Telstra and Ericsson demo long range NB-IoT with only a software upgrade
Editor’s Note: Caveat Emptor!
A demo or test is NOT equivalent to performance in a production network!
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Telstra and Swedish telecom equipment and managed services vendor Ericsson have set a new record for NB-IoT range. Ericsson’s breakthrough distance extends the 3GPP NB-IoT spec based limit from around 40km out to 100km. Ericsson says the increased distance was obtained without any changes to physical NB-IoT hardware (only a software upgrade was required).
Emilio Romeo, Ericsson’s MD of Australia and New Zealand, says:
“This game-changing capability builds on Ericsson’s long history of delivering extended range cellular solutions. We’re partnering with Telstra to deliver its customers a world-leading capability in NB-IoT extended range cells and demonstrating the huge opportunity that IoT represents in rural and regional areas for both Australia and globally, particularly for logistics and agriculture.”
The upgrade builds upon Telstra’s existing leadership in Australia in NB-IoT as the only provider in the country, and one of the first globally, to offer both NB-IoT and LTE Cat M1 technologies. LTE Cat M1 was launched by Telstra last year and covered approximately three million square kilometres. This was followed by the launch of NB-IoT in January 2018.
With this latest innovation, Telstra’s NB-IoT network covers around three and a half million square kilometres; providing enhanced accessibility and reliability.
Channa Seneviratne, Telstra’s Executive Director of Network Engineering, comments:
“Telstra already had Australia’s largest IoT coverage with LTE Cat M1 across our 4G metro, regional and rural coverage footprint. With this NB-IoT extended range feature, we have now extended our coverage to more than three and a half million square kilometres, delivering our customers the best IoT coverage and capability in the country.
Once again Telstra, working closely in partnership with Ericsson, has delivered innovation that ensures the benefits of IoT technology can be enjoyed by the largest number of Australians, not just those in the cities and towns.”
Telstra and Ericsson first demonstrated the extended range NB-IoT network capabilities during the Telstra Vantage Conference held at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre on September 19-20, 2018.
“Whether it’s leakage prevention with smart water meters or environmental monitoring to keep our oceans clean and estuaries safe from contaminants, water utilities across the country are using IoT technology to better track, monitor, and conserve water,” the company said during the conference.
A Captis NB-IoT temperature sensor was used for the demo, located 94km from the Telstra base station on Mount Cenn Cruaich in New South Wales, Australia.
The performance of the network in reaching difficult areas was demonstrated with a sensor placed three floors below ground level in an underground parking lot in central Sydney that was beyond the reach of regular LTE signals.
Telstra and Ericsson have set a new record for NB-IoT range with nothing more than software upgrades according to the companies.
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In July, Ericsson, Telstra and Intel made the first end to end 5G non-standalone 3GPP data call over a commercial mobile network. That data call, completed at Telstra’s 5G Innovation Centre on the Gold Coast of Australia, was the first of its kind made over the 3.5GHz spectrum.
References:
https://www.telecomstechnews.com/news/2018/sep/27/telstra-ericsson-nb-iot-range/
Global Data: APAC telcos to have 477M 5G subs by 2023 vs F &S 5G Landscape in Asia
Asia-Pacific’s mobile operators are expected to have a combined 477 million 5G subscriptions by 2023, according to a new report “Mobile Broadband Trends in Asia-Pacific” by GlobalData. The market research firm said that it expects the first 5G service launches by operators in the region next year.
Total mobile users in Asia-Pacific are meanwhile on track to reach 2.87 billion by the end of the year, growing to 3.3 billion by the end of 2023, for a CAGR of 2.8%. Subscription growth will be driven by the expansion of wireless networks in underserved markets, GlobalData predicted.
4G-LTE will become the dominant mobile technology by share of subscriptions this year, outnumbering 2G for the first time. The total LTE market share is on track to nearly double by the end of the forecast period in 2023 driven by continuous expansion of LTE networks by operators in the region.
Data services revenue is meanwhile predicted to account for 60.3% of total mobile service revenue generated by operators in the region between 2018 and 2023.
GlobalData has also estimated that MVNOs in Asia-Pacific have around 194 million subscribers, accounting for 4% of the total market.
The “Mobile Broadband Trends in Asia-Pacific” report provides in-depth analysis of the following:
– Section 1: Asia-Pacific in global context; the section provides comparison of Asia-Pacific mobile telecom market size and trends with other regions.
– Section 2: Competitive dynamics; this section provides competitive analysis of various MNOs and MVNOs in Asia-Pacific’s mobile market.
– Section 3: Mobile broadband subscription trends in Asia-Pacific; a demand profile and analysis as well as historical figures and forecasts of service revenue from the mobile voice and mobile data markets.
– Section 4: Mobile broadband revenue trends in Asia-Pacific; examines changes in the breakdown of overall revenue and ARPU over 2018-2023. –
– Section 5: Key findings and recommendations; it consists of a summary of the key findings for Asia-Pacific mobile broadband market.
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An earlier related whitepaper by Frost and Sullivan stated the following:
The 5G landscape in Asia
Within Asia, South Korea and Japan are likely to be the first nations in the region to commercialize 5G. Both are attempting to capitalize on the upcoming Olympic Games in 2018 and 2020, respectively, where 5G will be showcased as an enabler of new forms of content delivery. However, one notable aspect of 5G in Asia is that, unlike in other regions, initial network uptake will not be limited to developed countries. Rapidly developing countries, such as India and China, will be important market leaders as well because of the massive size of their populations and growing middle classes. Even if a small portion of consumers and businesses in these countries adopt 5G at first, the likelihood of reaching profitability earlier is high. Further, ambitious digital initiatives in both countries have spurred strong government support of 5G rollout.
Indicators that Asia will set the global benchmark in 5G are evident. Piloting of 5G technology has already taken place, and small commercial launches are expected in South Korea by 2019, with larger rollouts unfolding in China and Japan by 2020. Rollout in India is not expected until after 2020 due to financial and infrastructure-related challenges, but mobile network operators are already strategizing ways to leapfrog to 5G. Despite delays compared with countries like South Korea and China, once commercialized, uptake should be relatively swift in India given strong backing from the Indian government, spectrum availability, and a large, addressable, market driving scale.
Device compliance is another indicator of Asia’s market readiness for 5G. Device manufacturers in Asia, such as ZTE, have already unveiled 5G-ready smartphones, further underscoring Asia’s commitment to 5G development.
As a whole, Asia is likely to account for just under half of all 5G subscriptions globally through 2022. By 2022, we expect regional revenue from 5G subscriptions to reach $4.5 billion and subscriptions to grow to over 280 million (or 49% of global totals). While this will represent only a fraction of all mobile subscriptions, growth for such a short period will be healthy.
Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers: How 5G will boost Nordic and Baltic Economies
Mr Dagfinn Høybråten, Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers, recently shared his views with ITU News on the importance of the development of 5G systems in the region. 
Dagfinn Høybråten is the Secretary-General of the Nordic Council of Ministers.
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Mr. Høybråten’s comments come ahead of the 5G Techritory conference, 27-28 September, Riga, Latvia.
Here’s the Q & A with ITU News:
What are the challenges and opportunities of 5G deployment in the Nordic region?
Technology drives development, and 5G technologies will set new standards for life quality and regional competitiveness in the Nordic and Baltic region — and in Europe as a whole. The Nordic region is one of the most innovative regions in the world, and in combination with its Baltic neighbors, it can provide the necessary counterbalance at the European level to technology developments in Asia and Silicon Valley.
–>Regions that are successful in utilizing and realizing the benefits of 5G, while managing risks, will have advantages in international competition and in developing more efficient and relevant public sector activities.
5G offers significant potential for the Nordic and Baltic economies and can strengthen the competitiveness and sustainability of our businesses and industries, for instance, in intelligent traffic systems and connected vehicles, smart and sustainable energy grids and connected health services facilitating healthcare innovation.
Regions that are successful in utilizing and realizing the benefits of 5G, while managing risks, will have advantages in international competition and in developing more efficient and relevant public sector activities.
With the high digital maturity of the Nordic and Baltic countries, the Nordic countries have the potential to be at the forefront of that development to become world leaders in using 5G technology for the development and digitalization of all sectors of society.
The Baltic countries are leaders in various areas when it comes to digitalization: For instance, Estonia is famous for its e-governance while Latvia is a gigabyte society, being one of the largest consumers of 4G globally and the frontrunner within the European Union. By engaging the Baltic countries in the setup of the most innovative regional 5G platform, the Nordic cooperation will contribute to realize the potentials of the gigabit society and thereby strengthen the European competitiveness.
The Nordic and Baltic countries share the goal of taking a leading role in the “next leap” for wireless communication, by building on the 2017 Nordic-Baltic Digital North Declaration with a common vision of being the first and most-integrated 5G region in the world.
However, legal barriers, deployment issues and the uncertain investment in very costly infrastructure represent some serious obstacles for the widespread, seamless and cross-border roll-out of 5G.
The Nordic Council of Ministers is in close cooperation with Nordic and Baltic countries preparing a comprehensive action plan for the 5G collaboration. We need to reduce the uncertainty for the governments and IT and telecom industries by articulating the value of 5G and utilizing the possibilities of 5G across the region
Among the key actions supporting the roll-out and use of 5G technology in the Nordic region are (1) to ensure availability of spectrum for 5G testing (licenses), (2) the coordination of 5G frequency bands and (3) identifying and utilizing synergies between Nordic and Baltic 5G test beds/test environments.
Equally, it is important to address the ethical and legal implications of the rapid digital transformation of our societies and to find the right balance between data innovation and data security.
Based on core values such as transparency, trust and openness, the Nordic and Baltic cooperation will contribute to the development of ethical and transparent guidelines and standards to guide how AI applications should be used. They will be our common contribution to the European discussion on this important issue.
To support the widespread use of technologies based on 5G across different sectors and industries, close involvement of the IT and Telecom industries is of utmost importance. As a global platform and network with more than 500 leading ICT companies worldwide, ITU is an important organization and partner in the roll-out and testing of 5G in our region, strengthening the link between vertical industries, standardization and research as diverse requirements emerge from different vertical industry use cases.
We are glad to start the dialogue with ITU at the Nordic-Baltic high-level meeting in Riga on September 26th and look forward to a fruitful discussion on 5G with ITU and other important ICT stakeholders in the future.
Cignal AI: Compact Modular Optical Equipment Market to hit $1 Billion in 2018
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T-Mobile talks up 5G fixed Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) to FCC
In a prepared statement to the FCC intended to buttress the case for the T-Mobile merger with Sprint, current T-Mobile COO Mike Sievert laid out the company’s objectives for “5G” as a home broadband option.
The claim is that this new fixed BWA offers performance better than Verizon and AT&T while being able to realistically compete with cablecos/MSOs like Comcast and Charter (as well as other triple play service providers that offer download speeds in excess of 100Mbps).
Editor’s Note:
Sievert didn’t say what technology and spectrum would be used, or mention that there are no standards for “5G” BWA and that fixed wireless is not even a use case for ITU-R IMT 2020 (real 5G) standard. IEEE decided not to submit 802.11ax or 802.11ay to ITU-R as proposed 5G BWA standards to complement IMT 2020.
In the absence of a standard, T-Mobile didn’t say what specification they are using for their “5G” BWA and really haven’t said much till now about their roll out plans for that offering. In August, T-Mobile said it would start deploying mobile 5G in 2019 with 30 cities named.
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Sievert explained that most people in the U.S. have few options when it comes to in-home internet and that their choices often include high prices and slow internet speeds. With T-Mobile’s 5G fixed BWA, millions of U.S. households would be offered high speed internet and create a competitive environment that lowers prices.
T-Mobile’s in-home 5G BWA plans include 100Mbps download speeds out of the gate, but would increase those speeds to between 300Mbps and 500Mbps for 200+ million people by 2024. Sievert wrote in his FCC post:
New T-Mobile’s (merged with Sprint) 5G network will change this competitive dynamic by closing the speed differential between mobile and wired broadband. By combining the resources of TMobile and Sprint, the combined company will create the capacity and coverage to provide in home broadband services. Our business planning has confirmed that there is a large market for New T-Mobile’s in-home broadband offering at the anticipated pricing and service levels. New T-Mobile’s entry into the in-home broadband marketplace will cause incumbent providers to lower their prices and invest in their networks—benefitting all in-home broadband customers.
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T-Mobile says that its 5G BWA will only be available in areas where network “capacity exceeds mobile requirements and is sufficient to support the in-home services.” That should mean coverage in at least 52% of US zip codes. T-Mobile says they could have 1.9 million 5G home internet customers by 2021 and 9.5 million by 2024.
T-Mobile also wants to make 5G home internet available without the need for installation of devices by a professional, which would mean eliminating expensive setup costs. Their goal is to allow customers the option to “self-provision the necessary in-home equipment.” That’s the opposite of how Verizon’s new 5G home service works.
T-Mobile 5G home internet will also be available without contracts or strict monthly data caps, according to Sievert.
T-Mobile will cover 64 percent of Charter’s territory and 68 percent of Comcast’s territory with its in-home broadband services by 2024. In addition, New T-Mobile expects to utilize caching and other network optimization techniques to increase the number of households that can be served. In sum, New T-Mobile will have the depth and breadth of network to deliver broadband speeds and capacity to consumers across the country.
New T-Mobile’s in-home wireless broadband offering will provide consumers across the country with average download speeds of 100 Mbps. By 2024, New T-Mobile will be able to cover more than 250 million people with data rates greater than 300 Mbps and more than 200 million people at greater than 500 Mbps.
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5G hotspot as an in-home option: Sievert also talked about allowing customers to simply use their mobile 5G plan as their only home internet solution. He explained that “New T-Mobile will also enable consumers to use their mobile services as a substitute for in-home broadband.” My guess is that T-Mobile could have an option within their wireless plans that opens up data caps for higher usage.
Currently,, T-Mobile offers 4G wireless plans that can throttle users after 50GB of data use in a month and also limits hotspot usage in many cases. For a customer to be able to use their mobile 5G plans for home internet, they’d have to remove those caps or offer some sort of tier that expands them.
Summing up, Sievert stated:
The planned service area of New T-Mobile’s broadband services will also dwarf the limited service areas of wired broadband providers. These speeds and coverage areas will be offered at a significant discount to the prices of traditional broadband providers, with monthly prices planned to be generally lower than traditional services
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Chris Milla wrote in a related blog post:
T-Mobile knows that rural broadband and broadband competition are two hot-button issues within the FCC right now, so it’s positioning the merger as a magical solution to those problems, without showing how its new claims match up with statements it was making less than a year ago. It’s the same thing that the company has been doing with 5G, and with prepaid wireless during this merger process — saying whatever the FCC wants to hear, with the reality a distant second.
What do you think of this gambit? Please comment in the box below this article.
References:
https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/109171182702890/Appendices%20A-K%20(Public).pdf
LightCounting: Optical Transceiver Sales Increased in 2Q-2018 despite ZTE shutdown
Sales of optical transceivers rose sequentially and held their own year-on-year, according to LightCounting. The market research firm’s “September 2018 Quarterly Market Update Report” states that strong demand for Ethernet optics for data center and enterprise applications, as well as improvements in worldwide wireless front haul and FTTx optics interest, provided a boost for fiber optic transceiver sales in 2Q-2018. That’s despite demand for DWDM transceivers hit a multiyear low due to the temporary shutdown of Chinese vendor ZTE.
LightCounting reported that shipments of 100GbE SR4 and CWDM4 modules in the first half of the year exceeded their expectations. The opposite was true of all other 100GbE transceivers, with several suppliers citing excess inventory at Amazon as a drag on 100GbE PSM4 sales. However, demand for 10GbE transceivers was very strong in the first six months of this year; unit shipments grew by more than 20%, according to the new report. The majority of these modules went to applications in enterprise networks. Cisco reported a 42% increase in the number of 10GbE ports shipped into this market in 1H18. And even 1GbE transceiver sales grew slightly in Q2 2018, LightCounting added.
Sales of optical transceivers picked up sequentially during the second quarter of 2018. (Source: LightCounting)
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Looking at the market from a fiber optic transceiver customer perspective, Internet Content Providers (ICPs) spent 80% more on their optical infrastructures in the first half of 2018 than during the same time in 2017. Communications Service Providers (CSPs) also increased their spending during this year’s first half versus 2017, although by only 2.6%.
The LightCounting 2Q-2018 report was more positive than either IHS-Markit or Cignal AI which both found the optical hardware market struggling in this year’s second quarter.
Looking ahead, LightCounting expects DWDM module sales to pick up now that ZTE is back in business. The company cited the fact that Acacia Communications executives anticipate a nearly 40% sequential increase in third quarter 2018 sales, with ZTE responsible for 60% of that.
The new “Quarterly Market Update” includes data and commentary on the Q2 2018 financial results of CSPs, ICPs, networking hardware, optical components, modules, and semiconductor chip makers. It also includes shipment data through Q2 2018 for more than 100 optical transceiver and wavelength selective switch (WSS) products.
LightCounting Contact Info: Tel: 408.962.4851 Email: [email protected]
Press Release for this report: https://www.lightcounting.com/News_091818.cfm
Dell’Oro: Service Provider Edge Router & Switch Sales -8% in 1H-2018
Sales of network service provider Edge Routers and Carrier Ethernet switches declined 8% year over year in the first half of 2018 (1H-2018), according to Dell’Oro Group’s just released market research report.
“The confluence of tepid telecom spending, maturing 4G mobile backhaul deployments, and new product introductions have contributed to the reduction in demand for routers and switches,” said Shin Umeda, vice president at Dell’Oro Group. “Telecom operators in the US have pared down their spending well below historical levels as they evaluate new technologies and architectures for 5G backhaul, and on top of that, the massive network buildouts in China are slowing after years of growth.”
“On the positive side, Cisco, Juniper, and Nokia have introduced major upgrades to their edge router portfolios that should bring customers back in the coming quarters,” added Umeda.
Cisco announced enhancements to its upgrades ASR 9000 edge routing platform earlier this month, while Juniper Networks has upgraded its MX Series for the demands of 5G wireless networks and announced 400 Gigabit Ethernet which must be primarily for high performance cloud data centers and possibly data center interconnects.
Cisco, Huawei, Nokia (via Alcatel-Lucent), and Juniper Networks were the carrier switch/router vendor market share leaders in the second quarter, according to Dell’Oro. A bounce in European switch/router sales was not enough to fully offset declines in North America and Asia Pacific.
The Dell’Oro Group “Router & Carrier Ethernet Switch Quarterly Report” covers the service provider core and edge router, Carrier Ethernet switch, and enterprise router markets for current and historical time periods. The report includes qualitative analysis and statistics for vendor market shares, revenue, average selling prices, and unit and port shipments.
About the Report:
The Dell’Oro Group Router & Carrier Ethernet Switch Quarterly Report offers complete, in-depth coverage of the Service Provider Core and Edge Router, Carrier Ethernet Switch, and Enterprise Router markets for current and historical time periods. The report includes qualitative analysis and detailed statistics for vendor market shares, revenue, average selling prices, and unit and port shipments. To purchase these reports, please contact us by email at [email protected].
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A new study titled, ‘Global Carrier Ethernet Switch and Router Market’ added by Reports Monitor is a collection of different segmentations, which includes the product types and uses, foundation elements of (Market/Product Name), and expected adoption timeline of Carrier Ethernet Switch and Router sales in the industry. This report provides a detailed analysis of the various use cases and applications of Carrier Ethernet Switch and Router Market in the global industry, their benefits, and challenges for their implementation. Moreover, it provides the potential revenue generation from the adoption of Carrier Ethernet Switch and Router for each application over the forecast period.
The market has been studied on the basis of various macro- and microeconomic factors influencing it. While focusing on the major driving and restraining factors for the market, the report also provides an in-depth study of the competitive landscape, investment scenario, regulatory framework, and the key strategies and developments taking place within the Global Carrier Ethernet Switch and Router Market.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.
Enquire for the Discount on this Report at:https://www.marketinsightsreports.com/reports/0914839668/global-and-southeast-asia-carrier-ethernet-switch-and-router-industry-2018-market-research-report/discount?source=thefairreporter&mode=03
Superb Article on What’s Wrong with Communications Industry by Steve Saunders, co-founder of Light Reading
Here’s the url for Steve Saunder’s spot on the money article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/future-communications-steve-saunders/
The only add on I have to Steve’s exquisite post is that the lack of standards is pervasive throughout the WAN space:
- SD WANs are a single vendor solution – no UNI or NNI specified or being worked on by an accredited standards body.
- NFV: No standards for exposed interfaces, APIs (NFV orchestrator (NFVO) to/from virtual appliances), no backward compatibility between virtual appliances and physical appliances, no standard for network management or fault isolation/repair, etc.
- Every major Cloud Service Provider (CSP) has their own defacto standards/specs and APIs, e.g. Amazon, Google, MSFT, etc
- Every major CSP has their own connectivity solution(s) from customer premises network to their point of presence (PoP); and their own method for realizing a virtual private cloud (VPC)
- Every CSP and network service provider has their own definition and implementation of SDN, including one or more southbound API (s) to/from Control Plane to data plane. That southbound API was supposed to be ONLY OpenFlow according to the ONF. The Northbound API was never standardized and there are many options. Many SDNs use an overlay network and virtualization of network functions while others do not. Equipment and software built for one provider’s SDN won’t operate on another’s as the specs are different and usually proprietary.
- Far too many LPWANs for IoT: Sigfox (by company with same name), LoRa WAN, Weightless SIG (unidirectional Weightless-N, bidirectional Weightless-P and Weightless-W), NB-IoT, LTE Cat M1, many other proprietary versions like RPMA (from Ingenu).
- The message sets between “things”/IoT devices and the cloud controller have not been standardized. Neither is the functions of an “IoT Platform” which has become a wild west menagerie of incompatible platforms from hundreds of vendors.
- Every so called “5G” deployment planned before IMT 2020 has been completed (end of 2020) is proprietary. The only thing in common seems to be use of 3GPP release 15 “5G New Radio” which is not a standard. That implies mobile 5G will have severe roaming problems when moving from one 5G carrier to another.
And the list goes on and on and on……………………………………….
Without agreed upon standards, the upshot is that the big cloud players (Google, Amazon, FB, Microsoft, Tencent, Alibaba, Baidu, etc) will dominate communications in the future (I think they already dominate all of IT!!)
Also, the rise of open source hardware organizations (OCP, TIP, ONF, etc) along with Taiwan/China ODMs have profoundly changed the communications industry. With so many open source white boxes and bare metal switches available, there is little or no value add for vendor specific network equipment other than possibly higher performance (e.g. throughput).
India Selects Cisco, Samsung, Nokia, Ericsson for 5G trials; Bars Huawei and ZTE
India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has excluded Huawei and ZTE from its list of companies asked to partner for trials to develop 5G use cases for India. New Delhi may well follow the US and Australia in limiting involvement of Chinese telecom equipment makers in the roll-out of the next-gen technology.
“We have written to Cisco, Samsung, Ericsson and Nokia, and telecom service providers to partner with us to start 5G technology-based trials, and have got positive response from them,” telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan told ETTelecom.
“We have excluded Huawei from these trials,” she said, when asked if Huawei has been eliminated from the trials for security reasons. The government is planning to show case India-specific 5G use cases by early 2019.
People familiar with the matter said besides Huawei, the government has also excluded ZTE for the 5G trials.
India’s move comes shortly after both the US and Australia moved to act against Huawei and ZTE amid concerns about possible cyber snooping by China. Last month, Australia barred both Huawei and ZTE from its 5G network roll-outs. Before that, the US had barred government use of equipment from the two Chinese gear makers, in what is perceived as wider efforts to keep the companies away from 5G roll-outs in the country. The UK has also found “shortcomings” in Huawei’s engineering processes, which the company said it was trying to address.
“This appears more a move to restrict government ties with Chinese equipment makers given the sensitive nature of security issues, especially after what happened in some other countries,” said an industry executive who asked not to be named.
This though isn’t the first time Chinese equipment makers have faced trouble in India over security issues. Back in 2010, the government had for several months unofficially barred mobile phone operators from importing and using telecom equipment from Chinese companies on suspicion that they may have technology built in for spying into sensitive communication. The ban was lifted after the companies agreed to more stringent testing rules.
The latest government move could deal a huge setback to the two companies, especially Huawei – among the largest equipment makers globally – which considers itself the leader in 5G technology and hopes to tap into huge demand for 5G software and equipment in the years ahead as telcos roll-out the next-gen technology globally.
That bid faces a huge challenge as more and more countries try to prevent the companies from participating in their 5G roll-out plans.
In India, Huawei has already been facing huge pressure on revenue owing to rapid consolidation in the telecom market, which has slashed the number of telcos by more than half. The company, staring at a 40% slump in revenue in 2018, has already stopped assembly of its products out of its local plants and has resorted to import to meet the reduced demand. Huawei’s India revenue is likely to come down to roughly $700-800 million (Rs 4,740-5,415 crore) this year from around $1.2 billion in 2017.
And with the DoT’s decision, Huawei’s business could come under more pressure even as India chalks out aggressive 5G plans.
“We are in regular touch with DoT and concerned government officials. The Indian government has always supported Huawei and has been appreciative of our path-breaking technologies and solutions,” Huawei in a statement late Thursday said, adding that the company was confident that showcasing its 5G technology would lead to a collaboration with the government and other ecosystem, allowing it to partner India in its journey to enable 5G and digital transformation.
The Chinese gear maker also said that it is working closely with various telecom operators as they would play a crucial role in conducting 5G field trial for India specific use cases. ZTE didn’t respond to ET’s emailed query as of press time.
“We are going to set up core group in the department to push this (trials) further, so that by early next year, we would be able to demonstrate 5G use cases in India,” Sundararajan said.
“As of now, we are at par with all major economies and have set up a high-level task force, which in its report has given the recommendations for the spectrum, standards, skills and early roll-outs,” she added.
The government is confident that India will roll-out 5G in tandem with global markets in 2020 and is making all efforts to keep the timeline for the next-generation technology, which could have an economic impact of more than $1 trillion in the country.
“We are committed to support the government’s 5G for India programme, aimed at bringing 5G to India by 2020,” Ericsson India managing director Nitin Bansal said, adding that the Swedish company is looking at developing the 5G ecosystem in India through industry partnerships.
Telstra on 5G: “Where Promise Meets Reality” + 3GPP Release 16 status
Fears that 5G use cases do not justify the extensive investments required to roll out the technology are unfounded, and the technology is going to change the world, according to Telstra CEO Andy Penn’s blog post, published to coincide with the 3GPP meeting this week,. More than 600 delegates from the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) – the body that produces specifications used in “5G” trials/early commercial “5G” deployments, and inputs submissions to ITU-R WP5D for IMT 2020, will be meeting at Australia’s Gold Coast this week.
–>See below for status of 3GPP Release 16 which will be the real deal 5G spec to be submitted as a candidate IMT 2020 Radio Interface Technology (RIT) to ITU-R WP5D in July 2019.
Penn wrote in the aforementioned blog post: “Will 5G change the world?” The short answer is absolutely yes. The best way to understand 5G is to realise it is more than just a faster, more efficient technology for mobile phones. What sets 5G apart from every earlier “G” is its ability to carry signals significantly faster. Latency – the time gap between a request for data being sent and the data being received – on 5G is reduced dramatically.
Penn said skepticism about the potential for new mobile technologies has been a common theme with each evolution. “Before 2G it was hard to conceive of the mobile phone becoming a mass market device owned by billions of people. Before 3G, it was questionable that enough people would want to access the internet on their phones. And before 4G, it was a brave call to suggest enough people wanted access to HD video at all times,” he said.
“But in every one of these occasions the demand not only materialized it did so with remarkable speed and on a remarkable scale. Indeed, each new technology has been embraced more quickly than the last. 4G took just five years to reach 2.5 billion people, compared to eight years for 3G.”
According to some forecasts, 5G will enable $12 trillion in economic output globally and support the creation of 22 million jobs by 2035, Penn said.
He said from Telstra’s perspective the baseline business case for 5G is meeting rapidly growing demand for mobile data traffic and addressing ways to more efficiently meet these demands.
“On top of that we see incredibly exciting opportunities to open up new applications and services delivered over mobile using 5G – everything from IoT on a massive scale, to 4K and 8K video, to mission critical services, to remote robotics will be brought to a whole new level by 5G.”
Penn added that the full range of opportunities that will be enabled by 5G will not be clear when 5G capability is switched on. He said Telstra is investing heavily in 5G, including through the planned deployment of 200 5G-enabled sites across Australia by the end of the year, out of a belief that first-movers will enjoy the earliest and greatest benefits from adopting the technology.
About the Author:
Andrew Penn became Chief Executive Officer of Telstra on May 1, 2015 after serving as Telstra’s Chief Financial Officer and Group Executive International. Andrew is an experienced senior executive with a career spanning more than 30 years. Prior to joining Telstra, Andrew was with AXA Asia Pacific for 20 years where he held a number of positions including Group Chief Executive (2006-2011), Chief Executive Officer for Australia and New Zealand, Group Chief Financial Officer, Chief Executive for Asia and spent time based in Australia, Hong Kong, Thailand and Indonesia. Under Andrew’s leadership AXA built a successful Asian platform, which was sold to its parent company in 2011 for $10.4bn. In addition to his business activities, Andrew has contributed widely to not-for-profit and community organisations. He is Life Governor and Foundation Board member of Very Special Kids. He is also a member of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Advisory Council, The Big Issue Advisory Group, and an Amy Gillet Foundation Ambassador.
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3GPP Release 16, to be completed at the end of 2019, will meet the ITU-R IMT-2020 submission requirements and the time-plan as outlined in RP-172101:
From Sep 2018 to June 2019, targeting “Final” submission in June 2019
- Performance evaluation update by taking into account Rel-16 updates in addition to Rel-15
- Update description template and compliance template to take into account Rel-16 updates in addition to Rel-15
- Provide description template, compliance template, and self evaluation results based on Rel-15 and Rel-16 in June 2019.
Some Background on Release 16
- “Working towards full 5G in Rel-16″…See a webinar presentation (Brighttalk webinar)
- Preparing the ground for IMT-2020
- SA1 completes its study into 5G requirements