Ken Wieland
Ken has been writing about developments in the fixed and mobile markets for over twenty years. He has been a contributor to Market Mettle and TelcoTitans since 2015.
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Network & InfrastructureAI-equipped drive-bys help Deutsche Telekom snip fibre costs
Group continues to shop around for cost-saving innovations and lauds AI as a way to drastically reduce FTTP planning times and costs.
- Venturing & Investments
T-Mobile US sets up corporate VC fund for 5G
T-Mobile Ventures formed in collaboration with Touchdown Ventures. Targets “early-to-mid-stage” companies. Aims to develop “breakthrough” 5G products and services. Mojio and Circle already part of T-Mobile Ventures’ investment portfolio.
- Suppliers & SCM
BT partner Toshiba bullish on quantum security (eventually)
Japanese vendor takes long-term view on QKD market, anticipating a hefty 25% share and $3bn revenue by 2030.
- Partnerships & Alliances
T-Systems talks up mainframe business and IBM ties
New mainframe training programmes in place to replace old hands who will shortly retire. T-Sys has “thickest deal pipeline” in mainframe business since 2012.
- Strategy & Change
OTE head honchos propose organisational revamp
Three new spin‑out specialist companies to absorb customer service, shops, and technical field operations.
- M&A
MÁSMÓVIL CEO calls Vodafone link a “bluff”
Spenger scoffs at recent media reports that MÁSMÓVIL was in consolidation talks with Vodafone. CEO pointedly adds, however, that mergers eliminate “unnecessary infrastructure costs”.
- Innovation (R&D)
Deutsche Telekom champions new TIP/O‑RAN lab in Berlin
Choi talks of “new level of collaboration”, as joint O‑RAN/TIP lab becomes available for open RAN testing at DT’s facilities in Berlin. Hails recent European O‑RAN/TIP plugfest a success. Berlin lab available for open BNG testing, “as soon as systems are available”.
- Public Affairs
TalkTalk takes pot shot at Openreach FTTP pricing
CEO calls for longer-term, discounted full‑fibre wholesale deals. Harrison claims BT’s alleged fears of breaching UK competition rules is “red herring”, while incumbent maintains it needs to appease all stakeholders.
- Suppliers & SCM
Deutsche Telekom’s Huawei gamble looking iffy
German coalition cabinet reportedly approves measures in IT security bill that, if passed, will effectively ban Huawei from 5G RAN market. Revision looks set to hurt DT, despite recent brave talk of “multi-vendor strategy”.
- Network & Infrastructure
TMUS in spectrum dispute with tetchy rivals
AT&T and Verizon Communications complain to FCC that TMUS has excessive amount of low- and mid-band spectrum. Sievert accuses ‘big two’ of dissembling. CBRS auction draws little interest from the NatCo.
- M&A
Vodafone linked with Spain’s MÁSMÓVIL again
Group reportedly in acquisition talks with Spain’s fourth largest operator. MÁSMÓVIL subsequently denies discussions after only recently agreeing to private equity buyout.
- Network & Infrastructure
BT fires another warning shot over fibre roadblocks
Without the right “policy, legislative and fiscal enablers”, BT warns full-fibre nationwide coverage will not happen until 2033. Government target for universal coverage of “Gigabit-capable broadband” is 2025.
- Network & Infrastructure
BT customer quantum trial underway using commercial product
BT highlights ability to plug QKD into OSA Filter Connect, a commercial WDM-based product provided by Openreach. Extensive commercial deployment of QKD in BT’s metro and core networks still at least five years away, however.
- Public Affairs
Vodacom’s Congo CFO gets out of jail
Chutoo endures four-day stint behind bars. CFO reportedly quizzed on allegations of “forgery” and “falsification of financial statements”; but no formal charges. Vodacom DRC expresses surprise.
- Products & Services
Telekom Deutschland takes IP fixed voice to the cloud
New Next Generation IP Multimedia Subsystem (NIMS) platform up and running. Marks another step in DT’s journey to software telco. NIMS suppliers include Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Juniper Networks, Lenovo, Mavenir, Metaswitch, and Red Hat.
- Strategy & Change
Höttges goes on Huawei defensive
DT gambles on Germany taking neutral stance on Chinese supplier. High hopes open RAN will help diversify the ecosystem, but systems not ready yet.
- Network & Infrastructure
Deutsche Telekom’s bumpy journey to software telco: Part II
First commercial Access 4.0 deployments imminent, but project far from completion. Silicon not yet ready for speedy service introduction. Prototypes of a converged Access 4.0 architecture not expected until 2022. Making sure organisational change keeps up with technology advances a constant challenge.
- Network & Infrastructure
Deutsche Telekom’s bumpy journey to software telco: Part I
Choi highlights importance of end-to-end service orchestration and automation… but accuses some open-source industry bodies of work duplication and low ambition. Resistance to disaggregation from established vendors still a problem… but promise of new business models, lower TCO, and faster time-to-market convince DT that software journey is necessary.
- Network & Infrastructure
Internet Para Todos breaks more ground on open RAN trail
Venture has target of reaching 13,000 rural communities in Peru by end of 2020. Telefónica now has sights set on deploying thousands of open RAN nodes in “core markets”.
