What’s up with... Parallel Wireless, India, DISH & IBM

• Parallel Wireless expands its Open RAN R&D capabilities
• Relief for Vodafone Idea
• DISH turns to IBM for automation

International expansion for Parallel Wireless and welcome news for India’s network operators are at the top of today’s news pile.

Parallel Wireless is ramping up its international presence with plans for Open RAN R&D centres in India, Israel, the UK and the US. A new office and lab in Bristol, UK, and 5G labs and testing facilities in Kfar Saba, just outside Tel Aviv in Israel, are among the company’s new locations. For further details, see this announcement.  

India’s government has handed the beleaguered service provider sector a lifeline with a relief package that includes a four-year moratorium on payments due for taxes and licenses that were set to put Vodafone Idea’s ability to continue trading in jeopardy. The move, reported by The Economic Times, should ensure that India has at least three private operators for the next few years. That this situation has even arisen shows the impact that the arrival of reliance Jio has had on India’s telecoms market: See From too many CSPs to too few: India’s mobile woes.)

DISH Network has turned to IBM for the network automation and orchestration tools it needs to run its upcoming Open RAN 5G network. DISH will use IBM Cloud Pak for Network Automation software, which is “designed to continuously learn, provide insights and use financial impact analysis to prioritize and manage issue resolution and network function.” DISH had been planning to launch its 5G service in Las Vegas about now, but had to delay until the fourth quarter for a beta launch ahead of a commercial offer in early 2022. For more on its deal with IBM, see this announcement. 

TIM has joined the small but growing ranks of operators with 25 Gbit/s PON technology in its fixed access network, courtesy of Nokia: The partners conducted a test in Turin that showed how GPON, XGS-PON and 25GS-PON technologies can share the same fibre. Read more.   

“More pro than ever before” is how Apple describes the new iPhone 13 models it launched this week. Read more.

IDC claims "Whole Cloud" spending will reach a stonking $1.3 trillion by 2025, the cloud having become the foundation for the delivery of mobile and content services as well as an alternative to traditional enterprise computing environments. As businesses pivot to a digital-first economy, cloud will continue to play an ever greater, and even dominant, role as the IT industry focuses on delivering greater efficiency, flexibility, and faster innovation. Read more...

5G is set to prop up Cloud Gaming users and drive cloud video revenue to US$67.5 Billion by 2024, claims ABI Research. It says Edge Networks will  bring new capabilities allowing CSPs to develop innovative applications, services, and revenue streams in the media and entertainment domain, essentially enabling a valuable compromise between decentralizing network traffic, while centralizing processing capabilities. Read more...

Telefónica Tech partners with Zoom to offer its next-generation collaboration services portfolio, including Zoom Meetings, Zoom Webinars and Zoom Phone. Telefónica envisions a post-pandemic hybrid workplace in which collaboration services such as Zoom are key to keep working anytime, anywhere with the most engaging collaboration experience. Read more…

Infinera says GÉANT, a European collaboration to advance network and related infrastructure and services for research and education, has completed a live network trial of 800G transmission on its pan-European production network. Powered by Infinera’s industry-leading ICE6 800G coherent technology on the GX Series Compact Modular Platform, this trial demonstrated the ability of GÉANT’s network to massively increase capacity and scale significant amounts of bandwidth to meet the growing needs of the research community, Infinera claims. You can find out more here…

Apparently  there’s a minor moral panic over the apparent loosening of office discipline in some companies due to "bad habits" picked up by working from home. Like, (gasp!), texting during zoom calls (which almost a quarter of Brits admit to doing). A survey of 1,000 people by telecommunications provider, TextAnywhere, found over two-thirds of employees admitted their personal phone does have an impact on their attention span, distracting them from work. Well, yes, but then the lockdown and working from home distracted many people from their private lives - it might just be that the traditional boundaries are a little frayed now. Julie Lock, Head of People (love that title - says it all) at Mitrefinch, a Workforce Management company, calls for balance. “Many employers will panic about the use of mobile phones during working hours and meetings, and the impact this has on productivity. But, if remote working is going to continue beyond Covid-19 then trust must be established by employers, rather than a culture that closely monitors its staff from home. Quite so. The full research can be found here