• Nokia nabs slice of NTIA’s $273m Open RAN radio R&D grants
• European telco cloud project releases v1.2 
• KDDI, Kyocera boast mmWave coverage breakthrough

In today’s industry news roundup: Nokia and others land Open RAN radio unit development grants as the NTIA hands out $273m of Wireless Innovation Fund investments; Project Sylva update offers scalability and performance improvements for containerised and cloud-native workloads; Japanese telco KDDI and Kyocera “dramatically expand” mmWave coverage with new wireless relay technology; and much more!

Nokia has landed $45m of funding for Open RAN radio unit development as part of the latest round of grants awarded by the US Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which is responsible for distributing Wireless Innovation Fund grants. In this round, the NTIA is awarding a total of just more than $273m to companies engaging in Open RAN radio unit research and development activities as part of the first tranche of grants from the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund’s second Notice of Funding Opportunity. Applicants were required to partner with a mobile operator to develop products “that will be commercially viable,” noted the NTIA in this announcement. “The inclusion of international network operators and other companies in this batch of awards demonstrates NTIA’s commitment to achieving adoption of Open RAN on a global scale,” it added. Nokia’s $45m is for the development of a next-gen open radio unit platform that can then be used to make products specific to the particular needs of different markets around the world. The other grant recipients are: JMA Wireless ($43.94m), for energy-efficient Open RAN radio unit components (see this press release); Abside Networks ($46.8m), for the development of very-large-array (VLA) massive multiple input/multiple output (massive MIMO) open radio units; Battelle Memorial Institute ($37.85m), for the development of its RavenStar massive MIMO radio products; Microelectronics Technology ($34.96m), for the “development of five Open RAN macro radios for operation with four worldwide mobile network operators”; Eridan Communications ($36.8m), for its Miracle radio unit, a light, energy-efficient small cell product; and Solid Gear ($27.68m), which is developing multi-operator open radio units that can be integrated into distributed antenna systems (DAS) to enable multiple operators to access in-building networks. The NTIA is set to award a further $146m as part of the same Notice of Funding Opportunity later this winter. The Wireless Innovation Fund is set to award $1.5bn of Chips and Science Act grants over the next decade to “support the development of open and interoperable networks,” noted the NTIA, which has awarded $413m in grants to date. Alan Davidson, assistant secretary of commerce for communications and information and NTIA administrator, commented: “The security of our phone networks has never been more important. Today’s awards are tackling a major wireless network hurdle head-on, with support to bring more trusted and open radio units to market. These projects will shore up the hardware supply chain and create new opportunities for trusted components from the US and its allies.” News of the grants comes amidst a series of analyst reports that suggest network operators currently remain cautious about investing in Open RAN deployments

Project Sylva, the open-source telco cloud stack initiative that is supported by multiple major European telcos and vendors and managed by the Linux Foundation, has released v1.2 of its software stack. The update “introduces key enhancements aimed at improving scalability and performance, particularly in containerising workloads and optimising cloud-native operations for telecom operators,” according to the Linux Foundation. The project, which was launched in late 2022 and counts Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefónica, TIM (Telecom Italia) and Vodafone among its supporters, is focused on the development of “a cloud-native, scalable, and energy-efficient telco cloud infrastructure that will meet the evolving demands of modern telecom services. This infrastructure will support technologies such as Open RAN, edge computing, and AI-driven networks,” noted the Linux Foundation. Kai Steuernagel, VP of cloud technology at Deutsche Telekom, said: “While Sylva continues to deliver these new releases, the project also puts its focus on a longer-term view and how it should evolve in the future where new challenges arise. There is still some time until 6G will be deployed, but the time should be spent wisely to close the gap of the fast evolving IT cloud technology and the NT [network technology] space and eventually open the game for a true conversion.” 

Japanese operator KDDI, in partnership with Kyocera, has developed a wireless relay technology that, the telco claims, “dramatically expands” the area that can be covered with millimetre wave (mmWave) radio access network technology. In a test conducted by the network operator in Tokyo’s Nishi-Shinjuku district, the use of the wireless mesh network technology, which enables small repeater units to form a relay network of radio waves between each other, expanded the coverage of mmWave (28 GHz band) signals from 33% of the district’s streets to 99%. KDDI noted: “The two companies will continue this test until 31 March 2025, aiming to commercialise this technology in fiscal 2025 in order to provide even faster and more stable communication services in downtown areas, stations, stadiums, and other areas where traffic is expected to increase in the future.” For further details of the tests and the way the technology works, see this announcement. 

The foldable device craze looks set to continue into 2025 and beyond. Just as Huawei unveiled its latest foldable device, the MateX6, multiple reports emerged that Apple is planning to unveil foldable iPad and iPhone devices during the next couple of years. TechCrunch has the details. Huawei caused a stir earlier this year when it unveiled its tri-fold smartphone, while Samsung, which launched its first foldable devices several years ago, is believed to be planning a tri-fold smartphone launch for 2025. 

Beleaguered UK network operator TalkTalk, which concluded its refinancing in the autumn, is set to axe hundreds of jobs across its retail business (TalkTalk) and its wholesale business (PlatformX). It is aiming to reduce its annual operating costs by £120m by implementing a “radical restructuring” programme, according to a report from The Telegraph.

AMD, Intel and Nvidia are among the companies to have participated in the $155m funding round for Ayar Labs, which is developing optical interconnect (optical I/O) technology for datacentre deployments. Currently, electricity rather than light is used to connect chips, but optical interconnects enable faster and denser links than electrical interconnects and will significantly improve the efficiency and performance of the systems used for datacentre workloads, particularly AI training and inference. “AI infrastructure is projected to see more than $1tn in investments over the next decade, highlighting the critical need for solutions that eliminate bottlenecks created by traditional copper interconnects and pluggable optics,” noted Ayar Labs, which has now raised $370m and is valued at more than $1bn. For more on the funding and why investors believe Ayar Labs is set to play a key role in the development of AI infrastructure, see this announcement.  

– The staff, TelecomTV