Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Safaricom and Vodacom form JV to buy rights to M-Pesa; Three drops Huawei 5G phone; Huawei warns of Berlin Wall effect; happy birthday to GDPR.

Latest complaint at the International Trade Commission seeks to block imports of X1 set-tops, broadband gateway devices and associated software.

What's better than a Memorial Day weekend mattress sale? A new bill offers interest-free loans from the Treasury to help carriers with fewer than 6 million customers replace Huawei kit.

CableLabs, Charter, Cox among companies backing effort to develop an device-agnostic immersive media format for a new class of holographic video and light field displays as well as legacy flat, 2D displays.

Shay Phillips encourages her peers to identify a career sponsor, an advocate who provides workplace advice and challenges colleagues.

Operators are spending money on 5G, but not like they did for 4G or 3G. That might change if some fancy new 5G service goes viral, but in the meantime some in the industry are urging caution and patience.

A press conference to announce the UK's first 5G service failed to pack much punch.

Heavy Reading's optical guru Sterling Perrin highlights some key trends from the NGON & DCI World event in Nice, including 'Beyond Coherent,' what 400ZR really means for the market, the latest on 5G transport and the FUDfest that is Huawei.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: TalkTalk walks the walk; ex-BT boss Patterson forgoes half his bonus; Tele2 agrees Kazakhstan exit terms.

Personal autonomous vehicles is a long-term promise 5G, but the nearer-term reality is more likely involve autonomous shuttles in smart cities, assisted assisted by AI-empowered cameras, Verizon's Dr. Dennis Ong predicts.

Sprint's mobile 5G launch could happen in the next few days. But the real question is what the industry will do with 5G once it launches.

In this podcast, find out what other Chinese vendors might emerge and profit from Huawei's troubles with the US. Also, Ovum's Daniel Gleeson talks about the device-related concerns service providers have when they go to launch 5G networks.

OpenVault report finds that consumers in that 'power user' group doubled in Q1 2019, a growth rate that could cause some cable operators and other ISPs to consider upping their monthly data ceilings.

Matrixx Software board member Glo Gordon addresses initiatives and legislation that will support more diversity in corporate boardrooms.

Comcast says it's premature to talk about how its network virtualization strategies will take shape, but industry sources say Comcast has discussed the idea of licensing its new tech to other MSOs.

The chip designer joins US technology giants in freezing out China's biggest maker of network equipment.

A federal judge has ruled in favor of the FTC in its case claiming that Qualcomm harmed competition in two markets for modem chips through a combination of high royalty fees and predatory licensing practices.

CenturyLink broadens its Ethernet service portfolio as it tidies up loose ends from its Level 3 acquisition.

The opening sessions of this year's NGON & DCI World event in Nice focused on money matters and automation but there was little appetite to discuss the impact of global trade tensions and the US clampdown on Huawei's supply line.

BT is now in core network trials with Cisco, Ericsson and Nokia, its CTO tells Light Reading, and may need to introduce a new RAN vendor.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Deutsche Telekom's honeypots highlight hacker horrorshow; Ericsson sets up 5G hub in Moscow.

Verizon's Nicki Palmer, AT&T's Igor Glubochansky, C Spire's Craig Sparks, Cincinnati Bell's Tom Simpson and CTIA's Tom Sawanobori join Light Reading's Mike Dano to discuss how 5G will really pay off for carriers.

In this podcast, Disney takes full control of Hulu and that could pose a bigger threat to traditional pay-TV providers. Also, nearly every single mobile network operator has a different angle on providing video services to consumers.

Cable company Altice – a Sprint MVNO – has been a staunch opponent of the proposed merger of Sprint and T-Mobile. And the company may continue to oppose the merger despite new conditions that specifically favor Altice and its MVNO deal with Sprint.

The newly proposed power levels for CBRS spectrum are not as strong as 4G, but are more powerful than millimeter wave 5G.

The global optical networking market has been worth in the region of $15 billion for the past year, but while that number has varied only slightly year to year, what has changed is the nature of the investments and who's splashing the cash.

CenturyLink's Kevin McBride explains why it's a 'great time to be wireline.'

New open source project from CableLabs focuses on 'Dual Channel WiFi' technology that can set up dedicated channels for specific apps and traffic types such as streaming video and online gaming.

The Malaysian operator uses analytics to axe capital expenditure and is eyeing further benefits from the combination of network and external data.

The Super C-band development from Huawei adds an additional 50% to a standard C-band implementation.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: ZTE opens cybersecurity lab in Rome; coaxial startup lands Vodafone Germany deal; payback time for UK mobile operators?

The Italian phone incumbent is now so ruthlessly focused on efficiency it has started referring to employees as units.

Sprint is using a 'low code' development platform to streamline business processes, including getting wireline customers online faster.

MetTel's Max Silber, the carrier's vice president of mobility, says 5G transforms business for both MetTel and its enterprise customers.

Mishka Dehghan is vice president of 5G development for Sprint Business, and she talked about the future that we can enable with 5G at the Big 5G Event in Denver on May 8, 2019.

Heavy Reading's James Crawshaw gives an overview of a session he chaired at the Big 5G Event on automation, AI and the immediate uses for telcos as their networks evolve.

The proposed merger of Sprint and T-Mobile took a big step forward with support from the chairman of the FCC, but plenty of questions remain, including whether a Boost divestiture would create competition in the US market and whether anyone would buy it.

The Justice Department is inclined to block the merger, even after the FCC chairman's approval, according to Bloomberg.

A couple of years removed from its $6B deal to buy Cavium, Marvell suddenly agrees to buy two companies so far this month. There's still 11 days left in May, folks.

NetNumber's Jee Alkebsi and Heavy Reading's Jim Hodges discuss the recent 5G Security Market Leadership Study (MLS) and what network operators are doing to offer managed security services.

The Chinese vendor's survival as an international force is now at stake following the latest moves by the US administration and tech companies.

Conrad Clemson named CEO as EditShare takes on a majority investment from ParkerGale and plots plan to scale up its business and migrate its media asset collaboration and management platform to the cloud.

The chairman of the FCC said he will support the merger of Sprint and T-Mobile if they meet certain network-buildout targets and sell Sprint's Boost prepaid business. The odds that the merger will be approved are now much better than before.

5G man is always desperate to help... but his help isn't always needed.

ACE claims it's struggling to get its mitts on a long-term contract between Hovsat & DirecTV that is key to Omniverse's streaming TV offering.

Many initial 5G deployments will be private networks on enterprise premises, and service providers will need to accommodate those needs, says MetTel CTO Ed Fox in conversation with Light Reading's Mitch Wagner. Also, Fox talks about how MetTel is going big on network functions virtualization (NFV).

The Chinese equipment giant is sent packing by a host of the world's biggest technology companies and faces a huge threat to its consumer business after Google holds back some Android goodies.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: France resists US pressure to play hardball with Huawei; lampposts row threatens UK's 5G rollout; ADVA lands Openreach cell site gateway gig.

At the Big 5G Event in Denver, Gilles Garcia, EMEA comms business lead director at chip specialist Xilinx, suggests the hardware platforms needed to underpin 5G rollouts are being overshadowed by excitement over software developments.

Carolina West Wireless counts 300 towers and roughly 90,000 customers, and is still using a circuit-switched core network. But that's not stopping the operator from preparing for 5G.

A new API from Qualcomm promises to give Android Q app developers information about how fast users' 5G phones will go. But don't expect a 5G 'killer app' anytime soon.

Ibrahim Gedeon from Telus, Jim Poole from Equinix and Tom Tofigh from QCT discuss edge computing as part of the telco cloud at the Big 5G Event in Denver on May 8, 2019.

Putting Huawei on the trade blacklist would have dire consequences for the global supply chain and the operators that use its equipment.

As 5G networks begin to roll out, it is worth looking at how service providers can deliver high-value, high-margin security services in a way that no one else in the IoT ecosystem can match.

Oracle sells to Asian telco Circles.Life; Microsoft partners with Sony on gaming; VMware acquires Bitnami for multicloud, and more telco cloud news this week.

This week in our WiC roundup: Women in Comms steals the show in Denver; moms in tech hog the headlines; women are talked over in meetings (duh); and more!

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: BT launches employee share scheme, unveils underwhelming new logo; German trade group distances itself from US stance on Huawei.

Under its new OTT-like, bring-your-own broadband model, the industrial IoT company aims to scale up more rapidly and set the stage for a global services strategy.

As AT&T digests DirecTV and Time Warner, Verizon and T-Mobile are working on refining their video strategies ahead of broad 5G rollouts.

CenturyLink CTO Andrew Dugan shares his views on 5G transport technology at the Big 5G Event in Denver on May 8, 2019.

US operators have been selling customer location information to third parties, including location aggregators. However, that's mostly over, according to new carrier correspondence with the FCC.

Sprint will kick off preorders for the LG V50 ThinQ and the HTC 5G Hub on May 17.

Company CFO Chris Winfrey expands on Charter's strategy to use Spectrum Mobile as a growth driver for its home broadband service.

Verizon launched the nation's first device with integrated 5G capability, the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G, and the company's CEO highlighted the operator's open approach to 5G partnerships.

Failure to transform their businesses, highlighted at this week's Digital Transformation World event in Nice, is fast catching up with the telcos.

Bill Walker explains how edge computing has allowed operators to decompose applications and distribute them on the network.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Bouygues gets off to a flier; Sunrise raises its earnings guidance; Vodafone/INWIT towers deal set for the summer.

AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson said the expectation is that distributors like Comcast will be 'important partners' for WarnerMedia's upcoming set of OTT-delivered subscription VoD services.

Heavy Reading Senior Analyst Steve Bell highlights some of the fear, uncertainty and doubt related to 5G's return-on-investment cases and regulatory environments.

Should cars talk to each other using WiFi or 5G? That's a question that appears to have caused a rift between Europe and the US – and one that could potentially redefine the world's transportation industry.

Cisco's service provider business declined 13% in the third fiscal quarter, but overall revenue was up, so it was (metaphorical) high fives for everyone on Cisco's quarterly earnings call.

A new executive order from President Trump allows the US to ban telecom gear from China - and anywhere else it wants.

Even as it hands over operational control of Hulu to Disney and paves the way to sell its Hulu stake, Comcast sees loads of opportunity in the OTT video market as it revs up plans for both Sky's Now TV streaming service in Europe and NBC's forthcoming OTT service.

20 select shots from the week that was in Denver, Colo.

Continuing a growing trend, WOW has become the latest cable operator to combine its broadband service with a skinny bundle OTT-TV offering.

Ericsson's Edge Gravity essentially represents a pivot by the company from selling CDN services to selling edge computing services. And though the process hasn't been completely smooth, Ericsson is boasting of progress.

Verizon finally gets on the nationwide NB-IoT trail.

Following CommScope merger, Dan Whalen has left the company and been succeeded by another industry vet, Kevin Keefe, who takes the reins of the unit during a critical time for the company.

Volta claims that moving routing intelligence to the cloud and running white boxes can slash costs compared with legacy equipment.

It's a tough job talking about telco transformation on the French Riviera in May, but someone's got to do it... so what are the big talking points from the TM Forum's Digital Transformation World event in Nice, France?

Japan's Rakuten is building what it says will be the first truly cloud-native mobile network, and its existing operators should be worried.

DT's CIO doesn't dig 'transformation,' Enghouse keeps its toes warm and the TM Forum snacks on Danish... plus more from the Riviera.

The radio access network receives plenty of attention in 5G discussions, but Verizon's Glenn Wellbrock says those "fancy radios" require a strong fiber backbone.

My musings and observations on OpenStack, the open source community, what's working and what could work better.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: 3SS adds AI to the video mix; Insight TV pushes into MENA; the changing face of content consumption.

At the Big 5G Event in Denver, Mike Roberts, research director for Ovum's Service Provider Markets group, gives his take on the current state of the 5G market.

5G-powered drones and AR/VR services? Sure. But Verizon's Adam Koeppe said that driverless cars running on 5G isn't something that's going to happen anytime soon.

Premium networks like Showtime must spread their bets and lock in distribution on both legacy and newer OTT platforms, COO Tom Christie says.

The messages emerging from this week's Digital Transformation World sound depressingly familiar.

Sprint perks up with first 5G launches and Verizon picks up another 20 5G mobile cities.

AT&T's CEO said the operator will be able to offer a 'true, high-speed Internet network throughout the United States' in the next three to five years via fiber and 5G.

Arista's second-generation 400G routers support built-in security, automation and telemetry for reduced capex and opex.

AT&T sees big promise in manufacturing, healthcare and retail, even before mobile 5G becomes available everywhere.

Under 'put/call' agreement, Comcast can require Disney to buy NBCU's 33% stake in Hulu as early as January 2024; Comcast also inks deal to offer Hulu via its X1 video platform.

Ciena's Proactive Network Operations is a closed-loop automation platform that service providers can use to predict and prevent service disruptions.

As the 5G market gains momentum, new figures from the GSA and Ookla help highlight exactly where the global industry sits in terms of network rollouts and devices launched.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Vodafone cuts dividend following euro 7.6 billion loss; Openet lands US Tier 1 gig; KPN invests in IoT startup Wirepas.

In tests with AT&T, LiveU will equip its portable video production backpacks with 5G, believing that the capabilities of the new network will drive down the costs of on-location news and sporting event coverage.

Outdated telco IT procurement processes cost industry more than $1 billion per year, according to findings of a report from industry body TM Forum, which asks if it's time to kill the RFP.

Even as it carries out its phased retreat from the European continent, Liberty Global is trying to stem video sub losses and spur fresh revenue growth with a slate of new product and service offerings.

Light Reading's Ray Le Maistre and Phil Harvey were joined by two guests -- Light Reading's Mike Dano and US Ignite's Mari Silbey -- to sum up the state of 5G, why US cities are closely watching 5G deployments and what we can look forward to as 2019 rolls on.

STEM can help women self-correct the gender gap, but girls lose interest in STEM early on. That needs to change.

MSOs must remain wary of 5G-powered in-home broadband services, but the backhaul and fronthaul opportunities will abound for cable operators as 5G networks are deployed.

It's a wrap! Take a low-latency whistle-stop tour of who said what and why at Light Reading's Big 5G Event in Denver.

Boingo is best known as the guys who get travelers online at airports, but that's just a small part of the business nowadays. Network virtualization has helped drive the transition.

Everyone agrees that the small cell opportunity in a 5G world is big. However, what's unclear is how the market will play out, and whether it will be profitable for those involved.

The Norwegian telco, whose operations span Europe and Asia, has taken a hefty axe to its workforce.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Vodacom revenue rises; EU's connected-car WiFi plan stalls; UK councils asked to prioritize mobile connectivity.

5G Man is on a mission to help his new buddy, but the conditions can sometimes limit his powers...

Arris is off to a sluggish start, but hopeful that business will pick up as operators bulk up on DOCSIS 3.1 network capacity and start to snap up customer premises equipment.

MSO thrives as 10% of its new broadband subs take its new $40 unlimited data option for power users and other data subs shift to higher-priced speed tiers.

To build the edge computing capabilities that 5G applications need, carriers need to find out where more processing is needed – and that's not terribly clear at the moment.

Telus CTO Ibrahim Gedeon shared his views of the industry's progress at the Big 5G Event in Denver on May 8, 2019, and was one of the big hits of the week.

The move to 5G will also disrupt carriers' timing systems as 5G's timing and clock synchronization requirements are much more strict.

F5 and NGINX are one. Looks like the same will happen soon for IBM and Red Hat. And Docker gets a new posterior in the captain's chair.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Telefonica's Q1; DT, Ericsson claim microwave breakthrough; Orange invests in fintech company; Telia brings IoT to logistics.

This week in our WiC roundup: Women in prison gain coding skills; small startups make the biggest impact; greedy workplaces hurt women; and more.

5G technology offers promise and potential to public safety agencies, but a long road ahead looms for implementation, according to panelists at the Big 5G Event.

The UK incumbent remains one of Europe's most bloated telecom operators, and that is unlikely to change under current cost-cutting plans.

AI and machine learning are already key components in the closed-loop control of BT's programmable network.

But many big questions remain unanswered as company aims to complete the separation by mid-2020.

The global wireless industry rushed a barebones version of the 5G standard out the door so it could get to market more quickly. Today's 5G certainly reflects that haste.

Ahead of its 5G launch, Sprint's Mishka Dehghan discussed the carrier's Curiosity IoT platform and highlights smart city applications that will take advantage of 5G's technical capabilities.

Deeper investments in ESPN+ and costs tied to the coming Disney+ OTT service attributed to a widening Q1 operating loss of $393 million at Disney's international and direct-to-consumer unit.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Deutsche Telekom powers on in Q1; Sky invests in You.i.TV for cross-platform app development; back-of-the-net for BT Sport!

Edge computing, particularly in the 5G world, faces a series of serious obstacles, according to several in the mobile network and data center industries.

Under-fire Chinese vendor wants the US to introduce a regime for the testing of 5G products from all vendors as it fights efforts to have it banned from international markets.

Millimeter wave-powered provider of fixed wireless broadband has been able to achieve 20% service penetration in apartment buildings within 60 to 90 days of launch, COO says.

We invited our 2019 Leading Lights awards winners to share their thoughts with the Light Reading video crew. Here's what they had to say:

Investment firms Digital Colony and the EQT Infrastructure IV fund buy network and fiber services firm, take it private.

Ibrahim Gedeon of Canada's Telus says there needs to be less focus on speed and more attention paid to real transformation.

Ample fiber infrastructure and edge computing resources will play a key role in getting 5G services ready to go, says CenturyLink CTO Andrew Dugan.

Recent promotions are among other significant executive moves within Comcast's technology and product organizations.

Red Hat aims to reduce friction deploying containerized applications, the important building blocks of virtualized networks.

The country's 5G leadership position could be at risk unless mid-band spectrum is made available to its operators.

Sprint said it will launch mobile 5G service in four major US cities in the next few weeks, but, in the meantime, tens of thousands of customers are discontinuing their Sprint service.

Shay Phillips says women can change misperception in the workplace by identifying a career advocate with an open-door policy.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: US consortium lands Ireland's National Broadband Plan gig; Telefonica sells 11 data centers; UK broadband speeds creep up.

CenturyLink is one of the biggest wireline network operators in the country, but the company is also eyeing the wireless business, including through a small cell buildout operation.

A broad range of spectrum bands is critical to helping T-Mobile deliver on a good 5G experience, and millimeter wave takes another knock.

Network operators are looking for 5G to do what 4G can't for enterprise customers – and that will justify the investment.

Preparing and educating customers about the true capabilities about 5G can help mobile service providers avoid unrealistic expectations, execs at Light Reading's Big 5G Event insist.

The US telco expects to support a sub-10-millisecond service on its edge platform by the end of this year.

Not every workload needs to go to the edge. Operators need to consider which workloads make the most sense to transition.

Traditional providers lost a record 1.42 million subs in Q1 while subscriber growth among OTT-TV providers slowed considerably, according to MoffettNathanson's latest 'Cord-Cutting Monitor.'

Meet the next-gen mobile sector's very own superhero, 5G Man...

Updated tools for hands-free operations and modern applications are designed to help operators cloudify their networks.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Liberty Global revenue down in Q1; Deutsche Telekom rebrands in Austria; France Telecom suicides trial underway.

Here are the cities where Verizon's network speeds are showing the biggest slowdown during peak usage times.

The Finnish vendor's 5G-related difficulties and weak performance have unsettled investors, but Ericsson and Huawei also have questions to answer.

Find out which companies have taken home the 2019 Leading Lights Awards trophies.

We've added four names to the Hall of Fame this year. Find out who they are...

The tie-up between the Indian operator and the US IT giant is designed to bolster customer experience and lower costs in the competitive Indian market.

In a NAB Show fireside chat, Philo CTO Ben Chambers discusses the evolution, business model, technical platform and future plans of the popular streaming video services.

Norwegian and Malaysian operators kick off discussions about merging their Asian assets to produce a company with around 300 million customers.

The GSMA recently recommended that phones show a 5G icon even when they can't find 5G NR coverage. Thus, it's clear that the relative simplicity of today's mostly ubiquitous '4G LTE' status icon is not going to carry over into the 5G future.

MobiTV's president and COO says Amazon is 'really engaging' with plans to optimize and customize its streaming platform for the pay-TV operator market.

In our latest poll about cable's next-gen options, DOCSIS 3.1 barely nudged out DAA and FTTH as the industry's biggest tech priority for 2019.

Four companies have made the 2019 shortlist for this coveted award.

CenturyLink's Bill Walker explains how edge computing can help service providers efficiently manage traffic and meet increasing bandwidth demands in the 5G era.

Amdocs, CommScope, Parallel Wireless, Quantenna Communications, Sprint and Verizon and Ericsson are this year's finalists.

Also: VMware gets jiggy with Microsoft, Eric Schmidt and Diane Greene depart the Alphabet board, Mirantis gets 'Ultraviolent' and other recent telco cloud news you may have missed.

Six companies - Anritsu, Infovista, Kentik, Netrounds, Spirent and Viavi Solutions - made the cut in the Outstanding Test & Measurement Vendor category.

LotusFlare, MATRIXX Software, MYCOM OSI, Netcracker Technology, Openet and Synchronoss Technologies are the six shortlisted companies in this category.

There are 11 (yes, count them!) shortlisted entries in this year's category for Most Innovative Telecoms Product (Optical/IP/Carrier Ethernet/FTTH).

Several privately held companies - including Versa Networks, CUJO AI, Synamedia and Pluribus Networks - have grown their businesses and set themselves up for success in the last 12 months.

Vodafone Idea picked IBM to implement multi-cloud for customer engagement, in a five-year multi-million-dollar deal, and Ericsson for its cloud packet core.

A10 Networks, Allot, Amdocs, Casa Systems, Cisco Systems, Ericsson, Lumina Networks, Ooredoo Qatar, Parallel Wireless and SK Telecom are the Light Reading finalists for the annual Leading Lights award for Most Innovative 5G Strategy.

'When I go to one of our towers, I want to throw up,' the Dish Chairman says, stressing that the architecture of wireless networks is in dire need of virtualization in the 5G era.

Mediacom - the nation's fifth-largest cable company - has joined its cable peers in testing wireless operations in the 3.5GHz CBRS band. What the company might do with the spectrum remains an open question though.

Speaking on a conference call with the company's prepaid dealers that was obtained by Light Reading, the chief executive of Metro by T-Mobile said he's leaving the business voluntarily, and that the move could help the operation's finances.

A tiny broadband business that Three bought in 2017 is set to play a big part in the UK operator's 5G plans.

Oracle, Momentum Telecom and Lumentum all made interesting, well-timed acquisitions, divestitures, partnerships and other deals in the past 12 months.

This week in our WiC roundup: #MeToo backlash hits hard; stopping imposter syndrome before it starts; book recommendations galore!; and more.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Pompeo heads for London to sound the Huawei alarm (again); Proximus revenue down in Q1; big-buttoned phones still rockin' it for Doro.

Find out which vendors devised the most innovative SD-WAN product or platform during the past year.

Binder joined T-Mobile following company's acquisition of Denver-based pay-TV startup Layer3 TV.

Altice USA laser-focused on planned launch of a mobile product, in partnership with Sprint this summer, CEO Dexter Goei says. Meanwhile, MSO sees video and broadband results improve in Q1.

Acacia Communications, Finisar, ProLabs, Source Photonics and Xilinx all submitted standout entries for the Outstanding Components Vendor category in this year's Leading Lights contest.

Cable and wireless network access vendor reports revenues sank by more than half in Q1 as broadband product and service contracts fell across the board.

Industry sources say it's extremely unlikely that Charter would do a full syndication deal for X1, but that Charter could be interested in adopting some specific features and capabilities of Comcast's video platform.

Even a forecast of a summer smartphone slump can't dampen investors' enthusiasm for Qualcomm, which is on track to receive at least $4.5 billion from Apple as it rides into a 'material' 5G opportunity next year.

Russia-focused operator pockets a profit-boosting compensation payment from Ericsson and hails a strong operational performance in major markets.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: ONI Telecom does data center interconnect with Nokia; Siminn prepares for 5G with Ericsson; Swisscom Q1 revenue slips.

Big data is guiding your everyday decisions and the decisions that affect your life. It's no wonder that governments and corporations want in.

Accedian, Amdocs, ASSIA, Boingo, Cisco and Huawei make the shortlist for our Most Innovative AI/Analytics Strategy award.

The NTIA has wrapped SAS testing in the CBRS band, one of the final steps in releasing the spectrum for commercial use. Midco and Landmark Dividend are among those planning to use the spectrum for services like fixed wireless and private LTE.

Deep Blue specializes in the planning, engineering and installation of managed WiFi networks for hotels and entertainment venues, and reportedly pulled down $38 million in revenues last year.

Orange and Dell will collaborate on a distributed cloud architecture for 5G cloud networking.

If 2019 is the year of 5G, Movandi, Pivotal Commware, Samsung Electronics, SK Telecom and Sprint are some of the companies to watch.

Startup hopes to dive deeper into the mainstream by adding IoT management capabilities to a Control Center platform that can also unify the management and navigation of up to four TV-connected devices.

Verizon, AT&T and other network operators provided updates on the state of their 5G rollouts at the sixth annual Brooklyn 5G Summit, hosted by NYU Wireless and Nokia.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Nokia goes farming; Inmarsat earnings slump in Q1; CityFibre breaks ground on Cambridge network expansion.

Aryaka's war chest now totals $184 million for its SD-WAN service, which runs on its own private network.

Smartphone giant suffers a double-digit percentage fall in profit amid weak demand for the latest devices.

Australian billing and customer care specialist Hansen Technologies expands international presence with US$117 million deal to acquire Sigma Systems.