Huawei launches HarmonyOS Huawei has officially released its HarmonyOS operating system for all devices. It looks like HarmonyOS will be available on almost all Huawei devices in the coming years, and the company will describe it as an upgrade. As a next-gen smart device operating system, HarmonyOS provides a common language for connecting and collaborating across different devices, giving users a more user-friendly and secure experience. The OS uses distributed technology to meet the diverse needs of all the different devices in a single system, allowing for flexible deployment. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/mj8j4j99 Vodafone and CityFibre expand their partnership Vodafone and CityFibre have expanded their partnership to offer Vodafone Ethernet services for business customers. In this new partnership, Vodafone will use CityFibre’s Ethernet infrastructure to provide local access to its customers. Therefore, businesses in 12 UK cities and towns will have an alternative and cost-effective High Bandwidth Ethernet service. Under…
Five of Europe’s leading mobile operators – Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefónica, Telia and Vodafone – have teamed up to update and launch a new industry-wide Eco Rating system and motivate vendors to minimize the impact that their devices have on the environment. The Eco Rating labelling scheme is designed to supply detailed and accurate information to retailers on the effects that manufacturing, usage, transportation and disposal of smartphones have on the environment. This Eco Rating will encourage operators and customers to rate phones more extensively and underline the need for more sustainable electronic devices. From June 2021, mobile operators will start introducing Eco Rating at points of sale in 24 European countries, including the UK. The labeling system will label phones with scores to show how ecological and environment friendly the appliances are in their lifecycle. The score will be from 0 to 100, the higher the score,…
T-Mobile US, an American wireless network operator, has announced a partnership with Zyter, a provider of cloud-based, software as a service (SaaS) digital health products. The companies are partnering to deliver virtual healthcare solutions to healthcare organizations and their patients across the US, including telehealth and remote patient monitoring and care team collaboration. The alliance comes at a time of high demand for virtual healthcare. Since the start of the pandemic, 51% of US residents have expressed concern about visiting hospitals and other healthcare facilities. The partnership aims to make virtual care accessible to more people in order to improve patient outcomes, lower readmission hospital rates and improve patient wellbeing. This agreement will serve healthcare organizations in providing remote and secure communications between patients and health care teams in order to monitor, diagnose, and remotely treat patients wherever they are, making use of the T-Mobile 4G and 5G…
Spain approves entry for MWC participants The organizers of the Mobile World Congress 2021, which will take place in Barcelona this summer, have received much-needed good news from the Spanish government. Spain currently bans “non-essential” travel to and from non-EU/Schengen countries. But the GCMA, which manages the MWC, has announced that people who have registered for the event will be classified as “highly skilled workers” and therefore will be excused from this restriction. The GSMA intends to provide the Spanish authorities with details of all registrants and registrants will also be provided with a confirmation of participation. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/35z7nub5 Lumen signs a deal with T-Mobile US Lumen Technologies has taken a major step in expanding its latest edge computing service with a new deal with T-Mobile US. This agreement will allow Lumen to receive access to the operator’s 5G network to reach more of the company’s customers. The…
IBM and Telefónica Argentina (Movistar) have announced a live, fully operational Open RAN network that will act as a proof of concept (PoC) for the delivery of commercial mobile services to the city of Puerto Madryn, Argentina, covering 81,000 urban residents. The launch allows for the testing of live, commercial traffic and provides an early proof point for the technology as it continues to develop. IBM has led the system integration process, assembling components and systems from a number of software and hardware vendors, including Altiostar, Red Hat, Quanta, Gigatera and Kontron, from pre-integration all the way through to full deployment. Open RAN is a state-of-the-art radio access network technology that enables interoperability for transforming a radio network into an open cloud environment in which multiple vendors can participate to create a better and more efficient service network. When using Open RAN, operators can combine hardware and software…
Mobile World Congress 2021 to require a negative Covid test for entry GSMA, the organization hosting the Mobile World Congress 2021, has announced a health and safety plan for its event. Of course, requirements include doing all the usual things such as wearing masks, washing hands, keeping distance, and following the proper sneezing and coughing esthetics, but there are more specific safety outlines. One of the most important stipulations in place will be the requirement of proof of a negative Covid test, which will be fully managed by the MWC app. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/5ssd8d8u Intel to tackle data privacy with DARPA Intel has become a part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as a research partner to help run its Data Projection in Virtual Environments (DPRIVE) program. This program is seeking ways to improve fully homomorphic encryption (FHE), that allows the processing of encrypted data without the…
Google and Intel team up on 5G and edge network solutions Google Cloud has announced that it is working with Intel to establish reference architectures and integrated solutions for communications providers to help them deploy 5G and edge network solutions. To achieve the cloud native 5G goals, the partnership encompasses a full suite of telecommunications, along with application providers, carriers and communications service providers, hardware vendors and global telecommunications networks, with the goal of the cost and time to market required by the telecommunications industry. Intel is already the most powerful participant in the data center hardware market, but is keen to repeat that success with edge infrastructure. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/34fv5aps Deutsche Telekom tests solar panels to power mobile sites Deutsche Telekom (DT) has announced that in the second half of 2020, the company was testing the use of solar panels to power its mobile infrastructure. In a new…
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…
Verizon Business announces a new bundle Verizon Business has announced a new bundle offer for small businesses covering security, broadband and LTE services. As more small businesses are moving to virtual settings, Verizon Business now offers the Complete Business Bundle. With this new offering, small businesses receive a 15% discount on monthly service fees with a 50 Mbps tier. LTE Business Internet, which includes a router as part of the package, is giving businesses the ability to connect to 4G LTE using a plug-and-play installation. The Complete Business Bundle also includes One Talk desk phones with more than 50 business-class features and dedicated 24/7 technical support. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/y4xy7nyw DT and Samsung succeed in standalone 5G Deutsche Telekom and Samsung have successfully completed the SA 5G test in Pilsen, Czech Republic. Together the companies have tested the efficiency of Samsung’s MU-MIMO technology on Deutsche Telekom’s network and recorded excellent…
Nokia and China Mobile trial 5G RAN AI Nokia and China Mobile have announced that they have successfully tested Nokia’s RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) over China Mobile’s 5G network. As alluded to in the name of the Nokia product, the focus is less on RAN itself, but more on its automated control, thereby eliminating expensive human labor from the process. Pasi Toivanen, Head of Nokia’s Edge Cloud Platform, said: “We are excited to have worked with China Mobile on this project to advance RAN network intelligence.” Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/yxu3komy Deutsche Telecom’s Access 4.0 FTTH is live Deutsche Telekom has introduced its Access 4.0 platform to the market, with the first customer using the fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) line in Stuttgart, Germany. The transition to more cost-effective and flexible distributed networks has taken many years, but Deutsche Telekom’s deployment of Access 4.0 is proof that it is serious about implementing this…