Howard Buzick

The US government continues to support the development of the Open RAN ecosystem as it seeks to widen vendor choice for operators networks. The $420 million in new funding announced by the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is a significant boost for the development of open radio units. This initiative has two key aims: ▪ Commercialisation: Accelerating readiness for commercial trials to prove the technology's viability for wider deployment. This has been a long held reservation on the new technology. Many operators we speak with have concerns about wide level commercial deployments in existing infrastructure. ▪ Innovation: Supporting R&D efforts in Open RAN performance and capabilities to drive the technology forward. The investment is a clear signal that the US remains committed to fostering a competitive, diversified telecoms equipment market. It should open up opportunities for US-based Open RAN vendors and could create a more innovation-friendly environment following a difficult few months with some of the larger names in the sector #OpenRAN #telecomsequipment #NTIA #innovation #USinvestment

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Very interesting and he has made some good observations with what is going on in the industry today.

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Rakuten Symphony is so appreciative to AT&T for being included in its network simplification transformation program. Thank you to all the AT&T executives who have given us this chance to be part of an industry-changing program. Mike Dano's article captures so many aspects of what is required to be successful in an undertaking like this. It starts with the fundamentals of using different words to describe what is being done. "I think the word 'cell site' goes away," AT&T's Todd Zeiler said. "I think this pivots to a world of CU, DU, RU. Servers and access points." Before we built mobile networks. Today we start building distributed data center operations where the primary user is a mobile network. We see so many parallels between how AT&T is approaching this and how Rakuten Symphony already approached it. The hope is we can discover an industry blueprint that can make sense for the whole of telecom to be able to follow and accelerate the change to being a truly software-driven cloud-native operation. From Mike Dano's below article when describing the vendors involved "One is Japan's Rakuten Symphony. According to The Mobile Network, AT&T counts roughly 7,000 users of Rakuten Symphony's Site Manager software within its own and its contractor construction teams. The software automates parts of AT&T's site deployment processes." To listen to the full discussion between Yigal Elbaz and Sharad Sriwastawa at MWC BCN this year click here https://lnkd.in/e5ErFYJg To learn more about Rakuten Symphony Site Management solution click here https://lnkd.in/eq8Bsx27

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Bridging the digital divide is essential for fostering education, healthcare, and economic development in these areas. Ensuring that tribal communities have access to reliable broadband is not just a technological necessity but a matter of equity and inclusion. Read more about the potential for enhanced support and the impact it can have: https://lnkd.in/exZKR2gB #TribalBroadband #DigitalInclusion #Connectivity #GAO #NTIA

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Excellent post by Javier Domínguez Lacasa about spectrum policy for midband Midband is the lifeline for Telcos to provide high-speed and reliable data services. There is no other spectrum band that offers the reach, bandwidth, and properties like midband. Unfortunately, this is a scarce resource and extremely expensive. As a scarce resource, regulators need to prioritize the benefits of the majority of users who connect daily to these services. Consider this: effective spectrum allocation can enhance network capacity by up to 50%, which directly improves service quality and user satisfaction. With 5G technology expected to cover one-third of the world’s population by 2025, the efficient use of midband spectrum becomes even more crucial. This band is essential for enabling advancements in IoT, smart cities, and autonomous vehicles, and its optimal use could significantly boost these developments. Moreover, the economic implications are substantial. A 10% increase in mobile broadband penetration can lead to a 1.5% rise in GDP in developing economies. This highlights the critical role of midband spectrum in driving not only technological innovation but also economic growth and digital inclusion. https://lnkd.in/gYtybk_s #Telecommunications #Midband #SpectrumPolicy #Connectivity #Innovation

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How about trading some 2.5 GHz in exchange for 3.45 GHz and vice versa? That's what T-Mobile and SoniqWave Networks are talking about #spectrumswap

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Great news for operators! A more rational CBRS DPA activation methodology has been approved. This will ensure more uptime for broadband fixed wireless providers because channel grants will not be suspended as often. Though there are 15 possible CBRS channels losing one or more does not guarantee that an operator can easily get a replacement or a replacement channel adjacent to other channels. Adjacency is required by many smaller radio vendors to concatenate channels that enable effective broadband speeds and it helps even the efficiency of larger vendors. For those using GAA because they have no PALs or are supplementing their PAL bandwidth with GAA, losing channels forces more users on the remaining GAA channels and thus, interference. This act proves that spectrum sharing is viable and not detrimental to incumbents when deployed with reasonable controls.

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I spent yesterday at the LS telcom Spectrum Summit, in Lichtenau near Baden Baden in southwestern Germany. LS does a range of products and services primarily for regulators and other government agencies interested in monitoring or managing #spectrum allocations, as well as telcos and enterprises running or deploying wireless #networks of all types. There were various panels and presentations on themes such as: - Outcomes from #WRC23 and insight into behind-the-scenes processes at ITU and national regulators in managing the agenda & onsite negotiations - Spectrum-sharing models, with a particular focus on sharing spectrum with the defence sector, satellite industry and (once more) 6GHz for #5G + #WiFi. There was also a good discussion by Martin Sims of PolicyTracker about whether advances in sharing fit well with current international regulatory mechanisms like WRCs. - Practicalities of #Private5G. There was a speaker and small demo booth from Siemens talking about the uses for Industrial 5G, as well as a network set up onsite in the German 3.7-3.8GHz band - What happens to the UHF band between 400-700MHz in future, especially around the longevity of broadcast TV vs. alternative use-cases - Ongoing work in the UAE to set up a comprehensive system of spectrum-monitoring and a big-data and analytics systems to optimise security & efficiency of usage - A demo of a drone-based monitoring tool and set of applications that can be used by regulators (or others) for deciding what spectrum bands are used in a given area, as well as hunting down any sources of interference. I was speaking on a panel about future models for converged networks, especially around 4G/5G/6G and satellite, Wi-Fi and other technologies. There were also presentations by GSOA about future #5G & #6G NTN integration, and a great talk by Meta about the real-world design & tech challenges in creating AR glasses, blending #WiFi, #Bluetooth and #5G. (Key takeout - use cellular via a tethered smartphone, not in the device itself, when Wi-Fi not available. Latency is less important than you think). As with last week's #EUspectrum event, there was a strong message that the 3GPP community is going to have to get used to more #spectrum sharing in future, especially for #6G, so it better get engaged and take it seriously ASAP. Also it needs to expect pushback on the idea of continual mobile data growth, and closer scrutiny of its demand forecasts. Lobbyists won't get as easy a ride in future. My own presentation is attached - basically I spoke about convergence vs. coexistence, and also the importance of divergence in some settings. I covered #indoorwireless, trains & enterprise wireless, but also noted that "spectrum efficiency" needs to take account of real-world constraints & user behaviour. Thanks to Saul Friedner for the invitatation. This was my 3rd time at the event & was very much worth the rather travel to somewhere quite remote!

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We need to use ALL of the #tools in the #broaband toolbox!

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This is where delayaring makes a lot of sense for operators - both fixed and mobile - to move from capex/asset heavy to capex/asset light business. It's high time for most of them, if not already on the path. #FutureNetAsia #TWA24 #XyntacEnterprise #DTW #DTW24 #PTC25

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Our latest webinar "The 3rd Inning of 5G Deployment is Over - Now What?" is now free to watch on-demand. Hop on our Webinar Library to listen to insightful discussions on what's happening in the telecom industry and why. #telecom #wireless

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Nextivity is back on the road and in Illinois. Chicago represented today. Lots of in-depth discussion around how to fix cellular coverage for customers. A very impressive group of partners and potential partners. Groups like this energize me. #cellular #5g #lte #cbrs #education #schools #sales #salesenablement #retail

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Are you relying solely on fiber for your mission-critical applications? Think again. The risk of a single-point-of-failure is too great. That's where wireless redundancy comes in. MW and mmW solutions offer fiber-like capacity with lower latency. Our teams at Ceragon Networks and Siklu are here to support your network. Don't leave your mission-critical applications vulnerable. #wirelessredundancy #missioncritical #networksupport

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Having given some thought to the spectrum policy questions posed by the European Commission's white paper "How to master Europe's digital infrastructure needs", especially in relation to strengthening EU coordination on auction timing, the thoughts of my colleague Janette Stewart and I are summarised in this article https://lnkd.in/eWFPmizV.

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In a powerful move, the Western Governors’ Association is calling on Congress to redefine and improve broadband access across our region. The current speeds of 25/3 Mbps are simply not enough to support the growing needs of businesses, education, and healthcare. The bipartisan group is advocating for a new standard of at least 100/20 Mbps, scalable to 100 Mbps for both downloads and uploads. This change is crucial for economic and community prosperity, especially in rural areas and on Tribal lands where nearly 28% and 23% of the population, respectively, lack access to these speeds. It’s time for action to reflect the true costs and challenges of deploying broadband in the West and to streamline infrastructure permitting. Let’s unite for a future where every community can flourish in the digital age. https://lnkd.in/e9iR63NK #BroadbandAccess #DigitalEquity

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