In related 5G telecom industry news, a new whitepaper from Ranplan Wireless highlights the challenges of 5G deployment across indoor and dense urban environments, emphasizing how operators must find solutions to plan and optimize new 5G networks as higher frequencies are ineffective at penetrating physical walls and structures. 

IoT News

IoT news to advance digital transformation featured Kerlink and IoT America, who are collaborating to enable IoT networks for agriculture and towns across the rural US, contributing to their advancement and to help them cross the digital divide.

To enrich the capabilities of its Curiosity IoT platform, Sprint is working with Amazon Web Services—AWS storage and IoT services will now be integrated with Sprint’s core network.

Cloud News

Over in the Middle East, Nokia and Telecom Egypt have signed a MoU to commercially launch IoT services in 2019, based on the Nokia WING platform—the first cloud infrastructure in Egypt exclusively for IoT.

In more global news, IX Reach has launched a newly upgraded and improved SDN platform. Called One Portal, it offers direct, on-demand SDN Cloud connectivity into Amazon AWS, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure. All of IX Reach’s 170+ points of presence (PoPs) across North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and more recently Africa, are enabled on the new platform. Aligned Energy has launched Aligned Access, its software-defined, carrier-neutral connectivity solution to leading cloud service providers, data centers and network service providers.

CX and Consumer Insights News

Standards and specification updates were industry news this month, too. To standardize and advance Wi-Fi network quality, Broadband Forum has released the industry’s first Wi-Fi performance standard, defining carrier-class premium experience across six dimensions: receiver sensitivity, throughput, coverage, multi-user support, anti-interference, and stability. In related news, the CBRS Alliance, an industry organization focused on driving the development, commercialization, and adoption of OnGo shared spectrum solutions, has started work on new specifications that will support OnGo over 6G.

Of course, consumer insights updates bubbled up, too. Among them were new findings from Juniper Research on the operational cost savings of using chatbots in banking, which it predicts will reach $7.3 billion by 2023. Chatbots’ ability to resolve customer questions with automated resources—or escalate to an agent when necessary—is part of the broader trend of AI-driven CX. Another new Juniper Research study predicts consumer retail spend to grow by 25 percent by 2023, hitting $30 trillion—growth fueled by online alternative payments, largely wallets. The study includes strategies for payment providers to consider that reduce friction at checkout and to safeguard security.

In other telecom industry consumer news, the FCC issued a $2.32 million fine against Long Distance Consolidated Billing Company for deceptive marketing practices—slamming and cramming—against small business consumers.

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