Singapore awards 5G licensese to Singtel and StarHub-M1 JV

Singapore's Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) selected  Singtel Mobile Singapore Pte Ltd (Singtel) and the Joint-Venture Consortium (JVCo1) formed by StarHub Mobile Pte Ltd (StarHub) and M1 Limited (M1) as the winners of its 5G Call for Proposal (CFP).

Singtel and JVCo will be allocated radio frequency spectrum to deploy nationwide 5G networks. Specifically, SingTel and JVCo will be assigned 100MHz of 3.5GHz spectrum each. SingTel, StarHub and M1 will also be assigned 800MHz of mmWave spectrum each.

The winners will roll out 5G Standalone (SA) networks from January 2021, keeping pace with first-mover cities in other countries. The winners will be required to provide coverage for at least half of Singapore by end-2022, scaling up to nationwide coverage by end 2025. IMDA will issue 5G licences to the respective winners once they have completed these processes. Winners can start their 5G network deployments thereafter.

Singapore is requiring that these 5G operators provide wholesale access to other mobile operators. Additional mmWave spectrum will be allocated to mobile network operators to deploy localised high-capacity 5G hotspots. With this, M1, StarHub, Singtel, TPG Telecom and mobile virtual network operators would be able to offer retail 5G services to end users.

Mr S Iswaran, Minister for Communications and Information, said: “Singapore is forging ahead with our vision to have a world-class, secure and resilient 5G infrastructure that will be the backbone of our digital economy.  By 2025, Singapore will have two nationwide networks with full-fledged 5G capabilities that will spur innovation and create exciting opportunities.  Amid today’s COVID-19 challenges, the investments in Singapore’s 5G infrastructure underscore long-term business confidence in our economy, and will ready us for the eventual recovery to build a thriving digital future for our people, businesses and industries.”

Mr Tan Kiat How, Chief Executive, IMDA, said, “The on-going COVID-19 situation underscores the criticality of a robust digital infrastructure and the importance of timely investments to meet our national connectivity needs. The 5G award is a major milestone. We received three compelling proposals that met and in some cases, exceeded our requirements. The winners were selected based on a comprehensive assessment of how their proposals would deliver the best outcomes for businesses and consumers in Singapore. Beyond a connectivity infrastructure, we believe that 5G networks will spur innovation, create exciting business and job opportunities, and position Singapore as a leading digital economy.”

https://www.imda.gov.sg/news-and-events/Media-Room/Media-Releases/2020/Singapore-Forges-Ahead-with-Nationwide-5G-Rollout

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Telstra implements cloud-native 5G core with Ericsson

Telstra has now upgraded its 5G radio access network (RAN) coverage footprint across Australia, connecting a Cloud Native 5G Core network to handle new 5G Standalone traffic. Ericsson is Telstra's lead vendor.

5G Standalone means that Telstra already has the capability to run 5G independent of existing 4G network technology. 5G SA devices are expected to be commercially available in Australia in late 2020.

Nikos Katinakis, Telstra’s Group Executive Networks & IT, said Telstra was the first communications service provider in Australia and one of the first in the world to reach the 5G end-to-end Standalone capability milestone.

“Getting the Telstra mobile network to be 5G Standalone-ready is an important step towards unleashing greater capabilities for enterprises and consumers alike. Working together with our technology partner Ericsson, our new 5G service-based architecture will allow us to create innovative new services and solutions and deliver these much quicker than in the past.”

Emilio Romeo, Head of Ericsson Australia and New Zealand, says: “5G New Radio Standalone and 5G Core is the next evolution in architecture for 5G networks, which will help to increase network efficiency and drive new uses, particularly for Industry 4.0. We’re pleased to be working with Telstra to ensure Australians have access to this leading technology, that will ultimately drive new innovation and industries.”

Telstra deploys Ericsson's container-based EPC core

Wednesday, December 18, 2019  Ericsson, Telstra  

Ericsson and Telstra successfully deployed a live cloud-native container-based Evolved Packet Core for 4G and 5G services -- an industry first and a significant milestone in network orchestration and automation, according to the companies..

Ericsson's cloud-native container-based Evolved Packet Core was deployed in Telstra’s production Network Functions Virtualization Infrastructure (NFVi). It is fully integrated into Telstra’s mobile core network and is carrying live 4G and 5G Non-Standalone (NSA) traffic.

Highlights of Telstra’s cloud-native Evolved Packet Core :

• Ericsson Packet Core Controller and Ericsson Packet Core Gateway support 4G and 5G Non-standalone (NSA) control and user plane functions in both a centralized configuration and edge-breakout configurations.
• Ericsson’s Packet Core Controller is deployed as a cloud-native container-based Mobility Management Entity (MME) in an existing MME pool.
• Both the Ericsson Packet Core Controller and Packet Core gateway are designed from the ground up to be fully cloud-native container-based solutions. They run on Ericsson’s Cloud Container Distribution (CCD) that is part of Ericsson’s NFVI solution or on other Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) aligned distributions.
• Ericsson CCD provides container management and orchestration for the latest Ericsson cloud native applications. CCD can be run on bare metal or within a Virtual Machine in an OpenStack deployment.

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Ericsson cites 5G momentum in Europe

Ericsson highlighted a host of recently announced deals with leading service providers across Europe, including the following:

UK - In April, BT to deploy a dual-mode 5G Core solution with Ericsson. The solution will form a key component in BT’s move to a single converged IP network, incorporating network orchestration and automation as well as continuous delivery and integration processes into BT’s existing customer experience management platforms using Ericsson Expert Analytics and built-in software probes.

The Netherlands - VodafoneZiggo, the leading Dutch communications service provider, is launching 5G across the Netherlands with Ericsson Spectrum Sharing and 5G Core solutions at the heart of its rollout. In June of 2020, the 700MHz frequency will be auctioned, but the 3.5GHz band, which is currently being used by the country’s defense system, will not be available for auction until 2022. By deploying Ericsson Spectrum Sharing already now, VodafoneZiggo can quickly introduce 5G over a wide area, using existing frequency bands and existing Ericsson Radio System equipment.

Greece - COSMOTE selected Ericsson as its sole 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) vendor. 5G RAN products and solutions from the Ericsson Radio System portfolio will be deployed in the COSMOTE network as part of a smooth, fast and cost-effective transformation to 5G. Under a common approach to energy optimization, Ericsson Radio System radios and basebands will improve the carbon footprint of COSMOTE’s current network, contributing to significant energy savings.

Finland - The Erillisverkot Group is the state-owned company responsible for national communications networks for public authorities, emergency services and other critical services in Finland. In early April, Erillisverkot selected Ericsson to provide next-generation 5G core network products and solutions for its mission-critical broadband network. The Ericsson 5G Core solutions will enable Erillisverkot to manage and control its mission-critical broadband network, safeguard information security and protect data integrity. The network is planned to be operational mid-2021.

Hungary - Magyar Telekom, the largest communications service provider in Hungary, launched commercial 5G services on April 9, 2020 using 5G-ready products and solutions from the Ericsson Radio System portfolio. The launch came just two weeks after the service provider secured the related 3.5GHz spectrum in Hungary’s spectrum auction on March 26, with the network accessible to subscribers via 5G-ready devices, enabling them to benefit from the new generation of connectivity.

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Stanford's Andrea Goldsmith becomes first woman to win Marconi Prize

Dr. Andrea Goldsmith, a professor of electrical engineering at Stanford, has been awarded the 2020 Marconi Prize for her pioneering contributions to the theory and practice of adaptive wireless communications. She is the first woman to win the flagship award of the Marconi Society, a global foundation dedicated to continuing the legacy of Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of radio.

Goldsmith co‐founded and served as Chief Technical Officer and Board Member of Plume WiFi and of Quantenna Communications, and she currently serves on the Board of Directors for Medtronic and Crown Castle). She has also been affiliated with the technical advisory boards of Quantenna, Sequans, Interdigital, and Cohere. Goldsmith has launched and led several multi‐university research projects including DARPA’s ITMANET program, and she is currently the lead Stanford Principal Investigator in the NSF Center on the Science of Information. In addition, she has held industry positions at Maxim Technologies, Memorylink Corporation, and AT&T Bell Laboratories.

Goldsmith is donating her $100,000 award to the Marconi Society to start an endowment to fund technology and diversity initiatives.

“I am so deeply honored and humbled to become a Marconi Fellow,” said Goldsmith, who is the Stephen Harris Professor in the School of Engineering. “The honor is particularly meaningful to me at this moment in time, when our information and communications technologies are enabling our universities, companies and the entire social ecosystem to function in a suddenly all-online world, as well as calling attention to the critical importance of digital inclusion.”

The award was announced April 30 by Vint Cerf, a former Stanford professor who helped lay the foundations for the internet. Cerf became a Marconi Fellow in 1998 and serves as the organization’s chairman.

“Andrea has enabled billions of consumers around the world to enjoy fast and reliable wireless service, as well as applications such as video streaming and autonomous vehicles that require stable network performance,” Cerf said. He added, “Andrea’s personal work and that of the many engineers whom she has mentored have had a global impact on wireless networking.”


https://news.stanford.edu/2020/04/30/andrea-goldsmith-first-woman-win-marconi-prize/

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Ethernity scores design win with Tier-1 OEM

Ethernity Networks announced a second design win contract for its ENET Flow Processor technology with an existing North American tier-1 telecommunications OEM customer. Ethernity will supply its ENET Switch and Traffic Manager firmware to support performance of 200Gbps on the customer’s new xPON optical light termination (OLT) device.

Ethernity signed its first licensing deal with the customer in 2018, and following successful field deployment of that platform, the customer has now progressed to a next-generation product based on Ethernity’s advanced technology. The ENET solution will be customised to fit the customer’s new OLT platform, which, in addition to Ethernity’s ENET Flow Processor core functionality (including hierarchical traffic management, switching, and access control list), will also include Ethernity’s new 400Gbps fabric technology to allow cascading of multiple chassis to form a virtual chassis cluster.

“We are pleased to have received this new platform design win order, and we look forward to developing additional new platforms for this customer’s appliances in other vertical markets,” said Ethernity’s CEO David Levi. “This contract confirms that our extensive networking functionality offers tremendous value to the market and is an example of how we can build strong partnerships with industry leaders.”

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Microsoft releases Windows Server containers and private clusters for Kubernetes

Microsoft announced the general availability of Windows Server container support on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).

AKS simplifies the deployment and management of Kubernetes clusters and provides a highly reliable and available environment for your applications. It integrates seamlessly with world-class development tools such as GitHub and Visual Studio Code and is built on years of Microsoft security expertise focusing on data protection and compliance.

Windows Server containers enables customers to "lift and shift" Windows applications to run on managed Kubernetes service with Azure.

For example, users can create, upgrade, and scale Windows node pools in AKS through the standard tools (portal/CLI) and Azure will help manage the health of the cluster automatically.

Microsoft also announced the general availability of both private clusters and managed identities support in AKS. Private clusters ensure isolation to a private network.

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/announcing-the-general-availability-of-windows-server-containers-and-private-clusters-for-azure-kubernetes-service/

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China Mobile and Huawei install 5G at 6500m on Everest

China Mobile and Huawei installed a 5G base station at 6500m elevation on Mt. Everest.

The site will provide communication services for this 2020 Mount Everest re-measurement and climbing season.

Huawei supplied its end-to-end solutions in the construction of China Mobile’s Everest dual Gigabit network, where base stations were built in Mount Everest Base Camp at the altitude of 5,300 meters, the Transition Camp at 5,800 meters, and the Forward Camp at 6,500 meters. Huawei’s 5G AAU and SPN technologies are applied at these base stations, where network maintenance and optimization are done by a dozen of network specialists who station 24/7 in regions at altitude of 5,300 meters and above to ensure smooth network operations.

Huawei's 5G AAU is highly integrated in a compact size, making it easy for deployment and installation. The company says its solution performs well in extreme environment such as Mount Everest. In this project, a network in the "stand alone plus non-stand alone" (SA+NSA) mode connects five 5G base stations. Meanwhile, the 5G fast and huge-capacity connectivity is achieved by Huawei’s Massive MIMO technology supporting lightning speed and large bandwidth. Huawei’s Massive MIMO offers highly flexible three-dimensional narrow beams that works particularly well in vertically situations like in Mount Everest. At the altitude of 5,300 meters, the 5G download speed exceeded 1.66 Gbps, where the upload speed tops 215 Mbps.

China Unicom extends 5G coverage to Mt Everest base camp

Monday, April 27, 2020  China, China Unicom  

China Unicom has extended 4G and 5G coverage to Mount Everest Observation Deck and Mount Everest Base Camp No. 1 on the Tibetan side of the mountain, altitudes of more than 5,000 and 5,200 meters respectively.

More than 10 construction personnel carried materials to the site, including optical cables, antennas, and auxiliary equipment. Solar panels are being used to power the sites.

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