EE gets ready for the new iPhone with some more 5G locations

UK MNO EE has switched on 5G in 12 more UK towns and claims to be the country’s number one network for that sort of thing.

Saudi Telecom opens up to Rakuten

Saudi Telecom Company (STC) has inked a cooperation deal with Rakuten Mobile that will see it explore its options for OpenRAN and other forward-looking mobile technologies.

Disney cuts cinemas out of the loop

A perfect storm for cinema operators sees Disney join the stampede towards streaming new movies direct to consumers.

Softbank invests $215m in Kahoot!, more spending to come

Softbank has a acquired a 9.69% stake in Norway’s Kahoot! at a cost of US$215 million, and is reportedly looking for external funding for a new acquisition vehicle.

Masergy, VMware spruce up SD-WAN with secure remote access

Masergy and VMware have launched new secure remote access services under the umbrella of their SASE platforms.

Verizon: Nationwide 5G speeds will be 'similar' to 4G speeds

Apple's newest iPhones will support nationwide 5G connections on Verizon's network, but 'the experience [between 4G and nationwide 5G] is similar,' warned Verizon's Bill Stone.

Are India telcos finally about to raise prices?

Metrics suggest Airtel and Vodafone Idea are not going to respond to Jio's latest tariff move.

Four big takeaways from Apple's 5G iPhone launch

From its pricing plans to its support of Verizon's millimeter wave 5G strategy, Apple had plenty to say during its iPhone 12 unveiling.

Daily Roundup: 5 Election Cybersecurity Tips

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.

Disney reorg shifts focus to streaming

Citing the 'rapid success' of Disney+, company says the reset of media and entertainment unit is designed to accelerate The Mouse's direct-to-consumer strategy.

Nokia bags 5G small-cell deal with Chunghwa Telecom

Taiwan proving something of a 5G stamping ground for the Finnish vendor.

Podcast: Lumen Technologies battles bad actors in cybersecurity

Lumen Technologies' Mike Benjamin joins the Light Reading Podcast to discuss the state of cybersecurity, threats such as ransomware, and attacks on IoT devices.

Xilinx, Spline.AI Use AWS to Push COVID-19 Prediction to the Edge

Xilinx in collaboration with Spline.AI announced a medical X-ray classification model that promises to improve COVID-19 and pneumonia prediction rates using artificial intelligence (AI) at the edge.

Spectrum auctions slowing Europe's 5G progress

National approaches to spectrum distribution regarded as a key obstacle to 5G development at European level.

Cable DAA activity perks up

Commscope cuts off a piece of Comcast's next-gen network biz while Vecima and Technetix connect on a product/sales deal focused on distributed access architectures.

Telefónica CTO hints at less capital-intensive future

Enrique Blanco says a fiber investment program will set his business up for the next 30 to 50 years.

Palo Alto Networks Prisma Cloud Adds 4 Security Modules

Palo Alto Networks added four modules to its Prisma Cloud security platform including identity-based microsegmentation from its $150 million Aporeto acquisition. The Prisma Cloud 2.0 update also added data loss prevention capabilities that provide discovery, classification, and malware detection for Amazon Web Services Simple Storage Service (AWS S3).

AT&T Shrivels Leading Into ‘Existential’ 5G Auction

AT&T today formally shed another asset as it continues to slice off pieces of the business it cobbled together via mega acquisitions starting in 2015. The company said it completed the sale of its majority stake in Central European Media Enterprises for $1.1 billion in cash to Czech investment firm PPF Group.

Eurobites: Nokia adds vim to Bulgaria's Vivacom

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: EE rolls out more 5G in; UK buyers of new iPhone may live to regret their purchase; Ericsson demos spectrum-sharing innovation with China Telecom.

China and COVID-19 speed up worldwide 5G adoption

China will have 170 million 5G smartphones by year's end, pushing the world's total to a higher-than-expected 260 million.

Red Hat Links Ansible Automation to Kubernetes Management

Red Hat is tying together two of its core platform features in a move to make it easier for organizations to automate work between traditional on-premises and virtual machine (VM)-based infrastructure and their cloud native infrastructure. The work will link Red Hat’s Ansible Automation Platform and its Advanced Cluster Management (ACM) for Kubernetes platform. The combo, which is still in a “preview” stage, will make it easier to work between the two infrastructure environments.

China's newest telco starts up

China's CBN joins the game, but will the new mobile entrant survive?

Alkira Snaps Up $54M Series B Led by Koch

Multi-cloud startup Alkira raked in $54 million in Series B funding led by Koch Disruptive Technologies (KDT). Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital, and GV — formerly Google Ventures — also participated in the latest funding round.

Next G Alliance Aligned on 6G and Beyond

A group of wireless industry stalwarts today launched an initiative to foster North America’s technology leadership through research and government support.

Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, others form North American 6G alliance

The new 'Next G Alliance' will focus on the 'full lifecycle' of 6G, including research and development, manufacturing, standardization and market readiness.

Cable-Tec Expo kicks off with ironic moment, moves to substance

One of those Covid-19 ironic events happened at the kickoff to the 2020 virtual Cable-Tec Expo this morning. Comcast’s President of Technology Tony Werner was interviewing NCTA President Michael Powell when Werner’s internet connection went out. That, in itself, is kind of embarrassing, considering that you would assume someone in Werner’s position would have a good internet connection. But to add to the irony, Werner was in the middle of bragging about how fantastic the cable industry has done during Covid and how much more vital wired networks have proven to be than wireless.

Rysavy: DoD’s proposed 5G spectrum sharing full of problems

When time is of the essence to stay ahead of China with 5G, why would the United States embark on completely unproven spectrum-sharing and capacity-sharing approaches? Exploring such unproven technology is exactly what a new Department of Defense (DoD) request for information suggests.

AT&T to deliver over 3K FirstNet lines to the U.S. Army

AT&T has been tapped by the U.S. Army to deliver FirstNet services for public safety personnel at 72 Army locations following a pilot program and testing earlier this year.

Wix partners with Vodafone to help bring SMBs online

In order to help business build an online presence, Vodafone is partnering with website developer Wix.

Visible gears up for eSIM support

Visible, Verizon’s digital-driven prepaid brand, is currently testing eSIM capabilities, but it’s not yet ready for prime time.