Leaderboard and Innovation News

As the first month of a new year, January typically brings final predictions and top trends for what’s to come. In this spirit, Enea gathered insights on what global operators can expect this year from a cross-section of mobile industry thought leaders including AT&T, Telefonica, RootMetrics, Tutela, Analysys Mason, Strategy Analytics and ABI Research. Comarch Telecommunications released a survey called the “Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and the Future of Telecoms,” which proves that AI-driven technologies are playing a key role today and will continue to do so in the decade ahead. The research also gives insight into the benefits of this technology and the areas it will best support.

A new report from Juniper Research has found that there will be nearly two billion active subscriptions to on-demand video services in 2025, a 65 percent increase over the end of 2020. The primary engine for this growth will be from traditional broadcasters, who are increasingly turning to streaming services in order to extend their reach and compete with online video giants such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Another Juniper study found that the total number of QR code payment users will exceed 2.2 billion in 2025, up from 1.5 billion in 2020, equating to 29 percent of all mobile phone users across the world in 2025. A third new study from the analysis firm predicted that the global number of users of RCS (Rich Communication Services) messaging will reach 3.9 billion by 2025, rising from 1.2 billion in 2020, representing an opportunity for operators to boost mobile engagement.

The Wireless Broadband Alliance released its latest 5G Wi-Fi 6 report, developed with input from mobile carriers, Wi-Fi providers, telecom manufacturers, and its own 5G Working Group. The report provides a breakdown of the current standards and key business opportunities for operators. 

Cradlepoint released findings from a survey conducted through Police1, FireRescue1, EMS1 and Gov1. The survey reveals the state of critical communications and key drivers impacting digital innovation in the public safety sector.

Partnerships also made innovation news this month. Microsoft has announced a new partnership with the Broad Institute of MIT and Verily of Harvard University to accelerate new innovations in biomedicine through the Terra platform. Firstlight Media and Evergent Technologies are integrating their cloud-based capabilities to help OTT and pay-TV providers deliver end-to-end solutions that optimize and monetize audiences. Firstlight Media also announced that it has partnered with Google Cloud to support rapid deployment and expansion of OTT video streaming services for Tier 1 operators.

In another industry partnership, Vodafone Group’s UK subsidiary Vodafone Limited and Telefonica UK Limited announced plans for the commercialization of Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure Limited, the joint venture company that owns and manages their passive tower infrastructure in the United Kingdom. In US mergers and acquisition, Bluebird Network has acquired the ColoHub Data Center in Bettendorf, Iowa, its second data center acquisition.

Innovation news also included advancements in standards and an industry first. ETSI has launched its MEC Sandbox for edge app developers to experience and interact with an implementation of ETSI MEC APIs and test out their applications. GridRaster has achieved millimeter accuracy in mixed reality overlays using three-dimensional Artificial Intelligence (3D AI), now available for virtual overlays in enterprise design/build environments.

Satellite News

A new path to accessing Brazil’s connectivity market has been laid out for satellite service providers with the announcement of a partnership between SatADSL and Telespazio. Telespazio Brazil will offer connectivity via SatADSL’s Cloud-service Delivery Platform (C-SDP), which enables SatADSL to deploy its full range of dynamic services across the country and provide Telespazio Brazil with access to additional markets in Latin America.

GHGSat, which monitors high-resolution greenhouse gas monitoring from space, has successfully completed the launch of its third satellite, GHGSat-C2 (Hugo), which launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station as part of the SpaceX rideshare launch.

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