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Wire & Cable ASIA – September/October 2016
Telecomnews
evolving needs of their business
and that they have outgrown their
mobile networks. Some 67 per cent
said they need mobile networks that
provide ultra-high throughput; 64
per cent need massive numbers of
connections; and 59 per cent need
ultra-low latency capabilities.
Ø “All looking good for 5G,” wrote
Mr Daniels – except for “one
small problem.” Of the executives
polled, 36 per cent said they
know “very little” or “nothing”
about the technologies and issues
around 5G wireless. The 27 per
cent who expressed themselves
“very familiar” with 5G include
executives in the ICT (information
and communications technology)
sector, who are much better
informed than their counterparts in
other lines of business.
Taking note of this “incredible
lack of awareness,” Mr Daniels
surmised that, in a canvass
specifically of CEOs in non-ICT
companies, “the percentage
who know next to nothing about
5G would be nearer a half than a
third.”
Elsewhere in telecom . . .
Ø Ericsson has announced the
launch of its 5G Plug-Ins,
described as software-driven
innovations that bring essential 5G
technology concepts to today’s
cellular networks. In a 16th June
press release the Swedish ICT
provider asserted that 5G Plug-Ins
are focused on capabilities that
operators can leverage within
current networks, enabling them
to “evolve to 5G at their own
pace.” Ericsson said that its new
offering would enable mobile
operators to begin to try out 5G
technology as early as this year.
Monica Alleven of FierceWireless
reported that the technology
was featured in a demo that USA
wireless network operator Sprint
staged on 11th June in Philadelphia
during the Copa América
Centenario soccer tournament.
Ø Reuters reported on 4th July that
Deutsche Telekom was preparing
to sell its mobile towers in an
auction that could raise up to
$5.5 billion for further network
investments. With the sale of
its domestic towers business
the German operator would be
following Spain’s Telefónica and
Telecom Italia in a trend that has
seen the transfer of thousands of
masts from European operators to
independent tower companies.
Telefónica has already created a
separate tower unit called Telxius.
The Spanish operator said around
15,000 towers in Spain and other
countries, and its 19,263-mile
submarine cable, would initially
be brought into the unit. In April,
Telefónica Deutschland said it
planned to sell almost all of its
mobile towers to Telxius, receiving
$654 million for 2,350 towers. Cited
by Anne Morris on FierceWireless
Europe (4th July), a recent report by
TowerXchange, which specialises
in research into the telecom
tower industry, predicted that
independent tower companies
would own 48 per cent of European
mobile towers by 2020.
Ø According to Strategy Analytics
(Newton, Massachusetts),
the emergence of 5G mobile
networks will not render fixed
broadband services obsolete
in the USA. With their provision
of higher speeds and multi-play
bundles, cable operators are
seen as driving continued growth
in fixed broadband, which
contrary to expectation is not
being superseded by mobile
broadband. In its latest report
(1st June), Strategy Analytics said
that multiple-system operators
(MSOs) added 3.3 million new
broadband subscribers in the USA
from April 2015 to March 2016,
helping drive fixed broadband
penetration nationwide to 80 per
cent. Company research shows
cable now controlling 62 per cent
of broadband subscriptions, with
fibre holding flat at 23 per cent
and digital subscriber line (DSL)
falling to 15 per cent.
Ø The results of a USA study
reported 27th May by the National
Institutes of Health has revived
the discussion of whether cell
phone and smartphone use can
be hazardous to health. According
to the NIH, the study, conducted
by researchers in its National
Toxicology Program (NTP), found
“low incidences” of cancers in
the brains and hearts of male lab
rats that were exposed to typical
amounts of cell phone radiation
for nine hours daily from birth until
turning two years of age.
Todd R Weiss of eWeek pointed
out that these early findings – the
latest contribution to a body of
research that has considered a
wide range of theories over the last
few years – are far from conclusive.
The NTP said it is continuing the
cell phone studies, with mice, and
expects to present final results for
peer review and public comment
by the end of 2017.
In the meantime, Mr Weiss wrote
on (31st May), users
interested in minimising their
exposure to radiofrequency energy
(RF) from cell phones might wish to
consult the website of the US Food
and Drug Administration (www.fda.
gov). Suggestions from the FDA
include using speaker mode or
a headset to widen the distance
between the device and the user’s
head.
Ø New analysis from the research
and advisory firm Gartner
suggests that global smartphone
sales will continue to slow. Sales
of smartphones are expected
to grow about seven per cent
in 2016 to reach around 1.5
billion units. Projecting forward
to 2020, Gartner believes
smartphone sales worldwide are
on pace to total 1.9 billion units.
(“Smartphone Growth Continues
to Slow as Maturity Approaches,”
7 th June)
Ø “It’s all a far cry from those
halcyon days of 2010 when annual
sales growth was a stratospheric
72 per cent,” noted Guy Daniels
on Even so,
he wrote, if the heady days of
explosive sales are over the
market is still growing. Realisation
of Gartner’s expectations through
the turn of the next decade would
represent steady, if unspectacular,
continuous growth.
In the near term, premium phone
users in mature markets are
extending life cycles to around
two-and-a-half years, which
Gartner sees as unlikely to change
drastically over the next five years.
In emerging markets, the average
lifetime of premium phones is
between 2.2 and 2.5 years, while
basic phones have an average
lifetime of three years or more.