On July 30, 2021, Ariane 5, a European heavy-lift space launch vehicle developed and operated by Arianespace for the European Space Agency, successfully launched its first flight in nearly a year. The aim of the mission is to deploy a pair of geostationary communications satellites for commercial operators in Brazil and France. One of the satellites, called the Star One D2, will be operated by Embratel, a Brazilian telecommunications company. The Star One D2 will give Embratel the ability to expand its broadband coverage to new regions in Central and South America, supply Internet access to those in under-serviced areas, and increase X-band payload for government use in the Atlantic region. The second satellite, named Eutelsat Quantum, which was developed as part of an ESA partnership with satellite operator Eutelsat and major manufacturer Airbus, has an active antenna, a first for the European commercial telecommunications industry. This revolutionary…
Telecommunications giant Orange and technology company SmartKey have created the first Blockchain of Thing (BoT) SIM card to implement access control and other smart city functions on a mobile phone. Thanks to the new partnership, access control, smart bikes, utilities and other smart city elements will soon be available to manage through blockchain technology. The partnership is based on the SmartKey pilot program “Rescue without Barriers”, which allows the Olsztyn city rescue services in Poland to have instant access to each safe area and building in their district using blockchain. The technology enables hospital barriers and other gates to automatically unlock and open for rescue vehicles, thereby reducing response times. This is one example of many possible access control features based on blockchain and connectivity in the licensed operator’s band, setting the scene for Orange as the first global operator to use blockchain to promote the smart cities of…
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…
Singtel, a Singaporean telecommunications conglomerate, and its Australian subsidiary Optus have expanded their 5G ecosystems by adding Amazon Web Services (AWS) Outposts to their portfolio of hybrid cloud technologies from hyperscale cloud providers in their respective multi-access edge compute (MEC) platforms. With Amazon Web Services Outpost, MEC will power 5G solutions such as robotics, drones, autonomous vehicles and artificial intelligence to function with very little latency, and closer to end-users. Companies can access MECs with AWS Outposts from the nearest Singtel site, allowing them to seamlessly manage their applications that utilize AWS tools and benefit from extremely low latency data processing. Furthermore, Singtel may optionally install the MEC with AWS Outposts at the customer’s site for testing, in the case where the customer wishes to keep confidential data on its premises. Bill Chang, CEO of group enterprise at Singtel said its partnership with AWS will increase the…
CallTower delivers Native Microsoft Teams Cloud Contact Center CallTower, a global provider of cloud-based, business-class unified communications and collaboration solutions, announced that it is offering a Native Microsoft Teams Cloud contact center through its strategic partner Five9. The integration of Five9 and Microsoft Teams enhances the customer experience by leveraging the collaboration capabilities of the Teams platform and integrating it into the Five9 Intelligent Cloud Contact Center solution. In addition, Five9 recently announced their CallTower “US Reseller of the Year 2020” initiative as part of the Five9 2020 Global Partner Awards. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/yy8klgy5 Cellnex wants to acquire Hutchison towers The Spanish operator Cellnex is eyeing the acquisition of CK Hutchison’s entire European tower portfolio for over $10 billion. It was first reported that CK Hutchison was looking to sell a smaller stake in its European tower unit back in July, but Cellnex plans to buy the whole package…
Deutsche Telekom reaches a wholesale deal with Telefónica Deutsche Telekom and Telefonica have reached a wholesale FTTH deal. These telecom rivals extended their partnership that was launched in 2013, which allowed Telefónica to purchase VDSL lines from Deutsche Telekom. The renewed agreement has been extended for 10 more years, and now covers FTTH lines as well. This is a big opportunity for Telefónica Germany, as it is one of the smaller players in the fixed broadband market in the country. By using Deutsche Telekom’s fiber network, Telefónica has set up a clear path for itself to be an important participant in the growing ultra-fast broadband market. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/y6985zh9 Telia sells Telia Carrier On Tuesday, the Swedish company Telia announced that it was selling its international carrier business to Swedish pension funds for $1.1 billion. Polhem Infra’s acquisition of Telia Carrier is expected to be completed in 2021, when…
As 5G technology continues to mature, leading global wireless carriers are competing to be the first to advance from the non-standalone (NSA) mode of 5G, in which a 4G LTE core is combined with 5G capabilities, to a standalone architecture (SA) 5G network. T-Mobile US, one of the largest carriers providing wireless voice, messaging and data services in the United States, has announced the launch of its SA 5G network. The operator claims to be the first in the world with nationwide coverage using this next-generation wireless technology. In a news release, T-Mobile said that the launch expands its 5G coverage by 30 percent and will cover nearly 250 million people in more than 7,500 cities and towns throughout the US. With faster speeds, lower latency and huge connectivity capabilities, SA 5G signifies the launch of a 5G core network, ending the reliance on legacy LTE architecture. T-Mobile said SA…
Openreach adopts Nokia’s 10Gbps FTTP broadband kit for the UK The Finnish telecom equipment manufacturer Nokia has announced that Openreach will deploy its next-generation fiber solutions. This will help meet Openreach’s target to bring ultra-fast and reliable broadband access to 20 million homes across the UK by the mid-to-late 2020s. Clive Selley, CEO of Openreach, said, “This new digital platform will help our economy to bounce back more quickly from the COVID-19 pandemic – enabling people to continue work from home, and millions of businesses to operate seamlessly online for decades to come.” This supplier agreement also marks a shift away from reliance on Huawei equipment for the UK’s largest broadband networks. Read more at https://tinyurl.com/yb6cj6jn Google and Apple’s joint COVID-19 contact tracing API now available to health authorities Apple and Google have released the first public version of their jointly developed API for COVID-19 tracing apps. This software will enable public health authorities to…
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…
Apple now owns Intel’s mobile modem business Intel, a leader in the semiconductor industry, has completed the sale of the majority of its smartphone modem business to Apple. The company said this transaction enables it to focus on developing 5G network technology while maintaining the ability to create modems for non-smartphone applications, such as PCs, Internet of Things (IoT) devices and autonomous vehicles. Apple now uses Qualcomm for 4G LTE and 5G modems for iPhones. With this acquisition, Apple is planning to develop its own modems for smartphones in 2021. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/rqmu724 Orange unveils new five-year grand plan Orange, a French multinational telecommunications corporation, has introduced “Engage 2025”, its new strategy that follows on from the Essentials 2020 plan launched in 2015. The corporation has revealed its goals for the coming years, emphasizing that its business model will be guided by social and environmental responsibility. Considering the operator’s business…