• 3GPP warns of 5G specs delays
• Google Cloud signs up Shatzkamer
• Colt has a new COO

The latest on the 3GPP’s Release 16 and 17 specifications for 5G and people movements at Google Cloud and Colt are our front runners in today’s news sprint.

• The 3GPP has ‘frozen’ its Release 16 specifications for 5G but has warned that recent discussions “identified that the Rel-17 dates are at a high risk of being delayed” because of the “switch from physical meetings to e-meetings.” Further discussions on the timeframes for Release 17 specifications will be discussed again in September. The Release 17 specifications had been due for completion in September 2021, as the diagram above (set in march this year) shows, so there’s a chance that this will now be pushed back to the end of next year or even into 2022. 
• Kevin Shatzkamer, a well liked and respected figure in the telco cloud sector, is the latest senior telecom industry executive to join one of the webscale giants. Shatzkamer, most recently VP/GM of Service Provider Solutions at Dell EMC, has joined Google Cloud as Digital Transformation Officer for Telecoms. In a blog posted on LinkedIn, Shatzkamer noted that as he looks at “the trends driving the Telecommunications industry forward - “open-X” (source, APIs, standards, RAN, etc.), software-defined networking, including programmable fabrics, virtualization and cloud native, #automation, artificial intelligence, edge computing, it has become clear to me that the public cloud and the Telecommunications industry are inexorably linked over the next decade-plus.” Google Cloud, AWS and Microsoft Azure have all been hiring experienced executives from the telecoms sector during the past few years to build up their in-house knowledge and contacts as they seek to become ever more influential players in the communications networking sector. 
• Colt has promoted Paula Cogan to the Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) position vacated by Keri Gilder when she was appointed CEO earlier this year. Prior to joining Colt four years ago, Cogan held senior sales roles at Verizon Business and BT. Now we need to know about Cogan’s hot beverage preferences, just to see if they’re as exotic as Gilder’s (see our Extra Shot programme on Connectivity and the Resurgence of Telecoms featuring Keri Gilder – fast forward to 2:07 into the programme…)
• Kjell Morten Johnsen is to become the new President and CEO of network operator Tele2 in September when the incumbent, Anders Nilsson, steps down “to focus on other things in life.” 
• The TM Forum has become the latest industry organization to shift its events to a digital format: Its Digital Transformation World Series will now be presented in the form of a six-week online festival starting the week of 5 October..
• AT&T is boasting it had “the fastest wireless network for iPhones and fastest wireless network overall” during the second quarter of 2020, citing data from Ookla. 
• Fujitsu is halving its office space in Japan in the wake of the coronavirus – Japan is out the other side of its lockdown – and is hatching a "Work Life Shift" programme for its 80,000 workers, reports the BBC.
• Ericsson says it has made its Standalone 5G NR software for 5G mid- and low bands commercially available to all customers. “With this software, communications service providers can now operate 5G NR without the need for signaling support from an underlying LTE network,” notes the vendor.  
• Bharti Airtel has deployed India’s largest cloud-based VoLTE network using Nokia software products, according to the Finnish vendor.

- The staff, TelecomTV