Network Evolution News

Telecom industry network news included the announcement that the first-ever high-capacity subsea cable system between Europe and Latin America is in full operation. The new system by Equinix and EllaLink boosts network performance by 50 percent between data centers in Brazil, Portugal and Spain when compared to routes that had to previously transit through North America.

800G is having its moment, too. CityFibre in the UK successfully deployed its first 800 Gb/s backbone wavelength in partnership with leading network technology solutions vendor Ciena, part of its plan to build infrastructure to reach up to 8 million premises in the UK. In Poland, leveraging Ciena’s technology, T-Mobile Polska is bringing the first 800G network to the country, with 400G long-haul service to enable growth in remote work, learning, and entertainment.

To enable intelligent automation for mobile networks, Ericsson has launched its Intelligent Automation Platform for service management and orchestration. The solution facilitates AI and automation, which improves network performance, operational efficiency, and customer experience to help create smarter networks.

5G News

As we near the end of 2021, 79 nations have either commercialized 5G or are conducting 5G trials. According to IDTechEx, the 5G market is just about to take off. By the end of 2032, consumer mobile services are anticipated to generate $800 billion in revenue, and 5G macro infrastructure markets will expand seven times larger than in 2020. Subscription increases bear this out, with 264 million 5G subscriptions worldwide. ABI Research forecasts that the 5G market will continue to accelerate and reach 2.6 billion subscriptions, a significant contribution to mobile operator revenue of $942 billion in 2026.

Worldwide, 5G deployments continued across the world. Highlights include a partnership between Nokia, Telia, and Digita that has delivered a 5G standalone private wireless network to support advanced Industry 4.0 use cases and digital transformation for northern Finland’s mining industry. In addition, Nokia has upgraded its 5G testing lab located in Guadalajara, Mexico to support testing across new use cases. The facility will enable the testing of new 5G products, as well as support growing sales and supply chain operations in the region.

5G news headlines gave us a glimpse into the promise of the technology and its use cases. An innovative 5G robot connectivity trial by Ericsson in Denmark has enabled a teenage student to join his classmates in real time, inside and outside the classroom, during the school day despite having a medical condition that prevents him from physically attending school. Ericsson is also backing the 5G Ride self-driving bus project, which has moved closer to full operations following a successful trial of remote digital monitoring and on-board digital safety services near Ericsson’s company headquarters in Kista, Stockholm, Sweden. And a new report by ABI Research compares 4G and 5G to analyze how new generations of wireless can significantly improve carbon efficiency. To quantify the impact of enterprise 5G, the paper considers the direct energy efficiency of network infrastructure and end devices, and its indirect effect on carbon dioxide emissions, revealing how 5G can advance the global imperative of sustainability.

It's not just new use cases that offer promise—5G maturation is also going to benefit the bottom line. According to the new 5G Pacesetters report from Ericsson ConsumerLab, the frontrunning CSPs driving global demand for consumer 5G are three times more likely to retain customers and almost twice as likely to grow average revenue per user and mobile services revenues compared to other CSPs.