US carriers to address airline safety concerns over C-band spectrum In an open letter, AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile US and UScellular agreed to take voluntary steps to allay worries about aviation safety and allow these telecom companies to fully utilize their C-band spectrum. According to the letter, the steps are intended to minimize operational impact on C-Band operations and support full-power deployments across the C-Band spectrum. In the past, airlines have resisted the introduction of C-band spectrum for 5G services due to concerns over interference with aircraft altimeters. To assure the secure coexistence of C-band frequencies and radio altimeters, which are more than 220 MHz apart, the FCC has issued licensing and technical standards. Read the full article. Deutsche Telekom now owns a 50.2% stake in T-Mobile US According to CEO Tim Höttges, Deutsche Telekom now owns 50.2% of T-Mobile US, completing a long-term objective initially stated at the company’s 2021…
Vodafone Germany to cut 1,300 jobs in realignment efforts Vodafone Germany has revealed intentions to cut 1,300 positions in management, double functions, and areas with no direct customer interaction as part of a realignment and return to growth effort. In addition, the operator intends to establish 400 new customer-facing positions, resulting in a total loss of 900 positions. The decision comes on the heels of a 1.8% year-on-year decline in fiscal Q3 service income due to client losses in Germany, which is likely to be a special focus of cost-cutting efforts. Telecom companies such as BT and Orange Business have also recently announced layoffs. Read the full article. Five9 launches AI Summary tool for contact centers Five9, a cloud contact center service provider, has released Five9 Agent Assist 2.0 with AI Summary, driven by OpenAI’s language model technology. The solution produces summary highlights of client call recordings in seconds, decreasing…
Premium smartphones account for over half of global handset revenues in 2022 According to Counterpoint Research, higher-priced smartphones – those costing more than $600 – accounted for 55% of entire handset revenue in 2022. This is the first time that premium market revenue has accounted for more than half of the worldwide smartphone market. In 2022, revenue attributed to handsets costing $1,000 or more increased by 38%. Apple did well in the premium market, rising 6% year on year and accounting for three-quarters of overall sales in the sector. With more OEMs producing foldable devices in the luxury market, Android smartphones might experience a fresh wave of growth in 2023. Read the full article. Vonage launches no-code video conferencing solution for businesses With the introduction of Vonage’s Meetings API, companies now have a developer-free method of integrating video conferencing into their websites or platforms. The no-code, customizable API is designed…
T-Mobile to acquire Mint Mobile for up to $1.35bn T-Mobile stated on Wednesday that it intends to purchase Ka’ena Corporation and its subsidiaries, including Mint Mobile, for up to $1.35 billion in cash and stock. The acquisition also includes wireless provider Ultra Mobile and wholesaler Plum. T- Mobile’s decision to pay a premium for the acquisition is thought to have been influenced by Ryan Reynolds, who fronts most of Mint Mobile’s marketing and holds an ownership stake in the company. According to CEO Mike Sievert, Mint Mobile’s innovative marketing approach, led by Reynolds, will be adapted to other sectors of T-Mobile. Reynolds is required to remain with the company for an unspecified amount of time under the terms of the agreement. Read the full article. Meta Platforms to layoff an additional 10,000 employees Meta Platforms is laying off 10,000 employees as part of its continued attempts to improve its financial…
Salesforce launches a generative AI CRM technology The world’s first generative AI customer relationship management (CRM) platform, Einstein GPT, has been released by Salesforce. The system will provide personalized content for interactions across sales, service, marketing, commerce, and IT using real-time data from the Salesforce Data Cloud. Clients may integrate data with OpenAI’s cutting-edge AI models or employ external models within Salesforce CRM to create dynamic content that responds to user requirements. In order to invest in high-potential businesses and support ethical, reliable, and generative AI, Salesforce Ventures has also established a $250 million Generative AI Fund. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/2vu9vhnn Dish Wireless receives FCC permission to test T-Mobile’s 5G spectrum Dish Wireless will perform 5G testing using part of T-Mobile’s low-band spectrum before determining whether to acquire the spectrum later this year. The Federal Communications Commission approved the testing, which will be conducted in Arizona until September 30. Dish…
NTT DoCoMo partners with Ericsson and Keysight on 6G NTT DoCoMo has announced the expansion of its experimental 6G trials, for which it has teamed with Ericsson and Keysight. The collaboration with Ericsson will concentrate on new 6G wireless interfaces for frequencies ranging from 6 to 15 GHz, as well as the sub-TeraHertz band, which encompasses frequencies exceeding 100 GHz. The collaboration with Keysight will put ultra-wideband communications across sub-THz frequencies to the test. DoCoMo has also announced that it is working on a RAN intelligent controller that will be interoperable with base station equipment from several Open RAN manufacturers. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/bdzy6j9f Huawei showcases its commitment to green technology During MWC2023, Huawei sponsored the European Carrier Executives Roundtable, where Zhou Yu, Huawei’s network consulting and system integration domain president, addressed Huawei’s value proposition and innovative techniques in the green target network domain. The observations and remarks emphasized Huawei’s…
Sneak peek into Mobile World Congress 2023 Mobile World Congress, Europe’s largest telecommunications trade event, kicks off next week, and the major European carrier organizations have provided an early glimpse at what they will display. While many companies are selling and presenting various topics at the event, the primary themes appear to be the metaverse and 5G, with few practical use cases and some unique concepts such as how operators are exploiting APIs on their networks. The show might also include high-resolution ideas of driverless cars and self-driving drones. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/bdhhndbn Ericsson to cut 1,400 jobs in Sweden Ericsson, a telecoms equipment vendor, has revealed its intentions to decrease its staff in Sweden by around 1,400 individuals as part of massive cost-cutting initiatives. The decision followed an agreement reached with trade unions to conduct a voluntary redundancy program. Ericsson presently employs around 15,000 individuals in Sweden and 100,000…
Telinta and Skyetel to hold a webinar for ITSPs Cloud-based VoIP switching and billing solutions provider, Telinta, has partnered with VoIP services provider, Skyetel, to offer a webinar to Internet Telephony Service Providers (ITSPs). The webinar will address topics such as delivering popular VoIP services without establishing infrastructure and providing mobile VoIP services to both Android and Apple iOS consumers via brandable mobile softphones and other solutions. The webinar will also showcase unique deals available from both companies for new consumers. The event will take place on March 14, 2023, at 11 a.m. Eastern Time (GMT-5). Interested parties can register on Telinta’s website. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/3a25kmv7 DT to lead development of European Quantum Communication Infrastructure The European Commission has chosen Deutsche Telekom (DT) to oversee the creation of a new high-security communications network, the European Quantum Communication Infrastructure (Euro QCI). The project intends to establish Europe as a leader…
Broadvoice recognized as a top UCaaS provider by TrustRadius In its Winter 2023 “Best of” awards, TrustRadius named Broadvoice, a provider of hosted voice and unified communications as a service (UCaaS), as one of the top three products for Best Relationship, Best Value for Price and Best Feature Set in the UCaaS category. The awards are based on key data and unbiased user ratings from July 1 to December 31, 2022. The b-hive unified communications technology from Broadvoice offers virtual contact centers, cloud PBX, UC, collaboration tools and the next-generation b-hive Communicator for employees to use in streamlining communications and collaboration capabilities. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/237r7ms2 Zoho announces their Trident UC platform Trident, a new platform for collaboration, productivity and communication experiences, has been unveiled by Zoho Corporation. Trident provides users with a single platform and lessens tool ambiguity by bringing together mail, messaging, audio/video conversations, calendar, tasks, and more…
BT partners with Kyndryl for cloud migration of legacy mainframe apps BT has collaborated with Kyndryl to migrate its mainframe applications that underpin its legacy copper business and broadband cloud offerings. BT Digital, the division in charge of the company’s digital transformation, estimates that by 2026, the transfer will have reduced mainframe operational costs and energy usage by 70%. This will result in estimated annual savings of $23 million. The company’s cloud move will allow it to serve a smaller number of clients who still utilize their copper network and will enable BT to extract more value from the data housed in its older applications. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/5t48r8hj Orange and Telenet wholesale deal gives hope of VOO acquisition approval Orange had planned to buy a 75% share in the Belgian operator VOO in 2021, but the company struggled to persuade authorities that the transaction would not hurt competition. A…