Another month, another big acquisition to bolster Cisco’s portfolio for mobile carriers. This time it’s Ubiquisys, the highly-rated purveyor of small cells, SON technology and other operator-focused treats. Read more »
Arieso’s technology analyzes mobile connection events to spot exactly where the heaviest users are, so operators can deploy small cells in those locations. For JDSU, this makes for a more comprehensive network testing portfolio. Read more »
AT&T aims in three years to have a new LTE network up in the airwaves the FCC just approved for 4G use. In the rather plodding world of telecom, three years is a quick timeline. But AT&T has political and strategic reasons for moving soon. Read more »
The FCC wants to kick off an incentive auction in 2014 that would buy back TV airwaves from the broadcasters and sell them to mobile operators at a premium. The plan isn’t without critics, but in general it was lauded by both consumer groups and carriers. Read more »
Performing a few mental calculations during his keynote at CTIA Wireless on Tuesday, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski quickly concluded that the same amount of mobile spectrum existed today as existed before the government slapped down AT&T-Mo. So where did this capacity crisis suddenly come from? Read more »
AT&T is heating up its retaliatory campaign against the Federal Communications Commission for denying its $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson claimed once again that the merger’s death directly resulted in AT&T’s raising mobile data prices 30 percent. We don’t buy it. Read more »
What does a mobile network hosting 41.2 million smartphones look like? It’s a network where growth in data traffic far exceeds data revenue growth. AT&T is selling a lot of smartphones, but even millions of new iPhones don’t fully account for its huge spikes in traffic. Read more »
Verizon has seen the future of cellular networking — and it doesn’t look much different from today. In an FCC filing, Verizon dismissed a bevy of new wireless technologies and claimed the only way it can grow capacity is to layer more airwaves onto its current networks. Read more »
AT&T is now claiming that its mobile data traffic is doubling every year, rather than increasing at a more modest 40 percent annual rate. The distinction is important because the faster AT&T’s networks become overloaded the more pressure it faces to find more spectrum. Read more »
Cisco Systems’ oft-cited Visual Networking Index of the world’s projected mobile data consumption fell under some criticism this year as some operators’ rapid growth seemed to peter off, but Cisco isn’t changing its forecasts. Rather, it is revising them upward, predicting even greater traffic growth. Read more »
At the Super Bowl AT&T’s networks carried 215 GB of traffic, placed 74,204 phone calls and transmitted 722,296 SMS messages. AT&T reported no problems in handling the traffic and had, but in what is now becoming a common refrain, it used the event to lobby for more spectrum. Read more »
Mobile operators insist we are fast approaching a mobile datapocalypse where their networks will no longer be able to meet mobile broadband demands. But are these claims of a spectrum crisis red herrings? A couple of telecom industry commentators think so, and they’re calling the carriers out. Read more »
Wondering why AT&T smartphone data rates just went up? Because the operator was denied its acquisition of T-Mobile – at least that’s what AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson implied Thursday. Ma Bell is still bitter about AT&T-Mo’s failure and it’s taking it out on its customers. Read more »
