Thursday, February 16, 2023

Nokia intros 6th gen super-coherent photonic service engine

Nokia introduced its sixth-generation super-coherent photonic service engine, enabling efficient delivery of 400G to 800 Gigabit Ethernet over distances of 2,000km and beyond. 

Nokia's PSE-6s, which integrates the latest generation of 5nm coherent digital signal processors (DSPs) with Nokia’s CSTAR silicon photonics, operates at 130 Gbaud for coherent transport at up to 1.2Tb/s of capacity per wavelength. The PSE-6s optical engines support a unique chip-to-chip interface that enables them to be deployed in pairs for 2.4 Tb/s coherent capacity, supporting any combination of high-speed client services including 400 and 800GE. 

Nokia says this next generation photonic service engine provides an economic case for 800GE services in metro and datacenter interconnect (DCI) applications, and with reach of 2,000km and beyond, across long-haul networks and trans-oceanic cables. In terms of energy efficiency, the PSE-6 promises network power reduction of up 40% per bit transported. 

Significantly, the PSE-6s cards can be deployed across the company's existing 1830 family of optical networking platforms, including the 1830 PSS, 1830 PSI-M and 1830 PSS-x, leveraging existing ITU-T WDM channel plans.

James Watt, Vice President Nokia Optical Networks, said: “Additional capacity often means additional complexity for operators. But PSE-6s is designed to make scale simple. PSE-6s is available as an upgrade across our portfolio. Powerful enough to redefine the frontier of coherent transport, it’s nevertheless simple to deploy, so network operators can take immediate advantage of its scale and performance capabilities. What’s more, these benefits come with lower power consumption per bit, resulting in a better TCO, as well as helping operators meet increasingly aggressive carbon reduction targets.”

Gilles Bourdon, Vice President Wireline Networks at Orange Group, said: “The 6th generation of coherent optical engines supporting 130Gbaud operation and up to 1.2Tb/s per wavelength gives us confidence to increase the capacity of Orange backbone networks in the future, running at 800Gb/s per wavelength in long distance links and providing a very efficient and reliable transport solution to interconnect our routers with 800GE ports.”

Cicero Olivieri, Vice President Engineering & CTO at V.tal, said: “As a digital infrastructure company and holder of the largest neutral fiber optic network in Brazil, providing connectivity and digital solutions to telecom operators, ISPs and OTTs over our unique nationwide backbone network with more than 400,000 km of fiber, a key priority for V.tal is to scale our infrastructure and support new high-speed services such as 400GE/800GE to accommodate the growing demand. We are excited with the potential of Nokia’s PSE-6s to provide efficient means to scale bandwidth, while also lowering power consumption, which is essential to meet our ESG commitments.”

https://www.nokia.com/about-us/news/releases/2023/02/16/nokia-launches-next-gen-coherent-optics-to-reduce-network-power-consumption-by-60-percent/

Coherent intros 2X1000 MW dual-chip pump laser module

Coherent introduced a dual-chip pump laser module with up to 1000 mW of output power per fiber in a 10-pin butterfly package.

The dual-chip pump laser modules are semi-cooled and utilize highly reliable laser diodes that are available in a range of operating power levels up to 1000 mW per fiber, with the flexibility of assignable output power to each fiber.

This platform complements Coherent’s portfolio of pump laser modules in both cooled and uncooled module designs, as well as single- and dual-chip configurations. 

https://www.coherent.com/news/press-releases/coherent-introduces-2x1000mw-dual-chip-pump-laser-module

Coherent intros optical amplifier components

Coherent, an early pioneer in embedded optical amplifiers, introduced a portfolio of smaller ultracompact components that enable optical amplifiers embedded in next-generation high-speed telecom transceivers and in LiDAR subsystems.  

The rollout includes a micro-pump laser, a variable optical attenuator, and hybrid passive assemblies, all with a very low profile of less than 2.5 mm.

“We have achieved a level of miniaturization that is unmatched in the industry with a complete set of components that enable optical amplifiers to be easily embedded in small modules such as pluggable high-speed transceivers, in the very small QSFP-DD form factor, and miniature automotive LiDAR systems,” said Dr. Sanjai Parthasarathi, Chief Marketing Officer. “Leveraging highly automated assembly, these components will scale cost-competitively with the rapidly growing demand.”

The components are available individually and as custom assemblies, including with erbium- and erbium/ytterbium-doped fiber from Coherent. They come in standard or extended temperature ranges, and with bend-insensitive fiber input and output on a single side. The micro-pump laser is available with an output power of up to 400 mW.


Verizon offers Fios 2 Gig in NYC

Verizon began offering a Fios 2 Gig home internet plan across New York City.

2 Gig plans start at $94.99 per month with AutoPay and a select 5G mobile plan.

“We’re proud to bring 2 Gig internet service to more New York City residents and businesses than any other internet provider,” said Yoli Stancil, Vice President, Network Operations New York Metro region. “Our customers already know that Fios offers exceptional customer experience and reliability, now they can take advantage of our fastest speeds.”

Additionally, customers in Colorado Springs, CO, Monroe Co., NY, and Bradenton and West Palm Beach-area, FL now have access to 5G Home Internet and 5G Business Internet from Verizon.

https://www.verizon.com/about/news/verizon-delivers-its-fastest-fios-speeds-customers-nyc

ADVA supplies optical encryption for Nordic and Baltic banks

Shibuya, a leading Swedish IT service provider and ADVA’s long-term partner, is deploying ADVA's open optical technology to deliver secure managed services to leading banks across the Nordics and Baltics. The new network features robust optical encryption cards from Adva Network Security for critical data protection. 

The ConnectGuard Optical encryption protects data in-flight to the strictest regulatory requirements with minimal impact on throughput. Part of the new infrastructure is built on the ADVA FSP 3000 TeraFlex platform, which uses ultra-flexible modulation with fractional QAM. This supports 600 Gbps streams while ensuring the lowest possible cost per bit. ADVA’s technology also supports the latest generations of low-latency Fibre Channel, empowering financial network operators to keep up with the requirements of new server and storage technologies – a key consideration for Shibuya and some of its enterprise customers.

“For our financial customers, security couldn’t be more crucial. That’s why we’re ensuring that our managed services protect data in motion with the most robust defense available. At Shibuya, we specialize in delivering secure and sustainable IT environments, and ADVA’s solutions are a perfect fit,” said Jessica Liljefors, business area manager at ShibuyaCare, Shibuya. “Adva Network Security‘s encryption technology and the unique experience of its team help us deliver the strongest possible protection and offer complete peace of mind to our banking clients and their customers. Combined with our extensive cybersecurity measures, local data centers near the customers and 24/7 IT support, we can provide the high-end services demanded by the financial sector.”


Pakistan's Multinet picks IP Infusion for Open Optical and Packet Transport

Multinet, Pakistan’s premier information and communications solution provider, selected IP Infusion’s OcNOS networking operating system in its nationwide IP upgrade to 3.2 Tbps. 

IP Infusion describes the project, based on solutions developed by Telecom Infra Project (TIP), as the largest Open Optical and Packet Transport (OOPT) project to date. Multinet will be upgrading its transport network that spans the entire country covering more than 120 cities, across more than 14,000 kilometers, and supporting more than 150 million people in the region.

Multinet’s expansive upgrade incorporates Cassini, TIP’s disaggregated coherent switch and open packet transponder built by Edgecore Networks, and IP Infusion’s OcNOS, the industry’s first full-featured network OS for white box disaggregated network solutions that provides the scalable transition from traditional networks to open networks. 

Multinet’s long-haul network infrastructure deployment includes additional TIP Open Optical ecosystem partners SmartOptics along with local System Integrator partner in Pakistan, STARCOM Technologies (Pvt) Limited.

“IP Infusion’s OcNOS was the clear choice to future-proof our network,” said Adnan Zaidi, Chief Operating Officer of Multinet. “IP Infusion’s highly rated disaggregated architecture, open and complete transparency on all network element requirements, competitive pricing and simplified licensing are integral to advancing connectivity solutions across Pakistan. Being the world's first Open Optical Framework deployment of this scale, I am proud to bring this venture home. The network upgrade will be of national significance as this will not only serve the exponential growth in the capacity demand but will also expand network access to new urban, semi urban and rural areas.”

"The Telecom Infra Project brings together a diverse group with a common goal of working together to identify, design, and deploy new technologies that can help to address the challenges facing the telecom industry,” said David Hutton, Chief Engineer for Telecom Infra Project. “The goal of TIP is to accelerate the development and deployment of new telecommunications infrastructure, with a focus on technologies that can help to increase the speed, capacity, and affordability of Internet access, especially in underserved and emerging markets such as Pakistan. This is the largest Open Optical and Packet Transport project to date, and would not be possible without the cooperation of these market leading vendors."


SiTime samples 32 kHz MEMS Super-TCXO for defense

SiTime introduced its new SiT7910 32 kHz MEMS Super-TCXO as part of its Endura family for aerospace-defense applications that use Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) signals, such as ruggedized handheld radios, ground vehicles and sensing equipment.

The SiT7910’s 25x higher precision helps devices acquire and lock GPS signals more quickly and securely - Time to First Fix (TTFF).

 “The GPS signal is ubiquitous and is a crucial part of national security, everyday communications, financial systems and power grid operation,” said Piyush Sevalia, executive vice president of marketing at SiTime. “Unfortunately, it is susceptible, not just to environmental disruptions but also to jamming and spoofing. GPS modernization is a multibillion-dollar, multi-year effort to upgrade the system with better features, performance, and security. Instrumental to this modernization is precision timekeeping, which ensures faster and more secure acquisition of, and locking to GPS signals. Our SiT7910 Super-TCXO delivers and is one more example of how SiTime uses our MEMS, analog, and systems technologies to solve big problems facing the world today. We estimate that the SiTime product portfolio now addresses a SAM, served addressable market, of approximately $2 billion. With products like this Endura Super-TCXO, along with other recently introduced families, and more to come, we are well on our way to grow our SAM to $4 billion by the end of 2024.”

 Key features of the SiT7910 Super-TCXO

  • 32.768 kHz frequency
  • ±0.2 ppm frequency stability over -55°C to +105°C temperature range, up to 25x better than legacy quartz technology. In real terms, this translates to 1 second of accuracy being maintained for 1 year, vs. legacy quartz devices that can only maintain it for 1 to 14 days.
  • Best in class 20 ppb/g g-sensitivity for resilience in high vibration environments
  • Ultra-low power consumption, typically 6.0 µA, for use in portable Aerospace-Defense electronics
  • ±5 ppm frequency aging over 20 years, maintains device performance over decades.
  • 1.62 V to 3.63 V Operating supply voltage range for design flexibility
  • Small 2.5 x 2.0 mm package for space constrained applications
  • Pb-free, RoHS and REACH compliant.

Sampling is underway. 

https://www.sitime.com


Ribbon posts Q4 sales of $234M, momentum in IP routing

Ribbon Communications reported Q4 revenue of $234 million, compared to $231 million for the fourth quarter of 2021 and $207 million for the third quarter of 2022. Revenue for full year 2022 was $820 million, compared to $845 million for full year 2021.

"I am very pleased to report solid financial results for the fourth quarter 2022 - the best quarter of the year for Ribbon. Our overall sales were above the mid-point of our guidance, and adjusted EBITDA grew 25% quarter-over-quarter and 11% year-over-year. Product and Service Bookings were once again very good and exceeded the higher sales level in the quarter," stated Bruce McClelland, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ribbon Communications. 

McClelland continued, "The highlight of our quarter includes continued improvement in our IP Optical business, with increased sales across all regions and multiple new customer wins. In particular, momentum continued in our IP Routing portfolio with sales increasing 34% year-over-year, which is expected to only get stronger as we roll out new product offerings this year. In addition, the Cloud and Edge segment continued to post positive results, with strong Enterprise and SBC sales in the quarter."

Extreme completes largest outdoor Wi-Fi 6 deployment in U.S.

Extreme Network  completed Wi-Fi 6 network deployments at five NASCAR racetracks, including Darlington Raceway, Daytona International Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, Richmond Raceway and Talladega Superspeedway. Verizon Business is the technology integration and managed services lead for the project.

NASCAR’s U.S. racetracks are some of the largest sports venues based on fan capacity. Daytona International Speedway is a venue that encompasses a 2.5-mile racetrack and required nearly 2,100 access points (APs), making it one of the largest U.S. venues with outdoor Wi-Fi.


Norman Rice, Chief Operations Officer, Extreme Networks, states "At a venue with 125,000 fans, there is no room for error. The Wi-Fi has to be able to support everything happening simultaneously and without interruption. The network is the central nervous system to power these next-generation services and the insights that NASCAR and our other customers can gain from our network analytics will enable them to make better decisions when it comes to improving the consumer experience and streamlining operations. Our experience deploying these large scale networks provides Extreme with a significant advantage across other industries that require connectivity in high-density settings, including healthcare, manufacturing and smart cities."

Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Nokia and NTT develop AI air interface and sub-THz spectrum for 6G

Nokia, NTT DOCOMO, and NTT achieved two milestones on the path to 6G:

  • Implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) into the radio air interface. By pairing a AI-based learned waveform in a transmitter with a deep-learning receiver, Nresearchers were able to design and implement a learning air interface that transmits data efficiently under many different scenarios. This AI/ML-based implementation significantly reduces signaling overhead, producing up to a 30% improvement in throughput.
  • Utilization of new sub-terahertz (sub-THz) spectrum to dramatically boost network capacity. The sub-THz bands (100GHz and above) have never been designated for cellular use because of their propagation characteristics, but new techniques such as beamforming could open up those frequencies to future 6G networks. These higher frequencies are well suited for high-accuracy radio sensing, which will likely be another key feature of 6G. In their proof-of-concept, Nokia, DOCOMO and NTT were able to demonstrate a 25 Gbps connection on a single 256QAM stream over a carrier frequency of 144 GHz using beamforming. Accessing the sub-THz bands would inject enormous capacity into 6G networks. The sub-THz bands won’t just improve overall capacity, they will allow 6G networks to support the most bandwidth intensive future use cases requiring multi-gigabit average connections.

Both technologies have been demonstrated as proofs of concept at Nokia Bell Labs in Stuttgart, Germany.

Nokia said these technologies could pave the way for new immersive metaverse and extended reality (XR) experiences and a new generation of mobile applications. 

Takehiro Nakamura, Chief Technology Architect, DOCOMO, said: “We are delighted to announce the steady progress of two key technologies toward 6G as achievements of the collaboration with NTT and Nokia started in June 2022. Through the collaboration, we continue to establish innovative 6G technologies and contribute to the global standardization and commercialization of 6G.”

Peter Vetter, President of Bell Labs Core Research, Nokia, said: “For the 6G era, we are using communication as a starting point. Networks will think, sense and act, and they will become the nexus point that bridges our digital and physical realities. DOCOMO and NTT share our 6G vision, and together we’re doing the fundamental research that will breathe life into that future.” 

https://www.nokia.com/about-us/newsroom/press-and-stock-exchange-releases/

Qualcomm debuts 5G Advanced-ready modem-RF system

Qualcomm introduced the first 5G Advanced-ready Modem-RF System designed for 3GPP Release 17 and Release 18 and offering AI-powered optimizations to achieve better speeds, coverage, mobility, link robustness and location accuracy.

Key specs for the Snapdragon X75 5G Modem-RF System 

  • Peak Download Speed: 10 Gbps
  • Peak Upload Speed: 3.5 Gbps
  • Cellular Modem-RF Specs: 10CC aggregation in mmWave, 5CC aggregation in 5G sub 6GHz
  • Performance Enhancement Technologies: Qualcomm Smart Transmit Gen 4 technology, Qualcomm 5G AI Processor Gen 2 with dedicated tensor accelerator, Qualcomm 5G AI Suite Gen2, Qualcomm Advanced Modem-RF Software Suite, Qualcomm 5G PowerSave Gen 4, Qualcomm® Power RF Efficiency Suite, Qualcomm RF Downlink Boost
  • Cellular Technology: 5G NR, sub-6 GHz, Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS), LTE, WCDMA, LAA, TD-SCDMA, GSM/EDGE, CBRS, mmWave, 5G FDD, 5G TDD, 5G SA (standalone), 5G NSA (non-standalone), F + F ULCA, FDD UL MIMO, Switched Uplink

Sampling is underway.


“5G Advanced will take connectivity to a whole new level, fueling the new reality of the Connected Intelligent Edge,” said Durga Malladi, senior vice president and general manager, cellular modems and infrastructure, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “Snapdragon X75 Modem-RF System demonstrates the full breadth of our global 5G leadership, with innovations such as hardware accelerated AI and the support for upcoming 5G Advanced capabilities, which unlock a whole new level of 5G performance and a new phase in cellular communications.”

Qualcomm is also announcing the Snapdragon X72 5G Modem-RF System – a 5G modem-to-antenna solution optimized for mainstream adoption of mobile broadband applications, supporting multi-Gigabit download and upload speeds.

https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2023/02/qualcomm-sparks-the-next-phase-of-5g-with-the-world-s-first-5g-a

Cisco fueled by cloud networking and easing supply chain issues

Fueled by demand for cloud-driven networking and an improving supply chain, Cisco reported revenue of $13.6 billion for the second quarter of its fiscal 2023, up 7% year over year. GAAP net income was $2.8 billion or $0.67 per share, and non-GAAP net income was $3.6 billion or $0.88 per share.

“With Cisco’s strong Q2 performance, our fiscal 2023 is shaping up to be a great year,” said Chuck Robbins, chair and CEO of Cisco. “The modern, highly secure networks we are building serve as the backbone of our customers’ technology strategy. This, combined with the success of our ongoing business transformation and operational discipline gives me confidence in our future.”

Some highlights:

  • Product revenue up 9% and service revenue was up 2%. 
  • Software revenue was $4.2 billion, up 10% yoy. Software subscription revenue was up 15% yoy. Total subscription revenue represents 44% of overall revenue.
  • Revenue by geographic segment was: Americas up 9%, EMEA up 5%, and APJC was up 1%. 
  • Product revenue performance was led by growth in Secure, Agile Networks up 14%, End-to-End Security up 7%, and Optimized Application Experiences up 11%. Internet for the Future was down 1% and Collaboration was down 10%. Data center switching declined slightly.
  • The company noted double-digit growth for Catalyst 9000, enterprise routing, Wireless, Meraki, DUO and ThousandEyes
  • Q2 was another consecutive quarter of rapid adoption of 400-gig Cisco 8000 and Silicon One platforms
  • In the web-scale segment, Cisco noted overall slowing due to normalizing product lead times. Two of the largest customers grew their orders with Cisco by over 40% in the first half of fiscal ‘23.
  • On a GAAP basis, total gross margin, product gross margin, and service gross margin were 62.0%, 60.2%, and 67.2%.

https://investor.cisco.com/home/default.aspx

Equinix now has 245 data centers with 49 projects underway

Equinix reported 2022 revenue of $7.263 billion, a 9% increase over the previous year on an as-reported basis or 11% on a normalized and constant currency basis. Net income was $705 million, a 41% increase over the previous year, primarily due to operating performance strength and loss on debt extinguishment in 2021. For the full year of 2023, Equinix expects total revenues to range between $8.145 and $8.245 billion, a 12 - 14% increase over the previous year on an as-reported basis, or a 14 - 15% increase on a normalized and constant currency basis.

Some highlights of its ongoing data center expansion program

  • Equinix now encompasses more than 245 data centers across 71 metros in 32 countries
  • The 49 major projects currently underway across 35 metros and 23 countries represent the largest new-build pipeline in company history.
  • In Q4, Equinix announced its first builds in Johannesburg, South Africa, and Johor, Malaysia. 
  • The new Johannesburg facility will augment Equinix's current African footprint in Nigeria, Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. 


https://investor.equinix.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/991/equinix-reports-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2022-results

KDDI employs Wind River for 5G Open vRAN Sites in Japan

KDDI is using Wind River Studio for its O-RAN–compliant 5G virtualized base station, which began commercial deployment this January in Osaka, Japan.

The Wind River Studio Cloud Platform powers the automated configuration (zero-touch provisioning) system. Wind River Studio Analytics is used to monitor the status of geographically distributed far edge clouds. Studio addresses the complex challenges service providers face in deploying and managing geographically distributed, ultra-low latency infrastructure and enables large-scale deployment of 5G virtualized base stations.

Wind River's Studio Cloud Platform provides a fully cloud-native, Kubernetes- and container-based architecture, based on open source, for the development, deployment, operations, and servicing of distributed edge networks at scale. It delivers a foundation for a geographically distributed managed solution able to simplify Day 1 and Day 2 operations by providing single-pane-of-glass, zero-touch automated management of thousands of nodes, no matter where their physical location. Studio addresses the challenges of deploying and managing a physically distributed, cloud-native infrastructure to provide traditional RAN performance in a vRAN/Open RAN deployment.

www.windriver.com


Frontier’s infrastructure to support AT&T 5G

AT&T will deploy its 5G infrastructure in Frontier central offices and connect to Frontier’s fiber network. Under a deal announced by the firms, AT&T's cell towers will be served by Frontier’s fiber-to-the-tower (FTTT) infrastructure.

This deal is an extension of AT&T and Frontier’s 2021 agreement that brought the two complementary fiber networks together to power business customers nationwide.

”Fiber is central to our wireless strategy and to our overall connectivity approach,” said Cheryl Choy, Senior Vice President, Network Planning & Engineering, AT&T. “This expanded collaboration with Frontier is a win for both companies, as they can fully utilize their fiber infrastructure, and we can continue to ensure our wireless services are powered by the unparalleled capacity of fiber optic networks.”

https://investor.frontier.com/news/news-details/2023/Frontier-and-ATT-Ink-Deal-to-Deploy-ATT-Wireless-Infrastructure-in-Frontier-Central-Offices/default.aspx

POET to demo 800G Optical Engines and light sources

At next month's Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exhibition (OFC) in San Diego, POET Technologies will be hosting live demonstrations of its advanced optical engine and light source products:

  • 800G 2xFR4 receive optical engines with integrated DMUX, photodiodes and trans-impedance amplifier;
  • 100G LR4 transmit and receive optical engines for 10km transmission applications;
  • O-Band LightBar products with high-power CW lasers for co-packaged optics and artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI-ML) GPUs;
  • Mechanical demo of 800G 2xFR4 QSFP-DD transceiver showcasing the simplicity of a transceiver design utilizing POET's optical engines.

 “We have several advanced products to demonstrate at OFC 2023 that we expect to attract substantial customer interest,” said Raju Kankipati, Senior Vice President and USA GM at POET Technologies. “All of POET’s integrated optical engines are based on POET’s Optical Interposer with hybrid integration of best of breed components and monolithic integration of passive elements, resulting in an extremely small chiplet architecture enabling the production of 800G, 1.6T and even 3.2T transceivers in standard pluggable form-factors.  We will also be demonstrating and showing mechanical samples of our innovative LightBar products, an essential component for AI-ML accelerator GPUs, an emerging but potentially huge market. As one of the optoelectronics industry’s premier events, OFC is the perfect place to highlight our newly released products and to continue growing our network of potential partners and customers.”

https://poet-technologies.com/news/2023-feb-14.html

Tuesday, February 14, 2023

Vietnam's Viettel deploys 600G wavelengths with Nokia

Viettel, Vietnam’s largest telecom service provider, has deployed 600G wavelengths in the C-band to connect core sites using Nokia's PSE-V super-coherent optical engines (PSE-Vs).

In this project, Nokia PSE-Vs is deployed in Nokia’s 1830 Photonic Service Switch platform, and will enable Viettel to scale total network capacity to 25.2 Tbps over C-band. In addition, the existing C-band system can be seamlessly upgraded to C+L band by adding L band components, which will double the network capacity.

Rubén Morón Flores, Head of Market Unit Vietnam at Nokia, said: “We are pleased to work with Viettel as a strategic partner. This project was the first in APAC to use our PSE-Vs chipset & implemented during the height of Covid pandemic. Its success showcases our strong partnership and unwavering commitment to maintaining leadership by delivering latest optics technologies and solutions to Viettel.”

Nguyen Khac Tinh, Optics Principle Architect of Viettel, said: “This project is very important to Viettel to fulfil the high demand for transmission capacity which increases dramatically every day. By using Nokia’s industry leading coherent transport solutions, we’ll be able to optimize our cost for both CAPEX/OPEX and stay secured for future expansion. This is truly a network built not just for today, but for tomorrow as well. We wish to work with Nokia to evolve our network even further. Our network is now ready for 800G and we plan to reach 1Tbps/channel and beyond.”

https://www.nokia.com/about-us/news/releases/2023/02/15/nokia-and-viettel-successfully-complete-deployment-of-the-first-dwdm-network-operating-at-600g-per-wavelength-in-vietnam/

Bharti Airtel selects Ribbon for optical backbone

Bharti Airtel has selected Ribbon Communications to build its new high-speed transport network supporting 5G mobile backhaul and high-speed enterprise business connectivity throughout Northwestern India. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The disaggregated network architecture leverages Ribbon's Apollo suite of programmable and open optical transport platforms, with support for a combined network capacity across C&L bands of up to 51.2T. The long haul solution will support the transport of 100GE/400GE IP services over 400G Optical channels. Finally, Ribbon's Muse domain orchestration platform also delivers real-time network monitoring and management at the click of a mouse.

"Airtel continues to push the boundaries in digital service delivery and we're proud to support their mission with our solutions and expertise," said Sam Bucci, Chief Operating Officer, Ribbon. "This massive new network will have a tremendous impact as it delivers extensive capacity in one of the world's most populous countries."

Rakuten Mobile now at 5 million subscribers in Japan

Rakuten shared the following metrics for its mobile segment for Q4 and full year 2022:

  • In FY2022, the Mobile segment recorded revenue of 368.7 billion yen, a significant increase of 62.0% YoY. Operating losses of 492.8 billion yen were recorded. After peaking in Q1 FY2022,  operating losses continue to contract due to the increased number of paying customers in line with the end of the campaign offering one-year of free mobile service, increased ARPU (average revenue per user) due to subscribers transitioning to the new Rakuten UN-LIMIT VII service plan, reduced roaming costs as the Rakuten network coverage area expands and other factors.
  • 100% of Rakuten Mobile subscribers became paying customers as of September, and as Rakuten UN-LIMIT VII’s essentially free-of-charge campaign came to a close at the end of October, ARPU increased from 837 yen in Q1 FY2022, before the announcement of the new service plan, to 1,805 yen in Q4 FY2022. Average monthly data usage also increased significantly from 9.5 GB in December 2021, before the new service plan was announced, to 18.4 GB in December 2022, contributing to increased ARPU.
  • The total number of MNO and MVNO subscribers reached 5.06 million as of the end of December 2022. New MNO subscribers have shown a net increase since December 2022.
  • The average number of Rakuten services used per Rakuten Mobile subscriber increased by 2.61 services, as Rakuten Mobile continues to promote cross-use within the Rakuten Ecosystem. For subscribers, the average annual purchase amount on Rakuten Ichiba increased 49% after subscribing to Rakuten Mobile.
  • The number of 4G outdoor base stations exceeded 52,003 as of December 31, 2022. The company aims to have 60,000 base stations in operation by the end of FY2023. In addition, the number of outdoor 5G base stations (outdoor Sub6 macro base stations) increased to 7,058 nationwide.
  • The company announced the full-scale launch of the Rakuten Mobile Business Plan, a mobile carrier service for business customers, from January 30, 2023. More than 600 businesses are already using the service, and the number of business subscribers is forecast to continue to increase.
  • Rakuten Symphony revenue increased significantly to US$231 million  Q4 FY2022, up US$141 million over the previous quarter. Cumulative sales revenue since launch reached US$548 million.




https://global.rakuten.com/corp/news/press/2023/0214_06.html?year=2023&month=2&category=corp

EE targets 5G expansion in rural areas

EE announced plans to extend 5G coverage to rural communities across the UK for the first time. Nearly 500 smaller communities, including Church Stretton and Birkenshaw in England, Llandeilo and Pen-y-banc (Carmarthenshire) in Wales and Tayport and Ratho in Scotland, now have their first 5G signal from EE, bringing the total number of UK cities, towns and villages where customers can access EE 5G to over 1,000. 

As part of the rollout, EE’s 5G is also reaching National Parks and popular rural tourist destinations.

In addition, EE is testing a range of  technologies to boost the range, reliability and energy efficiency of its networks. These include:

  • UK’s first 4G sent over low earth orbit satellite: BT Group has partnered with OneWeb to achieve the first transmission of 4G data using a low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite link to connect an EE mast to the mobile core network, instead of a traditional line of sight microwave or fibre connection. This paves the way for connecting small ultra-remote communities, emergency responders and disaster recovery units and other temporary deployments like festivals, events or construction sites.
  • Mobile coverage in harder to reach areas: In collaboration with Stratospheric Platforms Ltd (SPL), BT Group is running a trial that aims to deliver mobile coverage from the air using a ‘High Altitude Platform’ (HAPS) system being tested at BT’s Global innovation centre (Adastral Park). This has the potential to unlock connectivity for the most remote areas.
  • Self-powering sites: EE is weeks away from launching its first self-powering mast using sustainable energy, in Wales’ Elan Valley. Initial assessments demonstrate that local sourced renewable energy (wind and solar) can contribute up to 90% of the site’s requirements.
  • Biofuels phase-in: Trials are commencing to test the use of biofuels like Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO), Biogas and Hydrogen in network generators to support wider resilience. EE will initially implement the solutions as a trial across 20 physical sites.