The Chinese tech company OPPO, currently the second-largest smartphone manufacturer in its home country after Huawei, has announced a comprehensive partnership agreement with the UK-based telecom giant Vodafone. Under the deal, Vodafone will become an OPPO partner and bring its full-range of 4G and 5G smartphones to retail and online channels in Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Romania, Turkey and the Netherlands. According to the announcement, the collaboration between the two companies will give customers more choice and accelerate 5G adoption in Vodafone’s international markets. Driven by strong growth ambitions, an innovative product portfolio and advanced 5G technology expertise, the leading Chinese smartphone brand has been very successful in its domestic market. With annual handset shipments of more than 100 million units, OPPO believes that it is “a natural partner for Vodafone’s leading gigabit network”. Alen Wu, Vice President and President of Global Sales at OPPO, said, “OPPO…
The Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), a non-profit industry organization representing mobile industry suppliers worldwide, has expanded its membership by welcoming nine new companies from the global 4G and 5G mobile ecosystem. The GSA said that it has so far accepted Approve-IT as a new ordinary member together with eight new associate members, including the French telecom regulator ARCEP and the Singaporean regulator IMDA. In March 2020, the association also extended its Executive Committee by adding ZTE as an executive member along with Ericsson, Huawei, Intel, Nokia, Qualcomm and Samsung. Joe Barrett, the President of the GSA, said, “The global mobile industry is not only highly competitive, it’s also highly collaborative. 5G doesn’t belong to one company or country; there is a whole ecosystem of regulators, vendors and operators who are working together to drive global harmonization of spectrum, innovation in networks and devices, and new use cases for 5G…
Verizon buys Zoom rival BlueJeans for less than $500 million Verizon Business has announced a deal to purchase enterprise-grade video conferencing platform BlueJeans, thereby expanding Verizon’s unified communications portfolio and improving its service for business customers. This acquisition shows that the company is also trying to capitalize on the current trend of remote employees making extensive use of online services such as Zoom, Slack and Microsoft during the pandemic. BlueJeans has more than 15,000 customers, including Facebook, IBM-owned Red Hat, ADP, Zillow and LinkedIn. The deal is worth USD 500 million and is expected to close in the second quarter of 2020. Read more at https://tinyurl.com/yd9qtfhg Apple’s new iPhone SE is surprisingly powerful for $399 Apple is launching iPhone SE 2020, the second generation of its cheapest smartphone in the iPhone lineup, priced at just USD 399. The iPhone SE runs on Apple’s latest A13 Bionic chip that enables great battery…
ITU platform to protect networks during Covid-19 The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has introduced the Global Network Resiliency Platform to help global networks remain “safer, stronger and more connected” in the face of increasing strain and growing demand during the coronavirus crisis. ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao said, “The new platform will assist governments and the private sector in ensuring that networks are kept resilient and telecommunication services are available to all.” Also, this platform will collect relevant information and expertise on actions that telecommunication policymakers and others in the regulatory community can use to ensure that their telecom networks serve the needs of their country. Read more at https://tinyurl.com/vam4enm Remote working triggers demand for chips, laptops, and network goods As more and more employees switch to remote work during the outbreak of coronavirus disease, the demand for laptops, networking goods and supply chain components has increased substantially. Therefore, electronics retailers and…
A towering success: Cellnex revenue tops €1bn Cellnex Telecom’s revenue for 2019 exceeded EUR 1 billion with 67.5 percent of total income coming from infrastructure services it provides to operators. The Spanish wireless infrastructure operator currently owns 36,471 operative sites in eight European countries and plans to add 28,000 more as a result of ongoing acquisition deals pending completion. Cellnex has also announced a partnership with Bouygues Telecom to help them deploy their 5G network. The two companies have agreed to create a joint venture (51 percent Cellnex and 49 percent Bouygues Telecom) that will deploy and operate a fiber network connecting infrastructure equipment across France. Read more at https://tinyurl.com/s6fmz4h Google plans to invest $10 billion in US offices and data centers in 2020 Google has unveiled its plans to invest more than USD 10 billion in offices and data centers across the United States in 2020. Google and Alphabet…
Ribbon launches Next Generation Intelligent Edge portfolio to accelerate enterprise migration to cloud services The US technology company Ribbon Communications has introduced its Next Generation Intelligent Edge portfolio that includes the new EdgeMarc 6000, the latest iteration of Ribbon’s modular platform for voice and data functions. The cloud solutions provider said that its products portfolio securely connects and enhances enterprise voice and data applications, including Microsoft Teams, while delivering service assurance, advanced analytics, security, policy and routing capabilities for cloud communications applications. Ribbon’s Next Generation Intelligent Edge portfolio delivers a comprehensive enterprise edge offering to service providers and enterprises. Read more at https://tinyurl.com/uz95gdj Early 5G smartphone market all about Samsung and Huawei According to the latest Strategy Analytics (SA) report, the demand for 5G smartphones turned out to be much higher than expected and reached 19 million units sold in 2019. Almost three-quarters of such deliveries were made by Huawei and…
British officials recommend role for China’s Huawei in 5G network UK officials have proposed allowing Chinese tech giant Huawei to play a limited role in the UK’s future 5G network, resisting calls from the US for a complete ban over fears of Chinese spying. Huawei will be kept out of the sensitive, data-heavy “core” parts of 5G infrastructure, but will be allowed to deploy its equipment in other parts of the network, according to sources speaking to Reuters. This recommendation comes ahead of a meeting of Britain’s National Security Council next week to decide how to deploy Huawei equipment. In addition, this proposal would satisfy Britain’s two largest telecoms operators, BT and Vodafone, which already use Huawei equipment and are against a total ban. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/szmovzy CityFibre buys FibreNation from debt-laden TalkTalk for £200 million Britain’s TalkTalk Telecom Group has agreed to sell its FibreNation full-fibre network business…
Even though fifth generation mobile communications technology is set to go mainstream, 4G, also known as LTE, isn’t going away any time soon. With this in mind, it is not surprising that manufacturers of telecom equipment continue to develop 4G-focused smartphone processors. US-based Qualcomm Technologies has launched three new Snapdragon mobile platforms aimed at 4G smartphone manufacturing companies. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G, 662 and 460 chipsets have been created to enhance user experiences across connectivity, gaming and entertainment applications. In a statement, the company said that these new mobile platforms provide high-speed 4G connectivity, deliver key Wi-Fi 6 features and integrated Bluetooth 5.1 with advanced audio via the Qualcomm FastConnect 6-series subsystems, support Dual-Frequency (L1 and L5) GNSS to improve location positioning accuracy and reliability, and are the first system-on-chip products to support Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) satellite positioning system. Qualcomm said the new Snapdragon platforms also…
Google Cloud partners with Fortinet, McAfee, Palo Alto and other vendors to bolster its security Google has announced new strategic partnerships with security vendors Fortinet, McAfee and Palo Alto Networks. Together with Fortinet, Google Cloud will provide a new reference architecture to connect facilities to Google Cloud with secure SD-WAN solutions, which makes Fortinet’s FortiWeb Cloud WAF available as-a-service on the platform. MacAfee will integrate its MVISION container security software on Google Cloud. The jointly developed Palo Alto Networks and Google solutions will help secure customers’ multi-cloud environments and will enhance threat detection capabilities. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/rx68bt5 UK plans to ban sales of locked mobile phones Ofcom, the UK’s telecoms regulator, has announced plans to ban the sale of locked mobile handsets to make it easier for consumers to switch networks. Virgin Mobile, O2, Sky, Three and some smaller carriers already offer unlocked phones, but the regulator wants other companies, including…
Telefonica Deutschland picks Nokia and Huawei for 5G network Mobile network provider Telefonica Deutschland has chosen Nokia and Huawei to build its 5G network in Germany. The company, also known under the O2 brand, plans to start building its 5G network in early 2020 and will use equipment from both vendors to power its next generation mobile networks. In a press release, Telefonica Deutschland said it expects to have 5G up and running in Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne and Frankfurt by the end of 2021. A year later, 30 cities with a population of 16 million would be covered. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/wczpm54 Xiaomi Redmi K30 launched in China to become the cheapest 5G smartphone Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has unveiled its first 5G handset under its budget brand Redmi. The Redmi K30 5G is powered by the latest Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 756G processor and provides integrated SA/NSA dual-mode 5G with the latest 7nm EUV and an integrated low-power consumption solution. Xiaomi…