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Rakuten and NEC to promote Open RAN

By Aiste Kryzanovske May 20, 2021

Two Japanese companies, Rakuten Mobile and NEC Corporation, have announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote Open RAN in mobile telecommunications markets worldwide. The MoU is based on Rakuten’s current partnership with NEC, where NEC supplies 5G radio equipment to the operator. The pair is also jointly working on developing a Rakuten standalone 5G core. Under the Memorandum of Understanding, Rakuten Mobile and NEC will continue to expand their local collaboration to provide 5G and 4G radios and engineering services for Open RAN systems that are compliant with O-RAN specifications. These services will be applicable to markets worldwide and will boost the global development of the Rakuten Communications Platform (RCP). RCP is Rakuten Mobile’s fully virtualized and containerized cloud-based mobile network platform, enabling telecom businesses to station virtual networks rapidly and inexpensively. Tareq Amin, executive vice president and CTO at Rakuten Mobile, said: “Rakuten…

News Roundup

A quick roundup of the news in Telecoms | Week #19

By Aiste Kryzanovske May 14, 2021

Orange considers buying infrastructure assets it sold almost two decades ago Orange is considering a probable purchase of the former telecommunications infrastructure unit TDF. The company sold TDF nearly two decades ago to lessen its debt. Orange is considering combining TDF with the recently established European mast company TOTEM, as infrastructure appraisals have recently increased with interest from investors such as the US private equity firm KKR and Spain’s Cellnex. TDF, previously known as Télédiffusion de France, operates TV and radio towers, mobile sites, as well as fiber infrastructure and related services through around 19,000 sites, of which 7,300 are active. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/2etpjpjn AT&T to modernize U.S. DOT’s network AT&T and the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) have signed a 12-year, $175 million deal to assist DOT in upgrading its IP and voice infrastructure. AT&T will supply DOT with virtual private networking and secure cloud technology, together…

Telecom News

A quick roundup of the news in Telecoms | Week #16

By Aiste Kryzanovske April 23, 2021

European Commission proposes new AI regulations The European Commission is proposing new rules that would allow it to ban any type or deployment of AI that it considers high-risk. The organization also proposes much stricter rules and limitations on the use of biometric data, such as law enforcement using face recognition. Violation of the rules may result in fines of up to 6% of the offending company’s total global turnover. For the biggest tech companies, that sum could reach billions. The commission’s digital chief, Margrethe Vestager, said: “On artificial intelligence, trust is a must, not a nice-to-have.” Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/5e8wcufu Cisco to invest $100 million to combat climate change Cisco has unveiled plans to invest $100 million over the next 10 years to help fight climate change, using the fund in its name for initiatives aimed at reducing emissions and educating communities. Cisco’s efforts will be global, and funding…

Telecom News

Deutsche Telekom invests in a blockchain platform Celo

By Aiste Kryzanovske April 22, 2021

Deutsche Telekom (DT) has announced that it is investing an undisclosed amount in the blockchain payment platform Celo. The company also purchased an unspecified amount of Celo digital tokens to be used on the platform. Deutsche Telekom will be the first telecommunications company to join the Celo Alliance for Prosperity. Celo is an open-source blockchain ecosystem that focuses on making decentralized financial (DeFi) systems and tools accessible via the smartphone. The Celo ecosystem includes a decentralized, proof-of-stake blockchain technology package, a native asset (CELO), two stablecoins (cUSD and cEUR) and the Celo Foundation Alliance of Prosperity. The company was launched in 2017 and has maintained a low profile in the crypto market. However, this has changed in recent months, in part due to the recent $20 million funding raised by blue venture capital firms, including Andreessen Horowitz. This move by DT represents their initial foray into and testing…

Telecom News

A quick roundup of the news in Telecoms | Week #13

By Aiste Kryzanovske April 2, 2021

MessageBird acquires 2 companies The cloud messaging platform, MessageBird, has announced the acquisition of two companies that will increase its customer engagement portfolio. The goal of MessageBird is to improve communications between companies and their customers. Their multi-channel technology aims to give customers the opportunity to communicate with the business in a way they like, rather than limiting the business to the currently-preferred method. Buying 24sessions and Hull provides MessageBird with even more possibilities. The company believes that consumers prefer to use messaging rather than voice calls and are proposing that businesses use this method of communication to cater to customers. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/9nedkjns ETSI published TR 103 639 for timeslicing The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), known for its universally accepted standards such as UMTS, 4G and TETRA, has published TR 103 639. The technical report describes a system and metrics for timeslice measurement methodologies for assessing the…

Telecom News

1&1 Drillisch signs a deal with Telefonica Deutschland

By Aiste Kryzanovske February 17, 2021

The independent German telecommunications company 1&1 Drillisch has announced that it has accepted Telefonica Deutschland’s improved national roaming offer. Drillisch said that if a roaming agreement were to be reached with Telefonica, it would retrospectively add $41 million to its 2020 earnings, which it would book in its 2021 fiscal year. Telefonica Deutschland and 1&1 Drillisch have agreed on the details of a new national roaming agreement after lengthy pricing disputes. Both sides claimed a positive result after the European Commission (EC) helped reach a compromise. The companies are expanding their long-term partnership by transforming the current MBA MVNO contract into a National Roaming Agreement (NRA) under the 2014 Telefónica Deutschland and E-Plus merger remedy framework. The parties are now seeking to complete the contractual details for the NRAs by mid-May 2021. Initially, the NRA includes a 5-year contract period that retroactively starts 1 July 2020 and…

Telecom News

Vodafone to invest in digital skills and education advancement

By Aiste Kryzanovske January 26, 2021

The Vodafone Foundation has announced an investment of €20 million to fund digital skills and education initiatives across Europe and the UK. It is expected that by 2025, the programs sponsored by this investment will reach 16 million learners. The programs run in partnership with charities and NGOs, and will allow people to develop their knowledge and skills in using digital technologies. The €20 million investment is said to be spread over the next five years. The program aims to reach millions of primary and secondary school learners, those who are not students, employed or in training, and the elderly. This announcement happened to coincide with International Education Day. According to Vodafone, countries such as Albania, the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Turkey and the UK will receive funding for advancing digital skills. Nick Read, CEO Vodafone Group, said: “Vodafone…

Telecom News

A quick roundup of the news in Telecoms | Week #2

By Aiste Kryzanovske January 15, 2021

Tele2 and Nokia to provide SA 5G core network Tele2 has partnered with Nokia to provide its domestic market with a standalone (SA) 5G core network prior to the country’s spectrum auction, which prohibits operators from using ZTE or Huawei infrastructure. Nokia’s triumph over Ericsson’s comes as the company undergoes a comprehensive restructuring in order to focus on key business areas and get back in the global 5G retail market. The operators stated that the contract also covers the installation of the SA 5G core and the facilities for the transmission of voice-over-5G in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. The deployment of the infrastructure is expected to start later in 2021. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/y5pxfu4l Telefónica has agreed to sell its tower portfolio The Spanish telecommunication giant Telefónica has come to the decision to sell its tower portfolio in Europe and Latin America to passive infrastructure specialist American Tower for €7.7…

Telecom News

Deutsche Telekom to sell its Dutch T-Mobile unit

By Aiste Kryzanovske January 12, 2021

It has been announced that Deutsche Telekom, a German telecommunications company, is looking to sell its Dutch subsidiary T-Mobile Netherlands for approximately €5-6 billion. The company is aiming to sell the Dutch mobile phone operator to private equity investors. In 2015, Deutsche Telekom was unsuccessful in trying to sell T-Mobile Netherlands in an attempt to reduce its debt and raise funds to help acquire spectrum for T-Mobile US. Six years ago, the company considered leaving the Dutch market and had seen interest from Liberty Global. Nonetheless, the potential sale did not go through and Liberty Global later merged the Ziggo cable unit with Vodafone Netherlands. Since then, the Dutch unit has grown. Instead of seeking another buyer, Deutsche Telekom decided to expand its operations in the country. In 2017, the company published a €190 million merger with Tele2’s local branch. At the time, Deutsche Telekom said it wanted to…

Telecom News

Nokia to lead Europe’s 6G initiative

By Aiste Kryzanovske December 28, 2020

The European Commission (EC) has appointed Nokia, a Finnish international telecommunications, information technology and consumer electronics company, to supervise Hexa-X, a primary 6G research project aimed at boosting the continent’s progress in developing the technology. The two-and-a-half-year Hexa-X initiative was funded by Horizon 2020, the EU’s research, and innovation program, and will start on January 1, 2021. The project is aimed at connecting the physical, digital and human worlds, firmly embedded in future wireless technologies. The project is led by Nokia, which coordinates the efforts, with Ericsson being assigned as the technical manager. The partners in the consortium are from academia and industry, including service providers, network providers and European research institutes. The partners include Orange, TIM, Telefonica, Intel and Siemens. The Finnish service provider said in a statement that it expects 6G to become commercially operational by 2030, following a normal ten-year intergenerational cycle and taking…