The FCC's ongoing auction of spectrum in the 3.7–3.98 GHz band has topped $78 billion - the highest-grossing spectrum auction in American history.
Tuesday, January 5, 2021
Bidding on 3.7 GHz spectrum tops $78 billion
U.S. establishes $3.2 billion Emergency Broadband Connectivity fund
The FCC will implement an Emergency Broadband Connectivity Fund of $3.2 billion. Eligible households may receive a discount off the cost of broadband service and certain connected devices during an emergency period relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. Participating providers will receive a reimbursement from the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program for the discounts provided.
Participating providers will make available to eligible households a monthly discount off the standard rate for an Internet service offering and associated equipment, up to $50.00 per month. On Tribal lands, the monthly discount may be up to $75.00 per month.
The FCC is now seeking public comments before establishing the rules for this program.
https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-releases-2020-communications-marketplace-report
Australia declares NBN "built and fully operational"
Paul Fletcher, Australia's Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts, has declared the National Broadband Network as " "built and fully operational." Thedeclaration is one of the steps that must occur under the NBN Companies Act before NBN Co can be privatised, but does not automatically trigger any further steps and the government has stated that it does not intend to consider privitisation during this term of Parliament.
Minister Fletcher stated that his formal declaration is based on a number of factors, including:
- The number of premises able to connect to the NBN is over 11.86 million premises
- At NBN Co’s FY20 results announcement in August 2020 there were around 100,000 complex premises yet to be made ‘ready to connect’ (RTC), that number has now reduced substantially and is expected to be around 35,000 as at 31 December 2020
- New premises are being built all the time. This means that there will always be a number of premises around Australia that are not yet ‘ready to connect’. The fact that there is a certain number of premises which are not ready to connect is not of itself evidence that the network cannot be treated as ‘built and fully operational.’
“In my view the evidence before me shows it is appropriate to make the declaration that the NBN should be treated as built and fully operational’, Minister Fletcher said.
"Of course the government recognises that there are some premises which have not yet been made ready to connect – and I expect NBN Co to work as speedily as possible to make the network available to those premises.
"The government also recognises that there is continuing work to enhance the capabilities of the network. Earlier this year we announced a $4.5 billion upgrade to the NBN; the work to deliver that upgrade will be carried out over several years.
"Also, in some areas the NBN can only operate at full speed once all legacy copper services are migrated to an NBN or alternative service, which typically takes 18 months from when the NBN commenced services in an area. To minimise interference to the legacy services of other carriers during this period, the NBN operates with reduced signal power which reduces network speeds.
"But this doesn’t mean that NBN Co will stop developing. I fully expect that the Company will operate as a mature entity through continual improvement in the provision of quality services to its broadband retail customers, and ultimately to Australian households and businesses, as well as driving efficiency in its operations.
"As with all large telecommunications networks, NBN Co will need to keep investing in additional network capacity, extend its network to connect new developments and remediate technical issues as they arise."
Australia's NBN Co pushes fiber deeper and advances HFC network upgrade
NBN Co is pushing fibre deeper into communities in selected metropolitan and regional areas of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia. The fibre deeper work will pass more than 100,000 premises in areas currently serviced by Fibre to the Node (FTTN) technology, effectively converting FTTN locations to FTTP. NBN Co said it will consult with Internet retailers before finalising the design for its extended fibre network.
This marks the start of NBN Co’s $4.5 billion network investment program, which aims to make nbn’s highest wholesale speed tiers available, as demand arises, to around 8 million premises – or up to 75 percent of homes and businesses on the fixed line network by 2023.
NBN Co also reports that it is making good progress on its Hybrid Fibre Cable (HFC) network upgrade program. The company now expects to offer download speeds of 500 Mbps to close to 1 Gbps to approximately 625,000 premises, or around 25 percent of the HFC network footprint by November 2020.
NBN Co also reports that it is making good progress on its Hybrid Fibre Cable (HFC) network upgrade program. Since the company launched its nbn Home Fast, nbn Home Superfast and nbn Home Ultrafast wholesale speed tiers in May 2020, 100 percent of customers connected via HFC have been able to order nbn Home Fast; approximately 70 percent have been able to order nbn Home Superfast, and approximately 7 percent of customers in the HFC footprint have been able to access the fastest residential speed tier1.
Cristiano Amon to take over as CEO of Qualcomm
Qualcomm's Board of Directors unanimously selected Cristiano Amon to succeed Steve Mollenkopf as CEO, effective June 30, 2021.
Mollenkopf, who announced plans to retire as CEO after 26 years with the company, began his career as an engineer and, for nearly three decades, has helped define and lead Qualcomm’s strategy and technology roadmap. He has served as CEO since 2014.
Amon (50), who has worked at Qualcomm since 1995, is currently President of the company. In this role, he is responsible for Qualcomm’s semiconductor business (QCT), which includes Mobile, RF Front End, Automotive and IoT revenue streams, and the Company’s global operations. Amon has driven the expansion and diversification of the business across industries and customers, overseen Qualcomm’s 5G strategy, and for almost 15 years has been steering development of a leading and differentiated product roadmap. Amon holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and an honorary doctorate from UNICAMP, the State University of Campinas, Brazil. He also serves as the co-Chairman of the World Economic Forum IoT Council.
“I am immensely proud of all that we have accomplished at Qualcomm and the position the Company currently enjoys as the world’s leader in wireless technologies,” Mollenkopf said. “With our business model clearly validated and our leadership in 5G, this is the right time for Cristiano to assume leadership of the company and preside over what I see as the single largest opportunity in the Company’s history. Cristiano spearheaded the development of our 5G strategy, including its acceleration, industry-leading technology roadmap and global rollout. He was also a key architect and driver of Qualcomm’s strategy to expand and diversify our business beyond mobile and into new industry segments such as Auto, RF Front-End and IoT. Qualcomm is well positioned for the future and I am confident that with Cristiano as CEO, the Company will continue to invent leading technologies and create value for all of our stakeholders.”
“Steve navigated through unprecedented circumstances during his tenure, facing more in his seven years as CEO than most leaders face in their entire careers,” said Mark McLaughlin, Chair of Qualcomm’s Board of Directors. “Under Steve’s leadership, the Company remained focused and created immense value for stockholders, inventing key technologies that are driving economic growth and improving lives. On behalf of the entire Qualcomm Board, I want to thank Steve for the vision and leadership he brought during his years as CEO and for leading what I am confident will be a seamless transition. Cristiano was the clear choice to be Qualcomm’s next CEO, having the track record of successful execution, deep Company knowledge, very strong relationships with our ecosystem of partners, and the strategic vision to take the Company forward. He is an authentic leader who has played a critical role in the Company’s success. We look forward to working together with him to lead the Company through its next chapter of growth.”
Pioneer Communications deploys Fujitsu 1FINITY in Kansas
Pioneer Communications, which serves residents and businesses in Southwest Kansas, has deployed the Fujitsu 1FINITY S100 layer 2 switching platform and Virtuora cloud solution.
With deployment of the Fujitsu 1FINITY S100 switching platform, Pioneer Communications can leverage Ethernet aggregation to boost bandwidth in a cost-efficient manner. The modular 1FINITY solution can be deployed in increments of just one rack unit each, which means minimal space and power requirements to achieve 100G speeds. And with the software-defined network management and control provided by Virtuora Network Controller (NC), Pioneer Communications has built a solid foundation for a more resilient, scalable network.
“We are proud to continue our pioneering tradition of delivering cutting-edge communications services to our customers throughout Southwest Kansas,” said Gavin Fowler, chief operations officer at Pioneer Communications. “With Fujitsu’s networking expertise, paired with the extensive distribution services of Power & Tel, we are well-positioned to address escalating capacity demands, today and tomorrow.”
“Service providers like Pioneer Communications are confronting internet bandwidth demands and the complexities of next-generation architectures,” said Annie Bogue, head of sales and marketing at Fujitsu Network Communications, Inc. “With the small footprint and pay-as-you-grow approach of the 1FINITY platform, Fujitsu is helping Pioneer Communications meet these challenges head on.”
http://us.fujitsu.com/telecom
CommScope launches GPON gateway with Wi-Fi 6
CommScope expanded its Wi-Fi 6 home network gateway portfolio with the release of a GPON Wi-Fi 6 residential gateway.
The NVG578LX GPON home network gateway offers:
- One 2.5G Ethernet WAN/LAN port, three 1G Ethernet LAN ports
- Dual-band Wi-Fi 6
- 2.4 GHz 3x3 802.11ax
- 5 GHz 4x4 802.11ax
“With more of us working and learning from home, consumers are demanding faster speeds and improved Wi-Fi performance,” said German Iaryczower, Senior Vice President, Broadband Home Solutions, CommScope. “This high performance Wi-Fi 6 residential gateway gives service providers a cost-effective solution to deliver the in-home connectivity experience their customers need.”
http://www.commscope.com
