U.K. to Ban New Huawei 5G Equipment

The U.K. government has confirmed a ban on using equipment from Chinese supplier Huawei in 5G networks, due to national security risks. Under the new plan, U.K. operators will be barred from acquiring new Huawei 5G equipment after 31 December 2020 and will have until the end of 2027 to replace existing Huawei equipment in their 5G networks. The government also plans to recommend that fiber networks not use Huawei equipment. 

In January the U.K. decided to exclude so-called high-risk vendors from core parts of the country’s 5G networks and limit the role of risky suppliers in other parts of mobile networks. Huawei was expected to fall under the designation of high-risk vendors, after having already been subject to increased security checks in the U.K. for several years.

The government sought new advice from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) after the U.S. imposed new sanctions against Huawei in May. These sanctions are expected to limit the company’s access to components from U.S.-based suppliers and increase its reliance on Chinese elements. The NCSC found that “there are no alternatives [to U.S. suppliers] which we have sufficient confidence in,” and this makes it “impossible to continue to guarantee the security of Huawei equipment in the future,” according to the U.K.’s digital secretary, Oliver Dowden. 

After having resisted U.S. pressure to eliminate Huawei components from its 5G infrastructure, the U.K. has decided to comply with the Trump administration’s demands on the matter. Two main factors were at work here. For one, Prime Minister Boris Johnson was under pressure from members of his Conservative party to take a harder line against China. And for another, the U.S. sanctions affecting Huawei’s supply chain isolated the Chinese manufacturer and made its components even harder to trust.

Although there is a good deal of Huawei technology already in place in 5G network infrastructure in the U.K., the ban on any further use of it beginning with the start of 2021 is certain to have a major effect on the country’s rollout of the high-speed technology, and on mobile operators. Digital Secretary Dowden, in remarks announcing the ban, did not shy away from mentioning the negative consequences. He said that the decision would delay the roll-out of 5G networks by around a year—on top of the year’s delay already caused by the imposition of restrictions on “core” parts of the networks back in January—and add up to £500 million (US $627 million) in costs. Dowden also said that requiring operators also to scrap existing Huawei equipment by 2027 will increase the bill by around £2 billion (US $2.5 billion) and extend the delay in 5G networks to two to three years, although he added that the 2027 deadline should provide enough time to ensure there are no disruptions to services.

Whether the ban and the phase-out will ultimately protect the U.K. against cyber-intrusions from China remains to be seen, of course. The connected mobile world is an exceedingly complex place, and technology is constantly changing. In any case, though, the present policy will have the effect of bolstering the business of 5G equipment suppliers outside China, such as Nokia and Ericsson, and even of promoting further innovation among them.

Tarifica is a global SaaS company and a market leader in the real-time collection, analysis and delivery of telecom plan and pricing data worldwide. Through a mix of AI, modeling and market expertise, Tarifica tracks hundreds of thousands of plan and pricing data points daily. No other company tracks more. Tarifica's mission is to continuously convert data into the dynamic intelligence that fuels opportunities for its clients, the world's leading operators, regulators and consultants. 

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Optus Makes 5G Data Call Over 2300 MHz Spectrum, With Ericsson

Australian operator Optus has announced it has established a 5G data call over its 2300 MHz spectrum. Optus completed the test call in Sydney, in partnership with Ericsson. Optus currently uses 2300 MHz and 3500 MHz spectrum, and plans to build a dual-band 5G network to provide customers with increased capacity and coverage. The operator is rolling out its 5G deployment plan using the 3500 MHz spectrum band and has more than 300 sites already installed. At this stage, the operator says, it is working toward deploying its 2300 MHz spectrum during 2020, to complement its existing 3500 MHz spectrum. Currently it has 300 5G sites live across Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra and other locations in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. In February 2019, Ericsson, Singtel, Optus and Oppo enabled a 5G video call using augmented reality. The real-time AR video call took place between Singapore and Australia over Ericsson’s 5G networks. Engineers from Singtel and Optus demonstrated the use of AR on a real-time 5G video call using Ericsson’s 5G networks, making instant on-screen annotations to exchange views on their respective live 5G sites. Whenever voice calling, the most old-fashioned and traditional of mobile services, seems most left-behind and irrelevant, a new technology arrives on the scene to enhance it and make it relevant again. One might even say that voice demonstrates over and over its evergreen nature as a perennially useful and in-demand functionality, even as data in its various deployments gets the most attention. As 5G is rolled out in diverse markets worldwide, the bandwidth of these high-speed networks is brought to bear in ways that enhance existing services, as well as making new services possible. In the case of voice telephony, the technology being deployed by Optus in partnership with Ericsson is noteworthy because by transmitting voice over IP with video using 5G speed, it transforms and heightens the experience by adding an augmented-reality component. This AR feature allows users to write on the screen and annotate a conversation in order to exchange different sorts of input on a real-time interactive basis, in a way beyond what oral communication can accomplish on its own. Presumably these calls could be recorded with the annotations for further review later. By consecrating a particular piece of spectrum for 5G calling (including but not limited to this AR-enhanced version), Optus is carving out for itself a market sector in Australia and internationally. The original trial in February was done over Ericsson’s proprietary spectrum, but now Optus has made a move so that its own 5G spectrum—enhanced by developments created by Ericsson—can handle this special voice calling application. Bringing this new technology in house is an excellent example of the ways in which technology partnerships can help mobile operators be not only relevant but cutting-edge.

Tarifica is the global leader in monitoring and analyzing telecom pricing. Covering hundreds of operators in every region of the globe, Tarifica’s databases of mobile and fixed line data and voice tariffs are among the largest and most in-depth in the world. Tarifica is also a leading publisher of benchmark and other pricing reports, and its analysts are recognized authorities in the telecom industry, relied upon by operators and businesses worldwide for pricing insight and guidance.  

To learn more about Tarifica, please visit www.tarifica.com 

Ericsson, Ambra Inc Contract to Sell 5G-Ready Mining Automation

Sweden-based Ericsson and Canadian engineering services systems integrator Ambra Solutions have entered into a global cooperation deal to bring automation to the mining industry. Ambra chose Ericsson as its partner to provide 5G-ready network products to automate ventilation systems, real-time personnel and vehicle tracking and remote controlling of machinery such as scoop diggers, hauler trucks, drillers, and other mining equipment. The 5G-ready Ericsson Radio System portfolio enables Ambra to simplify network deployments and replace up to 60 Wi-Fi access points with a single Ericsson platform.

In 2018 Ericsson and Ambra partnered to deliver what they termed the world’s deepest underground 4G/LTE network for the Agnico Eagle mining complex, LaRonde, located in Abitibi, Quebec, Canada.

The growth of the Internet of Things and the imminent growth of 5G technology together open many revenue opportunities for companies that provide automation services for industrial enterprises. Mining is a gigantic worldwide industry that benefits from mobile network services under very challenging conditions, notably the need to maintain signals deep underground. Creating an underground 4G/LTE network for a Canadian mining company was evidently a successful venture for Ericsson and Ambra, so much so that the companies are partnering again with a much broader mandate, to engage in mining connectivity projects all over the world, and this time with 5G.

As the demands placed upon IoT networks get greater, particularly in sophisticated heavy-industry environments such as mining, the bandwidth requirements become much greater. Therefore there is much to be gained by deploying the next-generation type of network, which will allow the transmission of much more information within the same or shorter times as previously. So 5G, when it comes to fruition, will have a key application here.

Our reflection on this matter is that there is a lot of potential here for mobile operators to capitalize on the mining industry’s special connectivity needs. Ericsson’s contribution to the partnership involves creating internal solutions, but it appears that the 5G connectivity would come from local mobile operators. However, even as far as the internal infrastructure within a mine is concerned, MNOs should be playing a role. A mobile operator that is developing 5G could credibly enter into a partnership with a specialized technology company such as Ambra and do deals with mining companies to provide end-to-end solutions for service underground and elsewhere. This is a market sector that by no means should be left to technology developers only.

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 If you have any questions about this article, feel free to contact our Editor-in-chief John Dorfman at jdorfman@tarifica.com

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Sprint, Ericsson to Demonstrate Virtualized IoT Technology at MWC

U.S. operator Sprint and Swedish technology developer Ericsson have announced that they are creating a distributed and virtualized core network dedicated specifically to IoT services, as well as an IoT operating system. The new platform is expected to create an optimal flow of device data, enabling end-users and enterprises to receive immediate, actionable intelligence, according to the operator. The platform will be presented at a press conference at Mobile World Congress Americas in Los Angeles on 12 September.
 
Sprint has already partnered with Ericsson to roll out an IoT network, and the new system is powered by Ericsson’s IoT Accelerator platform. The core network is designed to provide low latency and the highest availability, and to reduce the distance between the device generating the data and the IoT application processing it. Nodes are distributed right to the user’s premises, if need be, to support specific security, privacy and latency requirements.
 
The new IoT OS provides connectivity and device management, which enables simplified inbound and outbound activity, configuration and updates of firmware and software for each device, and full subscription lifecycle management and monitoring of billing and usage data. Customers also have full control of data management and access to managed services for all IoT elements and enterprise locations, including network operations center monitoring, service resource fulfillment, cloud orchestration management and application management.
 
With IoT usage proliferating globally across user categories, from home-based consumers to large enterprises and governments, the need for larger networks and more sophisticated systems—very much including security—is growing. Technology companies such as Ericsson are rising to meet this demand. However, if mobile operators are to remain relevant and not miss out on major revenue opportunities, they need to get involved directly with the development of the IoT and deliver sophisticated services to their customers. Otherwise, they will certainly remain the proverbial “dumb pipes” with regard to IoT, and they once risked doing with regard to the streaming entertainment content and other value-added mobile services that invaded the market in recent years.
 
Sprint’s initiative with Ericsson is an excellent example of what we are talking about. First, the operator acted fast to create its own IoT network, so customers would not have to go outside its ecosystem to use connected devices. Now, Sprint is working with its technology partner to improve the network by reducing latency (while keeping power usage low) and increasing security. Not only that, but the partners are creating a proprietary IoT OS for Sprint, with full services and support that should prove especially attractive to enterprises.
 
By creating its own OS, Sprint is moving even more forcefully to keep its IoT users within its ecosystem and to make sure that it retains them in the future. It will be able to do that if its IoT OS is dynamic and evolves at or ahead of the pace of the technology generally. We think operators in many markets would be well served by emulating Sprint’s example to the extent possible.

Tarifica is the global leader in monitoring and analyzing telecom pricing. Covering hundreds of operators in every region of the globe, Tarifica’s databases of mobile and fixed line data and voice tariffs are among the largest and most in-depth in the world. Tarifica is also a leading publisher of benchmark and other pricing reports, and its analysts are recognized authorities in the telecom industry, relied upon by operators and businesses worldwide for pricing insight and guidance.  

To learn more about Tarifica, please visit www.tarifica.com 

Mobile Data Consumption in Mexico Up 69 Percent

The number of Mexican mobile lines in use rose to 112.4 million at the end of the first quarter of 2017, up from 109.0 million in the previous year, according to a report by Mexico City-based analytic firm The Competitive Intelligence Unit. The growing availability of affordable plans and of flat-rate mobile broadband offers with zero-rated social media access have contributed to the 69 percent year-over-year growth in mobile data consumption, to an average of 528 MB per user at the end of the first quarter. However, mobile ARPU continued to decline, dipping 4.3 percent year-over-year to just under US $7.00 per month, according to the same report.

There is a clear lesson in this dramatic figure, and it is not a very reassuring one despite the impressive growth in data use.

Certainly, it is true that in Mexico, uptake in use of data services is very rapid, and the quantities of data per user are getting quite large. That is also true of many markets, and not only those that are still developing and have not reached saturation. A report just released by Ericsson anticipates that mobile broadband subscribers worldwide will double by 2022, and that mobile broadband subscriptions should increase at a rate of 1 million per day, from 4.39 billion at the end of 2016 to 8.28 billion in 2022. Ericsson also found that 4G/LTE will overtake GSM in 2018, having grown faster than any mobile technology ever.

Nonetheless, we should take note of the fact that in a period in which mobile data consumption rose by 69 percent, ARPU from such services declined. That is due in part to the necessity of zero-rating data and offering flat-rate plans in order to promote data use, but it is also an expression of the industry-wide trend toward declining ARPU from mobile services and the movement of these services toward commodity status.

The results from the Mexican market, then, are a timely reminder of the need for operators to find new revenue streams via new uses for the data that is being consumed so avidly. The demand for data-driven services and products is there; the question is how to make it pay. As we have written on previous occasions, creative branding and engaging in partnerships for technological innovation are very important components of this ongoing effort.

Tarifica is the global leader in monitoring and analyzing telecom pricing. Covering hundreds of operators in every region of the globe, Tarifica’s databases of mobile and fixed line data and voice tariffs are among the largest and most in-depth in the world. Tarifica is also a leading publisher of benchmark and other pricing reports, and its analysts are recognized authorities in the telecom industry, relied upon by operators and businesses worldwide for pricing insight and guidance. 

To learn more about Tarifica, please visit www.tarifica.com