In this security roundup, Dell'Oro predicts that network security sales will exceed $150 billion in the next five years, and the Ransomware Task Force releases a new report for SMBS on addressing ransomware threats.

Top US cable operators swung to a first-ever loss of broadband subs in Q2 2022. Alongside that loss of 60,000 subs, fixed wireless providers gained more than 800,000 customers in the period, according to LRG.

A list of Light Reading's coverage of Q2 2022 earnings calls, and whether or not women participated on each one.

Telstra CEO Andy Penn bows out on a buoyant note, with the telco clearing its last big NBN hurdle and raising its dividend for the first time in seven years.

Videotron is to buy Freedom Mobile for around $2.2 billion in a transaction that presumably would allay regulatory concerns around Rogers' proposed $26 billion acquisition of Shaw.

Total revenue has shrunk by a third since 2020, mostly because of the sharp decline in its handset business.

Two satellite providers combine LEO and GEO services to offer service to airlines by 2024.

Resound, Airspan, Nextlink, Cambium and other fixed wireless players are eagerly eyeing the 6GHz band, and it's possible that Verizon and T-Mobile could add the spectrum to their operations.

Lou Borrelli, CEO of the recently renamed National Content & Technology Cooperative, joins the podcast to talk big takeaways from The Independent Show, reactions to the org's new name, updates on new, major projects ... and how Borrelli stays connected from his sailboat.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Enea lands $5.9 million messaging security deal; Telkom turmoil in South Africa; TDC Group sees mixed bag of results.

Foxxum says its new OS for connected TVs is built on the Reference Design Kit, a software stack managed by a joint venture of Comcast, Liberty Global and Charter, and used by dozens of service providers around the globe.

'We are confident it will be granted in the near term,' Starry said of its application for Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) money. That's noteworthy considering the FCC rejected LTD and Starlink from the RDOF.

'We are obviously conducting a review as to the best way to manage that asset,' T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert said when asked about what the company might do with Sprint's wireline network.

African operator MTN Group has a binding offer to acquire 100% of operations in Afghanistan as it continues plans to exit the Middle East and focus on Africa.

The FCC denied RDOF awards for Starlink and LTD, prompting cheers from the fiber industry and jeers from a fellow FCC commissioner, who said he learned the news while 'on a work trip.'

Strong Q2 showings in US and Germany give Bonn-based Group cause for greater optimism.

As the Dutch government consults on 3.5GHz, Rotterdam port and Schiphol airport emphasize the need for spectrum for private use.

Open RAN proponents continue to hope that a move in India away from Chinese vendors and toward 5G might open doors to the technology. But some analysts don't expect that to happen quickly.

Revenue for cable distributed access equipment is expected to rise about 30%, to $1.3 billion, by 2025 as operators ramp up for DOCSIS 4.0 and some FTTP deployments, according to a new forecast from Dell'Oro Group.

This episode features Conexon's Jonathan Chambers and Central Georgia EMC's Herschel Arant. We discuss their work delivering fiber broadband in Georgia, why rural customers are taking gig speeds and why co-ops are well placed to deliver on federal funding.

In addition to working to further automate transactions with other service providers and enterprise customers via the APIs, Orange's Franck Morales said his role as a member of MEF's board provides him with the opportunity to help develop SD-WAN and SASE standards.

In a formal complaint to the Philippines Competition Commission, Dito says 80% of calls to one operator and 70% of calls to the other do not get connected.

Further details emerge about the fourth mobile network under construction in Germany, including news of a breakthrough on latency.

Results from Heavy Reading's Open, Automated & Programmable Transport Networks Market Leadership Survey indicate technology maturation in open optical networking may outpace the ability to manage and operate it at scale. #sponsored

An ad-supported version of the Disney+ streaming service will launch on December 8 and cost $7.99 per month. The ad-free form of Disney+ will climb to $10.99 per month.

The state's first ConnectAll grant will help fund an open access fiber build in the Village of Sherburne that the mayor says has been years in the making.

Dominion, Xcel, Exelon, Duke Energy and other major utilities are among those that have tested private wireless products from Anterix. But so far none has yet pulled the trigger on a deal.

Google Fiber CEO Dinni Jain says the company is in talks with officials to build fiber-to-the-premises networks to cities in Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada and Idaho.

The Japanese company now plans to erect at least another 12,400 4G basestations to address coverage shortcomings and end roaming reliance on KDDI.

Tariff rises push up revenues per user, while data consumption is up across the board, as the telco's prepare for the launch of 5G services.

US Commerce Department accuses Chinese firms of collusion to hide illegal exports of ZTE equipment to Iran.

T-Mobile is poised to gain additional valuable 2.5GHz spectrum in an FCC auction for next to nothing. And the carrier appears to be using the savings to buy more lowband 600MHz spectrum.

With performance and stability deemed consistent across platforms, Comcast's pay-TV streaming app recently exited beta on Roku and Amazon's Fire TV devices, and will soon do the same on Samsung and LG smart TVs.

In this podcast, Verizon's Mark Paff described in detail the service provider's role in emergency response scenarios and explained that Verizon's efforts are 'all done in close coordination with the local responders that are setting up that incident command center after the event.'

South Korea's largest mobile operator improved revenue by 4% to 4.29 trillion won (US$3.29 billion) over last year.

Following 'landmark win,' Xperi expects the first smart TV with the TiVo's operating system to debut in mid-2023, with an initial focus outside North America, says company CEO Jon Kirchner.

Starry, a fixed wireless operator that expects to end 2022 with over 100,000 subscribers, is 'exploring a combination of debt, equity and other financing vehicles' to get to break-even, CEO Chet Kanojia says.

Amazon recently inked a patent-licensing deal with InterDigital, a major player in smartphones. Separately, it said it would acquire iRobot. Is it a coincidence?

The Carlos Slim-controlled operator creates a new tower company with 29,090 towers in territories outside of Mexico.

A small UK company that buys and sells used network parts is catching the attention of operators dealing with inflation, supply constraints and geopolitics.

Fiber network operators in the US have built hundreds of thousands of new fiber locations in recent months. On the supply side, vendors are celebrating the 'enormous secular opportunity' in fiber equipment.

Cable One execs intimate that the operator already has its hands full with other deals soon after Altice USA confirmed that it is shopping its rural-focused Suddenlink assets.

Despite the flexibility that open RAN promises from an equipment and technology standpoint, supply chain speed bumps plus geopolitical factors are presenting new challenges to that market, Light Reading's Iain Morris explained on the podcast.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: WIOCC boosted by Google's Equiano cable landing in South Africa; PwC fined over sloppy BT audit; CityFibre digs Rochdale.

LinkNYC's deal with the city, amended in 2021, includes not just a 5G-based business model but the goal of 4,000 kiosks starting in underserved areas.

UScellular currently has around 57,000 fixed wireless access customers. However, the company is hoping to supercharge that number with midband spectrum and US government funding.

With fiber subscriber adds holding steady at 50,000, Frontier said it passed a record 281,000 new locations with fiber in Q2 2022. The telco also has raised its original 2022 build target by as much as 20%.

About 70 communities and 39 public safety agencies have received Verizon Frontline support for wildfire response efforts this year, according to the service provider.

WOW reported solid broadband subscriber gains in the second quarter of the year, but lowered its broadband subscriber forecast for full 2022. The company did not provide firm figures on its recent mobile launch.

Duo claims demo, using 'live' commercial spectrum, is a European first.

Gogo CEO Oakleigh Thorne said last week he received a call from Airspan, the company's open RAN 5G chipset supplier. Airspan warned it was having trouble testing its products and might have to delay Gogo's 5G launch.

A vast R&D gulf between operators and their suppliers has opened in the last decade, even as telcos fret about dependency.

Many in the industry have been raising concerns about the federal government's 'Buy America' rules for subsidized broadband builds. But some also see an opportunity.

TIM CEO indicates that "things are proceeding" despite upcoming election and right-wing opposition to CDP and TIM's current plan

Analysts believe that it gives the operator a significant advantage since the 700MHz band is required to launch 5G standalone.

Despite an improvement to its wireline business when compared to AT&T and Verizon, it wasn't all sunshine for Lumen in Q2, with rising energy and labor costs, inflation and supply chain issues raining down on revenue.

Among recent fixed wireless transactions, altafiber recently acquired Agile Network Builders, while Ziply Fiber recently announced it would buy Eastern Oregon Net (better known as EONI).

Contracts awarded so far have gone to the Nordic and South Korean giants with zero mention of open RAN.

The exercise involves more than 100 aircraft and ten warships, including ships that crossed the median line, the de facto maritime boundary with Taiwan.

European and US satcomms players said to be in talks, sending SES' share price into a tailspin.

Cox, Altice, Mediacom and others are among a group of smaller cable companies looking to enter the mobile industry, following the lead of their larger peers Charter and Comcast.

This week in broadband builds: Charter and Windstream win in North Carolina; Comcast gets $10 million in Maryland; Lumen launches 8 Gbit/s; Internet Society awards EPIC grants. Plus construction and launches from Fidium Fiber, Brightspeed, Metronet and more.

The crypto-powered IoT network aims to fill in 5G and IoT gaps for better connectivity. Does the story make sense?

KDDI's network went down for 61 hours, denying connectivity to 30.9mn people and prompting Communications Minister Yasushi Kaneko to promise an inquiry.

Adtran reported a strong Q2, fueled by fiber investments in the US and Europe. But supply chain constraints 'have negatively impacted our profitability,' said CEO Tom Stanton.

After several early, big wins with the likes of Ameren and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), Anterix has been worryingly quiet during the past several months.

After moving quickly on the rollout of 5G, the UK's smallest mobile network operator now seems to be its fastest growing.

VEON reports its Ukrainian subsidiary has maintained 90% mobile-network availability.

Altice lost more broadband customers during its second quarter. It did manage to gain mobile customers, but mostly thanks to an offer of free service. And then there's that sale of Suddenlink...

Dish Network has an option to pay T-Mobile $3.59 billion for a 13.5MHz chunk of 800MHz spectrum. However, Dish's tightening financial situation will likely quash the deal.

Lumen CTO Andrew Dugan discusses how Lumen is utilizing the MEF Lifecycle Service Orchestration APIs, and shares updates on developments of MEF's standards for SD-WAN and SASE.

David Zumwalt, CEO of WISPA, joins the podcast to discuss how fixed wireless providers are tackling the digital divide. We also get into WISPA's take on federal funding rules, unlicensed spectrum and why Zumwalt calls the FCC's broadband mapping effort 'an area of great concern.'

Losses at the Italian phone incumbent are mounting and the pressure has grown on company management to find answers.

China's smallest network has already achieved huge scale by global standards, with 200,000 basestations deployed in 2021 and 280,000 expected in 2022.

Fastly, a content delivery specialist slugging it out against Internet giants, has recruited Cisco's enterprise networking EVP as its new CEO. The new hire is no stranger to helping networking firms find a bigger home.

'We will need to raise capital,' confirmed Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen. That acknowledgement comes as the company lost another 210,000 retail wireless net subscribers in the second quarter.

DZS reported $91 million in revenue in the second quarter, up from the year-ago quarter but down by $5 million due to weakening foreign currencies.

The SASE market is expected to exceed $13 billion by 2026, according to Dell'Oro Group. Omdia and Dell'Oro both predict that enterprise investment in security components will be an important driver.

Open RAN players deny sanctions on China have had any impact on their activities as Ericsson and Nokia cut exposure.

Australia's biggest telco promptly bows to ACCC pressure and deregisters 900MHz sites to pave way for faster 5G rollout by rival.

Fixed wireless access took a clear and commanding lead over cable in the US broadband market in the second quarter. But operators that bet heavily on FWA could find themselves in hot water down the road.

Brett Sappington, an analyst who heads up video and entertainment at Interpret, joins the podcast to discuss Netflix's ad-supported future, how sports deals with streaming services are changing the landscape, and what this all means for the pay-TV sector.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Telefonica promotes disability in the workplace; Jurassic Fibre extends into Cornwall; Deutsche Telekom's smart home offering wins independent approval.

Samsung's loss is Ericsson's gain, while the Indian government's push to use home grown technology in the country's telecoms infrastructure is overlooked.

The weak handset market might be a good time to defocus from consumer 5G. Not only is demand soft, there is little in the device pipeline to excite take-up.

Through their CTIA lobbying group, 5G operators are asking Congress to release spectrum in the 3.1-3.45GHz, 4.4-4.94GHz and 7.125-8.4GHz bands. However, there are several factors at play in that request.

AT&T network executive Chris Sambar lists the many reasons why AT&T is expanding its fiber network and what markets benefit from fresh fiber.

Telit, based in California, recently announced plans to acquire the cellular IoT business of Thales, based in Paris. And this week, California's Semtech confirmed interest in buying Sierra Wireless.

Consolidated Communications achieved net-positive broadband connections for the first time in seven years and disclosed a $490 million plan to sell its stake in five wireless partnerships to fund its fiber build.

France, Italy and Spain urge the European Commission to prep legislation forcing Big Tech to pay some of the region's network infrastructure bill.

One of Europe's biggest investors in open RAN is about to feel the cost impact of its risky project.

'We look forward to seeing the network launch in the coming weeks and will have more updates to share soon,' wrote Amir Haleem, co-founder and CEO of Nova Labs, the company behind the Helium 5G network.

SpaceX and Viasat both cited speed test data in their latest opposing arguments to the FCC on whether Starlink's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund bids should be approved.

One way service providers are reducing manual processes and moving forward with network automation is by adopting MEF's Lifecycle Service Orchestration (LSO) Sonata APIs.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: French developers cheesed off with Apple; Bezeq ups its forecasts; TIM ready to sell Inwit stake.

Bidding lasted for a week and generated better than expected results, leading to the sale of 71% of the total available spectrum. This seems to be India's biggest spectrum auction ever.

Bidding in the FCC's newest auction of midband spectrum for 5G ended at around $108 million in the event's second round. That's up from just $103 million in total first round bids, placed on Friday.

Dismayed by geopolitics, executives at Positive Technologies bought the telco arm from its Russian parent and are now targeting 5G operators globally.

Telecom Italia 'rejects' press reports that any senior exec will be leaving soon due to disagreements about spinning off the operator's fiber access infrastructure to reduce debt.

Analysts with MoffettNathanson said Equinix's offering assists customers in making and/or saving money which results in reliable customer demand in both up and down markets.