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Press Release

The Un-carrier has earned its wings! Valmont Industries Inc. and T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) today announced the completion of an industry-first long-distance BVLOS drone inspection flight enabled by 5G.

Traditional methods for infrastructure monitoring typically require extensive manpower, manned aircraft operations or ground-based inspections, which involve significant safety risks, more time and more money.

But not anymore ― especially now that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is granting more waivers for BVLOS drone operations. And as one of the first companies in the U.S. to receive said waiver, Valmont is ahead of the game.

In under three hours, Valmont accomplished a non-stop 77-mile drone mission from Childress to Aspermont, Texas inspecting vital infrastructure like power lines, railroads, bridges and more. The drone used a Harris Aerial H6E drone equipped with a T-Mobile 5G connected Sony A7RM5 camera. Significantly faster and more fuel efficient, this task was three times faster than conventional methods, while using less than two gallons of fuel.

Mission highlights:

• Valmont drone inspection teams used less than one-fourth gallon of fuel per hour.
• Flight pushes average distance of UAS inspections from less than 20 miles per day to more than 60.
• Even though the route was very rural, T-Mobile 5G provided live data transfer throughout the three-hour flight.
• The Sony A7RM5 combined with the ability to fly closely to utility lines, provided high-resolution details for critical infrastructure inspection.
• The flight proves that drones are a viable, safe, and efficient alternative to helicopters for infrastructure.
• Harris Aerial’s drone and Valmont’s proprietary payload are fully National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) compliant.

“Range has been a hurdle in the drone inspection space, until now,” said Jake Lahmann, UAS Manager at Valmont Industries Inc. “To be able to get this kind of range in a single drone flight is really going to revolutionize the way the industry approaches infrastructure inspections.”

“5G was built to make life easier,” added Ulf Ewaldsson, President of Technology at T-Mobile. “Whether it’s connecting a person on their smartphone or improving long-range drone infrastructure inspections, there is no doubt that the reach and speed of T-Mobile 5G is making it possible for entire industries to revolutionize the way they work.”

With 5G, Valmont’s drone inspection service is another example of 5G-enabled technologies that can be used to quickly respond to or prevent an emergency. By preemptively monitoring infrastructure sites with greater accuracy, Valmont can help prevent malfunctions and breakdowns before they have a chance to have a widespread impact.

Working closely with the FAA on BVLOS drone operation policies, Valmont plans to offer drone-in-a-box (DiaB) services nationwide in 2024. This enables anyone needing aerial inspection services the ability to order a drone, unbox it and watch it run its inspection while a Valmont pilot flies it remotely from virtually anywhere in the U.S.

T-Mobile is the leader in 5G, delivering the country’s largest, fastest and most awarded 5G network. The Un-carrier’s 5G network covers 326 million people across two million square miles — more than AT&T and Verizon combined. 275 million people nationwide are covered by T-Mobile’s super-fast Ultra Capacity 5G, and the Un-carrier plans to reach 300 million people with Ultra Capacity this year — nearly everyone in the country. T-Mobile 5G is available on all T-Mobile phone plans.

What does the future hold for T-Mobile and connected drones? Join the US telecoms sector in discussion at Connected America 2024

Also in the news:
More than two-thirds of U.S. commercial sites have no optical fibre access
Viasat completes Inmarsat merger deal
EXATEL talks expansion into subsea connectivity sector

MOX Networks (“MOX”) is one of the few companies out there actively building new fiber infrastructure. Privately owned and a part of the Nantworks company portfolio, MOX has a unique position within the market with its plans for the buildout of hyperscale infrastructure and the forthcoming healthcare data wave. Over the past year, they have been actively putting fiber in the ground in the Pacific Northwest and developing unique routes in the eastern US as well. With us today is Allen Meeks, President and COO of MOX Networks, whom we talked to last April. … [visit site to read more]

Malaysian operator CelcomDigi has announced that it has begun its full-scale programme to build what it calls Malaysia’s future digital network – integrating and modernising the largest 4G network in Malaysia with the latest LTE and 5G-ready technologies.

This, the company points out, marks one of the largest network deployment projects in the country involving a total of 18,000 sites, following the successful merger of operators Celcom and Digi earlier in December 2022.  

Noting the company’s excitement at building “the largest, most modern digital network using the latest in mobile telecommunications technology”, Chief Executive Officer Datuk Idham Nawawi says, “We have successfully deployed pilots in five clusters recently, namely in Sitiawan, Rawang, Bercham, Port Dickson, and Kuantan, and we are pleased to report that the upgrades were managed without any disruption to customer experience.”

The new digital network will integrate the two existing strong networks that have a combined footprint of 96.4% for 4G LTE and 90.3% for 4G LTE-A. 

CelcomDigi says it will integrate and modernise the network by clusters, with activities focused on coverage and capacity expansion efforts and upgrading sites with the latest 4G and 5G-ready technologies such as massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) and multiband remote raCOVERdio units (RRU), as well as streamlining overlapping sites to eliminate duplication.

The company says it will maximise its spectrum portfolio to create a multilayer, multiband network, which includes nationwide deployment of the 900MHz spectrum at all sites to improve coverage and indoor service quality.

Telekom Malaysia has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with ZTE to collaborate on a range of research and development initiatives.

The partnership will aims to drive innovation and digital transformation for customers and industries, focusing on R&D opportunities and commercialisation, product and technology improvement, and the enhancement of TM’s digital talent ecosystem. It is also aimed at strengthening Malaysia’s digital and telco infrastructure.

Building on TM and ZTE’s ongoing investments and commitment to R&D and innovation, the partnership aims to deliver new products and services, with TM serving as ZTE’s preferred business partner to deploy innovative solutions, go-to-market strategies, commercialisation, and networking across various markets and customer segments in Malaysia and regionally. 

The two companies will also work on network and technology planning and overall digital transformation by bringing together Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Anything as a Service (XaaS) providers to develop customised end-to-end solutions for various industry sectors.

Aside from technological developments and aligning with TM’s transformation as a human-centred TechCo, the collaboration will focus on enhancing TM’s digital talent ecosystem, covering areas such as talent competency best practices, professional competency framework, technical training and certifications for digital transformation, as well as cross-border knowledge sharing on new technologies.

Dato’ Imri Mokhtar, TM’s Group Chief Executive Officer, said: “Spearheading these efforts will be TM’s R&D arm who will provide hardware testing and design enhancement, consultation on digital platform technologies, as well as integration solutions to ensure our offerings are market-ready…Introducing the first ever 50Gbps bandwidth in Malaysia has prepared us to drive other innovative services such as 5G, Cloud VR, and intelligent manufacturing which will benefit communities, businesses and the government.”

Press Release

The 5G Open Innovation Lab (5G OI Lab) along with ecosystem partners F5, GXC and Spirent Communications announced a new collaboration to showcase a leading-edge enterprise Private Mobile Network (PMN) solution that not only delivers PMNs in hard-to-reach locations, but offers greater security, control, and resilience with improvements to operational costs.

As 5G infrastructure becomes more mainstream, enterprises and organizations are subsequently deploying more private networks and telco clouds into strategic locations to leverage newly available connectivity, lower latency, and agility. The consistent throughput and capacity on these PMNs bring the promise of 5G to revenue-driven use cases such as IoT and network slicing, while being mindful that security must expand accordingly beyond legacy policies and be thoroughly tested. Especially in edge use cases, one of the requirements most in demand is the need for local breakout to route traffic to as part of a Mobile Edge Compute (MEC) infrastructure or hosted within a data center.

F5, a hybrid and multi-cloud application services and security company, deployed carrier-grade BIG-IP Virtual Editions. These security functions were consolidated with an N6/SGi-LAN solution adding another layer of speed and security at the network level. Critical functions such as Firewall, DDoS, Secure DNS, CGNAT, TCP and Video Optimization with this consolidated N6 configuration are already running in high-volume Tier 1 providers.

GXC, a NaaS communications early-stage tech company which is part of the 5G OI Lab ecosystem, contributed their unique distributed mesh configuration for easier and faster deployment of a private network while providing full coverage and capacity of a cellular network.

This collaboration was validated using Spirent’s Landslide test and emulation platform. The multinational telecom testing company’s solution provided device and RAN emulation to create a diversity of traffic flows across multiple data networks through the 5G core which is monitored and managed by F5 behind the UPF. This delivers UE QoS, Network Slice Management, and offers multi-application monitoring at scale to validate the benefits of a packet core and N6 LAN solution working in tandem in a controlled production environment.

Finally, the entire solution was pressure-tested through technology made available through the 5G OI Lab and its enterprise and operator partners deployed with GXC’s ONYX Portal.

How the solution works:

-F5’s BIG-IP Virtual Editions will optimize these traffic flows between the 5GC and the content network helping to enable end-to-end visibility of user activity and security against unwarranted traffic ingress.

-Spirent’s Landslide AMF Nodal application will bring real-world traffic modelling into the 5G OI Lab to emulate 5G Mobile subscribers and 5G Access Nodes (gNBs) performing a realistic distribution of traffic flows across slices and DNNs towards emulated content servers supported by the core.

About GXC

GXC, previously known as GenXComm, is an Austin, Texas-based company that provides groundbreaking technology for enterprise 5G networks, based on a cellular mesh architecture. This private network platform provides high levels of resiliency, flexible deployments, strong coverage in hard-to-reach areas, and a powerful distributed application platform. The company was founded in 2016 to commercialize years of research and development in interference technology out of the University of Texas at Austin. Enabling full-duplex, high-speed communication, GXC’s powerful technology has the capacity to double the world’s available frequency spectrum. Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter and contact us here for inquiries.

About Spirent

Spirent Communications plc. (LSE: SPT) is a leading global provider of automated test and assurance solutions for networks, cybersecurity, and positioning. The company provides innovative products, services and managed solutions that address the test, assurance, and automation challenges of a new generation of technologies, including 5G, cloud, autonomous vehicles and beyond. From the lab to the real world, Spirent helps companies deliver on their promise to their customers of a new generation of connected devices and technologies. For more information, please visit www.spirent.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

About 

The 5G Open Innovation Lab is a new global innovation ecosystem that brings together multi-stage startups, enterprise and global technology platforms and investors to connect and collaborate on developing disruptive new enterprise technologies and solutions that capitalize on the power of edge computing connected to public and private 5G networks.

In just four years, the Lab has attracted a roster of world-class corporate and industry partners including Accenture, Amdocs, Avanade, Dell Technologies, Deloitte, Ericsson, F5, GAF (Standard Industries), Intel, Microsoft, Nokia, Palo Alto Networks, SK Telecom, Spirent, T-Mobile and VMware as well as 101 multi-stage enterprise startups who have collectively raised $1.641B of venture capital. Through 5G OI Lab’s unique model of open collaborative innovation, corporate partners work directly with ecosystem startups to accelerate commercialization through proof of concept, go-to-market, and other engagements and opportunities.

F5 and BIG-IP are trademarks, service marks, or tradenames of F5, Inc., in the U.S. and other countries. All other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. The use of the words “partner,” “partnership,” or “joint” does not imply a legal partnership relationship between F5 and any other company.

Airtel Business, the enterprise arm of India’s Airtel, has a massive data centre concern, called Nxtra, in India. So far this isn’t the case in Africa, where the Airtel Group does have a massive presence, but mainly in the mobile market; it is one of the largest service providers in Africa. Apparently, that may soon change.

The company can already boast 40 edge data centres in Africa, for its own use, and investments in the 2Africa and Equiano submarine cables.

However, as both cables hit land the company says it is working on taking its data centre arm Nxtra to Africa and setting up five hyperscale data centres there, according to a report by the Light Reading news service.

This will presumably happen via Airtel Global Business, the international arm of Airtel Business, which caters to its global customers, including service providers, over-the-top (OTT) players and multinationals, among others. It’s not yet clear which countries are being targeted.

Right now, Nxtra, a joint venture between Airtel and Global investment firm Carlyle Group, is present only in India, where it has 12 large data centres and 120 edge data centres. Carlyle completed the acquisition of a 24% stake in Nxtra for US$325 million last year.

As Light Reading points out, increasing broadband usage and growing numbers of subscribers in Africa are leading to a boom in Africa’s data centre industry. Several major players, including Google, Amazon, Oracle and Microsoft have invested in building data centres in Africa.

Limiting latency and data localisation trends may also be drivers for Airtel’s suggested move, plus the fact that Africa is a data centre opportunity that is still (relatively) underexploited so far.

News

New research from consultancy Vertical Systems Group shows that small commercial buildings (less than 20 employees) have seen most of the growth in lit fibre in the U.S. during 2022, but that over 3.8 million commercial sites have no optical fibre access to network services.

The research highlights that fibre connections from three or more providers are available to more than a third (37%) of commercial sites with greater than 250 employees, but as you move down to smaller premises, availability of fibre diminishes. In the medium/large buildings segment (Up to 251 employees) availability has now reached 76.4% whilst in the small buildings (under 20 employees) only 19.1% have access to lit fibre – although this was the sector showing the greatest growth in 2022.

The research includes 5+ million U.S. commercial buildings and data centres, which are defined as lit if they have optical fibre connectivity to a network provider’s infrastructure and active service termination equipment onsite.

Rosemary Cochran, principal of Vertical Systems Group said “Small buildings accounted for the majority of new fibre lit sites during 2022. Suppliers include the hundreds of fibre providers across the U.S. with nationwide, regional or metro footprints,”

“Fiber expansion continues to be boosted by multiple factors, including business demand for higher speed network services, government funding incentives, M&A activity, joint ventures, and private investments.”

Vertical Systems produce a U.S. Fiber Lit Buildings LEADERBOARD based on commercial buildings lit as of year-end 2022. To make the leaderboard requires more than 15,000 building lit which led to the ranking being led by AT&T, Verizon, and Spectrum Enterprise. Below the top dozen they have identified challengers with between 5,000 and 14,999 U.S. fibre lit commercial buildings.

Connected America returns to Dallas in 2024 – find out more at totaltele.com/connectedamerica

NEWS

American satellite giant completes acquisition of UK based satellite operator, 18 months after first announced following clearance of all regulatory hurdles

The acquisition completes the merger of two of the largest satellite operators, both of whom have been under pressure from Starlink’s expansion into the satellite market. Viasat founder Mark Dankberg will lead the combined company as chairman and CEO, with former Verizon Media executive Guru Gowrappan as president, while Inmarsat CEO Rajeev Suri will step down from his role and serve on Viasat’s Board of Directors.

Mark Dankberg, chairman and CEO of Viasat, commented: ‘The combination of our companies brings together the people, technology, innovation, network assets, spectrum resources and global partnerships needed to help connect the world more affordably, securely and reliably. Together, we believe we are positioned to offer customers a multi-layered network that gives them the right connectivity at the right time, place and price.’

The closing of the Inmarsat acquisition enables the companies to bring together spectrum, satellite, and terrestrial assets, including 19 satellites in space spanning Ka-, L- and S- bands. These complementary assets are expected to deliver connectivity and key safety services across maritime, aviation, government and consumer markets with speed and reliability of connection front of mind.

The acquisition was subject to a lengthy approval process, with both the UK and EU regulatory bodies approving the merger earlier this year. Under the terms of the deal, Inmarsat’s shareholders received an aggregate of $551 million in cash and approximately 46.36 million shares of common stock. The cash portion of the purchase price was reduced from $850 million to $551 million after Inmarsat paid a $299 million special dividend to its shareholders in April 2022.

The shares issued to the Inmarsat shareholders at the closing represent an aggregate of approximately 37.6% of the total shares of Viasat common stock on a fully diluted basis.

Viasat drew down approximately $1.35 billion of its committed financing package, including a $617 million secured term loan facility and a $733 million unsecured bridge loan. Viasat said the lower financed amount reflects the reduction in the cash component of the purchase price.

“Our goal is to be the undisputed leader in satellite communications with a sharp focus on providing the best products and services for our customers,” said Gowrappan. “We are more than the sum of our parts. This combination broadens the global fixed and mobile services available to customers in an industry-defining moment. We intend to move quickly to bring the best from each company together in a way that creates much deeper value for our stakeholders and ensures we deliver on our synergy commitments.”