Category: 5G and Beyond


Nokia wins Norwegian contract

Norwegian operator Telenor has awarded Finnish manufacturer Nokia a global frame agreement for its cellular networks. Under the agreement, Nokia will supply Telenor with Nokia Hopper microwave radios to be used for transmission from both base stations and fixed applications when new sites are deployed, or an increase in capacity is needed. The agreement covers […]

Google launches free wi-fi service

Internet giant Google launched a freely accessible wi-fi network in its hometown of Mountain View Wednesday. Radios hanging on lampposts throughout the city are now broadcasting an 802.11b/g signal that it publicly accessible by any residents, businesses and visitors within the area of coverage. Google states the network “is a way for us to give […]

Pipex trumpets WiMAX success

UK wireless broadband licensee, Pipex Wireless, said Wednesday it is on track to roll out commercial services in 2007, following successful testing of WiMAX technology. Pipex Wireless, a joint venture between the Pipex ISP and Intel, recently completed the latest phase of its 3.6GHz WiMAX trial in Stratford-upon-Avon, UK, in partnership with kit supplier Airspan […]

Revision C framework coming together

Technical standards authority, the 3GPP2, said Wednesday it has completed a Technology Evolution Framework (TEF) outlining the evolution of cdma2000 beyond 2010 with regards to end to end system capabilities. The framework is based on projected advances in wireless and networking technologies over the next decade, including the evolution of mobile devices, improvements in the […]

Ericsson scores big ticket deals in China

Swedish equipment vendor Ericsson said Monday it has won over $550m (£291m) worth of GSM contracts with leading Chinese cellco, China Mobile. The contracts, which cover expansion projects in 17 regions, have been agreed throughout the first half of the year and deliveries are already underway. Under the contracts, Ericsson will provide China Mobile with […]

IPWireless disappointed by Sprint decision

Sprint Nextel’s decision to run with 802.16e WiMAX for its mobile broadband offering comes as a major blow to the proponents of rival technologies. One vendor which has expressed its disappointment at the decision is IPWireless, the UMTS TDD specialist which at one point looked like it was in the running for the deal. Sprint […]

Sprint bets $3bn on mobile WiMAX

US carrier Sprint Nextel Tuesday confirmed plans to develop and deploy a mobile WiMAX IEEE 802.16e network in the 2.5GHz band. Sprint has signed up Intel, Motorola and Samsung to develop a nationwide network infrastructure as well as mobile WiMAX-enabled chipsets for consumer electronics. Gary Forsee, president and chief executive of Sprint Nextel said the […]

Telstra scraps fibre network plan

Australia’s incumbent carrier Telstra, is reported to have abandoned its A$4bn (£1.6bn) fibre network after a dispute with the competition regulator. The state run operator scrapped the project after reportedly failing to reach an agreement on how much it would charge rivals to access the high speed network. With the Australian government putting increasing pressure […]

Worldwide shipments of PDAs reached a record 3.7 million units during the second quarter, up 2.7 per cent from the same period a year ago, according to industry analyst Gartner.

Swedish vendor Ericsson on Monday laid claim to being the first vendor to complete WCDMA/UMTS 3G calls on all nine 3GPP-defined frequency bands. Initially deployed on the 2100MHz band, vendors and operators are increasingly looking at deploying WCDMA and HSDPA on frequency bands typically used for 2G technologies such as GSM. Using its U310 and […]

FLO wins TIA approval

MediaFLO USA, a division of US chipshop Qualcomm, announced that its Forward Link Only (FLO) mobile TV technology has won approval from the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA). The TIA has granted official approval for the FLO Air Interface Specification (AIS) in a move which is expected to accelerate the standardisation and delivery of MediaFLO-based services. […]

Nortel to sell out of GSM business?

Beleaguered Canadian vendor Nortel Networks is reportedly planning to hive off its GSM business for up to $1.9bn (£1bn) and Alcatel is in the picture as the buyer. Nortel is not a strong player in the GSM infrastructure market in comparison to Ericsson and Nokia, and the vendor has so far been left out of […]

Xfera strikes network deal

Xfera, the fourth Spanish mobile licensee, which has managed to avoid rolling out 3G infrastructure since it was awarded its license in 2000, has finally put the wheels in motion to deploy a network. The company, which has been a subsidiary of TeliaSonera since June, has reached an agreement with Ericsson for the supply of […]

Nortel may spin off UMTS business

Industry analysts are speculating that Canadian vendor Nortel may be planning to spin off its UMTS business following rumours of organisational changes within the company. Nikos Theodosopoulos, analyst with investment bank UBS, said that he has received information which suggests that Nortel has organisationally separated the GSM and UMTS access businesses, “a move that may […]

Huawei says “hello Moto” over 3G partnership

Motorola and Chinese vendor Huawei are the latest manufacturers to form a partnership for equipment deployment. On Wednesday the pair announced a collaboration to combine their expertise and portfolios in UMTS and HSPA technologies. The move has something of an “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” feel about it, as Huawei has been eating […]

BT ups 21CN trials

UK incumbent British Telecom (BT) Wednesday said that trials on its 21st Century Network (21CN) have been ratcheted up, with the next generation network now handling more than 625,000 live customer calls every day. In the latest trial stage of the 21CN, the network has carried more than 23 million customer calls successfully over an […]

ntl:Telewest launches quad play service in UK

British consumers get their first ‘quad play’ offering Tuesday as newly merged ntl:Telewest today announced a new range of services combining TV, broadband, fixed line and mobile telephony. As a sweetener, the firm said it will offer free TV to any new fixed line phone customer. Since its acquisition of Virgin, talk has been of […]

Standard Life votes against Sarin

As predicted, Standard Life Investments has voted against the re-election of Vodafone chief executive, Arun Sarin, at a shareholder meeting on Tuesday. The company has a stake of about 1.7 per cent in Vodafone and joins Hermes Pensions Management and Morley Fund Management who have been widely reported as voting against Sarin’s reappointment at the […]

Moto tapped for Japan WiMAX trial

Motorola today said it has been contracted by Japanese wireless operator Softbank for the deployment of a trial WiMAX 802.16e network in Tokyo. Motorola is supplying an end to end network including five access points and 25 prototype WiMAX-enabled mobile handheld devices. Expected to begin in September, the five-month trial will focus on analysing the […]

O2 to deploy Voip

Mobile operator O2 today said it has extended its supply and development contract with US vendor Lucent Technologies on the Isle of Man, where it operates as Manx Telecom. Under the agreement Lucent will supply Manx Telecom with additional elements of its IMS solution to support advanced multimedia services. Lucent also will increase the capacity […]

US spawns half of child abuse content

Half of all child abuse content online comes from the US, according to the UK-based Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) on Thursday. The IWF said it found nearly 2,500 American sites containing illegal images and that it received a total of 14,313 reports of potentially illegal content during the first six months of 2006. The figure […]