BT Looks for Growth in Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa

BT will hire 400 new employees to focus on regional business growth in key markets, including Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Turkey. These new employees are in additional to the 600 positions announced earlier this year for BT’s Global Development Centre in Bangalore and to the c.600 hires expected for BT’s new Global Shared Service facility in Kuala Lumpur announced in April.

BT also confirmed the activation of five new IP and Ethernet Points of Presence starting with India and Turkey, four Network-to-Network Interfaces (NNIs) with the first in Indonesia, and an enhanced satellite capability to support remote coverage and disaster recovery.

http://btplc.com/News/Articles/ShowArticle.cfm?ArticleID=D39DF3B1-2D4F-43D2-BAEE-4F6036B80C3C

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TeliaSonera Dismisses Execs over Eurasian Deals

TeliaSonera announced the dismissal of four individuals because of irregularities in transactions and agreements made by TeliaSonera and partners in Eurasia over the past few years.  The company had retained the international law firm Norton Rose Fulbright LLP to conduct a review of the deals.

“The Board’s conclusion is that some senior employees no longer have the trust of the Board. Therefore they have been notified that their employment with TeliaSonera will be terminated and they will leave their position effective immediately. It is not the Board’s task to assess the legal aspects, but we have decided to hand over the material from the Norton Rose Fulbright review to the Prosecutor’s office as part of our continuous dialogue,” stated Marie Ehrling, Chairman of the TeliaSonera Board.

Separately, the company announced that Christian Luiga, currently Head of CEO Office, will assume the position as acting Chief Financial Officer, replacing Per-Arne Blomquist who will leave his position effective immediately.

http://www.teliasonera.com

• In February 2013, Lars Nyberg resigned as President and CEO of TeliaSonera following an outside review of  Mannheimer Swartling regarding illegal business practices by the firm in Uzbekistan.  While the review did not find evidence that TeliaSonera engaged in bribery or participated in money laundering, it did criticize TeliaSonera for not vetting its investment partners in Uzbekistan. At the time, TeliaSonera's Board of Directors appointed Per-Arne Blomquist as acting President and CEO.

• In October 2012, TeliaSonera's Board of Directors hired the law firm Mannheimer Swartling to investigate whether TeliaSonera's investment in a 3G license, frequencies and number blocks in Uzbekistan in 2007 involved corruption or money laundering. Later, the investigation was expanded to include more recent investments in connection with TeliaSonera's operations in Uzbekistan.

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Orange to Sell Subsidiary in Dominican Republic for EUR 1.1 Billion

The Orange Group will sell 100% of Orange Dominicana S.A., its  subsidiary in the Dominican Republic, to Altice for US$1.435 billion (EUR 1.1 billion).

Orange Dominicana was established in 2000 and is now a leading telecommunication operator in the Dominican Republic, one of the largest and most dynamic economies in the Caribbean with an estimated population over 10 million. The company posted revenues of DOP 22.8 billion (EUR 451 million) in 2012 and had 3.4 million subscribers at the end of September 2013. The company employs approximately 1,400 people.

Altice is a multinational cable and telecommunications company with presence in six countries—Israel, Belgium, Luxembourg, the French Overseas Territories of Guadeloupe and Martinique, Portugal and Switzerland.

The deal requires regulatory approval in the Dominican Republic.

Orange said this sale represents a significant step forward in the optimization of its assets portfolio.

http://www.altice.net/
http://www.orange.com

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DOCOMO Offers LTE Roaming for KT

NTT DOCOMO will offer LTE roaming to subscribers of Korean mobile operator KT Corporation when they travel in Japan.  DOCOMO said it plans to partner with other overseas mobile operators to offer LTE international roaming services, including for DOCOMO users traveling outside of Japan.

http://www.ntt.co.jp

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GSA: Mobile Broadband Subscriptions Top 2 Billion

Global mobile broadband subscriptions have passed the 2 billion milestone, according to newly published statistics from GSA.

There were 126.1 million LTE subscriptions (Q2 2013) and this figure was expected to have topped 150 million by the end of September 2013.
There are currently 222 commercially launched LTE networks in 83 countries, rising to 260 commercial LTE networks by the end of the year.

Some other numbers from the report:

• 23 commercially launched TD-LTE networks in 18 countries, of which 11 are dual mode FDD + TDD systems.  More trials are underway.  There are 274 LTE TDD devices on the market.
  
• LTE-Advanced is a commercial reality already with several networks in South Korea using carrier aggregation.
  
• The first wave of VoLTE service launches that include support for HD voice (using W-AMR) has begun. Many operators have committed to VoLTE deployments or trials in 2013-2014 including KT, LG U+, SK Telecom, Evolve Broadband, T Mobile Austria, Azercell, Sasktel, China Mobile, E Plus, O2 DE, CSL Limited, Bharti Airtel, RIL, NTT DoCoMo, Tele2 NL, Yota, StarHub, Telekom Slovenije, Tele2 SE, Etisalat UAE, AT&T, C-Spire, MetroPCS, US Cellular, Sprint, Verizon Wireless.
  
• 55% of phones sold in Q3 2013 were smartphones, compared to 50% in Q1 2013.
  
• 80% growth in data traffic between Q3 2012 and Q3 2013 driven mainly by video. 

The full report is online.

http://www.gsacom.com/

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CloudEthernet Forum Sets Five Priorities

The CloudEthernet Forum (CEF) has identified five key priorities to drive its work:

• Virtualization – VMWare, Citrix and Microsoft are all working to extend their platforms to encompass network virtualization, and network service providers need to manage both the end to end transport of storage and virtual machines, and network virtualisation tunnels. How to make sure that a unified management layer can be rolled out across a network, and meet the deterministic performance requirements of cloud traffic? The role of Network Function Virtualization (NFV) in this process is also considered.
• Automation – automated creation and deployment of VMs is evolving quickly. Storage can be established in seconds, but network automation lags far behind. Vendor independent protocols and standards are needed to accelerate network automation and delivery and creation of services, particulary across multiple service providers – such as in a hybrid cloud environment.
• Security – the cloud is well established as a principle, data has become highly mobile, but regulatory and privacy laws must be complied with. For the cloud to remain on its growth path it needs robust structures to ensure end to end security. The industry also needs to formulate guidelines to inform the security decisions made by governments and regulators.
• Programmability – most routers and switches can be programmed by their makers, but few are open to third party APIs. A number of groups – including ETSI and the ONF– are working on this within the domain of a single customer, but coordination is needed around the specific needs of cloud computing, and inter-provider service continuity.
• Analytics –  A continuous exchange of information between the network and the cloud service providers on network and application service performance and requirements is needed, followed by real-time analysis of whether additional resources, either from the cloud or the network service provider, are required.

Working groups are already being established by the CEF to address specific concerns, and members can get involved in shaping the future of the cloud computing.

“Networks are seeing a number of major transitions under the pressure of mobility and the move to cloud services,” said James Walker, President, CloudEthernet Forum (CEF). “Now the explosion in machine to machine (M2M) communications promises the fastest growth ever in connected devices, with 73% of devices being mobile or M2M by 2017. Unless the industry – vendors, service providers and OTT providers included – really work together to define global standards and address these challenges, then cloud computing could fall victim to its own success.”

http://www.cloudethernet.org/

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Dell'Oro: Wireless Packet Core Revenue up 17% YoY

The overall Wireless Packet Core market grew more than 17% during the third quarter of 2013 versus the year-ago period, according to a new report from Dell'Oro Group.

Huawei, Ericsson, Cisco and Nokia Solutions and Networks were the top revenue-producing vendors in the overall market.  In the faster-growing Evolved Packet Core (EPC) segment, Alcatel-Lucent joined Ericsson and Huawei in the top three vendor list.

Dell'Oro said the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) market is changing in three ways:

• Regions outside the North American LTE market are now driving EPC results, allowing a larger set of vendors to compete in the worldwide market.  We expect EPC spending to accelerate in Europe and in China in coming quarters.
• New Network Function Virtualization (NFV) technology furnished by leading vendors is now being trialed by operators.  We expect that in 2014 and beyond, operators will begin deploying NFV EPC systems.
• Additional services are being added along with EPC core networks, including Voice over LTE (VoLTE) and Rich Communication Services (RCS).  These new systems will create additional vendor decisions for Service Providers as their networks are enhanced.

“Network Function Virtualization (NFV) means vendors can sell software-only telecom core network systems,” explained Chris DePuy, Vice President of Wireless Packet Core Research at Dell’Oro Group. “These new systems will run on top of data center-class servers, effectively matching the features and performance of systems that were previously available as hardware-based systems.”

http://www.DellOro.com

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Infonetics: SP Routers and Switch Market Rises 7% YoY in Q3

The global carrier router and switch market (IP edge and core routers and carrier Ethernet switches) totaled $3.6 billion in 3Q13, an increase of 7% from the year-ago 3rd quarter, according to a new report from Infonetics Research.

The third quarter is normally slow for the carrier router/switch market, so a 10% sequential drop isn’t overwhelmingly bad, especially with the expectation of a good 4Q13 and an improving year-over-year outlook,” says Michael Howard, principal analyst for carrier networks and co-founder of Infonetics Research. “All three main IP router/switch categories – edge routers, core routers, and carrier Ethernet switches (CES) – are up from a year ago.”

Some additional highlights:

• Sequential dips by Huawei and ZTE pulled Asia Pacific down in 3Q13, but Infonetics looks for the usual up-down pattern in the region to continue, giving rise to a strong 4Q13.
• Though Europe/EMEA declined 10% in 3Q13 from 2Q13, European service providers are expected to carry out a decent budget flush in the 4th quarter.
• Cisco maintains its lead with 38%, Alcatel-Lucent regains 2nd place, Juniper holds #3, while Huawei drops to #4 on the 3Q13 global router/CES revenue share leaderboard.
• Infonetics forecasts the service provider router and switch market to grow at a 7% CAGR from 2012 to 2017, when it will reach $20.2 billion.

http://www.infonetics.com/pr/2013/3Q13-Service-Provider-Routers-Switches-Market-Highlights.asp

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XO Names Christopher Ancell as CEO

XO Communications named Christopher Ancell as its new CEO, replacing Laura W. Thomas, who will remain with the company and assume the role of Chief Financial Officer, a position she previously held.

Ancell most recently served as senior vice president of sales and sales engineering for CoreSite Realty Corporation.  Prior to CoreSite, Ancell spent 12 years in a variety of leadership roles at both CenturyLink and Qwest, including president of CenturyLink's business markets organization and executive vice president of Qwest's business markets organization.

http://www.xo.com

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New Powerline Spec Approved -- IEEE 1901.2 - for Electical Smart Grids

The HomePlug Alliance applauded the approval of the IEEE 1901.2 Standard for Low-Frequency Narrow-Band Powerline Communications.

The new standard enables urban and long-distance communications through existing transformers in the electricity distribution network using frequencies below 500 kHz, while supporting data rates of up to 500 kbps.

The HomePlug Alliance is launching a "Netricity" certification and marketing program for the 1901.2 standard.   Netricity product applications include:

• Utility grid modernization
• Distribution automation
• Meter-to-Grid connectivity
• Micro-grids
• Grid sensor communications
• Load control
• Demand response
• Net metering
• Street Lighting control
• Photovoltaic panel monitoring

http://www.homeplug.org

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Microsemi Completes Symmetricom Acquisition - Precision Timing

Microsemi completed its previously announced acquisition of Symmetricom for approximately $230 million, or $7.18 per share, representing a premium of 49 percent based on the average closing price of Symmetricom's shares of common stock during the 90 trading days ended Oct. 18, 2013.

Microsemi said the deal enables it to offer the industry's largest and most complete timing product offering spanning from the core of the network to the edge and including the source, synchronization and distribution of end-to-end timing solutions.

Symmetricom specialized in highly precise timekeeping technologies for data, voice, mobile and video networks and services. It provides timekeeping in GPS satellites, national time references, and national power grids as well as in critical military and civilian networks. The company is based in San Jose, California.

Microsemi's other product lines include high-performance and radiation-hardened analog mixed-signal integrated circuits, FPGAs, SoCs and ASICs; power management products; timing and voice processing devices; RF solutions; discrete components; security technologies and scalable anti-tamper products; Power-over-Ethernet ICs and midspans; as well as custom design capabilities and services. The company is based in Aliso Viejo, California.

"We look forward to integrating the talented Symmetricom team and leveraging our product and technology synergies to develop solutions that contribute to our customers' success," said James J. Peterson, chairman of the board and CEO of Microsemi. "We are eager to drive the business forward for our stakeholders as we continue to execute Microsemi's growth strategy."

http://www.microsemi.com/

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Brazil's Copel Telecom Upgrades to 100G with Coriant

Copel Telecom, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Companhia Paranaense de Energia (Copel), has selected Coriant's coherent 100G technology to upgrade its optical backbone, which has been using the hiT 7300 intelligent transport platform since 2010.

Copel Telecom's backbone network boasts over 9,330 km of fiber optic cables deployed between its main ring and urban radials (self-sustained cables), totaling more than 30,000 km and reaching more than 400 cities in south Brazil.

"A robust backbone network allows us to support economic development and information exchange for both large and small enterprises, whose service needs also continue to evolve. We chose Coriant's proven solution because it offers an exceptional level of flexibility in the provisioning of high-capacity services, and an easy upgrade path to transmission speeds of 100G and beyond," stated Antonio Carlos W. P. Melo, chief technology officer, Copel Telecom.

http://www.coriant.com

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China Mobile Demos International TDD/FDD VoLTE Call

China Mobile demonstrated international HD voice and video calls between its VoLTE trial networks in Chengdu and Hangzhou with the VoLTE network of a South Korean mobile operator.  Huawei participated in the demo.

http://pr.huawei.com/en/news/hw-316012-volte.htm#.UpUX5MRDuP0

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Acacia Acquires More HSPA and LTE Patents

Acacia Research Corporation confirmed that it has has acquired US patents and foreign counterparts related to cellular HSPA and LTE technology.  The name of the seller and the purchase price were not disclosed.

“We are rapidly becoming the leader in technology licensing and we continue to grow our base of future revenues by adding new patent portfolios," commented Matthew Vella, CEO and President of Acacia Research Corporation.

http://acaciaresearch.com/

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Spain's Jazztel to Deploy Huawei's 400G Core Router

Spain's Jazztel will be the first operator in Western Europe to deploy the Huawei NE5000E 400G core router.  The Huawei NE5000E core router allows 400 Gbps linecards, which support flexible networking of 100GE ports, 40GE ports, and 10GE ports. Financial terms were not disclosed.

"The burgeoning mobile bandwidth services and video services are spurring the growth of backbone network traffic and present an opportunity for the 400G technology in the lab to make its debut on a live network," said Gai Gang, president of Huawei Carrier IP Product Line. "After years of comprehensive research on operators' needs for network reconstruction, Huawei is now playing a leading role in 400G platform design. With the 400G platform technology, Huawei aims to simplify operators' network architecture, improve device performance and capacity, and construct sustainable IP backbone networks."

http://www.huawei.com

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SK Telecom Tests Virtualized Evolved Packet Core with NSN

Nokia Solutions and Networks and SK Telecom demonstrated a joint proof-of-concept for Evolved Packet Core (EPC) virtualization based on Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) principles.

The companies said their project showed successful results for capacity scaling for both throughput and signaling traffic in connection with smartphone usage patterns.

NSN has previously demonstrated a complete EPC solution in a cloud environment, including both virtualized Mobility Management Entity (MME) and virtualized S/P-Gateway elements. NSN said its virtualized EPC helps operators improve their competitiveness by rapidly introducing optimal services customized to its environment while running on off-the shelf commercial IT hardware.

“It has been satisfying to work with our long-standing partner, NSN, in yet another successful proof-of-concept project,” said Choi Jin-sung, Executive Vice President and Head of ICT R&D Division at SK Telecom. “We have now verified the feasibility of telco cloud technology and can now make plans for our future commercial cloud solutions for enhanced flexibility and operational efficiency.”

“I’m proud of our work with SK Telecom in this exciting demonstration of our telco cloud capabilities for virtualized EPC,” said Reino Tammela, vice president, Packet Core at NSN. “This successful project shows the full benefit of our Liquid Core portfolio. We have now completed proof-of-concept projects for voice as well as packet core network functions virtualization. We proved that handling both control and user plane traffic in the cloud is feasible and a viable option to meet the performance requirements of data traffic growth.”

http://www.nsn.com
http://www.sktelecom.com

• In October 2013, NSN reinforced its multi-stack approach to telco cloud to give operators full flexibility in their choice of cloud platforms.  The company confirmed that it is working closely on cloud technology with major operators, leading cloud stack vendors such as VMware, open source cloud platforms  such as OpenStack and the ETSI Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV) Industry Specification Group (ISG). NSN also launched its cloud-ready NetAct 8 , which helps simplify network operations, reduce operational expenses and deliver very high availability. NetAct 8 includes the NSN Cloud Application Manager, which provides off-the-shelf management, orchestration and elasticity for virtual network functions.

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Las Vegas Pilots LTE Public Safety Net with Alcatel-Lucent

The Las Vegas Metro Police Department, along with the Nevada Department of Transportation and other first responders, conducted a six-month trial of a 4G LTE public safety network in partnership with Alcatel-Lucent.

The trial, which occurred in a designated section of Las Vegas, used 700 MHz Band 14 spectrum allocated to the First Responders Network Authority (FirstNet).  The network delivered real-time use of video gathered from the Las Vegas area, collaboration, real-time vehicle tracking, remote office applications, WiFi and a secure virtual private network (VPN) to trial participants.

Alcatel-Lucent provided an LTE eNodeB, a 7705 SAR-8 service aggregation Router, a 5620 Service Aware Manager (SAM), and a local Serving/Packet Data Network Gateway.  Axis Communications provided its ruggedized, vibration-resistant AXIS M3114-R Fixed Dome Network Camera.  CalAmp Fusion provided a multi-network LTE/FirstNet ready router with Wi-Fi. Cassidian Communications provided a Broadband Vehicle Router.

“For more than ten years Alcatel-Lucent and Bell Labs have been promoting the use of open standards-compliant commercial broadband technology to build a nationwide interoperable public safety network. Our work with the departments in Las Vegas is another step closer to our country having that network," stated Fred Scalera, Director, Public Safety Strategies of Alcatel-Lucent.

http://www.alcatel-lucent.com
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/category/firstnet

• In October he FCC adopted technical service rules, including power limits and other technical parameters, to govern the spectrum for First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) nationwide wireless broadband system.  The rules are intended to provide a foundation for FirstNet's operations, help avoid harmful interference to spectrum users in adjacent bands, and expedite the availability of equipment for use on the public safety network, thereby fostering competition and innovation in the marketplace.  The FCC has granted a license to FirstNet for the combined use of two spectrum blocks  -- one block that was previously designated for public safety use (763-768/793-798 MHz) and a second, spectrally adjacent block (758-763/788-793 MHz).  The FCC said this action consolidates the technical requirements governing both spectrum blocks into a uniform set of rules, which will provide vendors with specifications they need to develop equipment for use on this spectrum.

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Qualcomm Finalizes $800 Million Sale of Omnitracs

Qualcomm completed the the sale of its Omnitracs subsidiary to Vista Equity Partners (Vista), a U.S.-based private equity firm, for approximately $800 million in cash.  The sale includes all of Omnitracs' operations in the United States, Canada and Latin America. The deal was first announced in August.

"Omnitracs was one of Qualcomm's earliest businesses and has been a leader in fleet management and telematics for more than 25 years. We'd like to thank all of the employees, suppliers and customers for helping make Omnitracs a success, and look forward to many more years of accomplishments," said Derek Aberle, executive vice president and group president, Qualcomm Incorporated.

http://www.qualcomm.com

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China Initiates Anti-Monopoly Investigation into Qualcomm

China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has commenced an investigation of Qualcomm relating to the Chinese Anti-Monopoly Law (AML).

In a statement, Qualcomm said it is not aware of any charge by the NDRC that Qualcomm has violated the AML.

http://www.qualcomm.com

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Equinix Hires Senior Exec from Level 3

Equinix appointed Karl Strohmeyer as president of the Americas, a role in which he will be responsible for the management, strategy and growth plan for Equinix in the Americas, with P&L accountability for the region.

Strohmeyer joins Equinix from Level 3 Communications, where he was group vice president for the North American enterprise group. Prior to this role, Strohmeyer led the Global Carrier Channel for Level 3 and managed sales teams responsible for more than $1 billion in carrier and service provider revenue.

During his 12-year tenure at Level 3, Strohmeyer held several executive positions, supervising commercial services and large deal teams, overseeing customer operations and client service, and managing strategic relationships with other companies, including channel partners.

http://www.equinix.com

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