Cybersecurity company Telco Systems won a significant deal with an unnamed national defense agency. This is a follow-on project, which was based on the ability of its cybersecurity technology to efficiently detect and investigate suspicious network activity and secure sensitive communications networks. This marks the fourth government contract for the Israeli-based tech company, citing a significant increase in demand for its solutions.

5G grows nearer

This month saw a lot of momentum around 5G, with AT&T leading the charge. AT&T made an announcement claiming it expects have 5G services launched in a dozen markets by late 2018. AT&T stated in the press release that it has already laid the foundation by launching "5G Evolution" in 23 major metropolitan markets over the course of the last year.

Nokia showed an increased focus on 5G this month, with three related announcements. In the US, Nokia announced that it has reached a major milestone with T-Mobile, by bringing a 28 GHz outdoor 5G commercial radio system on air in the congested downtown corridor of Bellevue in Washington state. In Japan, Nokia was selected by NTT Docomo to support the commercial roll-out of 5G in 2020. And in Norway and Sweden, Telenor selected Nokia as its sole supplier for the replacement of its legacy optical backbone network to provide multi-terabit capacity for its 5G evolution.

In South Korea, SK Telecom and the Korea Transportation Safety Authority (KOTSA) announced a successful deployment of 5G infrastructure in K-City, which is the country's pilot city for self-driving technology. K-City is design to provide real-world scenarios and an end-to-end environment for domestic companies to test self-driving technologies. The infrastructure boasts speeds fast enough to download a 1GB video in .4 seconds, and a 5G communications control center that transfers data to a test vehicle in less than 0.001 second.

Ericsson presented Towards a 5G consumer future, its Consumer and Industry Insight report that consolidates the views of 14,000 iPhone and Android users surveyed between the ages of 15 and 65 - which the company claims is representative of 800 million smartphone users worldwide. The report distills the data into directives that operators should act upon to provide a foundation, and consumer confidence, for adoption of 5G technology. These directives have been condensed into six calls to action in a wish that includes: an effortless buying experience, limitless user experience, use of data as "currency", personalized data plans, a sense of getting more with 5G, and better honesty in operator marketing.

Ericsson also announced the launch of a small cell, 5G radio Dot this month to meet the demands of advanced indoor mobile broadband performance requirements for 5G. And it announced the first 5G technology and application trail in Africa with MTN.

Mimosa Networks announced its fixed-wireless solution was selected by Bluewave to deliver 5G ultra-broadband speeds to homes and businesses across Bermuda. Service offerings range from 10 Mbps to 100 Mbps for residential customers and up to 1 Gbps to commercial clients.

Network News 

In network news, AT&T announced that it has expanded its relationship with Equinix, to offer Network on Demand services to business in Equinix's International Business Exchange data centers. The new AT&T Network on Demand service enables intelligence across cloud service providers, and brings connectivity and expanded interconnection opportunities closer to where businesses operate.

AT&T also completed two Open Source XGS-PON field trials in Atlanta and Dallas. XGS-PON is a fixed wavelength symmetrical 10Gbps passive optic network technology. The XGS-PON system tested multi-gigabit high-speed internet traffic and provided a seamless AT&T DIRECTV NOW video experience to trial participants. The trials bring AT&T a step closer to realizing its vision to virtualize the last mile of network and orchestrate the entire end-to-end network using ONAP.

Windstream announced that it has expanded its nationwide core network into the Columbus, Ohio, market, increasing availability of its Software Defined Network Orchestrated Waves (SDNow) solution in response to surging customer demand, primarily within the content and media industries.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai put forth an order that, if adopted, would provide over $500 million in additional funding for cooperatives and small rural carriers for broadband expansion.