Insight

Since that first summer in 2019, 5G has become the fastest-growing mobile communications technology in the world. According to David Wang, Executive Director of the Board and Chairman of the ICT Infrastructure Managing Board at Huawei, speaking on stage at Day 0, there are currently around 320 5G network services worldwide, covering around 1.8 billion users. This is three times the growth rate of 4g in the same time period.

Alongside mobile subscriptions, 5G has proved revolutionary for fixed wireless access (FWA), with over half the world’s 5G network operators now offering commercial 5G FWA services. Now, this year, 5G is set to evolve yet again, with 3GPP’s Release-18 – featuring the first standardised version of 5G Advanced – being finalised on the 18 June.

5G Advanced, said Wang, represents a major opportunity for operators worldwide, promising to deliver considerable opportunities for monetization and revenue generation.

5G Advanced: New business opportunities in toC (consumer), toH (home) and toB (business)

To Consumer:

One challenge in the consumer sector is that there has been a sharp slowdown in traffic growth.

1. The user penetration rate of 5G packages reached 80% by the end of 2023. In the future, traffic growth due to 5G user migration will not be as great.
2. The OTT bit rate is continually reduced. Wang gives the example of OTT whose bit rate in 2023 was reduced by 27% on 2022.
3. The average time mobile users spend on their devices is thought to have peaked, and now flatlined at around 160 hours per month.

Firstly, there will be a shift from user-generated content (UGC) to AI-generated content (AIGC), meaning the amount of content produced will rapidly grow. For context, AI has produced 15 billion images in 18 months, more than the total number of photos taken by humans since photography began. That’s just since the start of 2023!

Secondly, AI will enable device interaction in multiple forms (such as voice, touch, and video), which is expected to extend consumer interaction time, up from the current average of 5.3 hours per day that the average person spends on their phone.

Finally, there will be an increase in AI mobile phones and AI wearable devices, which are expected to become ubiquitous. 5G Advanced will be needed to meet the requirements of these higher-rate and larger-capacity devices. The proportion of these device shipments is expected to increase from 11% in 2024 to 90% in 2030.

To Home:

5G Advanced will allow FWA customers to have a fibre-like experience, increasing making 5G a mainstream choice when it comes to home broadband technologies.

In the era of 4G, the average data rate of FWA was around 20 Mbps – enough to be a supplementary choice for the home broadband market.

“Three years after the commercial use of 4G networks, just 30% of 4G operators released FWA services  Now, three years into the 5G era, around 50% of 5G operators have put the FWA service into commercial use,” said Wang. “In the 5G Advanced era, we predict that 70% of 5G operators will commercialise FWA services by 2026. FWA is changing from a supplementary choice of home broadband to a mainstream choice.”

To Business:

One example is in the IoT (Internet of Things) market. 5G IoT deployment has faced two large challenges: that the terminals are expensive and difficult to expand, and the solution relies on an active power supply and is not applicable to high-density deployment scenarios.

5G Advanced will help solve both of these problems through its RedCap and Passive-IoT technologies:

– RedCap: the device price of RedCap is more than 60% lower than that of 5G NR, which can promote the rapid increase of connections in high-value scenarios such as video connections.

– Passive-IoT: Passive-IoT provides 10 times more coverage  than the RFID technology. The cost of labeling can therefore remain within one yuan. It also provides location services. In the future, the number of potential connections will reach 100 billion.

2024: The year of 5G Advanced?

Concluding his Day 0 speech, Wang emphasised his optimism that 2024 will soon be viewed as the start of a new era for 5G. “The standards, technologies, ecosystem, and business elements are all ready,” he said.

“Huawei looks forward to working with the industry to build a healthy 5G-A ecosystem, promote 5G-A standard upgrade, and share the dividends of 5G-A development,” concluded Wang.

News

The deal is expected to increase the scale of Nokia’s optical networks business by 75% 

Nokia has announced the acquisition of California-based Infinera, a global supplier of optical transport networking solutions, for $2.3 billion, as the Finnish company looks to expand its optical networking in North America. 

The deal is expected to “strengthen the company’s technology leadership in optical and increase exposure to webscale customers, the fastest growing segment of the market,” said Nokia. It expects to make €200 million of net comparable operating profit synergies by 2027. 

The transaction, valued at $6.65 per share and working out at $2.3 billion, represents a 28% premium over Infinera’s closing share price on June 26, 2024. The deal will be financed with at least 70% cash and up to 30% in Nokia stock.  

“In 2021 we increased our organic investment in Optical Networks with a view to improving our competitiveness,” said Nokia President and CEO Pekka Lundmark in a press release. 

“That decision has paid off and has delivered improved customer recognition, strong sales growth and increased profitability. We believe now is the right time to take a compelling inorganic step to further expand Nokia’s scale in optical networks. The combined businesses have a strong strategic fit given their highly complementary customer, geographic and technology profiles,” he continued. 

After the recently announced sale of XX, Nokia confirmed that its network infrastructure will be reshaped on three pillars: Fixed Networks, IP Networks and Optical Networks. 

Just yesterday, Nokia announced that it will offload its subsea unit Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) to the French state for €350 million, solidifying its intention to focus on its core network infrastructure portfolio. Nokia will retain a 20% shareholding along with board representation to ensure a smooth transition, at which point the French state will take the remaining 20%. 

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Also in the news:
Nvdia and Ooredoo launch data centre deal 
Nexperia to Invest 200 Million USD in Hamburg
US launches probe into Chinese telcos over data concerns 

News 

The move is a huge investment in the North of England, and will create the UK’s third Microsoft datacentre 

Microsoft has announced that it will build a huge data centre on the outskirts of Leeds, on a site costing £106.6 million. 

The deal was announced by Rotherham based property development group Harworth, who said the deal was the largest in its history.  

The hyperscale data centre site will be comprised of two plots, one of 27 acres valued at £52.9 million, and one of 21 acres valued at £52.2 million. The development company has said the site will bring around £4 billion to the local economy and create many jobs. 

Not many additional details, such as completion dates, were disclosed. 

Microsoft currently has two data centres in operation in the UK; one in London and one in Cardiff. Back in November, the company announced an investment of £2.5 billion in expanding its next-generation AI data centre infrastructure across the UK.  

The plan includes bringing over 20,000 advanced Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) to its sites in London and Cardiff by 2026, which are essential for machine learning and AI model development. The investment aims to meet the growing demand for efficient, scalable, and sustainable AI-specific compute power, positioning the UK as a hub for cutting-edge technology. The investment is the company’s largest in its 40-year history in the UK.  

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called the investment a “turning point for the future of AI infrastructure and development in the UK.” 

Join the conversation on the North’s connectivity sphere at next year’s Connected North event, 23-24 April in Manchester – get discounted tickets here! 

Also in the news:
Nvdia and Ooredoo launch data centre deal
India concludes underwhelming 5G spectrum auction
US launches probe into Chinese telcos over data concerns 

News 

The partnership is Nvidia’s first large-scale entry to the Middle Eastern market 

Nvidia and Ooredoo have partnered in a deal to deploy “thousands” of Nvidia’s GPUs (graphic processing units) in 26 data centres in five countries (Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Algeria, Tunisia, and the Maldives). 

The value of the deal has not been disclosed, but it marks Nvidia’s first large-scale entry into the Middle East. 

The Qatari operator has become an Nvidia Cloud Partner, meaning that is “developing an AI-ready platform powered by NVIDIA’s full-stack innovation across systems, software, and services.” It also means that Ooredoo will be the first company in the MENA region whose clients will have access Nvidia’s AI and graphics processing technology, said the companies. 

“Implementing NVIDIA’s full-stack platform for accelerated computing and generative AI, Ooredoo is equipped to be at the forefront of the AI revolution in MENA, driving digitalisation and innovation as the leading digital infrastructure provider in the region. Working with NVIDIA, we aim to meet the significantly growing demand for accelerated computing infrastructure to support advanced AI models,” said Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo, Group CEO at Ooredoo in the announcement’s press release. 

“As a trusted regional telecommunications provider, Ooredoo Group combines deep enterprise and consumer relationships with the ability to invest in and deploy AI infrastructure and services,” Ronnie Vasishta, Senior Vice President of Telecom, NVIDIA. 

“By providing NVIDIA’s full-stack AI computing platform to customers, Ooredoo will help make it easier for their customers to deploy generative AI applications and services,” he continued. 

Recently, The US has imposed restrictions on the sale of advanced semiconductors to certain Middle Eastern nations, motivated by concerns that these high-tech chips could end up in the hands of China. These chips, which are critical for advanced computing and military applications, have become a focal point in the technological and geopolitical rivalry between the US and China. 

This deal, however, is compliant with the latest US impositions. It is A100 and H100 chips that are the focus of the restrictions, not GPUs. 

“As a telecom operator, dealing with very stringent regulation is business as usual. We are used to dealing with regulators and government authorities, whether they’re local or international,” said Fakhroo when speaking to CNBC. 

“We are working very closely with the different regulators and with Nvidia to see all the required approvals and to provide all the guarantees required,” he continued. 

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Also in the news:
Telefónica and Nokia sign agreement to boost adoption of network APIs
Orange mulls selling its stake in Mauritius Telecom
Ericsson Mobility Report: 5G driving change in service providers’ FWA strategies

News 

The investigation is the latest move in the US and China’s ongoing struggle for global tech dominance 

The US government is investigating Chinese telcos China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom due to concerns that the firms could provide US data to the Chinese government via their US cloud and wholesale routing services.  

According to Reuters, citing three sources familiar with the matter, the US Commerce Department has subpoenaed the three companies and has completed “risk-based analyses” of China Mobile and China Telecom, but has made less progress in the probe of China Unicom. 

China Mobile, China, Unicom, and China Telecom are China’s three national mobile operators, all of which are state owned, and combined serve roughly 1.7 billion customers across the country. Beyond their domestic operations, the operators have a significant international presence, offering a wide variety of telecoms and IT services.  

In the US, however, the companies’ presence is relatively limited, having all been banned from providing telephony and broadband services by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) due to national security concerns since 2019. The companies’ wholesale cloud services – a small part of their overall operations –  have yet to be directly impacted by sanctions. 

Now, the US government is potentially looking to extend its sanctions to cover the wholesale cloud operations, arguing that these could route US data through China where it would be more accessible to the Chinese government.   

The current probe extends to internet exchange points (PoPs) and cloud services, critical infrastructures where data interception or manipulation could occur. 

The Chinese embassy has responded to the claims, asking the US to “stop suppressing Chinese companies under false pretexts,” emphasising that China will continue to defend the rights and interests of Chinese companies. 

The investigation is part of a broader strategy by the government to mitigate security risks posed by Chinese tech firms. The issue feeds into the ongoing wider battle between the two geopolitical rivals over global tech dominance. This rivalry includes various sectors such as telecommunications, semiconductors, AI, and 5G. The US government is particularly concerned about the implications of Chinese advancements in technology on national security, intellectual property, and economic competitiveness. 

Keep up to date with the latest international telecoms news by subscribing to the Total Telecom daily newsletter

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Freshwave to deploy small cells in Manchester for VMO2
SGP.32: A reality check on the latest remote SIM provisioning standard
Vodafone Germany partners with FlyNex on industrial drone platform 

News 

A decision could be made in November, according to reports 

French telco group Orange is exploring the potential sale of its 40% share in Mauritius Telecom, according to a Bloomberg report citing anonymous sources.

According to the sources, Orange has met with advisers to discuss the potential sale, but has not yet spoken to Mauritius Telecom’s board regarding its interest in a share buyback scheme.  

Orange has owned the 40% stake in the company since 2000, with the remaining 60% stake held by the Mauritian government various state-owned investment vehicles. 

As the largest carrier in Mauritius, Mauritius Telecom serves approximately 1.3 million subscribers.  

 The potential stake sale comes as part of Orange’s strategic realignment to concentrate on its core assets and divesting from what it considers to be non-core holdings. 

Orange is actively pursuing consolidation projects in Spain and Belgium. Its merger with MasMovil in Spain was given the greenlight by the European Commission back in February, subject to conditions on the sale of spectrum. Romania’s Digi (the largest MVNO in Spain) will acquire spectrum from MásMóvil in order to become a new fourth mobile operator. 

“Convergence in Europe has proven to be key to our leadership in Europe and demonstrates how Orange’s new strategy, Lead the Future, will continue to meet the digital needs that our customers in Europe demand,” said Mari-Noëlle Jégo-Laveissière, the CEO of Orange Europe upon the company’s acquisition of telco operator VOO SA in June last year. 

Keep up to date with the latest international telecoms news by subscribing to the Total Telecom daily newsletter 

Also in the news:
Freshwave to deploy small cells in Manchester for VMO2
SGP.32: A reality check on the latest remote SIM provisioning standard
Vodafone Germany partners with FlyNex on industrial drone platform     

News 

The acquisition was first announced last January 

The UK Competition and Markets Authority has opened an inquiry to investigate whether Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s commencing acquisition of Juniper Networks for $14 billion would cause competition concerns in the market. 

The CMA “is considering whether it is or may be the case that this transaction, if carried into effect, will result in the creation of a relevant merger situation under the merger provisions of the Enterprise Act 2002 and, if so, whether the creation of that situation may be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition within any market or markets in the United Kingdom for goods or services,” read the official statement. It invites any interested parties to submit comments on the transaction. 

Back in January, HPE announced that it would acquire Juniper Networks in an all-cash deal of approximately $14 billion, equating to $40 per share. After the acquisition, HPE estimates that its networking business will double, as the “explosion of AI and hybrid cloud-driven business is accelerating demand for secure, unified technology solutions that connect, protect, and analyse companies’ data from edge to cloud,” the companies said. 

“HPE’s acquisition of Juniper represents an important inflection point in the industry and will change the dynamics in the networking market and provide customers and partners with a new alternative that meets their toughest demands,” said HPE President and CEO Antonio Neri in a press release. 

If approved, the combined entity will be run Juniper CEO Rami Rahim who will report to Neri. 

In a statement, the CMA confirmed that phase one of the investigation would begin on 20 June. The investigation will run until 14 August, when the CMA will decide if moving to a second phase if necessary. 

Investigations by the CMA into such large transactions are not unexpected. Back when the deal was announced, the two companies expected the deal to close by early 2025 at the latest, pending regulatory approval. 

Keep up to date with the latest international telecoms news by subscribing to the Total Telecom daily newsletter

Also in the news: 

Global Telco AI Alliance sign LLM JV
Telenor teams up with AWS for sovereign cloud service
Nvidia and HPE team up for gen AI solution

Press Release

[Copenhagen, Denmark, June 18, 2024] During the TM Forum Digital Transformation World (DTW) 2024 summit convened in Copenhagen, Denmark, China Mobile and Huawei were awarded the “People and Planet” Excellence Award in recognition of their outstanding innovation and implementation of a Zero Carbon Ocean 5G Coverage and Ocean Care. The awarded project demonstrates how China Mobile and Huawei have deeply integrated 5G, AI, IoT and other technologies with the marine industry, driving the high-quality development of the ocean economy and contributing to the marine ecosystem protection.

TM Forum Presents Excellence Award

The award of the “People and the Planet” Innovation Excellence Practice Project at the TM Forum is a recognition of China Mobile and Huawei ‘s innovation and contribution in the field of marine communications technologies. China is a large maritime nation, with over 32,000 kilometres of coastline, among the world’s top. Its abundant marine resources hold immense potential for local economic advancement. However, the complex and changeable marine environment, high-risk operations and the severe challenges of environmental protection have always been a difficult problem restricting the development of marine economy.

Confronting these challenges, China Mobile and its Jiangsu Provincial Branch, with Huawei’s support have actively explored the application of mobile communication technology in the marine domain, providing innovative solutions to the digital transformation for the maritime industry.

Through the pioneering solution of “Land/Sea/Windmill Site + Resources Sharing + Intelligent Platform”, the joint team successfully constructed offshore 5G base stations, overcoming the obstacles of site selection, power supply, and backhaul in the offshore scenarios. By leveraging renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, and AI-based power storage optimization solution, the joint team achieved Zero Carbon 5G coverage across the maritime expanse. Furthermore, they have actively explored collaboration with satellite companies, creating an integrated “Space-Sky-Sea” network to provide full wireless coverage to boats and people off the coastline. This innovative initiative not only furnishes basic communication, social entertainment, and entrepreneurial opportunities for offshore workers, tourists, and fishermen, but also supports the deployment of a series of B2B innovative applications such as marine IoT, smart waterways, and intelligent patrols, while also constructing a marine emergency communication lifeline.

The “People and the Planet” Excellence Award at the TM Forum is a recognition of the innovation and contribution of China Mobile and Huawei in the field of marine communications technologies. It further demonstrates that China Mobile, as the industry leader, has made great achievements in the following aspects under the sustainable development strategy of “Three Energy and Six Green.” Drive the global communications industry to upgrade towards green, digital, and intelligent innovation.

News 

A Memorandum of Understanding to form the JV was signed last year 

The founding partners of the Global Telco AI Alliance, Deutsche Telekom, SK Telecom, e&, Singtel and SoftBank have this week signed a joint venture for telco AI development. 

Specifically, the five companies have agreed to develop Large Language Models (LLMs) that are specifically designed to meet telco needs, in areas such as improving customer interactions via digital assistants and chatbots. The LLMs will be tailored to the needs of the five companies in their respective markets, allowing them to reach a combined customer base of around 1.3 billion people in 50 countries. The LLMs will be multilingual in languages such as Korean, English, German, Arabic and Bahasa, among other languages. 

Each company will invest in the JV equally, “to support its initial working capital requirements to develop the Telco LLM” explains the press release. 

The Alliance was established in July last year, with the aim of collaborating on the use of AI to create new customer experiences and business opportunities. At the Alliance’s inaugural meeting at Mobile World Congress Barcelona back in February, the founders announced their intention to establish the JV within the year. 

“Our shared goal is to redefine industry paradigms, establish new growth drivers through AI-powered business models, and pave the way for a new era of strategic cooperation, guiding our industry towards an exciting and prosperous future,” said the companies in the announcement’s press release. 

The second Global Telco AI Roundtable was held this week at DTW 2024 in Copenhagen, where the parties each demonstrated their potential applications of an LLM for telcos, focussing on contact centre and infrastructure use cases. 

Keep up to date with the latest international telecoms news by subscribing to the Total Telecom daily newsletter 

Also in the news:
Nokia and Google Cloud expand partnership for telco APIs
Telenor teams up with AWS for sovereign cloud service
Nvidia and HPE team up for gen AI solution 

News 

In the first year of the collaboration, Telenor has said that it will invest 100 million NOK ($9.4 million) in the project

Norwegian telco Telenor has announced that it will expand an existing partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to expand its sovereign cloud capabilities. 

The investment will see the implementation of AWS’s sovereign-by-design technology in Skygard – a data center currently under construction in Oslo, which is a joint venture between Telenor, renewable energy company Hafslund, and investor HitecVision. 

“Telenor is strengthening its collaboration with AWS to power our next wave of growth and innovation,” said Amol Phadke, Telenor’s Executive Vice President and Group Chief Technology Officer in a press release. 

“Building on our sovereign cloud posture, Telenor will unlock new opportunities to drive value for our customers and wider society,” he continued. 

“Telenor and AWS have a shared commitment to innovation”, said Jan Hofmeyr, VP AWS EC2 Edge. 

“We are excited to strengthen our collaboration by accelerating Telenor’s cloud transformation on AWS, and modernize Telenor’s data centres with AWS infrastructure, starting with Sweden and Finland,” he continued. 

Telenor will scale its cloud footprint across Sweden, and then expand into Finland. 

Keep up to date with the latest international telecoms news by subscribing to the Total Telecom newsletter 

Also in the news:
Nokia and Google Cloud expand partnership for telco APIs
Nvidia and HPE team up for gen AI solution
Microsoft to invest $7.16 bn in Spanish data centres