A week in telecoms: 6G push while 5G SA continues gradual roll out

SK Telecom presses ahead with 6G

The continually innovative SK Telecom (SKT) is clearly keen to be at the forefront of the next generation of mobile technology after previously leading the charge with 5G. The South Korean operator held what it described as a special session at the SK Tech Summit 2023 to “discuss 6G standardization status and the need for global cooperation.”

During the 6G session, in which SKT partners NTT Docomo and Bell Canada also participated, SKT introduced its R&D activities, including the development of 6G Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS) technology and a 6G white paper.

It also discussed key technologies for the 6G era, such as on-device AI-based power consumption reduction technology, and the current status and evolution of open radio access network technology.

SKT particularly emphasized the need for global collaboration across Korea, Japan, Europe, and the US “to ensure a successful 6G era.”

Yu Takki, Vice President and Head of Infra Tech Office of SKT, affirmed that the operator “will continue to lead the way in creating a 6G ecosystem and developing future network evolution technologies through global cooperation.”

NTT Docomo and SKT last year unveiled plans to collaborate during the early stages of 6G. They are also targeting an “early deployment of 6G,” which they hope to achieve by working together on research and development projects as well as standardization initiatives.

As things stand, 6G remains very much a vision and a work in progress and not every telecom operator wants to move quickly towards the next generation. The International Telecommunication Union reportedly finalized the 6G Vision Framework at the 44th meeting of the ITU-R WP 5G in Geneva. 6G has been named IMT-2030, and the new 6G vision is contained in the draft new Recommendation ITU-R M.INT.FRAMEWORK for 2030 and beyond.

Vodafone UK flags economic benefits of a speedy 5G SA rollout

Meanwhile, operators around the world are continuing to roll out 5G standalone (SA), with the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) recently estimating that at least 47 operators in 27 countries and territories have launched or deployed public 5G SA networks.

Vodafone UK has also been citing the economic benefits that this technology can bring, but only if 5G SA is rolled out sooner rather than later. According to economic modeling commissioned by the operator and conducted by WPI Economics, a speedier rollout of 5G SA across the UK “could be worth as much as £7.4 billion ($9.2 billion) in additional economic value by 2030 compared to a slower rollout.”

Vodafone has been making much of the research to underpin its argument that it should be allowed to merge with Three UK. The proposed deal is currently being scrutinized by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). 

Ahmed Essam, CEO of Vodafone UK, stated that the proposed combination with Three UK “will mean we have the scale to accelerate investment to bring benefits to businesses and consumers sooner rather than later. We have committed to £11 billion [$13.7 billion] of investment to deliver 5G standalone across the UK.”

Optus CEO quits after major outage; Australia completes spectrum auction

It has been a particularly torrid time for Australian operator Optus, which has learned a harsh lesson about the necessity of keeping networks up and running at all times, and ensuring they are secure and protected.

Following a major outage on November 8, which left 10 million Australians and thousands of businesses without mobile or internet coverage for 14 hours, CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin finally came to the decision that it was time for her to step down.

According to The Guardian, Optus said the outage was due to a configuration issue with more than 90 Cisco routers, which could not cope with changes to routing information supplied from Singtel Internet Exchange (STiX) after a routine software upgrade.

As described by BBC News, Bayer Rosmarin has overseen a tumultuous three years for the operator, including a major data breach last year. Chief Financial Officer Michael Venter will now take over as interim CEO. 

Meanwhile, Optus was one of four mobile network operators that won frequencies in the nation’s recent 3.4GHz/3.7GHz spectrum auction, spending A$33.5 million on four lots of spectrum.

The auction saw Telstra, Optus, TPG Telecom (via Mobile JV) and NBN Co spend a total of A$721.8 million. Telstra alone spent a sizeable A$545.6 million on 326 lots. 

Deutsche Telekom’s OTE looks set to exit Romania

Greek operator OTE confirmed this week that it is in talks with a potential buyer for Telekom Romania Mobile Communications (TRMC), its sole remaining business outside its domestic market.

In a filing to the Athens Exchange, OTE said it had signed an MoU with Quantum Projects Group, which is controlled by Adrian Tomșa, the owner of Romanian broadcaster Clever Media Network (CMN). The parties have also filed for approval with the Romanian competent authorities.

Should the transaction go ahead, Deutsche Telekom, which owns a majority shareholding in OTE, will also see its footprint in Europe shrink to nine markets outside of Germany. 

The sale of the Romanian operator has been on the cards for a while. Indeed, OTE has already sold Telekom Romania’s fixed-line business to Orange, and it seemed only a matter of time before it found a new home for the remaining mobile-only business under TRMC. 

In Europe, apart from Germany and Romania, DT is also present in Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, and Slovakia.

1&1 announces launch of its own 5G mobile services in December

Efforts by German challenger 1&1 to become the fourth 5G MNO in the nation have been followed with close interest by the industry because of the operator’s aim to build a virtualised, open RAN network with help from Rakuten Communications Platform (RCP).

The 1&1 5G network was launched at the end of 2022, but so far only 5G fixed wireless access services have been on offer. The operator has now confirmed that it will start offering its own 5G mobile services on December 8, meaning that smartphone tariffs will then be available.

1&1 also casually mentioned that it has just added 5G to the existing national roaming agreement it has with Telefonica Deutschland (O2). Previously, the deal only covered 2G and 4G. It seems that the addition of 5G is enabling 1&1 to launch mobile services using its own network before the end of 2023.

1&1 has also formed a separate national roaming agreement, including 5G, with Vodafone Germany. The deal is set to come into force from summer 2024, after which point 1&1 will gradually reduce the services it uses from O2. 

1&1 still needs national roaming support from rival operators because of delays in building its own network. 

Magenta Telekom ties with Mavenir for SD voice

Austria-based MNO Magenta Telekom is preparing to introduce software-defined voice services with the help of network software provider Mavenir.

Mavenir’s microservices-based cloud-native IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) will be used to provide voice over LTE (VoLTE) and voice over Wi-Fi (VoWi-Fi) services to Magenta Telekom customers.

Importantly, this is also expected to pave the way for the future delivery of voice over New Radio (VoNR) services, including 5G voice and Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC). Magenta Telekom has yet to launch its 5G standalone network, which would be a prerequisite for VoNR services.

Mavenir is also a 5G partner for Magenta Telekom parent Deutsche Telekom Group. The pair recently announced advances in projects that are exploring 5G SA network slicing opportunities, including a 5G live video production service with RTL Deutschland; and a multi-domain orchestration proof-of-concept (PoC) with open APIs for 5G dynamic network slicing services on-demand.

Notably, Mavenir is a regular contributor to the TM Forum’s Open API program, this year winning Platinum Level Open API conformance status with global industry alliance TM Forum for the Mavenir Digital Enablement (MDE) – BSS Platform.

Also noted…

It’s been a somewhat chaotic week for ChatGPT developer OpenAI. The company’s board ousted and then reinstated CEO Sam Altman within a week. 

BT was reportedly in talks to buy smartphone reseller musicMagpie.