What’s up with… 5G corridors, FWA investments, Intel

• Orange, O2 Telefónica prep ‘5G Autobahn to Autoroute’ corridor
• Fixed wireless access (FWA) is now big business for equipment vendors
• Intel is spinning out its venture capital arm

In today’s industry news roundup: Orange and O2 Telefónica will help to build a cutting-edge 5G ‘corridor’ that will connect France and Germany; spending on fixed wireless access (FWA) tech will top $48bn over the next five years, reckons Dell’Oro; Intel Capital is to be spun out of the chip giant and get a new name; and much more!

French national telco Orange and German operator O2 Telefónica have teamed up with tower infrastructure firms Vantage Towers and Totem (a division of Orange), as well as Germany’s Saarland University of Applied Sciences (htw saar), to plan and build the 5G Autobahn to Autoroute (5G A2A), one of Europe’s first cross-border 5G highway corridors. The ‘corridor’ will connect the cities of Metz in France to Saarbrücken in Germany, along 60km of motorway (55km in France, 5km in Germany). Construction will begin in early 2025 with completion scheduled for the end of 2027. The infrastructure will be fully integrated into the Atlantic trans-European transport network, ensuring uninterrupted 5G connectivity along the entire route. In France, Totem and Orange will install nine new masts and upgrade up to eight existing masts to ensure dedicated 5G coverage using the 3.5 GHz spectrum band. In Germany, Vantage Towers and O2 Telefónica will deploy up to five radio masts using a distributed antenna system (DAS) on the 3.6 GHz band. According to Orange, the 5G corridor will enable the development of innovative mobility services, including: Cooperative lane changing; collision anticipation and prevention; automatic traffic jam alerts; and the testing of (partially) autonomous vehicles. O2 Telefónica’s chief technology and enterprise officer, Mallik Rao, stated: “We are building a high-speed 5G highway to test how to provide consumers and companies with gigabit speeds in the best possible way while driving. This can be a major step towards making connected driving a reality in Germany. We are looking forward to partnering with the automotive and logistics industries to implement and test digital networking solutions of the future based on our high-performance 5G network. The project is a prime example of how digitalisation in Europe must not stop at borders.” Thierry Marigny, director for the Orange Grand Est Region, Eastern France, added: “Orange is proud to be involved in the deployment of the first next-generation 5G corridor between Metz and Saarbrücken. This pioneering project will make this cross-border route the first in Europe to enable the use of connected vehicles and equipment. In future, users of this route will benefit from driver assistance services to enhance their comfort and safety in their connected vehicles”. Read more. 

Growing demand for fixed wireless access (FWA)-enabled broadband services is fuelling high levels of network operator investment in the radio access network (RAN) tech, residential customer premises equipment (CPE) products and enterprise router and gateway products required to provision such services, according to research firm Dell’Oro Group. It expects more than $48bn to be invested in FWA equipment over the next five years, with spending on 4G and 5G residential FWA CPE products set to account for almost half of that total ($5.3bn in 2025 and more than $4bn per year subsequently). “Initially viewed as a way to monetise under-utilised spectrum, FWA has grown to become a major tool for connecting homes and businesses with broadband,” noted Jeff Heynen, an analyst and VP at Dell’Oro Group. “What started in the US is now expanding to India, South-east Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, as mobile operators continue to expand their 5G-based FWA offerings to both residential and enterprise customers,” added Heynen. Read more.

The revamp at Intel continues, with the chip giant set to spin out its venture capital arm, Intel Capital, into a standalone fund that will adopt a new name. “The new fund will bring Intel Capital’s corporate structure into alignment with other leading venture firms, enabling greater autonomy and the flexibility to attract external capital,” noted the company, which is currently slimming down, shedding jobs and seeking a new permanent CEO following the sudden retirement of Pat Gelsinger late last year. Intel will retain a stake in the new company, which will move towards standalone operations in the second half of this year. “The separation of Intel Capital is a win-win scenario as it provides the fund with access to new sources of capital to expand its franchise while allowing both companies to continue benefitting from a productive long-term strategic partnership,” said David Zinsner, interim co-CEO and chief financial officer of Intel. “This step supports our broader strategy to maximise the value of our assets while driving greater focus and efficiency across the business.” Intel Capital currently has more than $5bn in assets under its management. 

Joe Biden appears to be very focused on AI during his final days as US President. Having hacked off a lot of companies and countries earlier this week with new restrictions on AI technology exports, he has also now signed an executive order to ensure that the massive energy demands of US-based AI datacentres can be adequately met. The order “will direct the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy to lease federal sites where the private sector can build frontier AI infrastructure [datacentres] at speed and scale,” the White House announced. “These efforts are designed to accelerate the clean energy transition in a way that is responsible and respectful to local communities, and in a way that does not impose any new costs on American families. These efforts also will help position America to lead the world in clean energy deployment in the context of strategic competition abroad. Some of this new capacity will also be committed for use by small businesses and startups. This renewed partnership between the government and industry will ensure that the United States will continue to lead the age of AI.” The order also compels companies using federal land for their AI datacentres to invest in an “appropriate share” of US-made chips “to help ensure a robust domestic semiconductor supply chain”. Read more. 

Ericsson has teamed up with IBM UK to develop a new emergency services network (ESN) that will be operated by BT Group and used by more than 300,000 emergency responders across Great Britain, the Swedish vendor has announced. BT announced in December last year that it had been awarded a seven-year deal to provide the mobile services for the ESN. Ericsson will provide its core network platform and a range of telecom software systems (OSS and BSS) as well as professional services. As the new user services supplier, IBM will lead the design, build and system integration of the ESN platform: Samsung will also play a role as a partner to IBM UK. “Key to achieving this will be IBM’s delivery of IT infrastructure, which will be fundamental to ensuring improved and more efficient communication capabilities for mission-critical services,” noted Ericsson. Read more. 

Meta is set to axe about 3,600 staff, roughly 5% of the big tech firm’s total workforce, through a “performance-based terminations” process and then hire new people to fill their roles, according to an internal memo sent to all employees, Bloomberg has reported. “I’ve decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low-performers faster,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated in the note posted to an internal message board. “We typically manage out people who aren’t meeting expectations over the course of a year,” he said, “but now we’re going to do more extensive performance-based cuts during this cycle.” The layoffs are expected to be completed by the end of February. 

– The staff, TelecomTV