Telekom and Sony carries out successful 5G live TV test from the UEFA Euro 2024 fan zone in Cologne
Broadcast continues to decent 5G use case despite remote surgery not taking off. RTL Deutschland’s and n-tv’s coverage of the opening 2024 European Championship match in Munich featured live broadcasts by reporters via Deutsche Telekom’s 5G network. In addition to the live TV, Telekom also set up a 5G campus for RTL. The media company has been also using Telekom’s “Live Video Production” product since last year, which also transmits via the operator’s 5G standalone (SA) network.
Directly next to the RTL media centre in Cologne is one of the official public viewing locations for the European Championship. Thanks to the direct proximity to the transmitter and onwards to Telekom’s campus network, live reports from the fan zone could be sent from that site via 5G. For the coverage, the companies used a new camera system, part of the Networked Live ecosystem, from Sony and Nevion, a Sony Group Company.
In February, Deutsche Telekom and Sony said they had successfully tested Nevion’s VideoIPath media orchestration platform with 5G network Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). The solution from Sony and its subsidiary Nevion uses Deutsche Telekom’s network APIs to make optimum use of the 5G network and offer low latency and reliable bandwidth, which is essential for live, professional video production.
Live Video Production is now regularly used for RTL/n-tv coverage and continues to be booked almost daily during the European Championship.
Parallel streaming
Put together, this system can receive the 5G signal directly via an integrated SIM card and transmit images to the studio in real time without an additional mobile solution. This enabled a high-quality live connection to a reporter in the public viewing zone. The 5G campus network provided the basis for several parallel data streams. Here, too, there were several live broadcasts on n-tv news and for pre-match reporting on MagentaTV.
An RTL team equipped with two mobile 5G cameras has been working at the public viewing spot in Cologne over the last few days. Here they tested four different functions, all of which worked successfully via the 5G connection: Ultra Low Latency Live Video Production; audio intercom for direct communication between the control room, the camera operator, and the interviewer; return video to show the camera operator or interviewer in real time what is currently being broadcast; and remote camera control.
Two Sony FX6 cameras were used for the test, each connected to a CBK-RPU7 HEVC 4K/HD remote production unit for ultra-low latency HEVC video encoding. The encoded outputs were connected to the 5G campus network in the 3.7–3.8GHz frequency range via Sony’s PDT-FP1 Portable Data Transmitter and decoded by an NXL-ME80 processor. RTL’s existing Nevion VideoIPath SDN Control Software System was used to manage the delivery of pictures and sound received via the 5G network into RTL’s SMPTE ST 2110 based IP production infrastructure. Sony’s UWP-D series wireless microphones and receivers were used to ensure high quality sound.
The move comes despite US officials slowing down licences for chip manufacturers like Nvidia and AMD to export large quantities of AI accelerators to the Middle East
Ooredoo Group has announced it is becoming an Nvidia Cloud Partner (NCP) and plans to deploy thousands of Nvidia Tensor Core GPUs in its AI data centres to support the region. The move comes amid heightened geopolitical tensions globally that has seen the US Government has been curbing the export of advanced US chips to stop Chinese firms from using Middle Eastern countries as a back door to access the newest AI technology.
Last month, Bloomberg reported US officials had slowed down the issuance of licences for chip manufacturers like Nvidia to export large quantities of AI accelerators to the Middle East while a national security assessment of AI developments in the region was underway.
There was no further info on what “large-scale” exports looked like and the fact the Qatari operator has announced the Nvidia is happening suggests that nation has passed scrutiny and is poised to push ahead of the UAE and Saudi Arabia which are both looking to import significant quantities of chips for AI data centres.
“Our B2B clients, thanks to this agreement, will have access to services that probably their competitors (won’t) for another 18 to 24 months,” Ooredoo’s CEO Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo (above right) told Reuters in an interview.
In January, the US finalised an agreement with Qatar to extend its military presence at the Al Udeid Air Base, its largest military facility in the Middle East, accommodating more than 10,000 American troops.
Ooredoo wants to use Nvidia’s advanced accelerated computing platform to help enable “the AI revolution” in the region. Through this collaboration, governments, enterprises, and startups in Qatar, Algeria, Tunisia, Oman, Kuwait, and the Maldives will have access to Nvidia’s latest full-stack AI platform.
Capitalising on the significant market demand for accelerated computing and hyperconnectivity across its MENA footprint, Ooredoo is developing an AI-ready platform powered by NVIDIA’s full-stack innovation across systems, software, and services. The agreement with Nvidia was signed during TMForum’s DTW24 in Copenhagen.
“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,” said Ooredoo’s chief executive Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo. “Working with Nvidia, we aim to meet the significantly growing demand for accelerated computing infrastructure to support advanced AI models.”
Ooredoo plans to offer GPU-as-a-Service, which offers on-demand access to “some of the most advanced AI and machine learning tools available”. The telco will also be able to offer GPU-as-infrastructure, giving its customers the flexibility to integrate accelerated computing with their own cloud solutions or directly host them on premises.
“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,” said Nvidia SVP of telecom Ronnie Vasishta (above left). “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.”
Ooredoo Group said its collaboration with Nvidia is part of its larger aim to boost AI infrastructure in the MENA region while enabling enhanced security, optimised performance, and customisation to align with local standards. As a result, the countries where Ooredoo operates can establish local clouds, facilitating the development of local AI ecosystems and applications and reinforcing data security measures.
Data centre push
The operator carved out its data centres into a separate company called Mena Digital Hub and last month appointed ex-Microsoft executive Sunita Bottse to become CEO and manage the firms $1bn investment plans to expand the data centre capacity to more than 120MW. Bottse was previously senior director of data centres site acquisition (EMEA) at Microsoft.
Mena Digital Hub has 26 active data centres across Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq and Tunisia. The operator currently sits at around 40MW. Ooredoo also has plans to carve out its undersea cables and fiber network into a separate entity, according to the Reuters report.
Partner content: Private networks are progressing rapidly, gaining recognition for their distinct capabilities – it’s imperative that automated assurance keeps up
Private networks are accelerating at a notable speed and increasingly gaining recognition for their distinct capabilities. The market is heating up with operators eager to get a boost in revenue from the 42% of enterprises that have revealed plans to implement 5G private networks within the year, the market of which is expected to reach US$42.4 billion by 2032 .
Private networks’ appeal
Private mobile networks are dedicated to a single enterprise, and offer, particularly in 5G, a reliable alternative to physically wired or WiFi connections. In an enterprise where large numbers of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, mobile devices, smart phones and users are all integrated, private networks offer privacy, scalability, powerful connectivity, and significant security advantages.
Requirements can be tailored to meet the exact needs of the enterprise that gains complete control over which devices can connect to the network. Private networks are more reliable than WiFi and provide better coverage indoors and outdoors, eliminating patchy internet connection problems and avoiding latency issues – i.e. the delay in data transfer, while offering significant cost savings.
The move to 5G private networks extends LTE’s benefits and has enabled many enterprises to increase efficiency and productivity. In almost every industry, there are success stories of implementing private 5G networks, with many more planning the move. This is particularly prevalent in mission-critical enterprises like defense, healthcare and utilities where a reliable and continuous mobile connection to industrial IoT and data-driven mobile devices could mean the difference between life and death.
Security services
Security services prefer 5G private networks to ensure reliable connectivity and security to IoT devices such as security cameras, mobile communications devices and portables. In healthcare, private 5G networks offer high reliability and high security for device tracking, monitoring and distribution of medicines and even ambulances with 5G connections offer the ability to transmit vital information such as vital signs, and facilitate remote diagnosis and quicker decision making.
SNS Telecom and IT research reported 5G private network savings of up to 40% for the East West-Gate Intermodal Terminal in Hungary. Baosteel, a business unit of China’s Baowu Steel Group, moved its 43-sites to private 5G and achieved savings of $7 million in annual costs.
Their private network enabled the company to lower lost production capacity from 9,000 tons to 700 tons by reducing manual quality inspections and achieved a higher detection rate of more than 90%. The mining sector has also seen a boost from 5G with a considerable reduction in worker safety with increased use of unmanned mining equipment. Dongyi Group in China for example, reported $1 million in annual cost savings with the digitization and automation that 5G facilitated.
The SLA conundrum
Transitioning to private networks, however, necessitates deep insights into the network at all times. With the wide-spread adoption of digital technologies and the potential risk of downtime, stringent service level agreements (SLAs) that define key performance indicators (KPIs) and key quality indicators (KQIs), are a critical element to ensure the demands of enterprises are met.
A survey conducted last year revealed that the cost of downtime in industrial businesses is close to $125,000 an hour. Enterprises moving to private 5G networks will therefore be more meticulous about holding operators to certain guarantees that are promised to them, whether it is regarding latency, throughput, network availability or security.
Potential of assurance solutions
Automated assurance solutions offer a comprehensive solution to monitoring and reporting network traffic and performance across 3G, 4G and 5G voice and data services, providing end-to-end visibility from the RAN to the core, across different locations, architectures and vendors.
The information is collected and captured in a central site for KPIs, advanced analytics, session tracing and troubleshooting. It is a powerful tool that enables the network to be monitored by operators, system integrators and even enterprise users. In a scenario where an operator or integrator is responsible for thousands of private networks, one platform in the cloud can manage all these networks securely and ensure privacy through multi-tenancy.
Automated assurance solutions offer operators the opportunity to have a bird’s eye view of the network. It allows operators to set KPI thresholds according to the SLAs and provide a quick solution to access all the data through dashboards with real-time alerts for network issues, as well as to drill down to troubleshooting views that help reduce the mean time to repair (MTTR).
This is crucial as not delivering on SLAs invokes high penalties, with some agreements stipulating penalties of as much as 5% of the quarterly payment per single incident when breaching the SLA.
Operators, who serve multiple enterprises, need to access not only the enterprise-wide data but also ensure that individual enterprise users are receiving the expected performance, as SLAs are often expected to be met on a per user, per device basis. All this must take place while monitoring hundreds of private networks with different SLAs for each enterprise.
Predictive analytics
Automated assurance solutions look at the actual performance of the network and notify users about any breach of the SLA in real time, through dashboards and alerts. RADCOM ACE, offers predictive network and service analytics, looking a few hours or days ahead using AI and machine learning to help predict a breach of the SLA, giving operators enough time to prevent or mitigate the issue before it affects users. When a closed-loop solution such as Network Data Analytics Function (NWDAF) is deployed, the process can be fully automated, with issues being predicted and resolved without manual intervention, before users are affected.
Operators with advanced assurance solutions with multi-tenancy can offer value added services and allow their enterprise customers’ users to control their own organization’s data, while having complete separation from other private networks, and view both enterprise-wide and individual users’ quality of experience and network performance.
This is offered either stand-alone, on the cloud or through network slicing, which allows operators to create virtual slices of their mobile network with pre-defined capabilities. Assurance solutions should cover both models within one solution for the highest efficiency.
3GPP’s NWDAF
Delivering on the promise of private 5G networks also means operators are eager to automate their network through NWDAF – defined by 3GPP to enable network data analysis for mobile core networks. However, many Private Networks have not implemented NWDAF due to its complexity and the amount of resources required for the artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) capabilities required to perform tasks such as predictive analytics.
However, RADCOM’s NWDAF solution can offer a centralized NWDAF in the cloud with multi-tenancy capabilities and lightweight “NWDAF proxies” which are deployed at the private network sites, allowing operators to extend the power of NWDAF to private networks in a cost-effective manner.
NWDAF supports dozens of analytics and closed-looped use cases for Private Networks. A popular NWDAF use case for private networks is IoT anomaly detection. NWDAF uses AI and machine learning to monitor the communications patterns of IoT devices and identify anomalies that would indicate either a security or network issue.
Automatic detection in real time automatically triggers corrective action through a closed-loop interface to resolve the issue, for instance by barring the offending or suspicious IoT device from the network.
The power of Generative AI
Generative AI (GenAI) is another element to help manage private networks. As GenAI has permeated many industries, so too it offers network operators many potential benefits. Sitting on vast amounts of network data, those automated assurance solutions that include GenAI can collect and analyze the data, from the RAN to the core, which opens huge possibilities for the operator in overcoming existing challenges.
Essentially GenAI can draw insights using natural language from the network with prompts to point to data regarding everything from geographies, times, different services, video, VoNR and more, to ease monitoring, troubleshooting and optimize the network.
Keep it simple
There is no doubt that 5G is disruptive in its nature and combined with a private network, facilitates the convergence of all connectivity onto a single efficient pipeline. Advanced multi-tenancy based automated assurance solutions offer operators the ability to feed all the information from multiple networks onto a single platform.
They offer the enterprise users self-service access to predictive SLA assurance, analytics, alerts and troubleshooting tools with visibility down to the user and session level, ensuring both the operator and their enterprise customers can reap the promised rewards of private 5G networks.
Partner content: Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) is a promising way to bridge the digital divide but it needs to be able to scale and manage rising volumes of traffic
The world is moving forward in its digital transformation, and the demand for reliable and high-speed internet continues to soar. Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) has emerged as a promising solution to bridge the digital divide, especially where xDSL customers are looking to upgrade to fast broadband to accommodate their digital lifestyles but do not have access to a fibre connection.
According to Statista, FWA will account for 21% of all fixed broadband connections globally by 2030. It will have the largest share of the fixed broadband market, surpassing even fibre. What’s more, FWA subscribers expect their wireless access to behave like fixed broadband on their large screens with OTT TV, gaming applications, browsing and work-from-home scenarios. This raises the bar for the quality of experience that FWA service providers need to ensure.
As with any technology, FWA comes with its own set of challenges. This article delves into these challenges and explores innovative solutions, particularly focusing on how traffic management can significantly enhance the quality of experience (QoE) for both FWA providers and users.
Current FWA landscape
FWA delivers internet connectivity using wireless technology to connect fixed locations, such as homes and businesses, to the internet. This approach is particularly advantageous for remote and rural areas where the deployment of fibre connections is either too expensive or logistically challenging.
The growing adoption of FWA is driven by its lower infrastructure costs, scalability, and flexibility. In addition, 4G FWA is already four times faster than xDSL. With the advent of 5G spectrum, FWA will get a further growth boost as the wireless experience of FWA gains parity with the fixed broadband experience.
Despite these advantages, the rapid increase in internet usage poses significant challenges for FWA providers. A study by Coleman Parkes, commissioned by Allot, reveals that 87% of FWA providers anticipate a rise in traffic on their networks within the next year, with 40% expecting a 10-20% increase and 20% bracing for even higher growth.
This surge is driven by the proliferation of connected devices, the rise of data-intensive applications like video conferencing, video streaming, online gaming, and the increasing use of cloud services.
Key Challenges for FWA Providers
Network Congestion
Network congestion is one of the most pressing issues faced by FWA providers. As more devices connect to the network, the demand for bandwidth increases, leading to slower speeds and reduced service quality during peak usage times. According to the Colman Parkes report, internet browsing and business applications are among the most impacted activities, with over 50% of respondents identifying these as top concerns. 57% of respondents indicated that they experience congestion in 10-20% of their cell sites. Considering the expected traffic growth in FWA and 5G in general, it can be expected that more congestion is on the way.
Quality of Experience (QoE)
Ensuring excellent QoE is crucial for subscriber satisfaction and retention. However, the Coleman Parkes survey indicates that while only 53% of Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs) rate the QoE for business customers as excellent during peak times, only 42% can say the same for residential customers. This disparity underscores the need for effective traffic management solutions that can prioritize critical applications and maintain high service standards across all user types.
High equipment costs, regulatory hurdles
Deploying and maintaining FWA networks involves significant financial investment. High equipment costs are a major challenge, cited by half of the surveyed providers. Additionally, regulatory and logistical issues, such as obtaining permits and finding tower space, further complicate the deployment process. When WISPs are not able to add infrastructure, or are not able to add it in a timely manner, the combination of existing infrastructure plus increasing traffic can lead to reduced QoE, and thus to churn or reduced capacity for business growth.
Traffic management solutions
To address these challenges, advanced traffic management solutions, with FWA application-aware Traffic Management capabilities, offer a comprehensive approach to managing network congestion and enhancing QoE.
Dynamic application, recognition, prioritisation
Allot’s solution employs Dynamic Application Recognition Technology (DART) to identify user traffic and applications dynamically. This, and other technologies use multiple inspection methods to analyze application behavior, network performance, to prioritize application performance and user QoE. By applying sophisticated congestion management policies on a per-subscriber and per-application basis, it ensures that sensitive applications and high-end service plan customers receive the bandwidth they need, even during peak times.
Real-time congestion management
Real-time congestion management is crucial for maintaining optimal network performance. Using advanced congestion management techniques to enforce prioritization policies in real-time, an advanced solution ensures that subscribers experience optimal speed and QoE even during periods of high traffic. This dynamic adaptation helps maintain efficient and equitable access for all users.
More subscribers per cell
Employing a real-time congestion management solution in an FWA network can optimize the capacity for the given bandwidth for each cell, maintaining or improving QoE and creating a situation where the provider can service a larger number of subscribers on each cell.
This makes each investment in FWA infrastructure more cost-effective and enables the provider to support more satisfied customers within a geographical area: statistical analysis of different scenarios shows a potential increase of 10-30% in additional users per cell when a real-time congestion management solution is employed.
Differentiation between service packages
By prioritizing QoE for specific applications, a service provider can offer subscribers service packages that guarantee QoE for the applications that they consider important, such as streaming, browsing, gaming and business applications. By differentiating service packages, the service provider can develop new revenue streams while ensuring that FWA customers get the service that they expect for the applications that they value most.
Fair usage policy enforcement
Implementing fair usage policies is another key feature of an advanced traffic management solution. These policies ensure that network resources are distributed equitably among subscribers, preventing any single user from monopolizing bandwidth and degrading the experience for others.
Benefits of Advanced Traffic Management
Enhanced subscriber satisfaction
Improved QoE and service differentiation lead to higher subscriber loyalty and reduced churn. By ensuring that critical applications receive the necessary bandwidth, operators can deliver a superior user experience, thereby increasing customer satisfaction.
Cost reduction
Advanced traffic management solutions can achieve significant bandwidth savings, reducing the need for immediate infrastructure investments. Allot’s solution, for instance, can save up to 30% in bandwidth, directly lowering capital expenditures (CapEx) and operational expenses (OpEx) associated with capacity expansion.
Scalability and flexibility
Scalability is a critical requirement for growing FWA networks. A traffic management solution should be implemented in the core network so that it can be quickly and easily applied to any cell where it is needed. It should be designed to scale seamlessly, supporting unlimited capacity across the network. This ensures that it can meet the evolving demands of a growing subscriber base without compromising performance.
Advanced traffic management for FWA success
As the demand for high-speed internet continues to grow, FWA providers face significant challenges in managing network congestion and ensuring high end QoE. Advanced traffic management solutions, such as those offered by Allot, provide a comprehensive approach to addressing these issues. By leveraging dynamic application recognition, real-time congestion management, and fair usage policy enforcement, FWA providers can enhance subscriber satisfaction, reduce costs, and scale their networks efficiently.
In a world where digital connectivity is becoming increasingly essential, innovative traffic management solutions are not just a luxury but a necessity. They enable FWA providers to deliver reliable and high-quality internet services, ensuring that both urban and rural areas can enjoy the benefits of the digital revolution.
As FWA technology continues to evolve, adopting these advanced solutions will be crucial for providers looking to stay competitive and meet the ever-growing demands of a connected world. For a more in-depth look at how CSPs can improve the quality of experience for their FWA customers, you can view the Allot webinar on the subject – Masterclass For FWA: Future-Proof Your QoE Strategies
The author, Moti Goldshtein, is VP Product Management at Allot
Starting in Spain, they will deploy SHARK.X, an open, hybrid, multi-cloud platform and create a use case office to develop pilots for customers
A new collaboration agreement between Telefónica Tech and IBM is intended to drive the deployment of AI, analytics and data governance solutions to meet the dynamically evolving needs of enterprises. They will deploy SHARK.X, “a new open, hybrid and multi-cloud platform that hosts different IBM hardware and software components, with access to IBM Cloud and other clouds”.
IBM’s Storage Fusion HCI infrastructure for running enterprise applications will be deployed in Telefónica Tech’s La Cabina facility, which is Telefónica’s technological centre for the digital transformation of companies and public administrations.
Telefónica Tech will provide specialised professional services to define the most appropriate deployment architecture for each customer and integrate the solution into their environment, as well as ingest data from different sources and develop artificial intelligence use cases aimed at addressing their business priorities.
It will also provide advice in the field of data governance and artificial intelligence models and in the field of regulatory and ethical compliance, which is especially relevant with the new regulations approved in the European Union.
Software level
At the software level, SHARK.X will include several IBM technologies that will cover the value chain associated with enterprise data management, analytics and management of enterprise data. SHARK.X will host IBM Cloud Pak for Data to enable data collection, organization, analysis and governance.
It will include the IBM watsonx AI and Data platform, which was launched last year, to build, deploy and scale AI applications “in a simple, secured and governed way”. It will also offer Cognos and Planning Analytics to glean collaborative business intelligence, planning and reporting solutions.
According to the companies, these capabilities mean the SHARK:X platform will address both traditional and generative AI initiatives and address end-to-end data governance and management. At the same time, they will provide a Lakehouse as an enterprise data management solution to address data security and protection. In short, SHARK.X promises business intelligence, planning, optimisation and reporting.
Spanish steps
According to findings in the IBM Global AI Adoption Index study, almost half the companies in Spain that are already working with AI claim they have accelerated their investments in it in the last two years.
In this new collaboration, the companies will develop and deploy an open, hybrid and multi-cloud platform that specialises in data management and AI to accelerate business initiatives for customers.
They will run a use case office, demonstrations and development of minimum variable product (MVP) and the implementation of resources, training and certifications.
Telefónica Tech and IBM will launch a use case office, comprising professionals from both companies, to promote and coordinate the definition and development of use cases, proofs of concept, and MVPs to accelerate business development and further showcase the value available to clients through the use of these technologies.
The collaboration is already providing generative AI solutions to customers, including code generation for IT applications, automation of processes and incidents, cognitive assistants in industrial operations, advice and customer service, analytics, processing and management of audiovisual content and text documents.
Long history
IBM and Telefónica Tech have a history of collaboration that includes hybrid cloud-based solutions, such as TROS, Telefónica Tech’s multi-cloud service based on RedHat OpenShift; integrated AI for the creation of virtual assistants to improve customer service; and optimized supply chain management to increase the traceability of business assets with blockchain.
Elena Gil Lizasoain, Director of the AI and Data business unit at Telefónica Tech (pictured), said, “This new collaboration with IBM will help drive the many benefits of Artificial Intelligence, traditional and generative, and proper data management in the business world. By combining the knowledge of both teams, we will continue to advance in the construction of use cases aimed at creating more efficient and sustainable businesses.”
Vodafone Flex users will get better trade-ins at the popular electronics retailer that specialises in selling mobile phones, tablets and other electronic devices
As part of a new collaboration with electronics retailer Mobil Pohotovost, Vodafone Czechia is guaranteeing its customers “the best trade-in value for used phones and tablets on the market.” The money obtained can be used to purchase a newer model as part of the operator’s RE-START service which itself is part of the newly introduced Vodafone Flex service package. RE-START allows customers to trade in old devices, reducing the financial burden of upgrading to newer models. The process is streamlined with online registration, courier service, and quick payment.
Vodafone said its Flex package offers several benefits. These include the ability to trade in old phones and tablets, discounted financing for new devices, and worry-free use of technology with Vodafone Care insurance. Additionally, customers use the OneNumber service, allowing calls from smartwatches without a phone in range. Vodafone claims it is the only domestic operator to guarantee this service for Apple, Samsung, and Xiaomi watches. Both the OneNumber service and Vodafone Care insurance are free for the first three months.
“In the Czech Republic, three-quarters of mobile phones are still sold separately in electronics stores,” said Vodafone VP for consumer Zohar Weitz. “We want to provide customers with the full spectrum of the latest technologies, which is why we offer a comprehensive range of devices and additional services and features with discounted financing within the Vodafone Flex service package.”
She added: “We help our customers keep pace with the dynamic development of technology conveniently in one place and at favorable prices. We believe that modern technology should be accessible to everyone.”
In the Czech Republic, Vodafone provides services to more than 4.5 million customers – about 4 million in mobile services, and another approximately 700,000 in fixed services, where Vodafone strengthened its position after integrating UPC Czech Republic.
Phone or tablet trade-in
Vodafone said Flex addresses “all customer needs” from the first purchase and during upgrades when people still have an older working phone. Still functional phones and tablets can be sold within the Vodafone RE-START program, reducing the financial burden associated with purchasing a selected newer device. The trade-in process is simple: after online registration, the customer receives a price offer, and if they decide to accept it, they just need to send the device for free via an agreed courier service. The money can be in the account within two days.
The operator said customers who use multiple operator services simultaneously (mobile tariff, fixed internet, and Vodafone TV) can apply an additional discount of up to CZK 4,000 on the purchase of all devices, and for selected devices – such as the Samsung Galaxy S24 128GB – up to CZK 7,000 as part of a combined discount available in stores.
Vodafone suggests customers can save more by taking up its offers. The latest is where customers can get a Xiaomi smartwatch worth CZK 7,001 for an additional one crown with the purchase of a Xiaomi 14 phone throughout the summer. Additionally, up to two devices can be purchased in instalments for one phone number. The operator is also offering OneNumber free for the first three months.
Vodafone Flex is a mobile plan offered by Vodafone, designed to provide Flexibility and simplicity for customers. It typically allows users to customize their plans according to their usage needs by purchasing “Flex” units that can be used interchangeably for data, calls, and texts.
Telco expands its LoRaWAN IoT footprint across Europe, initially via EchoStar’s XXI satellite
Swisscom has partnered EchoStar Mobile and French LPWAN specialist Actility to expand its LoRaWAN IoT footprint across Europe. EchoStar Mobile will provide capacity to support direct sensor-to-satellite operations, and Actility will provide interworking functions between Swisscom’s terrestrial and EchoStar Mobile’s satellite network to enable seamless network roaming through Actility’s ThingPark Exchange roaming hub.
Prior to working with EchoStar Mobile, Swisscom relied on terrestrial connectivity to provide IoT managed solutions for smart metering, environmental monitoring, tracking, agriculture, and smart building use cases. EchoStar Mobile will now be providing Swisscom with “multi-year IoT satellite connectivity services”.
“Satellite connectivity serves as a powerful complement to our terrestrial LoRaWAN network, enabling the connection of IoT devices abroad and also in economically challenging rural areas,” said Swisscom head of connected business solutions Fredy Portmann.
“Through the seamless integration of EchoStar connectivity into our Swisscom Connectivity Management Platform, we empower our customers to roll out devices and experience a truly borderless IoT connectivity. This dynamic synergy expands the reach of our network, unlocking unprecedented opportunities for businesses in a seamlessly connected world,” he added.
EchoStar Mobile offers LoRa coverage across Europe, the UK, and Scandinavia for massive IoT, providing LoRa compatible access to customers’ IoT devices via its EchoStar XXI satellite. IoT sensors such as temperature, humidity, flow, current and GPS tracking devices, send data to an EchoStar Mobile LoRa® module. The module then uses licensed S-band to send the data to its satellite. From there, it is sent to the Internet via a satellite gateway Earth station and a LoRa compatible network infrastructure.
EchoStar XXI features advanced beam forming that provides a high quality service in focused geographic areas. The satellite has an uplink and downlink capacity of 100 Mbps. Combining this large bandwidth with high beam power means a very strong signal is received on the ground, according to the company. In addition, because of the sensitivity of the LoRa protocol, which is very close to the noise floor, about minus 20 dB, the network achieves “excellent” performance with small antennas on the modules.
The very low sensitivity of LoRa means the EchoStar Mobile solution can receive signals in conditions where traditional ISM services would struggle to work. The antenna frequency is also tuned to collect the minimal amount of noise, allowing very efficient reception of the ground signals at the satellite.
EchoStar also uses LoRa Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum [LR-FHSS]. Developed by Semtech, LR-FHSS allows direct to satellite data links from IoT devices with greater reliability, higher performance, and lower power consumption.
“EchoStar Mobile has the unique combination of technology expertise and satellite capacity to help Swisscom expand its LoRaWAN IoT footprint across Europe – serving customers across more verticals and geographies,” said EchoStar Mobile VP and GM Telemaco Melia. “With these new capabilities, Swisscom customers will be able to access the full, borderless potential of connected IoT ecosystems at scale.”
“Across the industry, LPWAN network operators trust our ThingPark Exchange roaming hub to help them easily interconnect with the other public, private, and community networks,” said Actility CTO Alper Yegin.
However, Echostar has been very silent this year around the 28-bird constellation of low Earth orbit (LEO) IoT satellites, called EchoStar Lyra, it is meant to be launching this year to create a global non-terrestrial 5G network in the S-band.
Echostar has a jump on some IoT satellite providers through an obscure acquisition it made spanning Canada and Australia. In 2019, it acquired Vancouver-headquartered satellite IoT company Helios Wire Corporation, which brought with it Helios’s Australian subsidiaries Sirion Global and Sirion Holdings. Sirion Global held global spectrum rights for S-band mobile satellite services (MSS), administered by Australia through its regulator the Australian Communications and Media Authority – the so-called the ITU SIRION-1 satellite filing.
Despite objections from regulatory authorities, including the UK and Papua New Guinea, Helios gained the rights to 30MHz of S-band spectrum in 2013, originally allocated to failed medium-earth orbit satellite venture ICO Global Communications. Lyra will be fully compatible with EchoStar’s existing XXI satellite in Europe, giving Swisscom and other partners even more options.
They say this was achieved at selected sites while improving the network’s performance, reducing sites’ footprints and lowering CO2 emissions
Three UK says it has reached a milestone in network sustainability through the deployment of “AI-powered hardware and software solutions” from Ericsson. This is part of ongoing network modernisation that started in late 2023 whenThree UK became one of the first UK operators to deploy Ericsson’s dual-band Radio 4490.
The radio consumes less power and is 25% lighter than previous models, making it easier to install and speeding up site upgrades. Three UK also implemented software features that consume less power per radio during off peak hours.
The combination of machine learning, passive cooling and power-saving features, radio components switch off autonomously across 4G and 5G networks when inactive. They ‘wake up’ within microseconds for the next service request.
Three UK and Ericsson say their collaboration has improved the RAN’s energy efficiency by up to 70% at selected sites. This was achieved while improving the network’s performance, reducing sites’ footprints and lowering CO2 emissions.
According to a GSMA report, telecoms is responsible for 2-3% of all electricity consumed by humans, and about 70% of the amount used by networks is in the RAN. Energy costs represent between 20% and 40% of a telcos’ OpEx. Furthermore, a typical 5G site requires up to 70% more power to operate versus a base station deploying a mix of 2G, 3G and 4G radios.
Iain Milligan, Chief Network Officer, Three UK, said, “We’ve achieved excellent improvements in energy efficiency while expanding network capabilities for our customers. We plan to take these learnings on board for future projects, ensuring that we continue to improve the environmental impact of our network.”
Evangelia Tzifa, Chief Technology Officer, Networks & Managed Services, Ericsson UK and Ireland, said, “To increase network availability and performance while reducing network energy consumption is a testament to the technology and expertise of our two great teams. I am both excited and proud to know that we are building a modern digital infrastructure together that brings not only superior performance for Three customers, but also helps to make the future more promising and sustainable.”
The test is part of an ongoing project co-funded by Vinnova and the programme for Advanced Digitalization
A drone acting as a mobile 5G base station has been used in a test carried out in a forest outside Västerås, central Sweden to control a forestry machine remotely. The test, successfully completed in May, was part of a research project that involved partners Mittuniversitetet, Telia, Ericsson, Skogforsk, SCA, Volvo CE and Biometria. It was co-funded by Vinnova and the program for Advanced Digitalization.
The project group passed a milestone in November 2021 when it remotely controlled a timber loader at SCA’s Torsboda terminal outside Timrå in northern Sweden. The group’s next goal was to use a drone with a portable mobile base station to extend 5G network coverage.
After a basic technical briefing, the forestry machine was transported to a clear-cutting site where it was connected using 5G technology mounted on a drone. During the test, the drone was about 500m from the forestry machine but created a coverage area extending up to 3km. The driver of the forestry machine was in Skogforsk’s remote control lab in Uppsala, roughly 80km away.
Safety first
Petrus Jönsson, a researcher and deputy programme manager at Skogforsk, who participated in the test, said, “In this test, we chose to remotely control a forwarder in a clearing to assess the connection via the drone. In the next step, we want to test connecting and remotely controlling a soil preparation machine, which is a much heavier machine that operates in inaccessible terrain.
“The goal for us is to improve the working environment for the drivers, and soil preparation workers, in particular, operate in a very tough environment.”
Data-driven
The project aims to investigate how drone technology and 5G technology could enable remote areas around Sweden to be worked with remote-controlled vehicles. Among other things, Mittuniversitetet’s researchers are studying the latency and reliability in data communication, which is very important when remotely controlling machinery, as Professor Mattias O’Nils explains.
“We have collected data from the test with the drone and will now analyze and evaluate the results,” O’Nils says. “We will also do comparative studies with other types of connections such as Wi-Fi-based networks and explore further possibilities with 5G.”
Additional long-term financing for infrastructure linked to sustainability aligns operator’s environmental, social and governance, and financial frameworks
Pan European network provider euNetworks has completed refinancing its existing debt as well as raising “significant” undrawn, committed debt facilities. The operator said this will fund the construction and development of more network infrastructure in Europe. The new long-term infrastructure financing solution provides total debt facilities of €1,260 million.
The refinancing, which was driven by two of euNetworks’ existing investors, Stonepeak and Investment Management Corporation of Ontario (IMCO), attracted significant interest from infrastructure-focused financial institutions, reflecting the strong conviction in euNetworks’ position, according to the company.
The financing extends the sustainability link established in the previous debt raise in 2021, reinforcing euNetworks’ commitment to its ESG agenda. It includes a large committed revolving capex facility to support future organic growth opportunities and M&A activity, and establishes a long-term financing platform provided by 14 funders – ABN AMRO Bank, AXA IM Alts, Banco de Sabadell, CIBC UK, DNB (UK) Limited, Export Development Canada, Intesa Sanpaolo (IMI CIB Division), LBBW, Lloyds Bank, MUFG Bank, National Australia Bank, NIBC, Nord/LB, and Royal Bank of Canada.
“This debt financing enables us to sustain our growth alongside our customers, to further invest in and expand our network infrastructure footprint,” said euNetworks CFO Katherine Alexakis (above). “The substantial liquidity accessible through this process underscores the robust value proposition and fundamental infrastructure delivered by euNetworks.”
She added: “We’re pleased that this incremental debt raise allowed us to continue to incorporate our dedication to sustainability by integrating ESG-linked Key Performance Indicators, and we extend our gratitude to our lenders for their support as we continue to construct and deliver critical bandwidth infrastructure.”
“Europe presents numerous attractive capital prospects. This incremental, long-term infrastructure financing further empowers euNetworks to leverage its distinct position in the region,” said Stonepeak managing director Cyrus Gentry. “As a market leader in data centre connectivity in Europe, euNetworks consistently sets itself apart in an increasingly interconnected society, where key fibre networks are the bedrock of the digital infrastructure landscape we see ahead.”
“We see tremendous growth opportunities in the bandwidth infrastructure sector, driven by an ever-increasing demand for data transmission,” said IMCO managing director and head of global infrastructure Matthew Mendes. “This financing will enable euNetworks to continue expanding and densifying its premier footprint, building the next generation network to serve this demand. IMCO is proud and excited to play a role in advancing euNetworks’ leadership position in European connectivity.”
euNetworks owns and operates fibre networks in 18 cities as well as a long-haul network that spans 45,000 route kilometres across 17 countries. The telco connects to more than 536 data centres. Last month, Brussels became the operator’s 18th city network following the addition of a duct-based fibre network in Belgium through acquisition in April 2023. The 1,660 kilometres of fibre network acquired added unique routes in Brussels and long haul routes across Belgium.
The Brussels network comprises 41km of duct and high-fibre-count network, connecting five data centres including: LCL Brussels-North, Digital Realty BRU1, BRU3 & BRU4, AtlasEdge Brussels BRU001.
