Smartphone Society Demands a Mobile-First Strategy

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(Image Credit: iStockPhoto/Leonardo Patrizi) Recent Ofcom data shows that smartphones have overtaken laptops as the primary device for accessing the internet. According to the report, 33 percent of people now consider their smartphone the most important way to get online, while 30 percent choose a laptop first. Ofcom attributes much of this shift to the … Read more

First-Gen 5G Phones: Why Early Models Will Be Bulky and Power-Hungry

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Reports that Huawei has selected a supplier for large heat-dissipation sheets strongly suggest the first wave of 5G smartphones will be bulkier and consume significantly more power. Huawei aims to be among the first companies to release a 5G smartphone, with industry speculation placing the launch around June 2019. Sources indicate Huawei has chosen Taiwan-based … Read more

Canada Establishes New National Minimum Broadband Speed Standard

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(Image Credit: iStockPhoto/Rawpixel) Canada’s telecommunications regulator has formally recognized broadband as a basic service and set minimum speed targets that are more ambitious than those in many other countries. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has declared that a baseline broadband offering should provide at least 50 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload speeds, … Read more

MWC Insights: Operator Strategies, Smart Cities, and Phone Nostalgia

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The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona remains one of the year’s most anticipated events, and this edition set new records: 108,000 attendees from 208 countries and around 3,000 exhibitors across the vast Fira Gran Via exhibition centre. The scale and diversity of the show made it a compelling showcase for the latest mobile and IoT … Read more

Interview with Telefónica’s Pavan Mathew: Inside Connected Cars

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This week I spoke with Pavan Mathew, Global Head of Automotive Telematics at Telefónica, in an exclusive interview about a company report that argues the car industry must reinvent itself to take full advantage of the connected future. As our lives become increasingly digital, we expect everyday devices to be connected — not only to … Read more

NTT DoCoMo Trials 5G at 190 mph in High-Speed Car Test

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NTT DoCoMo has announced a successful demonstration of 28 GHz wireless data transmission between a 5G base station and a mobile unit inside a car traveling at nearly 190 mph. This test marks a significant step toward enabling high-bandwidth, low-latency connectivity at very high speeds. The trial was carried out on April 8 at the … Read more

Opinion: How RF Technology Is Powering 5G Deployment

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(Image Credit: iStockPhoto/Piotr Adamowicz) The surge in smart devices largely drove wireless operators to rapidly deploy 4G LTE networks across many regions. Handling the explosive growth in data consumption has shaped mobile operators’ strategies for years: not only to supply bandwidth to data-hungry subscribers but also to protect profit margins expected by shareholders. Today, 5G … Read more

How OTT Messaging Apps Are Disrupting SMS Communication

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Many have declared SMS obsolete. Industry reports show over-the-top (OTT) messaging traffic growing rapidly—Informa predicted OTT volumes would be twice those of person-to-person (P2P) SMS by the end of 2013, and last year more than 19.1 billion OTT messages were sent. Those figures demonstrate a real impact on SMS traffic and operator revenue. However, the … Read more

UK Launches £1M SONIC Labs to Speed 5G OpenRAN Deployment

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The UK government has announced two new laboratories to speed up the development, testing and deployment of 5G OpenRAN technology. One of the new SONIC Labs will be located in London and the other in Brighton. These facilities will allow multiple manufacturers to supply components for 5G radio equipment and test their interoperability and performance … Read more

Germany Officially Recognizes Bitcoin as a Unit of Account

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In discussions about mobile payments and a move toward a cashless society, the technology to support such systems has long existed; the main obstacles have been regulation and practical implementation. Recently, Germany’s Federal Ministry of Finance took a significant step by recognising Bitcoin as a “unit of account.” This classification means Bitcoin can be used … Read more