Category Archives: General

Latency in LEO Satellites vs. Terrestrial Fiber

Latency is a key differentiating parameter for new communication networks such as LEO satellite constellations and 5G. The interest in latency has increased as the value proposition for these networks hinges on enabling latency-dependent applications. This got some competing technology options nervous. For instance, LEO satellites provide as much as 20x round trip delay advantage over GEO satellites.… Read More »

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Could Wireless Networks Serving Industry 4.0 Applications Succeed without Automation?

A couple of years into 5G roll outs, the main question for operators remains on how to monetize the 5G network investments. Operators understand that enterprise wireless networks are a potential source of revenue. Many of them, from around the world, have engaged in trials testing 5G networks in enterprise settings. The trials have uncovered the complexity and… Read More »

The Synergies Between LEO Satellite Constellations and Submarine Cables

I’ve been exploring the impact of LEO satellite constellations on the wider telecom industry. Depending on the sector, the rise of LEO satellites is either complementary or competitive. Sometimes, the synergies are not evident. At other times, the competitive nature is masked by nascent requirements and emerging applications that could be game changers in the future. Underlying this,… Read More »

Comparing LEO Constellations: How They Stack Up!

LEO constellations are set to introduce new dynamics in connectivity services. I’ve been looking to answer questions on the competitive or complementary nature of LEO with different types of terrestrial services such as fixed wireless access or long-haul transport. In process of the analysis, one needs to differentiate among LEO constellations since they are designed and optimized for… Read More »

A New Race is Looming [and it’s not 5G!]: Why China Can Win the Space Internet Future

China made headlines by launching an experimental satellite in low earth orbit to test 6G terahertz technology. This has the merit of elevating the 5G race debate to a higher level: 6G and space Internet. It comes at a time when several trends are taking shape, such as the evolution of 6G and the emergence of LEO satellites… Read More »

mmWave FWA vs. FTTH: Friend or Foe?

5G fanatics would lead you to believe that 5G will make fibre obsolete. So how real are their claims and how does 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) compare to FTTH on performance and RoI? To answer, we teamed-up with our partners at DTS to objectively assess the performance of fibre and millimeter wave (mmWave) FWA. We combined our… Read More »

Hindsight is 20/20: Internet Technologies Trends Retrospect

Many significant trends we saw coming in the mid 2010s became reality. Notable examples include the evolution of network function virtualization, the emergence of the telecom cloud platform, the slow but progressive leverage of Artificial Intelligence by telecom operators as a productivity engine, the use of continuous integration and delivery DevOps framework in telecom service deployments, the deployment… Read More »

Network Sharing: Trends and Opportunities

Network sharing is one of those topics that makes economic sense, but often falters when it comes to adoption and implementation. Recently, I was asked about the prospects for network sharing given 5G capital investment requirements at a time of economic crisis. This is, of course, related to active sharing models where operators share the radio access network… Read More »

COVID-19: ICT Infrastructure Investment Opportunities and Risk to Competition

Over the past weeks we closely followed the impact of economic lockdowns on the ICT infrastructure to identify weaknesses and areas for future investments. Our analysis is multi-dimensional given the complexity of the ICT infrastructure which combines different types of access and backbone networks. This heterogenous infrastructure varies widely by geography. Our assessment led us to identify areas… Read More »

The Cost Model for Enterprise Private Wireless Networks with Satellite Backhaul

The satellite and cellular wireless industries have long progressed along parallel tracks that rarely intersected [see here]. However, this could change in the next few years [see here]. Both satellite and cellular technologies are evolving to improve performance and reduce cost through technological innovations and new business models. In our recent paper, we analyzed the cost model of… Read More »

A Perspective on the Edge Computing Value Proposition

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend Edge Computing World where I participated in providing a workshop on the economics of the edge. Over the course of two and a half days of discussions common themes become evident. Here, I share a few observations on the edge computing value proposition and recent market developments that indicate what… Read More »