Editor’s Note: RCR Wireless News goes all in for “Throwback Thursdays,” tapping into our archives to resuscitate the top headlines from the past. Fire up the time machine, put on the sepia-tinted shades, set the date for #TBT and enjoy the memories!
Verizon makes mmWave 5G New Radio call
Earlier this month, inside a Nokia facility in Murray Hill, N.J., the network infrastructure vendor worked with Verizon and Qualcomm to complete what is being billed as the first over-the-air call based on 3GPP’s non-standalone 5G New Radio specification and using licensed millimeter wave spectrum. Verizon, based on its acquisition of licenses previously held by XO Communications, has licensed millimeter wave spectrum holdings in the 28 GHz and 39 GHz bands. This test used 28 GHz spectrum, according to Verizon spokesman John O’Malley, and transmitted a 4K video stream. “With the bandwidth 5G provides on millimeter wave spectrum, we felt 4K video was the best application to showcase the technology versus an over-the-top voice call,” O’Malley said in a statement to RCR Wireless News. On the network side, the test used a Nokia AirScale baseband and radio, AirFrame server and AirScale Cloud RAN equipped with standard-compliant software. Qualcomm provided a prototype smartphone form factor device that supports millimeter wave spectrum, which the chipmaker debuted in September 2017. … Read more
Cyber attacks disrupts Olympic network
As athletes battle it out on the rinks and slopes of the Pyeongchang Olympics, a quieter fight is underway on Olympic networks. The “Olympic Destroyer” attack has reportedly caused disruptions to the event’s Wi-Fi network and took down the official web site just as events were getting underway. The Guardian first reported technical issues on the Olympic network during the opening ceremonies, which were later confirmed by Olympic officials to have been caused by a cyber attack. Web site users were unable to access information or print tickets for 12 hours and the Wi-Fi in the Olympic stadium wasn’t working; The Guardian also said that televisions and internet service at the main press center were also affected. Cisco’s Talos Security blog said that according to its analysis, the attack was aimed specifically at disruption rather than information-gathering, adding that “the malware author knew a lot of technical details of the Olympic Game infrastructure such as usernames, domain name, server names and obviously passwords.” “Disruption is the clear objective in this type of attack and it leaves us confident in thinking that the actors behind this were after embarrassment of the Olympic committee during the opening ceremony,” Talos researchers Warren Mercer and Paul Rascagneres wrote. … Read more
Broadcom pursues Qualcomm
A Qualcomm-Broadcom marriage could be hammered out on Valentines Day, according to published reports — or Qualcomm could once again reject Broadcom’s proposal. Broadcom continues its quest to acquire Qualcomm with the announcement today that it has lined up the necessary funding to cover the cash portion of the proposed $120 billion purchase. Broadcom has signed agreements with a dozen financial institutions to cover $100 billion of the transaction, or $60 per share of its $82 per share offer for Qualcomm. The two companies are expected to meet this week to discuss Broadcom’s proposal, with the meeting planned for Wednesday according to Reuters and CNBC. According to a letter to Qualcomm Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors Paul Jacobs which Broadcom sent last Thursday and posted Friday, Broadcom said that it offered to meet with Qualcomm over the weekend but that Qualcomm wanted to put the meeting off until Tuesday at the earliest — after both companies are scheduled to meet with their respective proxy advisor firms. … Read more
Debating CBRS operation rules
The 3.5 GHz band is seen globally as a 5G band and, in the U.S., as a key to providing private LTE as well as 5G. As the U.S. Federal Communications Commission considers rules to allow incumbent users of the 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) band, telecom industry stakeholders are pressing the FCC to finalize rules governing shared access to the spectrum in a way that protects incumbent users while facilitating operator investment. T-Mobile US has been particularly vocal in its calls on the FCC to take action on not only CBRS rules, but also on auctioning licenses for millimeter wave spectrum in the 24 GHz, 28 GHz, 37 GHz, 39 GHz and 47 GHz bands. In a Feb. 8 filing with the FCC, T-Mobile US’ Steve Sharkey, vice president of government affairs, technology and engineering policy, made the case that regulatory action related to the 3.5 GHz band will “help preserve U.S. leadership in the race to deploy 5G.” … Read more
SpaceX launches test satellites, gets stamp of approval from FCC chair
Elon Musk’s SpaceX wants to use satellites to provide broadband internet service. And the plan this week got a key endorsement from U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai. In a statement, Pai said satellite-based broadband services like what’s proposed by SpaceX are the type of “innovative technologies” needed to “bridge America’s digital divide. Satellite technology can help reach Americans who live in rural or hard-to-serve places where fiber optic cables and cell towers do not reach. And it can offer more competition where terrestrial internet access is already available.” Pai called on the other four FCC commissioners to join him in supporting the plan. The two test satellites are a secondary payload on a launch planned for Saturday, the primary purpose of which is to put an imaging satellite into orbit for the Spanish government, according to reports and filings with the FCC. … Read more
US intelligence officials warn against use of Huawei equipment
Don’t use Huawei products. That was the message U.S. intelligence officials gave this week in testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee. “We’re deeply concerned about the risks of allowing any company or entity that is beholden to foreign governments that don’t share our values to gain positions of power inside our telecommunications networks,” FBI Director Chris Wray said. “That provides the capacity to exert pressure or control over our telecommunications infrastructure. It provides the capacity to maliciously modify or steal information. And it provides the capacity to conduct undetected espionage.” NSA Director Michael Rogers added, “This is a challenge I think that is only going to increase, not lessen over time for us. You need to look long and hard at companies like this.” Based on the information leaked out of the agency by Edward Snowden, the NSA conducted an operation dubbed Shotgiant, which resulted in U.S. intelligence operatives hacking into Huawei source code to conduct surveillance. As the New York Times reported in 2014, “The agency pried its way into the servers in Huawei’s sealed headquarters in Shenzhen…It obtained information about the workings of the giant routers and complex digital switches that Huawei boasts connect a third of the world’s population, and monitored communications of the company’s top executives.” According to reporting, as well as the documents Snowden made public, the NSA hacked into Huawei’s networking equipment “so that when the company sold equipment to other countries–including both allies and nations that avoid buying America products–the NSA could roam through their computer and telephone networks to conduct surveillance.” To put that another way, the agencies that conclusively hacked into Huawei equipment to conduct cyber espionage are warning against using Huawei equipment because it may be used by the Chinese to conduct cyber espionage. … Read more
Check out the RCR Wireless News Archives for more stories from the past.
