Huawei is first with 5G CPE based on its own silicon

At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Huawei introduced the world’s first commercial terminal device supporting 3GPP 5G NR. The device uses Huawei’s internally-developed Balong 5G01 chipset, which is compatible with all 5G frequency bands, including sub-6GHz and millimeter wave (MMW).


“At Huawei, we’re guided by a vision of an all-connected world, and to achieve that goal, we invest significantly in research and development to understand the ways in which people interact and connect with technology,” said Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei CBG.

“We’ve made it our mission to push the boundaries of what technology and innovation are capable of. With the introduction of the new HUAWEI MateBook X Pro, HUAWEI MediaPad M5 Series and the world’s first 3GPP 5G CPE, we are delivering on the promise to provide breakthrough devices that redefine every part of the mobile computing experience.”

Huawei Consumer Business Group also unveiled new laptops and tablets: the HUAWEI MateBook X Pro and the HUAWEI MediaPad M5 Series.

Read More

GSMA: 690 million Mobile Money accounts worldwide

Mobile money has evolved into the leading payment platform for the digital economy in many emerging markets, according to GSMA.

There are now more than 690 million mobile money accounts worldwide, many of which are held by individuals who previously had no access to the traditional banking system.

The GSMA's newly published, seventh annual ‘State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money’ the mobile money industry processed transactions worth a billion dollars a day, generating direct revenues of over $2.4 billion.

Additional highlights:

• Sub-Saharan Africa has long been the epicenter of mobile money and growth in this region shows no sign of slowing
• In 2017, for the first time, the growth of the industry was led by South Asia, which had 47% YOY growth and now represents 34% of registered accounts globally.
• Mobile money is evolving into a sustainable industry and represents an important driver of economic growth in developing markets, particularly through formalizing payments, increasing transparency and boosting GDP.
• A growing number of mobile money services are seeing the proportion of their customer base regularly using their service increase to over 50%
• More funds are entering and leaving the mobile money ecosystem in digital form; bulk disbursements, bill payments and bank-to-wallet transactions have been the main drivers. In 2017, nearly 25% of incoming funds were digital, compared to nearly 12% in 2012.

“As the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) enter their third year, mobile technology is proving to be an essential tool for delivering these global goals with increased connectivity and innovative services enabling more inclusive communities,” said Mats Granryd, Director General, GSMA. “Mobile money remains a central part of this story, contributing to 13 of the 17 SDGs, enabling access to essential services like health and education, empowering women with employment opportunities and reducing poverty by offering life-enhancing financial services, often for the first time.”

Read More

Alibaba Cloud launches services in Europe

Alibaba Cloud launched eight cloud services for European markets.

The services, which were introduced at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, range from big data and artificial intelligence (AI) to infrastructure, security and private cloud solutions.

“Alibaba Cloud wants to be an enabler for technology innovation in Europe helping enterprises do business. The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is a great opportunity for us refresh our European strategy and consider how we can make an increasing contribution to the digital transformation of enterprises in this market from different sectors with our offerings and expertise,” said Yeming Wang, General Manager of Alibaba Cloud Europe.

Alibaba Cloud said it is committed to investing in cloud computing services and digital infrastructure in Europe. It opened its first availability zone in Frankfurt Germany in November 2016 and recently commenced operation of the second availability zone in the same region. To better serve its customers in Europe, Alibaba Cloud is establishing a technology ecosystem with European partners, such as Vodafone in Germany, the Met Office which is the national meteorological service for the UK, and Station F, an innovation hub in France.

Read More

CommScope and Nokia develop Massive MIMO Integrated Antenna

CommScope and Nokia have collaborated to develop a Massive MIMO (multiple input/multiple output) integrated antenna solution that enables network densification in support of mobile data traffic growth and the evolution to 5G.

The Massive MIMO beamforming antenna solution consists of a CommScope dual-band, FDD-LTE antenna integrated with two Nokia AirScale radios to deliver 16T16R Massive MIMO in two bands simultaneously. This integrated antenna solution will add capacity in both uplink and downlink and provide coverage enhancement for 4.9G networks.

“The path to 5G includes evolving the current 4G network through densification, virtualization and optimization to deliver an enhanced mobile broadband experience,” said Ben Cardwell, senior vice president, CommScope Mobility Solutions. “The new Massive MIMO solution showcases the synergies of combining Nokia’s radio expertise with CommScope’s advanced antenna technology.”

Commercial availability is expected by mid-year.

Read More

Cisco appoints new president for Asia Pacific & Japan

Cisco announced the appointment of Miyuki Suzuki as president for Asia Pacific & Japan. Previously, Suzuki served as president of Cisco Japan. Her new responsibilities include regional revenue growth across 18 markets. She will report to Chris Dedicoat, executive vice president of Worldwide Sales and Field Operations.

Suzuki assumes the leadership from Irving Tan, who last month took on the newly created role of senior vice president of Operations and Digital.

Cisco said recruitment is underway for her successor for President of Cisco Japan and will be announced in due course.

Read More

AT&T delivers LTE-M for CallPass Tech - vehicle tracking for car dealers

AT&T is delivering LTE-M connectivity to CallPass Tech, which provides location services to car dealers to track or find financed or leased vehicles.

Financial companies and car dealers can now use CallPass Tech’s iGotcha GPS Platform on the AT&T LTE-M network to track, find and manage financed or leased vehicles on the road and in challenging areas such as parking garages.

“We can’t overstate the value of GPS tracking technology across the vehicle finance industry,” said Jason Ashton, president of CallPass Tech and CallPass M2M Solutions. “There’s such an inherent risk in the industry. And there’s limited protection through insurance against losing collateral to theft or lack of payment. We know it doesn’t have to be like this. Working with AT&T to bring the latest, most intelligent network built for IoT is a natural next step and gives our customers the confidence they need to run their business.”

CallPass Tech noted that it currently supports more than 600,000 connected devices via the 4,800 finance companies and car dealers who are customers.

Read More

SES boosts Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) connectivity for Palau

Palau Telecoms will be extending and augmenting a contract with SES Networks for satellite broadband connectivity.

Since 2014, Palau Telecoms has been using SES' medium earth orbit (MEO) connectivity. The contract extension runs until 2020 and increases the amount of medium earth orbit (MEO) connectivity by 150%.

“Since we first initiated service with SES Networks, we have seen a tremendous uptick in demand for fast, reliable internet,” said Sam Masang, President of Palau Telecoms. “Now more than ever people expect to be able to access online services such as ecommerce sites and video calling applications at any time. We’ve been extremely impressed by the O3b fleet capabilities, and look forward to providing services for even more Palau residents in the coming years.”

“At SES Networks, our top priority is working with our customers to create unique and cost-effective solutions that help bridge the digital divide in areas that lie beyond the reach of traditional connectivity options,” said Imran Malik, Vice President, Fixed Data, Asia-Pacific at SES Networks. “We are incredibly proud that through our continued partnership, and ongoing efforts, we are making an impact on social and economic development in Palau.”

Read More