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 those sepia-tinted shades, set the date for #TBT and enjoy the memories!
Vodafone confirms talks to merge UK operations with Three UK
Vodafone Group confirmed that it is in discussions with Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings in relation to a possible combination of Vodafone UK and Three UK. In a release, Vodafone said that the potential transaction would involve both companies combining their U.K. businesses, with Vodafone owning 51% and CK Hutchison owning 49% of the combined entity. Vodafone also said that a deal to create a new telecoms group would be key, given the huge costs of rolling out and maintaining new 5G network infrastructure in the country. “The U.K. Government rightly sees 5G as transformational for the economy and society and critical to the UK becoming more competitive in an increasingly digital world. The conditions to ensure thriving competition in the market need to be nurtured, otherwise the U.K. is at risk of losing the opportunity to be a 5G leader. As [telecom regulator] Ofcom has identified, some operators in the U.K.—Vodafone UK and Three UK —lack the necessary scale to earn their cost of capital,” the telco said. … Read more
T-Mobile US wants to get a jump on new 2.5 GHz use
T-Mobile US has asked the Federal Communications Commission to allow the carrier to immediately use of hundreds of 2.5 GHz licenses across the U.S. to add more 5G bandwidth to its existing 2.5 GHz deployments, while the agency does its final review before officially granting the carrier those licenses. The approximately 2,000 licenses across 45 states are part of the more than 7,000 new licenses that T-Mo got for a song (relatively speaking) in the recently wrapped 2.5 GHz auction. Now the carrier wants to jump on using that new spectrum as quickly as possible, given that it is already operating 5G nationwide in that band. T-Mo made the unusual request for Special Temporary Authority (STA) to use the spectrum during the post-auction period when the FCC is reviewing long-form applications but has not yet formally granted the licenses to winning bidders. This period can last several months; T-Mo has asked for the use of the spectrum for up to 60 days. … Read more
Orange sees Open RAN as part of larger AI/ML ambitions
Orange has made large-scale commitments to deploy Open RAN systems across its network footprint over the coming decade. Ahead of large-scale deployments, the operator has built an experimental network in Lannion, France, that uses Open RAN along with a cloud-native approach to 5G with a focus on using AI and ML for network automation. To this idea of a “plug-and-playable” Open RAN system as part of a cloud-native network, one point of the value proposition is that operators can swap out vendors hardware and software for another standards-based option that may be better-suited to an organization’s needs. But what’s the reality of doing this? “If you have set up a cloud infrastructure that is really capable to host in a very flexible way very different CNFs,” Orange’s Simon said, “if you have succeeded to put in place the right automation framework, and if you manage your network already with AI and so on, this means to some extent, you have created a lot of flexibility in your network.” … Read more
AT&T CTO strategy update: ‘Simple is good’
AT&T CTO Jeremy Legg last week at the company’s headquarters met with members of the trade press to lay out a phased, one- to two-year strategy that’s a major departure from the operator’s entrance to and exit from the content and advertising business. The goal, according to Legg: “We want to be the best broadband provider in America.” Discussing the company’s fiber and wireless business, Legg said AT&T “slimmed down” to get back to basics. “We have a real right to win in those places. I don’t think we’re trying to do something that is too far a reach for us. Ultimately I think we’ll be successful in that. We are focused on our knitting. I know it seems kind of simple but simple is good.” Phase 1 of this plan, Legg said, is about increasing the physical size of the network and the number of people and things connected to it. This covers AT&T’s ongoing deployment of C-Band spectrum for 5G as well as its stated goal of running fiber to 30 million locations by 2025. On the fiber piece, in August Corning announced a long-term agreement with AT&T that prompted investment in a new Arizona fiber manufacturing facility set to come online in 2024. … Read more
Verizon announces world’s first mobile 5G gaming console
Verizon and computer hardware manufacturer Razer are teaming up on the development and release of what they called the world’s first 5G mobile gaming console. Details were scare when the Android device was announced last week at Mobile World Congress Las Vegas, but the pair did confirm that it will house Qualcomm’s gaming-specific Snapdragon G3X Gen 1 system-on-chip (SoC), which supports 5G mmWave and sub-6, as well as Wi-Fi 6 and 6E. In what can now be considered a foreshadowing moment, Qualcomm and Razer produced prototype of a handheld gaming device in December 2021. The prototype also featured the Snapdragon G3X Gen 1 and was made available only to developers. Razer makes sense as a partner here, as it already offers controller kits for smartphones, which transform phones into mobile gaming consoles. However, the recently announced product is expected to be a dedicated gaming device. … Read more
Check out the RCR Wireless News Archives for more stories from the past.
