At MWC Las Vegas 2023 Marc Rohleder, Vice President of Technology Strategy, discusses the biggest opportunities for private networks in the US and Boldyn Networks’ converged network approach.

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Dr. Tom Rondeau, Principal Director for FutureG & 5G, discusses the big industry issues with Mobile World Live’s Mike Robuck at MWC Las Vegas 2023.

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Mobile World Live‘s Justin Springham is joined by senior editor Chris Donkin and Creative Strategies’ Carolina Milanesi to highlight the top five talking points of this year’s big Vegas show.

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Amanda Toman, Director – Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund, sits down with Mobile World Live‘s Mike Robuck at MWC Las Vegas 2023.

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Russo, who is the company’s president of global networks and technology, stated its transformation journey started with deploying more fibre, virtualisation and an internally-developed Verizon Cloud Platform. The latter is based on webscale software architecture and IP-based technologies designed for mobile operator workloads.

“All our 5G core applications are now running on our cloud-native platform,” said Russo. “We’ve moved to a containerised environment as well recently with the 5G core.”

The benefit of a Kubernetes-based, cloud-native platform includes disaggregating software and hardware in the core to support the dynamic allocation of network resources.

“Now in the core, we’re really seeing the ability to automate resilience,” Russo explained. “That’s the first thing, which is just making sure that the applications can self-heal and that the applications can stand themselves up if we see a fault in the platform.”

The 5G core upgrades also enable Verizon to do faster software releases without impacting services used by consumers and businesses.

“There’s a ton of automation we’ve built into our testing right through deployment and optimisation of the platform,” Russo noted.

Verizon also built-in transport and application resiliency by using virtualised platforms.

The operator has reduced infrastructure costs, which Russo stated allowed it to invest in other areas such as coverage and capacity.

Core competencies
A further benefit is the skills and capabilities Verizon has built up through re-tooling its 5G core, which can be applied to enterprise customers.

“My team understands how to stand up a virtualised core, and then all the way out to a virtualised RAN solution, all of which is what we’re doing in the private networking space,” Russo said.

Verizon now has vRAN on 15,000 cell sites, up from 8,000 in September of 2022, primarily through Samsung, but Russo noted the operator has started to deploy Ericsson’s vRAN.

Russo said Verizon is working to deploy standalone (SA) 5G after conducting various trials but he stated the operator’s open RAN efforts were “slow but developing”.

“I’ve been pushing the team to make sure that as we deploy standalone, it’s a step function improvement for our customers,” he said. “What we’ve seen in our testing is there are some things we have to work out to make sure that our customers are getting the reliability and accessibility that they expect not only for their data sessions, but also their voice sessions.”

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Jacobs believes the satellite sector is certainly a big market, pointing to the high numbers quoted in the past for connected IoT devices.

These figures mean “there is going to be room for a number of players”.

With increasing competition, he believes experience will count for something, pointing to Globalstar’s history of operating a system for 25 years.

It also has some high profile contracts under its belt, including a deal with Apple for an emergency messaging service.

“Globalstar really knows how to do this. It’s not the easiest thing in world to keep your satellite system up and working well. So, I think there’s going to be some fallout in the industry, because there’s so many people piling in right now,” said Jacobs.

When appointing the former Qualcomm chief last month, Globalstar also handed a licensing deal to XCOM Labs, a company founded by the executive in 2018.

Jacobs explained a major driver of the project is to combine a piece of Globalstar’s spectrum, which can be used on the ground for a terrestrial network and improve its efficiency by up to ten-times through XCOM Labs’ technology.

Globalstar and XCOM Labs are looking to develop private networks for warehouses and factories to manage automation, while using satellite connectivity to track goods when they leave the facilities.

“The whole notion of convergence was something that really drove us to do this deal,” he added.

Click here to watch the full interview.

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Mobile World Live has all the highlights from day two, where Boingo heralded an upcoming major industry anniversary and US government policies, including an open RAN push and potential return of net neutrality, were key talking points.

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Thomas Rondeau, Principal Director for FutureG & 5G, US Department of Defence, in conversation with Carolina Milanesi, President & Principal Analyst, Creative Strategies.

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Amanda Toman, Director – Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund, presents in keynote session three.

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Mike Finley, CEO, opens the keynote session on day two of the event.

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Mike Finley, CEO, in conversation with Carolina Milanesi, President & Principal Analyst, Creative Strategies.

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Kyle Malady, EVP & CEO, in conversation with Sue Marek, Contributing Editor, Fierce Wireless.

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CEO Paul Jacobs in conversation with Justin Springham.

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Mark Bidinger, President, Commercial & Industrial Segments & Channels, in conversation with Shahid Ahmed, Group EVP, New Ventures & Innovation, NTT.

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Martina Klingvall, Founder & CEO, presents in keynote two.

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Sameer Vuyyuru, Head of WW Business Development for Communication Service Providers, presents in keynote two.

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The fund sits within the US Department of Commerce and was allotted $1.5 billion from the CHIPS Act in August 2022 with the primary directive of accelerating commercial deployments of open RAN and interoperable networks.

Toman stated her agency received 90 proposals from operators, cloud providers, network edge providers, academia, industry groups and equipment vendors looking to take part in the initiative.

The proposals were whittled down to three primary areas for the near term: interoperability testing, network security and refinement of open RAN specifications.

“I think our big metric is to try and get the US as a competitive player back in the telecommunication space,” Toman stated. “So, my hope would be that our investments are able to spur the ecosystem in the United States, understanding that this is a global problem, but it will be really nice to have US competitiveness in this space.”

As required by congress, the NTIA issued its first notice of funding (NOFA) in August 2023 to Northeastern University, New York University and Deep Six.

“One thing where we see a potential to accelerate the commercial adoption of radio access network is in the area of specification,” Toman explained. “The idea that plug and play, which happened in the mid 90s with the computing industry. It would be really nice if telecom could mimic that.”

She stated the Innovation Fund will be issuing its second NOFA early next year.

“Ultimately, at the end of our 10-year program, we think a competitive global ecosystem of trusted suppliers of open and interoperable telecommunications equipment that is deployed both domestically and overseas would be a huge success,” she stated.

US DoD eyes open RAN benefits
The concept of using open RAN technology in networks was also supported by fellow keynote presenter Dr. Tom Rondeau (pictured, right), principal director for the FutureG and 5G Office in the US Department of Defence (DoD.)

Rondeau highlighted the importance of keeping networks secure and argued open RAN provides benefit in this area.

“Security is super important for us. This is why we keep looking at open RAN as a key tenet of our future DoD use in technology. We need open and resilient networks; we need transparency inside them to understand them. We have unique DoD requirements… Our use cases are different, we need the ability to develop those algorithms and manage our presence on those networks ourselves.  Creating that openness is a big part of that.”

Rondeau cited a report released by the NTIA earlier this year which found open RAN technology is no worse than traditional RAN, when it comes to security.

“They found a number of security issues with open RAN. And they found a number of security issues with closed RAN. They identified only 4 per cent unique differences with open RAN architecture than a closed one.

“Let’s be clear, every software-based system is going to have security vulnerabilities. So how do we mitigate that? Opening it up, making it transparent – those are the things we are looking at to manage this space.”

Additional reporting by Justin Springham.

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Hardmon Williams, SVP, AT&T, in conversation with GSMA CMO Lara Dewar during the opening keynote session.

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John Saw, CTO, presents in the event’s opening keynote session.

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Slayton Stewart, Chairman, CTIA & CEO of Carolina West Wireless, in conversation with CTIA President and CEO Meredith Attwell Baker.

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Leighton Carroll, CEO, catches up with Mobile World Live on the MWC Las Vegas showfloor to discuss the role of multibeam antennas in the mobile ecosystem.

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“Before there were net neutrality rules, there were no problems in our industry,” Malady said. “Then there were net neutrality rules and there were no problems and then they went away again.

“So now, it’s almost like it’s a theoretical problem that could happen, and we need to regulate it. And right now, I think it’s unneeded to be honest with you.”

To recap, net neutrality was struck down in 2017 after a 3-2 vote by Federal Communication Commission (FCC) commissioners during the administration of President Donald Trump.

Current President Joe Biden has expressed an interest in restoring net neutrality but was hamstrung for several years due to a 2-2 deadlock of commissioners. In May, Biden nominated former National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) executive Anna Gomez as the fifth commissioner, which gave Democrats the majority.

Yesterday (26 September), FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel announced a proposal for re-instating the rules. The rules would prohibit service providers from blocking or throttling access to websites and online content while also seeking to prevent operators from selectively increasing speeds for entities that agree to pay extra.

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Meredith Attwell Baker, President & CEO, presents in the opening keynote session.

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At MWC Las Vegas 2023 Stephen Rose, GM – Global Telco and Distribution Industries, reviews the impact of generative AI on the telco industry and IBM’s progress with watsonx in this area.

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At MWC Las Vegas 2023 Manish Singh, CTO – Telecom Systems Business, outlines why an open telecom ecosystem is so important and how Dell fits into the market.

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Finley referenced a call made in the car park of Soldier Field stadium in Chicago on 13 October 1983. The call was made on a DynaTAC phone (invented by Marty Cooper ten years earlier) from former Ameritech (then part of AT&T) president Bob Barnett to the great-grandson of Alexander Graham Bell, the man widely credited with patenting the first mainstream telephone.

Boingo Wireless has a close connection to Soldier Field, home of NFL team Chicago Bears, having provided connectivity to the stadium for almost twenty years. Recently it switched on 5G at the venue, offering fans the opportunity to stream instant replays, use mobile ticketing and contactless concessions.

“Going to a game, not only does your phone get you in and get you contactless entry and concessions, it can be a much more immersive experience for the end user. All of our venue partners, specifically in sports and entertainment, want to create a capability for their end users to experience not just the event but to get it in so many different ways. They are going to deliver benefits through AR and VR,” he explained.

Private networks evolving
Finley went on to reflect how use cases for private networks outside of event venues are fast evolving.

“Currently we are in a large number of airports and train stations. We can take a network that’s a combination of wi-fi and cellular and add on private services to that. Historically we’ve basically provided coverage to the jetway, and not on the plane or tarmac, but now customers want it all over. Airports also want to be able to do it for baggage handling, for safety and security, having security cameras in the bowels of the airports and train stations.”

The military is one area that Boingo is seeing growing demand for private network connectivity. The company supports close to 90 military bases, supplying connectivity to barracks with over 400,000 beds.

Finley noted that during the covid-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, it became important to extend connectivity beyond the barracks.

“I didn’t realise how much training goes on military bases in classrooms. When Covid hit they couldn’t go somewhere for that training so we had to create connectivity for quarantined troops.”

He also highlighted how Boingo is supporting AR and VR flight and operation use cases for military sites, for example at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island.

“The troops are getting educated in real time. The high speed, the security aspect of private networks and bringing all that together is really making a big difference.”

The post Boingo reflects on 40 year mobile call anniversary appeared first on Mobile World Live.

It uses AI to predict how much data customers will need, which MobileX states cut costs while ensuring reliable speed and service.

After a free 10-day trial, the company’s AI-based data forecaster builds a customised plan for customers. Subscribers can keep track of their data usage in real time on their apps to tailor their plans on the fly.

If subscribers are traveling, or if they see they’re about to exceed their data plan, they can add a gigabyte using their phones. The end result is they only pay for the amount of data they need.

The forecaster also provides a projection for how much data will be needed in the next month. If a customer doesn’t use all of the data, it’s rolled over as a credit in the following month.

MobileX was created by Peter Adderton, who founded Boost Mobile before it was subsequently sold to Sprint. Adderton told Mobile World Live (MWL) he first started using AI for MobileX in 2019 and has since been fine-tuning the service ahead of launching it in February.

“There’s about 70 million Americans that churn every year off pre-paid,” Adderton said. “Most of them are churning for price and coverage, and we have the best price and we get the best coverage.”

MobileX’s service works with most unlocked iPhones and Android devices. Walmart customers can buy the MobileX Activation SIM Kit for $9.88—offset by a $10 credit upon activation—and download the app via the Apple and Google Play stores.

“This arrangement with Walmart really puts MobileX on the map,” said Wave7 Research principal Jeff Moore. “Walmart has mobile professionals at an estimated 3,000 Walmart Supercenters who are motivated to sell.”

Global ambition
Adderton is in discussions to strike additional MVNO deals with operators abroad, which would allow customers to use their MobileX tariffs at no additional cost when they travel without needing a host operator’s SIM card.

He has about 210 countries running in a test on his personal phone, which he noted allowed him to call almost anywhere in the world for free.

“I see us rolling out in at least five or six countries in 2024,” he stated. “We’ve been working on this for a while. We’re putting the consumer first, and we really are trying to save consumers money.”

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Director General Mats Granryd opens the 2023 edition of MWC Las Vegas.

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Chris Donkin is joined by Recon Analytics’ Roger Entner to review the keynote session on day two.

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Chris Donkin is joined by Recon Analytics’ Roger Entner and GSMA Intelligence’s Tim Hatt to preview the keynote session on day two.

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