NEWS

The ‘Coverage Above and Beyond’ plan will see the next generation of Starlink satellites provide mobile services directly to T-Mobile customers’ smartphones

This week, a highly anticipated deal between Elon Musk’s SpaceX and T-Mobile has been announced, with the new partnership aiming to use the former’s low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation, Starlink, to plug movile coverage gaps across the USA.

The ‘Coverage Above and Beyond’ initiative will see customers gain access to Starlink internet services directly to their device for the first time, theoretically allowing them mobile coverage anywhere in the country.

Currently, SpaceX’s almost 3,000 orbiting satellites provide connectivity via ground terminals, which customers can purchase and deploy themselves. These ground stations act as an intermediary between the satellites in orbit roughly 550km above the Earth’s surface and the users’ smartphones or other devices.

However, next year SpaceX will begin launching a second-generation of satellites, equipped with new phased array antennas capable of delivering direct-to-device connectivity.

According to the partners, SpaceX’s services will be directly available on the vast majority of smartphones already on T-Mobile’s network, without the need for new handsets.

“We are constructing special antenna. […] They are actually very big antenna that are extremely advanced,” said Musk. “The important thing is you will not need to get a new phone. The phone you currently have will work.”

The Starlink satellites will use T-Mobile’s mid-band spectrum to deliver high-speed connectivity.

According to T-Mobile, there are currently around 500,000 square kilometres of the US that remains unreached by terrestrial mobile connectivity, all of which could be covered as part of the new deal.

“It is about solving the biggest pain point in the over-40-year history of our industry,” said T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert. “This partnership has a vision that is the end of mobile dead zones”.

While initially penned to cover the US, in future the partners plan to expand this connectivity initiative worldwide, with T-Mobile offering reciprocal roaming to providers that take part in the scheme.

“The important thing about this is that there will be no dead zones for your phone anywhere in the world,” said Musk, who noted that truly ubiquitous global coverage would save lives, allowing people to call for help if needed no matter where they are in the world – provided they are outside, of course.

A beta service from the satellites will be available before the end of 2023 in selected areas, with services initially set to be limited to texting and messaging. Voice and data capabilities will be added at a later date.

While SpaceX’s Starlink is currently the largest LEO constellation in the world – and will presumably remain so, if Musk’s plans to ultimately launch up to 42,000 satellites come to pass – it should be remembered that it is not the only satellite company in the US planning direct-to-device connectivity. In fact, AT&T has been working with AST SpaceMobile since at least 2019, with the duo announcing earlier this year that they will soon test transmissions from regular smartphones to SpaceMobile’s new satellite using AT&T spectrum.

AST SpaceMobile already has a similar Memorandum of Understanding with Telefonica.

Starlink will also have to contend with OneWeb’s growing LEO constellation and ultimately the large-scale launch of Amazon’s Project Kuiper, though dates for the latter’s initial launches have yet to be confirmed.

But despite growing competition, this deal represents a major win for SpaceX at a time when its Starlink constellation needs it most. SpaceX was recently denied $885.5 million in government subsidies to rollout broadband in rural areas, with the Federal Communications Commission saying the company had failed to demonstrate that they could achieve the speeds they promised to deliver in their application.

 

The post T-Mobile taps SpaceX to plug coverage gaps with satellite connectivity first appeared on Total Telecom.

The UK Government (DCMS) has today published their response to a number of recommendations made by last year’s National Infrastructure Commission‘s (NIC) report into Infrastructure, Towns and Regeneration (here), which called for better mobile coverage data, a clearer gigabit broadband plan and more effort to boost take-up. Just to recap. The £5bn Project Gigabit programme […]

The boss of SpaceX, Elon Musk, has confirmed that their Low Earth Orbit (LEO) based Starlink satellites, which normally deliver ultrafast broadband around the world, will soon also enable 4G and 5G based mobile phones to connect directly with their mega constellation. The pledge.. “No More Cell Phone Dead Zones“. In listening to Musk’s announcement, […]

Owners of UK ISP BT’s latest TV set-top-box hardware (TV Box Pro) for their broadband-based Pay TV (IPTV) service may be pleased to learn that they’ve added a new “internet mode“, which enables you to access TV shows, browse channels and apps all in one place, without the need for a TV aerial. BT also […]

Rural focused UK ISP Gigaclear, which is working to build their 1Gbps full fibre (FTTP) network across remote parts of England, will today launch a “Bank Holiday Special” offer that discounts the price of their unlimited 400Mbps (symmetric speed) broadband service to just £20 for the first 18 months of service (£49 thereafter). The provider, […]

A recent study by Ookla, which runs the popular Speedtest.net service for benchmarking global internet connection performance, has revealed which of the top big “vacation” cities and towns in the UK and Europe deliver the fastest mobile broadband speeds (4G and 5G). London comes mid-table with a median download of 69.02Mbps. The organisation divided the […]

Rural broadband ISP Gigaclear has announced that 3,000 homes and businesses in the market town and civil parish of Brackley in West Northamptonshire (England) will be the next to benefit from their rollout of a new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network. Locals will soon be able to access speeds of up to 900Mbps. The move makes […]

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In the memo sent to all Huawei staff, Ren Zhengfei said the company must focus on profit over scale and discard “overly optimistic” expectations

With a global recession looming, this week has seen employees of Chinese vendor giant Huawei issued a stark warning from the company’s founder and chairman, Ren Zhengfei.

In a leaked memo delivered to all the company’s 195,000 staff members, Ren was gloomy about the future of the global economy, telling employees that there was a “very painful” decade ahead, citing the long-term effects of the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and US sanctions on Huawei.

“Huawei must reduce any overly optimistic expectations for the future and until 2023 or even 2025,” he said in the memo. “We must make survival the most important guideline, and not only to survive but survive with quality”.

Ren said that the company must adapt to these new conditions by refocussing on cash flow and profit, rather than simply growing sales revenue.

“Take surviving as the main program, shrink and close all marginal businesses, and pass the chill to everyone,” Ren said. “The entire company’s business policy should shift from the pursuit of scale to the pursuit of profit and cash flow.”

As part of this process, Ren indicated that the company could seek to downsize in overseas markets and reduce spending on R&D in areas not delivering immediate profit, such as electric vehicles.

In fact, Huawei has already begun streamlining its workforce, having already cut roughly 2,000 jobs in 2021, largely due to US sanctions shrinking the company’s annual revenue by over a third. Now, sources are suggesting that the company is preparing to cut 4,000–5,000 additional middle manager jobs.

It appears to be no coincidence that Ren’s memo should come shortly after the Huawei’s H1 financial results, which were quietly announced earlier this month. While the company’s decline in revenues had slowed since Q1, the company still reported their overall revenues as down 5.9% year-on-year, reaching roughly $44.7 billion.

This ongoing slump in revenue is largely attributed to the continued decline of Huawei’s handset business – the business unit worst hit by US sanctions – where sales shrunk by around a quarter compared to 2021.

However, the revenue reduction was also offset somewhat by the company’s carrier and enterprise software units, which continue to grow at a healthy pace.

“While our device business was heavily impacted, our ICT infrastructure business maintained steady growth,” said Ken Hu, Huawei’s rotating chairman at the results announcement. “Moving forward, we will harness trends in digitalization and decarbonization to keep creating value for our customers and partners, and secure quality development.”

“Our strategy for operations in 2022 revolves around surviving and doing so sustainably,” Hu noted.

 

The post Feeling the chill: Huawei founder tells employees to focus on “survival” first appeared on Total Telecom.

Network operator and UK ISP toob, which is building a new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across parts of Hampshire and Surrey in England, has today added two new towns to their rollout plan – Yateley and Blackwater. The provider, which is being supported by an investment of £162.5m from the Amber Infrastructure Group and […]

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Wholesale connectivity provider, Netomnia, has announced further growth plans for its full fibre network in Avon and North Wales.

In a series of news releases the company, who builds infrastructure to enable ISP’s to provide their broadband services, has revealed an initial investment of £47.7 million in Bristol and up to £12 million in Wrexam and the surrounding area.

In Bristol Netomnia is targeting 159,000 premises starting in the suburb of Downend before extending into the communities of Kingswood and Filton, whilst in Wrexam 40,000 premises are targeted via a partnership with GForce.

Wrexham, which will receive city status on 1st September 2022 as part of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, is Netomnia’s third location in Wales, following on from 29,000 premises in Barry and 55,000 premises in Bridgend.

CEO, Jeremy Chelot, said “Marking our third location in Wales, we know that our network will provide real benefits to the area for generations to come and we look forward to continuing our expansion across the UK.”

The group, YouFibre and Netomnia, have secured £418 million in funding since 2020. The majority – £295 million – has been raised via a funding round led by DigitalBridge Investment Management (DigitalBridge). Earlier this year, DigitalBridge principal Manjari Govada said of “We have been highly impressed with the growth of the business and the best-in-class team he [Jeremy Chelot] has assembled.”

Jeremy Chelot will join a panel discussion on building future-ready 5G and advanced FTTH networks in the UK at Connected Britain on the 20 September. To secure your seat visit the website totaltele.com/connectedbritain

The post Go West, young man – Netomnia announces growth plans first appeared on Total Telecom.