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!
Anritsu: ‘It’s 5G, 5G and 5G’
5G testing is in full swing as chipset, device and infrastructure vendors seek to support early deployments and prepare for more widespread build-outs of the technology beginning in 2019. Among the various 5G testing-related news coming out of Mobile World Congress Americas, test company Anritsu took the opportunity to highlight its new Radio Communications Test Station MT8000A for testing 5G New Radio at both sub-6 GHz and at common millimeter wave frequencies. Anritsu’s show demos included generating a 28 GHz signal coming out of the new all-in-one box that does protocol and RF testing for 5G NR. Adnan Khan, senior business development manager at Anritsu, said that the company has been investing in 5G for several years — and now 5G technology “is seeing the light of day.” Vendors such as Qualcomm and MediaTek have chipsets in development that need to be tested. Anritsu announced in June that MediaTek has already chosen the MT8000A as its prioritized platform for verifying 5G NR chipsets. Testing chipsets is one thing, Khan added, but the testing to ensure that devices conform to specific feature sets will also be challenging. … Read more
T-Mobile US COO says merger with Sprint starts with network integration
Speaking during the recent Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference, T-Mobile US executives provided an update on the proposed merger with Sprint, including a look at the daily work being done to prepare for an integration of the two carriers’ networks. Chief Operating Officer Mike Sievert said, “We’ve got a full integration team going, functional leads in every function at both companies, weekly steering meetings, deep work happening. And it really starts with the network.” Sievert called a roaming agreement between T-Mobile US and Sprint is a “really important integration element” that helps align engineering and commercial teams. He said other aspects of the integration are ensuring Sprint’s handset procurement is compatible with the destination network and more advanced roaming for future load balancing. “The teams are well underway in getting ready for this merger,” Seiver continued. He said interactions with federal officials are proving “constructive, open-minded, detail-oriented. The massive expansion in capacity that the New T-Mobile will create will create more competition, better circumstances for consumers and we know the government, once they really understand that, will see the merits.” … Read more
AT&T CEO discusses building a ‘modern media company’
With its acquisition of Warner Media, AT&T made a significant pivot that will continue to reshape its business for years to come. Dropping billions on content, coupled with network reach, creates very interesting opportunities around data-driven advertising. During the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference last week, AT&T Chief Executive Officer Randall Stephenson gave some insight on what it takes to operate a “modern media company.” “Two plus years ago we started down this path,” Stephenson said. “We said if we’re going to be relevant in media, you’re going to have to have a few elements. It begins with premium content. Time Warner, getting the deal done and getting it close this year…kind of check the box on premium content.” Although AT&T’s acquisition of the former Time Warner, which includes the Turner broadcasting networks, HBO, CNN and Warner Brothers Studios among other properties, closed earlier this year, the Department of Justice is appealing a previous decision to allow the merger to go forward. DOJ has argued that the consolidation would result in an anti-competitive market environment. A federal judge disagreed. … Read more
Verizon CEO outlines three 5G revenue streams
Last week as Verizon announced its 5G Home service during Mobile World Congress Americas in Los Angeles, company CEO Hans Vestberg was across the country in New York at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference explaining to the financial world how Verizon plans to make money off of the next-generation of cellular. Vestberg, formerly the CEO of Ericsson, continued his messaging around network-first and highlighted the three 5G service streams the carrier is pursuing. First is mobility services; second is fixed wireless access, “which is a new market for us…[And] the third business case is very much built on the mobile edge where basically you think about many of the new currencies, the capacities, of 5G, they will be enhanced.” And Verizon’s differentiator, he said, is all of those services come from a single “multi-purpose” network. “We started to transform the whole network one-and-a-half year ago…where it basically created a network that was horizontal from the data center all the way out to the access. That, of course, enabled us to have choices in front of our customers depending on what type of access they need. That is sort of a fundamental piece of what we’re doing right now.” … Read more
Report: Scam calls will make up nearly half of calls by 2019
The rate of scam calls to U.S. mobile users is increasing so rapidly that by next year, nearly half of all calls will be fraudulent, according to a new report. First Orion, which offers technology to identify and block spam calls and works with carriers including T-Mobile US, released its first annual report on scam call trends and projections. The report is based on First Orion’s analysis of more than 50 billion calls made to U.S. mobile subscribers over the past 18 months. “By combining specific call patterns and behaviors with other phone number attributes, First Orion now predicts that nearly half of all calls to mobile phones will be fraudulent in 2019 unless the industry adopts and implements more effective call protection solutions,” the company said. Over the past year, First Orion’s data reflected a “drastic increase in mobile scam calls,” with rates jumping from 3.7% of total calls in 2017 to 29.2% in 2018. The company projects that number will reach 44.6% by early 2019.
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Check out the RCR Wireless News Archives for more stories from the past.
