Displaying items by tag: Verizon

Although still limited in scope, 5G networks are here. The only issue, apart from living in a compatible location and being on a compatible network, is that you also need a 5G-enabled phone too.

Most phone makers have now released 5G devices but we're still awaiting the first 5G-enabled iPhone. Apple is expected to unveil a keenly anticipated iPhone 12 line-up starring models tuned to super-fast new 5G telecom networks.

The smartphone giant scheduled an online event for October 13 and analysts expect a selection of iPhone 12 models in multiple sizes to be introduced, with some shipping earlier than others due to the toll the pandemic has taken on the company's supply chain.

"We believe iPhone 12 represents the most significant product cycle for Cook & Co. since iPhone 6 in 2014 and will be another defining chapter in the Apple growth story," Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a note to investors, referring to chief executive Tim Cook.

According to Bloomberg, 5G technologies in the US are “still not ready for the masses” and many consumers buying the latest iPhones could find the 5G feature underwhelming as a result. “The country’s three largest wireless carriers, Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile have yet to roll out 5G in a way that provides consistently higher data speeds or widespread coverage,” it reports.

However, analysts believe that it was high time for Apple to hit the market with an iPhone tailored to the super-fast 5G telecom networks taking root around the world. "Apple absolutely needs 5G right now," said Techsponential analyst Avi Greengart, "not for the US, but for China, where 5G is driving purchase decisions."

“Apple got away with not releasing a 5G device last year because the 5G use-cases and network coverage simply wasn't there," said Futuresource Consulting research analyst Stephen Mears.

"Apple won't want to be perceived as being two generations behind on 5G handsets."

The launch of 5G iPhones is likely to be used as the staging post for a fresh wave of expansions and announcements from network operators. After Apple rolled out its first 4G LTE iPhone in 2012, major US carriers built out their networks.

Verizon has opened a new 5G Lab and production studio in London – the company’s first 5G-enabled facility outside the United States – to support its international business and media customers. The Lab, which is now open for business, is based at Verizon’s Mid City Place office in central London, and offers a live Verizon 5G-enabled environment where organizations can develop and test 5G applications and experiences.

US operator Verizon sought to extend its 5G reach beyond its home market, opening a laboratory in the UK where it can experiment and share ideas for next generation use cases with international partners. European investment enables Verizon to more easily share 5G leadership and expertise with companies based outside the U.S.

Verizon’s 5G Labs are designed to offer technology innovators a space to grow the 5G ecosystem. Start-ups, academics, companies and organizations work with Verizon in the Labs to explore the boundaries of 5G network technology, co-create new applications and hardware, and rethink what’s possible in a 5G world. The potential use cases include exploring how autonomous vehicles, smart communities, virtual healthcare, smart manufacturing, the industrial Internet of Things, immersive education, augmented and virtual reality and responsive gaming can be enhanced with 5G's super fast speeds, massive bandwidth and low latency.

Verizon’s London Lab enables the company to share its experience and expertise in 5G-enabled application delivery with companies based outside the U.S. Organizations visiting the Lab can see existing 5G use cases and experiences in action, and can also work with the Verizon team to develop 5G-enabled applications. 

“Verizon has proven expertise in delivering 5G in the U.S.,” said Tami Erwin, Group CEO, Verizon Business. “One of the best ways of unleashing the true possibilities of 5G is getting it into the hands of innovators and visionaries. Our London facility enables our international customers to benefit from this expertise as they look to deploy 5G-enabled applications and experiences.”

The London Lab showcases a selection of 5G-enabled use cases across a number of different verticals, including advertising and entertainment, education, manufacturing, medical, retail, utilities and venues. These include a mobile command center, an augmented shopping experience and smart retail shelving, intelligent asset management and AR-enabled workspace reimagining. 

In addition, Verizon will open a 5G-enabled production studio in London in April 2020 to complement the 5G Lab facility. The studio will offer a space where Verizon Media’s owned and operated brands, as well as its partners and customers, can produce premium quality, 3D content including virtual and augmented reality experiences using state-of-the-art facilities like volumetric capture, motion capture and AR broadcast.  It is also 5G-enabled, providing an incubator space for innovative creative companies to test and learn about how they can build content in the future that benefits from its capabilities to transmit massive amounts of data almost instantaneously.

Guru Gowrappan, CEO, Verizon Media said: “Our 5G Studio, powered by RYOT’s platform, in Los Angeles was the world’s first 5G production studio when it opened last year, and now we are opening a new studio in London, offering all the same incredible next-generation content production facilities and platform. The new London studio represents our continued commitment to give our consumers access to premium next-generation experiential content across our global ecosystem of brands. As we move from a 2D world into a world that includes 3D content, Verizon Media is providing our publishers and advertisers access to a cutting-edge technology platform, giving them the ability to experiment with 5G, and providing the means to distribute them at scale.”

T-Mobile announced that it became the first to launch 5G wireless service across the United States, although it will be slower than some might expect for the new generation of connectivity. The number three US carrier said its 5G network covers 200 million people and "goes through walls," outperforming the limited 5G deployment of larger rivals Verizon and AT&T earlier this year. While the network is supposedly live today, no one is going to be using it until later this week: the first two phones to support it go on sale this Friday.

"T-Mobile have made very bold promises that can only come to fruition with the vast wireless spectrum holdings, the combined T-Mobile and Sprint will have. State attorneys general who oppose the merger on antitrust grounds are concerned about its potential impact on competition and wireless service prices. However, the promises T-Mobile made today make it difficult for any regulator to continue contesting the merger.

“T-Mobile is promising unprecedented moves for any wireless carrier, which begs the question: Can the New T-Mobile pull this off? The answer is yes. We’ve said all along that the New T-Mobile will result in one of the first and most comprehensive 5G networks in the world given the spectrum assets of both T-Mobile and Sprint. Unlike 4G, emerging 5G networks require carriers to have access to several different frequency bands, in order to meet all 5G’s promises around ultra-high-speed data transmission and latency. T-Mobile has a large swathe of 600 MHz spectrum and will have access to Sprint’s highly coveted 2.5 GHz spectrum, provided the merger closes.

“Among the specific promises made by T-Mobile today, is a 10-year commitment for free 5G access for first responders at every public and non-profit agency, such as police, fire and emergency medical services (EMS). The company also declared that the New T-Mobile will close the ‘homework gap', with a $10bn commitment to offer free online access and hardware to some 10 million homes with children that are without service.

“On the pricing front, the New T-Mobile threw a bombshell at competitors by promising a prepaid service plan at $15 per month for 2GB of high-speed data, 4G or 5G, and 5GB of high-speed data at $25 per month. That heavily undercuts all prepaid service plans, where competition for budget-constrained customers is at its greatest.

“T-Mobile executing on all of these promises will heavily impact AT&T and Verizon, both competitively and in terms of corporate goodwill. These carriers cannot sit back without a response.”

US telecommunications behemoth Verizon has pledged its commitment to helping the environment in an effort to address climate change by investing $1bn in green-friendly projects.

Verizon had been actively pursuing funding for its environmental commitments by using lower-cost bonds that appeal to a growing block of environmentally-sensitive investors. This week the US operator borrowed $1bn courtesy of a so-called green bond which basically allows them to spend the proceeds on projects that will create a positive impact on the environment.

The injection of capital will significantly help Verizon fulfill its promise from 2018, when it said that it intends to cover at least half of its energy use with renewable sources by 2025. It was further disclosed that new projects will include solar and hydrogen fuel cell electricity production at its existing properties and other investments will be made in larger solar and wind farms in areas in close proximity to its facilities nationwide.

Jim Gowen, Vice President for Verizon’s global supply chain expressed his delight at the investment boost and said it illustrated further proof of its commitment to creating a cleaner and more sustainable environment.

Gowen said, “This is now a real game changer. The whole goal of this new bond was to focus on a new, unique funding source.”

In addition to this, the bond issue was a huge success from a financial perspective. Wall Street underwriters had eight times more orders to buy bonds than bonds to sell which ultimately allowed them to reduce Verizon’s borrowing cost below the rate on its typical corporate debt. Verizon declined to specify the exact borrowing rate.

Green bond issuance rocketed to $167 billion worldwide last year, which represented almost a quadruple increase from the level in 2015. Projections appear to indicate that it has resonated with investors so much so that the sector issuance this year could hit $200 billion, according to Moody’s Investor Service.

The new initiative is one way the investment community is seeking to address the risks of climate change at a time when the federal government has renounced many such efforts. So far, most of the borrowing has been by government entities, but more corporations are getting in the market, too. 

Verizon last year added 200,000 LED bulbs, Gowen says. Some money will also be spent on the company’s reforestation program a commitment to plant 2 million new trees by 2030 including 250,000 in areas hit by the series of major hurricanes in 2017 like Puerto Rico and Miami.

Verizon plans to spend the $1 billion in three years or less. And he’s already thinking about how the company could spend more with additional green bond issues. “I already have plans and I’m setting up my next $1 billion. We see this as a great funding mechanism in the future.

US telecommunications behemoth Verizon has announced that it has reduced its workforce in its media division in an effort to realign and restructure its overall business strategy.

Hundreds of jobs are expected to be lost from the operators’ media unit which includes former internet giants such as Yahoo and AOL. A source close to Verizon said the amount of jobs lost amounts to 7% of the overall staff.

Verizon’s media unit has been a successful extension to its comprehensive ICT portfolio - popular news sites such as the Huffington Post and TechCrunch generate large visitors to their websites on a daily basis.

Whilst the number of jobs being lost remains speculative, the reputable Wall Street Journal has reported that around 800 positions will be lost following the decision by Verizon to overhaul its business strategy.

The unit's chief executive Guru Gowrappan, who took over in October 2018, made the changes after a strategic review which determined the group would prioritize "Yahoo's member-centric ecosystem" along with ad technology and video products.

Responding to AFP, Verizon Media said in a statement: "Our goal is to create the best experiences for our consumers and the best platforms for our customers. Today marks a strategic step toward better execution of our plans for growth and innovation into the future."

Verizon, which also operates one of the largest US telecom networks, last year wrote down the value of its Yahoo acquisition by some $4.6 billion.

US telecommunications behemoth AT&T has been roundly criticized by its rival operators in the United States who have described its 5G marketing as ‘overhyped’ and ‘misleading’.

US operator Verizon has urged those within the industry to resist the temptation to overhype and subsequently under-deliver on the promise of next-generation technology. In a statement released by Verizon, it’s CTO, Kyle Malady pointed out that whilst new technologies including AI, virtual reality and Internet of Things would all be underpinned by 5G, he stressed the importance of being realistic in terms of what operators can actually deliver in relation to the revolutionary technology.

AT&T launched a mobile 5G service towards the end of 2018, and claimed that it was offering the service to select businesses and consumers in 12 US cities via a mobile hotspot device provided by Netgear. The network operator has adopted an ambitious approach to 5G and was also pushing its 5G Evolution program which promised users speeds faster than your standard LTE.

In addition to this, it was also disclosed in a previous statement by AT&T that Android devices from the operator will display a 5G E logo pop-up on the home screen which would indicate they have connected to AT&T’s 5G evolution experience.

However, critics have claimed that the service provided by AT&T should not be considered as a 5G network offering. Verizon’s CTO said, “If network providers, equipment manufacturers, handset makers, app developers and others in the wireless ecosystem engage in behaviour designed to purposefully confuse consumers, public officials and the investment community about what 5G really is, we risk alienating the very people we want most to join in developing and harnessing this exciting new technology.”

Although not mentioned by name, Verizon’s comments appear to be directed at its main rival AT&T.

Verizon is still preparing for its mobile 5G launch after deploying a fixed wireless access service in October 2018.

In another apparent swipe at AT&T’s Android device move, Malady also cautioned on the industry to only commit to labelling something 5G if new device hardware is connecting the network using new radio technology to deliver new capabilities.

The CTO added, “Verizon is making this commitment today: we won’t take an old phone and just change the software to turn the 4 in the status bar into a 5.”

T-Mobile
Also turning up the heat was T-Mobile US, which didn’t pass up the opportunity to seemingly mock AT&T on Twitter, while making the same point as Verizon. “Didn’t realise it was this easy, brb updating,” the operator said on its official Twitter account, with the message accompanied by a video of someone taping a 9G sticker on a smartphone.

Verizon will launch its first 5G hotspot device to consumers in 2019, it has been announced. The American telecommunications company collaborated with Inseego and features Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 chip and Snapdragon X50 5G modem.

US telecom giant Verizon and Ericsson reached another milestone in 4G LTE Advanced Technologies that will also serve as a stepping stone to 5G technology by completing their first deployment of FDD (Frequency Division Duplexing) Massive MIMO (Multiple Input – Multiple Output) on Verizon’s wireless network in Irvine, CA.  

This deployment will improve both spectral and energy efficiency, increasing network capacity for current devices in the market.  Further significant enhancements are expected to come as new devices evolve toward 5G.  For customers, the result will be higher and more consistent speeds for using apps and uploading and downloading files.

“While continuing to drive 5G development, the deployment of Massive MIMO offers very tangible benefits for our customers today.  As we innovate, we learn and continue to lay the groundwork and set the standards for 5G technology,” said Nicola Palmer, Chief Network Officer of Verizon Wireless.  “Our collaboration with Ericsson on this new deployment continues to drive industry-wide innovation and advancements.”

The Massive MIMO deployment involves 16 transceiver radio units driving an array of 96 antenna elements supplied by Ericsson.  The deployment is running on a 20 MHz block of AWS spectrum.  Four way transmit has been widely deployed throughout the Verizon network and has contributed to significant 4G LTE advancements. 

In Massive MIMO - the next step of antenna array evolution - the high number of transmitters enables more possible signal paths.  It also enables beamforming, which directs the beam from the cell site directly to where the customer is, dramatically cutting down on interference. Reduced interference results in higher and more consistent speeds for customers. 

Niklas Heuveldop, Head of Market Area North America at Ericsson, said, “Massive MIMO is a key technology enabler for 5G, but already today, 4G LTE service providers and end users can benefit from the superior capacity and network performance this technology enables. The current trial is an important step in the collaboration we have with Verizon to prepare their network for 5G.”

As part of an Intelligent Edge Network that processes data where it’s generated, this Massive MIMO deployment is another step in technological innovation and leadership. As Verizon begins deploying Massive MIMO in the future throughout the network in places where there are capacity needs, customers with compatible devices will automatically begin taking advantage of this technological advancement.

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced a settlement with Verizon for possible violations of the FCC’s competitive bidding rules for the E-rate program, which provides discounts to assist most schools and libraries in the United States to obtain affordable internet access. 

Verizon agreed to pay $17.68 million to resolve parallel investigations by the FCC and U.S. Department of Justice, $17.325 million of which will be repaid to the Universal Service Fund (USF).  Verizon has further agreed to withdraw any rights it may have to hundreds of millions of dollars in requested and undisbursed E-rate support.

This settlement follows an investigation into Verizon’s involvement with New York City schools’ use of the E-rate program.  The Commission’s Enforcement Bureau conducted its investigation in parallel with the US Department of Justice Civil Fraud Section and US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. 

In related actions, former New York City Department of Education consultant Willard “Ross” Lanham was convicted by a federal jury sitting in the Southern District of New York.  In December 2015, the Commission settled a related investigation with the New York City Department of Education. 

The Schools and Libraries Universal Service Program, known as E-rate, subsidizes telecommunications, Internet access, and Wi-Fi services for schools and libraries.  E-rate is funded by the Universal Service Fund under rules established by the FCC. 

The program is designed to bring modern broadband connectivity to students, teachers and library patrons.  Program applicants must seek competitive bids from prospective service providers and must treat the price-eligible products and services as the primary factor when selecting amongst competing service providers. 

To resolve the FCC and Justice Department investigations, Verizon will pay $17.325 million to the Universal Service Fund through the FCC settlement and $354,634 to the US Treasury through the Justice Department settlement. 

In addition, Verizon will surrender any claims against the Universal Service Fund it may have to approximately $7,303,668 in undisbursed E-rate support for products and services provided to the New York City Department of Education between Funding Years 2002 and 2013. 

Furthermore, Verizon will surrender any appeal rights before the Universal Service Administrative Company and the FCC in connection with more than $100 million in E-rate support for which the New York City Department of Education has withdrawn requests for support through its 2015 settlement with the FCC.  As part of the FCC’s settlement, Verizon will also operate under a compliance plan for three years. 

While the Commission adopted the consent decree in May 2017, it has not been released until now in order to allow for a global settlement which includes the US Department of Justice.  The Department of Justice settlement with Verizon was submitted to the Court for approval in the Southern District of New York on October 17.