European court annuls decision that blocked UK mobile merger
The General Court of the European Court of Justice has annulled a decision made in 2016 to block the merger between two UK MNOs, Telefónica O2 and HutchisonThree, on the basis of fears of reduced competition. Four years on, Telefónica is looking elsewhere, planning to merge O2 with Liberty Global’s UK cableco, Virgin Media. But the change in the precedent could have an important broader impact on regulatory attitudes to telecoms mergers in Europe, a saturated region which is likely to see a further round of consolidation, even as incumbents are being disrupted by new entrants with very different business models, such as Iliad.
Telia deploys 5G network powered entirely by renewables
In Swedish capital Stockholm, Telia has worked with Ericsson to deploy a 5G network powered entirely by renewable energy. The network currently includes 15 base stations, with 60 new ones to be added next month as coverage increases and commercial services are turned on. The 5G network is running in 700 MHz spectrum, in Non-Standalone mode, so 5G is augmented by 4G carrier aggregation.
Telstra 5G coverage extends to 47 cities and 8m people in Australia
Australia’s Telstra continues to be at the vanguard of commercial 5G deployments outside China and has now extended its coverage to 47 cities across the country, embracing 8m people. The operator has stated that over 700 suburbs are now more than 50% covered by 5G, around cities including the capital Canberra, Central Coast, Brisbane, Sidney, Cairns, Gold Coast, Adelaide, Hamilton, Melbourne and Perth.
The telco launched 5G in May 2019 in the 3.6 GHz band, but is keen to extend into the mm Wave after that spectrum is auctioned in 2021. This will initially be used to increase capacity in high density areas such as city centers, train stations and sports stadia.
FCC under pressure to open up midband satellite spectrum for 5G
The US regulator FCC has come under pressure from trade bodies to open up midband satellite spectrum in the 12.2-12.7 GHz range for 5G services. Lobbyists including the Competitive Carriers’ Association argue it is time the FCC came off the fence now that 5G services are getting going, having been sitting on this since 2016 when Dish Network first submitted such a petition. Ironically, Dish is one of the country’s major DBS (direct broadcast satellite) operators that have been using this band for their transmissions. However, subscribers have been churning away from such services rapidly and Dish anticipated future revenues coming increasingly from data services, in February 2020 becoming the fourth US cellular operator, alongside T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless and AT&T. As no government agencies operate in that spectrum, that 500 GHz has been considered to be up for grabs and now looks likely to go to 5G.
LoRA boosted in IoT by dual-mode chips
The IoT generally and some LPWAN (low power WAN) protocols specifically have been boosted by availability of multimode chips incorporating two or even three radios. Among a recent flurry of new products is Semtech’s LR1110 module, also referred to as a LoRA edge chip, combining a LoRa transceiver, a passive Wi-Fi scanner, and a multi-constellation GNSS scanner. This addresses use cases that previously required two or three separate chunks of silicon and makes such cases more addressable by device makers because costs and energy consumption are reduced.
Mobile data spikes in suburbia during lockdowns
Lockdown has driven mobile data away from city centers towards the suburbs and dormitory towns where more people live, at least in London where BT’s UK mobile operator EE has studied changing traffic patterns. EE has reported that in Stevenage, a commuter town about 40 miles from London, data usage for communication apps has risen by 120% during the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, while it has dropped by 58% in the city itself which is largely closed for business.
Other trends are mostly predictable, such as a fivefold increase in the user base of popular videoconferencing app Zoom, while other apps featuring collaboration and messaging such as WhatsApp, HouseParty, Skype and Teams have attracted substantially increased usage. Other notable trends include a boom in fitness apps as people exercise outside more, while online supermarket orders spiked early on before subsiding to a still-higher but sustainable level that EE describes as a new ‘normal’. However, it remains to be seen whether there is a further slip in such usage as lockdowns are eased.
Cradlepoint plots path to 5G branch edge router
Cradlepoint has announced a 4G wireless WAN edge router with a migration path to 5G, to support enterprise branch deployments. The E3000 Series allows a 4G wireless WAN to be deployed and then upgraded to 5G when available or required. The edge router is part of the Cradlepoint NetCloud Enterprise Branch Service, which aims to deliver an enterprise-class ‘branch in a box’ to medium-sized companies. The current version combines an embedded Gigabit LTE modem, integrated WiFi 6, Gigabit Ethernet ports for WAN/LAN connectivity, and expansion slots for a secondary LTE modem module. The 5G modem and Bluetooth 5.0 modules are due to be added later in 2020.
AT&T to deploy DSS in similar timeframe to Verizon
AT&T plans to follow Verizon’s lead and deploy dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) technology later this year. Igal Elbaz, SVP of wireless technology, told an investor conference: “You should expect us to have DSS introduced in our network in the second half of 2020” – a similar timeline to Verizon. Both operators have limited midband spectrum, and DSS will allow them to use some of their LTE airwaves to add 5G capacity and coverage. In AT&T’s case that will complement its 600 MHz coverage network, which has limited additional speed compared to its LTE services, and its 39 GHz mmWave deployments which provide high capacity but short range. AT&T is also one of the first telcos to achieve 5-band carrier aggregation for 5G.
Three UK appoints chief network officer, with Huawei crisis looming
Hutchison’s Three UK has appointed Carlo Melis as its chief network officer, just as it seems that the UK government will impose more stringent sanctions against Huawei than previously announced. Previously, the government had set caps of 35% for Huawei equipment in 5G or fiber networks, along with some other restrictions, but this sparked opposition from some members of parliament, and from the US government, which wants its allies to impose a full ban. Since Three UK had chosen Huawei as its sole 5G network provider, transferring from Samsung as its 4G vendor, Melis will face the headache of having to back away from that commitment and introduce other suppliers – at least for 65%, and possibly the whole network, if the UK does introduce a deadline to eliminate Huawei kit completely. Melis previously performed the same role at Hutchison’s Wind Tre Italian unit, and replaces Ros Singleton in the UK job.