Alcatel-Lucent's new site-certification program has identified 600,000 locations on billboards, cable lines, and street furniture in the U.S. and Europe as small-cell ready.…
Read MoreResearch
Google-backed O3b is working with Kymeta to build a next-gen satellite antenna
O3b and Kymeta are trying to build a self-steering non-mechanical satellite antenna using metamaterials. Such an antenna could make O3b's satellite broadband links mobile, helping further it and Google's goal of connecting billions of people.…
Read MoreAT&T is trouncing Verizon in LTE performance tests. Here’s AT&T’s explanation why
AT&T EVP John Donovan claims Ma Bell has built a better network. AT&T may have been a year behind Verizon in LTE, but it was able to take advantage of newer technology and better network planning.…
Read MoreT-Minus 36 hours: The Nextel network goes dark (Don’t say you weren’t warned)
The seconds are ticking away for the remaining Boost and Nextel customers on Sprint's iDEN network. This is no lackadaisical retirement. By the end of Sunday, the iDEN system will be one very dead network.…
Read MoreGoogle’s other plan to connect the unconnected: satellites
One of Google's earliest investments O3b is set to launch its first satellites into space. The orbiting network targets the rural and remote areas of the world, making it a perfect complement to Project Loon.…
Read MoreReport: Google wants to connect the developing world with wireless
WSJ reports Google has ambitions of connecting a billion new people to the internet using a combination of white space, satellite and aerial technologies. Given those technologies' limitations, though, a billion is a stretch.…
Read MoreIs Google pondering an experimental HetNet?
Google is launching yet another mysterious wireless experiment, this time using small cells at its HQ. Taking all of Google's wireless projects together, a new kind of mobile architecture might be taking shape: the heterogenous network.…
Read MoreNokia Siemens sells optical biz to hone its 4G focus
A private equity firm will pick up the optical business for an undisclosed amount, relieving NSN of one its last remaining ties to wireline networking. NSN's focus on 4G appears to paying off. In the last year, it's won key contracts and turned record profits.…
Read MoreQualcomm buys small cell chip maker DesignArt for discreet backhaul
Qualcomm has made another buy. This time in the emerging small cell market by purchasing Israeli chip company DesignArt. Qualcomm is clearly serious about expanding its chip prowess beyond devices -- goring ever deeper into the cell network and the home.…
Read MoreHow O2 is using the Olympics to lay a foundation for small cells
The U.K.'s O2 has launched a 100-hotspot Wi-Fi network just in time for the Olympics, offering up its capacity to all takers gratis. But there's something else under the hood of these Ruckus access points: a slot waiting for a future O2 small cell.…
Read MoreHow femtocells are connecting the Congo
You thought it was hard to get cellular coverage in your basement -- try getting it in the rain forests of the Congo. RascomStar plans to ensure that remotest communities in the Republic of the Congo get mobile service using the smallest access node imaginable: the femtocell.…
Read MoreCan millimeter waves solve the small cell backhaul problem?
The mobile industry is counting on future wireless networks being heterogeneous: complex multi-layered systems of overlapping big and small cells, pumping out cheap bandwidth. But to arrive at hetnet we first need to figure out how to link all of those small cells together.…
Read MoreSuper Wi-Fi or white spaces, what’s up with unlicensed broadband?
The UK's telecom regulator laid out plans to use white spaces broadband, and expects to see networks in use by 2013, according to a report issued Thursday. If the UK is moving forward, what the heck has happened to efforts in the U.S.?…
Read MoreThe new web will need a new network
Allied Fiber may be able to do something the FCC can't: help make American broadband just a bit more competitive. In a few weeks it will begin construction on its new type of optical network. It's six months late, but better late than never.…
Read MoreAT&T CEO Sings the Same Old Song: All We Need Is T-Mo
The most pressing need for broadband providers in the U.S. is spectrum to enable the mobile ecosystem said AT&T's CEO and chairman speaking at a conference. He also replayed his talking points on why AT&T must buy T-Mobile for $39 billion. At least he's consistent.…
Read MoreGo Go, Verizon! Carrier and NEC Tests a Terabit Backbone
Verizon refuses to stop in its quest to support the future of our connected society, with the nation's largest ISP testing terabit backbone speeds with NEC out in the field. At terabit speeds, performing high performance computing and big data analytics in real time become possible.…
Read MoreWith Bandwidth Demand Booming, a New Kind of Optical Network Is Born
Allied Fiber today said it has begun construction on the first phase of a nationwide wholesale fiber network that will span 11,548 miles.By combining the pipe, the data centers and cell towers the Allied network could fundamentally change the economics of providing bandwith and encourage competition.…
Read MoreApple Leads the Sales Pack in October, but PCs are Poised for Revenge
Here’s a little trivia question: what happens when Apple introduces new or refreshed computer models? If you said, “they sell boatloads of…
Read MoreAT&T Moves Up Its LTE Rollout, Admits To Network Issues
Nothing quite works like the threat of the possibility of losing a money-making asset. With rumors that Apple is flirting with Verizon over a future partnership, AT&T has abruptly changed its future wireless broadband plans to include a sudden acceleration of its LTE deployment.…
Read MoreVerizon Rents Out Its Fiber for LTE Backhaul
We’ve noted that Verizon (s VZ) plans to use its fiber network for backhaul for its future Long Term Evolution network, and…
Read MoreSprint's Xohm and Backhaul Bottleneck
Sprint is blaming a puny backhaul network and a paucity of backend bandwidth for some of the delays with its cursed, WiMAX…
Read More