Telecom industry interesting news & developments

TE Connectivity and Ip.access have teamed up to integrate picocell technology into a distributed antenna system. “Traditionally we have seen indoor small cells and DAS as competitive, but as time has gone on we have seen these product solutions as compatible,” Ip.access CTO Nick Johnson told RCR Wireless News. Ip.access says its E16 picocell access point will be integrated with TE’s DAS products, and will be demonstrated next week at TE’s booth at the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, Spain. “This integrated DAS and small-cell system brings a new level of simplicity and ease of deployment to enterprise mobile networks,” said Ip.access CEO Simon Brown. “Our E16 picocell provides the capacity enterprises need for their mobile users with cost-effective Ethernet backhaul, while the TE DAS products distribute that capacity throughout a facility or campus.” Under terms of the agreement, ip.access will furnish a baseband processing unit with the same features as its ...

The world’s largest maker of telecom networking equipment is making a big bet on Wi-Fi. Sweden’s Ericsson ( ERIC ) says it will buy privately held BelAir Networks for an undisclosed sum, confirming reports that first appeared last month. “We are very excited today because we believe that there is a huge interest in the market for Wi-Fi complementing 3GPP technology,” Ericsson CTO Ulf Ewaldsson told RCR Wireless News. “We have decided to acquire BelAir because they are leaders in carrier grade Wi-Fi solutions and in projects that have very large numbers of cells and are connnected to controllers that make it possible to run traffic and do authentication and tie in to the core network,” says Ewaldsson. The deal gives Ericsson access to Ontario, Canada-based BelAir’s small cell solution . The company has been able to offload data traffic by hanging picocells from cable in metro areas, and has been able to integrate these cells into macro networks. Ewaldsson says Ericsson...

Congress’ move to sign off on the public-safety D-Block frequency allocation backs up key conclusions from a recently published report from IMS Research that predicted more than three million public-safety users will be on private LTE networks by 2021. The decision by Congress is expected to pave the way for private LTE networks to be deployed by public safety agencies across the country. Democratic Senators, including Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), over the last few days announced that public safety organizations in the United States will not only get the much awaited allocation of D-Block in the 700 Mhz band, but will also get $7 billion in funding to support the build out of these private LTE networks. According to IMS Research, this developments will not only have a dramatic impact on the U.S. market, but the announcement will also push the rest of the world into action as the debate around the future of broadband LMR solution continues. IMS Research stated that this ...

In another sign that tablets are replacing notebooks in the workplace, more than two-thirds of small businesses surveyed by AT&T said their employees are using tablets on the job. Checking e-mail and surfing the Web were by far the most popular uses for tablets, with social media, online banking and general business management ranking much lower. In perhaps a more awkward revelation, 18% of the businesses surveyed said employees use tablets as mobile phones. AT&T surveyed 2,513 small businesses nationwide and found that 96% use wireless technology, while 63% said it would be a major challenge to try to survive without it. Half the companies surveyed said that by the end of this year they expect to have all their employees equipped to work from outside the office using wireless technology. Roughly half the companies surveyed were clustered in key metropolitan areas, and their responses highlight some regional differences in business use of wireless. Dallas, A...

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission released a survey on mobile applications for children that revealed neither the app stores nor the app developers provide the information parents need to determine what data is being collected from their children, how it is being shared or who will have access to it. “At the FTC, one of our highest priorities is protecting children’s privacy, and parents deserve the tools to help them do that,” said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz. “Companies that operate in the mobile marketplace provide great benefits, but they must step up to the plate and provide easily accessible, basic information, so that parents can make informed decisions about the apps their kids use. Right now, it is almost impossible to figure out which apps collect data and what they do with it. The kids app ecosystem needs to wake up, and we want to work collaboratively with the industry to help ensure parents have the information they need,” Leibowitz added. According to t...

Perhaps looking to counter claims that it is unfairly limiting download speeds to consumers , AT&T today came out with a new blog post noting that wireless data traffic across its network doubled last year, continuing a trend the carrier has seen since the launch of Apple’s iPhone on its network in 2007. “The growth is now driven primarily by smartphones,” explained John Donovan, senior EVP at AT&T’s Technology and Network Operations. “Add to that new customer additions and the continuing trend of upgrades from feature phones to smartphones, and you have a wireless data tsunami.” Donovan noted that over the past five years AT&T has witnessed a 20,000% increase in data traffic. The carrier claims that it has invested more than $95 billion into its wireless and wireline networks over the past five years in an attempt to keep up with demand. Those upgrades have included updates to its traditional cellular network, the roll out o...

Google ( GOOG ) has approval from the United States Department of Justice and from the European Union to proceed with its $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility ( MMI ). The Justice Department says its antitrust division has closed its investigation of the deal, having determined that it is “unlikely to substantially lessen competition.” The DOJ as also closed two other investigations that impact the wireless industry. One is its investigation of the $4.5 billion purchase of some Nortel Networks patents by Rockstar Bidco, a partnership that includes Research in Motion ( RIMM ), Microsoft ( MSFT ), Apple ( AAPL ), and several other companies. The DoJ also closed its investigation of Apple’s purchase of patents held by CPTN, a holding company that acquired patents last April from Novell ( NOVL ) on behalf of Oracle ( ORCL ), Apple and EMC. In scrutinizing these deals, the DoJ said it focused on standard essential patents, which device makers use to make smartpho...

Bitter news for Apple ( AAPL ) out of China this morning as China’s Hebei Youth Daily says iPads are being snatched from the shelves by Chinese authorities after Chinese company Proview took legal action against Apple in Shanghai and Beijing. Proview owns the iPad trademark in China, and a Chinese court recently rejected Apple’s claim that Proview had infringed on Apple’s patent. So far, it appears that just one city, Shijiazhuang, has been directly affected. Some iPads have reportedly been confiscated and others have been removed from the shelves by retailers who are trying to hide them before the authorities take them. Beijing-based law professor Stan Abrams says tablets are also being removed from e-stores, and believes they could start disappearing from other parts of China as well. He thinks Proview may have a very good case against Apple, but also suggests that the Cupertino, Calif.-based company may eventually be able to buy the iPad’s way back into China.

Microsoft Windows is the software language of choice for business, and the Redmond company is making sure that language translates to tablets. The company says key Windows applications will run on tablets powered by ARM-based chips, the processors that power most tablets and smartphones today. These applications include Internet Explorer 1.0, Microsoft Office, and the Windows desktop and file explorer. In a blog post Windows head Steve Sinofsky said the Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote) “have been significantly architected for both touch and minimized power/resource consumption.” The company is calling the operating system WOA (Windows on ARM). Microsoft did not give a release date, but said WOA will come pre-loaded on tablets later this year, and will not be available for download. (Photo: Steve Sinofsky, courtesy of Microsoft) With iPads outselling PCs, Microsoft needs to be part of the next generation of tablets that will compete with Apple’s products. Micr...

No word yet on whether the new tablet will be called the iPad 3 or something else. It is expected to be faster and to have a better graphics capability than the iPad 2. The possibility that the newest iPad will be 4G LTE-enabled is also a hot topic among Apple enthusiasts. Almost exactly a year after the late Steve Jobs returned from a medical leave to unveil the iPad 2, Apple (AAPL) could be introducing the next version of its blockbuster tablet. All Things Digital is reporting that Apple will debut the new tablet at a San Francisco press event early next month. The iPad 2 was introduced in San Francisco on March 2 last year, and was in stores 9 days later.