• Lumen lightens its load
• Mavenir lands ‘rip and replace’ Open RAN deal
• UK researchers team up for 6G initiative

A strategic divestment by Lumen and an example of how Huawei’s pariah status in the US is helping boost Open RAN sales are the lead items in today’s industry news roundup.

US operator Lumen is selling its incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) operations, including consumer, small business, wholesale and mostly copper-served enterprise customers and assets, in 20 states to Apollo Global Management in a deal valued at $7.5 billion. As the chart above shows, Lumen (formerly known as CenturyLink) will retain ILEC operations in 16 states. Read more. 

Open RAN specialist Mavenir has landed a deal to supply Open RAN and evolved packet core (EPC) technology to Triangle Communications, a network operator in Montana. Triangle is sourcing its tech and systems integration services from Mavenir as part of a ‘rip and replace’ project that will see it replace its existing Huawei technology. Read more.

In an effort to put the UK’s research community at the heart of next-generation communications innovation, researchers with expertise in telecoms networks, cyber, Artificial Intelligence, digital humanities, social sciences and the arts from the University of Bristol and King’s College London have launched a virtual hub, 6G Futures, “to take mobile technology to the next level and put the UK at the global forefront of 6G research, innovation, and education.” Two of the key individuals behind the effort are Professor Dimitra Simeonidou, Director of the University of Bristol’s Smart Internet Lab and Co-Director of Bristol Digital Futures Institute, and Professor Mischa Dohler, Professor in Wireless Communications at King’s. “The public is only beginning to see first-hand the enormous potential of 5G networks, an area which we have been working on for many years,” noted Simeonidou in this announcement. “Through this new centre, we will now focus on the next generation mobile networks – 6G and beyond – and the truly awe-inspiring capabilities these will bring. 6G will be inherently human-centric, and will establish a cyber-physical continuum by delivering real time sensory information, supporting haptics and holograms. This takes us far beyond future-forecasting: crucially, this is about having the specialist knowledge and expertise to transform visions into deliverable solutions, accelerate innovation, and make a positive difference to society worldwide,” she added. This isn’t the only 6G R&D initiative in the UK, of course: The University of Surrey announced its 6G Innovation Centre (6GIC) in November 2020, building on the work it has long been doing at its 5GIC, while the UK government included 6G research as part of its Atlantic Charter agreement with the US that was announced in June this year. Might 6G Futures collaborate with the 6GIC? Simeonidou says the 6G Futures group is “happy to collaborate, as we have done before,” but notes also that it is good for the UK to have more than one focus on 6G. To find out more about 6G Futures, check out its website.

DZS, the broadband access and mobile transport vendor formerly known as Dasan Zhone Solutions that is branching into virtualization and Open RAN, has reported strong growth for the second quarter of this year. Revenues of $82.7 million increased 17.3% year-over-year, while trailing 12-month revenues of $346.4 million increased 29.7%. “During the second quarter, revenue for both mobile transport and broadband connectivity demonstrated double digit revenue growth,” noted the company in its earnings report. “On a geographic basis, revenue from the Americas in the second quarter increased 75% year-over-year while the Asia and the EMEA regions each were relatively flat. For the trailing twelve months, revenue growth was led by our mobile transport products.” The company added that “strong demand for broadband connectivity and 5G mobile transport solutions delivered record orders for the second quarter 2021, which follows record setting orders achieved in the first quarter of 2021. Second quarter 2021 orders of $128 million increased 65% year-over-year and our first half 2021 orders of $245 million represented an 82% year-over-year increase. Record backlog of $160 million at June 30, 2021, represented a 95% increase year-over-year.” That should provide good vibes for Misty Kawecki, a “telecom finance veteran” who has joined DZS as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO). 

Still with DZS… It has announced an expanded collaboration with Broadcom “to advance open standards and bring to market next-generation high-speed optical broadband and Passive Optical Network (PON) technology.” Rich Nelson, Senior Vice President and General Manager at Broadcom’s Broadband Video Group noted: “As we continue to enhance 10G-class technologies like XGS-PON which are now being widely adopted and develop solutions based on next generation technologies, DZS is an ideal technology partner with more than two-decades of history in supporting some of the most advanced networks in the world with our Broadband Access Solutions. Service providers are embracing open ecosystems and our work with DZS focuses on delivering future-ready, standards-based innovations in next generation technologies that help operators expand, evolve and converge their broadband networks to capitalize on the opportunities of today and tomorrow.” Read more. 

Research giant Gartner says global 5G radio access network infrastructure spending is set to grow 39% to be worth $19.1 billion this year, up from $13.7 billion in 2020. Read more.

Huawei plans to invest US$100 million to support startups via its Spark Program in the Asia Pacific region, which “aims to build a sustainable startup ecosystem for the region over the next three years.” The Chinese vendor says it has been “helping Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Thailand build their startup hubs,” and that this effort would be extended to the development of “four additional startup hubs – in Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam – with the overarching aim of recruiting a total of 1,000 startups into the Spark accelerator program and shaping 100 of them into scaleups.” Read more.

- The staff, TelecomTV