BT is opening a robotics research facility BT Labs in Suffolk, England, will open a 5,000-square-foot robotics research laboratory to create robotic solutions for telecom and civil engineering. The lab is the first of its kind in the United Kingdom. BT anticipates that academics at the new facility will collaborate with colleges and utilities to create and test technologies that will advance the pace of BT’s fiber rollout as well as the upgrading of the power and water providers’ subterranean and overhead networks. The researchers will concentrate on issues such as installing new fiber infrastructure without digging up roadways and sidewalks, providing trenchless infrastructure utilizing robotic locomotion and excavation techniques, and more. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/dm6ujvnz Cisco powers AT&T managed SASE offering AT&T is adding a new product to its worldwide, managed Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) portfolio. AT&T SASE with Cisco is an unified network and security management solution…
T-Mobile US is experimenting with fiber broadband by launching a symmetrical gigabit fiber service in New York City. The service is offered for a fixed monthly fee, but the prices have not yet been announced. This service, which offers 940Mbps upload and download rates as well as a WiFi 6 router, is now being tested in selected Manhattan apartment buildings. The company is undertaking a very restricted trial with a third-party supplier to offer residential internet using fiber-optic lines from that partner rather than deploying its own lines. T-Mobile did not reveal the identity of its local partner. The decision to collaborate with a local broadband provider is consistent with T-Mobile’s well-known practice of leasing rather than constructing fiber for its cell sites. Because T-Mobile is not installing new fiber connections but rather utilizing those that are already in place, initial expenses are kept low, and T-Mobile is…
The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced that it will fund new broadband rollouts across the country through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF). The FCC has announced its readiness to give the green light to more than $311 million in funding for the provision of broadband in 36 states. A total of 48 providers have been authorized for funding, and the FCC has noted that this financing will help nearly 200,000 homes and businesses in 36 states get access to gigabit speeds over the next ten years. Companies on that list include 3E8 Broadband Solutions, 4-County Fiber LLC, Aeneas Communications, Allen’s TV Cable Service Inc., Cincinnati Bell, Consolidated Communications, Cox Communications and more. Additionally, the FCC has issued a statement about its steps to increase oversight in the RDOF program. The Commission has stated that it will not approve of any service provider participating in…
BT, the UK’s largest telecoms and network provider, has launched hollow core fiber trials at the BT Labs in Adastral Park, Ipswich, in a joint venture with Lumenisity, the University of Southampton’s spin-off company and Mavenir, the Open Radio Access Network (O- RAN) mobile carrier. The research is being carried out at BT’s research and engineering facilities, with the researchers using a 10-kilometer-long hollow-core fiber cable made by Lumenisity. This state-of-the-art network cable has a hollow, air-filled center that extends through the entirety of the cable. The hollow core fiber will be tested for a myriad of applications, such as the possible benefits to 5G networks and highly secure communications such as Quantum Key Distribution (QKD). Reducing the latency of hollow fiber light could provide immense benefits, including high-frequency trading and reduced mobile network costs. This joint venture has revealed that the usage of hollow core fiber can…
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…
Ever since VoIP disrupted the telecom sector, things have never been the same. In today’s fast track world everyone is familiar with this technology. Maybe not by name, but certainly with the use of it. By using VoIP with a capable Internet connection, you can call anyone, anywhere in the world, without paying your network service provider for the call. Starting to sound familiar, right? Today, VoIP is the dominant force in telecoms and continues to grow in influence. VoIP is becoming more and more valued by the companies requiring communications, which basically includes every company in existence today. It is predicted that the VoIP market will grow by 12% between 2019 and 2025. All thanks to its low cost, decentralization and extensive capacity. It is clear that VoIP is adapting to the cosmopolitan era that Immanuel Kant philosophized about. It is clear – VoIP advancement continues to strengthen its…
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…
Vodafone and Nokia test 100G PON tech Nokia’s new technology has been tested for the first time by Vodafone in Germany. The prototype used a single 25G laser and DSP technology developed at Nokia Bell Labs to create the single wavelength 100G PON transmission. Gavin Young, Head of Vodafone’s Fixed Access Center of Excellence, said the 100G PON is 40 times the capacity of today’s GPON networks and 10 times the capacity of the XGS-GPON. The 100G PON enables flexible tariffs and operates by grouping modems using a methodology similar to that already used in cable networks, suggesting that this cable network experience can help to better evaluate and take advantage of the new PON technology. Read more: https://tinyurl.com/xpai96uz Spectrum Enterprise leverages Cisco Meraki’s cloud platform Spectrum Enterprise is leveraging a new managed network solution based on Cisco’s Meraki cloud platform. Spectrum Enterprise’s Managed Network Edge (MNE) was designed to…
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…
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…

