Musician and inventor Ric Steel has received a patent for his new app, S.A.L.T./ Save A Life Texting. The app, which will be free to the public, connects texting to the GPS on a mobile phone to intercept texts when a vehicle is going more than three miles per hour. It generates an auto-response to texters letting them know the recipient is driving. The app was created in response to the rising rates of car accidents—and injuries and fatalities—attributed to texting. Nearly two-thirds of all vehicular accidents now involve cellphones.  

Network Evolution News

New research from Broadband Forum and Point Topic reveals the markets and technologies driving continued rapid broadband growth and predicts global fixed broadband subscribers will grow to 1.2 billion by 2025.

Global communications service provider Epsilon has integrated with NL-ix, the pan-European Interconnect Exchange, to provide on-demand access to its IXP for expansion of peering points in Europe. In South Asia, Vodafone Idea has chosen Nokia in a next-generation LTE rollout deal to transform network integration in India. The deal will include the deployment of Massive MIMO technology, Nokia’s Single RAN solution, and other best-in-class equipment and professional services.

In response to growing customer demand for more data capacity, Internet Exchange operator DE-CIX is scaling to offer 400-Gigabit Ethernet access technology—a world and industry first. The 400-GE upgrade is available now at DE-CIX Frankfurt, the Internet Exchange with the highest peak traffic in the world.

Stateside, Windstream will expand its Kinetic Internet to bring high-speed broadband access to 1,500 additional locations in Nebraska in continued efforts to span the digital divide. In Florida, FMC GlobalSat has deployed a Kymeta Satellite Antenna on a sportfishing yacht, delivering reliable and secure satellite and wireless network access and advancing on-the-water broadband access and real-time connectivity. 

In other network evolution news, Anritsu has strengthened its MP1900A BER test functions with the introduction of four PAM4 BERT options, allowing engineers to more accurately and efficiently evaluate the bit error rate of 400GbE transceivers and devices—reducing development time and speeding time-to-market.

5G News

As commercial deployment of 5G draws ever closer, it’s not surprising that 5G dominates headlines more each month. News of the road to 5G came in from around the globe.

Vodafone announced it will launch 5G in 19 towns and cities across the UK during 2019. Trial sites in Bristol, Cardiff, and Liverpool are live as of early this month and are streaming 5G mobile data traffic to and from the Internet using the latest compatible routers. Ericsson has been selected by Danish service provider TDC to advance a ‘Digital Denmark’ through roll-out of nationwide commercial 5G in 2020, as part of a major network overhaul. In news of another 5G deal, Ericsson has been selected by Korea’s KT for 5G commercial services, targeted for a nationwide launch in April.

In key domestic news, U.S. Cellular has selected Ericsson for its network modernization from LTE to 5G under a new multiyear contract for 3GPP standards-based 5G NR hardware and software. It has also expanded upon its relationship with Nokia on 5G trial activities with a new multiyear 5G network modernization deal. Under the terms of the deal, Nokia will provide end-to-end 5G technology, software and services to enable U.S. Cellular to offer 5G services and solutions to new and existing customers. This month, Sprint announced an expansion of its MVNO partnership with Google to include 5G for Google Fi customers.