Displaying items by tag: Telefónica

Nokia has announced that its cloud-native Subscriber Data Management (SDM) software has been chosen by Telefónica UK to enhance the security and reliability of the operator’s networks, and to drive 5G services innovation.

As the heart of Telefónica UK’s converged mobile core, Nokia’s SDM will securely oversee pivotal functionality for all Telefónica UK networks and services, including 5G. By controlling network data in a centralized hub and utilizing containerized micro services that have only what is required by an application to efficiently and autonomously manage all subscriber data and services, SDM increases both reliability and operational efficiencies. 

Nokia’s SDM solution serves approximately 4.8 billion subscribers and devices around the world.

Telefónica’s SDM is delivered using Nokia’s core engineered systems program for fast deployment and rapid upgrades.

The deal is supporting subscriber data management for all Telefónica UK’s 3G, 4G, 5G networks, as well as IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), Voice over LTE (VoLTE), Voice over WiFi (VoWiFi) and Voice over 5G (Vo5G) services; along with the operator’s IoT devices and nationwide Smart Metering. Deployment is expected in the fourth quarter and Nokia will oversee all professional services to complete the migration.

Supporting the modernization of Telefónica UK’s unified database deployment, Nokia will also deploy Shared Data Layer, a cloud-native database accessible via industry standard protocols to enable an open ecosystem and the integration of third party applications.

Brendan O’Reilly, CTO, Telefónica UK, said, “Nokia’s Subscriber Data Management software offers secure, robust connectivity capabilities, while simultaneously streamlining our network services. This allows us to better support our growing 5G networks and capture operational efficiencies. We look forward to developing a new generation of 5G services with Nokia.”

Bhaskar Gorti, President of Nokia Software and Nokia Chief Digital Officer, said, “As we drive cloud-native 5G innovation together, Nokia is pleased to be building on our existing relationship with Telefónica UK by further optimizing and securing the company’s networks with Nokia’s software portfolio, and enriching the customer experience.”

Telefonica Germany has said that it is currently in talks with Mercedes-Benz for a 5G mobile network which will be used to produce vehicles at the automaker’s Factory 56 plant in Sindelfingen, Germany.

Spanish telecom Telefonica has partnered with Nokia to deploy the Service Operation Centre (eSOC) platform in the UK. It is expected to improve customer experience and enable real-time monitoring services for its 32 million subscribers across its network.

The eSOC move was described as another step on its “customer-centricity journey” by Brendan O’Reilly, CTO at Telefonica O2 UK. It will focus on providing enhanced, tailored services to individual customers and allowing the company to make customer-led decisions. The eSOC platform provides a flexible way to interface with O2 UK’ s systems and data sources, while allowing the operator to monitor customer experiences and take recommended actions based on measured trends.  

Nokia has integrated a range of automation techniques into the eSOC, which incorporate artificial intelligence and machine learning insights, allowing its operator partners to optimise their operations. The vendor will provide support to Telefonica from its SOC Office Consultancy on the re-engineering process required, with the service set to go live in Q4.

SOCs will allow the company to connect many systems and tools, such as Self Organising Networks (SON), to “allow us to make real-time decisions on our network”.

Tim Smith, VP of Nokia Software Europe said Nokia can help operators like Telefonica pounce on the advantages offered by 5G and bring services to market more quickly and with most operator services hard-coded across BSS, OSS and the network layer, it can take up to 14 months to launch a new service.

“If it takes you that long to launch a new service, how can you take advantage of all the digital opportunities 5G enables? You need to get to a very rapid release cycle to really exploit 5G. If you could do that in days or weeks, you can gain market share and increase profit.”

O’Reilly said the flexibility offered by SOC was another reason why the platform would be “vitally important” for the operator.

“By getting a launch timeline for new services down to days, the number of services we can offer our customers grows.”

“5G brings a huge amount of opportunities, and service isn’t going to be traditional as we know it today. Today, it is service from a tablet or a phone. In the future it can be cars and connected devices and the service we provide becomes more important, where some part of the human element is taken away.”

Telefonica has rolled out similar programmes in Germany, Chile and Argentina with different vendor partners.

The Chinese telecom company will cease to maintain mobile operator O2’s network in Germany – a subsidiary of Spain’s Telefonica – as of next year.

Telefónica Chile, the country’s largest mobile network operator and internet service provider, has selected Ericsson to completely virtualize the operator’s core network. A fully virtualized core network provides faster time-to-market of innovative new products and services that capture the opportunities presented by use cases in 5G and the Internet of Things (IoT).

Under the terms of the new deal, Ericsson will deploy its Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) solution, including virtual EPC, virtual IMS, virtual AAA and NFVi. This provides Telefónica Chile with the largest number of virtualized telco applications in a shared resource environment known as UNICA.

“As market leaders in key 5G technologies such as NFV and SDN, Ericsson is helping operators around the world to evolve their existing networks toward 5G,” said Nicolás Brancoli, Head of Customer Unit South Latin America. “With this deal, we will deliver the first 5G Ready Core network in the country to Telefónica Chile, enabling the operator to cement its leadership position in the region well into the future.”  

Ericsson will virtualize all telecommunications applications into a shared environment known as UNICA, with three datacenters in operation across the country. Installation, project management, network optimization, training and Managed Services are part of the agreement. Complete rollout and live service is expected during Q2, 2018. 

Telefónica Chile, the country’s largest mobile network operator and internet service provider, has selected Ericsson to completely virtualize the operator’s core network. A fully virtualized core network provides faster time-to-market of innovative new products and services that capture the opportunities presented by use cases in 5G and the Internet of Things (IoT).

Under the terms of the new deal, Ericsson will deploy its Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) solution, including virtual EPC, virtual IMS, virtual AAA and NFVi. This provides Telefónica Chile with the largest number of virtualized telco applications in a shared resource environment known as UNICA.

“As market leaders in key 5G technologies such as NFV and SDN, Ericsson is helping operators around the world to evolve their existing networks toward 5G,” said Nicolás Brancoli, Head of Customer Unit South Latin America. “With this deal, we will deliver the first 5G Ready Core network in the country to Telefónica Chile, enabling the operator to cement its leadership position in the region well into the future.”  

Ericsson will virtualize all telecommunications applications into a shared environment known as UNICA, with three datacenters in operation across the country. Installation, project management, network optimization, training and Managed Services are part of the agreement. Complete rollout and live service is expected during Q2, 2018. 

Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica released its financial results for the January-September period, showing a profit of €2,439 million (+9.6 percent) and a free cash flow generation of €3,226 million (+ 39.2 percent). The company still faces heavy debt despite the sale of its infrastructure arm Telxius. Telefónica’s debt fell by €3.646 million to €45.947 million.

Telefónica confirmed in February it would sell up to 40 percent of its infrastructure unit Telxius to US investment fund KKR for 1.27 billion euros ($1.35 billion). The company, which has been burdened by heavy debt, failed last September to float the unit after not being able to attract enough demand for the share sale.

Telefónica said it would keep a majority stake and operational control of Telxius, which operates telecommunications towers and subsea fiber optic cables, and would continue to consolidate it into its accounts. The subsidiary manages 16,000 telecoms towers in five countries as well as 65,000 kilometers (40,000 miles) of submarine fiber optic cables.

Telefónica’s revenues decreased 2.5 percent year-on-year in Q3 2017 to €12,754 million (€38,846m in the first nine months; +1.4 percent). In organic terms, however, revenue growth accelerated to 4 percent (+2.9 percent in January-September), driven by improved contributions from Telefónica España, Telefónica Deutschland and Telefónica Hispanoamérica.

Handset sales had a year-on-year double digit growth in the quarter (+11.8 percent). Mobile data revenues increased by 16.3 percent year-on-year in organic terms in the quarter (+15.9 percent in January-September), representing 58 percent of the quarterly mobile service revenues.  

Telefónica has continued to focus on expanding 4G and UBB networks, and the simplification and digitalization of processes and systems, also reflecting integration synergies and including €502 million in spectrum and licenses.

Telefónica maintained its focus on accelerating digital transformation to contribute to improving its efficiency and growth to the maximum. In order to increase the value of network and connectivity, UBB rollout continued at a strong pace, 42.8 million premises passed with FTTx and cable, 18 million in Brazil (FTTx and cable), 18.6 million in Spain (FTTH) and 6.2 million in Hispanoamérica (FTTx and cable). 4G coverage increased to 69 percent.

At the 2017 Global Antenna Technology & Industry Forum recently held in Munich, Huawei partnered with Telefónica Deutschland to launch the world's first 5G-oriented antenna deployment solution. During the evolution to 5G, this solution can resolve the challenge of insufficient antenna installation space for the deployment of both high-band 4T4R over Sub 3 GHz and Massive MIMO.

"Based on many years of technical accumulation in wireless networks and an in-depth understanding of MBB network, Huawei cooperates with Telefónica Deutschland to release the world's first 5G-oriented antenna deployment solution,” said Mr. Joyee Zhang, President of Huawei Wireless Network Antenna Business Unit. “This innovative solution can help operators to overcome the obstacles of 5G network deployment and potentially further help to achieve new business success.”

Insufficient antenna installation space has emerged as an evident issue of network deployment during the evolution from 4G to 4.5G/5G. As 700 MHz, 1400 MHz and other new spectrums are distributed, full bands 4T4R has emerged as a mainstream configuration. Simple overlay can hardly meet deployment requirements.

Additionally, operators are expected to reserve antenna installation space for Massive MIMO to implement a smooth evolution. As a result, a single antenna that integrates all Sub 3 GHz bands and reserves space for Massive MIMO is set to be a typical antenna solution for 5G.

Huawei and Telefónica Deutschland jointly released a 5G-oriented antenna deployment solution, which incorporates both a 14-port multi-band antenna and a TDD 3.5 GHz Massive MIMO antenna to meet Telefónica's requirements for an easy network evolution towards 5G.

Mr. Jaime Lluch, Radio Access Network Director in Telefónica Deutschland indicated that, "Telefónica is a top global telecom operator committed to deliver an optimal network experience. We believe that during the future-oriented network evolution of MBB, antenna installation space severely hinders the progress of network deployment. Telefónica Deutschland and Huawei's 5G-oriented antenna deployment solution can address the challenge of insufficient space, while ensuring excellent network performance and capacity.”

Go Ignite, an alliance of the world’s leading telcos including Orange, Deutsche Telekom, Singtel and Telefonica, announced the winners on Sept. 11 of the second global search for startups that offer the most innovative solutions for three key technologies including Consumer Experience Artificial Intelligence, Connected Homes, and Internet of Things (IoT) Cyber Security.

Consumer Experience AI refers to the use of new technology to provide personalized or new forms of customer support. Connected Homes are solutions that use software and/or hardware to automate and remotely control home appliances with ease, while IoT Security leverages new technologies to keep smart vehicles, homes and cities safe.  

The winners include Sparkcognition and NanoLock Security for IoT Cyber Security; Cujo and Vayyar Imaging for Connected Homes, and SafeToNet for Consumer Experience AI. The startups will have the opportunity to form business partnerships with the four telcos and tap into the alliance partners’ collective mobile subscriber base of over 1.2 billion mobile phone subscribers across five continents.

Axel Menneking, managing director of Deutsche Telekom’s hub:raum, said the telco alliance received “numerous applications from strong teams.” The five winners, he said, were able to “convince us with their ideas on artificial intelligence and security issues. The topics range from helping to protect children from bullying, protect critical infrastructure, and secure management platforms. I'm sure these teams will be doing good pilots with us and the other three telecom companies.”

The winners are attending a two-day workshop in Madrid to help them refine their solutions and sharpen their business strategies. In addition, each start-up will receive support including access to mentoring and expertise, co-working space and invitations to community events and networking opportunities.

“For us and our partners we have a firm belief that working collectively and in an open manner with the start-up community is critical to accelerate our innovation in these three key areas,” said Bertrand Rojat, Deputy Director of Orange’s Technocentre. “These are exciting times and we are delighted to be working with these ‘scale-ups’ to jointly deliver something truly remarkable to our customers.”

Go Ignite is an alliance aimed at connecting the start-up ecosystems across Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. The Go Ignite global call for start-ups encourages teams world-wide to enter their projects into any one of the categories identified by the alliance to be of strategic interest.  

“This marks the continuation of our strong support in working with startups and other telcos to find and grow the next disruptive idea,” said Mrs. Ana Segurado, Global General Director, Telefónica Open Future. “It´s open innovation initiatives built with partners such as Go Ignite that truly creates the right framework to develop the business of the startups.”

America Movil, Mexico’s largest telecom provider, won a victory this month, when Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled on August 16 that the operator doesn’t have to share its network to rivals free of charge. The court said a law requiring the company to allow rivals to use its network for free is unconstitutional.

Billionaire Carlos Slim Helu, the world’s fifth wealthiest person, runs the Mexican wireless telecom and pay TV giant, competing against rivals US telecom giant AT&T and Spain’s Telefónica. America Movil hoped the court would force its rivals to pay back fees – estimated between $600 million to $800 million – for using its network.

But the Supreme Court said the only authority to determine what interconnection fees AT&T and Telefónica should pay America Movil is the Federal Telecommunications Institute, Mexico’s telecommunications regulator, known as the IFT.

America Movil claims that Congress overstepped its role by implementing a zero charge service into Mexico’s telecom law for operators with over 50 percent marketshare. The landmark reform, introduced in 2014, sought to hinder America Movil’s market dominance in the country.

About two-thirds of Mexico’s mobile marketshare is dominated by America Movil, according to Dow Jones Newswire. But lower service fees were implemented as a result of newcomers in the market. Antitrust reforms were initiated to break America Movil’s control.

Under a new telecom law, America Movil was prohibited from charging other telecom carriers for connecting their calls made to customers on its network, while allowing those companies (Telefónica and AT&T) to charge America Movil for connecting its calls to their customers.

The reform was challenged by Mr. Slim’s attorney, who initiated the argument that it was unconstitutional for Congress to dictate telecom prices. The IFT has since been granted exclusive power by Congress to make those decisions.

The Supreme Court’s latest ruling is an “important resolution” America Movil claimed in a statement. The company said the ruling “restores the authority” of the IFT in determining interconnection prices. America Movil said the decision should be based “on international best practices, cost oriented methodologies, transparency and rationality.”

The company also emphasized that, despite the “unconstitutionality” of the zero tariff, rival carriers were not ordered to compensate Telcel, America Movil’s cellular service affiliate, for using its network.

The IFT said it will comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling and decide what rate, if any, to be paid to America Movil, but the group didn’t specify when. A report by Forbes predicts that its decision will come within two months, with rates being implemented in January of 2017.

America Movil has been accused of trying to reverse the antitrust movement. When Mexico’s Supreme Court last month said it would consider the company’s injunction, a group of 21 companies including AT&T and Telefónica, published a scathing advertisement in Mexican daily newspapers accusing America Movil of using “legal resources and devices” to overturn the reform against it.

Despite this, America Movil firmly holds around 70 percent of Mexico’s wireless market share, according to Reuters, and the antitrust rules did little to overturn the company’s dominance.