Author: Alan Weissberger
NTIA’s Wireless Innovation Fund to stimulate open 5G and future-gen wireless markets; OpenRAN rebuttal
The U.S. Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has officially launched its Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund, which has a budget of $1.5 billion and a mandate to spend it on stimulating the development of new and exciting telco technology. It’s mission is to “open 5G and future-gen wireless markets to innovation and entrepreneurship in the U.S., as well as by our partners and allies.”
NTIA will work to catalyze the development and adoption of open, interoperable, and standards-based networks through the Innovation Fund. Authorized under the Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act and funded through the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, this ten-year grant program will help drive wireless innovation, foster competition, and strengthen supply chain resilience. It will also help unlock opportunities for companies from the United States and its global allies, particularly small and medium enterprises, to compete in a market historically dominated by a few suppliers, including high-risk suppliers that raise security concerns.
On Wednesday, NTIA announced its first notice of funding opportunity (NOFO), which invites interested parties to apply for some of that money. This first tranche of grants, worth up to $140.5 million, has been earmarked for projects focused on OpenRAN R&D. By demonstrating the viability of new, open-architecture approaches to wireless networks, this initial round of funding will help to ensure that the future of 5G and next-gen wireless technology is built by the U.S. and its global allies and partners –not vendors from nations that threaten America’s national security.
“The Innovation Fund is a critical step toward securing 5G wireless networks while driving innovation at home and abroad,” said Commerce Secretary Raimondo. “Investing in the next generation of innovation will unlock opportunities for new and emerging companies to compete in the global telecom market, strengthen our telecom supply chains and provide our allies and friends with trusted choices and innovative technologies to compete in the 21st Century. We look forward to bringing the best of industry, academia, and the public together to deliver on this initiative.”
NTIA’s first NOFO aims to expand and improve testing to demonstrate the viability of new approaches to wireless like open radio access networks (OpenRAN) and remove barriers to adoption. NTIA anticipates it will award up to $140.5 million during this first tranche of grants. The first round of awards will provide for a range of R&D and testing activities in this critical field, including:
- Expanding industry-accepted testing and evaluation (T&E) activities to assess and facilitate the interoperability, performance, and/or security of open and interoperable, standards-based 5G radio access networks; and
- Developing new or improved testing methodologies to test, evaluate, and validate the interoperability, performance, and/or security of these networks, including their component parts.
Later NOFOs will build upon the foundational work of this first NOFO, creating an ecosystem for wireless innovation built by the U.S. and its global allies.
“This fund is a critical down payment on our efforts to reshape the global wireless infrastructure supply chain towards secure and trusted vendors,” said Sen. Mark Warner (VA). “I look forward to seeing how the Department – working with U.S. and allied innovators and network operators – helps encourage this market to move towards security, interoperability, and greater wireless innovation.”
“With the investments from this initiative, the US can help facilitate much-needed competition in the global wireless market and create a more resilient and secure wireless supply chain,” said Assistant Secretary of Commerce Alan Davidson.
“Today’s announcement marks critical new progress toward strengthening the security of our wireless networks,” added energy and commerce committee ranking member Frank Pallone. “This program is a win for both U.S. national security and innovation, and with it, we will help level the playing field against untrusted actors attempting to use our communications networks against us.”
This announcement comes the same week as the U.S. moved forward with its plan to name and punish any ally that permits the use of network equipment developed by Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE. The ‘Countering Untrusted Telecommunications Abroad Act’ is reportedly due to have its second reading this week.
Separately, the NOFO announcement came a day after the UK unveiled its own strategy for driving innovation in the telecoms sector. The UK government seems to have implied that it wouldn’t necessarily oppose consolidation in the mobile market, insisting that there is no magic number of operators.
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Comment and Analysis – OpenRAN Rebuttal:
This author and several of his colleagues have been negative on OpenRAN for a very long time. The main reason is that Open RAN specs (which are to ensure multi-vendor interoperability) are being developed by the O-RAN Alliance, with test scripts from the TIP OpenRAN project. Neither of those entities are Standards Development Organizations (SDOs). While O-RAN did forge an alliance with ATIS, that won’t help much as ATIS has not developed any cellular standards on its own.
The two organizations that develop all the cellular specs and standards are 3GPP and ITU-R IMT yet O-RAN Alliance does not have a liaison with either of them!
Here is the opinion of our colleague John Strand, Principal of StrandConsult on why Open RAN is popular in some countries and with selected media, but really has no serious market potential:
The U.S. State Department spends a lot of energy promoting OpenRAN as an alternative to Chinese vendors like Huawei and ZTE. It is described quite well in this article. I had a meeting with those people at the State Department in Washington on December 8th last year, and they understand that OpenRAN was not a product that operators were buying.
In Europe, operators such as Deutsche Telecom and Vodafone have bet big on Huawei. That’s described in our reports: Understanding the Market for 4G RAN in Europe: Share of Chinese and Non-Chinese Vendors in 102 Mobile Networks – Strand Consult and The Market for 5G RAN in Europe: Share of Chinese and Non-Chinese Vendors in 31 European Countries – Strand Consult
Europe has also agreed that it is not smart to build vital telecom infrastructure using network equipment from China, the EU 5G tool box. For Vodafone and DT, OpenRAN is their excuse to stick with the Chinese vendors. Their story is that when OpenRAN is ready, we will replace Huawei equipped with OpenRAN vendors- when it is ready for mass market.
- The vendors who bet on OpenRAN spend a lot of money on sponsoring events with media that subsequently write a lot of positive stories, praising the technology. When I joke, I refer to TelecomTV as “OpenRAN TV.” I would guess that 95% of the OpenRAN events are sponsored events, and a lot of the articles is related to the same events.
- There are a number of politicians in countries that have 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G and they all want to dominate 6G. They have not realized that innovation is happening in global companies such as Nokia, Ericsson, Qualcomm, Samsung and Huawei/ZTE that built their own proprietary network equipment.
- The 5G and 6G standards work with 3G, 4G, 5G, and 6G happens in 3GPP and ITU-R (ATIS carries 3GPP contributions into ITU-R WP5D directed at ITU-R IMT standards (i.e. reccommendations). The next G does not come from a nation or a company, but from a group of global companies.
- For some people believe OpenRAN is the next G, but that’s total nonsense! Only ITU-R (WP 5D) is responsible for all the cellular G’s as part of International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) recommendations and there is NO WORK IN ITU-R on OpenRAN!!!
- There are a number of companies that make their living selling market information, companies which over the last 20 years have been hit financially because there has been a consolidation of the infrastructure industry. It is in their interest that the number of suppliers is increased, it gives them access to a larger customer base. OpenRAN is a new product segment and represent around 30 – 40 potential customers with a budget.
- GSMA, along with some of their members, has marketed a narrative that there are not many suppliers in this industry and that there is a need for more supplier diversity. It’s not a true story if you look at how many vendors are exhibiting at Mobile World Congress. It is also a story that does not seem credible when these same operators are crying out for the possibility of consolidating the market. The consolidation there has been when it comes to infrastructure, it is driven by mobile operators who have changed their purchasing habits and bet on fewer suppliers.
–>To put it very simply, the less people know about the cellular communications market, the happier they are about OpenRAN.
References:
https://ntia.gov/page/public-wireless-supply-chain-innovation-fund
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/12/13/2022-26938/public-wireless-supply-chain-innovation-fund-implementation
https://telecoms.com/521184/us-dangles-1-5bn-in-front-of-open-ran-community/
Chunghwa Telecom: 14.4% profit growth due to 5G and non-traditional telecom services; Taiwan telecom consolidation in 2023
Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan’s largest network operator reported double digit net profits last month, as more people sign up for 5G services and nontraditional offerings (see below). Net profits last month expanded 14.4 percent annually to NT$3.22 billion (US$105.56 million) from NT$2.82 billion in March last year, the company said in a statement on Tuesday. That brought first-quarter net profit to NT$9.64 billion, up 6.4 percent from NT$9.06 billion in the same period last year. Earnings per share (EPS) rose to NT$1.24 from NT$1.17 in first quarter of last year, making Chunghwa Telecom the most profitable telecom in Taiwan. First-quarter revenue expanded 5.7 percent year-on-year to NT$54.21 billion, the company said, adding that the results exceeded its expectations. Its average revenue per post-paid mobile subscriber climbed 5.3 percent year-on-year last month, the telecom said, attributing the trend to more 5G subscriptions.
Last month’s robust performance came amid 50 percent annual growth in revenue from its nontraditional telecom services, including Internet data center leasing, cloud-based services, artificial intelligence of things services and private networking, it said. Meanwhile, Taiwan Mobile Cos net profit fell 0.3 percent to NT$2.72 billion in the first quarter, with earnings per share dropping to NT$0.96, the company said yesterday, adding that its bottom line was affected by unfavorable foreign exchange rates. However the companys average revenue per post-paid mobile subscriber last month rose 3.5 percent annually to NT$664, marking 22 straight months of growth, it said. First-quarter revenue increased 8.1 percent annually to NT$43.02 billion from NT$39.79 billion, it said. About 58 percent of last quarter’s revenue came from its e-commerce subsidiary Momo.com Inc.
Chunghwa Telecom Co signage is pictured at an outlet in Taipei Photo Credit: CNA
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Separately, Far EasTone Telecommunications Co said that its first-quarter net profit surged 18.4 percent annually to NT$2.75 billion, with EPS of NT$0.85, both surpassing the companys expectations. Revenue in the first quarter expanded 1.8 percent to NT$22.31 billion from a year earlier. Far EasTone attributed the robust growth to its number of mobile users expanding to 7.17 million last month, while its average revenue per user increased 2.3 percent, marking the best performance in about 25 months, it said.
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Research and Markets “Taiwan Telecoms Industry Report – 2023-2030” report states that the Taiwanese telecoms market is set to see a wave of consolidation in 2023 By the end of the year, the number of mobile operators could decline from five to three, which is considered a reasonable number for market competition globally. Two of the three major players are set to acquire two smaller companies. Taiwan Mobile is set to merge with Taiwan Star, and FET will take over Asia Pacific Telecom, a smaller operator. Both deals are expected to conclude by late 2023, reflecting a trend of consolidation by private players that we have witnessed in other Asian markets such as Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.
Further market consolidation is likely to occur over the forecast period as many telecom players confront the task of creating returns in a growing and capital-intensive industry and are therefore considering ways to grow industry revenues and profitability.
The publisher forecasts that mobile subscriptions will continue to grow in the 2023-30 period and fixed broadband subscribers will also continue to grow but lower its household penetration over the same period due to fixed-wireless substitution. The ratio of the telecommunications sector revenue to GDP is declining from a peak in 2015, sliding down every year since then. Following the market contraction over the last 5 years, the publisher forecasts flat revenue growth to 2030, as long as data pricing stays rational amid the mergers from five to three mobile operators due in 2023.
Mobile subscriptions are growing faster than mobile service revenue leading to ARPU decline after 3 years of intense competition with the market transitioned completely transitioned to 4G after shutting down 2G and 3G networks in 2017 and 2019 respectively.
The publisher expects the overall Taiwan telecoms market to remain flat through to 2025 after a marked decline from 2016 due to mobile service revenue pressure partially offset by fixed broadband and enterprise data growth.
Mobile Subscribers and Revenue:
As the rate of growth of net additions in mobile subscriptions slows, telecommunications providers are channelling their efforts into reducing their cost base and stabilising ARPU through new value-added services using mobile data and bundling fixed and mobile services. The proportion of postpaid subscriptions remained stable at about 81% between 2016 and 2022 while the postpaid segment is growing in popularity with SIM-only offerings and reducing the number of people holding multiple SIMs.
According to our benchmark study of mobile data pricing, India has the lowest rate per GB at just a few cents per GB, while Australia and China had the biggest cost reduction per GB mostly due to increased data allowance in plans while Singapore remains expensive. Taiwan mobile users pay for competitively priced data as mobile users recorded the largest monthly download in the Asia Pacific region.
Broadband Subscribers – FTTH Push and Fixed Wireless:
The fixed broadband market is experiencing a subdued growth with Chunghwa Telecom losing share to HFC cable operators such as KBro, Taiwan Mobile, TBC and CNS. Chunghwa Telecom invested early in the 2010s in FTTx technologies while migrating its DSL subscribers to its HiNet network. Competing cable operators also invested in upgrading their cable networks bundling mobile, IPTV and e-Commerce services but falling short of upgrading to full-fiber networks limiting opportunities for gigabit speeds. Fixed broadband penetration is forecasted to decline as fixed-wireless substitution is increasing supporting a rising number of lone-occupancy households.
References:
https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2023/04/13/2003797810
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/taiwan-telecoms-industry-report-2023-172800956.html
Omdia: Consumer Telco Opportunity Challenged by Global Tech Giants
Market research firm Omdia (owned by Informa) says all growth areas for telcos will experience significant competition from hyperscalers – specifically the global tech giants Google, Amazon, Meta/Facebook, and Apple.
Omdia’s Quantifying the Consumer Telco Opportunity – 2023 report is an in-depth report providing analysis and insights drawn from Omdia’s related data tools as well as individual operator case studies. The market research firm says that other than core fixed-line and mobile data services, almost all of the potential growth for telcos in the consumer sector over the next few years will come from ‘non-traditional categories. Those include video streaming, digital gaming, streaming music, and smart home (whatever that means).
“Service providers must look beyond data and diversify into adjacent digital markets to enable continued growth of their telco consumer businesses,” said Omdia’s Jonathan Doran. “Many have already invested in TV and online video entertainment, but there are other fast-growing markets telcos can also explore. Adopting the right go-to-market strategy and business model for each individual service area will be critical to striking the balance between achieving market success and mitigating financial risk. In many areas, telcos will need to accept that competing head-on is unrealistic and developing partnerships with such players is not only more pragmatic but will also serve to strengthen their own products and brands” observes Doran.
“Omdia’s Digital Consumer Operator Strategy Benchmark shows that the more service providers actively invest in a given service area – including through partnerships – the bigger market impact they have, which in turn better positions them to take a bigger slice of overall market revenue”
Big tech is already there and doing a decent job of selling all these digital goodies direct to consumers without the help of operators. Every time telcos have tried to compete directly in adjacent markets is has all gone horribly wrong so, as well as picking their fights more carefully, they are advised to consider an ‘if you can’t beat em, join em’ approach.
“In many areas, telcos will need to accept that competing head-on is unrealistic and developing partnerships with such players is not only more pragmatic but will also serve to strengthen their own products and brands,” said Doran. “Omdia’s Digital Consumer Operator Strategy Benchmark shows that the more service providers actively invest in a given service area – including through partnerships – the bigger market impact they have, which in turn better positions them to take a bigger slice of overall market revenue.”
The Omdia chart below illustrates product types by growth potential (horizontal axis), relevance to the Communications Service Provider (CSP) core proposition (vertical axis) and forecasted relative 2027 market size. As you can see, most consumer digital products are pretty far from the CSP core proposition, but Omdia forecasts they will collectively amount to a $500 billion market by 2027. How much of that will find its way into the pockets of telcos as a result of partnering with Big Tech remains to be seen, but even a small fraction is better than nothing.
Amazon, Microsoft and Google are not only three of the biggest players in the digital consumer space, they also dominate the public cloud market, which network operators are constantly urged to turn to for its efficiencies and flexibility. It’s possible to imagine a time most of what we get from and operator is actually supplied, and monetized, buy one of a small number of hyperscalers. It’s not clear whether that represents a positive development for the telecoms industry.
References:
https://telecoms.com/521154/study-highlights-increasing-dependence-of-operators-on-hyperscalers/
Disaggregation of network equipment – advantages and issues to consider
Introduction (by Alan J Weissberger):
Through network disaggregation of hardware and modular software, as proposed by the OCP, TIP, and O-RAN Alliance, network operators can select cheaper/commodity hardware from Taiwanese and/or Chinese manufacturers (ODMs)while using open source software or purchasing software from a trusted source.
For example, open source or proprietary software can turn a bare-metal-switch into an Internet gateway or a 5G core router. That software will also provide network management and security. It can easily be changed if the network operator, or the national government, decides the security landscape has evolved – without the need to replace any physical equipment.
IEEE and SCU SoE are sponsoring a virtual panel session which is described here.
Disaggregation Issues (by Richard Brandon, VP of Strategy at RtBrick):
As you move closer towards the core, disaggregation will certainly result in more physical boxes being used than traditional network systems, but closer to the edge it is usually a one-for-one replacement, substituting a single proprietary box with an open one. Even in the core though, this won’t necessarily mean many more outward facing physical interfaces. For example, a white box switch really just takes the place of a line-card in a conventional chassis-based router, with the same number of outward facing networking ports. So at that level, little changes.
Q & A (Alan and Richard):
1. Which of the consortiums (OCP, TIP, O-RAN) are doing a good job of specifying disaggregated hardware modules and the exposed interfaces between them?
We’ve been working closest with TIP and its operator members, specifically on the Open BNG initiative. They’ve issued a set of requirements for different use-cases, which have been driven by several operators. There is always the risk that this requirements list can become a superset of everything that’s ever been implemented, but the process is doing its best to manage that challenge.
2. Any success stories of multi-vendor interoperability of those disaggregated network modules?
For Open BNG, TIP selected several hardware and software vendors that met their criteria, which includes interoperability. For example, RtBrick’s routing software can run on nine different hardware platforms from three different vendors, and those platforms can be mixed and matched to optimize for scale and cost. RtBrick’s BNG software has been deployed in Deutsche Telekom’s production network, working on different vendor switches.
3. The cyber attack surface is greatly increased with many more exposed interfaces. What extra cyber security is needed to prevent attacks?
Of course, there are more distinct switching entities, but in some ways, this is actually an advantage because if any individual switch is compromised by a DDos Attack, for example, the blast radius of the attack is actually reduced with disaggregation.
Either way, it is usually the software where any vulnerabilities may lie. Here, disaggregation opens up some interesting dynamics when it comes to security threats, particularly those security concerns that derive from equipment provided by ‘untrusted nation states.’ Up until now, telcos have had a choice between lower-cost equipment from these untrusted states, or using trusted vendors with higher cost-bases.
Conclusions:
Disaggregation brings the best of both worlds. The hardware can be sourced from countries with low manufacturing costs, but the software, which is where the vulnerabilities may be, can be supplied by vendors from open democratic countries.
Biography:
Richard Brandon is a strategic and operational IT marketeer who is focused on results for his customers. He has experience within the networking, telecoms and TV industries.
References:
https://www.rtbrick.com/products-and-technology
https://www.rtbrick.com/news-and-events/rtbrick-wins-gold-at-the-merit-awards?c=press-releases
IEEE/SCU SoE May 1st Virtual Panel Session: Open Source vs Proprietary Software Running on Disaggregated Hardware
Light Counting: Large majority of CSPs remain skeptical about Disaggregated Open Routers
Nokia in multi-year deal with Zain to provide 5G RAN equipment throughout Jordan
Nokia has announced a multi-year deal with Zain Jordan to provide 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) equipment throughout Jordan. The contract is aimed at supporting the digital transformation of the country by offering advanced 5G services with improved connectivity and capacity to customers.
As part of the agreement, Nokia will deploy the latest generation of its AirScale Baseband, Massive MIMO radios, and Remote Radio Head products to over 3,000 sites nationwide. These latest generation products are all powered by Nokia’s energy-efficient ReefShark System on Chip (SoC) technology and are designed to provide superior coverage and capacity.
In addition to deploying 5G, Nokia will also upgrade Zain’s existing 4G infrastructure. The deployment of 5G is expected to accelerate the growth of new technologies and industries in Jordan, contributing to the country’s economic growth and development.
Nokia has a longstanding partnership with Zain across several territories, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The deal is expected to be completed during 2023, with the majority of the deployment scheduled to take place during the year.
Tommi Uitto, President of Mobile Networks at Nokia, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Zain Jordan on this project to modernize their complete Radio Access Network and introduce 5G technology, and by doing so, support the Jordanian Government’s digital transformation objectives. The deployment of 5G is expected to stimulate the incubation and growth of new technologies and industries.”
Resources and additional information:
5G Radio Access Networks (RAN)
AirScale Radio Access
Nokia 5G
References:
Comcast selects Nokia’s 5G SA Core software to support its mobile connectivity efforts
Nokia introduces new Wavence microwave solutions to extend 5G reach in both urban and rural environments
Nokia and Kyndryl extend partnership to deliver 4G/5G private networks and MEC to manufacturing companies
Nokia to open 5G and 6G research lab in Amadora, Portugal
Ericsson and Nokia demonstrate 5G Network Slicing on Google Pixel 6 Pro phones running Android 13 mobile OS
Nokia and Safaricom complete Africa’s first Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) 5G network slicing trial
China plans $500 million subsea internet cable to rival US-backed project
Reuters reports that China state-owned telecom firms are developing a $500 million undersea fiber-optic internet cable network that would link Asia, the Middle East and Europe to rival a similar U.S.-backed project, four people involved in the deal told Reuters. The plan is a sign that an intensifying tech war between Beijing and Washington risks tearing the fabric of the internet.
China’s three main carriers – China Telecommunications Corporation (China Telecom), China Mobile Limited and China United Network Communications Group Co Ltd(China Unicom) – are mapping out one of the world’s most advanced and far-reaching subsea cable networks, according to the four people, who have direct knowledge of the plan.
Known as EMA (Europe-Middle East-Asia), the proposed cable would link Hong Kong to China’s island province of Hainan, before snaking its way to Singapore, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and France, the four people said. They asked not to be named because they were not allowed to discuss potential trade secrets.
The cable, which would cost approximately $500 million to complete, would be manufactured and laid by China’s HMN Technologies Co Ltd, a fast-growing cable firm whose predecessor company was majority-owned by Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, the people said.
They said HMN Tech, which is majority-owned by Shanghai-listed Hengtong Optic-Electric Co Ltd, would receive subsidies from the Chinese state to build the cable.
China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom, HMN Tech, and Hengtong did not respond to requests for comment.
The Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement to Reuters that it “has always encouraged Chinese enterprises to carry out foreign investment and cooperation” without commenting directly on the EMA cable project.
News of the planned cable comes in the wake of a Reuters report last month that revealed how the U.S. government, concerned about Beijing eavesdropping on internet data, has successfully thwarted a number of Chinese undersea cable projects abroad over the past four years. Washington has also blocked licenses for planned private subsea cables that would have connected the United States with the Chinese territory of Hong Kong, including projects led by Google LLC, Meta Platforms, Inc and Amazon.com Inc.
Undersea cables carry more than 95% of all international internet traffic. These high-speed conduits for decades have been owned by groups of telecom and tech companies that pool their resources to build these vast networks so that data can move seamlessly around the world.
But these cables, which are vulnerable to spying and sabotage, have become weapons of influence in an escalating competition between the United States and China. The superpowers are battling to dominate the advanced technologies that could determine economic and military supremacy in the decades ahead.
The China-led EMA project is intended to directly rival another cable currently being constructed by U.S. firm SubCom LLC, called SeaMeWe-6 (Southeast Asia-Middle East-Western Europe-6), which will also connect Singapore to France, via Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and half a dozen other countries along the route.
The consortium on the SeaMeWe-6 cable – which originally had included China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom and telecom carriers from several other nations – initially picked HMN Tech to build that cable. But a successful U.S. government pressure campaign flipped the contract to SubCom last year, Reuters reported in March.
The U.S. blitz included giving millions of dollars in training grants to foreign telecom firms in return for them choosing SubCom over HMN Tech. The U.S. Commerce Department also slapped sanctions on HMN Tech in December 2021, alleging the company intended to acquire American technology to help modernize China’s People’s Liberation Army. That move undermined the project’s viability by making it impossible for owners of an HMN-built cable to sell bandwidth to U.S. tech firms, usually their biggest customers.
China Telecom and China Mobile pulled out of the project after SubCom won the contract last year and, along with China Unicom, began planning the EMA cable, the four people involved said. The three state-owned Chinese telecom firms are expected to own more than half of the new network, but they are also striking deals with foreign partners, the people said.
The Chinese carriers this year signed separate memoranda of understanding with four telecoms, the people said: France’s Orange SA, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL), Telecom Egypt and Zain Saudi Arabia, a unit of the Kuwaiti firm Mobile Telecommunications Company K.S.C.P.
The Chinese companies have also held talks with Singapore Telecommunications Limited, a state-controlled firm commonly known as Singtel, while other countries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East are being approached to join the consortium as well, the people involved said.
Orange declined to comment. Singtel, PTCL, Telecom Egypt and Zain did not respond to requests for comment.
American cable firm SubCom declined to comment on the rival cable. The Department of Justice, which oversees an interagency task force to safeguard U.S. telecommunication networks from espionage and cyberattacks, declined to comment about the EMA cable.
A State Department spokesperson said the U.S. supports a free, open and secure internet. Countries should prioritize security and privacy by “fully excluding untrustworthy vendors” from wireless networks, terrestrial and undersea cables, satellites, cloud services and data centers, the spokesperson said, without mentioning HMN Tech or China. The State Department did not respond to questions about whether it would mount a campaign to persuade foreign telecoms not to participate in the EMA cable project.
The Chinese foreign ministry said in its statement that it was opposed to the United States’ “violation of established international rules” around submarine cable cooperation.
“The U.S. should stop fabricating and spreading rumours about so-called ‘data surveillance activities’ and stop slandering and smearing Chinese companies,” the statement said.
Large undersea cable projects typically take at least three years to move from conception to delivery. The Chinese firms are hoping to finalize contracts by the end of the year and have the EMA cable online by the end of 2025, the people involved said.
The cable would give China strategic gains in its tussle with the United States, one of the people involved in the deal told Reuters.
Firstly, it would create a super-fast new connection between Hong Kong, China and much of the rest of the world, something Washington wants to avoid. Secondly, it gives China’s state-backed telecom carriers greater reach and protection in the event they are excluded from U.S.-backed cables in the future.
“It’s like each side is arming itself with bandwidth,” one telecom executive working on the deal said.
The construction of parallel U.S.- and Chinese-backed cables between Asia and Europe is unprecedented, the four people involved in the project said. It is an early sign that global internet infrastructure, including cables, data centers and mobile phone networks, could become divided over the next decade, two security analysts told Reuters.
Countries could also be forced to choose between using Chinese-approved internet equipment or U.S.-backed networks, entrenching divisions across the world and making tools that fuel the global economy, like online banking and global-positioning satellite systems, slower and less reliable, said Timothy Heath, a defense researcher at the RAND Corporation, a U.S.-based think tank.
“It seems we are headed down a road where there will be a U.S.-led internet and a Chinese-led internet ecosystem,” Heath told Reuters. “The more the U.S. and Chinese disengage from each other in the information technology domain, the more difficult it becomes to carry out global commerce and basic functions.”
Antonia Hmaidi, an analyst at the Berlin-based Mercator Institute for China Studies, said the internet works so well because no matter where data needs to travel, it can zip along multiple different routes in the time it takes to read this word.
Hmaidi said if data has to follow routes that are approved in Washington and Beijing, then it will become easier for the United States and China to manipulate and spy on that data; internet users will suffer a degradation of service; and it will become more difficult to interact or do business with people around the world.
“Then suddenly the whole fabric of the internet doesn’t work as it was intended,” Hmaidi said.
The tit-for-tat battle over internet hardware mirrors the conflict taking place over social media apps and search engines created by U.S. and Chinese firms.
The United States and its allies have banned the use of Chinese-owned short video app TikTok from government-owned devices due to national security concerns. Numerous countries have raised fears about the Chinese government gaining access to the data that TikTok collects on its users around the world.
China, meanwhile, already restricts what websites its citizens can see and blocks the apps and networks of many Western technology giants, including Google, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
New DT campus network solution with industrial 5G spectrum
Deutsche Telekom (DT) announced a new campus network solution for business customers. The new service, named “Campus Network M with Industrial Frequencies,” will offer business customers all the benefits of a private 5G network — without the need for additional investments in their own 5G SA core network.
- New Deutsche Telekom business customer offer enables cost-effective use of own 5G industrial frequencies in the 3.7 to 3.8 GHz range
- Solution combines advantages of public and fully private mobile networks for industrial applications
- Successful pilot with German machine manufacturer Arburg. The commercial launch followed successful tests in the 5G Campus network of the injection molding machine manufacturer Arburg in January 2023.
- Based on a 5G campus infrastructure within Telekom’s public network, with the new product companies can additionally use their own 5G industrial frequencies in the 3.7 to 3.8 Gigahertz (GHz) range exclusively.
The new DT solution is based on the existing business customer product “Campus Network M”. This is a so-called dual-slice campus network, which is operated via the public 3.6 GHz frequency range in Telekom’s 5G network. It combines the strengths of the public 5G network with the exclusivity of a virtual private network. This means that, on the one hand, companies benefit from optimal and stable coverage via Telekom’s public 5G network – for example, for employees, suppliers or customers. On the other hand, mission-critical data traffic, for example from machinery, runs separately by a virtual private network and can also be prioritized.
The new Campus-Network M product with industrial frequencies goes one step further. Without building additional infrastructure and the associated costs, companies benefit from the exclusivity of the local 5G spectrum in the 3.7 to 3.8 GHz range. Other than Telekom’s public 3.6 GHz spectrum, these 5G frequencies are specifically made available by the German Federal Network Agency for industrial purposes. Previously, to use these purely private frequencies companies would need to install their own 5G core network infrastructure on site. With the new solution, however, business customers get their own core network components within the Telekom network. Critical data thus continues to run separately from the public network – at high bandwidths and without being influenced by public data traffic. With considerable cost synergies through shared components, the customer therefore receives an additional purely private campus network.
The new offering enables the use of exclusive SIM cards for connected devices and guarantees full private 5G network performance with download speeds of up to 1GBit/s. At the same time, public 5G coverage is fully available. This provides customers with two 5G frequency bands and a total of around 190 MHz of bandwidth.
“Our new 5G Campus network offering enables our customers to digitalize and optimize their business in a smarter way. By integrating their own spectrum into local 5G networks in a cost-efficient way, companies now get additional and exclusive 5G bandwidth for their digital applications,” says Hagen Rickmann, Managing Director responsible for Business Customers at Telekom Deutschland GmbH. “In this way, our pilot customer Arburg is already benefiting from the huge potential of private 5G performance for smart manufacturing – and is thus living up to its reputation as pioneer in the fields of production efficiency and digitalization.”
In order to use the industrial frequencies, the machines at the Arburg Customer Center in Lossburg were equipped with special routers and exclusive SIM cards. Separated from the public data traffic, Arburg can thus test innovative applications such as automated production processes. Furthermore, at the customer center, clients from the various plastics processing industries, such as the automotive, electrical and packaging industries or medical technology, can test digital manufacturing concepts based on 5G.
“By integrating Deutsche Telekom’s new 5G Campus solution, we are leveraging synergies and kick-starting the next stage when it comes to digitalization for the efficient production of plastic products,” says Jürgen Boll, Managing Director Finance, Controlling and IT at Arburg. “Without any additional structural measures, we were able to build on the existing campus network and can benefit from even more 5G bandwidth for the digitalization of our machines and systems with our own 5G industrial frequencies.”
Image Credit: Deutsche Telekom
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Deutsche Telekom’s campus network portfolio:
Deutsche Telekom has been offering campus network solutions for companies since 2019 and currently operates more than thirty of these local mobile networks based on 5G or LTE across Germany. The offering ranges from locally reinforced public mobile service on company premises to the company’s own private campus network based on 5G standalone technology. Further information for business customers is available at www.telekom.de/campus-netze.
References:
https://www.telekom.com/en/company/details/5g-technology-in-campus-networks-556692
IEEE Techblog recognized by Feedspot!
The IEEE ComSoc Techblog was voted #2 best broadband blog:
https://blog.feedspot.com/broadband_blogs/
2. The IEEE ComSoc Technology Blog
Piscataway, New Jersey, US
Featuring the latest in breaking telecom/networking news and analysis, the IEEE ComSoc blog is written by several expert bloggers. IEEE Communications Society is a global community of professionals with a common interest in advancing all communications and networking technologies.
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..and #13 best telecom blog in the world:
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Many thanks to Vinny Rodriquez and Khanh Luh for making our blog so successful!
NTT and SES to Deliver Satellite-based Edge and Private 5G Network Solutions to Enterprise Customers
NTT Ltd., a leading global IT infrastructure and services company, and SES, a leading global content connectivity service provider via satellite, today announced a multi-year partnership to use SES satellites to deliver NTT’s Edge as a Service to enterprise customers. The collaboration will bring together NTT’s expertise in networking and enterprise managed services with SES’s unique satellite capabilities to deliver reliable connectivity to enterprises that must meet surges in connectivity demand or are based beyond the reach of fixed terrestrial networks.
The unique offering combines NTT’s fully managed Private 5G and Edge Compute with SES’s second-generation medium earth orbit communications system – O3b mPOWER – to provide expanded and reliable connectivity. This solution is intended for companies operating in regions where terrestrial networks are lacking and enterprises wanting to leverage high-performance connectivity to increase their efficiency and grow revenue. Through the combined versatility of Private 5G networks and satellite technology, this end-to-end solution is expected to propel industries – such as energy, mining, maritime, manufacturing, industrial, etc. – that have otherwise been limited by connectivity today and will need to ramp up their digital transformation plans and increase revenue streams.
The announcement offers more evidence that the capabilities of modern satellites are able to meet the increasingly complex connectivity demands of enterprises, rather than just being a connectivity solution of last resort for companies brave enough to base themselves in the middle of nowhere. Further proof can be seen from the regularity with which the likes of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite operators Starlink and OneWeb have been signing up new partners lately.
SES offers global coverage via fleets of geostationary (GEO) and mid-Earth orbit (MEO) satellites. It has begun upgrading its MEO constellation, called O3b, to its more powerful, second generation satellites – which it is calling O3b mPower – to provide higher bandwidth and lower latency. The first two of 11 planned satellites blasted off from Cape Canaveral in December. The O3b mPower network is due to enter commercial service in the third quarter of this year.
“We are excited to embark on this journey with SES, combining our collective expertise to help businesses digitally transform and scale,” said Miriam Murphy, CEO Europe at NTT Ltd. “As organizations grapple with the challenges of a rapidly changing world, it is now more important than ever to leverage the power of technology to drive growth and innovation.”
Putting control and ownership back into the hands of the customer, the joint solution will deliver coverage to over 190 countries with public-private roaming. In addition to NTT’s Private 5G and Edge Compute capabilities, NTT will also provide use-case consulting and design, application development, system integration, implementation, and managed services, while SES will provide end-to-end satellite networks via O3b mPOWER that will be seamlessly integrated with NTT’s offering.
“Private 5G is a transformative power that enables enterprises to build upon existing network infrastructure and deliver reliable, high bandwidth, and low latency connections for multiple use cases operating on a single Private 5G network,” said Olivier Posty, Country Managing Director Luxembourg, NTT Ltd. Posty adds, “As our customers continue to innovate, network partners with the right skills and expertise will be critical to success in today’s competitive market. NTT’s robust Private 5G network-as-a-service full stack solution, delivered on-premises, at the edge, or as a cloud service, is complemented by NTT’s 24/7 remote monitoring services and a CIO self-service portal, ensuring that NTT’s full stack of managed Edge Compute services delivers real-time actionable intelligence to drive processing efficiency and accelerate business performance.”
NTT’s Edge-as-a-Service offering includes IoT, Edge Compute, and Private 5G connectivity delivered by NTT across its global footprint. NTT’s Edge-as-a-Service is a unique, fully managed, integrated solution that accelerates business process automation, enabling enterprises to quickly deploy their applications more securely and monitor them closer to the edge, thereby reducing downtime, improving user experience, and optimizing costs.
“This partnership between NTT and SES is an industry-first milestone at the whole industry level, combining massive amounts of expertise that both companies are bringing in each field, and the joint value proposition is ahead of the curve in terms of added value that will be provided to customers. This will open great opportunities also in countries where 5G spectrum is not yet ready, enabling the transformation of companies at a global scale,” said Alejandro Cadenas, Associate Vice President of EMEA Telco Mobility Research, IDC.
According to John-Paul Hemingway, Chief Strategy Officer at SES, the partnership is one of its kind as both companies jointly provide comprehensive and resilient connectivity solutions for customers around the world. “In addition to its predictable low latency capabilities, O3b mPOWER’s best throughput and full flexibility on asymmetric or symmetric services will result in the seamless integration and extension of terrestrial and satellite networks, enabling our customers to unlock the full potential of emerging technologies like 5G, IoT, and cloud computing, and drive digital transformation across industries,” he said.
The partnership between NTT and SES comes as organizations are increasingly turning to technology to drive growth and innovation. Organizations recognize the positive impact of high-speed connectivity and resilient networks on business operations, driving demand and fueling widespread digital transformation. By leveraging their respective strengths, NTT and SES are well positioned to provide customers with the innovative Edge as a Service solutions they need to succeed in a rapidly changing world.
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About NTT Ltd:
As part of NTT DATA, a USD 30 billion IT services provider, NTT Ltd. is a leading IT infrastructure and services company serving 65% of the Fortune Global 500 and more than 75% of the Fortune Global 100. We lay the foundation for organizations’ edge-to-cloud networking ecosystem, simplify the complexity of their workloads across multi-cloud environments, and innovate at the edge of their IT environments where networks, cloud and applications converge. We offer tailored infrastructure and ensure consistent best practices in design and operations across all of our secure, scalable and customizable data centers. On the journey towards a software-defined future, we support organizations with our platform-delivered infrastructure services. We enable a connected future.
Visit us at services.global.ntt
About SES:
SES has a bold vision to deliver amazing experiences everywhere on earth by distributing the highest quality video content and providing seamless connectivity around the world. As the leader in global content connectivity solutions, SES operates the world’s only multi-orbit constellation of satellites with the unique combination of global coverage and high performance, including the commercially-proven, low-latency Medium Earth Orbit O3b system. By leveraging a vast and intelligent, cloud-enabled network, SES is able to deliver high-quality connectivity solutions anywhere on land, at sea or in the air, and is a trusted partner to the world’s leading telecommunications companies, mobile network operators, governments, connectivity and cloud service providers, broadcasters, video platform operators and content owners. SES’s video network carries around 8,000 channels and has an unparalleled reach of 369 million households, delivering managed media services for both linear and non-linear content. The company is listed on Paris and Luxembourg stock exchanges (Ticker: SESG). Further information is available at: www.ses.com
References:
https://telecoms.com/521086/ntt-and-ses-team-up-on-satellite-based-edge-solution/
ITU report on preparatory studies for the WRC 23 (Nov 20-Dec 15 in Dubai)
Among the key issues highlighted during the two-week WRC 23 meeting are:
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- Identification of additional frequency bands for the continued development of International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT), including the use of high-altitude platform stations as IMT base stations for the universal deployment of wireless networks.
- Improvements to the international regulatory framework for geostationary orbit (GSO) and non-geostationary (NGSO) satellites while promoting equitable access for all countries.
- Use of satellite technologies for broadband services to improve connectivity, particularly in remote areas.
- New spectrum to enhance radiocommunications in the aeronautical mobile service, including by satellite, and to facilitate the use of the Space Research and Earth exploration-satellite services for climate monitoring, weather prediction and other scientific missions.
- The modernization of the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS).
- Regulatory framework for the use of earth stations in motion on board aircraft and ships for communication with geostationary orbit (GSO) and non-geostationary (NGSO) satellites.
- The future of the ultra-high frequency (UHF) broadcasting band which has implications for television broadcast, programme-making and special events, as well as public protection and disaster relief.
Over 1,900 participants from 125 ITU Member States attended CPM23-2. Also in attendance were representatives from ITU Radiocommunication Sector Members as well as delegates from various United Nations agencies and international organizations.
“The discussions and consensus achieved during CPM23-2 will pave the way to a successful world radiocommunication conference,” said Mario Maniewicz, Director of the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau. “The outcomes of WRC-23 will have a tremendous impact on the development of innovative, futuristic radiocommunication services that enable secure, faster, and seamless global communications for all.”
“I am delighted that we have finalized this significant milestone in the preparations for WRC-23 despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic from the start of the preparatory process,” said Cindy-Lee Cook, Chairperson of the Conference Preparatory Meeting for WRC-23. “During the four-year study period, we experienced first-hand how essential digital connectivity is. This highlights the importance of the work we do to find new and innovative ways to provide broadband connectivity using terrestrial and space-based communication technologies.”
World radiocommunication conferences, held every three to four years, review and revise the ITU Radio Regulations, the international treaty governing the use of the radio-frequency spectrum, including satellite orbits.
WRC-23 will be preceded by the Radiocommunication Assembly (RA-23) from 13 -17 November 2023. The RA is responsible for the structure, program and approval of radiocommunication studies.
Image Credit: GSMA
Editor’s Note:
There’s a huge unresolved open issue from WRC 19: updating ITU-R recommendation M.1036 Frequency Arrangements for IMT to include the new 5G mmWave frequencies specified by WRC 19. At the conclusion of the last ITU-R WP 5D meeting in February, the WG on Spectrum Aspects and WRC 23 Preparations, could not agree on the revision of Recommendation ITU-R M.1036. It was not possible to resolve two remaining open issues and therefore, it was not possible to complete the revision at this WP 5D meeting. Further work will be required at the next WP 5D in June with the aim of completing the revision for submission to ITU-R Study Group 5 for approval in November.
References:
GSMA vision for more mobile spectrum in advance of WRC 23 this November
WRC 19 Report: IMT in the frequency bands 24.25-27.5GHz & 45.5-47GHz
https://www.itu.int/wrc-23/booklet-wrc-23/