TSMC Boosts Production as Intel Looks for Fab Partners

Since the late 70s, microprocessors have made their way into nearly everything: microwaves, toasters, TVs, and of course our computers. But as we enter the second decade of the new millennium, it’s Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s (TSMC) chips that are in high demand.

FCC starts moving on unique 2.5 GHz auction, license areas

The Federal Communications Commission this week took steps towards an auction for overlay licenses in the 2.5 GHz band, releasing data on what’s available and seeking input on auction design.

Dish’s SVP of retail wireless gets another shot at disruption

Paul Chapple enjoyed the opportunity to be part of the team at T-Mobile when it was upsetting the wireless industry and now he’s getting another chance to be part of the team at Dish Network that’s intent on disrupting the market.

How can wireless help close the U.S. digital divide?

There are quite a lot of places in the United States where there is no wired or wireless internet connection. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is currently in the first phase of creating more accurate maps to identify these unserved areas.

C-band auction tops charts with $80.9B

Bidding in the clock phase of the FCC’s C-band auction closed on Friday as the highest-grossing spectrum auction ever held in the U.S., with gross proceeds exceeding $80.9 billion. The previous record was $44.9 billion from the AWS-3 auction in 2015.

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra sports Wi-Fi 6E thanks to Broadcom

Among Samsung’s launch of three new smartphones Thursday is the Galaxy S21 Ultra, which is the first Wi-Fi 6E phone, according to Broadcom. The company is supplying its BCM4389 chip for the device.

OneWeb raises $400M from SoftBank, Hughes

OneWeb is a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite communications company jointly owned by the U.K. government and Bharti Global. Today, London-based OneWeb secured $400 million in additional funding from SoftBank and Hughes Network Systems, according to TechCrunch. This brings the company's total funding to $1.4 billion.

AT&T’s mmWave 5G takes off at Tampa airport

AT&T has launched millimeter wave 5G service in parts of Tampa, Florida, including Tampa International Airport.

Raynovich: Volterra deal pumps up multi-cloud networking sector

In a move that surprised many in the networking industry, F5 Networks stuck its neck out a week ago and announced it was paying up $500 million for Volterra, a Silicon Valley startup that was merely two years out of stealth.

AWS opens the doors on its first office in Greece

In order to support an increasing number of customers and partners using its cloud services, Amazon Web Services announced on Friday that it has opened its first office in Greece. The new office in Athens will support organizations of all stripes—startups, enterprises, and public sector agencies—as they make their transitions to the cloud.

Moore: Prepaid in 2021 – four competitive trends to watch

With a new year beginning and in the quiet before the noise of “tax season” – the busiest season of the year for prepaid carriers, this is a good time to examine four big-picture trends that will impact prepaid competition in 2021 and beyond. They are the closing of the Tracfone acquisition by Verizon, the new emphasis on multi-month plans, new trade-in programs for prepaid carriers and more focus on prepaid for internet access.

Deutsche Telecom's Access 4.0 FTTH platform goea live

Deutsche Telekom kept its promise to go live with its Access 4.0 platform last year with a customer deployment just before Christmas. The first customer went live on a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) line in Stuttgart, Germany.

Huawei set to lose its Swedish 5G appeals

Chinese vendor Huawei has had its main appeal against the terms of the Swedish auction declined, so it looks set to go ahead as planned.

US blacklists Xiaomi because reasons

Chinese gadget giant Xiaomi has been belatedly added to one of the US lists of companies its citizens aren’t allowed to interact with.

Masmovil wins Portugal newcomer spectrum

Portugal has concluded the first part of its latest spectrum auction and it appears Masmovil has come out on top and will therefore become the country’s new mobile network operator.

FCC approves Frontiers Chapter 11 restructuring

On Thursday, Frontier Communications announced the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has signed off on its Chapter 11 restructuring. Once it does emerge from Chapter 11, which Frontier said would happen in "early 2021", it will have shaved its debt by approximately $10 billion, and make a significant dent in its annual interest expense of approximately $1 billion.

Samsung Presents Benefits of One-Box Core Solution for Private Networks in New Whitepaper

Samsung today published a whitepaper titled “Private Networks with Samsung Compact Core”, which introduces the key features and benefits of Samsung’s core solution for private networks.

Daily Roundup: Huawei, ZTE Power Telecom Vendor Growth

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 newsletters to get these stories in your inbox.

Struum brings 'ClassPass' model to the world of streaming

Developed by former Disney and Discovery execs, Struum is set to launch a credit-based offering that will aggregate and promote dozens of smaller, more niche-focused streaming services.

Is COVID-19 a catalyst for enterprise cloud growth?

In part two of this series, Navisite COO Gina Murphy shares how the company is working with customers to assist their move to the cloud and help automate their operations.

UK love affair with open RAN goes on despite telco reservations

British authorities are infatuated with a technology they barely understand from either a technology or market perspective.

C-band bidding wraps at $80.91B

Record-setting result for coveted mid-band spectrum comes as operators around the US prepare to shore up capacity for their 5G network deployments.

Intel, Cybereason Beat Ransomware With Hardware Shield

Intel and security software vendor Cybereason will provide ransomware protection at the CPU level in a joint product that combines Intel’s new Hardware Shield technology, built into its upcoming vPro processors, with Cybereason’s anti-ransomware capabilities.

A Trump who can't tweet blacklists Xiaomi

In an eleventh-hour move, the Trump administration bans US investors from owning shares in Xiaomi and other Chinese tech companies.

Huawei booted out of Sweden’s last chance 5G saloon

Supreme Administrative Court calls time on Chinese supplier's 5G hopes. Spectrum auction to start next Tuesday.

5G is still a race to sell data

Operators still leaning on price to drive 5G, waiting for new apps and use cases to drive usage even in northeast Asia, with 216 million subscribers.

Huawei, ZTE Drive All Telecom Vendor Growth

Telecom network infrastructure vendors generated $55.6 billion in revenue during the third quarter of 2020, according to a new report from MTN Consulting. The quarter marked a return to growth for the sector, following three consecutive quarters of decline and widespread economic malaise during the first global surge of COVID-19 infections.

Breaking down the 2021 cloud, automation and virtualization predictions

Some offer predictions and prognostications. Our former cloud analyst steps in with her reactions and reminds us that moving critical telco systems to the public cloud for telcos is a considerable challenge.

The last days of Vivint Internet

Vivint Internet announced plans to shut down service to 8,500 customers just two weeks before COVID-19 rampaged across the US. This is the story of the company's collapse.

WiCipedia: Should tech jobs require college degrees?

This week in our WiC roundup: The argument for why jobs in tech shouldn't require a diploma; a new online community for women in UX; how language in job descriptions affects applicants; and more.

Eurobites: OneWeb bags more funding from SoftBank, Hughes Network Systems

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Deutsche Telekom's Access 4.0 platform goes live; everyone loves Tim Höttges; CityFibre rolls into Sunderland; EE extends unlimited mobile data offer for NHS workers.

Vodafone fails to pause €508M 3G patent lawsuit in UK

Lawsuit brought by Spanish firm Top Optimized Technologies (TOT) against Vodafone and Huawei began in 2016.

Half of Australians could get Telstra 5G if they want it

Telstra’s 5G network now covers half of the population of Australia, the telco announced on Thursday.

Samsung launches new Galaxy S21 smartphone family priced £769-£1,149

Korean tech giant Samsung decided to get its flagship launch in nice and early this year with three devices to take on the best Apple has to offer.

T-Mobile awards Ericsson, Nokia new 5-year deals

T-Mobile awarded five-year deals to both Ericsson and Nokia for the continued rollout of its 5G network, but didn’t specify how much the deals are worth other than to say they’re “multi-billion-dollar” agreements.

Itential improves Lumen's network orchestration and automation

Lumen Technologies has tapped into Itential's orchestration and automation capabilities to improve its internal network operations. Spurred by the need to automate and improve operations across its 450,000 global route fiber miles, Lumen picked the Itential Automation Platform to improve its efficiencies.

Xcel Energy to turn on private LTE with Anterix, Motorola

Xcel Energy is one of the latest utilities to announce private LTE plans, partnering with Motorola Solutions and tapping 900 MHz spectrum from Anterix.

Google Cloud, Nokia forge alliance for 5G core, cloud and edge

Google Cloud and Nokia announced they have teamed up to jointly build cloud-native 5G core solutions for service providers and their enterprise customers.

Cisco and Acacia move forward on merger with new price of $4.5B

After claims and counter claims in court, Cisco and Acacia Communications announced on Thursday that they have settled their differences and are moving forward on their merger, but it comes with a heftier price tag.

Nokia gets even more intimate with Google Cloud

Finnish kit vendor Nokia has signed a strategic partnership with Google Cloud to bundle its stuff into enterprise 5G solutions.

T-Mobile’s 5G mega-spend continues with Nokia, Ericsson deals

T-Mobile US has signed two 5G equipment deals with Nokia and Ericsson, both of which carry multi-billion-dollar valuations.

EE calls out the other UK MNOs over 5G claims

BT’s consumer head Marc Allera reckons his rivals are stretching the truth with their 5G claims.

Australia shows the way for mmWave 5G over long distances

NBN Co is claiming a new 5G transmission distance record, which is no bad thing when you consider the size of Australia.

Shaw Mobile drives wireless gains, but broadband subs slide again

Canadian operator's new bundle leads to wireless net adds of 101,000 in fiscal Q1, but Shaw still lost 15,100 residential broadband subs as it continues to wrestle with the pandemic and competition from Telus.

Five 5G takeaways from Samsung's new phones

Samsung, the world's largest smartphone vendor, released new flagship Galaxy S21 phones. The gadgets have significant implications for the 5G industry.

Dish Network's new device chief sees opportunities, not challenges

Paul Chapple is in charge of procuring phones and other devices for Dish Network's planned 5G network. 'It's really familiar territory for me,' said the former Vodafone executive.

Podcast – The Divide: EFF's Ernesto Falcon on 'building back better' broadband

On the first episode of 'The Divide' – a new series from the Light Reading Podcast – Ernesto Falcon, senior legislative counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) talks with pod host Nicole Ferraro about the need for a commitment to fiber in the US and what's holding that up.

Daily Roundup: Nokia Nabs Google Cloud for Cloud-Native 5G

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 newsletters to get these stories in your inbox.

T-Mobile Inks 5-Year, Multi-Billion Dollar 5G RAN Deals With Ericsson, Nokia

T-Mobile US signed a pair of new, five-year contracts with Ericsson and Nokia to supply 5G radio access network (RAN) equipment for its ongoing $40 billion network upgrade.

Cisco, Inphi Team Up to Develop Co-Packaged Optics

Roughly every two years switch silicon doubles in speed. The problem is, with every subsequent generation of switch silicon, power consumption grows exponentially outpacing bandwidth, explained Rakesh Chopra, a Cisco fellow in the common hardware group, in a blog post this week.

India's BSNL and MTNL turn profitable

The Indian operators are no longer loss-making, but that has come at a heavy cost for employees.

Microsoft’s Smith Talks ‘WarGames,’ SolarWinds Hack at CES

Science finally caught up with science fiction, Microsoft President Brad Smith said during his keynote at CES this week.

Juniper bulks up on RIC, open RAN with Türk Telekom affiliate

US supplier signs exclusive IP global licensing agreement with Netsia, giving it access to RIC technology and open RAN expertise.

IBM Bets Big on Blockchain to Fight Climate Change

IBM is betting big on blockchain technology to boost global cooperation for tackling climate change.

Cisco-Acacia deal is back on

Under amended deal, Cisco is set to acquire Acacia for $115 per share, or roughly $4.5 billion, a sweetened deal that handily beats an original offer of $2.6 billion.

Cisco Will Pay Acacia $4.5B in On-Again Acquisition

Cisco and Acacia Communications will move forward with their merger after all — but it will cost about $2 billion more than the original price. The two companies today said they amended their acquisition agreement, and Cisco will now buy Acacia for $4.5 billion. Under the original 2019 deal, Cisco planned to pay $2.6 billion for the optics vendor.

In a first, Hong Kong telcos cut off website under new security law

The blocking of websites by the country's service providers represents an unfortunate milestone.

Nokia Links Cloud-Native 5G Services With Google Cloud

Google Cloud and Nokia today announced a more expansive partnership that calls for the companies to jointly develop and sell cloud-native network functions, 5G edge services, and a 5G core to mobile operators.

T-Mobile US signs 5G deals with Ericsson and Nokia

The 'uncarrier' agrees new five-year deals to further the rollout of 5G across its spectrum assets.

Eurobites: EE spreads the 5G love, wins at gaming

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: O2 toots 5G trumpet; BNP Paribas goes with Orange for SD-WAN; small cells help big ships.

AI becomes a critical network tool for cable ops

The use of AI tools and techniques have helped cable ops improve and enhance their ability to monitor and optimize networks during a pandemic that's still driving usage upward.

Intel outside: CEO sacked as Gelsinger takes over

Intel sacks Bob Swan as CEO after investor discontent over failed acquisitions and lost customers, tapping Pat Gelsinger for the top job.

Google, Nokia tie-up makes it likelier web firms will rule edge

The Internet company and the Finnish equipment vendor are teaming up to provide a range of 5G products to service providers.

Dish, RS Access glad to see FCC take closer look at 12 GHz band

While the C-band auction is the topping the charts at $80 billion and counting, the FCC is looking at some slightly higher band spectrum that could serve mobile carriers' 5G needs.  

AT&T looks to borrow $14B for 5G spectrum – report

As the clock phase of the C-band auction spectrum winds down with proceeds that have crushed initial expectations, AT&T is looking to borrow $14 billion to help acquire spectrum and is in early talks with banks, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

Qualcomm drops $1.4 billion on server chip startup Nuvia

Nuvia was founded by former Apple chip engineers and it’s in legal dispute with one of them, so Apple must be especially delighted it’s being acquired by Qualcomm.

American Tower buys Telefónica’s tower business for $9.4B

American Tower is buying Telefónica’s tower business, Telxius Towers, for about $9.4 billion. Telefónica will continue to use the towers, leasing them from American Tower. And American Tower will also market the towers to new tenants, acting as a neutral host.

Orange Business Services cashes in on SD-WAN deal with bank

Orange Business Services has racked up an SD-WAN deployment with European bank BNP Paribas. France-based Orange Business Solutions is deploying its Cisco/Viptela-based Flexible SD-WAN service to more than 1,800 bank branches across France.

Qualcomm to acquire Nuvia for $1.4B

Qualcomm Technologies entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Nuvia for about $1.4 billion.

Swan out, Gelsinger in as Intel's new CEO

There's a changing of the guard at Intel with VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger replacing current CEO Bob Swan on Feb.15. Gelsinger will also join the Intel board of directors upon assuming the CEO role.

Sparklight Business turns up optical wavelength service

Sparklight Business is off and running with the launch of a new optical wavelength service on its fiber backbone. The wavelength service provides dedicated, point-to-point, high-capacity data network service to business and carrier customers throughout its 21-state footprint.

UK government chucks some money at a few 5G bright ideas

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has managed to scrape together £28 million to contribute to some test projects focusing on consumer applications of 5G.

Social media use boomed last year, especially with TikTok

Consumers spent a lot more time on social networking apps last year, with video-sharing app TikTok making major strides, according to new data from App Annie.

Telefónica’s €7.7 billion towers sale is good news for Vodafone

Telefónica has agreed to sell its towers portfolio in Europe and Latin America to passive infrastructure specialist American Tower for €7.7 billion.

International investigation alleges anti-Western discrimination within Huawei

Four European newspapers have investigated Huawei’s internal policies and found evidence that some of them punish Chinese employees for marrying Westerners.

Tech Leaders Confront Diversity, Inclusion at CES

“Our differences are truly our greatest strength,” Shelley Zalis, CEO at The Female Quotient, said today during a panel about diversity in tech at CES 2021.

Utilities shift from tests to deployments with private LTE

Xcel Energy and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) both announced plans to deploy private wireless networks running on the 4G LTE standard.

SeaChange CEO quits

Yossi Aloni has left the video software specialist to 'pursue other interests.' Robert Pons has been named executive chairman and will assume Aloni's duties as SeaChange seeks a new CEO.

Microsoft president urges industries, governments to address cyber threats

Brad Smith says lessons from the fictions of 'Wargames' and the realities of the recent SolarWinds cyberattack serve as an important wakeup call that must be heeded.

Looking ahead in India: 5G, open RAN and fiberization

This year is likely to bring the launch of 5G, more tie-ups between operators and startups and growing interest in satellite technology, among other developments.

Can Favorite Son Pat Gelsinger Save Intel?

In the latest shake up to Intel’s leadership, Intel’s favorite son Pat Gelsinger has been appointed by the company’s board of directors to lead the chipmaker, effective Feb. 15. He replaces outgoing CEO Bob Swan after just two years on the job.

Qualcomm buys Nuvia for $1.4B amid silicon industry upheaval

Qualcomm could be eying the data center market, or leverage against Nvidia's Arm, via its Nuvia purchase. One thing is clear: There's turmoil in the silicon industry.

Daily Roundup: VMware CEO Gelsinger Jumps to 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 newsletters to get these stories in your inbox.

Telefónica goes towerless with €7.7B sale to ATC

The Spanish operator becomes the first major European telecom operator to cede control of its mobile sites.

For Zoom, $1.5B second IPO looms

With markets seemingly craving tech IPOs, Zoom announces a $1.5 billion secondary share sale, to take advantage of shares now 10x the platform's IPO level.

Eurobites: Zain KSA taps Infovista for 5G radio planning

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Nokia connects trains in Austria; Three UK installs private network at Port of Felixstowe; Amdocs helps enforce London's clean-air zone.

Oracle Pops 200 Updates Into Database 21c

Oracle today made available its converged cloud database, Oracle Database 21c, in the Autonomous Database Free Tier Service.

VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger Set to Flee for Intel

VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger will be leaving that position next month to take over as CEO of Intel, replacing the chip giant’s long-time CEO Bob Swan who is set to retire. The C-level shakeup is set to take place on Feb. 15.

Europe plots mega sat comms project

European Commission urgently presses for new satellite constellation to fill broadband gaps and support advanced services, such as self-driving cars.

Gelsinger’s Departure ‘Bad News’ for VMware

The news that VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger, widely regarded as one of the best CEOs in tech, will leave the virtualization giant and return to Intel as its CEO shook the industry this morning. And the general consensus among pundits and analysts is that his departure doesn’t bode well for VMware — at least in the short term.

5G networks and the public cloud

How can 5G network operators and public cloud providers work better together to improve the service experience for customers?

Podcast: eero CEO Nick Weaver takes Wi-Fi management for the win

eero's CEO discusses Wi-Fi 6, pandemic connectivity and how the company is courting service provider broadband partners.

Ciena Scores Consolidated Communications, Lightstorm Contracts

Consolidated Communications selected Ciena’s Adaptive IP platform to upgrade its wireline network to support emerging 5G services and applications.

Tele2 snaps up former VEON CTO Yogesh Malik

CEO presents a refreshed management team as the Swedish operator enters a critical period of its transformation phase.

Armis Claims 5X Better Visibility Compared to Tenable, CrowdStrike

IoT security unicorn Armis today released a new IT asset visibility and management product marking its first standalone product since it launched its device security platform in 2017. The vendor claims that Armis Asset Management can see almost five times more assets — this includes laptops, servers, clouds, virtual machines, and IoT devices — compared to standalone endpoint detection and response (EDR) and configuration and vulnerability management tools from Qualys, Tenable, CrowdStrike, and Carbon Black.

Sysdig Report Spotlights Runtime Security

Misconfigurations continue to be the primary culprits for Kubernetes security snafus, according to a new report from Sysdig.

Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T urged to preserve messages around riots

After last week’s riots at the U.S. Capitol, U.S. Senator Mark R. Warner, (D-Virginia), asked Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T to immediately work to preserve all SMS and MMS communications created by or sent to their subscribers during the days leading up to, during and the day after the event.

Samsung revs beamforming for automotive mmWave 5G tech

As CES kicked off this week, Samsung touted progress towards equipping vehicles with millimeter wave 5G technology and called out array antenna beamforming.

RtBrick throws in with TIP's Open BNG project

RtBrick announced on Tuesday that it's now supporting the Telecom Infra Project's Open BNG initiative. Open BNG is a new standard that was created by the Telecom Infra Project (TIP) to develop open, disaggregated broadband network gateways.

SoftBank accuses Rakuten of industrial espionage

A former employee of Japanese operator group Softbank, who now works for rival MNO Rakuten Mobile, has been arrested on suspicion of violating unfair competition prevention law.

Colt tees up cloud-based voice service for Microsoft Teams

Colt Technology Services, working in tandem with AudioCodes, announced on Tuesday the launch of its cloud session border controller (SBC) solution to enable PSTN calling on Microsoft Teams.

Verizon CEO touts everything 5G during CES keynote

Who knew Mobile Edge Compute (MEC) would get so much love on a CES stage? That’s exactly what happened Monday during Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg’s keynote to kick off this year’s virtual CES show.

Delisting of China telcos from NYSE likely to stay, say lawyers

The New York Stock Exchange seemed a bit spastic at the beginning of 2021, claiming it would delist three Chinese telcos, then changing its mind, then again changing its mind.

NTIA explores open 5G stack competition

The NTIA is looking into ways to speed up development and interoperability of the open 5G stack ecosystem to support U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) missions.

Everstream gears up to support 5G with fiber builds in 7 markets

In order to help connect over 2,000 macro cell sites, Everstream is building out its fiber across seven Midwest markets to support 5G roll-outs.

LG teases phone with rollable screen at virtual CES 2021

Korean tech giant LG is the first major vendor to promise a smartphone with a rollable screen.

Acacia strikes back; files counterclaim against Cisco

Monday afternoon Acacia Communications fired off the latest salvo in its dustup with Cisco over its attempt to cancel the two companies' $2.6 billion merger.

T-Mobile raises $3bn to fund massive US spectrum spending

T-Mobile is tapping the bond markets to raise US$3 billion that will help to fund its upcoming spending on spectrum.

BT creates digital transformation unit, poaches Bharti Airtel exec to lead it

UK telecoms group BT reckons there might be something in this digital transformation thing, so it’s setting up a special silo to focus on it.

Orange Ventures legal separation is official

Orange has spun off its investment fund arm into a separate legal entity renamed as Orange Ventures with €350 million worth of start-up investments.

5G matters to the Enterprise and its Customers

It’s hard to get through a day without hearing talk about the rise of 5G telecommunication networks and the impact they will have on life as we know it. Everybody understands that 5G will bring significant changes, although many people might not grasp what those changes will be.

Philo CEO not sweating rise of Discovery+

Andrew McCollum not overly concerned that Discovery's new premium streaming service will undercut Philo, but instead views the new entry as a complement to his entertainment-focused OTT-TV service.

Acacia Countersues Cisco Over $2.6B Merger Gone Bad

Acacia Communications filed a countersuit against Cisco in the ongoing battle over the companies’ $2.6 billion merger.

Rakuten Mobile Employee Arrested for Alleged SoftBank 5G Tech Theft

Japan’s SoftBank Corp. has accused upstart rival Rakuten Mobile of indirectly stealing and using intellectual property related to its 4G LTE and 5G technology.

Verizon CTO on open RAN: 'We're 100% behind the idea'

Verizon CTO Kyle Malady tells Light Reading: 'I don't see any reason why the technology can't work, but there will be things carriers need to work out if they do adopt it.'

Daily Roundup: Intel, Red Hat Team Up on 5G R&D

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 newsletters to get these stories in your inbox.

Intelsat to test 4G connections to iPhones from stratosphere

Although the company declined to elaborate, Intelsat is asking the FCC for permission to transmit LTE signals from an unnamed, solar-powered aircraft operated by Airbus.

GeoLinks to shift from 5GHz to 60GHz for fixed wireless

GeoLinks' new GIGA-AIR platform, built with vendor Globtel, will use the DOCSIS 3.1 spec and the 60GHz band, and will be sold to other providers, including cable operators.

Eurobites: Elisa acquires CamLine for smart-manufacturing push

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Nokia helps Kalmar with cargo handling; Virgin Media touts whole-home Wi-Fi offering; Colt targets Microsoft Teams with cloud-based voice offering.

WhatsApp's new service terms annoy users in India

The social media firm has made changes that allow it to share more user data with parent company Facebook, provoking a backlash.

Orange gives more power to VC unit

France-based operator injects €350 million into new entity called Orange Ventures.

Parler, kicked offline, sues Amazon Web Services

Unmoderated social network Parler, popular with Trump supporters, is suing AWS after the cloud provider said the platform's posts incited violence.

AMD Teases EPYC 3, Intel's 10nm Xeons Enter Volume Production

AMD CEO Lisa Su teased the company’s upcoming third-generation EPYC processors during the opening keynote of the CES 2021 virtual conference.

AT&T scuttles sales of AT&T TV Now

Decision for the no-contract, skinny-bundle OTT-TV service follows AT&T's attempts to slow pace of pay-TV sub losses and amplify focus on AT&T TV, its new OTT-delivered, contract-based pay-TV service, and HBO Max.

Rakuten employee arrested over alleged theft of SoftBank 5G secrets

Former employee is accused of having accessed a SoftBank server and emailed technical data to himself on his last day at the company.

BT has yet another crack at digital transformation

The UK incumbent is setting up a discrete unit that will be charged with making it look more fit for purpose in a hi-tech world.

Verizon Chief Whips Despair Into Hope at CES

Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg covered a lot of ground in his keynote at CES, the first time the annual event was forced to be held virtually amid the ongoing global pandemic.

FuboTV's latest buy to underpin new online sportsbook

'Sports-first' OTT-TV service acquires interactive gaming company Vigtory just weeks after snapping up Balto Sports, a fantasy sports tech company.

Red Hat Aligns R&D With Intel for 5G, Hybrid Cloud, Edge

Red Hat and Intel today announced plans to pool more research and development (R&D) in 5G and networking to quicken the commercialization of automated, cloud-native infrastructure.

Infinera Boasts First 700G Transatlantic Transmission

Infinera claims to have achieved the first 700 Gb/s transatlantic transmission over a single wavelength. The milestone marks the optical vendor’s latest trial of its Infinite Capacity Engine 6 (ICE 6) coherent optics on a production network.

CBRS Alliance broadens spectrum-sharing scope

The CBRS Alliance is changing its name to the OnGo Alliance because it wants to broaden its scope to include spectrum sharing on a much wider scale than just the 3.5 GHz CBRS band in the United States.

WeLink scores funding boost for FWA market expansion

WeLink, a fixed wireless internet provider, plans to expand its footprint to 10 markets with a $185 million investment from Digital Alpha Advisors.

Orange peels off venture capital arm as a separate entity

Paris, France-based Orange announced on Monday that it has spun off its venture capital arm, Orange Ventures, with an increased allocation of $426 million (€350 million).

Tele2 picks Nokia for standalone 5G core in Sweden, Baltics

Tele2 has chosen Nokia as its vendor partner for the deployment of its 5G core network.  

Microsoft to provide cloud, AI tech to biomedicine's Terra

Microsoft announced on Monday that it's chipping in its cloud-based AI, storage and compute power to an open source health and life science project. Terra is a secure, scalable, open-source platform for biomedical researchers to access data, run analysis tools and collaborate with each other.

T-Mobile seeks access to more 2.5 GHz spectrum

T-Mobile has been laser-focused on deploying 5G using the boatload of spectrum it obtained in the Sprint merger, but it’s not enough. There’s even more 2.5 GHz spectrum up for grabs, and T-Mobile wants a piece of it.

Cisco wins court order that blocks Acacia from ending $2.6B deal

On Friday, Cisco was granted a temporary court order that blocked Acacia from pulling the plug from on the companies $2.6 billion merger.

Operators must move quickly to capture private networking biz

With last August’s Citizens Broadband Radio Spectrum (CBRS) Priority Access License (PAL) auction in the rearview window, mobile operators need to move quickly if they want to capture what many analysts estimate could be a multi-billion-dollar opportunity — building and managing private wireless networks for enterprises and other entities including utilities and universities.

Covid-19 drives wearable device spending

Consumers will spend significantly more on wearable devices this year than they did last, with the Covid-19 pandemic proving to be a strong market driver, according to new data from Gartner.

DT reportedly wants to flog T-Mobile Netherlands

A new report cites a few anonymous inside sources for the gossip that Deutsche Telekom his hoping to get as much as €5 billion for its Dutch subsidiary.

AWS banning of Parler exposes the precariousness of the public cloud

Following activist pressure from its own employees, Amazon Web Services kicked social network Parler off its servers today.

Vodafone boosts Vantage’s earnings, IPO potential by adding UK towers

Vodafone will transfer its 50% stake in UK towers business Cornerstone to Vantage Towers, having brokered a deal with joint venture partner Telefonica to operate the unit as a commercial entity.

Europe's towercos are building on shaky ground

Towers companies may struggle to justify their lofty valuations as competition grows and the telecom sector remains under pressure.

Making sense of the latency alphabet soup

Latency is a key part of the user experience, which is why it is one of the pillars of the cable industry's 10G strategy.

Navisite COO on creating a successful M&A playbook

In this mentor spotlight, Gina Murphy discusses the key to completing a successful acquisition, and the importance of building a company culture that supports new ideas, new technology and diverse teams.

Airtel, Vodafone Idea allege 'miscalculation' of AGR dues

The Indian operators say the government has overestimated the amount they owe in licensing fees and related penalties.

Will XDR Dark Horses VMware, Fortinet Pull Ahead in 2021?

Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, and Microsoft were among the established security vendors that made progress in extended detection and response (XDR) last year along with newcomers including VMware. While no single provider achieved the “holy grail of security” in 2020, several made strong moves in their quest, and others formed partnerships that put them in good positions to advance this technology in 2021.

TV shipments to dip in 2021 despite 8K surge – CTA

Total US TV shipments will drop 8% this year, but 8K sets are expected to rise 300%, to 1.7 million units, according to the Consumer Technology Association.

Eurobites: Vodafone, O2 look to monetize tower assets

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Deutsche Telekom, Nextcloud launch collaboration platform; Orange Ventures strikes out on its own; Airspan eyes Huawei-shaped hole in UK.

Tight chip supply chain threatens smartphone recovery

The supply chain could struggle to keep pace with surging demand this year.

AT&T, Verizon, Comcast halt donations to lawmakers who opposed Biden's election

Lawmakers like Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who voted against the certification of President-elect Joe Biden's election victory, won't get money from the likes of AT&T, Verizon and Comcast.

Ajit Pai kicks Section 230 can down the road

FCC chair won't pursue a rulemaking clarifying protections for social media outlets, but also declined to second-guess decisions by Twitter and Facebook to boot President Trump from their respective platforms.

Intel ‘Slaughters Sacred Cow,’ May Move Production to TSMC, Samsung

Intel has entered into talks with Samsung and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) to discuss outsourcing its processor fabrication, according to a Bloomberg report citing anonymous sources familiar with the situation.

Acacia reports revenue, profit growth as it scraps with Cisco

The components vendor said its business is growing thanks to bandwidth demands and it stands by its desire to call off its pending acquisition by Cisco.

DoD eyes 'challenge' designed to promote open source 5G

The US military is looking for ways to 'accelerate the development of an open source 5G,' which comes as no surprise given the Pentagon's wide and growing interest in the technology.

Verizon CEO Vestberg uses CES to push 5G into a new phase

Verizon's CEO dispensed with the speeds and feeds that often dominate 5G discussions. Instead, he showed off some real-world 5G services, alongside a tacit nod toward the wider American zeitgeist.

Mavenir Envelops Webscale, Edge, AI Services in Cloud

Mavenir today revealed a raft of new services to address unique webscale, edge, and artificial intelligence (AI) requirements of network operators.

Starlink launches satellite Internet in rural UK

Elon Musk's Starlink has launched its satellite Internet network service in rural Britain, where it will compete with the recently bankrupt OneWeb.

Tele2 taps Nokia for 5G core in Sweden and Baltics

Finnish vendor to deploy 5G standalone core network in Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

Daily Roundup: Google’s Titan Security Key Cloned

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 newsletters to get these stories in your inbox.

Deutsche Telekom looks for Dutch exit door (again)

German incumbent reportedly in talks with private equity investors in a deal that could be worth in excess of $6 billion.

CES 2021: DOCSIS 3.1 shipments soar, TV makers gravitate to Google TV

Also in this CES news snapshot: CommScope expands Wi-Fi 6 lineup; Netgear takes flight with Wi-Fi 6E; the CBRS Alliance rebrands.

As C-band bidding slows, telco debt expected to skyrocket

Activity in the C-band auction is slowing with $80.7 billion in gross proceeds. Already T-Mobile is looking to raise $2 billion, likely to help pay for its purchases.