Google Pay

The Internet giant is in hot water over allegations it abused its position in the huge Asian market.

After Comcast: TiVo on the hunt for new game

TiVo/Xperi will turn its patent licensing focus to international markets, starting with Canada, along with a renewed focus on the growing and evolving OTT and video streaming market, exec says.

128 Technology's Sue Graham Johnston: Creating a session-aware network

128 Technology's President Sue Graham Johnston joins the podcast to explain the company's approach to improving user experience of the network with session-aware routers, and how enterprises can develop security strategies to protect their assets.

Ericsson Explains Why 5G Isn’t Awesome in the US (Yet)

The head of the North American market for Ericsson called it rather succinctly this week: 5G networks in the U.S. are not awesome. AT&T, T-Mobile US, and Verizon, have deployed “nationwide” 5G networks that provide a platform to continue building upon, but plenty of work remains, Ericsson SVP Niklas Heuveldop said during a presentation for analysts and investors. 

Mavenir parades 'multi-G' open RAN, cloud-native credentials

US supplier adds 2G/3G capabilities to its cloud-native 4G/5G converged packet core and open RAN solution; sets up 'Center of Innovation' in the UK.

Ericsson Revival Rides 5G, R&D

Ericsson executives this week claimed the company’s turnaround effort is complete and many areas of the business are poised for growth amid increased 5G adoption. A few executives, including CEO Börje Ekholm and CFO Carl Mellander, got together in person for the first time in many months to share a detailed update on Ericsson’s market position and its outlook for investors.

Palo Alto Networks Plunks Down $670M on Expanse

Palo Alto Networks today said it will pay $670 million to acquire attack surface management vendor Expanse.

Barracuda Reels Fyde’s ZTNA Into SASE

Barracuda added zero-trust network access (ZTNA) capabilities to its emerging secure access service edge (SASE) platform today with the acquisition of Fyde.

Nokia brings AI to the edge for 5G

Finnish vendor unveils service that allows machine learning to be deployed at the edge for automated network fixes.

Eurobites: Telia, Ericsson flick the 5G switch in Estonia

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: masts still under attack, says Three CEO; Orange connects West Africa; Telefónica virtualizes the factory with 5G.

Telecom Italia keeps shrinking

Europe's most dilapidated national incumbent has cut 20% of staff numbers in the last five years and is now divesting stakes in its prized assets.

5G still a technology looking for a purpose

There are still no consumer applications that need the higher-speed technology, and the enterprise sector could take years to develop.

Amazon abuses its market position, says EU

Amazon has broken EU rules by using small vendors' data to compete unfairly with them, says the European Commission following a two-year investigation.

Intel Champions XPU Vision With oneAPI, Data Center GPUs

Intel took a step closer to realizing its XPU vision with the announcement of its oneAPI, first teased at Super Computing 2019, and the launch of its first data center-focused GPU today.

SKT, DT deepen ties with 5G tech joint venture

South Korea’s SK Telecom and Germany’s Deutsche Telekom are building on their relationship with the formation of a joint venture to develop 5G technology, starting with a dual-mode repeater.

SwissCom selects Ekinops' software for uCPE deployment

SwissCom picked Ekinops to build a new virtualized network solution for a uCPE (universal customer premises equipment) deployment. The full deployment of the software solution is expected to go live on Swisscom's network early next year.

DriveNets drives disaggregation with new orchestrator

Israel-based DriveNets took the wraps off of its latest network orchestrator to help drive service providers' cloud-native networks and white box deployments. DriveNets' Network Orchestrator (DNOR 2.0) is part of its Network Cloud software. Network Cloud uses cloud-native routing software to support new functions in the underlying white-box hardware.

Ericsson declares its turnaround complete, but Digital Services still a problem

Swedish kit vendor had its latest Capital Markets Day, in which it celebrated steadying the ship but halved the profitability outlook for its software unit.

Boingo ‘very engaged’ with DoD and 5G on military bases: CEO

Boingo Wireless, which offers wireless connectivity on military bases across the country, remains engaged with the Department of Defense (DoD) as it examines new ways to use spectrum, according to Boingo’s CEO Mike Finley.

Qualcomm Ventures invests in 4 tech startups for 5G ecosystem

Qualcomm Ventures on Tuesday announced strategic investments in four technology companies to help build out the 5G ecosystem beyond just consumer applications, with an eye on enterprise and private networks.   

Everstream strikes $135M fiber asset deal with Uniti

Everstream is adding both metro and long-haul fiber assets to its portfolio thanks to a $135 million deal with Uniti.

IBM beefs up hybrid cloud software with automation and data

In its ongoing quest to be a leader in the hybrid cloud sector, IBM announced new automation and data capabilities to its hybrid cloud software portfolio.

F5 augments telco container-based infrastructure

The wireless industry may know F5 as the company that helps operators manage applications across multiple private and public clouds via its Application Delivery Controller. But now, F5 plans to use its expertise to help carriers manage their container-based infrastructure.

European Commission suspects Amazon of distorting competition

E-commerce giant Amazon also acts as a conduit for other sellers and the EC reckons it may be abusing that position to favour itself.

Vendor chatter for RDOF heats up on earnings calls

While carriers were tight-lipped about their RDOF prospects during the recent round of earnings reports, vendors talked openly about their opportunities.   

Rome has another go at Vivendi

Italian lawmakers are preparing the ground for another probe into Vivendi’s status as a shareholder of both TIM and Mediaset.

As Sweden hesitates over ban, Huawei seeks financial assistance from the Chinese state

Sweden is already reviewing its Huawei ban, but the Chinese vendor is still reportedly looking to raise billions by flogging its Honor smartphone unit to the Chinese state.

Telus International spends big on US AI firm Lionbridge

Telus International has made another acquisition ahead of its forthcoming IPO, announcing the C$1.2 billion purchase of Lionbridge AI.

Dell Packs Data Protection Power Punch

Dell Technologies rolled out a bunch of updates to its year-old PowerProtect data protection platform today including new integrated appliances for the DP series, updated Data Manager software capabilities for Kubernetes, and cloud data protection for Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and the VMware Tanzu portfolio. 

FuboTV set to bet on online wagering as subs spike to 455K

OTT-TV service says Q3 2020 was its strongest quarter yet amid the return of live televised sports.

Cable shifts from 'irrelevant' to 'aggressive' in mobile

The companies once labeled 'irrelevant' by T-Mobile's former CEO are now accounting for roughly 8% of the industry's new mobile subscribers. And they're not stopping there.

Daily Roundup: Cisco Unshackles Its HyperFlex HCI

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Microsoft's Airband initiative shifting focus amid leadership change

Paul Garnett is no longer heading up Microsoft's Airband initiative, a move that coincides with the company's shift in focus to expand broadband in urban as well as rural areas.

6G sounds a lot like 5G, but it could spell upheaval

What should customers and the telecom industry expect as the industry starts preparing for its next generation?

Huawei sells Honor for $15.1B – report

Consortium of buyers, including tech investment firms backed by the government of Shenzhen, agree on a deal for the Chinese supplier's budget smartphone business.

New ATX CEO ready to ride cable's next wave

Dan Whalen joins cable network-focused supplier as operators begin to beef up the upstream and embark on significant HFC network upgrades.

Quantum Storage Update Quells Unstructured Data Woes

Quantum expanded its storage portfolio with new classification, management, and protection capabilities to tackle what it believes to be the biggest challenge enterprises are facing: unstructured data.  

Cisco Busts HyperFlex HCI Free From Its Hardware Jail

Cisco’s HyperFlex hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) product will gain a software-only version at some point next year that will allow the platform to run on third-party and white box servers. And that expansion will eventually extend to the public cloud.

COVID-19 has driven international traffic 47% higher – TeleGeography

The Internet 'bent but did not break,' research firm concludes.

Intel AI Buy Highlights Chipmaker Feeding Frenzy

I think we can all agree 2020 has been, without a doubt, a complete and utter dumpster fire, punctuated by brief commercial breaks of happiness. That is unless you happen to be in the semiconductor industry.

Verizon Taps Cisco, BlackBerry for Internet Security

Verizon’s new Business Internet Secure bundle for small businesses taps Cisco and BlackBerry security services to help protect customers’ routers and connected devices.

Eurobites: Swedish court allows Huawei back in the 5G game

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Ericsson announcement prompts shares plunge; Telia launches FWA 5G in Norway; France's OVH strikes cloud deal with Google.

Asia's Uber Grab leads $100M funding round in LinkAja

Asia's ride-hailing unicorn continues move into payments and banking, becoming minority investor in the Indonesia-based e-wallet and mobile money provider.

Palo Alto Networks Fights Data Breaches With DLP

Palo Alto Networks added cloud-delivered data loss prevention (DLP) to its security lineup.

F5 Readies Kubernetes Services for 5G Standalone Core

F5 is tightening its grip on Kubernetes with a pair of services designed to support container-based network functions (CNFs) for operators deploying a 5G standalone core. The vendor today revealed Big-IP Service Proxy for Kubernetes (SPK), which will be commercially available before the end of the year, and Carrier-Grade Aspen Mesh, which is available now.

Private wireless network enhances security at Port of Long Beach

The Port of Long Beach generates more than $100 billion in trade each year and employs 316,000 people directly or indirectly. Dozens of shippers, vendors and customers work at the 3,200-acre site under the watchful eyes of hundreds of cameras deployed by the port for security. The cameras are used to ensure that traffic is flowing smoothly, detect equipment downtime and guard against the possibility of malicious attacks. Over the years, the port has upgraded from analog to high-definition IP cameras, most recently adding thermal imaging cameras that can operate in the dark.

T-Mobile expands 4G home internet pilot, plans 5G in 2021

T-Mobile on Monday announced another expansion of its fixed wireless LTE Home Internet pilot, adding more than 130 new locations as it gears up to launch 5G home broadband service next year.  

Windstream chalks up more broadband subscribers

Windstream added 12,900 new Kinetic broadband customers in the third quarter and pushed its fiber-based 1-Gig service into more locations.

Telstra taps Ericsson to build 5G edge cloud for enterprises

Australia's Telstra has picked Ericsson to help build its enterprise edge cloud solution that will go market in the coming months.

Nokia snags private enterprise networks deal with A1 in Austria

Nokia secured a deal to provide network services for all of A1’s new and existing private LTE and 5G enterprise deployments in Austria.

Is open RAN’s bubble about to burst?

Open RAN technology — which refers to the separation of the hardware and software components of the radio access network (RAN) — has gained a lot of attention over the past year. And with good reason. Open RAN opens the door to more potential RAN vendors and makes hardware and software from different vendors interoperable, which in turn leads to cost savings for operators and more flexibility in the mobile network. 

DT & SKT OK 5G R&D JV

Deutsche Telekom and SK Telecom are forming a joint venture designed to develop new market opportunities from 5G technology.

AT&T names former FCC chief William Kennard as new chairman

With Randall Stephenson’s retirement just around the corner, US heavyweight AT&T has selected former FCC chairman William Kennard to fill his considerably roomy shoes.

Telstra taps Ericsson for enterprise edge cloud services

Australian telco Telstra is months away from bringing to market edge cloud services for enterprises, thanks to an expanded partnership with Ericsson.

Orange to buy OTE’s controlling stake in Telekom Romania for €268 million

Control of Romania’s second-largest fixed-line player will effectively switch from Deutsche Telekom to Orange, signaling the evolution of their respective European strategies.

Huawei woes fuel plunge in China smartphone shipments

Soft demand and restrictions on Huawei’s supply chain led to a 14.3 percent fall in Q3 smartphone shipments in China.

SKT and DT to Establish 5G Technology Joint Venture in Germany

SK Telecom and Deutsche Telekom today announced that they entered into an agreement to establish a 5G technology joint venture. They will each hold 50 percent of the joint venture and each will name one representative to lead the new entity. The joint venture will be headquartered in Germany.

Elisa, Nokia and Qualcomm trumpet 8Gbit/s 5G speeds

Latest milestone was achieved in Finland using mmWave spectrum in the 26GHz band.

Zoom settles with FTC for fibbing over encryption

Zoom agreed a settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission over complaints it misrepresented the security of its videoconferencing platform to users.

CableLabs, SCTE/ISBE ink letter of intent to combine

Proposed agreement, which would make SCTE a subsidiary of CableLabs, will be voted on by SCTE/ISBE members on December 10.

DoD's 5G ambitions face steep, but not impossible, odds

President Trump fired the Secretary of Defense who signed off on a 5G spectrum-sharing project. What that means, alongside a likely President Biden, remains unclear.

Comcast, TiVo bury the hatchet

Companies ink a long-term patent license deal that puts an end to years of nasty litigation.

T-Mobile, Verizon, U.S. Cellular laud 5G fixed wireless

T-Mobile plans to launch its 5G fixed wireless Internet service next year. And the operator isn't the only one with high hopes for the technology.

The Slingbox era nears its end

Word that the pioneering video 'place-shifting' device is being discontinued, with plans to render all Slingboxes interoperable in two years, comes many months after the manufacturing of Slingboxes was halted.

DT and SKT to open 5G tech shop in challenge to vendors

German and South Korean service providers spot an opportunity to pioneer the development of 5G repeaters.

A1 Austria hands private 5G role to Nokia

New services deal for campus networks underlines the close relationship between the two companies.

Daily Roundup: Dish’s 5G Dreams Hit Reality

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Heavy Reading's Sterling Perrin on network slicing, edge needs for 5G applications

Heavy Reading's Sterling Perrin and Light Reading's Phil Harvey recapped the recent 5G Transport & Networking Strategies symposium and they discussed network slicing in transport networks, how Verizon is handling its 5G traffic and how the increasing importance of edge computing is shaping optical networking technologies and spending.

SoftBank, the Nasdaq whale, swims back to profits

Despite losing $1.3 billion in a tech stock buying spree, Masayoshi Son's conglomerate profits after big tech stakes and a Chinese startup's IPO.

Intel deal gives MaxLinear a big boost

More than half of the chipmaker's record $156.6 million in Q3 revenues came from the acquisition of Intel's home connectivity unit that develops silicon for Wi-Fi and DOCSIS modems and gateways.

New report demonstrates the role of the edge in the data-driven network

SPONSORED: The findings from Heavy Reading's 'Edge Computing in Telco Networks' report show that security, latency and the move to vRAN are key drivers for edge computing factors in the telco environment.

Deutsche Telekom, SK Telecom Ink 5G JV

Deutsche Telekom and SK Telecom formed a joint venture to develop in-building 5G systems. Once the companies crack the code for in-building 5G propagation, they intend to create new services and technology in mixed reality, mobile edge computing, and applications.

Apple puts Taiwanese supplier on the naughty step

Petragon on probation until it has corrected violations of Apple's supplier code of conduct.

Eurobites: Deutsche Telekom zeros in on homeworkers

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Ucell opts for Nexign on billing; Proximus does deal with Citymesh; Telecom Italia joins government broadband voucher scheme.

Orange vamps up as DT's Romanian fixed assets change hands

French operator pays €268 million ($318 million) for a business that will support its regional 'convergence' strategy.

Where Dish Network is going in 5G, and how it will get there

Dish Network is set to join AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile in operating a 5G network. Here are the executives, vendors and government-mandated timeline it's using.

Dish execs wary of T-Mobile's TVision threat

As fresh OTT-TV competition enters the picture, Dish added 116,000 total pay-TV subs in Q3 as Sling TV bounced back with 203,000 additions, offsetting a loss of 74,000 satellite TV customers.

Aryaka CEO: Managed SASE Is Where It’s At

How and where people work is changing, both now and into the future. And with this pivot to remote work, the way companies are architecting their networks has to change, too, said Aryaka CEO Matt Carter in an interview with SDxCentral.