Editor’s Note: RCR Wireless News goes all in for “Throwback Thursdays,” tapping into our archives to resuscitate the top headlines from the past. Fire up the time machine, put on the sepia-tinted shades, set the date for #TBT and enjoy the memories!
Commerce Department bans US sales to ZTE
The U.S. Department of Commerce has banned American companies from selling telecommunications equipment to Chinese vendor ZTE after the firm allegedly did not live up to the terms of an agreement that had been worked out after it illegally shipped telecom equipment to Iran and North Korea. The government’s order, which goes into effect immediately, will ban American firms from exporting components directly to ZTE or through a third country until March 13, 2025. In March 2017, ZTE agreed to a combined civil and criminal penalty and forfeiture of $1.19 billion after illegally shipping telecommunications equipment to Iran and North Korea, making false statements, and obstructing justice including through preventing disclosure to and affirmatively misleading the U.S. Government, the Department of Commerce said. In addition to the financial penalties, ZTE also agreed to a seven-year suspended denial of export privileges, which could be activated if the company continued to violate U.S. export regulations or if any part of the agreement was not met. Part of the deal was that ZTE would reprimand and deny bonuses to the employees who had acted illegally, but the Department of Commerce says that instead, ZTE paid full bonuses to employees that had engaged in illegal conduct and failed to issue letters of reprimand. … Read more
FCC takes comment on upcoming mmWave auctions
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission gave the domestic 5G industry a boost yesterday by announcing its pre-auction process to hold two millimeter wave spectrum auctions for 5G use, starting on November 14th. Portions of the 28 GHz and 24 GHz bands are proposed to be auctioned in two batches, with the second auction beginning after the first is exhausted. FCC proposed to auction 5,986 licenses in the millimeter wave bands, known as Upper Microwave Flexible Use Service (UMFUS). The 27.5–28.35 GHz (28 GHz) band falls under Auction 101 and 24.25–24.45 and 24.75–25.25 GHz (24 GHz) under Auction 102. “The FCC had previously released millimeter wave spectrum primarily for 5G testing and trails,” Wayne Lam, IHS Markit analyst Mobile Devices & Networks, told RCR Wireless News. “This latest round of spectral offering is likely larger and favors large carriers such as AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile who have been clamoring for more 5G spectrum to be released so that they can commercialize 5G services.” The FCC action came a few days after U.S. wireless industry group CTIA released a report saying the U.S. was falling behind China in 5G. … Read more
Huawei launches a 5G platform
Chinese vendor Huawei has launched its 5G SingleRAN Pro, which combines 5G, 4G, 3G, and 2G capabilities across a single network. The company said that the new solution features an automatic intelligent management system and a mobile cloud network architecture. The 5G SingleRAN Pro uses a multi-Radio Access Technology baseband with a multi-band, multi-channel antenna and radio frequency unit with Massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output. Huawei highlighted that operators’ current investments will not be wasted once 5G arrives, as the new hardware platform supports the deployment of 5G networks while being 2G, 3G, and 4G compatible. The Asian vendor also explained that integrated hardware platforms such as integrated baseband units are introduced to not only expedite the introduction of 5G, but also maximize site space. The new platform will also help lower overall site energy consumption and maintenance costs, Huawei said. … Read more
Small cells are a big deal in APAC
The Asia-Pacific (APAC) region accounted for 58.6% of all non-residential small cells deployments last year, according to the latest report by the Small Cell Forum. Last year, a total of 892,000 small cells were deployed in the region. In total, 1.52 million non-residential small cells were deployed in 2017 globally. For this year, the Small Cell Forum forecasts that a total of 1.67 million small cells will be deployed across APAC countries, which will represent 59.7% of global small cell deployments in 2018. “In the non-residential market, APAC will dominate the regional deployment patterns, though with greater volatility than other regions. The region will see a more pronounced pre-5G slowing of growth, because many MNOs and large corporations in east Asia will aim to be early deployers, and will slow 4G expansion accordingly,” the report states. By 2021, the APAC region is expected to deploy 2.62 million non-residential small cells, which will represent 54.2 percent of the total market of 4.83 million small cells deployments. “In regional terms, in the early years (before 2020), the vast majority of cells deployed in dense environments are rolled out in APAC or North America,” the report adds. … Read more
South Korean operators agree to share 5G infrastructure
outh Korean mobile operators have plans to share the costs for the deployment of a nationwide 5G network in the Asian country, according to published reports citing government sources. The initiative reportedly will be carried out by local telcos SK Telecom, KT, LG U+ as well as broadband operator SK Broadband. This shared infrastructure projects had the main aim of avoiding redundant investment in 5G deployments, according to officials from the Ministry of Science and ICT. The initiative is expected to generate savings of nearly 1 trillion won ($938 million) over the next ten next years, Yonhap News Agency reported. “Our is goal is to lead the fourth industrial revolution and to support the early commercialization of 5G technology,” said Jun Sung-bae, a senior ICT ministry official. Last month, KT confirmed plans to launch its commercial 5G network by March 2019. The operator said that its 5G rollout will not be based on the Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) model currently being pushed forward by U.S telco Verizon. The country’s second largest telco has recently completed a 5G trial during the Winter Olympics Games, which took place in the city of PyeongChang February 9-25. During the PyeongChang Games, KT Corp. provided five 5G-driven visual technologies including 360-degree virtual reality live broadcasting, omni-point viewing and a 5G-connected bus. … Read more
Viavi tackles end-to-end 5G testing
Fresh off its $455 million purchase of Cobham’s test and measurement business, Viavi Solutions is touting its expanded position in 5G testing as a result of the purchase. Viavi Solutions acquired Cobham’s test and measurement operations in an all-cash transaction that closed last month. Cobham AvComm and Wireless Test and Measurement (including the former Aeroflex business, but not Cobham Wireless’ distributed antenna system operations) are expected to “significantly [strengthen]Viavi’s competitive position in 5G deployment” while diversifying its customer base into public safety, military applications and avionics, Viavi said when it announced the purchase. Oleg Khaykin, Viavi’s president and CEO, said at the time that Cobham’s assets would help Viavi “address technology sharing as we address rapidly emerging opportunities in 5G, software-defined and virtualized test.” Now, Viavi is officially integrating the former Cobham assets into its product line-up, focusing on end-to-end testing for 5G networks and describing its new portfolio as “the most realistic test environment for optimizing 4G and 4.5G, while enabling the development of 5G technology and the shift of core functionality to the network edge.” That includes Cobham’s TeraVM, which is a virtualized emulation, validation and threat assessment tool, and its TM500 network test system for base station development. Ultan Kelly, senior product director at Viavi, joined the company from Cobham. Kelly said that Viavi is building on Cobham’s network testing solutions to extend to core testing and provide end-to-end test scenarios through emulating mobile devices and the network to fully load-test the core — for 3G, 4G and even 5G. … Read more
Check out the RCR Wireless News Archives for more stories from the past.
The post #TBT: ZTE sales ban instituted; Small cells are big in APAC; Korean operators share and share alike … this week in 2018 appeared first on RCR Wireless News.