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 those sepia-tinted shades, set the date for #TBT and enjoy the memories!
Inflation impacts network costs
Nokia reported a better-than-expected first quarter, but CEO Pekka Lundmark warned investors that the company is being impacted by rising input prices and the global chip shortage. While Lundmark said that Nokia’s first-quarter results were a “strong start to the year,” he added that the company could have grown faster if it had not been hampered by supply chain issues. “Supply chain continued to constrain our growth, notably in mobile networks, and then within [the] network infrastructure business inside the optical networks business,” Lundmark said on Nokia’s call with investors. Asked about rising costs, Lundmark responded,”As we all know, there is strong inflationary pressure in the world at the moment and we are seeing increases in input costs. And of course, in new deals that we are pricing, in every single new deal we embed all the information that we have on the technology competitiveness, input cost and then in that particular customer situation, our relative competitiveness vis-a-vis [our] competition.” In mobile networks in particular, he noted, there isn’t a single global price and every deal’s cost is negotiated. He assured investors that Nokia is accounting for increased input costs in its pricing. “I believe the whole industry, that everybody has an interest and an intention to pass on as much of the input cost increases on to customer prices as possible,” he added. … Read more
US Cellular launches 5G mmWave FWA service
US Cellular, in collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies and Inseego, has launched its 5G mmWave high-speed internet service in parts of 10 U.S. cities. The carrier says that its Home Internet+ solution delivers speeds of up to 300 Mbps, which represents an increase of 10-15 times compared to its 4G LTE home internet offering. US Cellular’s new internet offering is delivered by the Inseego Wavemaker FW2010 outdoor 5G CPE, powered by the Qualcomm 5G Fixed Wireless Access Platform Gen 1 featuring the Snapdragon X55 5G Modem-RF system. The carrier said that the new Fixed Wireless Access service is already available in parts of East Moline and Rock Island, Illinois; Bettendorf, Cedar Falls, Davenport, Dubuque and Waterloo, Iowa; Yakima, Washington; and Beloit and Janesville, Wisconsin. Fixed Wireless Access, or FWA, is a method of providing wireless connectivity to homes and businesses through radio links between two fixed points without the need for fiber and cables for last mile connectivity. The telco also said that it expects to increase the new offering within those cities and expand to new cities in urban and rural areas. … Read more
T-Mo nears the wrap-up of Sprint network integration
T-Mobile US says it is largely wrapping up the integration of Sprint this year, both in terms of the network and customers. The carrier reported 589,000 postpaid phone net additions in the first quarter and also brought on 338,000 home internet net customer additions, amid total postpaid net customer adds of 1.3 million in the first quarter—it’s best Q1 in eight years, according to the company. Net income for the quarter was $713 million, which was down from $933 million in the year-ago quarter and included $1.1 billion in merger-related costs during the quarter. Service revenues were at $15.1 billion, up 7% year-over-year. The carrier reported that postpaid service revenue grew at 9% year-over-year. T-Mobile US reported that about 45% of its postpaid customers are using a 5G phone, with 5G devices accounting for more than half of its total network traffic. CEO Mike Sievert said that the carrier is “approaching some of our biggest milestones, including moving the remaining customers off the Sprint network in the next couple of months, just over two years from merger close.” He added that T-Mo is “on track to upgrade or decommission substantially all of the Sprint sites this year.” As of the first quarter, he said, T-Mobile US has already handled about one-third of the approximately 35,000 sites that it plans to decommission, with its “big push coming in the second half of this year.” “We’re in the home stretch of our accelerated integration,” he declared during the quarterly call. … Read more
Bell partners with AWS Wavelength on public MEC
Canadian mobile operator Bell announced the launch of a public multi-access edge computing (MEC) with AWS Wavelength in Canada. As part of a previous agreement between the two firms, Bell and AWS are deploying AWS Wavelength Zones throughout Canada at the edge of Bell’s 5G network. The Canadian telco explained that Bell Public MEC with AWS Wavelength embeds AWS compute and storage services at the edge of the Bell 5G network. Bell Public MEC with AWS Wavelength is now available in the Toronto area, with additional Wavelength Zones to be deployed in the future. AWS Wavelength is now available in Canada, the U.S., the United Kingdom, Germany, South Korea, and Japan in partnership with global communications service providers. “With general availability of AWS Wavelength Zones on Canada’s fastest network, it becomes possible for businesses to tap into all-new capabilities, reaching new markets and serving customers in exciting new ways (…) With our ongoing investments in supporting emerging MEC use cases, coupled with our end-to-end security built into our 5G network, we are able to give Canadian businesses a platform to innovate, harness the power of 5G and drive competitiveness for their businesses,” said Jeremy Wubs, SVP of product, marketing and professional services for Bell Business Markets. … Read more
Qualcomm gets a new chief commercial officer
Qualcomm announced the appointment of Jim Cathey as the new chief commercial officer of Qualcomm Technologies. Cathey takes the role effectively immediately, and will report directly to Qualcomm President and CEO Cristiano Amon. Cathey has been with Qualcomm since 2006, most recently in the role of senior VP and president of global business for Qualcomm Technologies. He has held a number of leadership roles for the company in the Asia-Pacific region, serving as country manager in Taiwan, president of Qualcomm Technologies’ operations in Japan and then as president of the company’s operations in both Asia Pacific and India before moving into the role of president of global business. As SVP and president of global business, Cathey had had responsibility for all of Qualcomm Technologies’ go-to-market activities, from sales and business development to carrier partnerships, distribution channels and assisting with in-country relationships, the company said. … Read more
FCC starts to rethink receiver rules
The Federal Communications Commission has formally begun a proceeding to gather information about wireless receiver performance, and how it might encourage better performance in wireless receivers—an effort that has bipartisan support on the commission, and which could represent a turning point for the design of wireless systems. While the FCC is only seeking information to start, the agency made clear that it could take a number of actions to act upon the information it gathers, from incentives or establishing best practices, to regulatory requirements. The newly issued notice of inquiry seeks information to update the FCC’s understanding of the role of receivers in spectrum management and how the agency “might best promote improvements in receiver interference immunity performance that would serve the public interest.” In its notice of inquiry, the agency noted that “while the Commission has typically focused its rules on the transmitter side of radio systems, as several recent Commission proceedings have underscored, receivers and receiver interference immunity performance play an increasingly critical role in enabling more efficient spectrum use.” “Most discussions of spectrum efficiency are a one-way effort. They focus almost exclusively on transmitters,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “To avoid harmful interference, we typically have rules about how and when transmitters can operate. But wireless communications systems involve transmitters and receivers. It’s a two-way proposition. Both are vital. Both matter. So we need to rethink our approach to spectrum policy and move beyond just transmitters and consider receivers, too. ... Read more
Check out the RCR Wireless News Archives for more stories from the past.
