G.fast adds another innovative solution to existing fiber and millimeter-wave wireless access solutions for MDU property owners to provide their residents high speed internet and TV services.

Epsilon announced its partnership with Hudson Fiber Network (HFN) following its acquisition of Metcom Network Services (MNS). HFN, a legacy MNS customer, confirmed its commitment to expand its service offerings across Epsilon’s strategic connections across Europe, Asia and the Middle East, stitched with core backhaul connectivity to New York. With growing global infrastructure requirements, HFN will colocate in interconnections hubs operated by Epsilon in London and Hong Kong. In addition, HFN will use Epsilon’s local access services in Europe and Asia via its Enterprise Connect product line. The agreement includes a joint project to help HFN further the delivery of its exceptional network performance and quality of service across all markets. By partnering with Epsilon, HFN eliminates the need for distributed procurement teams to manage local service provider relationships and network operations. 

NetComm Wireless Limited and Openreach (a wholly owned and independently governed division of the BT Group) have successfully completed a world first Fibre-to-the-Distribution-Point (FTTdp) based Gfast demonstration that achieved Gigabit speeds using a reverse power fed Gfast Distribution Point Unit (DPU) engineered by NetComm Wireless. The Gfast DPU demonstration was conducted at BT Innovation Week 2017 from 12-16 June in Ipswich, UK, and reached 1.66 Gbps aggregate broadband speeds. The DPU was reverse powered over 40 metres of copper lead-in cable, and used spectrum frequency of up to 212MHz. 

Novatel Wireless, Inc. has announced the launch of its new Global Mobile Hotspot, MiFi 7000, a next generation MiFi with advanced features and LTE bands that support the requirements of domestic and international service providers. Available now in Canada from Bell Mobility and Sasktel, it is the first MiFi branded mobile hotspot to include a 2.4-inch color touchscreen, real simultaneous dual-band Wi-Fi and hacking prevention, among other high-performance features such as QuickCharge® technology and MiFi Share, a file-sharing feature accessed via a USB thumb drive. With a more powerful battery supporting up to 24 hours of use on a single charge, the MiFi 7000 securely connects up to 15 devices on the most advanced LTE networks as well as falls back to HSPA+/UMTS and GPRS/EDGE networks. The MiFi 7000 also offers a built-in universal charging feature for external devices such as smartphones and tablets needing a battery boost, without compromising performance and connectivity.

Legislative News

Legislators were notified about the emissions risks from 4G/5G wireless antennae. Martin Pall, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Basic Medical Sciences at Washington State University, has notified California state legislators of the risks involved in the 4G/5G Cellular Base Stations and antennas envisioned in SB.649. Dr. Pall, an expert in how wireless radiation impacts the electrical systems in the human body, explains wireless emissions disrupt the electromagnetics of each cell, impacting one aspect of the cell, the voltage sensor, with a force over 7 million times compared other parts of the same cell. The FCC guidelines for microwave radiation consider only potential heating effects from the radiation, but not the electromagnetic effects. Pall contends that thousands of published studies show biological and health effects from electromagnetic fields.

The FCC released the 2015 U.S. International Circuit Capacity Report. The report presents circuit capacity data submitted by U.S. facilities-based common carriers, non-common carrier satellite operators, cable landing licensees, and U.S. international carriers that owned or leased capacity on a submarine cable between the United States and any foreign point, as of December 31, 2015. The report shows that the total available capacity of U.S. international cables grew in 2015 to approximately 120,000 gigabit per second (Gbps) circuits, up from 91,000 Gbps circuits in 2014.  Submarine cable capacity grew 35 percent per year from 2007 to 2015 and, based on data submitted for this report, is projected to grow 17 percent per year from year-end 2015 to year-end 2017.