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  • AT&T Joins T-Mobile In Offering Nationwide 5G

    AT&T Joins T-Mobile In Offering Nationwide 5G

    AT&T became the second of the nationwide carriers to offer nationwide 5G, joining T-Mobile.

    AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon have been rolling out 5G across the nation. T-Mobile was the first to roll out nationwide 5G, using their 600 MHz, low-band spectrum. Low-band 5G offers marginally faster speeds than 4G, but excellent range and building penetration. Verizon has been focusing on high-band mmWave 5G. This variety is the fastest, but is only suitable for cities and densely populated areas because of its short range and poor penetration.

    While T-Mobile and AT&T are also rolling out mmWave in cities, both companies have been focusing on low-band 5G deployments, covering far more of the population.

    “Just as our lives have shifted in the past few months, so has our expectation of wireless technology,” said Jeff McElfresh, CEO of AT&T Communications. “With AT&T 5G reaching nationwide, our network is beginning the journey to transform connectivity as we know it by setting a new bar of breathtaking experiences and improved efficiency. Businesses, developers and consumers are already tapping into 5G’s potential and we’re thrilled for customers across the U.S. to experience it for themselves. It’s an exciting time in technology.”

    AT&T’s announcement will only increase pressure on Verizon, the one company that doesn’t have enough low-band spectrum to roll out a standalone, nationwide 5G network. Instead, Verizon is planning to use dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) to share the same spectrum between 4G and 5G. In the meantime, a recent report by OpenSignal showed that Verizon’s 5G network is only available 0.4% of the time.

    AT&T’s announcement is good news for its customers, and will help ensure the carrier can meet demand as 5G gains widespread adoption.

  • Tech Companies Must Have A Subscription Business Model: Nutanix CEO

    Tech Companies Must Have A Subscription Business Model: Nutanix CEO

    “You have got to have a subscription business model just like Netflix, just like Adobe and just like Microsoft,” says Nutanix CEO Dheeraj Pandey. Customers subscribe and we stream innovation. We’ve been streaming a lot to our customers. We talked about Home Depot recently. They’re seeing a record demand in the pandemic and we really helped them consolidate their infrastructure.”

    Dheeraj Pandey, CEO of Nutanix, a leading enterprise cloud technology provider, discusses how a subscription business model is key for survival and growth for technology companies:

    Tech Companies Must Have A Subscription Business Model

    As a company, we started almost ten years ago in a recession. The first killer workload for hyper-convergence was virtual desktops. People said Windows is dead. We said long live Windows. We went after federal customers and did an amazing job of building a very reliable company. Just taking a step back, we’re in the business of building cloud software. A lot of this comes down to the word software and cloud. We’re really thinking hard about being amorphous, being everywhere, being in the private data centers at the edge, and in the public cloud. 

    Cloud is hard and you really need to make it simple, seamless, and secure. But most importantly, you have got to have a subscription business model just like Netflix, just like Adobe and just like Microsoft. Customers subscribe and we stream innovation. We’ve been streaming a lot to our customers. We talked about Home Depot recently. They’re seeing a record demand in the pandemic and we really helped them consolidate their infrastructure.

    Cloud Is About Consuming Smaller Things

    The best way to measure our performance is a cloud subscription currency. We started talking about it as of last quarter and we grew really well with annual contract value. If you think about it cloud is about consuming smaller things. Hardware was about seven-year entitlement and software is still five to seven years. We’re saying let’s go do three-year terms and one-year terms. You’ve got to start small. 

    The recession is also the best time to go back with bite-size of what the customer really wants to buy. Annual contract value is the way of measuring our growth. It is also going to make this whole transition. I talked about Netflix and others and this whole transition unlocks amazing operational efficiencies for the company as well.

    Tech Companies Must Have A Subscription Business Model: Nutanix CEO Dheeraj Pandey
  • FCC: All Calls From Carriers Profiting From Robocalls May Be Blocked

    FCC: All Calls From Carriers Profiting From Robocalls May Be Blocked

    The FCC voted unanimously to adopt a set of rules that would allow all calls from carriers benefiting from robocalls to be blocked.

    Robocalls have become a plague for modern consumers, with billions of robocalls made per month in the US alone. As a result, legislators have been working to crack down on the problem.

    In its latest move, the FCC has created a safe harbor, wherein carriers have the option of blocking all calls from upstream, bad-actor carriers who profit from robocalls. This creates an option to tackle the problem on a much wider scale, without any liability issues.

    “The first safe harbor protects phone companies that use reasonable analytics, including caller ID authentication information, to identify and block illegal or unwanted calls from liability,” reads the FCC’s statement.

    “The second safe harbor protects providers that block call traffic from bad actor upstream voice service providers that pass illegal or unwanted calls along to other providers, when those upstream providers have been notified but fail to take action to stop these calls.”

    This may prove to be a powerful tool in the fight against robocalls.

  • UK Reverses Course, Bans Huawei

    UK Reverses Course, Bans Huawei

    In an about-face, the UK has announced it is instituting a complete ban of Huawei equipment from its networks.

    The US has engaged in a campaign to gets its allies to ban Huawei, as it has done. There are widespread concerns about national security risks, as Huawei has much closer ties to Chinese intelligence than many firms. As a result, it is believed the company is a spying and surveillance threat.

    Initially, the UK had opted to include Huawei in its networks, albeit in a lesser role. The company’s equipment was restricted from the more sensitive core network, and could comprise no more than 35% of the UKs’ 5G equipment. In addition, no Huawei equipment could be used near nuclear sites or military bases.

    Even that compromise solution was not popular, however, with both US officials and many in Prime Minister Johnson’s own party urging Downing Street to reconsider. Adding further pressure, the US has been ramping up restrictions on Huawei, including cutting it off from one of its main chip suppliers, TSMC.

    It appears the combination of factors have led the UK to reverse course, as it has announced a total ban on Huawei equipment. According to the government’s statement:

    “Huawei will be completely removed from the UK’s 5G networks by the end of 2027, the government has announced, following new advice produced by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) on the impact of US sanctions against the telecommunications vendor.

    “Ahead of this there will be a total ban on the purchase of any new 5G kit after 31 December 2020.”

    This is sure to hurt Huawei, as the UK was one of the first countries in Europe to welcome the Chinese firm years ago. It also remains to be seen what repercussions there will be, as China has a history of threatening countries over Huawei.

  • T-Mobile Winning 5G Coverage War—By a Wide Margin

    T-Mobile Winning 5G Coverage War—By a Wide Margin

    Ookla has released a report on the status of 5G in the US, and it shows T-Mobile leading by a wide margin when it comes to coverage.

    According to the report, and similar to a report by Opensignal, Verizon had the fastest 5G speeds, coming in at roughly 10 times the speed of the next carrier. In terms of coverage, however, T-Mobile enjoys an equally impressive lead.

    Ookla looked at two different ways of calculating how many 5G sites each carrier had. The first looked at the Ookla 5G Map, as of July 8, and found there were 5,165 commercial 5G deployments. T-Mobile accounted for 5,008, AT&T 355 and Verizon a mere 39.

    In the second method, Ookla looked at cities where multiple devices running the company’s Speedtest app identified the presence of 5G. Using that method, T-Mobile led with 6,199 deployments, AT&T had 1,571 and Verizon a mere 196. As Ookla points out, some of those deployments may not be commercially available.

    T-Mobile recently shut down Sprint’s 5G to repurpose the spectrum for its own network. It appears buying Sprint and gaining the additional spectrum is already paying off, giving T-Mobile a commanding lead in the 5G race.

  • Samsung Ready to Replace Huawei in UK

    Samsung Ready to Replace Huawei in UK

    As the UK revisits its decision to include Huawei in its 5G network, Samsung has signaled it is ready and able to fill any gap created by banning Huawei.

    Despite pressure from US officials, the UK ultimately chose to include Huawei in its 5G network, albeit in a limited role. Almost immediately, Prime Minister Johnson nearly faced a rebellion within his own party over the decision. Pressure from the US increased, with US officials signaling they might have to withdraw military and intelligence assets from the UK over the decision.

    Meanwhile, the US has also been working to limit Huawei’s ability to function, even going so far as to cut them off from TSMC, one of their primary semiconductor manufacturers. All of these factors caused UK officials to reconsider their decision, with a ruling expected soon.

    One ongoing challenge, however, is whether the UK can deploy a 5G network in a reasonable amount of time without Huawei. Should the UK choose to go that route, it appears at least one major company believes they can step in where Huawei was originally slated to be.

    According to Reuters, when asked if Samsung could successfully replace Huawei in building a 5G network in the UK, executive vice president Woojune Kim said: “Yes we can, definitely.”

  • British Government May Be Moving Closer to Huawei U-Turn

    British Government May Be Moving Closer to Huawei U-Turn

    The British government may be moving closer to reversing its decision to include Huawei in its 5G rollout.

    Huawei has been under increasing pressure globally amid accusations that it helps the Chinese government spy on governments and organizations around the world. While all Chinese corporations are required to cooperate with the government, Huawei has been accused of having far closer ties with the Chinese intelligence community than most companies.

    Despite ongoing US pressure to exclude Huawei, the British government initially opted to include the Chinese firm in a limited capacity. Recent events, however, have forced the UK to reconsider. US officials have repeatedly warned that including Huawei would force the US to revisit sharing intelligence and military assets with the UK. The US has also taken efforts to restrict Huawei’s supply of semiconductors.

    It appears the increased pressure is having an impact. According to The Guardian, Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden told a defense committee that an emergency review was nearly finished and would likely result in a change of policy.

    “Given that those sanctions are targeted at 5G and extensive, it is likely to have an impact on the viability of Huawei as a provider for the 5G network,” Dowden told the MPs.

    If the UK does reverse course, it will be a significant blow to Huawei, while providing US official with a major win.

  • Opensignal Report Sheds Light On 5G Industry

    Opensignal Report Sheds Light On 5G Industry

    As the major US wireless carriers duke it out in the 5G market, Opensignal has issued a report on which carriers are winning and where.

    The three remaining carriers have very different strategies when it comes to 5G rollout. High-band mmWave 5G has the fastest speed but the worst range and building penetration. Low-band offers speeds that are only marginally faster than 4G, but has excellent range and penetration. Mid-band offers a good compromise of speed, range and penetration.

    Verizon has focused almost exclusively on the mmWave variety and, not surprisingly, has the fastest speed with a real-world average of 494.7 Mbps. In contrast, AT&T averaged 60.8 Mbps and T-Mobile averaged 49.2.

    When it comes to coverage, however, it’s a completely different story. Verizon’s customers only connect to its 5G network 0.4% of the time. AT&T’s customers use their 5G network 10.3% of the time. The real winner is T-Mobile, with its customers connecting to the company’s 5G network 22.5% of the time.

    As a result of its findings, Opensignal declares that “T-Mobile won the 5G Availability award by a large margin.” As the company continues to absorb and incorporate Sprint’s spectrum, that coverage will only continue to increase.

    Image Credit: Opensignal

  • T-Mobile Deactivates Sprint’s Legacy 5G Network

    T-Mobile Deactivates Sprint’s Legacy 5G Network

    T-Mobile has turned off Sprint’s 2.5 GHz 5G as it incorporates the spectrum into its own network.

    Since T-Mobile’s merger with Sprint, the magenta carrier has been repurposing Sprint’s spectrum to improve its own network. On the day the merger closed, T-Mobile used Sprint’s 2.5 GHz spectrum to roll out mid-band 5G in Philadelphia. Similarly, T-Mobile has been deploying Sprint’s spectrum to improve its network.

    Sprint’s spectrum is exactly why T-Mobile pursued the merger, as Sprint had a wealth of mid-band spectrum. Mid-band is widely considered the sweet spot for 5G, as it offers significant speed improvements over 4G, while still providing reasonable range and building penetration.

    T-Mobile’s move to shut down Sprint’s 2.5 GHz 5G network will likely accelerate Sprint customers transitioning to T-Mobile plans. According to Fierce Wireless, T-Mobile is offering impacted customers deals to help move them to compatible devices.

  • FCC Labels Huawei and ZTE Threat to National Security

    FCC Labels Huawei and ZTE Threat to National Security

    The FCC has formally declared both Huawei and ZTE as threats to national security.

    The US has been waging a campaign against Huawei and ZTE for some time, citing concerns over their close ties to the Chinese government. The US has consistently maintained the companies, especially Huawei, serve as a conduit for Beijing to spy on governments and organizations around the world.

    As a result, US officials have taken steps to ban both companies from participating in US networks, and have pressured allies to do the same. Now the FCC is ratcheting up the pressure by labeling both companies as threats to national security.

    “We cannot treat Huawei and ZTE as anything less than a threat to our collective security,” Commissioner Carr stated. “Communist China intends to surveil persons within our borders and engage in large-scale, industrial espionage. Nothing short of prohibiting subsidized Huawei and ZTE gear from our networks could address this serious national security threat. After all, Chinese law does not meaningfully restrain the Communist regime given its authoritarian nature.

    “America has turned the page on the weak and timid approach to Communist China of the past. We are now showing the strength needed to address Communist China’s threats. And our efforts will not stop here. The FCC will continue to take whatever steps are necessary to secure America’s communications networks from bad actors that would do us harm,” Commissioner Carr added.

    The designation means that companies cannot use funds from the FCC’s Universal Service Fund to purchase, maintain or support equipment from either company.

  • Verizon Expands 5G Home Service to Houston

    Verizon Expands 5G Home Service to Houston

    Verizon has expanded its 5G Home service to include Houston, as the wireless company continues to emphasize mmWave deployment.

    mmWave is the fast flavor of 5G, offering speeds measured in gigabits. Verizon has bet heavily on the technology, focusing on it for both mobile users and wireless home internet service. The company had previously rolled out the service in Detroit, as well as improved service in Indianapolis and Los Angeles.

    Verizon has also been working to improve coverage. While mmWave is the fastest 5G available, its range is extremely limited when compared to low and mid-band 5G. To improve coverage, Verizon has partnered with Pivotal Commware, Inc., a Verizon Ventures portfolio company, to use repeaters to extend the range of the service.

    “Compared to lower spectrum bands, 5G over mmWave offers far more speed and throughput, is more energy efficient, experiences less signal interference over the air, and has a much greater capacity for expansive scalability,” said Kevin Smith, Vice President of Network Planning for Verizon. “As we’ve known since our very early trials, high band spectrum provides more limited coverage from macro cells. Introducing repeaters like the ones we are trialing from Pivotal will help us expand the footprint of our new 5G Ultra Wide Band network and provide another tool in the toolbox for robust network design.”

    The improved 5G Home should provide an excellent alternative to traditional internet service for residents in the target cities.

  • Comcast Hotspots Free to All Through 2020

    Comcast Hotspots Free to All Through 2020

    Comcast has announced that its Xfinity WiFi hotspots will remain free and open to anyone through the rest of 2020.

    As the pandemic gripped the nation, internet and wireless carriers pledged to do their part to help people stay connected. As part of that effort, Comcast made all of its 1.5 million Xfinity hotspots available to anyone, not just customers.

    As a result, the company saw unprecedented usage of its WiFi network, with hundreds of thousands of non-customers logging on. Based on that popularity, Comcast made the decision to extend the arrangement through the rest of 2020.

    “We saw a huge jump in usage after we opened up our public hotspots, and we’re excited to keep them open through the end of the year as the nation begins taking steps to reopen,” said Dana Strong, President of Xfinity Consumer Services. “We’re pleased to see so many families and individuals take advantage of our 60 days of free home Internet through Internet Essentials, and the free access to public Xfinity WiFi hotspots to get online during this time when connectivity is so important.”

    Kudos to Comcast for stepping to help individuals when they need it most. It’s a safe bet the company will gain quite a bit of consumer goodwill over this latest announcement.

  • Dish Closing Boost Deal to Become Fourth Carrier

    Dish Closing Boost Deal to Become Fourth Carrier

    Dish Network is preparing to close the deal with T-Mobile to take Boost Mobile off of its hands, making it the fourth nationwide carrier.

    T-Mobile recently merged with Sprint after years of campaigning and fighting to gain regulatory approval. Even after the DOJ and FCC approved the deal, a coalition of states sued to stop it. One of the big concerns opponents had was whether consolidating to three carriers would hurt consumers.

    To address the concerns, it was agreed that T-Mobile would sell its Boost Mobile business to Dish Network. This paved the way for the merger, making T-Mobile the second largest US carrier, while helping Dish enter the market as a new fourth nationwide carrier.

    As part of the deal, Bloomberg is reporting that Dish will pay T-Mobile $1.4 billion for Boost. In return, Dish will also have access to T-Mobile’s network for seven years.

    Dish has been aggressively optimistic about its ability to compete in a market that has seen Sprint go from a major force to being bought out by its one-time rival. Only time will tell if Dish is able to make a go of it.

  • Ericsson Predicts 190 Million 5G Users By End of 2020

    Ericsson Predicts 190 Million 5G Users By End of 2020

    Ericsson has released the June 2020 installment of its Ericsson Mobility Report, and it contains good news for the 5G industry.

    According to the report, Ericsson has increased its estimates for 5G adoption, thanks in large part to China, expecting some 190 million 5G subscriptions by the end of 2020. This is despite slower adoption in both North America and Europe. In fact, Ericsson is projecting that North American and European 5G subscriber growth for 2020 and 2021 will be less than originally anticipated, although the long-term 2025 target is still on track.

    This would indicate that once 5G adoption begins in earnest, it will rapidly pick up speed. Similarly, Ericsson believes that nearly half, or 45%, of mobile data will be handled by 5G networks by 2025.

    Overall, the speed of 5G adoption is far outpacing LTE, thanks to China’s fast adoption and multiple vendors releasing 5G-compatible devices.

    Interestingly, as ubiquitous as LTE has become, its days are clearly numbered. Ericsson believes the number of LTE subscribers will peak in 2022, then begin to decline as 5G becomes dominant.

    The entire report is over 30 pages and well worth a read, shining light on a number of trends within the wireless industry.

  • US Adds Rule to Allow Standards Collaboration With Huawei

    US Adds Rule to Allow Standards Collaboration With Huawei

    The US Department of Commerce has made a new rule that will allow US companies to work with Huawei on wireless standards.

    The US has been at odds with Huawei for some time, claiming it serves as a conduit for spying by Beijing. As a result, the US has banned Huawei and campaigned for its allies around the world to do the same. Meanwhile, US officials have continued to increase pressure on the company, restricting US companies from selling technology to Huawei, and working hard to strangle the Chinese firm’s access to semiconductor chips.

    As VentureBeat reports, however, the restrictions against Huawei backfired in one important way. By putting the company on the so-called “entity list,” restricting US companies from selling technology to Huawei, it created an atmosphere were many companies and industry experts were afraid to engage with the company on any level.

    Absent input from US engineers and technology leaders, Huawei’s voice on the world market ultimately became stronger. As a result, US officials added the new rule to expressly permit US companies to engage and work with Huawei on issues pertaining to standards development.

    This latest change illustrates the challenges of going to war with a company as widely used and as dominant as Huawei.

  • T-Mobile Explains Outage: ‘We Didn’t Meet Our Own Bar For Excellence’

    T-Mobile Explains Outage: ‘We Didn’t Meet Our Own Bar For Excellence’

    T-Mobile experienced a major outage Monday, impacting thousands of customers around the world as voice and text services were down.

    The issues began around 12:00 PM Monday, with users having trouble making and receiving calls and texts. President of Technology Neville Ray took to Twitter to reassure users the company’s engineers were working on the issue.

    Despite their efforts, however, the problems continued for roughly 12 hours. They were so widespread that users of other networks reported having issues as well, as we reported. FCC chairman Ajit Pai even got in on the action, tweeting that T-Mobile’s “network outage is unacceptable,” and vowing the FCC would demand answers.

    It appears T-Mobile is providing those answers, with Ray explaining what caused the issue, as well as what the company is doing to make sure it doesn’t happen in the future.

    “The trigger event is known to be a leased fiber circuit failure from a third party provider in the Southeast,” writes Ray. “This is something that happens on every mobile network, so we’ve worked with our vendors to build redundancy and resiliency to make sure that these types of circuit failures don’t affect customers. This redundancy failed us and resulted in an overload situation that was then compounded by other factors. This overload resulted in an IP traffic storm that spread from the Southeast to create significant capacity issues across the IMS (IP multimedia Subsystem) core network that supports VoLTE calls.

    “We have worked with our IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) and IP vendors to add permanent additional safeguards to prevent this from happening again and we’re continuing to work on determining the cause of the initial overload failure.”

    Ray personally apologized for the problem, while acknowledging T-Mobile and his team did not meet their own bar for excellence.

  • T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T Experiencing Outages

    T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T Experiencing Outages

    All three of the nation’s largest wireless carriers are experiencing technical difficulties Monday, with customers reporting outages across services.

    T-Mobile’s Neville Ray took to Twitter to acknowledge the issues, while at the same time recommending alternate, data-based services that are not impacted.

    Teams continue to work as quickly as possible to fix the voice & messaging problems some are seeing.

    Data services are now available & some calls are completing. Alternate services like WhatsApp, Signal, iMessage, Facetime etc. are available. Thanks for your patience.

    — Neville (@NevilleRay) June 15, 2020

    Neither Verizon nor AT&T have issued a similar statement. However, a look at Ookla’s Downdectector service shows a spike in complaints for both companies coinciding with T-Mobile’s issues. In the case of Verizon, 79% reported an issue with their mobile phone, 16% with mobile internet and 3% with landline internet service. In the case of AT&T, 79% reported an issue with the internet, 11% with their phone and 8% reported no network reception.

    The fact that all three carriers started experiencing major problems around the same time would seem to indicate an issue with a shared network backbone, although no further details were available at time of writing.

  • UK/Huawei Showdown Heats Up

    UK/Huawei Showdown Heats Up

    The ongoing showdown over the UK’s decision to revisit Huawei’s role in the country’s 5G network is heating up.

    In contrast to the US, Australia and New Zealand, the UK is the only one of the so-called “Five Eyes” alliance of countries that formally decided to include Huawei in its 5G network plans, albeit in a limited role. Meanwhile, the fifth member of the Five Eyes, Canada, is still undecided.

    Ultimately, however, multiple factors have forced the UK to revisit its initial decision. US officials have warned that involving Huawei in its network would force the US to reconsider its military and intelligence assets within the UK. On top of that, the US has taken measures to limit Huawei’s access to the semiconductor chips it needs for its equipment, further endangering the UK’s plans.

    Now that the UK is officially reviewing the decision, parties on both sides are mounting increasing pressure. According to CNBC, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has come out in favor of the UK’s security review, telling BBC radio “I trust that the U.K. government will design their networks in ways that protect the networks and make sure that the U.K. has secure 5G networks.”

    On the flip side, Huawei is pulling out the stops to win over public opinion. According to the BBC, the Chinese company is engaging in a newspaper and internet media blitz to remind the British public that it has been in business in the UK for some 20 years.

    Ultimately, there will be winners and losers regardless of what the UK decides. If it continues with its plans to include Huawei, it risks its “special relationship” with the US. If, on the other hand, it bans Huawei as the US has done, it risks alienating one of its biggest trading partners.

  • Verizon Now Offering 5G Home Internet In Detroit

    Verizon Now Offering 5G Home Internet In Detroit

    Verizon has expanded its 5G Home Internet service to Detroit, the sixth city in which it offers the service.

    5G is a revolutionary wireless upgrade, promising speed in the gigabit range. As a result, companies like Verizon are looking to 5G for applications beyond traditional wireless service. Home internet is one such example, giving wireless companies a way to compete against traditional internet providers.

    Now Verizon customers in Detroit will be able to take advantage of the new technology, via the company’s 5G Home Internet service.

    “Detroit customers now have access to the next generation of lightning fast home broadband internet service,” said Frank Boulben, SVP consumer marketing and products at Verizon. “5G Home Internet on Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband Network will provide customers with flexibility, freedom and choice that enables a whole new world of experiences in the comfort of the home, something more useful now than perhaps ever before.”

    This is good news for Detroit-based Verizon customers and will provide a nice alternative to traditional internet services and plans.

  • FCC Moves to Limit Local Governments From Blocking 5G

    FCC Moves to Limit Local Governments From Blocking 5G

    The FCC has voted to clarify rules governing the process for local and state governments to review wireless infrastructure modifications.

    Few wireless technologies have been as controversial as 5G. The next generation of wireless technology has been lauded as revolutionary, ushering in gigabit-class speeds that will redefine many industries.

    At the same time, some scientists have warned of potential health dangers posed by the new technology. Some governments have even gone so far as to impose a moratorium on 5G rollouts until more research can be done. On the other hand, studies by government regulators and international watchdog agencies have found 5G to be safe. That hasn’t stopped conspiracy theories from multiplying, however, resulting in 5G towers being vandalized and social media companies taking steps to stem the misinformation.

    To help prevent any unnecessary delays in 5G rollouts on the part of local governments, the FCC is clarifying the Spectrum Act of 2012 rules. Those rules ensure that local and state governments will approve requests to change wireless sites within 60 days, as long as those changes don’t “substantially change the physical dimensions of that structure.” The new rules make it harder for governments to take issue with changes to wireless sites, ensuring more of them are eligible for streamlined treatment.

    The FCC’s decision was split along party lines, with the two dissenters pointing out what they believed to be “an unfair burden on the local governments” as they struggle with the effects of “a deadly virus, economic calamity, and civil unrest.” The two dissenting opinions also voiced concern that the “clarification” was poorly executed and only serves to create further confusion.

    Only time will tell if the FCC’s latest decision helps or hurts 5G deployment.

  • Huawei Losing Ground as Deutsche Telekom and Bell Canada Choose Ericsson

    Huawei Losing Ground as Deutsche Telekom and Bell Canada Choose Ericsson

    Huawei has been shut out of some high-profile 5G contracts, as both Deutsche Telekom and Bell Canada have gone with Ericsson.

    Huawei has faced increasing pressure worldwide as the US has led a campaign to shut the Chinese firm out of the 5G market. Huawei is already banned in the US, and officials have been working to get their allies to follow suit.

    Australia and New Zealand have similarly banned Huawei from participation in their 5G networks. The UK initially decided to allow the company to participate in a limited role, although recent events are forcing the British government to reconsider. Canada, on the other hand, has remained largely undecided.

    Bell Canada, however, has decided to exclude Huawei, inking a deal with Ericsson instead.

    “Ericsson plays an important role in enabling Bell’s award-winning LTE network and we’re pleased to grow our partnership into 5G mobile and fixed wireless technology,” said Stephen Howe, Chief Technology Officer, Bell Canada. “5G’s high-capacity and near-instant connections will enable next-generation applications like mobile 4K video and immersive augmented reality, connected vehicles and industrial IoT automation on a massive scale, and our plan is to deliver the benefits of the 5G wireless revolution to cities and rural locations alike.”

    Similarly, Deutsche Telekom has also selected Ericsson for its network in Germany.

    “We listened to Deutsche Telekom and understood their urgency to have 5G-ready infrastructure in order to stay at the forefront of customer service in Germany,” said Arun Bansal, President and Head of Ericsson in Europe and Latin America. “We can run multiple standards on the same baseband hardware and a 5G upgrade will be able to be performed by a simple software download to the radio sites. And, during these deliveries, we will use the experience from our 5G activities around the world to be sure that Deutsche Telekom has the most advanced hardware and software in the industry.”

    These are undoubtedly big losses for Huawei and further isolates the company in its efforts to be a leader in the 5G market.