Friday, February 26, 2016

AT&T Announces Labor Accord in Southwest

AT&T announced a tentative agreement with the Communications Workers of America in Mobility contract negotiations in CWA District 6 (AT&T's Southwest region).

The deal was reached prior to expiration of the extended contract at 11:59 p.m. Central Time Feb. 28. It covers more than 9,400 Mobility employees in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas.

http://www.att.com/corewirelinebargaining

Mediatek Unveils Ultra Power-Saving Mobile Processor

MediaTek introduced an "ultra power-saving" mobile processor for the next generation of smartphones.

The MediaTek Helio P20, which promises 25 percent better power efficiency than its predecessor, leverages 16nm process technology and is the world’s first SoC to support low power double data rate random access memory – LPDDR4X.  The processor features upgraded CPU and GPU capabilities with its True Octa-Core architecture clocked up to 2.3GHz, taking full advantage of ARM Cortex A53 cores. A new Mali T880 graphics unit is clocked at 900MHz.

The MediaTek Helio P20 integrates an LTE Cat.6 modem with 2x20 carrier aggregation for 300/50Mbps top data speeds. The SoC supports global Dual-SIM Dual Standby. For regions where GSM is no longer available, the SoC will have simultaneous standby on WCDMA network. Additionally, MediaTek Helio P20 supports LTE multimedia broadcast and multicast service. This allows mobile devices to receive HD video content over LTE.

For improved processing power and optimum battery performance, MediaTek Helio P20 integrates LPDDR4X, providing 70 percent more bandwidth than the LPDDR3 and 50 percent power savings by lowering supply voltage to 0.6v, resulting in a quicker, smoother user experience for camera, video and gaming apps.

“MediaTek designed the MediaTek Helio P20 to meet today’s consumer demand for sleek, powerful yet highly power efficient mobile devices,” said Jeffrey Ju, Executive Vice President and Co-Chief Operating Officer at MediaTek.

http://www.mediatek.com

DOCOMO Partners with Mediatek on 5G Access

NTT DOCOMO is working with MediaTek of Taiwan to jointly develop and conduct trials of technology that will enable increased data capacity for 5G systems.

The trials, which will be conducted in either Taiwan or Japan from 2017 onwards, will develop a communication system to combine non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) wireless access technologies from DOCOMO and multi-user interference cancellation (MUIC) technologies from MediaTek. NOMA multiplexes signals at a base-station transmitter to leverage the increased signal processing capacity of a user device to cancel interference among multiplexed user signals. MUIC utilizes receiver antennas to remove interference from other users and increase capacity when a base station transmits a signal to a number of users at the same time.

The two companies will also study a new 5G Radio Access Technology and chipsets required for 5G devices, with joint trials to be carried out from 2018 onwards.

"DOCOMO is excited to work with MediaTek, an innovator with expertise in the technical requirements of 5G," said Seizo Onoe, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at DOCOMO. "The potential opportunities for 5G to enable people to connect with devices are endless. We're eager to see our 5G network inspire innovative inventions to benefit technology, life and business."

https://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/english/info/media_center/pr/2016/0222_01.html