Ericsson releases Massive MIMO radios and RAN compute solutions

Ericsson launched three new radios in its Massive MIMO portfolio and expanded its RAN Compute portfolio with six RAN Compute products to accelerate 5G mid-band rollouts. 

Ericsson’s new line of ultra-lightweight, mid-band Massive MIMO 5G radios from its Antenna-Integrated Radio (AIR) portfolio, is designed to ease mid-band deployment for service providers. This enables a full-fledged 5G user experience for subscribers, while reducing site footprint and increasing capacity by more than three times.

The new radios weigh only 20kg, which is up to 45 percent lighter than the previous generation, and 20 percent more energy efficient. The new radios can be deployed from urban high-rise buildings to suburban and rural capacity areas for use cases, such as Fixed Wireless Access, automotive, transport and logistics.

Ericsson has also advanced its RAN Compute portfolio with six new products. These include both indoor and outdoor options for 4G expansions and mid-band 5G rollouts, with up to 50 percent higher throughput and 15 to 20 percent lower energy consumption.

The latest additions to Ericsson’s Massive MIMO and RAN Compute portfolios are powered by the company's own silicon. Additional security has been embedded into the tight co-design of the silicon and the architecture of the launched hardware, ensuring the software and sensitive data are protected.

Per Narvinger, Head of Product Area Networks, at Ericsson, says: “After the first rollouts of 5G networks, now is the time to scale up 5G by leveraging Massive MIMO to a much larger extent. With our new portfolio, communications service providers can speed up their mid-band deployments efficiently with superior performance for their users, while reducing energy consumption.”

Read More

Telefónica tests Huawei's 600G and 800G WDM

Telefónica has completed a trial of single-wavelength 600G and 800G transmission using equipment from Huawei.

The testing used Huawei OSN 9800 devices on Telefónica's photonic mesh network in Madrid spanning 47 km. 

Juan José Marfil, the director of transport and IP connectivity at Telefonica, pointed out: "These pilots on the photonic meshes, in which signals are transmitted over optical channels without the need to switch to the electrical domain, are important milestones that build on the 400G speed that was achieved in 2019, also in Madrid. The goal is to begin implementing the 400G speed this year and subsequently optimize the Fusion IP Network to meet the needs for higher capacity and speed in view of the exponential growth of both connected devices and data transmission."

https://www.huawei.com/en/news/2021/2/telefonica-600g-800g-osn9800-madrid

Read More

Rosenworcel structures $3.2 billion Emergency Broadband Program

FCC Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated a proposal to establigh the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program, a $3.2 billion federal initiative to provide qualifying households discounts on their Internet service bills and an opportunity to receive a discount on a computer or tablet.  

The Emergency Broadband Benefit Program was created by Congress in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021.  Eligible households may receive a discount off the cost of broadband service (up to $50.00 per month and, on Tribal lands, the monthly discount may be up to $75.00 per month) and certain connected devices during an emergency period relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“As we work our way through a pandemic that has upended so much in our day-to-day life, we have been asked to migrate so many of the things we do online.  From work to healthcare to education, this crisis has made it clear that without an internet connection too many households are locked out of modern life.  It’s more apparent than ever that broadband is no longer nice-to-have.  It’s need-to-have,” said Rosenworcel.  “But too many of us are struggling to afford this critical service.  Late last year Congress directed the FCC to establish a new Emergency Broadband Benefit Program to assist families struggling to pay for internet service during the pandemic.  Today I’m proud to advance a proposal to my colleagues to implement this program so we can help as many eligible households as possible.  No one should have to choose between paying their internet bill or paying to put food on the table.  With the help of the Emergency Broadband Benefit, we have a new way for households to access virtual learning, for patients to connect to telehealth providers, and for those struggling in this pandemic to learn new online skills and seek their next job.” 

Read More

CommScope supplies 10G-EPON Remote OLT for Japan's J:COM

Jupiter Telecommunications (J:COM), Japan’s leading cable broadband and multi channels video provider, has selected CommScope's XE4202 10G-EPON Remote OLT fiber node module to deliver 10Gbps broadband to residential and business broadband customers in Japan’s highly-competitive Kansai region.

CommScope says the deployment of 10G EPON with Remote OLT allows J:COM to leverage its existing hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) network and fiber nodes to offer 10G EPON which enables groundbreaking 10Gbps symmetrical speeds using CommScope’s NC4000 Optical Node and CH3000 Headend Optics Platform.

CommScope’s unique combination of headend, node, and optics solutions paves the way to further strengthen J:COM’s HFC and Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) networks. The capability to support 10G EPON along with fiber deep upgrades allows J:COM to take immediate advantage of broadband spectrum expansions, virtualized and distributed access architectures, and to reduce capital and operating expenditures. The remote OLT system will also enable the use of centralized network management that can be located in the data center.

“This milestone deployment highlights the strength of our partnership with J:COM as well as our focus on Japan as a priority growth market,” said Morgan Kurk, executive vice president, chief technology officer and segment leader, Broadband Networks at CommScope. “J:COM’s ‘network of the future’ showcases our portfolio’s versatility in facilitating the migration to FTTH, providing more network capacity and reliability for end users. Together, we’re delivering the fastest speeds and the most advanced broadband services for millions of consumers across Japan.”

“J:COM is offering the ‘J:COM NET Hikari 10G Course /Hikari 5G Course /Hikari 1G Course’ ultra-high speed data service to Kansai area to meet the growing needs in high-speed, large capacity communication due to video consumption and the growth of IoT in home devices,” said Shigenari Saito, managing corporate officer and GM of Technology Unit, J:COM. “Working with our trusted partner CommScope on delivering a high performance and high quality network, we aspire to continue to provide valued services that would resonate with our customers.”

Read More

Dell’Oro: Ericsson and Nokia gain in RAN market

Preliminary estimates suggest that the 2G-5G radio access network (RAN) market ended the year on a high note, with the full year 2020 revenues marking a new record since we started tracking the program in the year 2000, according to a newly published report from Dell'Oro Group.

Additional highlights from the 4Q 2020 RAN report:

• Initial estimates suggest that vendor rankings remained stable between 2019 and 2020, while revenue shares were impacted to some degree by the state of the 5G rollouts in China and North America.
• Ericsson and Nokia maintained their No. 1 and No. 2 RAN revenues rankings excluding China. Both suppliers improved their RAN revenue shares outside of China, accounting for 35 percent to 40 percent and 25 percent to 30 percent of the overall RAN market, respectively.
• Huawei maintained its No. 1 ranking for the global RAN market, reflecting share gains in China.

“While we correctly identified the overall trajectory of the market going into the year and maintained the positive outlook even as the pandemic intensified and economists adjusted their GDP projections sharply downward,” said Stefan Pongratz, Vice President and analyst with the Dell’Oro Group. “We also need to recognize that we completely underestimated the magnitude and the breadth of the ascent in the fourth quarter and for the full year 2020, reflecting stronger than expected results in multiple regions,” continued Pongratz.

Read More

Keysight acquires Sanjole for wireless protocol decoding

Keysight Technologies has acquired Sanjole, a privately-held company offering protocol decoding and interoperability of 4G, 5G and other wireless technologies. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Sanjole provides problem solving capabilities from inside the wireless network through over the air analysis tools that provide visibility into events spanning multiple layers of the protocol stack. The company has worked extensively with the 3GPP community. Sanjole is based in Honolulu, Hawaii.

“As the 5G ecosystem and deployments scale, Keysight remains committed to enabling customers with end-to-end design and test solutions. We are happy to announce the addition of Sanjole to our portfolio, providing unique capabilities for solving complex interoperability challenges,” said Satish Dhanasekaran, Keysight chief operating officer. “The talented Sanjole team will be a valuable addition to Keysight, and will further our mission to accelerate innovation to connect and secure the world.”

https://www.sanjole.com/

Read More

T-Mobile US offers unlimited 5G data with premium plan

T-Mobile introduced a new Magenta MAX smartphone plan with unlimited premium data over 4G and 5G.

The service tier offer video streaming with UHD (ultra-high definition) streaming up to 4K resolution and Netflix. The Magenta MAX plan also include 40 GB of smartphone mobile hotspot connectivity. 

T-Mobile is also upgrading the core Magenta plan with double the Premium Data, from 50GB to 100GB, and nearly double the high-speed smartphone mobile hotspot data, from 3GB to 5GB. 

“We just joined forces with Sprint, and we’re already America’s 5G coverage and speed leader. Magenta MAX is just a first taste of what our network capacity allows us to do!” said T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert. “When you’re a heavy data user with a super-fast 5G smartphone, you don’t want to be hit with speed bumps. It’s like having a Ferrari and being forced to drive it in the school zone. Well, now it’s time to open ‘er up on the wide open magenta road! And we are just getting started. Buckle up!”

Read More

Unitas Global builds edge to cloud access network

Unitas Global introduced a software-defined network built for interconnecting cloud providers, carrier-neutral data centers, SaaS applications, and edge access networks to form a multi-service global interconnection fabric.

Unitas Reach delivers automated ubiquitous edge access to any cloud location, including access from 900 carrier neutral data centers and 30 million enterprise locations in over 85 countries.

"Organizations today need flexible, proven, and secure infrastructure to run their enterprise applications and multi-cloud solutions," shares Patrick Shutt, CEO of Unitas Global. "With Unitas Reach, our clients achieve cost-optimized network connectivity with the agility needed to scale quickly and support the growing demands of applications on network architectures, performance, and costs."

"We designed Unitas Reach™ in response to the dynamic networking requirements that today's businesses require and have yet to experience," comments Grant Kirkwood, Founder and CTO of Unitas Global. "Providers and enterprises can easily add connectivity to dynamically support their ever changing network strategies, and customize capabilities to their unique set of service delivery, operations, access and configuration requirements.”

https://unitasglobal.com/

Read More

United Arab Emirates’ du picks Ericsson 5G RAN

United Arab Emirates’ du, from Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (EITC), has selected Ericsson's 5G radio access network (RAN) products and solutions. 

Following the 2021 deployment, which includes Ericsson AI-powered 5G network optimization services utilizing Cognitive Software, du and its customers will benefit from a 5G RAN network that will enhance versatility, improve capacity, increase cost efficiency and future-proof technology developments.

Fahad Al Hassawi, Acting CEO, du, says: “Utilizing the full power of 5G to support industries and empowering our customers to reap the full rewards of this technology is among our top priorities at du. The technological evolution continues to accelerate at unprecedented speed, and it is our responsibility to ensure those we serve can capitalize on every related benefit and opportunity. du has always enjoyed an excellent relationship with Ericsson. As such, we are delighted to be joined by the organization as we pursue 5G radio network expansion and attempt to harness the full power of 5G. With a next-generation 5G radio network, du will deliver newfound capabilities and further support the UAE’s digital transformation agenda.”

Fadi Pharaon, President of Ericsson Middle East and Africa, says: “The path to a digital future is paved through the power of transformative technologies such as 5G. Our new partnership with du will deliver on that promise and enable an ecosystem of possibilities. We are pleased to work with du on 5G technology as their new network infrastructure partner, gaining us new market position to further contribute to the development of the UAE digital society vision, empowering new services and use cases for consumers, enterprises and society at large.”

 

Read More