Helps network operators break organizational silos.

The submarine cable sector has yielded waves of news in the last week. Here's a quick update.

SKT has a millimeter wave system at its new 5G test bed, while Nokia and Samsung suggest 5G mmWave bands to the FCC.

The aggressive transformation of AT&T puts the company in position to land more multi-national corporation business, says one analyst.

Steve Saunders shares an impromptu lunch with none other than Bill Gates.

John Legere says he will go after those customers who abuse unlimited data plans by exploiting loopholes in tethering, kicking them off unlimited if need be.

New Apple TV hardware is rumored to cost at least twice as much, even with no Apple TV service on board.

The final DSTAC report reveals two fundamentally different views of how pay-TV services should evolve in the Internet era.

Now that cable operators have built up their WiFi networks, they should start trying to make some money off of their promising wireless assets.

Price cuts and new players are changing the roaming game.

The founder of the GIG and the first female salesperson at Sony shares her advice on carving your own path, being bold and creating a gender intelligent company.

Ciena upgrades its 5430 switch with several enhancements, including a capacity boost to 15 Tbit/s.

Russia's biggest mobile operator announced new strategic partnership with search-engine giant.

Despite past speculation about selling to Finisar, JDSU spinoff Lumentum could prove to be an acquirer.

The utility industry is keeping TDM alive, but maybe not for much longer.

India's biggest operator is fortifying its 4G position through takeover activity.

The CT Gig Project in Connecticut is getting pushback from local ISPs, and rural providers around the country are stepping up their gigabit game.

To merge its China business with Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell to create a euro 4.5B business.

Jeff Miller, President and CEO of ActiveVideo, talks to Light Reading founder and CEO Steve Saunders about the impact of virtualization on the TV and video distribution market.

The chipmaker, along with Verizon, is making a big push to show that it's tested LTE-U and found it ready to coexist with WiFi.

Join us in Dallas as we discuss how to build a positive company culture at Light Reading's next Women in Comms breakfast on Sept. 16 ahead of NFV Everywhere.

Also in today's regional roundup: Liberty Global and Vodafone still in talks; Inmarsat launches new satellite; Telkom mulls Cell C takeover; ECI wins SDN deal in Sweden.

Management shuffles and a strategic acquisition suggest upheaval in China's service provider sector.

An unusual story in an unusual place.

T-Mobile agreed to work with rural carriers on LTE roaming in the US, a year and a half after the CCA's other large member, Sprint, signed on.

Network operator will have to reach 2.3 million rural customers in 33 states by 2020 in exchange for Connect America Funding, says FCC.

Cox goes over the top with new Flare Kids app.

With vendors needing to diversify, the utility sector's immediate challenges with their operational technology (OT) frameworks offer a great opportunity to win new business.

Enterprises and service providers alike are looking to colocate more within the data center to support hybrid clouds.

Tracy Nolan, Sprint's new GM of Illinois and Wisconsin, has been charged with making Chicago Sprint's microcosm of success work for the rest of the US.

Dan Pitt of the Open Networking Foundation (ONF) lays down a challenge to OpenFlow's naysayers.

The boss of the French telecom operator remains critical of authorities for allowing Iliad to enter the mobile sector but is confident Bouygues can thrive in a four-player market.

A global relationship with Telefonica helps its international cause.

Also in today's regional roundup: Turkish delight at auction outcome; Cellcom mulls Golan bid; Swisscom launches WiFi calling; Ericsson extends ITV deal.

Dell has identified an underserved data center market that it believes is worth $6 billion and has developed a specific portfolio -- that's a model that suits the New IP age.

Hulu has launched a private programmatic ad exchange to boost data-driven advertising efforts.

Verizon officially launches its aftermarket car device and subscription service to bring connectivity to any car on the open road.

China's number-two equipment maker reports a sharp increase in net profit amid a surge in spending on 4G network in China.

Sinclair stations have gone dark for Dish subscribers in what is being called the largest TV blackout in American history.

Telenor's Indian subsidiary risks being left behind as Indian consumers gravitate towards higher-speed data services.

Happn takes location-based dating to a whole new level -- maybe a level too far.

Alfred Lee from Palo Alto Networks tells Steve Saunders about their new chassis-based system, the PA-7080, and how it can benefit service providers compared to legacy firewalls.

Also in today's regional roundup: Nokia deploys small cells for Ooredoo; Serbia and Kosovo reach telecom rapprochement; Millicom hires Gordon; Huawei wins SBC deal with Telefonica.

Marcello is giving himself a limited time to turn Sprint around.

Cablevision will resell CBS All Access and the Showtime streaming service, thanks to a broad new retransmission consent deal with CBS.

Operator is outperforming bigger rivals in key markets despite its focus on mobile-only activities.

The race for DOCSIS 3.1 deployments begins as CableLabs opens the door for product certifications.

Also in today's regional roundup: Dimension Data plans acquisitions; Huber+Suhner feels currency pain in H1; Liquid Telecom and MTN hook up in Africa; Telefonica boosts links to the Canary Islands.

Be careful what you wish for.

Telecom giant announces contract with startup to provide commercial version of Apache Mesos and enable faster services, innovation.

Barbara Annis, founder of the Gender Intelligence Group, shares her insights on what it means to have a gender intelligent workplace, not just an equal one.

International carrier says VoLTE roaming service is commercially available and anticipates substantial growth in traffic during coming year.

An increasing number of dropped calls is aggravating relations between Indian authorities and the country's mobile operators.

Tech IPOs could suffer if stock market losses prove to be more than just jitters.

But it will be at least 2016 before flyers will see the benefit as the zippier WiFi requires new hardware on planes.

Vendor CEOs make a lot of money, but we have a list of those who made more than most.

The latest optical modules and semiconductor components are game-changers for 100G and will accelerate 400G adoption.

Telecom carriers need to build, buy or partner for many of the technology enhancements they put into the networks or customer solutions each year.

Cross MediaWorks is acquiring dynamic ad insertion specialist BlackArrow in a deal reported to be worth between $90 and $120 million.

The Forums' senior director of content shares her insights into the comms industry, including a case for laughing it off when you'd rather get angry.

The NBN political football has been kicked back into play.

Mirantis lands its second $100 million funding round, adding Goldman Sachs to its backers, and brokers strategic development relationship with Intel.

Also in today's regional roundup: BT wins more sports rights; Tele2 unveils new boss; GSMA appoints Bouverot successor; Vodafone Ireland ups data-center investments.

China's second-biggest mobile operator appears to be hemorrhaging customers and faring especially badly in the fast-developing 4G sector.

CenturyLink is ramping up rollouts of its gigabit-powered Prism TV service, and momentum builds in gigabit cities around the country.

Operator's profits are boosted by cost-cutting activities and success in the broadband and mobile sectors.

Roku beats out Google, Amazon and Apple in the streaming media player market.

Everything is well researched, well thought out and almost certain to be wrong.

As the Internet of Things (IoT) market expands, vendors should target specific vertical markets to maximize their business opportunities.

Against the odds, Huawei is growing its telecoms networking equipment business in the US -- that should be ringing some alarm bells for domestic vendors.

Also in today's regional roundup: Romania's RCS & RDS buys LTE TDD license; BT crunches big data with Cloudera; Vodafone quits Lebanon bid; Africa's Liquid launches Hai; EE upgrades TV offering.

IP networking is smaller than Brocade's SAN business but it's growing fast, while the SAN business declined.

In support of its efforts to be more open and collaborative, the company that set off the SDN movement is showing off more of how it builds data center networks.

The almost-forgotten optical broadband technology is alive and kicking in Spain, it seems.

Using New IP strategies, Adtran is increasing the speed of gigabit deployments by up to tenfold.

Operator reports increase in profits thanks to gains in Sri Lanka, Cambodia and India while claiming to have seen improvements in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Kudelski H1 numbers up; CityFibre strikes wireless hub deal; Google struck by Belgian lightning.

China's biggest operator says pressure on operating costs is growing as it fends off increasing 4G competition from its chief rivals.

Enterprises are driving consolidation in the colocation market.

Israeli millimeter wave startup focuses on 5G and GTTH.

Rapid industry shift to lighter-weight virtualization fits well with Calico's lighter-weight approach to virtual networking.

DirecTV is moving 4K forward... slowly... with the launch of its new 4K Genie Mini set-top.

Virtual phone number specialist Voxbone sells majority stake to a private equity firm and prepares for accelerated expansion, including M&A.

Fujitsu jumps into the SDN/NFV game with a disaggregated optical architecture.

Comcast hasn't let a little thing like the failed acquisition of Time Warner Cable keep it down.

The ties between RJio and RCom appear to be getting stronger all the time.

New partnership with Bloom Energy will add a green power source to its more energy-efficient data center design, as it aims for the edge.

The smallest of China's three national mobile operators is struggling to maintain profit levels even though adoption of higher-speed services is taking off.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Netflix raises European prices; DT exec gets a dig in at online advertising; BBC upgrades iPlayer.

Previous technology innovations crawled along compared with adoption of SDN.

Android goes Marshmallow, but the modular Ara phone isn't getting its debut until at least 2016.

Swiss incumbent says sales of bundled products are more than compensating for the single-play decline but faces new competitive challenges at home and abroad.

Google is launching a new high-end retail WiFi router with bandwidth customization options, automatic updates and a mobile app for managing WiFi configurations.

Dilip Pillaipakam from Infoblox talks to Steve Saunders about his company's core network services.

Comcast has acquired Denver-based This Technology and will fold the company's expertise into its Video IP Engineering & Research (VIPER) division.

Russia's biggest mobile operator remains confident its sales will grow this year despite being hit by rising costs in the second quarter.

To combat HEVC licensing concerns, Cisco has introduced a new initiative called Thor, designed to create a royalty-free, next-generation video codec.

Less than a week after increasing its investment in Sprint by $86.9 million, Softbank spends another $73 million, taking its stake to more than 80%.

Software vendor announces telecom giant's use of its Perimeta SBC, but also its role in aiding transition to virtualized operations.

The future of communications depends on technology licensing, according to Ericsson's Monica Magnusson.

Fresh revelations the operator helped the NSA to spy on the UN could prove damaging.

Also claims impressive 40% growth for six consecutive quarters and 365% growth year-over-year.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: NokaLu moves closer; Orange completes Jazztel acquisition; MTN/Telkom RAN deal blocked.

From top to bottom, here's a list of how much money cable and media executives earned in 2014.

In Light Reading's original science fiction serial, 'Silence Like Diamonds,' encryption is broken, and security pros find lots of work.

Its monitoring efforts show the bad guys are starting to use Portmapper services to launch amplified DDoS attacks.

Indian authorities have finally announced rules for the sharing of spectrum, but operators will be disappointed by some of the new guidelines.

T-Mobile's strong in metro markets, Sprint is making strides and AT&T is a close second, but Verizon is still number one, according to RootMetric's latest nationwide report.

The billing and revenue management specialist is looking to help India's operators make money from WiFi.

Redmond releases version of the Windows 10 core OS aimed at developers looking to build Internet of Things embedded devices.

You'd be forgiven for confusing Comcast's multiple online video attempts.

South Korean operator is moving towards a deployment of Ericsson's HDS 8000 data center platform as part of its shift towards a software-defined cloud architecture.

Also in today's regional roundup: Zegona buys Telecable; PT Inovacao lands role in multiple 5G projects; Zen Internet joins BT G.fast trials; Virgin Media plans WiFi rollout; NEC lands critical infrastructure job in Kuwait; Ooredoo nabs ISP license in Maldives; Metrological launches software tools for pay-TV providers.

Allows network functions and services to load in the kernel space rather than user space.

Women have to stand up for themselves while also enlisting support from men, says the manager of Vodafone's global Customer Innovation Program.

Cellphones and rollercoasters don't mix.

Infrastructure vendor Adtran is already powering gigabit services for more than 200 communities, and service providers are marking new gigabit milestones as well.

Infinera nears completion of its Transmode acquisition after the Swedish vendor's investors approved the deal.

Latest Apple rumor has Apple TV launch delayed until 2016. Will the company wait forever?

Light Reading's science fiction serial 'Silence Like Diamonds' imagines a world where one of the most powerful corporations is entirely software-operated, with no employees. If that happens, what would we need people for?

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: TeliaSonera and Telenor make concessions on planned Danish merger; Pernille Erenbjerg made CEO of Denmark's TDS; Amazon expands in Africa.

Equinix CTO Ihab Tarazi talks to Light Reading founder and CEO Steve Saunders about data center, cloud and the impact of virtualization in the coming years.

Reflecting on the pivotal role this technology played in the history of computing on its 10th birthday.

Can Samsung get an edge in mobile payments with tech that should work with 90% of credit card POS readers?

Ittai Bareket, CEO of Netformx, talks with Steve Saunders about the Netformx Ecosystem, which employs cutting-edge prescriptive analytics to help solution providers maximize profits.

In seeking to prevent TV blackouts, the FCC wants to give pay-TV providers a leg up in content licensing negotiations with broadcasters.

Growing security threats are set to drive critical infrastructure operators to new investment and upgrades of their internal networks.

AT&T outlines the future for its integration with DirecTV.

SoftBank has spent $87 million to increase its stake in Sprint to almost 80% as media coverage questions the US operator's future.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: more Israeli mobile misery; bids in for Telekom Srbija; telecom waste in London.

Bharti Airtel's 4G services launch and the impending entry by Reliance Jio has accelerated the LTE plans of other operators.

Announced $16 million series A funding and plans to ship its RIFT.ware software by year end.

Improvement reflects the company's transition to the New IP.

Men's rights activists have recently filed a lawsuit against a startup that runs events for female entrepreneurs. Is Women in Comms next? We don't think so.

This is what industry leadership looks like.

AT&T's John Donovan said that Network On-Demand is delivering a reduction in provisioning times of up to 95% for its customers in its first 100 cities.

Access equipment vendor joins the virtualization fray with a bundle of integrated virtual CPE functions and a commitment to open APIs for its hardware platforms.

Cable and telecom companies are gaining share -- and a toehold in IoT -- as the home security market expands.

Telecom operators are looking to containers to help create an app-focused architecture and eliminate heavy virtualization overhead.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: profits at Orange's Israeli partner take a dive; Amino completes Entone acquisition; Google heading for collision with BMW over Alphabet.

2015 will see more buildout in the Bronx and downtown Manhattan for Transit Wireless.

Kumar Mehta, founder and CEO of stealth mode startup Versa Networks, talks with Steve Saunders about how providers can best leverage virtualized network functions (VNFs).

Verizon throws down the gigabit gauntlet with a new NG-PON2 field test and plans to issue an RFP for commercial rollout of the high-speed broadband technology later this year.

Acquisition of struggling fixed broadband chip vendor sets it against Broadcom and Intel in the battle to win business in the xDSL and G.fast device and infrastructure market.

Verizon Plans have been in the works for awhile to simplify pricing, take advantage of back-to-school time and get ready for the new iPhone, Small says.

Open World will give Sprint customers 1GB of free 3G data and unlimited calls and texts to Canada and Mexico in response to T-Mobile and AT&T's moves.

Canada's largest telco and broadband provider offers its new Gigabit Fibe service to 1.3 million homes in Ontario and Quebec.

Wurl is launching AdSpring to help pay-TV operators introduce new streaming services and take advantage of new ad revenue.

VMware among notable additions as software company continues to advance its lifecycle service orchestrator in support of NFV and SDN.

Verizon EVP David Small says 4 million customers are now using VoLTE as the carrier looks to make it a default and - eventually - only option in 4G phones.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Etisalat completes Nigerian towers sale; du does vCPE; CERN collides into New IP.

It's software all the way down.

Google could be getting deeper into cellular network design.

The company's surprise reorganization will allow it to both focus and dream big.

New landmark for network virtualization as Light Reading issues formal invitations to leading vendors for participation in the first ever NFV interoperability test.

Does DirecTV's loss of 133,000 customers in the second quarter mean that pay-TV cord-cutting is accelerating like mad? Well, yes and no.

Steve Saunders met up with Oracle's Doug Suriano, who talked about why Oracle bought Tekelec and Acme Packet, how it's creating tailored cloud services for different vertical industries, the state of virtualization, why Oracle won't get into systems integration and more.

From its gigabit smart grid to its wealth of 3D printing companies to the best tech camp ever, Chattanooga is a hotbed for innovation.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Opera sizes up a sale; Batelco tests TWDM-PON with Huawei; Orange agrees sale of Armenian unit.

As president of Partner Solutions for AT&T, McCorcle has helped transform how the organization works with enterprises, but also how it advocates for women in the industry.

With tests of the next-gen broadband technology now underway in its labs, Liberty Global is gearing up for several field trials early next year and commercial deployments shortly after that.

Ting wants to bring gigabit services to new cities, and it's hinting that sites in North Carolina may be on the roadmap for 2016.

While it won't happen overnight, Cablevision CEO James Dolan sees OTT video steadily capturing more of the pay-TV market over the next 5 to 10 years.

All of Verizon's work with customers through its digital media services business amounts to a rehearsal for the company's own mobile-first video service launch.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Telecom Italia's H1 hit by one-off charges; tough times for TDC in Denmark; Tele Columbus preps for M&A action.

That's one of the premises of Light Reading's original science fiction serials, "Silence Like Diamonds."

GM brings two connected Corvettes with Apple CarPlay to Chicago and talks up the success of LTE via its partnership with AT&T.

CEO Jayshree Ullal says single-digit numbers of its 3,390 customers are looking at white boxes.

With gigabit service now available in 16 markets, the third-biggest US telco plans to expand its reach to about 700,000 homes by year-end.

Arista CEO Jayshree Ullal and top lawyer Marc Taxay use a couple of minutes of the company's earnings call to trash-talk the company that's suing them.

Ciena closes its Cyan acquisition and gets ready to take Cyan's message of multi-domain service orchestration to the world.

Dish Network reports overall loss of 81,000 pay-TV subscribers in second quarter but that total masks a much bigger loss in satellite TV subs and a gain in Sling TV customers.

Interim rules require incumbents to get approval before shutting down copper lines that are in use by competitors.

The policy debate is under discussion in DC but the technical aspects of interconnecting in the all-IP world are being resolved by a coalition.

UEI, maker of universal remote control technology, intends to acquire smart home solutions provider Ecolink in a deal worth approximately $12.4 million.

Deutsche Telekom is pleased with its US subsidiary and doesn't plan to reduce its stake or sell the carrier, focusing instead on getting more low-band spectrum.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: OTE hit by redundancy costs; online Brits ditch laptops, pick up smartphones; EE recalls overheating charger.

Startup wins CableLabs Innovation Showcase contest for its 'Internet of Moving Things' solution that turns cars, buses and other vehicles into mobile WiFi hotspots.

Activist investors Elliott Management are pressuring EMC to improve.

Windstream has awarded contracts for its IPTV service to Arris and Synacor, and has won its own deal to deliver voice and Ethernet services to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The Downloadable Security Access Technology Advisory Committee (DSTAC) has one more month before it has to present its official recommendations to the FCC.

Streaming video company says both new moms and dad can take unlimited parental leave, up to one year, without sacrificing pay.

The vulnerabilities discovered could allow attackers to take control of a network.

T-Mobile was the big winner in the second quarter, as it surpassed Sprint in total subscribers, captured the postpaid phone growth and improved its financials.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Telecom Italia looks at wholesale business re-jig; Slovenian sale on ice; BT deploys the zombies.

Fraud should be part of the risk assessment every telco makes.

With its pending TWC and Bright House buyouts now under regulatory review, Charter is planning its strategy for upgrading and integrating those two MSOs' networks into its own.

New 'Barcelona' DOCSIS 3.1 chipset from STMicroelectronics is now ready for the market.

One of the most significant changes that network functions virtualization will introduce into the CSP environment is the use of generic IT servers rather than purpose-built, dedicated hardware platforms to run network applications and services.

Despite higher video sub losses in Q2, Suddenlink shrugs off dropping Viacom networks and contends it has moved on since the big programming dispute.

With help from SoftBank, Sprint will deploy thousands of new macro sites and tens of thousands of small cells to improve its network without upping capex.

Captain Kirk never checked Facebook.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: deadline set for Serbian bids; WiTCOM chooses ADVA's ROADM tech; Telecom Italia plugs into smart metering program.

Carrier brings in a new CFO and COO and promotes John Saw to CTO in the latest of a string of shake-ups as it looks to regain its footing in the US.

ADVA's timing unit absorbs a specialist in small form factor clock technology, but ADVA may have more deals in mind.

Analyst suggests that Apple MVNO rumors are likely true, but that the company will only be offering data service for its iPads and Macs, not iPhones.

Proposed model for cost recovery produces widely varying and unpredictable results, leaving rural companies uncertain about buildouts.

Steve Saunders met up with Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg, who talked about using next-generation comms tech as a force for good, as well as a foundation for good business.

The conference was splendid. Accommodations were not.

Carrier offers a bundle of four HD and DVR receivers, unlimited talk and text for four wireless lines and 10GB of shareable wireless data for $200 per month.

Equipment maker signs up Suddenlink & GCI for its new 'gigabit cable modem,' which bonds 32 channels to support downstream speed bursts as high as 1.2 Gbit/s.

Vantrix has integrated InterDigital's perceptual pre-processing technology with its Vantrix Media Platform, promising to reduce bandwidth needed for video delivery by up to 50%.

Deploying services built on pure-play virtualization can bring the expected benefits of cost savings and service agility, along with other unexpected bonus benefits.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Mobily swings to a Q2 loss; mobile boosts Telkom's fiscal Q1; BT launches 4K sports content.

JDSU has officially split into two companies, Viavi and Lumentum, with the former expanding its focus beyond telcos and into software-based service assurance.

Best camp ever! Chattanooga is famous for its gigabit network, but it also just opened up a new TechTown facility for teaching kids how to code for Minecraft, use a 3D printer and more.

Styf, Telecom Italia's VP of engineering and de facto 'idea woman,' shares her experiences as a woman in comms and advice for other women in the industry.