Searching Weekly Analysis
Searching Weekly Analysis
The extinction of pay TV set tops has been forecast every year since streaming alternatives arrived on the scene. While cord cutting has again terrorized developed pay TV territories the world over throughout 2022, there remains persistent pockets of opportunity for pay TV operators and the vendor community – across hardware, software, and even in setting a bar for sustainability. When exploring the topic of life after Linux and looking ahead to next-gen set top options in 2023, some might be disappointed to hear that there are still only two viable technologies on the table – Android TV and RDK. We have been having the exact same conversations for the past five or six years, so what’s new in life…
Exactly one year ago, Faultline closed out 2021 with a retrospective and flattering look back on what we described as Open Caching’s breakthrough year, in a piece projecting big things for the technology in the year ahead. As we close out our final issue of 2022, we are disappointed to say that the past twelve months have not proven to be the springboard into operator networks that many expected for the Open Caching standard. However, at least the year is ending on a high for some involved, with a significant deployment just announced in Japan for Qwilt. The US vendor has been aggressively pursuing pre-standard installations of its proprietary open caching technology deep inside operator networks, which is something of…
New Yahoo cuts a liberated figure, at a time when the media and entertainment industry is betting big on advertising to reduce churn and generate additional revenue streams in recession-hit economies. Judging by recent announcements, Yahoo looks more like the pure advertising powerhouse today that Verizon spent years trying – and failing – to sculpt. Verizon’s $10bn+ advertising acquisition spree, including AOL in 2015 and Yahoo in 2017 that formed the failed Oath unit, has been subject to much ridicule. The US operator subsequently spat out these assets years later in 2021 in a $5bn transaction to Apollo Global Management, as a new business simply called Yahoo, in which Verizon retains 10%. Not forgetting the significant sale of Yahoo’s Edgecast…
While there are many discussions about virtualized, disaggregated RAN – often in the context of Open RAN initiatives – for most operators this remains a next-generation option. Indeed, many are only just deploying the less disruptive Centralized RAN (C-RAN) at scale. C-RAN involves a shared baseband processing platform that can support a number of cell sites, potentially a very large number. The key difference from vRAN is that the baseband does not need to be virtualized, and so operators can achieve some of the upsides of resource pooling without the daunting migration to cloud-based architectures, at least until these platforms become more mature and de-risked. The bigger the number of sites supported, the greater the benefits of scalability and resource…
It is clear microwave backhaul is here to stay through the 5G era and even expand its role in reaching more remote areas, as well as some dense urban settings where fiber cannot readily be deployed. Extending microwave backhaul into the E-band (71-86 GHz) has become essential for many operators as the only band currently available commercially with sufficient bandwidth to meet anticipated backhaul demand for 5G Standalone services that may themselves be operating over rather lower millimeter wave frequencies. Such backhaul might connect terrestrial stations, or in remote areas also be used for point-to-point links to non-terrestrial systems such as satellite or high altitude platforms (HAPS). With such objectives in mind, France’s Orange is one operator that has been…
T-Mobile USA’s five-year plan is nearing its end point, as it was put into action in 2018, and CEO Mike Sievert is already giving indications of what may be including in the next plan. The third US MNO, in the past four years, has changed from being largely a low-cost operator targeting the lower rungs of mobile subscribers, to a disruptive marketing force that has gained significant market share through its aggressive pricing and content offers under its ‘Uncarrier’ brand; as well as by moving into new markets such as enterprise; and of course acquiring Sprint. But with two strong rivals, AT&T and Verizon, and potential challenges from the major cablecos and from new mobile entrant Dish, TMO cannot rely…
If there is one lesson that the large operators have belatedly learned, it is that network evolution and new strategies for applications and services must be tightly integrated. Too often, operators have invested in new, powerful infrastructure but continued to monetize in the same old way; or alternatively have set out ambitious programs for new applications without optimizing network capabilities to match. But Telefónica’s API platform initiative (see separate item) is tied closely to its plans for agile network infrastructure; and Vodafone’s pursuit of open virtualized RAN architectures increasingly seems to be about more than just opening up the supply chain, and to be part of a wider goal of developing fully flexible service platforms. The problem is that investing…
Most of the world’s largest operators are considering their future relationship with the major US hyperscalers and seeking to leverage various assets, such as the potential edge compute/5G combination, to strike an improved balance of power. Telefónica is reported to be in talks with Amazon AWS, Google and Microsoft to support a platform for marketing application programming interfaces (APIs). Open APIs will be foundational to future connected software platforms and will underpin immersive, joined-up experiences such as the metaverse. But operators’ success with their own API platforms – whether single-company or cross-carrier efforts such as the ill-fated Wholesale Application Community (WAC) of 2012 – has been very limited, especially compared to the huge power of apps platforms and ecosystems linked…
In April 2020, the Indian telecoms market was shaken up when Facebook (now Meta) took a nearly-10% stake in disruptive operator Reliance Jio, now the mobile market leader. In the wake of that deal, Jio secured other investors, including Google and Qualcomm, while Google also took a stake in Bharti Airtel, now the second largest operator. Microsoft was also said to be interested in stakes in at least one Indian provider, as all the US hyperscalers seek ways to capitalize on the huge size and growth potential of the Indian market, which will certainly be easier to achieve with local partners that have established channels and brands to the vast base of businesses and consumers. More than two years on,…
Special Report: Operators get creative for 2023 Wireless Watch is often cautious about, and sometimes critical of, operators’ slow progress towards the goals they set out at the dawn of 5G – to use the new networks to become digital service providers, to generate new enterprise revenue streams, to forge a new and mutually beneficial working relationship with the hyperscalers, to drive a new open network platform and ecosystem. All four are goals that, if met, would shake up and transform the mobile telecoms industry and usher in new services, business models and suppliers. But in all cases, progress has been slow to match the fine words. But of course, industries and incumbent players move slowly and have significant legacy…
It is no industry secret that Open Caching implementations are weaker than the Streaming Video Technology Alliance (SVTA) would want. While work goes on behind closed doors (doors that are more tightly closed than many would like), it seems the group is looking to emphasize the sustainable credentials of Open Caching through 2023 and beyond to encourage uptake. Speaking during a recent webinar, Brian Stevenson, Technical Fellow at the SVTA, observes that video providers are vying to be more socially conspicuous, and therefore so should the SVTA itself. It is true that the standards cultivation club enjoys close ties with the Greening of Streaming initiative, but the two are chalk and cheese in mission. For a lot of SVTA members,…
New Yahoo cuts a liberated figure, at a time when the media and entertainment industry is betting big on advertising to reduce churn and generate additional revenue streams in recession-hit economies. Judging by recent announcements, Yahoo looks more like the pure advertising powerhouse today that Verizon spent years trying – and failing – to sculpt. Verizon’s $10 billion+ advertising acquisition spree, including AOL in 2015 and Yahoo in 2017 that formed the failed Oath unit, has been subject to much ridicule. The US operator subsequently spat out these assets years later in 2021 in a $5 billion transaction to Apollo Global Management, as a new business simply called Yahoo, in which Verizon retains 10%. Not forgetting the significant sale of…
The key takeaways from a recent Synamedia analyst update were a desire to open source the low-latency High Efficiency Stream Protocol (HESP), as well as an apparent lack of interest in LCEVC (low complexity enhancement video codec). While Synamedia’s EVP and GM for Video Networks, Julien Signes, did not sound exasperated when outlining the state of HESP, it is worth noting that the UK-based video software vendor is still the biggest supporter of the new protocol. Developed by Theo Technologies, HESP was debuted at NAB 2019. Synamedia launched the HESP Alliance in July 2020, as an attempt to boost interest in the LL-DASH and LL-HLS alternative, but when Faultline first dug into the technology, in May 2022, we noted that…
Australian firm GT Systems has developed an alternative open caching technology, which uses some fundamentally funky technologies to achieve the same ends as the SVTA’s Open Caching attempts. Faultline’s colorful chat with CTO and founder Rhett Sampson this week unearthed some juicy claims. Perhaps most striking is Sampson’s recollection of an introductory chat with a large CDN provider, which will remain anonymous, for now. Sampson initially thought the representative was responsible for evaluating new technologies and partners, but it quickly transpired that they were on the hunt for competitive threats. That conversation culminated in an admission that the unnamed CDN was already in breach of GT Systems’ patents. This evaluator asked how GT Systems planned to roll out its technology,…
Daqo Energy announced two new polysilicon long-term orders amounting to 278,880 tons, equivalent to around 100 GW of final output solar panels and around $4 billion if sold at an average price of $15 per kilogram – such deals feature monthly price negotiations and these two deals stretch to the end of 2027. LONGi is the main customer in this case. Shenzhen Energy plans to invest $477 million in the 500 MW first phase of a 2 GW solar-storage project to be located in Shule County, Xinjiang, China. Xuhe Technology has begun construction of its N-type 10 GW cell and module factory in Chuzhou City, Anhui Province, China. The first phase of the project will use TOPCon technology. Anhui Province…
California based alternative chemistry battery firm EnerVenue has a second generation version of its Nickel Hydrogen battery – it has the same claims as before – 30,000 cycles, maintenance free for at least 20 and probably 30 years, made of cheaper materials than lithium ion, which never blow up or combust – but it now has been produced in a longer, more versatile format for inclusion in larger energy storage systems. It states quite openly that it has over 7 GWh of existing orders. The picture below is the new longer format Energy Storage Vessel And below is the older original battery format, not a dramatic change but one most likely more convenient to work with for its customers based…
LG Uplus to develop smart factory platform for SMEs LG Uplus, South Korea’s third largest mobile operator, is developing a smart factory platform for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to monitor and analyze machine tool operations remotely. The telco is collaborating with Japanese automation company Fanuc for the project, which involves developing cloud-based services using artificial intelligence tools under a subscription model to help reduce SMEs’ initial investment costs. According to Jeon Yeong-seo, head of LG Uplus’ corporate service development lab, predictive maintenance of various CNC equipment, including lathes and milling machines, can reduce pain points for machine tool customers on the factory floor. LG uplus in October 2022 unveiled a range of AI services as part of a long-term strategy to…
Qualcomm has unveiled its Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 system-on-chip (SoC), for flagship smartphones, and the silicon finally supports the AV1 video decoder in hardware, which will help to make the standard mainstream in smartphones and other consumer devices. The SoC runs on an octo-core CPU, using the Cortex v9 instruction set, which Qualcomm says is 35% more powerful while 40% more power-efficient than its predecessor. The graphics processing unit is a new Adreno design, with support for Vulkan 1.3. The image signal processor (ISP) can capture 8K HDR video at 30 frames per second, and the display output supports 4K at 60 Hz and QHD+ (1440p) at 144 Hz. The SoC is built by TSMC, using a 4-nanometer design. The…
Samsung has expanded its Open RAN relationship with Japan’s NTT Docomo, despite Docomo’s long-standing and very close partnership with NEC, another prominent supplier of Open RAN radios. Samsung is already providing the largest Japanese MNO with 3.4 GHz radio units and has now added contracts for equipment in 3.7 GHz, 4.5 GHz and 28 GHz bands. Together, these make up all the TDD bands (many very specific to Japan in their band-plan) that Docomo currently plans to use for 5G. The companies said they have been testing the interoperability of these new radios with basebands from various vendors in Docomo’s commercial network environment. “We have been collaborating with Samsung since the beginning of 5G and through our Open RAN expansion,…
If some operators are frustrated that Open RAN has not been moving more quickly, others are equally impatient to see faster progress in edge compute. There has been a lot of discussion, including in Wireless Watch, of how a telco-grade edge, managed by operators and integrated with advanced connectivity, could expand the 5G-era business model. A handful of operators have built out extensive edge compute, both to support their own network functions and to deliver enterprise services, including Rakuten and SK Telekom. Some are working closely with hyperscalers through initiatives such as AWS Wavelengths. But in general, there have been limited measurable impacts from operator 5G edge so far. Consultancy STL Partners has slashed its forecast for operator edge deployments…