The First Responders Network Authority has extended the deadline for responses to its call for bids for a national public safety LTE network for another two weeks. Request for Proposal responses are now due by May 31, and FirstNet still plans to award the...
The Indian telco paid $526 million for the LTE airwaves
Indian mobile telephony operator Bharti Airtel reached a deal to acquire spectrum in the 2.3 GHz band from rival telco Aircel, local press reported.
With this acquisition, Bharti Airtel will have a pan-Indian presence in the...
Indoor digitalization driven by capacity demands, business models focused on owner ROI, value-added services
Consumers are hungry for mobile data, particularly video content, and the demand for this type of service largely comes from users in transit hubs, offices or other indoor venues, which are...
Wi-Fi interoperability, enterprise sales and costs could slow small cell adoption
The market for the coverage and capacity benefits of a small cell deployment are there, but enterprise adoption is a key challenge facing mobile carriers, according to an opinion column by Peter Thornycroft of...
Thai operator plans to launch VoLTE-enabled phones with Huawei
Thai mobile operator Advanced Info Service launched commercial voice-over-LTE services across all 77 provinces in the country, according to an announcement from the company.
The operator said the VoLTE service offers customers with capable devices access to...
Even a year ago, FirstNet still seemed largely theoretical as it went through the planning process. But, with the agency having released its request for proposal in January, and expecting to make an award of its $6.5 billion for the design and construction of...
New York, Pennsylvania, Boston hit by Sprint network outage
Sprint customers in the Northeast on Monday reported a network outage impacting LTE services. Reports of network problems began Monday morning; Sprint says the problems were resolved by 2:20 p.m.
"Earlier today some Sprint customers in parts...
Voice-over-LTE trial set for Henan province
ZTE launched a voice-over-LTE trial with China Unicom in China's Henan province. The deployment calls for ZTE to deploy an end-to-end VoLTE solution including voice over Wi-Fi, VoLTE high-definition video and audio, and rich communications services.
The VoLTE project is one of seven...
While your coworkers complain about their NCAA basketball tournament brackets ahead of finals set for April 2-4 in Houston, AT&T has been busy upgrading its network in the area to handle the expected influx of more than 100,000 fans.
Carrier reps say the enhancements include...
Sequans is first to market with LTE Cat M Monarch chipset
The massive scale of the Industrial Internet of Things—billions of connected devices and sensors seamlessly communicating—is enabled only by low-cost components able to run in the field for years without requiring maintenance.
To support that...
Qualcomm, a major proponent of deploying cellular in unlicensed spectrum using the LTE Unlicensed technology, is developing LTE-U small cells with partners Samsung and SpiderCloud Wireless.
LTE-U is seen as a way for carriers to keep up with demand for mobile data, but, because the...
On the face of it, voice is a disappearing species. According to the Ericsson Mobility Report, in 2010 voice traffic was 50% of data. By 2015, it had dropped to less than 5%. Voice still holds court in many ways, but its role has evolved...
Sprint CFO Tarek Robbiati says the struggling U.S. carrier is looking to the future and "5G" with its as-yet unspecified network improvement plans, which revolve around a densification strategy.
Robbiati made the remarks this week during Deutsche Bank's Media, Internet and Telecom conference.
“We’re not building a...
French telco targets 75% LTE coverage by the end of 2016
French telecom operator Iliad, which operates in the mobile market through its Free subsidiary, ended 2015 with 3.7 million LTE subscribers, posting 2 million net customer additions for the year. Revenue from mobile services...
A new report from Twin Prime claims LTE is faster than Wi-Fi in most locations, while U.S. provides faster speeds across both
Consumer demand for mobile data connectivity has placed an increased emphasis on the performance of cellular-based LTE and local area-based Wi-Fi networks, with...
Standards work on "5G" technology began in late 2015, and the first commercial networks probably won’t launch until 2020 at the earliest. But it’s not too early to begin pondering what 5G could mean for verticals such as health care, manufacturing, smart cities and...
Verizon Wireless has been bullish on "5G" with plans to trial the unstandardized technology this year. Ever since Verizon Wireless announced those plans late last year, T-Mobile US executives, who are also taking on 5G, have made clear their skepticism.
That trend held this week as...
The Google concept of providing rural cellular connectivity from specially designed balloons, dubbed Project Loon, could be tested on the vast Indian subcontinent, according to reports.
According to The Economic Times, Google is having discussions with multiple service providers in India, including BSNL, about piloting...
DigiCell and Huawei plan to launch 4G LTE by year end
Belize is set to soon be covered by a LTE network being deployed by DigiCell, a subsidiary of Belize Telemedia Limited. Both are owned and controlled by the government of Belize, with privately-owned Smart...
Vivendi media group now controls 24% of the Italian telco
French media group Vivendi increased its stake in Telecom Italia by one percentage point to 24%, further strengthening its position as the main shareholder in the Italian telecom operator.
According to a regulatory filing, the French group...
Baicells, using Radisys software, is testing LTE-LAA small cell with China Mobile
Chinese tech company Baicells has been making moves in the small cells space as of late, most recently with the launch of an LTE license assisted access small cell using Intel processors.
Baicells is...
Boingo transforming from infrastructure provider to managed services provider
Mobile World Congress was decidedly a "5G"-oriented show, but Boingo Wireless CTO Derek Peterson was on hand to emphasize the long-term importance of Wi-Fi to the telecom ecosystem.
In an exclusive interview with RCR Wireless News, Peterson...
RCR Wireless News editors recap the highlights of Mobile World Congress 2016
Mobile World Congress 2016 was a jam-packed show with a huge emphasis on the future of "5G" and the "Internet of Things." 5G is moving into the trial phase, which will help inform...
Promise of 5G will become apparent in LTE evolution
In a wide-ranging conversation with RCR Wireless News during Mobile World Congress 2016, AT&T SVP of wireless network architecture and design Tom Keathley looked at the long-term vision of "5G," as well as the incremental advancements...
