Telecom News | Week #44: T Challenge, End of Vodafone Spain, Nokia’s Technology Strategy 2030, Samsung and O2 testing vRAN.
Significant strides are being made in Slovakia’s telecommunications sector with O2 Slovakia and Slovak Telekom finalizing an eagerly anticipated network sharing agreement. Ultimately expected to lower costs and enhance service quality, this move notably excludes Bratislava and Košice, with both operators maintaining their separate networks in these areas.
In an exciting leap forward for 5G technology in Europe, Ericsson and O2 Telefónica in Germany have joined forces to accomplish a remarkable feat in the development of 5G Cloud RAN technology. Their groundbreaking Proof of Concept (PoC) deployment at O2 Telefónica’s Wayra innovation hub in Munich showcased the immense capabilities of Ericsson’s first 5G Cloud RAN installation on the continent. The PoC utilized cutting-edge mmWave frequency and a centralized control unit (CU), achieving an impressive end-to-end speed of over 4 gigabits per second.
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…
Swedish vendor Ericsson has signed an agreement to provide a 5G “core” to Virgin Media O2, a new company established by a merger between Virgin Media and the mobile operator O2. Ericsson will build a VMO2 standalone 5G core, that will incorporate 4G and non-standalone 5G cores, to create dual-mode 5G core, as referred to by Ericsson. The vendor has been a supplier to mobile operator O2 UK for quite some time now. The previous deal between the two companies focused on an ongoing “network modernization program” that was introduced in June 2020. Since the older core used by O2 was also that of Ericsson, it was appropriate to continue with the same technology vendor. Moreover, the new agreement also allows Virgin Media O2 to provide a standalone 5G service. UK operators have based their 5G launches on a “non-standalone” architecture that allows the 5G RAN to revert…
The new UK joint venture between Liberty Global and Telefónica officially became operational on 1 June, merging the two household names to form Virgin Media O2 (VMO2). This joint venture has committed to providing a unique choice to consumers and has also promised to boost the UK economy. While, at the moment, the company is not changing any of its current services, later this year it plans to offer seamless broadband, entertainment and mobile services all in one place. The Liberty Global-Telefónica merger is devoted to investing at least £10bn in the UK over the next five years. This investment will help businesses further contribute to the UK Government’s goals of connectivity, upgrading infrastructure all around the country, creating stiffer competition and providing a wider variety of choices for customers. The merger instantly makes the new business one of the largest in the UK, with 47 million…
VCC Live partners with DIDWW VCC Live, a provider of innovative cloud-based contact center software for inbound, outbound and cross-channel contact centers, has announced a strategic partnership with global telecommunications operator DIDWW, which provides high quality VoIP and SIP trunking services to businesses and telecommunications operators around the world. As part of the partnership, VCC Live will take advantage of DIDWW’s extensive virtual telephone number coverage, which will allow VCC Lives’s contact center business to grow effectively in all geographic areas. DIDWW’s vast inventory of virtual phone numbers allows VCC Live to continue the rapid growth of their global business. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/xhu9xheb Microsoft collaborates with O2 UK Microsoft and O2 are developing a proof-of-concept investigation to determine the benefits of on-premises Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) inside a private 5G network, focusing on security and low latency. The possible benefits of this proposed architecture are noteworthy, combining secure, high-bandwidth…
Vodafone launches standalone 5G services in Germany Vodafone has announced the launch of its standalone 5G services in Germany. Vodafone Germany, working with Ericsson, Qualcomm, and Oppo, has upgraded around 1000 mobile sites in the 3.5 GHz range, switching them to an independent 5G core network that no longer relies on 4G. Vodafone claims that “latency times of 10 to 15 milliseconds are possible – that’s as fast as the human nervous system.” This initiative will deliver the SA 5G experience to 170 cities and municipalities, including major cities such as Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich and Düsseldorf. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/5dvhudhr Nokia to supply China Mobile with software-defined networking technology Nokia gained a major cloud win when China Mobile chose the vendor to supply software-defined network (SDN) technology for its public cloud service expansion. As part of the transaction, Nokia will provide its Nuage Networks Virtualized Cloud Services, that include…
