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… Read More: Comparing LEO Constellations: How They Stack Up! »
A trend is taking shape where open RAN is made of canned solutions – I call this Canned RAN. The concept of interoperable RAN elements is yielding the path for a subset of integrated solutions from a few vendors that plan to dominate the open RAN market (additional perspective here). After a couple of years… Read More: Canned RAN: A Stage Towards Open RAN Maturity »
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… Read More: A New Race is Looming [and it’s not 5G!]: Why… »
In a virtual ‘fireside chat’ at Capacity Europe 2020, Riad Hartani of Xona Partners and Manik Vinnakota of Telesat discuss the impact of emerging LEO constellations.
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.… Read More: mmWave FWA vs. FTTH: Friend or Foe? »
Enterprise private wireless networks been around ever since commodity base station silicon came to market in the mid-2000’s. 15 years later, deployments remain few and small. So the questions for investors are: are private wireless networks for real? How big a market is it? If I were to put money, where and how should I… Read More: Who Will Lead The Enterprise Private Wireless Network Market? »
We are offering a packaged valuation service for the upcoming FCC 3.7 GHz C-band spectrum auction and the Canadian 3.4 GHz auction. Included with the services is a detailed update of prices for global auctions and operator allocations in mid-band spectrum. Contact me for a quote. Click here to see our 5G midband spectrum valuation… Read More: 3.7 GHz C-Band Spectrum Valuation »
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… Read More: Hindsight is 20/20: Internet Technologies Trends Retrospect »
Proponents of open RAN argue that opening the RAN interfaces will stimulate innovation. They claim that non-interoperable interfaces allow incumbent vendors to lock out new innovative players and stifle the market. With a small number of incumbent vendors owning much of the market share, the pressure to innovate is low. Incumbents counter by stressing the… Read More: Does Open RAN Stimulate Innovation? »
There are over 800 service providers, but market power favors a handful of radio access network (RAN) vendors who dictate the tempo of technology. With the RAN accounting for around 60% of the network total cost of ownership, open RAN promises to change the balance of power in favor of services providers by reducing vendor… Read More: A Perspective on Open RAN »
Radio access networks have many descriptors that confuse the non-specialists. This includes open, virtual, cloud, centralized, distributed and cooperative RAN. Confusion is understandable because there are many inter-related aspects. Here, I outline the fundamentals elements that define RAN types and clarify the nomenclature. The Three Pillars of RAN Architecture, implementation and deployment are the three… Read More: Clarifying the Confusing RAN Types and Nomenclature »
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… Read More: Network Sharing: Trends and Opportunities »
Integrated AI-based technology enables networks to adapt autonomously which helps operators optimize their service delivery to consumers and enterprises. As communication networks increase in complexity, operators seek to simplify operation and maintenance activities and reduce operating costs. Network automation could help operators achieve this objective. Automation is not a new concept: it has been around… Read More: The Case for Network Automation: Application to Power Consumption »
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… Read More: COVID-19: ICT Infrastructure Investment Opportunities and Risk to Competition »