At MWC Barcelona 2023, global telecom gear leader, Huawei, emphasized the need to develop an ICT infrastructure that is simple, energy-efficient, and intelligent to accelerate the digital transformation of the telcos and to foster innovation so they are able to maximize the gains from the market opportunities.

Digital transformation has now accelerated for all industry verticals. Industrial-grade applications, such as smart manufacturing and power grid dispatching, are driving a rapid increase in the demand for processing power and storage while also raising a variety of requirements for connectivity and quality.

Li Peng, President of Huawei’s Carrier BG, outlined how 5G was opening the door to an intelligent world and how the transition to 5.5G would be a significant turning point in this journey during his address at MWC’s Day 0 Forum. He also discussed the industry’s need to work together to accelerate the advance towards an ultra-broadband, environmentally friendly, and intelligent world to meet the escalating new digital demands from users and sectors.

“5G has driven the rapid development of the ICT industry. By the end of 2022, more than 230 5G networks had already been commercially deployed, supporting over one billion 5G users and a multitude of 5G devices. In the consumer market, carriers have been innovating to extend “Connectivity+”. As 5G capabilities continue to improve, leading carriers in Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Europe have scrambled to develop different kinds of digital services,” says Li Peng.

“Some carriers have converged connectivity with local OTT services, which allows them to achieve shared success. These offerings bundle connectivity with digital services like social media, helping them grow into a one-stop digital service provider,” he added.

Li highlights that general-purpose technologies like 5G, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and cloud computing are driving industrial digitalization and bringing new strategic opportunities. Li explained that as enterprise customers need more offering portfolios, carriers need to reinforce “Connectivity+”.

Developing a 5.5G ecosystem

Huawei, a prominent telecom gear maker, emphasized the importance of collaborating with ecosystem partners and industry stakeholders to explore the vast potential of ultra-broadband 5.5G, the next evolutionary step after 5G. As the demand for ultra-high-speed connectivity and extremely low latency will continue to increase, 5G will not be enough to address the needs of the service providers and 6G is still some time away. In this scenario, 5.5G will help the service providers meet evolving market needs.

Huawei believes 5.5G will be a significant step toward building the next phase of the intelligent world. Modern, high-potential apps like Metaverse, immersive workspaces and real-time interactions will need the foundation of 5.5G.

According to Li, moving forward, the intelligent world will be deeply integrated with the physical world. Everything, including personal entertainment, work, and industrial production, will be intelligently connected. This implies that networks will have to evolve from ubiquitous gigabit to ubiquitous 10 gigabit, and connectivity and sensing will need to be integrated. To put it simply, the ICT industry will have to shift its focus from energy consumption to energy efficiency.

Li Peng of Huawei stated that to meet these expanding demands, the transition from 5G to 5.5G will be crucial. Huawei is prepared to collaborate with its industry partners to deliver a ubiquitous 10-gigabit experience using cutting-edge wireless, optical, and IP technologies; to investigate use cases like vehicle-road collaboration and environment monitoring to integrate connectivity and sensing; and to develop a unified energy efficiency indicator system to support the growth of the green industry.

It should be noted that NCIe, an indicator to gauge the intensity of network carbon emissions, was formally published as a standard by the ITU-T last year. The verification of novel multi-dimensional energy efficiency metrics on live networks has led to an increase in energy efficiency of 20% to 50% for several service providers in China and Europe.

GUIDE blueprint for success

At the conclusion of his speech, Li urged the entire telecom industry to implement the GUIDE business model to speed up the adoption of 5G and advance the world’s transition to an ultra-broadband, eco-friendly, and intelligent one.

Huawei’s GUIDE presents a blueprint to the industry. It brings forth five key capabilities that the service providers will need to achieve as they move to the next phase of growth to become digital network providers. The key capabilities, including expanding service offerings and service scope, holistic efficiency innovation, leveraging all available resources no matter network or computing resources in a synergized fashion, competing on value offering with end user experience as a target, and contributing to society in all dimensions – greener future, sustainability and governance, are what the service providers need to develop.

 

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News

The newest German mobile operator says its 5G network deployment has been negatively affected by Vodafone and Vantage Towers expansion limiting their access to 5G sites

Back in 2021, 1&1 Mobilfunk, the new mobile arm of 1&1 AG, announced it had struck a deal with Vodafone’s recently spun-off tower unit, Vantage Towers. The agreement covered the shared use of 3,800 existing mobile, as well as additional sites that were due to be built in 2022.

However, by the end of 2022, 1&1 claimed that Vantage Towers’ expansion was moving far slower than expected, with 1&1 reporting just five 5G antenna sites in operation.

As such, at the end of 2022, Vantage Towers announced a new rollout plan, taking into account the most recent delays.

However, in a meeting yesterday between Vodafone, Vantage, and 1&1, the infrastructure company reportedly revealed that it no longer expected to hit these revised targets an warned of further delays.

“In particular, the expansion targets planned in the first quarters of 2023 are to be significantly missed. An end to the preference for Vodafone’s expansion activities at the expense of 1&1 network construction at Vantage Towers still does not seem foreseeable,” explained 1&1 in a statement.

1&1 says that this delay could impact their planned launch of commercial mobile services in Q3 this year, noting that while a delayed launch would not result in “significant financial repercussions” the company was “eager to avoid any unnecessary delays.”

As a result, 1&1 says it will file a complaint to the Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt) regarding the ‘ongoing obstacles’ it faces in the rollout of 5G, due to the actions of Vodafone and Vantage towers.

The plot thickens yet further when we consider that Vodafone is currently lobbying the Federal Network Agency to simply allocate highly valuable low-band spectrum to Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, and Telefónica, forgoing the traditional spectrum auction.

Vodafone claims that this will allow for a more efficient 5G rollout across the country, ensuring German customers receive improved coverage more quickly.

Furthermore, as part of the argument, Vodafone has questioned whether 1&1 has any need for low-band spectrum, given the undeveloped nature of its mobile network.

1&1, on the other hand, says that this delay is caused in no small part by the ‘probable obstructions’ caused by Vodafone and Vantage Towers.

Want to keep up with all of the latest German telecoms news? Join us at this year’s Connected Germany conference live in Munich

Also in the news:
AT&T signs up to use Frontier’s fibre to connect mobile towers
UScellular urges customers to put down their phones in latest initiative
VMO2 and Vodafone give rural Scotland a 4G boost

Press Release

Hewlett Packard Enterprise today announced the expansion of its connected edge-to-cloud offering with the acquisition of Athonet, a private cellular network technology provider that delivers mobile core networks to enterprises and communication service providers. Combined with the HPE telco and Aruba networking portfolios, Athonet will put HPE at the forefront of a growing market that is predicted by IDC to increase to more than $1.6 billion1 by 2026.

Based in Vicenza, Italy, Athonet has more than 15 years of experience delivering 4G and 5G mobile core solutions to customers and partners globally. Athonet is an award-winning technology pioneer with more than 450 successful customer deployments in various industries, including leading mobile operators, hospitals, airports, transportation ports, utilities, government and public safety organizations.

With enterprises facing complex connectivity challenges across large and remote sites, private 5G offers high levels of coverage, reliability and mobility across campus and industrial environments. It also augments the cost-effective, high-capacity connectivity provided by Wi-Fi. The incorporation of Athonet’s technology will allow HPE to deliver private networking capabilities directly to enterprises as part of HPE’s Aruba networking portfolio, while also enabling communications service providers (CSPs) to quickly deploy private 5G networks for their customers.

“Telco customers are looking for simpler ways to deploy private 5G networks to meet growing customer expectations at the connected edge,” said Tom Craig, global vice president and general manager, Communications Technology Group at HPE. “At the same time, enterprise customers are demanding a customized 5G experience with low-latency, segregated resources, extended range and security across campus and industrial environments that complement their existing wireless networks. With the acquisition of Athonet, HPE now has one of the most complete private 5G and Wi-Fi portfolios for CSP and enterprise customers – and we will offer it as a service through HPE GreenLake.”

HPE expands private 5G solutions for both telcos and the enterprise

HPE will integrate Athonet’s technology into its existing CSP and Aruba networking enterprise offerings to create a private networking portfolio that accelerates digital transformation from edge-to-cloud. The networking portfolio will provide the following benefits:

Enhanced private networks that combine the high capacity of Wi-Fi with the coverage and mobility of 5G

Accelerated private 5G deployments that improve agility and innovation to help telco B2B teams and enterprise customers

New enterprise revenue streams for telcos with differentiated services leveraging 5G and Wi-Fi

Alignment of costs to revenues with consumption-based models for enterprises and telcos through HPE GreenLake, reducing the risk of entering new markets

Management of operational complexity and cost efficiency with 5G orchestration and zero-touch automation to deliver new workloads from edge-to-cloud

With 5G investments running into the billions of dollars, CSPs are looking for simple ways to meet customer needs and drive new B2B revenue by deploying both edge compute and private 5G networks. The addition of Athonet’s software to HPE’s telco portfolio enhances one of the broadest communications portfolios in the market, which serves a base of more than 300 customers across 160 countries and connects more than one billion mobile devices worldwide. Building on its existing private 5G solutions, HPE’s enhanced offering for CSPs will support private 4G and 5G networks and include telco-grade orchestration and automation capabilities. These capabilities will help launch new B2B services that meet growing customer expectations for the connected edge. 

“Athonet was founded to provide customers with private 4G and 5G solutions that deliver carrier-grade reliability and performance to suit their increasing and more challenging connectivity needs,” said Gianluca Verin, CEO and co-founder of Athonet. “We are excited to join HPE and combine our highly skilled teams as we expand our joint service provider offerings for the rapidly growing private 5G market and build on HPE’s strategy to be the leading edge-to-cloud solutions provider.”

Private 5G offers enterprises new capabilities that are ultra-secure, easy to deploy and manage, ready for highly specialized applications such as robotics and industrial IoT, data networks and pipelines, and security systems facilitation. The acquisition of Athonet strengthens Aruba’s connected edge portfolio, providing the unique and highly sought-after ability to deliver fully integrated Wi-Fi and private 5G networks. Integration with Aruba Central will enable network managers to administer Wi-Fi and private 5G through a single pane of glass and bring to bear the power of AI-powered insights, workflow automation, and robust security.

HPE GreenLake, HPE’s edge-to-cloud platform, will offer Athonet private 5G offerings, combining all costs for Wi-Fi and private 5G into one single monthly subscription with no capital expenditure. Flexible consumption options, including HPE’s networking as a service, mean private 5G networks can be deployed with reduced risk, little upfront investment and scaled according to demand.

HPE portfolio integration and availability

HPE will integrate Athonet’s solutions with its existing telco software assets and plans to make them available to customers some time following the close of the transaction. HPE will also integrate the solutions with the Aruba networking portfolio in the near future. The transaction is expected to close at the beginning of the third quarter of HPE’s 2023 fiscal year, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

How will the rise of private 5G networks impact the US telecoms market? Join the experts in discussion at this year’s live Connected America conference 

Also in the news:
AT&T signs up to use Frontier’s fibre to connect mobile towers
UScellular urges customers to put down their phones in latest initiative
VMO2 and Vodafone give rural Scotland a 4G boost

Over the last three years, since the time 5G was first launched, the 5G ecosystem has continued to move from strength to strength, helping service providers grow their revenue and market share while providing innovative use uses to their users. It is for this reason that the 5G deployments have accelerated globally in all geographies, particularly in the Middle, Asia Pacific and Europe regions.

As per the latest data released by GSA in January 2023, 243 commercial 5G networks have been launched globally, while 515 service providers are investing in 5G. Further, more than 1700 5G devices have been announced across the globe. 5G users increased from 819 million in June to 924 million in September 2022 and have likely crossed one billion by December 2022, thus covering 36% of the world’s population, according to Strategy Analytics.

All this means that 5G is growing three times faster than 4G. The 5G’s growth globally is impressive, considering it was launched in 2019 and it continued its growth trajectory even during the pandemic.

Revenue Increase of 5G Global Operators Worldwide

A key reason behind the fast growth of the 5G ecosystem globally is that it is helping service providers improve their revenue and increase their users as well. While the previous technologies were about improved speed and coverage, 5G allows operators to increase their subscriber base by enabling them to provide new use cases for different industry verticals.

China and South Korea were the earlier adopters of 5G and mobile service recovery has made a “strong recovery” in both market since the launch of 5G. “From falling 4-5% per annum in mid-2019, they are now growing 3-4% per annum…Higher-value services are the cornerstone of 5G propositions in these markets and the high level of adoption of 5G is helping to amplify this effect,” says

Globally, 5G service providers in all geographies are witnessing a significant increase in their business. All 22 leading 5G operators in China, South Korea, and other countries achieved significant business growth from mobile services. Further, nearly 125 (72%) of the 173 global 5G operators have seen revenue growth from mobile services, and 5G is the crucial reason for this. According to Strategy Analytics, mobile service revenue is growing by 3-4% annually for service providers and 5G is a key factor behind this improved performance.

Similarly, Thailand’s AIS has recorded ARPU growth of 10-15% and had 5.5 million 5G subscribers in September 2022, which is around 12% of its subscribers. On the other hand, Elisa in Finland reported a revenue increase of €3 per month as a result of 5G upgrades in Q3. 5G now accounts for 33% of smartphones on its network, according to Strategy Analytics.

Business success of 5G operators

One can evaluate the success of the major 5G operators to find out how 5G is helping them grow their revenue. Take the case of China Mobile, one of the largest 5G service providers in the world with its network covering more than one billion people in China. At the end of December 2022, China Mobile had more than 1.27 million 5G base stations. Enthused by the positive response to its 5G services, the operator plans to build more than one million 5G base stations by the end of this year.

On the other hand, Telefonica is a perfect example of how 5G is helping service providers in growing revenue opportunities in both consumer and business segments. Telefonica’s focus on using smart bundling (including FMS) and network parity through its 5G services has led to cumulative revenue growth of about 5% between 2020 and 2022.

Another example is that of Zain KSA, which has seen its growth surge by eight times during the last three years after it launched Fixed Wireless Access (FWA). The service provider recorded a 30% increase in ARPU for wireless home customers compared to 4G to 5G. South Africa’s first 5G FWA operator, Rain, reached the ‘break-even’ point in just three years, highlighting the latent demand for high-speed and low-latency services powered by 5G. This helped it to deliver significantly improved benefits, up by 9.7% to touch 3.6 billion South African Rands, to its investors.

The first-mover advantage is crucial in helping service providers gain market share as is evident in the case of Zain Kuwait, which was the first operator to launch 5G services in the Middle East. 5G traffic now accounts for more than 40% of its total wireless traffic, thus helping it emerge as the number one country in GCC countries in terms of 5G offload ratio.

Several other service providers, like Elisa and DNA in Finland, HKT in Hong Kong, True and AIS in Thailand and Vodafone in Germany, among others, are in the process of expanding 5G coverage to provide new and novel use cases to their subscribers.

 In Closing

The business success of the 5G service providers clearly demonstrates that 5G is helping service providers increase market share and gain a crucial first-mover advantage while delivering superior experiences and use cases to their subscribers. This indicates that the service providers must accelerate the deployment of 5G and grow the coverage across all regions in their respective service areas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Germany’s leading trade show for fiber deployment and digitalization will take place 15-16 March at the RheinMain CongressCenter (RMCC) in Wiesbaden, near Frankfurt.

With the return to its traditional date in March, the event opens the 2023 trade show season for the German telecommunications industry. The exhibition in two halls with more than 200 national and international exhibitors includes a conference program on the most important topics for the fiber year 2023.

High profile conference program

Five panel discussions will cover all current key questions and debates regarding fiber deployment, intended to set the mood for a decisive fiber year. Panels on strategy, investments, innovation, Open Access, and cooperation will gather the CEOs of Germany’s most important telecommunications companies and political decision-makers from the federal and regional levels, to discuss upcoming developments and challenges for the fiber sector. The conference program, which will take place during both days on four stages, will be integrated in the two exhibition halls as “Open Space Forums”.

English language panel discussion

Another highlight on the first day of the Fiberdays, especially for international visitors, will be the English language panel discussion on “Copper switch-off, local markets and more – learnings from Europe for the future of German market regulation” with representatives from Deutsche Glasfaser, the French fiber association Infranum, the Dutch Fiber Carrier Association, and WIK (scientific institute for infrastructure and communications services).

200+ exhibitors

The Fiberdays show floor will span more than 10.000 square meters, covering both exhibition halls of the RMCC Wiesbaden, with more than 200 international exhibitors from the fiber and digital industries presenting their latest innovations and services.

Media Hall for the TV of the future

This year the Fiberdays “Media Hall” is already taking place the second time: In the third hall of the Fiberdays, broadcasters, network operators and media professionals will meet to discuss topics related to the television of the future. The first day, entitled the “Broadcaster Day”, offers a high-quality conference program for media and telecommunications industry professionals, whereas on day 2, the “Network Operator Day”, Media Hall organizer Christian Heinkele and his team will discuss and present television offers for telecom companies.

Website Fiberdays:  www.fiberdays.de

 

 

Mobile operator Talkmobile, which runs off Vodafone’s network as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) partner, has informed us that they’ve had a “complete revamp” of their available 4G and 5G deals. In short, some prices have been reduced, while other plans may benefit from a promotion of “3 months half price“. The simplest way […]