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Nokia unveils plan to save CSPs – refurbs RAN to help Orange cut carbon

Nick Booth
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Nokia unveils plan to save CSPs – refurbs RAN to help Orange cut carbon

Finnish vendor also unveils new container strategy designed to speed service delivery by mobile operators

Orange and Nokia have agreed to use more refurbished kit in their networks to cut their carbon contrition and meet emissions targets. Meanwhile, Nokia has unveiled a new container strategy that could help mobile operators deploy services at the speed of the cloud.

The refurbished Nokia network equipment will be offered to Orange subsidiaries via BuyIn, the procurement alliance of Orange and Deutsche Telekom.

Initially the procurement system will offer radio access network (RAN) hardware but there are medium and long-term plans to include other types of kit. The refurb offer is part of Orange’s carbon emissions reduction strategy but Orange and Nokia say they also want to offer a competitive and reliable alternative to network operators. The second hand RAN meets EU and ITU directives and recommendations.

Re-use RAN 

This scheme is part of a larger Orange Group programme called Oscar, which aims to meet a Net Zero Carbon target by 2040. Oscar includes targets for the reuse of components and limits the use of new materials. Nokia said it aims to cut emissions in its value chain by 50 per cent between 2019 and 2030. 

“Through digitalisation we are able to realise the full value of our products,” said Tommi Uitto, Nokia’s president of mobile networks.

In another infrastructure development, Nokia has unveiled its plan to give mobile operators greater control over their deployments. Nokia’s plan is to establish a community of third-party application providers who could speed up the process of creating new revenue streams.

Containers could save CSPs

As part of the liberalisation of service provision for mobile operators, Nokia unveiled new application containers that make it much easier for mobile operators to install applications on customer premise equipment.

Initially the plan is aimed at fixed wireless access (FWA) sector, since Nokia says 30 per cent of broadband-connected homes will use third party applications and services within containers by 2025. However, there could be wider ramifications as application containers can speed the provision of any service by allowing the operator access to directly manage it.

Nokia’s inaugural partners in the scheme were named as F-Secure for cybersecurity, Broadpeak for multicast-ABR video delivery, Cognitive Systems for Wi-Fi motion sensing, Gamebench for performance monitoring, Domos for performance optimization, Ookla for speed test and NTOP for traffic analysis.

“Application containers open a whole new world for our customers to innovate, to create revenue streams and to bring more value to the end-users,” said Sandy Motley, Nokia’s president of fixed networks.

New approaches to Network & Service Orchestration for the 5G era – Interview with Sue Rudd of Strategy Analytics

Annie Turner
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0
New approaches to Network & Service Orchestration for the 5G era – Interview with Sue Rudd of Strategy Analytics

Discover the critical role of end-to-end network & service orchestration in dramatically simplifying operations and enabling innovative services.

In this video, Sue Rudd, Director Networks and Service Platforms at Strategy Analytics is in discussion with Annie Turner, Editor of Mobile Europe & European Communications. Sue shares her insights including:

– The challenge of increasing complexity facing service providers with the advent of 5G and the cloud 

– A definition of End-to-End Network and Service Orchestration (E2ENSO) and its role in addressing complexity and increasing integration – Real-world use cases where E2ENSO adds value – multi-domain, nulti-Cloud network slicing for private networks hosted at a cloud hyperscaler, and managed SD-WAN and security services

– An outline of the critical capabilities of End-to-End Network and Service Orchestration 

For more information on E2ENSO read this dedicated Strategy Analytics whitepaper published on the Amdocs website: New approaches address end-to-end network and service orchestration (E2ENSO) challenges

Learn why End-to End Network and Service Orchestration is becoming a critical necessity for operators who want to bring new services to market faster, deliver them with lower operating costs and better CAPEX utilization, and still improve customer satisfaction. 

This video is sponsored by Amdocs 

ONF and DT demo fully disaggregated Open RAN with Open RIC platform

Annie Turner
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0
ONF and DT demo fully disaggregated Open RAN with Open RIC platform

Outdoor trial on 4G and 5G integrates ONF SD-RAN’s RIC and eight vendors’ products in ongoing field trial

The Open Networking Foundation (ONF) and Deutsche Telekom (DT) have announced the launch of the SD-RAN [software-defined radio access network] Berlin Trial.

They say this is the first field trial implementing fully disaggregated, open RAN solutions using ONF’s RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) software platform as defined by the O-RAN architecture.

This 4G and 5G Standalone (SA) outdoor trial is live at Deutsche Telekom in Berlin.

This SD-RAN trial is intended to show the promise and flexibility of open RAN by integrating components from eight companies – AirHop, Edgecore, Facebook, Foxconn, Intel, Radisys, Supermicro and Wiwynn.

The Telecom Infra Project (TIP) is providing hardware and facilities from the TIP Community Lab in Berlin hosted by DT. The on-site field trial integration and testing is being coordinated and supported by Highstreet Technologies.

The live trial features horizontally disaggregated hardware – that is, separate  radio units (RU), distributed units (DU), and centralised units (CU) – as well as vertically disaggregated software components.

They include an open source, near real-time RIC (nRT-RIC) and xApps from the ONF’s SD-RAN project.

ONF says, “By integrating proprietary and open source components, including a near real-time RIC and xApps, this ground-breaking trial exemplifies a model for how future open RAN deployments are envisioned to take shape.

“The entirety of the trial is operationalized leveraging ONF’s Aether platform, a centrally-managed, multi-cloud, cloud-native platform providing Connectivity-as-a-Service, and highlights network slicing with multiple UPFs [user plane functions] running at the edge.

More information here.

Google Cloud ups its telecoms offer with new infra and services

Annie Turner
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0
Google Cloud ups its telecoms offer with new infra and services

Google Distributed Cloud extends hyperscalers infra to the edge and customers’ data centres, strives better to accommodate European regulation

Google Cloud has announced Google Distributed Cloud (GDC) to expand and improve its telco proposition.

It describes GDC as, “a portfolio of solutions consisting of hardware and software that extend our infrastructure to the edge and into your data centres”.

Based on Anthos

GDC is based on Anthos (the multi-cloud platform designed for telcos and their enterprise customers), can run at Google’s network edge which has more than 140 locations, the network operator’s edge, the enterprise customer’s edge and the customer data centres.

Sachin Gupta, GM and VP of Product for IaaS at Google Cloud writes in a blog, “Using Google Distributed Cloud, customers can migrate or modernize applications and process data locally with Google Cloud services, including databases, machine learning, data analytics and container management.

“Customers can also leverage third-party services from leading vendors in their own dedicated environment. At launch, a diverse portfolio of partners, including Cisco, Dell, HPE, and NetApp, will support the service.

Two new services

GDC will launch two services initially. Google Distributed Cloud Edge for 5G and edge use cases, which the blog says builds on previously announced global strategic partnerships with Ericsson and Google, “to bring new solutions built on a cloud-native 5G core and develop the network edge as a business services platform for enterprises”.

Google Distributed Cloud Hosted “builds on the digital sovereignty vision we outlined last year, and supports public-sector customers and commercial entities that have strict data residency, security or privacy requirements,” according to the blog.

Gupta adds, “To address the needs of customers and governments across Europe, we are also developing trusted partner offerings as part of our ‘Cloud. On Europe’s Terms’ initiative. These partners will provide governments and enterprises the highest levels of digital sovereignty, without compromising on functionality or pace of innovation.

“Each of these partnerships leverage different technologies. Last week, we announced a Trusted Cloud partnership with Thales. On Google Distributed Cloud Hosted, two of our initial partnerships are with T-Systems in Germany and OVHcloud in France.

Read more here.

India’s InMobi buys UK adtech startup Appsumer

Nick Booth
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0
India’s InMobi buys UK adtech startup Appsumer

Marketing tech consolidates in lieu of 5G

Indian global adtech InMobi has announced it is to buy London-based Appsumer, the inventor of a specialist performance marketing and user-acquisition insights system for mobile app advertisers. Figures have not been disclosed.

According to a Bloomberg report, InMobi is ramping up to a major growth milestone and this deal represents a strategic ‘value-adding’ move ahead of that.

Appsumer was founded in 2015 by Shumel Lais, a former marketing expert for M&C Saatchi Mobile and Fetch. Lais had been frustrated by the clunky, time-consuming options available for analysing how well his clients’ marketing spend was performing. Since then Appsumer has grown rapidly to become the intelligence platform of choice for user acquisition teams at some of the world’s top-grossing consumer mobile apps, including Crazy Games, Picsart and Viber, it’s claimed.

The business was recently named one of the UK’s top 100 startups, ranking 28th.

Where’s my marketing data?

Lais’s invention solves the problem all marketers face without effective reporting systems.

 “Traditionally marketers had to download reports from each media channel and then spend hours compiling and fixing the data before they could analyse it and make decisions,” Lais told Bloomberg. Appsumer is a ‘single source of truth’ that simplifies performance marketing for brands by bringing all their spending, from different channels, and campaign data together in one place, making it easier to analyse results and plan more effective campaigns.

Gathering intelligence is becoming increasingly complex in advertising because of the diversity of data types. As a result the traditional third-party identifiers – who provide this jumbled data – are losing their dominance. It’s crucial that marketers have a clean, crisp view of how their channels are performing, says Lais. So, integrating Appsumer’s tech to InMobi’s all-consuming content, monetisation and marketing stack will improve its customer offering noticeably.

Wait until Appsumer gets AI

InMobi and Appsumer are to jointly build an operating system that makes user acquisition funnels easier to understand. The plan is to use artificial intelligence (AI) to build prediction power into the platform so that growth marketers can experiment and mix up their portfolio of advertising investments to get the best outcome.

“I’m excited that Appsumer has the opportunity to get into the hands of even more developers and marketing teams,” said Lais.

Appsumer’s workspace allows customers a single source of truth to track performance, analyse results and use that data to plan more effective campaigns, said Lais.

Abhay Singhal, founder of InMobi Group and CEO of InMobi Marketing Solutions said Shumel and his team have become well-known industry leaders and visionaries in their field and will play an instrumental role in driving InMobi’s next wave of growth and innovation.

Nokia breaks broadband speed record with 100 Gbps over private 5G network

Nick Booth
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0
Nokia breaks broadband speed record with 100 Gbps over private 5G network

Industrial-strength capacity and processing applied to edge computing

Nokia has broken a new private wireless network speed record, it says, by reaching 100Gbps throughput on a single MX Industrial Edge server. 

The trial, conducted with Intel, is proof that the Nokia Digital Automation Cloud (NDAC) and MX Industrial Edge systems can provide high bandwidth 5G private wireless, Nokia claims. It also claimed this makes 5G ready to support the processing needed for Edge computing in the proposed model of Industry 4.0.

Nokia has also released details of how its 360 High Gain 5G mmWave technology will solve millimetre wave propagation challenges for fixed wireless access use.

How Nokia and Intel broke speed record

Janne Parantainen, CTO for Enterprise Solutions at Nokia, described the 100 Gbps speed record as a ‘milestone achievement’ for the industry. Asset-intensive industries are becoming desperate for the supply of high-bandwidth, low latency secure wireless networks as they try to evolve to Industry 4.0, according to Nokia.

The test used a single Nokia Airframe Open Edge R20 server with an Intel Xeon Scalable processor, dual 100Gbps NICs and fast packet routing. These managed to support the traffic generated by sixty 5G gNBs and 120 users.

The aggregate strain on the network comprised a total throughput of 100Gbps – the equivalent of several thousand 4K cameras all streaming simultaneously, said Nokia.

The Nokia MX Industrial Edge computing ran both the routing function and the Nokia DAC 5G SA private wireless core and management and the majority of the CPU processing. Meanwhile its memory capacity remained available to tackle the processing of Industry 4.0 use cases running on the MX Industrial Edge server. 

Bring on the Industrial IoT

According to Nokia, this proves it has the solution to the huge capacity demands of Industrial Edge computing, even in the face of challenges such as the ‘mixed reality’ of Industry 4.0.

In the meantime, the users of industrial Internet of things (IIoT) need an interim technology. 

A cheap scalable system to meet today’s needs, such as private wireless 4.9G/LTE and 5G SA, will provide the foundation for future expansion, says Nokia.

Nokia MX Industrial Edge is powered by the Nokia Digital Automation Cloud (Nokia DAC). It is based on Nokia’s AirFrame Open Edge server, optimised for Intel’s latest innovations and CPU for high-capacity processing. 

Many enterprises in a variety of vertical markets will benefit from the scalable performance and high-speed, low-latency reliable communications, said Intel VP of network business and platforms Caroline Chan.

Fixing the FWA

In another announcement, Nokia explained how it is solving the problems of fixed wireless access and its use of mmWave technology, by boosting its signal ten-fold. This, said Sandy Motley, Nokia’s president of fixed networks, will support subscribers to and providers of fixed wireless access in urban indoor environments, by making self-installation a lot less painful. Motley described the invention as “crucial for FWA growth.”

German regulator won’t regulate access to Telekom Deutschland’s fibre

Annie Turner
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0
German regulator won’t regulate access to Telekom Deutschland’s fibre

Except that it’s not quite as hands-off as it looks and the consultation period could provide interesting responses from rivals.

The German telecom regulator, Bundesnetzagentur (BNetzA), has proposed “light” regulation to accelerate the expansion of the country’s fibre infrastructure. Germany is close to the bottom of the European league table for fibre penetration at under 5%, according to the lastest figures from the FTTH Council Europe.

The watchdog is proposing not to regulate ex ante (in advance) as it did regarding access to the copper local loop, but only to intervene in the event of the former monopoly, Telekom Deutschland, abusing its position as Germany’s largest operator to inhibit competition.

Encouraging investment

The regulator reckons Telekom and its competitors will use the new market regime to increase their investments in fibre. In return, Telekom must offer competitors the use of its fibre optic network under the same conditions as its own retail line of business.

According to the authority, non-discriminatory access to the fibre optic networks of Telekom is to be secured by an obligation of non-discrimination based on the equivalence of input (EoI)principle.

The proposed regulatory framework also obliges Telekom to give competitors greater access to its ducts to avoid unnecessary civil engineering costs, but the fees for access to empty conduits are to remain subject to approval.

The approach isn’t quite as light or hands-off as it is presented.  Jefferies states in a research note: “A hands-off regulatory approach to FTTH/B is clearly supportive for [Telekom Deutschland]. The absence of ex-ante regulated wholesale prices, subject to EOI as a backstop, appeals to the industry for negotiated solutions.

“Notably, [Telekom Deutschland] has already negotiated new wholesale terms for FTTC. That said, it is difficult to identify potentially remaining controversial points as today’s draft is a densely technical 231-page document. The consultation responses by [Telekom Deutschland] and competitors should provide further insight once…the consultation period ends.

Keep on with copper

BNetzA intends to continue with is ex ante regulation of the copper network. In addition, Telekom’s must notify migration to fibre optic networks and the dismantling of copper infrastructure “in good time” and to present migration plans.

However, Telekom is not have any specifications imposed about when and if it has to switch off parts of its copper network.

The regulatory proposals for the fibre optic network are in anticipation of the Telecommunications Modernisation Act which comes into force in December.

EQT Private Equity to sell Spanish fibre wholesaler and retailer Adamo

Annie Turner
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0
EQT Private Equity to sell Spanish fibre wholesaler and retailer Adamo

The deal is expected to go through in Q1 2022, subject to the usual approvals. No financial details disclosed.

EQT Private Equity is to sell Adamo, a wholesale and retail provider of FTTH services in Spain, to the French firm Ardian Infrastructure, which invests in Europe and the Americas.



Adamo is said to be the fastest growing, open access fibre-to-the-home platform in Spain with a nationwide footprint of 1.8 million homes passed, serving about 250,000 retail and wholesale subscribers.



Rural retail and wholesale

With headquarters in Barcelona, Adamo’s network deployment strategy focuses on rural areas and “has contributed significantly to providing underserved rural areas with essential broadband services”.

It also claims to have pioneered 1Gbps broadband services in the Spanish market.

EQT Private Equity acquired a majority stake in Adamo in 2017 in that period has expanded the network from 100,000 homes passed in the Cataluña region to 1.8 million homes nationwide.

It says this was achieved by organic network roll-out and network acquisitions, and by shifting the business model from purely retail to include wholesale too: it has wholesale contracts with four out of five national operators in Spain as well as with more than 160 local operators.

Second Spanish exit for EQT

Fredrik Gillström, Co-Founder of Adamo commented, “This transaction marks an exciting milestone for Adamo. We decided to partner up with EQT to release the full potential of the Company and execute on the market opportunity we saw back in 2016.

“Five years later, we can conclude that we could not have found a better partner on this journey given EQT’s experience in scaling companies and alignment on values and purpose. We look forward to partnering with Ardian to further build on the strong position Adamo today enjoys in the Spanish fibre market.”

Carlos Santana, Partner and Head of the EQT Private Equity Advisory Team in Spain, added, “Adamo was EQT Private Equity’s first investment in Spain, and it represents our second successful exit. Adamo is a great showcase of how EQT can support local entrepreneurship with value-add expertise while contributing positively to society.”

EQT Private Equity to sell Spanish fibre wholesaler and retailer Adamo

Annie Turner
-
0

The deal is expected to go through in Q1 2022, subject to the usual approvals. No financial details disclosed.

EQT Private Equity is to sell Adamo, a wholesale and retail provider of FTTH services in Spain, to the French firm Ardian Infrastructure, which invests in Europe and the Americas.



Adamo is said to be the fastest growing, open access fibre-to-the-home platform in Spain with a nationwide footprint of 1.8 million homes passed, serving about 250,000 retail and wholesale subscribers.



Rural retail and wholesale

With headquarters in Barcelona, Adamo’s network deployment strategy focuses on rural areas and “has contributed significantly to providing underserved rural areas with essential broadband services”.

It also claims to have pioneered 1Gbps broadband services in the Spanish market.

EQT Private Equity acquired a majority stake in Adamo in 2017 in that period has expanded the network from 100,000 homes passed in the Cataluña region to 1.8 million homes nationwide.

It says this was achieved by organic network roll-out and network acquisitions, and by shifting the business model from purely retail to include wholesale too: it has wholesale contracts with four out of five national operators in Spain as well as with more than 160 local operators.

Second Spanish exit for EQT

Fredrik Gillström, Co-Founder of Adamo commented, “This transaction marks an exciting milestone for Adamo. We decided to partner up with EQT to release the full potential of the Company and execute on the market opportunity we saw back in 2016.

“Five years later, we can conclude that we could not have found a better partner on this journey given EQT’s experience in scaling companies and alignment on values and purpose. We look forward to partnering with Ardian to further build on the strong position Adamo today enjoys in the Spanish fibre market.”

Carlos Santana, Partner and Head of the EQT Private Equity Advisory Team in Spain, added, “Adamo was EQT Private Equity’s first investment in Spain, and it represents our second successful exit. Adamo is a great showcase of how EQT can support local entrepreneurship with value-add expertise while contributing positively to society.”

No mobile operator is confident of great billing for its 5G service – Oracle study

Nick Booth
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0
No mobile operator is confident of great billing for its 5G service – Oracle study

Study finds customer experience not a priority

A new Oracle Communications survey has revealed that nearly all (94 per cent) mobile operators admit to ‘challenges’ with their charging systems.

Despite this three quarters (73 per cent) of communications service providers (CSPs) plan to proceed with the launch of their 5G networks by 2022.

In the study 303 decision makers from mobile operators in ten countries were asked if charging challenges could hinder innovation and customer experience. Surprisingly few seemed to think that inaccurate billing would upset the customers. 

What about the customer experience?

CSPs are making significant investments in their 5G networks and must quickly monetise new services to get a return, explained Jason Rutherford, general manager of applications at Oracle Communications. “The survey shows they need to rethink current charging systems,” said Rutherford.

According to the study, the typical CSP plans to launch three new 5G-enabled services, ranging from better mobile broadband to smart home, mobile gaming, retail and live entertainment offers. The survey indicates that they expect to monetise 5G differently, using an average of three pricing levers, namely data security, latency, and energy efficiency. To support these new business requirements, 86 per cent of CSPs plan to upgrade charging systems over the next 18 months.

Monetise first

The top charging challenges that CSPs are prioritising are the cost of managing their existing systems (38 per cent) and the lengthy time-to-market for new offers (34 per cent). Accuracy of customer billing was not a priority for the monetisers. Indeed, the survey says that staff worry about being ill-equipped to meet the performance and ‘monetisation needs’ of 5G.

‘Some’ are concerned about the effect that their dated technology will have on customer experience, the survey said.

A much clearer picture emerges over what the CSP executives want, however. The surveyors were told that staff want cross-network convergence (55 per cent), flexible rating and charging schemas (37 per cent), and cloud-native capabilities (32 per cent). 

Will 5G suffer from bad billing?

“CSPs realise the need for scalable, converged charging systems that will enable them to monetise any business model,” said Rutherford. “This survey highlights the innovative service types and pricing methods that CSPs want to pursue in the 5G.”

Did they ask customers how they will feel about bill shock?

The survey was conducted in the US, Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, Spain, France, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Australia.

 

 

 

 

 

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