FCC: Cell sites being restored, wireline outages worsening

As of September 13, 2017 at 11:00 AM EDT, substantial numbers of cell sites remain out of services in areas impacted by Hurricane Irma, but the situation is improving, according to data from the FCC. Alabama: Less than 1% of cell sites in the disaster area are out of service Florida: 18.1% (down from 24.6% yesterday) of cell sites are out of service. Georgia: Overall, 5.3% (down from 10.5% yesterday) of cell sites in the disaster area are out...

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AT&T Extends its NetBond between clouds

AT&T NetBond is introducing a "cloud-to-cloud" feature that efficiently moves workloads across highly secure connections between public, private and hybrid cloud services in the NetBond for Cloud ecosystem. AT&T NetBond for Cloud promises scalable network connectivity for efficient traffic flow between clouds. AT&T said that with this feature, each ecosystem cloud – private or public – can now be efficiently connected to another and...

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Qualcomm shows 5G NR mmWave prototype

Qualcomm unveiled a 5G NR mmWave prototype system based on the 5G New Radio (NR) Release-15 specifications.  Peak download speeds of up to 5 Gbps are possible. The prototype system, which operates in millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum bands above 24 GHz, demonstrates how advanced 5G NR mmWave technologies can be utilized to deliver robust mobile broadband communications at multi-gigabit-per-second data rates in real-world mobile environments. Qualcomm's...

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Sprint says Massive MIMO could increase network capacity by 10x

Sprint reported strong results of 2.5 GHz Massive MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) field tests conducted in Seattle, Washington and Plano, Texas in partnership with Ericsson, saying Massive MIMO radios could increase its network capacity up to ten times. The Massive MIMO tests used Sprint’s 2.5 GHz spectrum and Ericsson’s next-generation 5G-ready AIR6468 (64 transmit, 64 receive) radio, and the backhaul equipment utilized the MINI-LINK 6352...

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Verizon and Ericsson hit 953 Mbps with 4-carrier aggregation

Verizon achieved a top downlink rate of 953 Mbps is a real-world LTE-Advanced field test in Florida conducted in partnership with Ericsson and Qualcomm. The test combined licensed and unlicensed bands with 4-carrier aggregation, 4x4 MIMO and 256 QAM. The new Moto Z2 Force and Samsung Note 8 are capable of performing at this level. Verizon announced several other milestones at MWC-A: LTE on CBRS: Verizon, Ericsson, Qualcomm and Federated Wireless...

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Comcast Business launches ActiveCore SDN

Comcast Business introduced its gigabit-ready "ActiveCore" SDN platform for helping enterprises manage their networks, systems and costs across multiple locations, branch offices or data centers. SD-WAN is the first service to be powered by the ActiveCore platform. ActiveCore delivers new services and network changes via software. It features an embedded orchestration capability, allowing it to seamlessly deliver and manage multiple virtualized...

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ECI's Apollo OPT9904X extends OTN/packet switching to network edge

ECI, launched of its Apollo OPT9904X  for extending the benefits of OTN switching to metro networks that often have fluctuating, variable demand. ECI said its new platform enables metro optical networks to deploy OTN switching exactly where, when, and in the amount required to enjoy improved efficiency and flexibility. The OPT9904X is a part of ECI’s OTN switching line, designed to meet the unique switching requirements of metro networks....

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Vodafone Agrees to Enterprise NFV Licensing Agreement with VMware

Vodafone Group has agreed to a software licensing agreement with VMware supporting the operator's global roll out of Network Functions Virtualization (NFV). Specifically, Vodafone will deploy VMware vCloud NFV as part of its group-wide transformation program utilizing NFV and software defined networking technologies across applications and networks. Vodafone will also receive Carrier-Grade Support, a new VMware offering to support the implementation...

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LG U+ hits 2.5 Gbps in 5G mmWave testing with Huawei

LG U+, a leading mobile network operator in Korea, achieved a peak downlink rate of 2.5Gbps at a distance of 1 km in 5G intensive urban field test conducted in the Sangam area of Seoul in partnership with Huawei. The testing was based on Huawei's research into the latest 3GPP 5G NR protocol frame. At the same time, this test also verified the large capacity of 5G. In addition, the peak rate of single user under millimeter wave 28GHz reached 18.5...

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President Trump blocks sale of Lattice Semi citing National Security

President Trump signed an order blocking the sale of Lattice Semiconductor to Canyon Bridge Capital Partners on national security grounds. The issue was referred to the President by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) due to concerns regarding China Venture Capital Fund Corporation Limited and its interest in Canyon Bridge Capital Partners. Darin G. Billerbeck, CEO of Lattice Semiconductor, issued the following statement: “The...

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Technicolor picks Quantenna for Dual-Band Wi-Fi Extender

Technicolor has adopted Quantenna Communications' QV860 chipset for its OWA0130 dual-band extender, which extends the coverage of Wi-Fi gateways and could be used by service providers for in-home mesh networks. Technicolor’s OWA0130 is a multi-function extender which supports both 5GHz 802.11ac Wave 2 and 2.4GHz 802.11n networks. It can be easily configured to be a wired extender, which uses a gigabit Ethernet connection as the backhaul, or a...

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Nokia and Telefónica collaborate on 4.5G Pro and 4.9G

Telefónica agreed to evaluate technologies from Nokia enabling an efficient network evolution to 5G in line with Telefónica's business objectives. The companies will assess how higher performance 4G and 5G networks will lead to the creation of compelling new services. Nokia is proposing its 4.5G, 4.5G Pro and 4.9G technologies, which deliver advances such as increased speed, capacity and improved latency where and when needed. Under the agreement,...

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CenturyLink now expects to complete Level3 acquisition in October

CenturyLink now anticipates the Level 3 transaction to close in mid-to-late October 2017. CenturyLink updated its closing timeframe based on a proposed decision filed by the California Administrative Law Judge, who last weel recognized that the combination of CenturyLink and Level 3 is in the public interest and is recommending the California Public Utilities Commission approve the transaction at its Oct. 12 meeting. "Since we began the regulatory...

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