What’s up with… Samsung, Vodafone, Sunrise, FCC

• Samsung boasts vRAN 2.0 with Verizon as a customer
• Vodafone revamps its top tech team
• Sunrise preps major job cuts
• Rosenworcel takes the ‘acting’ hot seat at the FCC

Samsung’s reminder of its cloud-oriented competitive edge in the RAN sector and some new tech roles at the Vodafone Group are the movers and shakers in today’s merry news dance. 

Samsung has thrown down something of a gauntlet to its mobile access infrastructure rivals with the announcement of vRAN 2.0, a fully virtualized, cloud native, containerized and commercially available 5G radio access network system that, it says, is already deployed in Verizon’s live network, along with the vendor’s Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) technology. “With a vRAN approach, carriers are able to rapidly shift capacity to address customer needs. For business customers, vRAN can drive more efficient access to private 5G networks through easy deployment of baseband software in Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) facilities,” states Samsung in this announcement. Verizon, which last year chose Samsung over Nokia as its second 5G RAN vendor, announced the expansion of its 5G network and broader availability of its 5G services at the start of January. 

Vodafone is shaking up its Group level technology leadership team, with current Vodafone UK CTO Scott Petty becoming head of digital and IT operations and Alberto Ripepi taking on the role of head of networks, reports TelcoTitans, which also reports that the changes do not include a departure for Group CTO Johan Wibergh. 

Swiss operator Sunrise is preparing to cut jobs following its acquisition by Liberty Global and merger with UPC Switzerland. Sunrise says it expects the “number of affected employees will be significantly less than 30%” of the total workforce, which is a high percentage to be citing as a ceiling. The combined workforce when the merger was completed late last year was about 3,200, so “significantly less than” about 960 staff will be affected, which won’t come as a comfort to the workforce in these challenging times.   

US President Joe Biden has designated FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel as Acting Chairwoman of the country’s telecoms regulator. “I am honored to be designated as the Acting Chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission by President Biden.  I thank the President for the opportunity to lead an agency with such a vital mission and talented staff.  It is a privilege to serve the American people and work on their behalf to expand the reach of communications opportunity in the digital age.” 

Intel has reported a record year of sales, generating revenues of $77.9 billion in 2020. Fourth quarter revenues came in at $20 billion, about $2.6 billion higher than previously guided. “Demand for the computing performance Intel delivers remains very strong and our focus on growth opportunities is paying off,” said CEO Bob Swan, who is being replaced at the helm by VMware’s Pat Gelsinger. “It has been an honor to lead this wonderful company, and I am proud of what we have achieved as a team. Intel is in a strong strategic and financial position as we make this leadership transition and take Intel to the next level.” Intel also provided an encouraging outlook for the first quarter of 2021, but the share price went on a bit of a rollercoaster ride. Why? Check out Richard Windsor’s analysis in his Radio Free Mobile blog. 

IBM, meanwhile, had a less favourable story to tell, reporting a 6% year-on-year dip in fourth quarter revenues to $20.4 billion and a 5% dip in full year sales to $73.6 billion. Its share price is down by more than 10% today to $118.16. See this earnings release for more details.

Dutch operator Youfone is to launch fixed and mobile services in Belgium in April this year having brokered a wholesale deal with incumbent operator Proximus. Youfone has a Dutch customer base of around 400,000 and focuses on the consumer segment. See this Mobile Europe item. 

IoT solutions specialist Sierra Wireless is seeking a new CEO. Current President and chief executive officer Ken Thexton has announced his retirement from the role and will step down at the end of June. Read more.

- The staff, TelecomTV