Showing posts with label 6G. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 6G. Show all posts

Thursday, 4 December 2025

The Power of AI in NTT Docomo’s 5G Journey

At FutureNet Asia 2025 in Singapore, Takehiro Nakamura, Chief Standardisation Officer at NTT Docomo, delivered the closing keynote on day two of the summit. His session focused on how AI has become central to Docomo’s 5G strategy and how those developments are shaping the operator’s path towards 6G. It was a forward looking talk that connected practical achievements with the longer term vision for future networks.

Nakamura-san explained that while 5G and 6G fall within the familiar ten year generational cycle, there is also a broader twenty year technological rhythm that influences how mobile systems evolve. After voice in the first wave and mobile multimedia in the second, the third wave is centred on unlocking new business value. In Docomo’s view, the success of 5G is essential for the success of 6G, especially in enterprise services where operators hope to build new revenue streams.

AI now sits at the heart of Docomo’s capability. The operator has built its data analytics on a very large foundation, spanning data from around one hundred million customers and hundreds of thousands of base stations. By combining this scale with a wide range of AI techniques, Docomo has created applications for enhanced customer service, network optimisation, personalised services and digital transformation across both internal and external domains.

Nakamura-san described a broad AI technology stack that includes natural language processing, customer behaviour modelling, location analysis, advanced analytics and video recognition. These core capabilities feed into applications across marketing, CX, healthcare, finance, network operations and local government. One of the examples he highlighted was Docomo’s LLM value added platform, designed to address security, reliability and safety concerns while offering a user friendly interface for internal teams and partners.

Another focus area is customer understanding through a platform known as Docomo Sense. By analysing subscriber information alongside online and offline behavioural data, the operator can segment customers with much higher precision. This supports personalised services, targeted marketing and new business creation. Nakamura-san shared a successful use case with Audi Japan, where Docomo’s segmentation helped the automaker reach customers with a strong interest in electric vehicles. The result was a significant increase in dealership visit rates and a notable rise in new customer engagement.

Docomo has also embedded AI deeply within its network operations. Silent hardware failures, which previously were often discovered only after customer complaints, can now be detected proactively. AI also enables early identification of device related issues that arise from complex interactions between specific hardware and spectrum conditions. This allows the operator to act before performance degradation becomes visible to subscribers.

Looking ahead to 6G, Nakamura-san emphasised that AI must be native to the design of future networks. AI will optimise the network while the network itself will be designed to serve AI driven applications. This mutual reinforcement is central to Docomo’s AI centric network concept. The ambition is to reduce human error, minimise outages, improve resilience in disaster prone environments and maximise customer experience.

Docomo is collaborating globally on 6G research, including work with Nokia and SK Telecom on an AI native interface. One promising line of research is pilotless transmission. Today’s radio systems use pilot signals to estimate channel conditions, but these signals create overhead. By applying AI on both the transmitter and receiver sides, Docomo tested the feasibility of reducing or eliminating pilots. In indoor trials, static measurements showed immediate gains due to the removal of pilot overhead, while dynamic measurements also delivered positive results despite channel fluctuations. Nakamura-san stressed that more trials are needed across different environments, but the early findings indicate strong potential for efficiency improvements in 6G.

As he concluded, Nakamura-san reinforced that progress in both 5G and 6G will depend on collaboration across the industry, particularly with partners that possess deep expertise in AI. Docomo sees AI as an essential tool for building resilient, efficient and high performing networks and is preparing for a future where AI permeates every layer of the system.

His talk is embedded below:

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Monday, 7 July 2025

China Mobile's PQC Strategy Advances BASIC6 and 6G Security Vision

China Mobile continues to demonstrate a forward-thinking approach to innovation, especially as it prepares for the security demands of future networks. Its recent white paper on post-quantum cryptographic (PQC) migration in telecommunication networks, published through GTI, outlines both the challenges and roadmap for ensuring security resilience in the quantum era. This work aligns strongly with the operator's broader BASIC6 sci-tech innovation strategy, where 6G and security sit alongside big data, AI, integration platforms and computility networks as core pillars of future readiness.

As quantum computing capabilities evolve, current cryptographic systems face a growing threat. The white paper details how quantum algorithms like Shor's and Grover's could undermine widely used encryption and authentication schemes such as RSA, ECDSA and Diffie-Hellman. While symmetric encryption can be strengthened through increased key lengths, public key systems will require fundamental change. This poses a particular concern for telecom networks, where secure identity, signalling integrity and encrypted communication are vital.

The analysis examines vulnerabilities across key network components, including the 5G core, signalling, bearer, transport and synchronisation networks. Each of these relies on a combination of cryptographic mechanisms that will need to be assessed and upgraded to support quantum-resilient algorithms. China Mobile explores how NIST-approved PQC schemes like CRYSTALS-Kyber and Dilithium can be integrated, though this shift brings practical issues such as increased key sizes, protocol field expansion and processing latency.

Migration to PQC in telecom environments is not straightforward. Beyond technical integration, there are questions of industry alignment, certificate management, hardware support and standardisation. China Mobile points out that new certificate formats must accommodate hybrid cryptography while remaining compatible with legacy systems. Moreover, real-time services, especially at the edge, may suffer from the computational overheads of post-quantum cryptographic algorithms. This makes algorithm selection critical depending on scenario requirements.

These considerations are closely connected with China Mobile's larger push towards future network architectures. Under the BASIC6 umbrella, the company is laying the groundwork for 6G systems that integrate communications, computing, intelligence and sensing. Their work includes development of testbeds, international standardisation contributions and advanced platforms like the computility network, which is already managing over 60 EFLOPS of computing capacity nationwide. With quantum computing systems, quantum-secure communication prototypes and endogenous security now in place, post-quantum cryptography is a natural continuation of this broader effort.

The operator's leadership in 6G standards within 3GPP and ITU, combined with its role in defining the first global 6G requirements and scenarios, places it in a strong position to shape how PQC becomes a core feature of next-generation mobile infrastructure. Post-quantum security is not just about reacting to a threat. It is a foundational design choice that must be embedded from the outset of 6G network development, supporting trust, resilience and regulatory compliance across use cases.

China Mobile's approach provides a model for how national carriers can combine practical migration planning with strategic innovation goals. PQC integration will require deep collaboration across the ecosystem, from chipmakers and protocol developers to equipment vendors and standards bodies. But for operators aiming to deliver world-class secure information services in the 6G era, these efforts are already becoming a competitive necessity.

This important work builds on several topics already covered in detail on the Free 6G Training Blog, including post-quantum cryptography, quantum network architecture and 6G security. As the quantum age approaches, ensuring that security evolves alongside performance and scalability is one of the most pressing challenges for operators worldwide.

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Friday, 21 February 2025

NTT Docomo's Beyond 5G and 6G Vision

NTT Docomo has been at the forefront of Beyond 5G and 6G research, exploring how emerging technologies will shape the future of mobile networks. In this post, I’m sharing insights from two recent keynotes by NTT Docomo executives, highlighting their vision for AI, Big Data, and next-generation connectivity.

6G Promotion and AI Utilization – Takaaki Sato, Brooklyn 6G Summit

Takaaki Sato, Senior Executive Vice President at NTT Docomo, delivered a keynote at the Brooklyn 6G Summit, discussing "6G Promotion and Prospects for AI Utilization." His talk explored how AI will be deeply integrated into 6G networks, moving beyond the siloed approach seen in 5G. Watch the keynote below:

AI-Native 5G Evolution and 6G – Takehiro Nakamura, FutureNet Asia 2024

For a more technical perspective, Takehiro Nakamura, Chief Standardization Officer at NTT Docomo, spoke at FutureNet Asia 2024 on "AI-Native 5G Evolution and 6G." His presentation delved into the role of AI and Big Data in network evolution and how 6G will leverage advanced technologies to enhance efficiency and performance. Watch his presentation here:

The Path to 6G: AI, Big Data, and the IOWN All-Photonics Network

A key theme in both keynotes was the convergence of AI and Big Data, which were largely separate in 5G but will be deeply intertwined in 6G. NTT Docomo envisions this integration—along with the IOWN All-Photonics Network—enhancing human experiences and driving innovation.

As the industry moves towards 6G, it’s clear that AI and network intelligence will play a foundational role in shaping next-generation connectivity. What are your thoughts on NTT Docomo’s vision? Share your comments below!

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Monday, 11 December 2023

AT&T's Plans on Open RAN and 6G

AT&T was in news recently for their announcement about acceleration of Open and Interoperable Radio Access Networks (RAN) in the United States. According to their press release: 

This industry-leading move, in collaboration with Ericsson, will further the telecommunications industry efforts and help build a more robust ecosystem of network infrastructure providers and suppliers. AT&T’s spend could approach roughly $14 billion over the 5-year term of the contract with Ericsson. 

AT&T’s Open RAN plan is for 70% of its wireless network traffic to flow across open-capable platforms by late 2026. The company expects to have fully integrated open RAN sites operating in coordination with Ericsson and Fujitsu, starting in 2024. This move away from closed proprietary interfaces will enable rapid scaling and management of mixed supplier hardware at each cell site.  Beginning in 2025, the company will scale this Open RAN environment throughout its wireless network in coordination with multiple suppliers such as Corning Incorporated, Dell Technologies, Ericsson, Fujitsu, and Intel.

At the Brooklyn 6G Summit (B6GS), Chris Sambar, who leads AT&T’s Network organization and teams responsible for designing, engineering, building, and operating AT&T’s next generation mobile and fiber networks, gave a keynote on "Network: The Innovation Platform". The narrative of the talk says: 

Today’s 5G build is the foundation of 6G. Flexible and open architecture being developed and fine-tuned with 5G will be central to 6G, and maintaining a customer-centric, forward-looking mindset will be critical as we scale and deploy technologies such as Stand Alone core, edge computing, AI, and NTN integration. Implementing the lessons learned in the 5G era and ensuring we have end-to-end alignment across the 6 pillars of our architecture will be vital to making 6G a success.

RCR Wireless provides a concise summary of the talk here:

AT&T has spent $40 billion on spectrum in the last few years; Verizon has spent more than $50 billion; and T-Mobile US had to acquire another major operator to get its spectrum holdings. With 5G not even at its midway point and the industry already trying to figure out what they might have to spend on 6G, “it can’t be a bottomless-pit industry,” he said.

That said, Sambar did also discuss the promise of 6G for extended and virtual-reality immersive experience for training public safety and military members, and the potential of better network-focused AI and ML to save network operators “hundreds of millions or billions of dollars” if things like self-optimization of networks can be done better and faster. That in itself represents a major challenge. Sambar says that he has thousands of employees in network operations, between AT&T’s wireline and wireless networks and “hundreds” of algorithms that do very simple if-then work and essentially send tickets to humans when a scenario comes up that fits its if-then criteria. If one of those algorithms breaks, he said, “we have to go figure out where it is, what server it’s sitting on, what’s wrong with it and how do we fix it. I would love a machine to manage that for me”—or even better, to stitch the capabilities of multiple algorithms together for more efficient and effective AI/ML applicability to network operations.

The video of the talk is embedded below, thanks to IEEE TV:

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Tuesday, 21 March 2023

Jio Platforms (JPL) is Flaunting their 5G Wares

In the world where we talk about just two or three major mobile network infrastructure vendors, challengers are rising, either using Open RAN/Networks as their base, innovations as a leverage or the might of a huge population to ensure their network infrastructure has been tested in the most extreme of scenarios. Jio Platforms (JPL) is probably relying on all the three conditions listed above. 

Jio Platforms Ltd. is an Indian technology company and a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited, headquartered in Mumbai, India. Jio Platforms has an end to end 5G solution consisting of 5G Radio, a complete 5G Core Network, AI/ML ATOM platform for 4G/5G, MANO for cloud CNF orchestration, ACI for cloud infrastructure deployment as well as the Cloud-native OSS Platforms.

In addition to these core platforms, Jio Platforms has also created its own cloud-native probing solutions for radio and core networks, simplifying network debugging and not requiring any systems integration with probe providers. To enable a SaaS-based model, JPL has also developed a sophisticated array of BSS solutions.

The entire product line is cloud native and can be deployed either on a public cloud or a private cloud.

In the recently concluded MWC 2023, Jio Platforms sponsored quite a few tracks and spoke in some as well. Aayush Bhatnagar, SVP of Technology at Jio Platforms gave a fantastic presentation in the track, '5G Advanced, Ready for Take-Off!'. His talk is embedded below:

Video courtesy of 6G World

While Jio relied on Airspan (for small cells) and Samsung for 4G/LTE networks, for 5G Jio has partnered with Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung, Cisco, Microsoft, etc.

Ericsson's press release mentioned that it will supply: Ericsson’s energy-efficient 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) products and solutions (from the Ericsson Radio System portfolio) and E-band microwave mobile transport solutions will be deployed in the 5G network for Jio.

Nokia's press release mentioned that it will supply: Equipment from its AirScale portfolio, including base stations, high-capacity 5G Massive MIMO antennas, and Remote Radio Heads (RRH) to support different spectrum bands, and self-organizing network software.

Telecom TV has a good summary of Jio Platforms presentation from DTW2022 (a version of their presentation video is available here). The JPL speakers mentioned that the company always had in mind that it wouldn’t be developing platforms, cloud-native functions and applications just for itself – it always had the broader market within India, and beyond, in mind. This was the reason they adopted a platforms-as-products (PaPs) strategy to its R&D.

It's yet to be seen how equipment from JPL interworks with ones from Nokia, Ericsson and everyone else. Right now Reliance Jio is busy launching 5G in more and more cities. The speeds, quality of experience and reliability will be the judge of their network and and a catalyst for adoption of Jio Platforms.

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Thursday, 24 November 2022

UScellular 5G Progress and 6G Plans

At the Annual Brooklyn 6G Summit (B6GS) last month, Robert Jakubek, Vice President of Engineering and Network Operations for U.S. Cellular, presented deployment strategies for the next generation of wireless communications.

Sue Marek details the talk in Fierce Wireless as follows:

Speaking at the 2022 Brooklyn 6G Summit, which is jointly hosted by Nokia and NYU Wireless, Robert Jakubek, VP of engineering at US Cellular called for the industry to figure out how to get more functionality out of mmWave. “CPEs [customer premises equipment] need to get more sophisticated,” Jakubek said. “Help us solve some of the challenges of mmWave fixed wireless and make it more effective.”

The request is notable because Nokia, which is a sponsor of the event, is a key supplier to UScellular and provides 5G radio gear for the company’s low-band and mmWave networks. Nokia also is working with UScellular on its deployment of standalone 5G (SA).  Jakubek said that UScellular is moving “full speed ahead” with its SA core. Nokia has said previously that it should be deployed by year-end.

Jakubek added that UScellular has had success with a couple of extended range trials where its FWA signal used mmWave spectrum. In 2020 the operator and its partners Ericsson and Qualcomm completed an extended range 5G mmWave data call over a distance of more than 5 kilometers (around 3.1 miles) at speeds over 100 Mbps. And in 2021 the company set a record of 10 km (about 6.2 miles) in tests with Nokia and Qualcomm.

UScellular has deployed a Home Internet+ product that uses 5G and mmWave spectrum to deliver FWA to customers in more than 10 cities. It launched that product last April. In addition,  the operator offers a FWA product over the company’s LTE network to its entire footprint. At the end of 2Q, UScellular said it had 57,000 FWA customers, but it doesn’t break out those on mmWave vs. those on the LTE network.

Besides FWA, Jakubek said that the company is looking ahead to deployment 5G voice over new radio (VoNR) but that isn’t likely to happen until 2024 or later.

And of course as it is a 6G summit, you couldn't do a presentation without talking about what is needed from 6G. The talk is embedded below, courtesy of IEEE TV.

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Friday, 11 November 2022

Is South Korea Losing its 5G Crown?


South Korea is second only to Hong Kong in the world rankings of telecom market maturity. It enjoys a highly competitive but stable market, with strong central government support that helps drive the rollout of advanced infrastructure in both the fixed and mobile arenas. South Korea is also on the leading edge of the latest telecom technology developments, including around 6G. And it is host to two of the world’s top equipment manufacturers in the form of Samsung and LG.

With its highly urbanised, tech-savvy population, South Korea also enjoys very high penetration levels across all segments – fixed-line telephony (44% at the start of 2022), fixed broadband (46%), mobile voice and data (144%), and mobile broadband (120%). The performance of the mobile sector is on a par with other developed markets around the region, but it’s the wireline segment that allows South Korea to stand out from the crowd. This is partly a reflection of the large proportion of its population who live in apartment buildings (around 60%), making fibre and apartment LAN connections relatively easy and cost-effective to deploy. The government’s Ultra Broadband convergence Network (UBcN) had aimed to reach 50% adoption by the end of 2022, but that target may be a few more years away. Still, the country already has one of the world’s highest fixed broadband rates.

Fixed-line teledensity is also at a very high level compared to most of the rest of the world, but it has been on a sharp decline from a penetration rate of 60% ten years ago. That fall has forced the incumbent telco KT Corp to diversify into other telecom segments (including investments in 5G and the development of 6G) as well as non-telecom sectors (such as autonomous vehicles) in an effort to transform itself into a digital platform company. However, a major network outage in October 2021 drew the ire of the government and the police (in addition to the consumers and businesses directly affected by the shutdown), suggesting that the company may need to refocus its attention back on its core business.

On the mobile front, users have enthusiastically migrated from one generation of mobile platform to the next as each iteration becomes available. There also doesn’t appear to be any great concern about there being a lack of demand for 5G in South Korea (when the country is already well supported by 4G networks), with 30% of all subscribers having already made the switch. Part of the reason behind the rapid transition may be the subsidised handsets on offer from each of the MNOs and the MVNOs – a practice that has become so widespread and cutthroat that the regulators has regularly stepped in and fined the operators billions of won for breaching the subsidy level and risking a price war that will ultimately damage the entire industry.

There were over 22 million 5G subscribers in South Korea at the end of March 2022 which represented a penetration rate of 45%, served by 215,000 5G base stations. South Korea is one of the most advanced 5G markets in the world, and the scores of South Korea's operators in this report highlight the extent of 5G success.

The total number of 5G subscribers in South Korea reached nearly 24 million in May 2022, according to the latest available data from the Ministry of Science and ICT.

South Korea was the first country to launch commercial 5G networks in April 2019 and currently has 5G coverage across its 85 cities. Korean mobile operators have deployed a total of 202,903 5G base stations as of the end of February, according to previous reports. This figure is equivalent to 23% of total 4G LTE base stations installed in South Korea.

Not everyone is impressed by 5G in South Korea though as you can see in the Tweets above.

KT (Korea Telecom) is the public provider and 2nd network in the country with a good coverage. It's a formerly public enterprise, is relatively cheaper than SK Telecom with the largest WiFi coverage in Korea and a well-organized prepaid plan available. Remember, there is no 2G anymore, just 3G, 4G/LTE and now 5G NR.

KT has also unveiled plans to build a specialized 5G testbed running on the 4.7 GHz band with the aim of enabling multiple customers to access its core network equipment from the public cloud and test private or “specialized” networks.

“When KT’s 5G specialized network testbed is established, it will be possible to perform a one-stop service for testing equipment for 5G specialized network, interworking with terminals, and conducting network trial operation and inspection. It is expected to greatly reduce the cost and technical burden of companies considering the introduction of a 5G specialized network.”

The Korean operator added the testbed is expected to reduce the cost and technical requirements for companies considering introducing private networks.

KT is deploying private 5G networks at Seoul National University and Samsung Seoul Hospital.

SK Telecom is the biggest mobile provider in South Korea. SK operates 3G on the usual 2100 MHz, but 4G/LTE on the rather unusual 850 MHz (band 5) as primary frequency that is rarely covered by devices from overseas (except those capable of AT&T's LTE in the US). The more usual 1800 MHz (band 3) is only employed for back-up. But the coverage is reported to be better than that of KT, by press every year. 2G has been switched off in 2020.

In November of 2021, Swedish vendor Ericsson announced a partnership with SK Telecom, with the aim of supporting 5G Standalone networks through the deployment of a cloud-native dual-mode 5G Core.

Ericsson and SK Telecom had initially unveiled next-generation cloud-native 5G Core networks technology, architecture, implementation and operations plans in March 2019. The vendor said that this latest cooperation builds on the existing partnership. According to Ericsson, the dual-mode 5G core is deployed on its bare metal solution, known as Ericsson Cloud Native Infrastructure.

Ericsson had previously provided SK Telecom with 5G radio access network (RAN) equipment and network management system for their commercial 5G network rollout.

LG Uplus is working to further expand its 5G coverage across the country. In July this year, the operator secured an additional 20 megahertz of spectrum to use for 5G.

The Ministry of Science and ICT confirmed the allocation of the 3.4-3.42 GHz frequency band to LG Uplus, in addition to the 3.42 to 3.5 GHz spectrum that the telecom company bought in 2018.

LG Uplus had previously asked the Korean government for an additional 20 megahertz of spectrum to boost its 5G offerings. In a government spectrum auction in June 2018, rival operators SK Telecom and KT had secured 100 megahertz of spectrum, while LG Uplus had only acquired 80 megahertz.

During a keynote speech at Huawei’s 2022 Mobile Broadband Forum, held this week in Bangkok, Thailand, Yoon Ho Choi, president of XR business department at LG Uplus noted that the company’s 5G coverage had reached 85% of the population in large cities and central rural areas across Korea. The executive also highlighted that the level of 5G availability at a national level was 90.9% and 95.2% in capital Seoul. He also noted that the average download speed of the telco’s 5G service was 640.7 Mbps.

While the mobile operators have been very enthusiastic about 5G, people aren't as excited. While the data rates have increased and latencies reduced, there are still many technical issues that regularly plague the users. One of the lessons Japanese operators learned after being the first to launch 3G was to not roll out a technology until it was thoroughly tested. The Korean operators maybe learning this as well.

South Korea is seeing a rapid adoption of 5G private networks, chiefly due to the widespread coverage of 5G technology in the country and the allocation of specific spectrum by the government to enable private network deployments.

In August, South Korean tech firm Samsung announced a tranche of new private 5G deployments in its home country, including with three public sector agencies and two private sector hospitals. The vendor noted that this project is part of the government initiative to advance the country’s private 5G ecosystem, allowing non-telecom operators to build and operate 5G networks using 4.7GHz and 28GHz — which are dedicated frequency bands for private 5G networks in Korea.

Samsung said it was selected in each case – by three state-owned utilities and two privately-owned hospitals – “as part of the government’s” drive to release spectrum for industrial change. Its three public sector contracts – with Korea Electric Power Corporation, Korea Industrial Complex Corporation, and Korea Water Resources Corporation – are geared around “workplace safety and efficiency”, it said.

The vendor also said that this new project follows Samsung’s previous deployment of what it claimed to be Korea’s first private 5G network at Naver’s new headquarters.

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Sunday, 15 August 2021

How 5G will enable a Digital Society

At the 2021 Joint EuCNC (European Conference on Networks and Communications) & 6G Summit, Manuel Ramalho Eanes, Executive Board Member, NOS SGPS, Portugal talked about "How 5G will enable a Digital Society". NOS is the largest communications and entertainment group in Portugal. It offers state-of-the-art fixed and mobile solutions to all market segments, supported by the most advanced technologies. In 2020, NOS was the largest private Portuguese R&D investor, reflecting a strong commitment to innovation and technological development, which is part of NOS DNA since day one. The following is the abstract of the talk:

In this context, we look at 5G not only as our main strategic pillar but as an important catalyst for the upcoming industrial revolution, which promises to change the way we live, how companies work and how societies govern themselves. The disruption that 5G contains, more than the direct extrapolation of its characteristics, envolves all the adjacent technologies that it drives. Without the latency, reliability, resilience, speed and performance of 5G, these technologies would never be scalable. In this sense, 5G is the accelerator of a digital society marked by immersive experiences, autonomous and collaborative mechanisms, massive exchanges of information, artificial intelligence and sensing of the physical world.

To seize this opportunity, it is therefore necessary to work in a network, fostering comprehensive and complementary ecosystems, with a great focus on experimentation, but also on the real value for the economy. That’s how we started our path to 5G at NOS. By creating agile teams, with employees from multiple departments, but working close to various partners, ensuring the adaptation of technology to each business, in different contexts. In this sense, we believe that we are at the forefront of technology implementation, actively contributing to the construction of smart cities and the development of society 5.0. As an engine of transformation in Portugal and always embracing the future, NOS wants to inspire and mobilize everyone to conquer new possibilities, in a country and culture that has the fundamental requirements to incubate the ideas and initiatives that will transform the world.

Here is the video of the talk:

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Sunday, 1 August 2021

Deutsche Telekom's 'Tech Grounds' 2021


Back in June, Deutsche Telekom hosted a digital conference for sharing knowledge and experiencing the latest innovations. 'Telekom Tech Grounds' for magenta technology and green power took place on 28 & 29 June 2021. The event was hosted virtually and the admission was free for all. You can access the event here.

The Media Information kit highlighted:

Deutsche Telekom presents ideas and technical solutions that address four key questions: How will we tackle climate change as a Telco – together with our partners and clients? How will innovations empower business and digital health solutions? How will we leverage real-time data to build smart digital lifestyle environments and ecosystems? How will we transform networks into software-based platforms and services, enabling new business models? 

Four topic areas will be presented on different virtual stages. They focus on "Business Innovation," "Network Differentiation," "Home Innovation" and "Sustainability." 

Digital transformation in the telecommunications and IT industry is advancing at a rapid pace. "Digital technologies will play a key role in overcoming current challenges: without them, for example, we will not achieve climate neutrality," said Claudia Nemat, Telekom Board member responsible for technology and innovation. The CTO adds examples: "Video conferencing can continue to replace a large part of business travel. In agriculture, IoT-based applications effectively reduce the use of fertilizer, while smart home and smart grid applications help reduce our electricity consumption."  

Telekom switches on O-RAN Town in Neubrandenburg

Deutsche Telekom has put its ‘O-RAN Town’ into operation in Neubrandenburg, Germany. RAN stands for "Radio Access Network" and refers to components of antenna technology in mobile communications. And Open RAN, because unlike in the past, technology components from a large number of different technology suppliers are to work together. O-RAN Town will provide 4G and 5G services based on Open RAN at up to 25 sites. The first sites have now gone into operation and been integrated into Telekom Deutschland's live network. This includes Europe's first integration of Massive MIMO radio units (mMIMO, MIMO = multiple input, multiple output). This involves the use of a large number of small antennas per transmission unit. 

At O-RAN Town, Deutsche Telekom is researching, enhancing and verifying the end-to-end capabilities of the Service Management and Orchestration Tool (SMO) developed in-house based on open source. The SMO is used for automated testing, remote site configuration, and network anomaly detection and resolution. Deutsche Telekom plans to gradually expand O-RAN Town, working with various vendors. These solutions are currently being tested in the lab to ensure interoperability across all components. 

Network slicing for customized networks

Individual requirements are playing an increasingly important role, especially in industry: data rates, speeds or latency times. To meet these requirements, Telekom is testing network slicing. This means operating multiple virtual networks in parallel on the basis of a common network infrastructure. Network slicing is a key feature of 5G. Several virtual networks can be operated on a single physical network infrastructure. The network is “cut into slices", the so-called network slices. Different service characteristics and quality parameters can be provided for each "slice". The slices are completely isolated from each other. They can thus be adapted to different customer requirements. 

Together with its partners Ericsson and Samsung, Deutsche Telekom has now announced the world's first implementation, which was carried out across all manufacturers in the laboratory environment in Bonn. Another new feature allows a device to steer applications and services with specific requirements to a defined slice. With this, a customer can experience great service quality by serving applications with the right network slice.

Deutsche Telekom and Samsung join forces for sustainability 

Deutsche Telekom and Samsung are entering into a strategic partnership for sustainability. The core of the collaboration is the development of a green smartphone suitable for the mass market. It will support 5G technology and be designed to be sustainable. This includes easy repair and a removable battery. The smartphone is planned for the end of 2022.

The two companies are also focusing on a holistic approach. This also focuses on the service life of smartphones. Samsung is already an integral part of the Telekom cell phone cycle in Germany and Poland, which gives phones a second life. As part of the cycle, Telekom repurchases used phones, refurbishes them, and puts them back into circulation.

Digital port logistics: Drones secure port of Hamburg

Customer satisfaction is also a focus for Telekom when it comes to setting up campus networks. A few days ago, Telekom announced the establishment of a campus network in the Port of Hamburg on behalf of HHLA Sky, a subsidiary of Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG. HHLA Sky will control and monitor a fleet of industrial drones from a single control center using the campus network. At HHLA's terminals, the drones will inspect container bridges and asphalt surfaces to improve safety on the port site. This saves time compared to previous inspection procedures. In addition, the drones reliably transmit sensor and flight data via the campus network.

IoT Boost

Getting devices and applications up and running on the IoT is now easier than ever: Telekom and 1NCE, with clear focus on low bandwidth IoT connectivity, in cooperation with Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), offer the new Zero Touch service. This makes the integration of Internet of Things (IoT) solutions as if by magic: simple and fast in the cloud with automated device onboarding on AWS. This is designed to rapidly reduce the complexity for customers by enabling them to easily set up and run their IoT solutions.

And that's the point. Technology must put people at the center. That applies to this solution as well as the others presented. Hence the motto of the Telekom Tech Grounds: #HumancenteredTechnology.  www.techgrounds.telekom.com.

You can also find a short summary of Telekom Tech Ground Network Differentiation Session by Dr. Alex Jinsung Choi, Deutsche Telekom Senior Vice President, Head of Strategy & Technology Innovation, COO of O-RAN Alliance, on his LinkedIn post here. Some pictures from the O-RAN session can be found on the LinkedIn post by Abdu Mudesir, Senior Vice President of Deutsche Telekom, here.

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