VIEWPOINT

Empowering service providers with solutions to enhance 5G network performance and user experience while boosting energy efficiency were the key themes of the media roundtable led by Yang Chaobin, President of ICT Products and Solutions, President of Wireless Solution, Huawei, at the ongoing Huawei MBBF 2022.

There is a growing network complexity now as the service providers manage several networks, including 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G networks, at the same time. Further concurrent running of all the networks means that the power consumption is high. “It is advisable to phase out 2G and 3G networks, as several operators across the globe have started to do. This will help reduce power consumption. Further, all spectrum bands should evolve to 5G to enhance the efficiency of the spectrum,” says Yang Chaobin during the session with global media.

Even so, there is a need to adopt solutions that simplify network management as several technologies will continue to co-exist for a long time. Ensuring superior network performance while bringing down power consumption is the need of the hour. This is critical as the telecom industry is under pressure from regulatory authorities as well as industry bodies to bring down carbon emissions and adopt sustainable practices.

Solutions to help service providers boost energy efficiency 

Over the last few years, Huawei has introduced several products and solutions to help service providers boost the energy efficiency of their networks. MetaAAU is one such solution that is helping carriers to improve coverage while improving energy efficiency.

“MetaAAU’s Extremely Large Antenna Array (ELAA) allows service providers to provide a superior network experience even as they are able to bring down energy consumption. Compared with traditional AAU, the power consumption is reduced by 30% in MetaAAU. It also helps in improving the area coverage,” explained Yang Chaobin. MetaAAU was introduced earlier this year and is already being used in 60 networks across the world and has touched 100,000 shipments.

He revealed that Huawei is working with several European telcos, who are witnessing a dramatic rise in operational expenditure because of increasing power costs, to phase out the use of air conditioners at the site.

Another challenge being faced by the telcos in 5G is that it involves the use of spectrum from several frequency bands. The challenges in 5G are more daunting, compared with 2G, 3G and 4G, because there are more spectrum bands and also because several technologies are co-existing, leading to an increase in power consumption. 5G uses both FDD and TDD spectrum to achieve continuous coverage. Huawei’s BladeAAU allows service providers to use spectrum from different frequency bands by integrating key antenna and filter technologies.

“Our Blade AAU supports various combinations of Massive MIMO and antennas, including TDD Massive MIMO and FDD Massive MIMO, thus helping service providers to simplify operations and reduce operational and power expenditure,” says Yang Chaobin.

He also spoke about FDD ultra-wideband multi-antenna, which allows dynamic power sharing across all modes, improves user experience by 30% and helps bring down power consumption by 30%. These include the true triple-band RRU, which supports the widest bands in the industry. In addition, it is the industry’s only commercial FDD Massive MIMO product and its only green Hertz antenna.

Need to evolve to address changing market requirements

He also highlighted the growing need for networks to evolve as the requirements from 5G networks are vastly different from the previous technologies. Each band comes with its own features and specifications.

“The spectrum for 5G is fragmented and from several frequency bands and the carriers need to use them together to deliver on the promise of innovative use cases. The 5G use cases are diverse and very different from the use cases of the previous technologies. For instance, enterprises from different business verticals will use 5G for different use cases, while on the other hand, the bandwidth consumed by consumers will increase significantly. All this means that the networks need to evolve quickly to address the market requirements.”

Yang Chaobin also called upon the regulatory authorities of different countries to reserve the 6GHz spectrum for mobile operators because it will help the countries maximize the socio-economic benefits of 5G.

 

The post Enabling carriers to boost user experience while improving energy efficiency first appeared on Total Telecom.

PRESS RELEASE

[Bangkok, Thailand, October 26, 2022] Today, Operations Transformation Forum 2022 kicked off in Bangkok, Thailand, bringing together global communications service providers (CSPs) and industry partners. Themed “Toward Digital Operations Transformation 2.0, Further Unleash Transformation Value,” the forum explored how CSPs could seize new opportunities of digital economy through digital transformation, gain momentum for data-driven growth, and find new growth engines through digital transformation of the ToB market.

At the forum, TM Forum called for the formulation of the Digital Operation Transformation (DOTF) maturity evaluation standards from different dimensions: transformation strategy, value criteria, process optimization, data & platform, and organization & people. Leading CSPs shared their best practices and experience of digital transformation. Huawei, together with CSPs, industry organizations and analyst firms, initiated the OTF Executive Council to encourage discussions on new values, scenarios, and standards of transformation and further unleash the digital transformation.

By 2030, the Dataflow of Usage (DOU) will reach 600 Gbit/s, and the 10GE home broadband penetration rate will reach 23%. Digital transformation is going to reshape the B2B market and bring human-machine collaboration to the production workforce. The rapid development of the digital economy will bring rapid growth, which will further increase CSPs’ business and network complexity. How do we cope with these impending challenges? Huawei will help CSPs upgrade the industry through business upgrade, operation upgrade, and standard upgrade. Business upgrade offers new experience, new scenarios, and new customer values through the connection plus X mode based on carriers’ secure & native connection capabilities. Operation upgrade with human-machine collaboration enables intelligent O&M. Standard upgrade defines a set of recognized maturity standards to effectively measure value, identify gaps, and develop goals and methods for digital operations.

Jacky Zhou, President of Huawei Services & Software Solution & Marketing Dept. launched Digital Operations Transformation DigiVerse 2.0, which has four improvements. First, the transformation from clean data to smart data unleashes the potential value of data. Second, upholding the principles of core asset security and application efficiency, CSPs can build a cloud-based target network architecture. Third, from a single scenario to cross-scenario collaboration, business & network synergy across scenarios brings high-quality service development, while coordination between experience, operations and optimization enables closed-loop experience operations across scenarios. Finally, digital transformation extending from ToC and ToH markets to ToB industries drives new revenue growth.

CSPs can carry out digital transformation through digital infrastructure, digital and intelligent operations, digital services. Combining CBA model (Customers, Business, and Architecture) with ABC model (AI, Big Data, and Cloud Platform), digital transformation can be driven not only by technologies but also by business. This results in a transformation from single scenario to multiple scenarios which will provide more value to CSPs and further unleash the potential of digital transformation. Jacky emphasized that the value of digital transformation should be considered from the perspectives of capability, service, and business values. Capability value, the root of a tree, shows CSPs’ ability to seize business opportunities in the future. Service value, the stem of a tree, aims at service or process KPIs such as quality, efficiency, and product competitiveness. Business value, fruits of a tree, determines ultimate business success of digital transformation. At the conference, Huawei released the Transformation Value Model Tree (TVM) to help CSPs evaluate the transformation and take account of both the short-term and long-term benefits.

Jacky Zhou, President of Huawei Services & Software Solution & Marketing Dept

Up to now, Huawei has officially launched seven regional smart operation centers in Asia Pacific, Middle East, South Africa, North Africa, Latin America, Europe, and China, which provide enablement, adoption, and advisory services to achieving the transformation value with our customers together. Huawei has been working with CSPs to form an integrated joint team to further unleash transformation value.

The post Toward Digital Operations Transformation 2.0, Further Unleash Transformation Value first appeared on Total Telecom.

News

Dutch-based operator has confirmed that it’s seeking a buyer for its Russian business

The multinational operator, headquartered in Amsterdam, released a statement yesterday, confirming that it is initiating a competitive sales process for its Russian business, with its management “currently exploring options in an effort to ensure that an optimal outcome is achieved for all relevant stakeholders, including Veon, its Russian operations, its shareholders, its creditors, its customers and its employees working both in and outside of Russia.”

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has placed VEON in a particularly difficult position, as it operates in both countries. The international response to the war, particularly the implementation of economic and individual sanctions by the US and its allies against Russia, has made doing business in the country particularly fraught for western based companies. Nokia and Ericsson have both left the Russian market, and with Mikhail Fridman, who set up the LetterOne investment firm which owns nearly half of VEON’s shares, being targeted by sanctions, VEON’s move is not surprising.

While Russia is by far VEON’s biggest market, accounting for around 50% of its revenues, the war and the sanctions imposed on Russia in response have made the company’s position within Russia increasingly untenable. While it seems highly unlikely that a western company will look to buy, and there is indeed no guarantee that a buyer will be found, it will be interesting to see who, if anyone emerges as the owner after the sales process.

 

The post VEON seeking buyer for Russian operations first appeared on Total Telecom.

Interview

We spoke to Three UK’s Core Network Director, Hrvoje Jerkovic, about the makings of a modern telco and the impact of disruptive new technologies in the telecoms industry

Can you tell us about your role at Three UK?

Currently I am working as Core Network Director in Three UK. Within my role I work with my team on a design, testing and delivery of all core network and services projects and deliverables.

This is an engaging and challenging role yet gives me the opportunity to bring innovative products to our users and customers. What can be more inspiring than seeing your project go live and be used.  Especially, when the team of experts have knowledge and experience to create and deliver planned objectives.

My team is driven by innovation and by providing inclusive environment. Having access to opportunities and resources motivates them to deliver our goals.

What does it mean to be a modern telco according to Three UK? 

It means that we are providing the best available service for each of our customers, which drives us to be as innovative as we possibly can. Whether this is pure connectivity or any services on top of it, that’s what a modern telco is. But to achieve this level, it is crucial to deploy modern, state of the art and reliable technologies. At Three UK we have a fully virtualised and geographically distributed core n with all the services included. This approach provides numerous benefits including easy to scale upgrades, moving traffic closer to the customer to reduce latency and higher levels of redundancy. At the centre of modern telecoms is the user’s future needs, which should be anticipated and enabled in advance.

As the Core Network Director for Three UK what is the most prominent challenge you face?

There are several technological disruptors. Migration to the pure cloud with cloud-native functions is going to be challenging. Especially for legacy functions, which are still and will be needed for providing services. Operating that cloud with all the upgrades and changes in the network will require more and more automation, which still needs a lot of control. And then we come to AI. It is inevitable that AI will be a key component of each technology in the near (should I say today) future. It will be, for sure, a differentiator not only to control and reduce operating costs but also to provide competitive advantage for the operators that aim to be the leaders in their markets.

You recently took part on a panel session at Total Telecom Congress on the topic of XaaS and exploring cloud-based products and services. To your mind, what is the key opportunity for telcos to tap into the XaaS?

From a technology point of view there is huge debate if off prem hyperscale based public cloud is the right way to go. There are many pros and cons. We must consider the need to evaluate it on a function-by-function model. Certain functions require extremely low latency and migrating them from on prem to off prem solutions might have an impact. On the other hand, cloud infra is hyperscaler’s core business and it will be difficult to build capabilities that are comparable with hyperscalers. Energy prices as a significant part of OPEX should be addressed as well, and in today’s business it cannot be excluded. Chipset shortage, hardware delivery times should also be looked at as a significant impact. And we shouldn’t forget the regulatory conditions which need to be accomplished before any migration happens.

What were you most excited to discuss at Total Telecom Congress?

Seeing some interesting deployment experiences was great. But seeing plans and roadmaps in the telco industry, from both operators, and vendors even more so. After the covid period, meeting in person, discussing and sharing thoughts, insights and trends was a real delight.

The post AI, Automation, and building a modern core network first appeared on Total Telecom.

The latest Q2 FY23 results to September 2022 have today been released by the BT Group, which saw the coverage of Openreach’s Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network reach 8.76 million premises (up by 805k in the quarter vs 763k last quarter). Meanwhile, EE’s 5G customers topped 8.157 million (up from 7.74m). Easily the biggest news […]

Interview

Antonella Faniuolo, Head of Network Planning, Demand, Delivery and Transformation at Vodafone shares her insights into Vodafone’s transformation story from Telco to TechCo.

Can you tell us about your role at Vodafone?  

I lead Vodafone’s Network Planning, Demand, Delivery & Transformation team at a European level. We are responsible for translating Vodafone’s overall network strategy into actionable market plans to meet our commercial ambition across 12 European markets. In short, we look at the big picture and make sure that can be delivered at network level. 

What does it mean to be a modern telco according to Vodafone?  

At Vodafone we are currently undergoing a transformation to diversify from our traditional position as purely a telco and transform into a Tech Comms company. At the heart of that strategy, we are bringing teams and markets together to create One Technology team to better enable us to leverage our geographical scale. We are also investing in technologies beyond what would be considered the norm for the telecoms industry. 

For Vodafone, a modern telco is one that retains the connectivity proposition at the core of the business but offers a range of products and services above and beyond while operating with the agility and borderless mindset of a technology company. The objective is to offer value to our customers beyond what we traditionally offer. 

As the Head of Network Planning, Demand, Delivery & Transformation for Europe. What is the main challenge you face right now?  

We are transitioning to a new way of working that is build once and deploy many. Digital transformation programmes like this do not happen overnight; telecoms operators are complex organisations. This programme will have huge benefits for the business, leveraging our scale across multiple European markets and removing duplication of effort. As well as organisational, this is a cultural transformation, which is challenging, but hugely rewarding, allowing us to fully leverage our international pool of talent. 

You joined a panel at Total Telecom Congress on Open RAN and the future of 5G. From your perspective, what key challenges still need to be addressed for telcos to make the most Open RAN? 

At Vodafone, we view OpenRAN as a catalyst for change. We are asking our team to think differently as to how you build and manage networks, but also addressing common challenges. And by building a network with interoperability embedded at the foundation, we are creating the opportunity to work with new suppliers that may not be in the traditional telecoms ecosystem. These programmes are supported in parallel by two R&D labs opened over the last twelve months in Newbury and Malaga. 

The integration of these new companies, and adapting to new ways of working is incredibly challenging, but also perhaps the most exciting element of OpenRAN.  Bringing in new people, new ideas and more innovation can only be beneficial to the telecoms industry. 

Another significant challenge for OpenRAN is incentivising this nascent ecosystem. At Vodafone, we have made a commitment to transform 30% of mobile sites across Europe to OpenRAN technology by 2030. 

This is a significant commitment by Vodafone, and we look forward to seeing others in the industry make similar plans. The growth and maturity of the OpenRAN ecosystem will accelerate when there is incentive. A commitment of 30% of our European network provides a commercial target for OpenRAN companies to invest in themselves and to attract external investment in their operations.  

If others in the industry can provide the same incentive, the OpenRAN industry will go from strength to strength. 

Why do you attend events like Total Telecom Congress?  

After a few years of very limited in person events – I’m still really enjoying the opportunity to get out and meet old and new colleagues from across the industry. It really is the best way to get a sense of new developments in the sector.  

Total Telecom Congress took place in London this week. Next year’s edition will be moving to Amsterdam and will be held on 21st and 22nd November. Keep up to date with what’s happening via the event website.

The post How can Open RAN be a catalyst for change? first appeared on Total Telecom.

Press release

GBI diversifies North Route through Iraq, enhancing Smart Network to provide lower latency and support greater services

Global cloud, connectivity and content enabler Gulf Bridge International (GBI) has this week announced an update to the North Route of its subsea cable meshed Smart Network, improving route diversification and enhancing the resilience of internet connectivity to and from the region. 

The North Route, which now also connects the Gulf to Europe through Iraq, will leverage a wider range of terrestrial networks established by GBI and its partners. By circumventing the Arab peninsula completely, it shortens latency significantly – with latency between Europe and the Gulf data centres reduced by 40ms. Furthermore, adding diversification to existing North Route paths through Iran provides redundancy which means users remain connected in the case of outage. This is vital in ensuring the continuation of mission-critical operations.   

The enhancing of the North Route increases the overall resilience of GBI’s Smart Network. This also includes the South Route, which connects the Gulf to Europe via the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean.  

The move is a welcome development for telecommunications, cloud, gaming, and internet service providers (ISPs) in the Gulf region as data demands on data cables reach an all-time high with mission-critical applications require expanding bandwidth, and new low latency-dependent technologies such as 5G, IoT and AI move into the mainstream. It will also help the region prepare to meet the surge in internet traffic anticipated around the World Cup 2022 in Qatar which will kick-off in November.  

Commenting on the announcement, Brendan Press, CCO of GBI, said: “It’s an adage old as time: don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Companies must shift away from over-reliance on the same cable routes as that can produce bottlenecks and potential outages. They must work with providers that can provide diversification and, therefore, assurance that connectivity will always be available whatever the situation.   

“By diversifying our North Route so that it now also passes through Iraq, we are providing that assurance. When you consider that we also have our South Route that runs through Egypt, we can confidently say our Smart Network is playing a critical role in keeping the world connected and is helping to propel the region into a global connectivity hub.” 

To keep up to date with the latest developments from the global subsea cable market, join us in London for Submarine Networks EMEA 2023 on 31st May and 1st June.

The post Gulf Bridge International diversifies North Route through Iraq first appeared on Total Telecom.

INTERVIEW

We recently had the pleasure of catching up with Jubin Molai, LoRaWAN Ambassador Germany, LoRa Alliance & Product Manager IoT, UPLINK Network ahead of our upcoming event Connected Germany which is being held in Mainz on December 6-7 2022.

1. Can you introduce yourself and your role?

My name is Jubin and I am an enthusiast about a new connectivity standard which will be as ubiquitous in a few years as Bluethooth or WiFi is nowadays. It´s called LoRaWAN.

As the LoRaWAN Ambassador of Germany, my intention is to make LoRaWAN accessible for everyone or in fact “every thing” – since we are moving into the Internet of Things through LoRaWAN – in an easy and quick way. You can imagine that LoRaWAN is giving a voice to objects which otherwise won´t be heard. For example, a garbage can that tells you how full it is. Those objects or things will become online and form a new Internet, the Internet of Things or “IoT” in short.

2. What projects have the LoRa Alliance been working on within Germany?

The projects of the LoRa Alliance are actually the ones carried out by its members, but also non-members who use LoRaWAN as the “backbone-connectivity” in their IoT projects. Therefore, the LoRa Alliance and LoRaWAN are in a mutual relation.

LoRaWAN is the abbreviation of Long Range Wide Area Network and is a low power wireless network protocol that is supported by the LoRa Alliance which is an open, non-profit association of device makers, solution providers, system integrators and network operators, delivering interoperability needed to scale IoT across the globe.

There are many LoRaWAN projects already implemented in Germany; for instance within Smart City initiatives  like the monitoring of fill levels of garbage cans or containers or the monitoring of public parking lots. Also, enterprises are interested in IoT solutions such as asset tracking which is becoming highly cost-efficient through LoRaWAN.

Nevertheless, most LoRaWAN-projects in Germany are still in a Proof-of-Concept phase and literally waiting to move forward and to scale. One of the reasons why scalability of those projects wasn’t possible in the past is reliable, redundant and nationwide LoRaWAN coverage. Luckily, this problem has been solved today through the decentralization of LoRaWAN infrastructure.

3. What have been the biggest innovations within enterprise connectivity in the German market over the last 12 months?

Most probably, the biggest innovation and most disruptive way to provide enterprise connectivity, and LoRaWAN connectivity in particular, was the introduction of a blockchain which runs on a new consensus protocol with an innovative proof, called Proof-of-Coverage, and which is less energy hungry as compared to other consensus protocols or blockchains.

It´ s the Helium blockchain which injects decentralization into an industry currently controlled by monopolies. The result is that wireless network coverage via LoRaWAN becomes a commodity, fueled by competition, available anywhere in the world, at a fraction of current costs. Nowadays, Helium is not only the first decentralized wireless network of its kind but also the largest wireless network ever built.

4.What are you most looking forward to at Connected Germany?

I am looking forward to open discussions and inspirational talks with like minded people, because I think the name of the event should be the intention of every participant as well: Connecting Germany. In my view, for a connected Germany, we should cooperate on the infrastructure level of connectivity and can compete on the use case level. Therefore, enabling connectivity through decentralization seems to be an effective way to build telecommunication networks of the future, which we all can take part in.

You can hear from Jubin and the rest of our amazing speaker line-up at this year’s Connected Germany – follow the link to secure your place!

The post Making LoRaWAN accessible for “every thing” first appeared on Total Telecom.

Business ISP Commsworld has provided UK alternative network provider FullFibre Limited with a capacity boost for their FTTP broadband rollout in Derbyshire by deploying a “100GB” (we think they mean 100Gb) connection between the Derby Exchange and Telehouse North Two (data centre) in London. FullFibre Limited, which is being backed by investment from Basalt, is […]

London-focused broadband ISP CommunityFibre (CF), which has already covered 675,000 premises with their 3Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network (aiming for 2.2 million by the end of 2024), has launched an early ‘Black Friday’ sale that reduces their 200Mbps and 500Mbps (symmetric) plans to half-price for 12-months. New customers can expect to receive a free installation […]