• DISH invites Qualcomm to its Open RAN party
• TIM has got a lot going on in Italy and Brazil
• Nokia wants CSPs to trust the machine

An interesting collaboration between DISH and Qualcomm on the development of the former’s Open RAN-based 5G network, and a flurry of activity at TIM (Telecom Italia) lead the way in this procession of news flag-wavers.

DISH, which is currently building the US’s first Open RAN-based 5G network, says it is collaborating with wireless chip giant Qualcomm to “to test open and virtualized RAN 5G solutions containing the new Qualcomm 5G RAN Platforms to help fast track DISH's rollout.” Qualcomm unveiled its 5G RAN portfolio last month – see the details here. “By further expanding its portfolio of 5G infrastructure solutions to include O-RAN specifications that are compliant with DISH’s open architecture and implementation, Qualcomm Technologies will enable greater flexibility in the deployment of our 5G vRAN equipment,” noted DISH chief network officer Marc Rouanne. “With this move, Qualcomm Technologies will also enrich a diverse ecosystem of RAN applications by delivering data insights natively through the future chipset family. These insights are the foundation of our data-centric and fully-automated network architecture. We are pleased to see Qualcomm Technologies embracing O-RAN and virtualization, creating even more possibilities for the future of 5G across the industry,” added Rouanne, who recently outlined some of the ways DISH is doing things differently in an interview with TelecomTV. For more on how DISH and Qualcomm are working together, see this announcement. 

TIM (Telecom Italia) reported a 5% year-on-year dip in third quarter revenues to €11.7 billion, but noted that its rate of sales contraction is slowing. It also announced the creation of a new unit called NewCo that will independently run TIM’s data centres: The unit was begin operations in the first quarter of next year and have annual revenues of about €500 million. One can only guess at whether this move will herald a spin-off or sale of the unit. See the operator’s earnings announcement for more details.

Meanwhile, ahead of the proposed creation of a single national fixed access broadband network company called AccessCo through the merger of its access unit with wholesale operator Open Fiber, TIM edged closer to the launch of FiberCop, the unit that is set to merge with Open Fiber, with the operator expecting FiberCop to come into effect at the beginning of 2021. TIM CEO Luigi Gubitosi noted during the operator’s earnings call that the operator is ready to move ahead with the creation of AccessCo as soon as Open Fiber’s owners are ready to do so, reported Reuters... things sound a bit tense on that front… 

And still with TIM… Its Brazilian operation has joined forces with Vivo and Claro to submit a binding offer of 16.5 billion Reais (€2.7 billion) for the mobile business of the Oi Group. The consortium was admitted as a “stalking horse” (entitled to raise its bid in the event of higher bids being made by competitors) at the auction scheduled to take place by mid-December 2020.

Nokia has announced the ‘AVA QoE at the Edge’ service that, it claims, will enable CSPs to deliver a superior customer experience by allowing automated actions to fix customer issues instantly. The system deploys Machine Learning (ML) algorithms on traditional network architectures and has achieved a 59% reduction in Netflix buffering and 15% fewer YouTube sessions that suffer from long playback. The solution also eases the data burden on CSPs, with an exponential reduction in the volume of user plane data required to feed ML models, the vendor claims. For more details, see this press release. 

The Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) has launched a 4G and 5G Fixed Wireless Access Forum. The GSA describes itself as “the voice of the global mobile ecosystem representing companies engaged in the supply of infrastructure, semiconductors, test equipment, devices, applications and mobile support services,” so the announcement of the specialised forum might be taken as a sign that the GSA is keen to encourage the development of FWA, which seems to be on a roll, but also encourage the use of 4G/5G technology in new FWA systems, lest their technology underpinnings start slipping away to alternatives, diluting the scale that makes 4G/5G the juggernaut it is. The GSA is conducting a free webinar on the development, details of which can be found here https://gsacom.com/webinar-fixed-wireless-access/.

One from the ‘not surprised but interesting all the same’ pile… The gaming industry in the UK has become a top employer, boosted by increased gaming activity through the recent (and current) lockdowns. Recruiting outfit Robert Walters and data provider Vacancysoft, reckon that gaming is on a steep growth curve. It says employment in gaming grew by 20% this year as other employment sectors contracted and this growth is expected to continue. It estimates that gaming staff contribute £80,000 each to the economy (double the national average) and that the sector now employs 47,000 professionals, directly and indirectly, across related industries (such as merchandising or eSports).

- The staff, TelecomTV