5G innovation continued, too. Completion of the first Location Based Services (LBS) session over 5G NR took place in London. Rohde & Schwarz completed the session using the Qualcomm Snapdragon X55 5G Modem. The session paves the way for the companies to enable handset manufacturers and mobile operators worldwide to test and verify LBS operation in 5G NR devices.

Network Evolution News

Network evolution news included new rulings and authorizations by the FCC as well as new product developments, new contracts, and expansion in an array of services.

The FCC has authorized an additional $121 billion in funding to bring or expand rural broadband to areas of 16 states. The funding is from the fourth round of the Connect America Fund and providers will begin receiving funds within weeks. Taking further steps to close the digital divide, the FCC has also authorized support over the next decade for maintaining, improving, and expanding affordable broadband in 44,243 homes and businesses on Tribal lands nationwide. The agency has announced plans for the creation of two new innovation zones, located in New York City and Salt Lake City, which will serve as city-scale test beds for advanced wireless communications and network research, including 5G networks. It has also approved $950 million in funding to improve, expand, and harden communications networks in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, especially critical in the wake of devastation from hurricanes two years ago.

In fiber news, Pennsylvania’s Tri-Co Connections, the newly formed broadband arm of the Tri-County Rural Electric Cooperative, is deploying a complete set of Calix solutions to build its first fiber network. Tri-Co is the state’s first electric cooperative to build out a state-of-the-art fiber to the home (FTTH) broadband network, which will serve northern Pennsylvania and bring high-speed broadband to previous unserved areas.

The Internet Exchange operator DE-CIX featured in the headlines this month. The operator has analyzed the trends that are shaping the video gaming industry in terms of Internet traffic. It shares that servers are getting closer, data volume is rapidly increasing, and streaming quality is increasing. In additional company news, DE-CIX has expanded its GlobePEER Remote Service to DE-CIX Palermo, interconnecting its Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, Dusseldorf, New York, Marseille, and Istanbul platforms. IP traffic is expected to triple worldwide by 2021, with Africa, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific to see the strongest traffic growth rates.

Sify, the largest ICT service provider in India, is deploying the ADVA FSP 150 as the foundation of its new managed Ethernet service offering. The intelligent, multi-layer demarcation and aggregation technology will enable Sify to deliver secure, highly reliable end-to-end Ethernet services, leveraging its nationwide MPLS core network.

ProLabs, a global leader in optical networking and connectivity solutions, announced the launch of the EON-OMP-2 optical platform to advance fiber infrastructure.

In Russia, MegaFon, one of the countries largest operators, has chosen Ericsson to develop a new nationwide transport network to prepare for 5G. As part of the 3-year contract, Ericsson will supply mobile transport solutions based on the MINI-LINK platform.

Satellite News

In satellite industry news, Gilat Satellite Networks announced that it will provide aero antennas with an initial agreement for tens of millions of dollars to a Tier-1 business aviation service provider. This expands Gilat's aero offering into the business aviation