Headcount: Firings, Hirings, and Retirings — February 2022

Here are some of the latest executive hirings, promotions, and staff changes that happened in February. If you’d like SDxCentral to report on your company’s movers and shakers, or if you’ve got a tip about layoffs and restructuring, please send the information to Emma Chervek (echervek@sdxcentral.com) for inclusion in the monthly headcount column.

Intel Lays Open RAN Claim With Xeon D Refresh

Intel asserted its claim over the open and virtual radio access network (RAN) markets at MWC Barcelona 2022 where the chipmaker unpacked a bevy of telco-focused silicon.

Indosat signs up Nokia for 4G and 5G expansion in Indonesia

Indonesian telco Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison has taken on kit Finnish vendor Nokia to expand its 4G and 5G coverage in a new three year deal.

UK approves Cellnex acquisition of 6,000 cell sites from CK Hutchison

The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has OKed its part of Cellnex’s mega-passive infrastructure M&A, with one condition.

5G HAPS inches forward with Saudi trial

UK-based Stratospheric Platforms (SPL) has announced what it claims is the world’s first successful demonstration of a HAPS-based 5G base station. 

Nextel’s back in the US and shooting for a $30bn valuation

The owner of the Nextel brand is heralding its re-entry into the US market and is looking for investors to help it along the way.

Scaling beyond connectivity: Essential move for CSPs to deliver added value

5G is fundamentally transforming the future of business and opening a new realm of opportunities for communications service providers, enterprises and industries, as well as consumers. CSPs need to go beyond connectivity; they need to encompass digital and IT services to reignite growth by preparing for 5G, cloud and edge technology advancements.

Verizon to build a new 200,000-square-foot data center north of Dallas

The service provider's decision to build a new data center comes just a few years after divesting nearly 30 data centers to Equinix for $3.6 billion.

Telecom Italia plans to do the splits

Italian operator to split off fixed network into separate unit and sell stake in towerco INWIT.

FWA nabbed 38% of broadband share in Q4 as possible 'fiber bubble' forms

Recent fixed wireless subscriber growth from T-Mobile and Verizon have grabbed the broadband spotlight, but MoffettNathanson's Craig Moffett wonders if an influx of fiber projects will end up paying off.

Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison checks out Nokia for 4G/5G

Recently merged operator signs three-year deal with Finnish supplier to expand 4G and 5G coverage across Indonesia.

Cogent moves to cut Russia from the Internet – report

'In light of the unwarranted and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, Cogent is terminating all of your services effective at 5 p.m. GMT on March 4, 2022,' the company wrote to a Russian customer.

Eurobites: Activist investor puts the heat on Ericsson in wake of Iraq furore

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Cellnex/Hutchison deal wins UK competition watchdog approval; crowds return to MWC; Sky Mobile heads to Ireland.

Starlink a mixed blessing for Ukraine

Elon Musk has switched on SpaceX's Starlink satellite broadband for Ukraine, but security researchers fear the dishes might help Russia target users.

Samsung has no 2G, and that's a problem for Vodafone

The South Korean vendor's lack of 2G or 3G network products brings open RAN difficulties for the UK operator.

The Divide: What Starry has learned about connecting low-income communities

This week: Virginia Lam Abrams, co-founder and SVP of government affairs and strategic advancement at Starry, returns to the podcast to discuss updates on the fixed wireless provider's Starry Connect program for affordable and public housing developments, and how federal subsidies are helping some Starry customers get broadband at no cost.

Disney sizing up ad-supported version of Disney+ – report

Move could boost profits and amp up subscriber activity if Disney+ heads down a path already travelled by HBO Max, Paramount+, Peacock and even Disney's own Hulu service.

Verizon's 5G opportunities: First FWA, then edge, then the metaverse

Verizon said it expects 4-5 million FWA customers by 2025, slightly below T-Mobile's goal of gaining 7-8 million FWA customers during roughly the same time.

TIM splits off network and sells towers

TIM plans to split its business into two separate legal entities, a move that will likely help it fend off a takeover bid from KKR.

Telefónica Germany rolls out OpenRAN small cells

OpenRAN small cells are rolling out in Munich courtesy of Telefónica Germany, marking another milestone for the budding technology.

MWC 2022 was a resounding success despite everything

The return of Mobile World Congress went better than many people thought it would, especially considering the difficult circumstances around it.

Rakuten Racks AT&T, Cisco, Nokia, Qualcomm Inroads

Rakuten Symphony hit MWC Barcelona 2022 with a bang, including its second major acquisition in six months and open radio access network (RAN) deals with AT&T, Cisco, Nokia, and Qualcomm.

AWS CEO Twists Cloud Giant All Over Telco Systems

Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) all-out incursion into wireless network infrastructure, a long feared but now largely assumed outcome, positions the cloud giant to play a bigger role in telecom’s future than any other company.

New ruling reopens door for Cox's mobile launch

'We ... vacate the injunction against Cox,' the Delaware Supreme Court ruling stated. However, Cox said it still hasn't announced any specific wireless plans.

Cable One makes its case for DOCSIS 4.0 upgrades

Cable One uses FTTP in all greenfield areas and market expansions, but the operator estimates that overbuilding existing HFC plant with FTTP is three to six times as expensive as going with a DOCSIS 4.0 upgrade.

Verizon Go90s again; New '+play' service seems unnecessary

My expectation is that Verizon's '+play' is just more bloatware for its Android phones, and will eventually join the company's ill-fated Go90 streaming video service in the dustbin of tech history.

DT targets city rollout of open RAN after Intel progress

The German incumbent's new chief technology officer promises a 'significant' urban investment in open RAN, possibly starting next year.

Asia's operators talk going carbon neutral at MWC22

Asian operators came together at Mobile World Congress to talk about decarbonizing network equipment and other efforts to go carbon neutral.

5G transport: Meeting capacity demand

SPONSORED: New survey includes network operator views on transport deployment issues and timelines, fronthaul networks and RAN centralization, routing and synchronization and 5G edge connectivity.

Comcast says network traffic still rising, but shifting to pre-pandemic patterns

Cable op says 2021 peak downstream traffic rose 11% and upstream traffic increased 5% from 2020 levels, while peak traffic has returned to later parts in the day as students headed back to school and some workers returned to offices.

Verizon's Sowmyanarayan on how FWA supports edge computing, private wireless

'We are seeing good coverage exactly where we thought,' Verizon's Sampath Sowmyanarayan said of the company's C-band 5G network. And he said that's helping sales of edge computing and private wireless.

Eurobites: Telecom Italia records net loss of €8.7B for 2021

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: A1 Telekom joins cloud infrastructure initiative; Orange Mali chooses Intelsat for hard-to-reach areas; Spotify closes Moscow office.

What's the Story? Dano dishes on 5G cell site tour

Mike Dano tours a Dish 5G cell site in Las Vegas.

Lynk CEO Charles Miller: The sky's the limit

Charles Miller, cofounder and CEO of Lynk, discusses his company's technology and its ambition to help existing mobile network operators connect rural, remote and underserved communities all over the world.

The telecoms industry has an innovation problem – Rakuten

A ‘legacy way of thinking’ is stifling innovation in the telcoms industry, and operators will need to adopt new business models in order to not be relegated to utility providers, claims Rakuten.

US telcos set to shell out for more spectrum, starting with 2.5 GHz in July

The US’s next spectrum auction will come as soon as July, Federal Communications Commission chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel revealed at Mobile World Congress this week. The regulatory head outlined plans to sell off the 2.5 GHz band this summer as well as looking further ahead to additional mid-band spectrum sales as well as the use of […]

Ericsson CEO feels the heat from the US government over Iraq

Ericsson boss Börje Ekholm (pictured) was in the firing line again on Wednesday following fresh revelations about his company’s historical misconduct in Iraq.

Samsung Selected by NTT East to Build Private 5G Networks in Japan

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. announced today the company has been selected by NTT East, to jointly expand the private 5G network business in Japan, helping to support the buildout of secure dedicated networks for various enterprises. Samsung and NTT East will begin providing commercial private 5G network services to enterprise customers starting in the second quarter of this year.

Meta Challenges 5G, Networking to Build the Metaverse

Meta — formerly known as Facebook — is looking to head an industrywide connectivity effort targeted at bolstering the metaverse to reach a billion people globally and host hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade.  

Palo Alto Networks Tackles Managed SASE Migraines

Palo Alto Networks this week introduced a series of managed service provider (MSP)-focused updates targeted at expanding its networking and security empire, and eliminating barriers to adoption. They include a hierarchical multi-tenant dashboard and open APIs designed to help operators automate secure access service edge (SASE) deployment and management.

Knative Earns CNCF Acceptance, Ushers In Serverless Maturity Wave

The Knative serverless project was accepted into the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) as an incubating project in a move that CNCF executive director Priyanka Sharma said ushers serverless computing out of its “developer darling” phase and into a new era of maturity.

Daily Roundup: Microsoft Builds Out 5G Telco Cloud

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Qualcomm, Fujitsu Team on 5G Open RAN Consolidation

Qualcomm doubled down on its radio access network (RAN) aspirations at MWC Barcelona 2022 this week announcing a wave of open RAN equipment adoption alongside a new fully-integrated open RAN platform built in collaboration with Fujitsu.

AT&T Showcases Private 5G, Massive MIMO Advancements

AT&T packed its bags for MWC Barcelona 2022 with news to share on private 5G, hybrid cloud, massive MIMO, open RAN, and urban 5G deployment.

War in Ukraine continues to rattle telecom industry

Among the latest developments: Russian space agency Roscosmos has refused to launch more than 30 satellites for OneWeb, while Apple has halted sales in Russia.

Russian telcos left with Huawei as Ericsson and Nokia down tools

The Nordic vendors have paused work as they assess the impact of US sanctions, raising the prospect of a China-powered Russian telecom sector.

T-Mobile overhauls senior leadership team

Among the changes: Jon Freier will take over customer care; Callie Field will take over T-Mobile Business; and Mike Katz will be T-Mobile's new CMO. Dow Draper will leave.

MEF's marketplace gives APIs a place to land

Prior to the LSO Marketplace, service providers would have to 'dig around in a developer site called GitHub,' to assess service interoperability, said MEF's Daniel Bar-Lev.

Orange cleans up with Samsung smartphones

Duo commit to making Galaxy models 'greener' and join forces on testing 5G SA devices.

CommScope alters course on DOCSIS 4.0

Sources say CommScope has halted a plan to develop a DOCSIS 4.0 chipset and architecture for network gear in partnership with MaxLinear and Xilinx. The decision could cede the network side of the D4.0 market to Broadcom.

MWC22 Day 3: Mars copters, K-pop and cobots

Light Reading's Fiona Graham is back for our day three update from the show floor at Mobile World Congress Barcelona 2022. Up today at MWC we have the flight spare for the Mars helicopter, industrial cobots and other automation, virtual auction houses and middle-aged men getting down to K-pop in the metaverse. The end is in sight.

Ericsson Iraq crisis worsens as risk of US penalties grows

The Swedish kit maker is facing fines, the potential collapse of its Vonage deal and a loss of business.

SKT taking its metaverse platform to the world

The company aims to launch the Ifland metaverse service in 80 countries this year as part of an effort to become a global leader in key next-gen technologies.

BT's Rob Shuter on 5G for enterprise

Rob Shuter, CEO of BT Enterprise, joins Fiona Graham at Mobile World Congress to discuss BT's 5G use cases in the enterprise market, how private networks, cybersecurity and edge/cloud intersect for their customers, and his predictions for the role of the metaverse in the future of work.

Nokia says ‘the smartphone is dead in terms of driving new traffic’

We caught up with Azfar Aslam, CTO Europe at Nokia at MWC who explained Nokia’s vision of the future, including human augmentation and new technologies that won’t be based on smartphones.

Mavenir slams Nokia and Ericsson for confusing the OpenRAN story

We caught up with Mavenir at Mobile World Conference to discuss the current state of OpenRAN, and it had some choice words to say about the approaches of kit vendors Nokia and Ericsson.

Dish aims for ‘app store for the RAN’ with VMware RIC trial

Dish Wireless is furthering its relationship with VMware, announcing plans to trial the virtualisation specialist’s RIC for its RAN applications.

Rakuten Symphony makes itself heard with Robin.io acquisition

Rakuten’s OpenRAN-focused venture Symphony rose above the cacophony of announcements at MWC with a flurry of partnerships and a bit of M&A for good measure.

Huawei seeks to guide itself away from US sabotage at MWC 2022

Chinese telecoms vendor Huawei has spared no expense at Mobile World Congress 2022 to show it is unbowed by US sanctions and determined to evolve away from them.

Microsoft Builds Out 5G Telco Cloud Platform

Microsoft this week unveiled its Azure Operator Distributed Services, which is the newest iteration of its hybrid cloud telco platform that combines AT&T’s Network Cloud technology with Azure’s security, monitoring, machine learning, and analytics.

Daily Roundup: Telefónica CEO Appeals for Tech Ethics

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SDxCentral’s Top 10 Articles — February 2022

Check out our top 10 articles for February 2022 covering the SDxCentral universe of cloud, telecom, security, and networking. Rankings are based on unique visitors aggregated during the month.

VMware Container Runtime Protection Secures Cloud Workloads

VMware today announced container runtime security capabilities that build upon its Carbon Black Cloud platform for endpoint and workload security. 

Cisco Reveals Private 5G Networks Scheme

Cisco continues to plant seeds for a growing role in wireless network infrastructure by helping operators reach new markets that conjoin enterprise IT and cellular systems.

Russia Has Chip Supply Chain Cards to Play

Russian access to high-tech industries including semiconductor manufacturing has effectively been severed by the latest round of U.S. sanctions. And while analysts argue these efforts will no doubt harm the Russian economy they also warn the sanctions could have broader supply chain implications.

Nokia Interconnects Data Center, Edge Cloud for 5G Services

Nokia announced a cloud-native portfolio that pulls from its enhanced data center fabrics and Network Services Platform to integrate cloud networks with new 5G services such as Edge Network Controller.

Optical transport market takes a hit from declining sales in APAC

Optical transport revenue in APAC fell 11% due to lower sales in the region in 2021, according to Dell'Oro.

How Interdigital is prepping for 6G

Liren Chen, president and CEO of Interdigital, shares his perspective on advancements in 5G, and how his company is planning ahead for 6G and the metaverse.

Globalstar, EchoStar take starring roles in 5G mysteries

Globalstar's mystery customer is spending $310 million to purchase 17 new satellites. Meanwhile, EchoStar's chairman, Charlie Ergen, hinted the company might partner with Dish Network.

BT's Howard Watson on why the 'standalone evolution' matters

Howard Watson, CTIO of BT Group, discusses the operator's shift from non-standalone to standalone 5G, why it matters for customers and the technological hurdles to standing up a 5G core.

Rosenworcel's MWC appearance hints at shifting spectrum policy

The chair of the FCC discussed the importance of midband spectrum over mmWave spectrum in Barcelona, and said that the agency would auction 2.5GHz spectrum in July.

Average data consumption eclipses half a terabyte per month – OpenVault

Latest data usage milestone enters the frame as broadband service operators continue to unleash and expand the reach of multi-gigabit speed tiers.

Why 5G is uniquely ill-equipped to support the metaverse

According to Meta, the 5G industry needs to support reductions in network latency, symmetrical bandwidth and a 'common framework' for data sharing. Good luck with that.

The next telco worry is paying for the metaverse

As Facebook demands network improvements, operators gathered at MWC weigh the impact of the metaverse and call for new business models.

Why Verizon sees a future in robotics

Rima Qureshi, executive vice president and chief strategy officer for Verizon, joins Iain Morris on the show floor to discuss a demo of the company's work in advanced 5G and robotics.

MWC22 Day 2: To the metaverse and beyond

It's day two at Mobile World Congress Barcelona, and Light Reading's Fiona Graham is back with another update. Ukraine, cyberdogs, the metaverse, rollable phones and more - find out what's been going on from the show floor.

Rogers may need to sell Shaw's mobile business to complete merger – report

A committee is advising Ottawa to reject the proposed merger if Rogers declines to unload Shaw's mobile business, which includes Freedom Mobile.

How real is China's 5G gap?

China has deployed 1.4 million 5G basestations, which it says accounts for more than 60% of the world's total. The US has around 50,000.

Building the open cloud native highway

Cloud native mainstream for 5G core is now extending to RAN at the edge.

Industries harnessing the power of 5G

Service Provider 5G fabric, the ecosystem and open source communities stimulate industry use case innovation and new revenues.

Orange to put 2G, 3G out of old-age misery by 2030

The French incumbent says it plans telecom euthanasia for the aging standards as it tries to simplify network management.

Orange details 2G and 3G termination plans

Laurent Leboucher, SVP of Orange Innovation, spoke to Telecoms.com at MWC 2022 about the shut off its of legacy networks and the deal with Ericsson and Nokia to build out its 5G core.

Ericsson doubles down on green messaging at MWC

Following its announcement last week of a new suite of 5G RAN products, Ericsson emphasised its environmental ambitions above all else at Mobile World Congress 2022.

Big vendors share the spoils as Orange names 5G SA suppliers

Orange has named the companies that will provide the kit for its standalone 5G networks in Europe and it is going with the big traditional telco vendors.

Nokia kicks off MWC with commercial 5G edge slicing trials

Finnish kit vendor Nokia has hit the ground running at this year’s Mobile World Congress, announcing commercial 5G edge slicing trials with Cellcom and Telia.

Mavenir partners with Qualcomm to bolster OpenRAN offering

A new deal will see US network software provider Mavenir and mobile chip giant Qualcomm collaborate on new OpenRAN solutions.

Elisa gets further into bed with Google Cloud

Finnish telco Elisa has brought in hyperscaler Google Cloud to build out new public cloud facilitated services.

GSMA, Orange Dive Into Digital Inclusion at MWC

The mobile industry claims a longstanding history of alignment with the U.N.’s sustainable development goals (SDGs), and now GSMA is urging telecom operators to measure and report metrics related to digital inclusion, climate, and digital human rights.

Daily Roundup: Is API Security the New Cloud Security?

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Telefónica CEO Appeals for Tech Ethics to Reverse Global Ills

Telefónica CEO Jose Maria Alvarez-Pallete today juxtaposed most of the world’s ills against the backdrop of digitalization and its ability to right these wrongs during his opening keynote at MWC Barcelona 2022.

Verizon Taps VMware for Global SD-WAN Push

Verizon kicked off Mobile World Congress today with a VMware collaboration that will see the carrier roll the software giant’s VeloCloud SD-WAN platform into its managed services portfolio.

Verizon, AT&T lag behind Lumen on Wavelength Services Leaderboard

While wavelength technology is about 20 years old, it's experiencing a 'rebirth because of the demand for very high speeds,' said Vertical Systems Group's Rick Malone.

Why startup ng-voice stands out among 5G giants

David Bachmann, CEO of ng-voice, talks about his company's technology and why he thinks startups have a better chance to work alongside telecom giants as 5G networks become more software-centric.

New report fills in details about Ericsson's Iraq scandal

Telecom equipment giant Ericsson bribed officials and paid protection money to grow its business in Iraq, according to new reporting from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

Casa CEO: No cable revenue growth in 2022

CEO Jerry Guo said supply chain issues are holding the company back. He billed 2022 as a 'transition year' as Casa focuses on cloud software and scales back lower-margin hardware products.

Starlink services go live in Ukraine but could bring additional risk

Elon Musk confirmed deployment of SpaceX's Starlink satellite Internet service in Ukraine this weekend - but security experts warn the uplink transmissions may increase the risk of airstrikes.

China Mobile: 6G needs some scientific breakthroughs

6G remains in danger of fragmentation, according to one of China Mobile's top researchers.

Rakuten adds Robin.io, AT&T tech into Symphony

Rakuten said it purchased Silicon Valley-based startup Robin.io and, separately, it inked a collaboration with AT&T. Both deals are for Rakuten's Symphony business.

Cellnex eyes Germany next, in towers buying spree

Europe's biggest mast operator saw its revenue surge 58%, as it continues a multi-year towers spending spree, fending off American Tower Corp.

BT's Marc Allera: 5G's progress has been encouraging

Marc Allera, CEO of BT's Consumer Division, said there's a lot yet to prove with 5G but the early experiments and network performance has been really encouraging. 5G standalone is the next big incremental step forward in the network's evolution.

Is 5G more environmentally friendly? It's complicated

Moving to 5G makes it possible for wireless operators to reduce carbon emissions. But the technology may also require more power to make use of additional spectrum.

Eurobites: Orange names suppliers for 5G standalone rollout in Europe

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Nokia goes a-slicing; Huawei turns Giga Green; telecom does its bit for Ukraine.

Nokia mobile boss lashes out at open RAN fakes

Tommi Uitto says challengers have resisted partnerships and 'need to get their act together.'

MWC22: Telecom industry comes back for MWC in Barcelona

Light Reading's Fiona Graham hits the showfloor for an update as Mobile World Congress 2022 kicks off in Barcelona.

Microsoft refines Azure sales pitch at MWC

Azure Operator Distributed Services, Azure Operator 5G Core, Azure Private 5G Core and Azure public MEC solution are among the new offerings from Microsoft.

6G threatens to be mobile's lost generation

The next generation of mobile technology faces a hard job to survive a geopolitical arms race, industry hype and growing telco unhappiness about the standards process.

Elisa moves closer to being powered by Google

The Finnish mobile operator has made a name for itself in automation. Now it is turning to US Big Tech for the next chapter in the story.

Grave global events overshadow Mobile World Congress once more

MWC 2022 was supposed to mark the return to normal after the two-year pandemic, but the Russian invasion of Ukraine has ensured that won’t be the case.