Searching Weekly Analysis
Searching Weekly Analysis
Turquoise hydrogen is the latest color on the hydrogen pallet to have gained some traction lately. The latest progress for this type comes from Perth-based Hazer Group, which has run a pilot plant successfully for ten days, thus qualifying for further government funding – worth some A$9.41 million according to the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) – to be used to push the technology into the commercial space in the next few years. As with every color of hydrogen the same questions come up: How cheap and how clean will it be? Turquoise hydrogen is manufactured using the same feedstock as blue hydrogen – natural gas – but the carbon and hydrogen atoms are split using a process called methane…
The entry level 5G SoC ball is in MediaTek’s court after release of Qualcomm’s budget level Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 chipset. This brings Qualcomm squarely onto the fast-growing entry level 5G chipset pitch, which had become almost MediaTek’s fiefdom over the last year. Qualcomm underlined improved battery life, 1 Gbps download data rate and decent CPU performance, with throughput up to seven times greater than 4G LTE, referred to sometimes as Cat4 LTE. The vSnapdragon 4 Gen 2s are equipped with a Qualcomm spectra-dual 12-bit image signal processor, which includes auto enhancements and multi-frame noise reduction. There is also the ability to remove graininess from images and videos for sharper presentation. Mobile gamers have been catered for by support for…
A summer 2024 update from Dolby did not provide us with the details we were hoping for following last week’s announcement that the video R&D darling is acquiring Theo Technologies and merging it with Millicast. However, the live streamed presentation was littered with product updates showcasing strong demand for new features from the Dolby division’s low-latency CDN specialist. On plans to combine the technologies of Millicast and Theo, Dolby Millicast’s Ryan Jespersen, Director of Product Strategy, told Faultline, “Millicast has always focused on sub-second “real-time” use cases. TheoLive focuses on 3 to 5 seconds of latency, which addresses different “low latency” use cases. More information to come.” Theo Technologies might contest that notion, given that HESP (High Efficiency Stream…
Faultline is not a financial institution nor a faux stock tracker, but the cracks which have enveloped the stock market within the last few days are too pervasive for us not to weigh in – after $1 trillion was wiped from the top seven US technology companies. The market has since bounced back slightly, as they tend to do, but these fractures will never fully heal, leaving overinflated AI stocks with weeping wounds, heading into another AI-led market crash in a few months’ time, at which point the AI bubble will officially burst. Nvidia’s ridiculous rise came face-to-face with fate by crashing 6%, while Apple’s inflated valuation tanked 4%. Google, which has pumped $billions into AI-based ventures, saw 6% chalked…
The extent of the BBC’s latest round of job cuts—adding another 500 casualties by March 2025—has forced a rare public statement on corporate matters from the organization’s Chief Technology Officer, evidence that the BBC’s world-famous R&D department is heading for the chop. BBC CTO Peter O’Kane, who earns an annual public service salary of £325,000 ($415,000), defended the latest strategic decision of BBC bosses by outlining vaguely that money will be shifting to priority areas at the British broadcaster. While O’Kane did not reveal at this stage from which departments the 500 positions will be shaved, the CTO’s official BBC blogpost does point to two priority investment areas where savings will be reinvested – internet-based activities, and AI-enhanced business. The…
Hollywood boardrooms would descend into bloody warzones if executives discovered that it is possible to create a highly profitable streaming business in under two years. The P-word is paramount now for direct-to-consumer video streaming, but are the mainstream streamers making the right moves to tick profitability boxes? Launched in early 2023, Fishtank is already profitable. It operates a live interactive streaming platform which runs 24/7 for the duration of each Fishtank season (usually 6 weeks). The low-budget variation of the Big Brother format recently expanded from having participants compete for a large prize fund from the confines of a house to hosting a live event in the woods, which came with its own infrastructure challenges. Season 3 of Fishtank’s gamified…
Rolls-Royce is exploring the sale of a stake in its small nuclear reactor (SMR) business to secure new funding, as current financial resources may deplete by early next year according to reports. This highlights the cost issues that the SMR sector is dealing with, as even a leading company like Rolls-Royce is in need of more funds. CEO Tufan Erginbilgic confirmed discussions with potential investors, seeking to raise hundreds of millions of pounds. Existing backers include the Qatar Investment Authority and BNF Resources, which have invested £280 million, supplemented by a £210 million UK government grant. The company is in talks with various investors, including infrastructure and clean energy funds, as it aims to lead the SMR market. One of…
Solid-state batteries are still a future technology that may not even be necessary or cost-effective – but we have to cover the latest breakthrough, which is a move towards mass production of 720 Wh/ kg power batteries announced by Talent New Energy. The company first announced the 720 Wh parameter back in March as an R&D result, and now it has held an opening ceremony for a new or expanded R&D center whose first agenda is to commercialize this new type of battery. Talent New Energy is, as you may have guessed, a Chinese company. It’s headquartered in Beijing, with manufacturing operations in Chongqing and Anhui Provinces, and its R&D center in Chongqing has hosted a 200 MWh production line…
A club comprising Europe’s big five MNOs has issued a fourth annual release of its technical wish list for Open RAN, having kicked off with a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in 2021. The main focus this time is on service management and orchestration (SMO), including the non-real time RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC). The quintet, initially comprising Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica, and Vodafone, before later being joined by Italy’s TIM, highlighted concerns over three SMO-related aspects, incorporation of machine learning models, integration of legacy radio equipment, and support for dynamic network slicing. The continuing evolution of this manifesto for Open RAN highlights how it is still work in progress and why some operators are tardy about its deployment, especially in its full…
Newly merged Orange and MasMovil are reportedly committing to removing all ZTE and most Huawei equipment from their networks – as the two are combined into one. Local news reports state that ZTE, which was introduced to Orange in 2019, is wholly out, and that Huawei is set to be significantly slimmed down. Ericsson is reportedly in line to replace the two, which according to the reports from Expansion will mean its share of the joint footprint will initially grow from 42% to around 61%, through 2027. However, Ericsson could become the sole 5G supplier for MasOrange in 2028, if it meets “a number of quality requirements.” So, while Ericsson’s initial forays are likely to provide Open RAN support, becoming…
The entry level 5G SoC ball is in MediaTek’s court after release of Qualcomm’s budget level Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 chipset. This brings Qualcomm squarely onto the fast-growing entry level 5G chipset pitch, which had become almost MediaTek’s fiefdom over the last year. MediaTek itself entered this entry level domain just over a year ago in July 2023, with the launch of its Dimension 6000 Series offering sub 6GHz connectivity. This also incorporated the company’s UltraSave 3.0+ technology which it claims consumed 20% less power than rivals, including Qualcomm’s Snapdragon ranges at the time. That complemented MediaTek’s other ranges, the Dimensity 7000 series for lower mid-range devices, Dimensity 8000 series for upper mid-range, and Dimensity 9000 series for top end flagship…
5G RedCap has made its Middle Eastern debut, with e& (the artist formerly known as Etisalat) commissioning Ericsson to add the lower complexity 5G variant to its 5G Standalone network in the UAE. Reduced Capability (RedCap) has been difficult to pitch. Early marketing positioned it as the 5G equivalent of LTE Cat-NB or Cat-M, but it is several orders of magnitude more powerful than these IoT-focused protocols. Most of RedCap’s current appeal lies in its longevity, where implementers can rest assured that an industrial machine that requires a 10 or 15-year support contract will absolutely still have 5G network support from the MNO – even if they might have started sunsetting their 4G networks by that point. We are currently…
Five years ago this week… Three months before Disney+ launched, Faultline deduced that costs associated to streaming were approaching $7 billion just on the technical side. There was so much riding on the launch of Disney+ that any technical flaws would have been feasted on by the media. Outlets had already expressed doubts about Disney’s credibility as an OTT video platform, from a technology standpoint at least, and such pressure on a global stage meant Disney was not willing to take any chances. Today, that bet is paying off, as Disney+ holds a meaningful presence on the global OTT stage, with 117.6 million subscribers as of Q2 2024, when the D2C business became profitable for the first time. Cineverse has struck a…
Harvesting the second- screen—primarily smartphones but also tablets—is an oasis that many broadcasters have been chasing without success for years, since becoming aware of the now obvious trend of eyeballs drifting from TV screen to palm of hand. QR codes are too awkward. Email campaigns too draconian. Push notifications too intrusive. So what next? What about inaudible ultrasonic sound waves that encode data in audio streams using microsignaling technology? This is the pitch of Texas-based start-up Audazzio, which emerged in 2021 with $1.4 million funding from the Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech Accelerator Program, when the start-up was then doing business under the name of Sports Sonar. The company’s proposal is to use inaudible signals to synchronize an end user’s device to…
While Harmonic’s video business is showing signs of steadying, this does not make the two-year chart any easier to look at. The US technology company reported video revenue of $45.8 million for the quarter, up from $43.2 million in Q1, but still down substantially from $58.9 million a year ago and a stretch from Q2 2022’s tally of $76.2 million. Harmonic’s video stabilization and improved profitability came at the cost of a plateau in the business’ transition to a SaaS-based model, with SaaS as a percentage of revenue dropping off for the first time, as shown in our graph below. This is an indicator that video appliances made a slight comeback in Q2 2024, recording a small quarterly bump in…
Telefonica’s Wayra venture arm has invested in Nearby Computing, a Spanish edge computing and automation startup. The €6.5 million Series A round lays the groundwork for Nearby Computing to target the Open Gateway market opportunity. Akamai, a CDN provider that is expanding into other network services, and two venture capital firms, Walter Ventures and JME, were also part of the new round. Existing investors Cellnex Telecom, Lenovo, and Redeia Group, have all committed to follow-on investments too. The network automation trend is of great interest to the industry, owing to the growing complexity of the 5G RAN footprint. To cope with this, MNOs will rely increasingly on software that acts without human intervention. Unsurprisingly, ‘AI’ is the term that gets…
M&A, IP, Patents T-Mobile and private equity firm KKR have set up a joint venture that will acquire US fiber company Metronet. Following the acquisition, Metronet will become a wholesale services provider for its retail customers and its residential fiber retail operations and customers will transition to T-Mobile. The company currently reaches more than 2 million homes and businesses across 17 states. T-Mobile said that Metronet would be self-funding and thus T-Mobile does not expect to make any additional capital contributions to the JV. T-Mobile also expects Metronet will reach 6.5 million homes by the end of 2030. Telefonica and Spanish IT systems integrator Warpcom have joined Fortinet and Quantum Xchange to develop a quantum computing-based security architecture, incorporating ETSI standards. “This…
The recent spate of financial reports for European-headquartered telcos, while not groundbreaking, show some promising signs for the turnaround plans at some of these companies. Vodafone and Orange in particular, saw strong growth from non-European markets. Vodafone Group reported a 2.8% year-on-year increase in revenues for the first quarter of fiscal year 2025, which ended on June 30th. The figure grew to €9 billion. Strong revenue growth in Africa and Turkey made up for a slowdown in Europe and falling sales in Germany. Promisingly, service revenue grew 3.2% to €7.5 billion, although CEO Margherita Della Valle warned that service revenues from Germany would fall because of expected changes in TV laws. In Germany, which accounts for 37% of group service sales, total…
UK telco BT Group has been lauded over the years for its sustainability efforts. In some cases, this praise is well won. The firm has been buying renewable electricity for 99.9% of its needs globally since 2020 and was a leader in the telco sector for having set early net zero targets. But there is still much to be done to lower emissions in the sector, not least across the supply chain, or Scope 3 emissions. One target that mobile operators are watching closely, is the energy efficiency benefits of 5G Standalone (SA), compared with the existing mismatch of networks. A fully functioning 5G SA network promises to provide 10x greater energy efficiency than 4G. This week, Wireless Watch sat…
Like a scene from a James Bond movie, high powered delegates at the Aspen Security Forum, a US national security and foreign policy conference, decided last week to form the Coalition for Secure AI (CoSAI). Even within the tight-knit community of Big Tech elites, the AI community is exclusive. By virtue of the fact that a small group of firms are building highly disruptive technology, there is only a small pool of people influencing AI standards. We have already seen plenty of examples of powerful people in this community ousting those who do not agree with them. This new group, CoSAI, is ostensibly setting boundaries in AI firms but is just another example of the elite writing the rules. Whilst…