One of the biggest news in the telecom industry came yesterday when AT&T announced it will be combining its assets with the owner of reality TV channels, Discovery Inc. However, there are more important stories in the telecom sector. Proximie and Vodafone have successfully completed a pilot of a 5G virtually assisted surgery, Sierra Wireless launched the most advanced 5G router currently on the market, and Public Cloud Services have passed $300 billion annual revenues globally. Apart from this, Mediacom is taking their claim against Iowa Google Fiber to the FCC, Siemens, and Telefonica partner to create solutions for smart buildings, and Telenor added Enea to its multi-vendor standalone 5G project.
Mediacom Proceeds The Iowa Google Fiber Complaint To The Federal Communications Commission
Mediacom has now asked FCC to review the alleged illegal deal between the city of West Des Moines, Iowa, and Google Fiber. The deal that allegedly resulted in a regulatory breach is the July 2020 one which, according to Mediacom, offered Google Fiber exclusive access to a brand new conduit network built by West Des Moines at the expense of other regulators.
Mediacom now claims it is a breach of Section 253 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, prohibiting local regulations impending the ability of “any entity to provide any interstate or intrastate telecommunications service.”
When filing an official complaint to the FCC, Mediacom argued “if the Commission does not act to preempt the city’s actions, that inaction will encourage other municipalities to ignore their Section 253 obligations to the detriment of the public and facilities-based competition.”
Before going to FCC, Mediacom has already filed a lawsuit against the city of West Des Moines, at the end of last year.
The city of West Des Moines has commented on the news after Mediacom has gone to FCC, claiming they continue to “strongly disagree with Mediacom’s allegations.”
“We have no intention of abandoning our efforts to build a conduit network in West Des Moines,” the spokesperson added.
Telenor Adds Enea To Its Multi-Vendor SA 5G Project
The biggest Norwegian operator group, Telenor, had just announced they will add a software vendor, Enea, to its ambitious project aiming at creating the world’s most diverse standalone 5G.
“The main component of 5G-SA is the 5G mobile core, the ‘brain’ of the 5G system,” said Patrick Waldemar, Telenor Research Head of Technology. “Unfortunately, most 5G core deployments are still single vendor dependent, with strong dependencies on that vendor’s underlying proprietary architecture. This single-vendor dependency can be a killer for innovation. It restricts open collaboration from the broader 5G ecosystem of companies developing new technology, use cases, and services that the market expects.”
“It has been a privilege to partner with Telenor and showcase our capabilities in this ground-breaking project,” said Indranil Chatterjee, Chief Customer Officer at Enea, of the latest development. “The initiative provides a blueprint for both operators and enterprises to create a cloud native, best-of-breed 5G environment that, by its multi-vendor nature, eliminates vendor lock-in.”
For More 5G Stories:
T-Mobile 5G Unlimited Data Plan Without Throttling is the Real Deal
China Proclaims 6G Lead, Huawei In Trouble, Q1 Results For Telecoms – Telecom Highlights
SpaceX Will Use Google Cloud At The Network Edge
SpaceX announced it will use Google data centers for its cloud applications and services. The company plans to move its Starlink ground stations into the Google Cloud.
“Combining Starlink’s high-speed, low-latency broadband with Google’s infrastructure and capabilities provides global organizations with the secure and fast connection that modern organizations expect,” said SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell (great name – Ed). “We are proud to work with Google to deliver this access to businesses, public sector organizations, and many other groups operating around the world.”
“Applications and services running in the cloud can be transformative for organizations, whether they’re operating in a highly networked or remote environment,” said Urs Hölzle, SVP of Infrastructure at Google Cloud. “We are delighted to partner with SpaceX to ensure that organizations with distributed footprints have seamless, secure, and fast access to the critical applications and services they need to keep their teams up and running.”
AT&T Will Combine Its Assets With Discovery Inc
On Monday, all the telecom enthusiasts received some big news: the U.S telecom giant AT&T closed the deal that combines its media assets with the owner of lifestyle TV networks, Discovery Inc.
The combination will result in a separate entity that can be valued as high as $150 billion. The company will be run by the current Discovery Chief Executive, David Zaslav.
The announcement marks the unraveling of AT&T’s plan to create a media and telecoms powerhouse, after a number of big acquisitions that the telecom giant made in the past year, including Time Warner in 2018 and DirecTV in 2015.
“This company is going to take a year to be in a position to take control of the assets,” Rich Greenfield, partner at LightShe Partners said. “The new company will be better after the deal, but it will take time.”
Executives said that the name of the new entity will be announced next week. Unfortunately, we will have to wait a little longer for other details, as they still have to be finalized.
“The opportunities in direct to consumer streaming are rapidly evolving, and to keep pace and maintain a leadership position, several things are required – global scale, access to capital, a broad array of high-quality content and industry best talent,” AT&T Chief Executive John Stankey told a news briefing.
Proximie And Vodafone Complete A Successful 5G Remotely Assisted Surgery
University Hospital of Wales has finished the first trial of the 5G remotely assisted surgery. Because of the joint effort of Proximie and Vodafone, 5G pilots enable clinicians to assist in surgery from any place in the world.
Trials are conducted in the diagnosis and treatment of colon cancer and colonoscopy training. They are using Vodafone’s 5G coverage system and Proximie’s platform.
Len Richards, CEO, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, said: “The importance of connectivity can’t be understated as we enter this new age of healthcare, providing an important platform from which we can explore exciting clinical innovations such as this to improve outcomes for our patients.
“I would commend the ingenuity and dedication shown by clinicians throughout Cardiff and Vale UHB who, despite the challenges they have faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, have worked with partners such as Vodafone and Proximie not only to continue delivering services but to enhance them.”
Anne Sheehan, Director, Vodafone Business UK, said: “Society will undoubtedly benefit from 5G, and this is a direct example of how digital technologies can revolutionize the healthcare industry. The clinicians of tomorrow can benefit from the experience and insight of colleagues wherever they are located and this will only lead to a better standard of healthcare.
“We are delighted to be working together with Proximie and Cardiff and Vale University Health Board to show the amazing things that can be achieved with the power of connectivity.”
Sierra Wireless Launches The Most Advanced 5G Router In The World
Sierra Wireless, the IoT solutions provider has launched its newest XR Series of multi-network 5G routers. The brand new series provides customers with a full quality performance of 5G across any network, both for mobile applications of backup fixed wireless connectivity.
“The performance, capability, and reliability of the XR Series complements our award-winning network, and it’s been great to see the positive feedback from our customers who are trialing the XR Series,” said Simba Bazaya, Product Manager, BT’s Enterprise unit. “We’re also working with our customers to deploy instant connectivity and ease of scale across a wide range of industries and businesses, and we continue to drive innovation to deliver the best customer experience and respond to growing customer demands leveraging our 5G network.”
The newest routers significantly improve performance and reliability in all data-intensive cases, by making sure the router will connect with the best-performing network at any given time. It is achieved through Sierra Wireless’ patented technology that allows the router to automatically switch to the best available network, in less than a second.
“The supercharged XR Series enables organizations to move 5G beyond the smartphone and deliver the performance needed to connect medical devices in emergency vehicles, utilize autonomous robots in factories, and provide high-performance backup connectivity to businesses,” said James Armstrong, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Enterprise Solutions, Sierra Wireless. “The XR Series is our fastest, most intelligent, flexible, and secure router yet, purpose-built for advanced mission- and business-critical applications.”
The XR series is now available for purchase, with prices starting at $1,299.
Public Cloud Services Globally Pass $300 Billion In Revenues In 2020
The International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Semiannual Public Cloud Services Tracker announced that the public cloud services grew by 24.1% in 2020, with the total global revenue of $312 billion.
Amazon Web, Microsoft, Salesforce, Google, and Oracle continue being the biggest providers, with an annual growth of 32% and 38% revenue share.
“Access to shared infrastructure, data, and application resources in public clouds played a critical role in helping organizations and individuals navigate the disruptions of the past year,” said Rick Villars, group vice president, Worldwide Research at IDC. “In the coming years, enterprises’ ability to govern a growing portfolio of cloud services will be the foundation for introducing greater automation into business and IT processes while also becoming more digitally resilient.”
The IaaS and Paas segments of cloud services are the fastest-growing ones, surpassing the sector’s overall 24.1% growth by far.
“Cloud service providers are rapidly expanding their portfolio of infrastructure and platform services to address confidential computing, performance-intensive computing, and hybrid deployment scenarios,” said Dave McCarthy, vice president, Cloud, and Edge Infrastructure Services. “Extending these foundational cloud services to customer premises and communications networks enables a broader set of use cases than previously possible.”
“The high pace of growth in PaaS, IaaS, and SISaaS, which combined account for about half of the public cloud services market, reflects the demand for solutions that accelerate and automate the development and delivery of modern applications,” said Lara Greden, research director, Platform as a Service. “As organizations adopt DevOps approaches and align according to value streams, we are seeing PaaS, IaaS, and SISaaS solutions become increasingly adopted and, at the same time, grow in the range of services and thus value they provide. Innovations in edge and IoT use cases are also contributing to the faster rates of growth in these markets.”
For More News About Cloud Services:
Quantum Computers in the Cloud Readying for Telecom
Siemens And Telefonica To Offer Solutions For Smart Buildings
Siemens and Telefonica announced a partnership aiming at creating solutions for the Spanish smart buildings market. The collaboration is reportedly going to provide customers with everything from energy efficiency and user experience to connectivity, security, and data analysis across Spain.
The two companies want to offer comprehensive solutions that go beyond maintenance, monitoring, occupancy, and capacity management and including CCTV, fire protection, and monitoring of entry points.
“The potential of uniting two portfolios with a clear focus on achieving communication, security and energy efficiency creates major opportunities for improving buildings and preparing them for the future”, explains Fernando Silva, director of Siemens Smart Infrastructure for Spain and Portugal.
“We are combining Telefónica’s expertise in communications with Siemens expertise in smart electric networks and building automation to enable us to implement a comprehensive solution for the buildings of any private or public body,” he added.
“This agreement with Siemens demonstrates Telefónica Tech’s potential as an integrator of solutions based on connectivity (in this agreement we offer our specialist knowledge in connectivity, physical security, IoT, and Big Data) and provider of digital transformation for companies in their plans to become more sustainable organizations. Together we will make smart buildings even more advanced in order to promote, at the same time, energy efficiency and contribute to improving people’s lives”, explains Elena Gil, Global Director of IoT and Big Data Products and Business Operations at Telefónica Tech.
