AT&T: Wireless Data Volume Continues to Double Annually

AT&T confirmed that wireless data volume on its network doubled in 2011, thanks to the proliferation of smartphones. In fact, the company stated that over the past five years, AT&T’s wireless data traffic has grown 20,000%.
http://www.att.com

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Peoples Telephone Launches 700 MHz LTE in Rural Texas

Peoples Telephone Cooperative (a NetAmerica Alliance Member) has begun offering 4G LTE data service in rural Texas.


The company has replaced its fixed wireless WiMax offering with 4G LTE running on their 700MHz license. They are using the NetAmerica Alliance's UniPort Home Gateway which offers both wired Ethernet and Wi-Fi within the home while connecting over broadband wireless to Peoples' newly deployed 4G LTE network. Access to customer premise devices such as the UniPort came through the technology partnership with Ericsson which NetAmerica announced last spring. The initial turn-up of service moved over 200 residential users from WiMax to 4G LTE in eastern Texas.
http://www.peoplescom.nethttp://www.netAmericaAlliance.com

• NetAmerica Alliance, which is based in Dallas, is a group of independent carriers who have joined forces to build-out LTE service in the carriers' license coverage areas.




• In January 2012, NetAlliance completed installation of its SuperCenter, which houses both the Alliance’s IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) as well as its 24/7 Network Operations Center (NOC). The SuperCenter is manned and run by NetAmerica personnel in support of Alliance Members who are deploying 4G LTE service in their respective license areas. Before the NetAmerica Alliance, independent carriers who owned wireless spectrum faced the quandary that while they needed an IMS architecture to evolve their network and a 24/7 operations center to monitor it, the capital investment, services development, and staffing costs were unaffordable for any but the largest carriers. NetAmerica Alliance made that investment, and through its business relationship with Alliance Members, shares the cost of that investment among them.

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Aereo Readies TV Streaming in NYC - Tiny Antennas in Data Centers

Aereo, a start-up formerly known Bamboom Labs, announced $20.25 million in venture funding to support its upcoming launch of a TV streaming service in New York City.


Aereo concept is to provide each subscriber with a dedicated, miniaturized antenna and DVR installed in its data center. The antenna captures free, over-the-air TV content, which is then streamed over IP to the subscriber's laptop, tablet, smartphone, AppleTV or Roku set-top-box. Aereo’s members will have access to all of the major networks including CBS, NBC, FOX, ABC, CW and PBS, as well as other local channels and will have the ability to store up to 40 hours of programming through their Remote DVR.


The new Series A financing was led by IAC. Previous investors, including FirstMark Capital, First Round Capital, High Line Venture Partners, Highland Capital Partners and select individuals, participated in the round, bringing Aereo’s total funding to approximately $25 million.


Aereo will begin signing up members in NYC on March 14. The service is priced at $12 per month.https://aereo.com

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FCC Requests $347 Million for 2013 Budget

The FCC is requesting a budget of $346,782,000 to carry out the FCC’s functions and meet the expectations of Congress. This is up from $339,844,000 requested in FY 2012.


In addition, the FCC expects to recover $91 million over the year from auction cost recovery reimbursements and other miscellaneous reimbursements for a Grand Total Budget Authority of $441,569,000 for FY 2013. This compares with a Grand Total Budget Authority of $433,131,000 in FY 2012.


The FCC expects to employ 1,776 full-time equivalents (FTEs) staff in FY 2013 , which is the same as last year.


In its budget request, the FCC noted several wireless initiatives that require the expanded funding. The Obama Administration has proposed to extend indefinitely the authority of the FCC to auction spectrum licenses, which will expire on September 30, 2012. The Administration also proposes to provide the FCC with authority to conduct voluntary incentive auctions, where current license holders can relinquish spectrum rights and receive a portion of auction proceeds. Finally, the FCC would be allowed to assign licenses for certain satellite services that are predominantly domestic through competitive bidding, as had been done before a 2005 court decision called the practice into question on technical grounds.
http://www.fcc.gov

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Intel Discloses Details on "Crystal Forest"

Intel disclosed several significant features of its upcoming "Crystal Forest" next-generation communications platform. Intel said Crystal Forest will enable equipment manufacturers to consolidate three communications workloads – application, control and packet processing – on multi-core Intel architecture processors to deliver better performance and accelerate time to market.
Some key points on Crystal Forest:

• Crystal Forest is expected to deliver up to 160 million packets per second performance for Layer 3 packet forwarding.



• Crystal Forest will utilize Intel QuickAssist technology, which processes and accelerates specialized packet workloads - cryptography, compression and deep packet inspection included – on standard Intel platforms. QuickAssist enables secure Internet transactions can be accelerated up to 100 Gbps on the platform.



• A Data Plane Development Kit, which consists of a set of software libraries and algorithms, can improve the performance and throughput of packets on Intel architecture platforms to yield more than five times the performance over previous generations of Intel platforms.



• Additionally, Crystal Forest will use a common application programming interface and common drivers so that multiple designs can be implemented in much less time and at much lower development costs.



• The new platform is scheduled to be available later in 2012.

Intel said its roadmap calls for annual performance refreshes for several years, so equipment manufacturers and service providers will be able to scale and refresh their designs to meet future network needs.


"The demand for increased network performance will continue to grow as more smart devices connect to the Internet every day,�? said Rose Schooler, general manager of Intel’s Communications Infrastructure Division. “And with the popularity of social networking and other high-bandwidth services, such as video and photo uploads/downloads, interactive video, crowdcasting and online gaming, service providers will be challenged to efficiently provision sufficient upstream capacity and manage the spike in networktraffic.�?


http://www.newsroom.intel.com

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NTIA Concludes LightSquared Network Incompatible with GPS

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) submitted its final conclusion to the FCC: LightSquared's proposed mobile broadband network will impact existing GPS services and "there is no practical way to mitigate the potential interference at this time." The NTIA states that while future technologies may mitigate the interference, current federal, commercial and private users of GPS will not be able to replace their systems in the timeframe called for by the proposed LightSquared network or at a practical cost.


The NTIA letter and test results are posted online.


In a press release, LightSquared said it continues to believe that the latest testing was biased and that it remains committed to finding a resolution with the federal government and the GPS industry.
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/fcc-filing/2012/ntia-lightsquared-recommendation-fcc

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NeoPhotonics Posts Q4 Revenue of $57 Million

NeoPhotonics reported record Q4 2011 revenue of $57.2 million, an increase of $14.3 million, or 33% from the third quarter of 2011, and an increase of $7.0 million, or 14%, from the fourth quarter of 2010, inclusive of revenue attributable to Santur Corporation, which was acquired on October 12, 2011. Gross margin for the fourth quarter of 2011 was 21.5%. Loss from continuing operations for the fourth quarter of 2011 was $22.8 million, as compared to loss from continuing operations of $4.2 million in the third quarter of 2011 and income from continuing operations of $0.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2010.


“We are pleased with our results for the fourth quarter of 2011, which exceeded our projected ranges for revenue, Non-GAAP gross margin and Non-GAAP earnings per share,�? said Tim Jenks, Chairman, President and CEO of NeoPhotonics. “We achieved record quarterly revenue of $57.2 million, and 2011 marks our 9th consecutive year of year-over-year revenue growth. We experienced strong demand in our speed, agility and access product categories and avoided adverse impacts from the floods in Thailand. In addition, we saw an increase in new customer engagements in the fourth quarter, particularly for our coherent PIC-based products,�? continued Mr. Jenks.
http://www.neophotonics.com

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Ericsson Opens Global NOC in Mexico

Ericsson has inaugurated its new global network operations center (GNOC) in Mexico City, strengthening its footprint in Latin America. The new facility, called Ericsson Tecnoparque in Mexico City houses highly skilled ICT and services professionals. Ericsson also operates another Global Service Center (GSC) in Mexico that delivers remotely and serves operators and service providers mainly in North and Latin America. It is also building up LTE competence to cater for the growing demand of LTE in Latin America.
http://www.ericsson.com

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Alcatel-Lucent Extends Carrier Wi-Fi with lightRadio

Alcatel-Lucent introduced a lightRadio Wi-Fi solution that combines its strengths in the radio access network and IP routing to enable high-capacity, seamless and secure Wi-Fi in mobile broadband networks. Whereas carriers today typically use Wi-Fi hotspots merely as a data offload tool, Alcatel-Lucent said its goal is to integrate Wi-Fi directly into small-cell base stations and cellular networks.


For the consumer, this will enable a seamless handover to the best available wireless broadband connection without having to login, worry about payments schemes, or even be aware of the shift. This is done in three ways: by using software that identifies and connects people to a ‘trusted’ network automatically; by introducing new capabilities into service provider networks to manage the transition between Wi-Fi and cellular networks; and by integrating by integrating Wi-Fi directly into small-cell base stations and cellular networks.


Key components of Alcatel-Lucent’s lightRadio Wi-Fi solution include:


Secure Wi-Fi gateway functionality has been introduced into Alcatel-Lucent’s IP portfolio on the 7750 Service Router. This enables service providers to offer large-scale Wi-Fi services in conjunction with fixed and mobile broadband services from a single platform, reducing cost and complexity.


New software called the Automatic Network Discovery and Selection Function (ANDSF) has been added to Alcatel-Lucent’s policy manager, the 5780 Dynamic Services Controller. This allows the automatic selection of the ‘best’ network connection based on criteria such as service type, subscription type and network congestion levels, helping to improve the overall customer experience.


Integrated Wi-Fi as an option on Alcatel-Lucent’s lightRadio multi-standard Femtocell and Metrocell systems. Metrocells provide additional network capacity and coverage in dense urban centers, airports or busy shopping malls, and Femtocells are ‘personal base stations’ for increasing coverage and capacity in homes or offices. Integrating Wi-Fi into Alcatel-Lucent’s already comprehensive Femtocell portfolio will further increase Alcatel-Lucent’s global leadership in this technology.





Wim Sweldens, President of Alcatel-Lucent’s Wireless division said: “With lightRadio Wi-Fi, Alcatel-Lucent gives service providers new options to meet consumers’ fast-growing broadband requirements. Extending our groundbreaking lightRadio portfolio, service providers will be able to build closer relationships with their customers by delivering seamless high-speed broadband connections, wherever they are, using LTE and Wi-Fi networks. For subscribers, this approach provides the peace of mind they want when accessing the Internet wherever they go.�?


Alcatel-Lucent is collaborating with several major Wi-Fi access point companies to ensure interoperability and is integrating Motorola Solutions’ high-performance Wi-Fi solution and Qualcomm Atheros Wi-Fi technology into its multi-standard Metrocells to ensure that lightRadio Wi-Fi provides our customers with the best Wi-Fi solution, at a competitive price. Ecosystem partners include Aerohive Networks, ARRIS, Aruba Networks, BelAir Networks, Meraki, and Ubee.
http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/lightradio-wifi

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JAB Broadband Expands Deployment of DragonWave Packet Microwave Links

JAB Broadband, a top-tier Wireless Internet Service Provider (WISP) based in Colorado, is using DragonWave's packet microwave radios to support its fixed wireless broadband internet and digital voice telephone services . JAB has ordered an additional mix of 200 DragonWave Horizon links for its aggressive network upgrade initiatives currently underway.


JAB Broadband currently has 110,000+ subscribers in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Texas and Illinois. The company has been a DragonWave customer since its inception in 2005. Hundreds of DragonWave links have been deployed in its network.
http://www.dragonwaveinc.com

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Cisco: Mobile Data Traffic to Grow at 78% CAGR through 2016

Worldwide mobile data traffic
will increase 18-fold over the next five years, reaching 10.8 exabytes per month by 2016, according to Cisco's newly published Visual Networking
Index (VNI) Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast. This represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 78 percent over the period of 2011 to 2016.


The leading causes of this torrid growth are the rapid penetration of mobile connectivity across all societies worldwide and growing prevalence of video traffic. Cisco predicts there will be more than 10 billion mobile Internet-connected devices in 2016, including two billion machine-to-machine (M2M) modules -- exceeding the world‟s projected population at that time of 7.3 billion.


“By 2016, 60 percent of mobile users -- 3 billion people worldwide -- will belong to the „Gigabyte Club,‟ each generating more than one gigabyte of mobile data traffic per month. By contrast, in 2011, only one-half percent of mobile users qualified. This impressive growth in mobile traffic will be driven by more powerful devices, notably smartphones and tablets, using faster networks, such as 4G and Wi-Fi, to access more applications, 4
particularly data-intensive video,�? stated Suraj Shetty, vice president of product and solutions marketing, Cisco.


Some highlights of the report:


Global mobile data traffic grew 2.3-fold in 2011, more than doubling for the fourth year in a row.


Mobile video traffic was 52 percent of traffic by the end of 2011 -- the first time video has represented the majority of mobile (cellular) traffic.


4G users generated 28 times more traffic on average than a non-4G connection. Although 4G connections represent only 0.2 percent of mobile connections today, they already account for 6 percent of mobile data traffic.


The average amount of traffic per smartphone in 2011 was 150 MB per month, up from 55 MB per month in 2010.


In 2016, 4G will be 6 percent of connections, but 36 percent of total traffic. In 2016, a 4G connection will generate 9 times more traffic on average than a non-4G connectioN.


In 2011, 11 percent, or 72 petabytes, per month of total mobile data traffic was offloaded. By 2016, 22 percent, or 3.1 exabytes, per month of total mobile data traffic will be offloaded.


Should all aspects of mobility be taken into consideration, such as cellular traffic, traffic offloaded from cellular networks and fixed/Wi-Fi traffic generated from portable devices, the total amount of mobility traffic would be more than four times the Cisco Mobile VNI forecast‟s
2016 cellular traffic level.


Smartphones, laptops and other portable devices will drive about 90 percent of global mobile data traffic by 2016.


M2M traffic will represent 5 percent of 2016 global mobile data traffic while residential broadband mobile gateways will account for the remaining 5 percent of global mobile data traffic.

The average smartphone connection speed will rise from 1.344 Mbps in 2011 to 5.244 Mbps in 2016.



http://www.cisco.com
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns827/networking_solutions_sub_solution.html

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AT&T Video: Self Optimizing Network from AT&T and Intucell

This video from AT&T comments on Self Optimizing Network technology from AT&T and Intucell, which helps to ease the overcrowding of users on overloaded towers. AT&T expects to deploy the technology by the middle of 2012.


http://youtu.be/dSlidv-Pdy0

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TI Intros 5-in-1 Wireless Combo Chip

Texas Instruments introduced its WiLink 8.0 -- integrating up to five different radio -- for smartphones, tablets, eBooks, ultrathin computing devices and other feature-rich mobile products.



The new family of 45-nanometer single-chip solutions offers mobile Wi-Fi, GNSS, NFC, Bluetooth and FM transmit/receive capabilities. TI said its WiLink 8.0 architecture supports various combinations of these technologies, allowing for customized solutions to address the unique needs and price points of all mobile markets. Each chip variant comes in a compact WSP package that can be mounted directly on a PCB, and includes all required RF front ends, a complete power management system, and comprehensive coexistence mechanisms. The result is that the five-radio WiLink 8.0 chip offers a 60 percent cost reduction, 45 percent decrease in size and 30 percent lower power consumption compared to traditional multi-chip offerings.
http://www.ti.com/wilink8

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Vitesse Announces 10G 72x72 Crosspoint Switch

Vitesse Semiconductor has expanded its connectivity signal integrity portfolio with the addition of he industry's first 10G asynchronous 72x72 port crosspoint switch.


The new Vitesse VSC3172-12 is aimed at network equipment applications ranging from broadcast video to data centers and enterprise storage. The device leverages Vitesse's unique FlexEQ technology to offer equalization that is programmable on a global or per-channel basis. FlexEQ enables a superior level of signal integrity engineering, allowing maximum design flexibility in addressing signal integrity issues at the board and system level, thus improving the overall system jitter margin. Designed for equipment types requiring less than 772 Gbps aggregate bandwidth, the VSC3172-12 delivers up to 40% PCB board area savings versus comparable solutions. This simplifies high-speed signal routing with a smaller footprint solution and improves time-to-market.


The VSC3172-12 is fully protocol agnostic and operates up to 10.709 Gbps. The device features full support for Forward Error Correction (FEC) rates, as well as backwards compatibility to legacy data rates. Additionally, it provides a lower power and smaller size alternative to expensive protocol aware 10G switches to perform functions such as high speed signal fan-out, loopback, protection switching and equalization.


The VSC3172-12 is currently an packaged in a 33-sq-mm, 613-pin, lead-free FCBGA.
http://www.vitesse.com

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Cisco to Resell Virtual Desktops from VMware, Citrix

Cisco will resell VMware View 5 software as part of an integrated desktop virtualization solution that is based on Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) to simplify the secure and scalable deployment of virtual desktops across the enterprise. The integrated solution enables simplified physical and virtual infrastructure and management associated with virtual desktop deployments.


Separately, Cisco also announced plans to resell Citrix XenDesktop as part of an integrated desktop virtualization solution based on the Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS). This integrated desktop virtualization solution simplifies the deployment of high-definition virtual desktops and application.
http://www.cisco.com

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AT&T Synaptic Compute as a Service Delivers VMware Power

AT&T introduced its "Synaptic Compute as a Service", enabling enterprises running VMware to extend their private clouds across and into AT&T's network-based cloud using AT&T's VPN.


AT&T said the benefits of this "virtual private cloud" include the flexibility of using private and public cloud systems interchangeably and strategically.


Specifically, AT&T Synaptic Compute as a Service allows users to rapidly provision and scale compute resources and flexibly shift workloads between their private clouds and AT&T's network-based cloud. It also supports bursting, data center extensions, disaster recovery, and mobile application development and deployment. ST&T has achieved certification according to VMware's rigorous standards for its vCloud Datacenter Service program which was created to ensure globally consistent enterprise-class cloud computing infrastructure services. It is available immediately in the U.S. with global availability expected by year-end 2012.


AT&T Synaptic Compute involves no upfront fees, no term commitment and no termination fees. You pay on a per-hour basis per virtual machine and charges are accumulated and assessed at the end of each month.


In addition, AT&T said its new service allows for virtual machine cloning, logical separation via virtual LAN, the ability to allocate up to 1TB of storage per virtual machine, and a 99.9% service level agreement (SLA) for portal availability.https://www.synaptic.att.com
http://www.att.com

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TranSwitch LTE Gateway Completes VoLTE Testing over Verizon’s 4G

TranSwitch 's "Atlanta 2000" LTE Gateway reference design has successfully completed testing over the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE development network. The testing occurred at Verizon’s LTE Innovation Center in Waltham, Mass.


TransSwitch said that iIn addition to validating operability of its reference design on the 4G LTE network, the testing confirmed the Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) capability of the design, a step that can lead to the development and implementation of products incorporating this new technology.


Key features of the Atlanta 2000 LTE Gateway include:

• Low power hardware architecture consisting of Dual Network Processor Cores, Dedicated VoIP DSP and Dual Crypto Security Engines.



• Turnkey broadband, wireless and telephony functionality with IMS compliant, Voice over LTE (VoLTE) deployment-ready software stack, Certified OMA-DM, Broadband Forum Management and Provisioning



• Telco-grade VoIP quality with comprehensive Wireline and Wireless Codec support



• Dual Stack IPv4/IPv6, Hardware-based security and tunneling (IPSec /PPPT/L2TP /SSL).



• Best-in-class performance Java Virtual Machine and OSGI support for Home Automation Applications over LTE.

http://www.transwitch.com

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France Telecom Contemplates Acquisition of Egypt's MobiNil

France Telecom-Orange (“FT�?) and Orascom Telecom (OTMT) signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding regarding their interests in the Egyptian Company for Mobile Services S.A.E. (“ECMS�?) and MobiNil for Telecommunications S.A.E. (“MobiNil�?). The companies contemplate:


The early sale by OTMT of most of its stake in MobiNil/ECMS to FT, at a price of EGP 202.5 per ECMS share. FT would then launch a tender offer for ECMS’ free float at such price, in accordance with applicable laws and subject to the approval of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (“EFSA�?).


OTMT would retain a 5% economic interest in ECMS.


FT and OTMT would amend certain provisions under the current MobiNil Shareholders Agreement in order to adjust the governance structure to the new shareholding interests and to put in place the usual mechanisms to protect minority shareholders’ interests. http://www.francetelecom.com

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Broadcom Launches First 802.11ac Silicon

Broadcom launched the first "5G WiFi" chips based on the new IEEE 802.11ac standard, which promises more reliable coverage and gigabit speeds compared to the legacy 802.11a/b/g/n technologies,


Specifically, the new BCM43460 system-on-chip (SoC) is 3x faster and 6x more power efficient than previous generation 802.11n solutions while remaining interoperable with the legacy 802.11 technologies. The 2.4/5 GHz single-chip MAC/PHY/Radio SOC is aimed at enterprise and carrier class access points, branch office routers and business class integrated services routers.


The BCM43460 is a dual-band (2.4 and 5 GHz) IEEE 802.11ac draft 3 x 3 compliant MAC/PHY/Radio complete SoC. The fully integrated dual-band radio transceiver supports 3 x 3 antennas for date rates up to 1.3 Gbps.


Broadcom is offering a number of new capabilities in the SOC, including an explicit and implicit transmit beam-forming technology that significantly extends the range, coverage and network efficiency of enterprise wireless networks, particularly in single antenna devices such as smartphones. Broadcom is introducing an airtime fairness feature that enables better performance through its support for a denser environment of mixed speed Wi-Fi devices. Advanced spectrum analysis features combine in-depth RF analysis with real-time WLAN information for real-time trouble�shooting of performance problems. This feature is critical to Enterprise operators for deep monitoring of interference in the network, resulting in more reliable, consistent wireless service.


"Enterprise networks are on the cusp of a new mobile computing era in which tablets and smartphones will be ubiquitous in the workplace," said Rajiv Ramaswami, executive vice president and general manager of Broadcom's Infrastructure and Networking Group. "Broadcom is at the forefront of developing the latest wireless technologies for the enterprise, delivering the connectivity capabilities needed to meet the growing demands of an unwired workforce."http://www.broadcom.com
http://www.5gwifi.org

• 802.11ac. leverages 80 MHz channel bandwidth that is 2 times wider than current 802.11n solutions.

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NSN Cites Gains in LTE-ready Packet Core Deployments

Nokia Siemens Networks has reached a major milestone in the deployment of packet core systems for mobile broadband -- one billion packet core subscriber licenses have been deployed to date (operators typically deploy more licenses than the actual number of mobile broadband subscribers on their network).


Furthermore, 285 operators in more than 115 countries around the globe use Nokia Siemens Networks’ packet core offering to serve the fast growing demand for mobile broadband. Of these, over 100 operators use the company’s Liquid Core based LTE-ready packet core. These deployments amount to over 2000 packet core network elements installed worldwide.
http://www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com

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