Everything from enterprise strategies to 5G devices caught our audiences' attention during 2018. At a time when so many changes are bearing down on the telecom world, it's clear that a lot of us still have our heads in the cloud.

Trump had drawn attention to American Cable Association's call for the US DoJ to open antitrust investigation into Comcast's ownership of NBCUniversal.

2018 is the year that the next-generation wireless technology went viral.

The reliability of 5G networks is critical to the success of smart cities applications. This puts network testing back into the communications technology spotlight.

Light Reading's on-camera coverage during the year spanned a wide range of topics and technologies, from 5G and 4K to HDR, AI, automation, edge computing and more...

Seeking to expand its role in the cable tech sector, the industry training and standards group is now looking to patent new products in the energy management and system operations areas.

Canadian video tech startup apes human perception to track video quality on any screen.

The Trump administration reportedly could bring an emergency ban on US companies buying Huawei & ZTE equipment in January 2019.

In its annual message to the industry, a defiant Huawei boasts of an annual sales increase of 21%.

How MEF's work impacts telco businesses, SD-WAN and digital transformation, from the perspectives of AT&T, PCCW and Verizon.

Cisco transformed its service provider business, fended off VMware and white box threats and beefed up network automation.

Thought leaders from AT&T, PCCW and Verizon Partner Solutions talk with MEF about their priorities for now and the coming year.

Fire up the Flux Capacitor! It's time for another jog down Memory Lane of the Web to visit sites from yesteryear and the sepia-tinged digital storefronts of Apple, AOL, Huawei, Netflix, TiVo... and many more.

Why have it your way when you can have it Huawei?

Christmas came early for Cloud Constellation, which scored $100 million in funding toward its dream of building a network of orbiting satellites to secure cloud data.

Auctions of 5G-suitable spectrum are now generating billions. Meanwhile, vendors are waiting on a different bounty - the further billions operators will need to spend to finally realize their 5G ambitions.

Huawei is continuing its push-back against its international critics with details of security testing facilities, while one of its customers in Korea talks of its confidence in the embattled vendor.

Expect a wide range of download speeds from AT&Ts Nighthawk 5G unit as you use the hotspot in AT&T's initial 5G cities.

Ray Watson, VP of Global Technology at Masergy, discusses the challenge of securing virtualized telco infrastructure and weighs in on how to handle corporate hacks as well.

The cable giant is selling more European assets – how far might it go? And what might it do with its prime asset, the UK's Virgin Media?

This week in our WiC roundup: Israel struggles to find techies; CIOs have diversity sway; the visibility lynchpin; and more.

In today's EMEA regional roundup: Liberty Global sells eastern European satellite TV operations; 5G in Estonia; Vodafone needs a new auditor; taxing times in Finland for freelance Santas.

SEC filings claim that company behind a skinny-bundle, subscription OTT-TV service has notched a content and tech partnership with Comcast Technology Solutions that kicks in January 2019.

Unlicensed 5G NR could open up a world of possibilities for companies wanting their own private 5G networks.

A cohort of independent filmmakers and storytellers will have access to a working 5G network in their next project thanks to a collaboration between Verizon's RYOT studio and the Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP).

India's Reliance Communications is exposed and its prospects aren't good.

In today's regional roundup: Huawei's troubles could be good news for Ericsson; Enea lines up another acquisition; Orange Business Services lands smart meter IoT deal; Ciena heads to the UK countryside; and more Ericsson.

Launch delayed to 2019 reportedly due to unforeseen complexities and desire to avoid launching a me-too video offering.

With its competitors stumbling, its largest customers remaining stable and its markets outside of telecom growing, Ciena is enjoying relatively smooth sailing in CEO Smith's 17th year at the helm.

MSO forms partnership with Blade, the company behind a cloud-based computer gaming platform called Shadow.

Qualcomm and Samsung tell Light Reading that 3GPP 'late drop' delay won't hold up 5G launches in 2019.

Kyrio has turned Go2Broadband service locator into a digital, hyperlocal service locator for cable resellers with plans to extend that capability to other service-oriented industries.

Italy's biggest operator says it will continue to work with Huawei unless it is told not to by government authorities.

In today's EMEA regional roundup: Euro giants to collaborate on multi-billion euro IoT and connected car chip/sensor developments; TIM and Sony Mobile forge 5G pact; Telefonica Germany and Nokia build their joint 'Early 5G Innovation Cluster' in Berlin; Open Fiber lands another broadband rollout tender; G+D Mobile Security boasts of Orange eSIM engagements; Altice and KKR have a Hivory; and more.

Japanese mobile operator's shares dipped by more than 14% during the first day of trading on the Tokyo exchange.

Why spend more than $600M on a company that makes optical transceivers? It wasn't just one product, but an entire automated manufacturing process that may help Cisco stay ahead of future bandwidth bottlenecks.

On track to completion in the first half of 2019.

The service is initially available to select business 'early adopters,' with 5G to become available to the wider public next spring.

Settlement stems from 2017 suit claiming that systems formerly run by Time Warner Cable in New York had under-delivered on promised Internet speeds.

In today's regional EMEA roundup: CityFibre celebrates fiber funds; BT revamps its CEO bonus assessment scheme; ETSI launches a blockchain group; and more.

Even Amazon, with all its resources, is having difficulty with the transition, says Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison. Give that man a microphone and he trashes AWS, every time.

While Oracle's revenue and cloud growth is nearly flat, despite a booming cloud market, its application growth is 'spectacular' and cloud database is poised to take off, the company says.

Vendor is on the counter-offensive, claiming strong 5G momentum, a clean security record and expected milestone revenues.

The 28GHz auction continues, as the FCC expects to open up almost 5GHz of millimeter wave spectrum for 5G in 2019 and beyond.

Sling TV, ESPN, Fox bring video streaming apps to the Oculus Go.

Decision to launch a trio of direct-to-consumer services and continue to license content is the wrong move, analyst says.

Google came to New York in 2000 with a one-person sales office operating out of a Starbucks.

Two of Europe's biggest operators are desperate to wean Europeans off US and Chinese technology, but they are uncomfortably reliant on it themselves.

VMware paid a hefty premium over Heptio's funding to advance its open source containers strategy.

GE is spinning off its $1.2B industrial IoT business, and selling its majority stake in ServiceMax, as the floundering industrial giant looks to right the ship.

Orange's VP of Digital Innovation, Patrice Slupowski, talks to Light Reading's Iain Morris on the sidelines of our recent 2020 Vision Executive Summit in Lisbon about the potential for digital services, the use of open source code and the future of telco services.

In today's regional round-up: Nokia secures core role at Telenor; Elliott Management eyes Telefonica; mobile subscribers in the EU have made the most of the abolition of roaming charges; Tele2 banks a NIM loan; and Synamedia tackles 'credentials sharing.'

India's youngest operator has turned the industry upside down since it first launched mobile services just over two years ago.

US cable providers are gearing up to play a crucial role by supporting transport of 5G communications, but their aspirations are clouded by the complexity of 5G itself.

A new report suggests that the US is using its merger approval process to pressure Sprint and T-Mobile's parent companies to back away from Huawei.

The optical networking vendor said in a filing with the SEC that it will take a charge against earnings related to severance and other related costs.

Node+0 requirement of FDX is a deal-breaker for some MSOs, and could open the door to other, less-limiting alternatives, Daniel Etman, cable consultant at Switzerland-based Quickline, says.

MSO-backed group sees no 'one clear winner' in LPWAN market.

Networking containerized environments is tough; Arista wants to help.

This week in our WiC roundup: Brogrammers are still thriving; TPG puts the spotlight on a female hire; Wall Street's fear of women; and more.

In the spirit of German Christmas markets, where supersized hot dogs are sold from souped-up garden sheds in snow-starved town squares across Europe, today's Eurobites is mainly about Deutsche Telekom. Oh, and there's a bit about UK broadband.

Many operators are expected to initially deploy 5G RANs in non-standalone mode on an LTE network, migrating later to standalone mode. But that migration is less than straightforward, and there are multiple options to consider.

3GPP drops 'mini bombshell' at meeting in Italy this week, says an observer, with its announcement of unexpected delays to the 5G standardization process.

Apple plans to spend $10 billion over five years on new data center facilities, as well as expanding its facilities in Austin, Seattle, San Diego and beyond.

Oracle debuts a hybrid platform as it looks to catch up from far behind in the cloud.

The optical networking specialist is benefiting from 5G buildouts and webscale traffic monsters, and doing what it can to avoid sitting on a lead.

Top analyst upgrades the stock as Cable One banks on high-margin broadband, de-emphasizes its declining pay-TV biz.

Shaken/Stir holds promise to authenticate calls and improve blocking services, but there are challenges and complexities to consider.

French telecom incumbent deals the latest blow to China's biggest equipment vendor amid an international backlash.

Two years after first announcing my retirement plans, I'm really doing it. No, really.

Can mobile operators take advantage of edge computing's potential? At Light Reading's 2020 Vision executive summit in Lisbon, Csaba Kiss Kallo, Vodafone Ireland's Head of Connectivity, Mobility and Security Portfolio, says they can.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Bouygues forms FTTH provider; Telia legs it from Kazakhstan; Ericsson demos 5G NR in South Korea; VEON gets new CEO.

Growing restrictions on Huawei by governments and operators outside China could swiftly diminish its role in the global equipment market.

On the sidelines of Light Reading's 2020 Vision Executive Summit, Mattias Fridstrom, chief evangelist at Telia Carrier, discusses the latest shifts in public Internet traffic trends and whether the likes of 4K/8K video, SD-WAN and 5G will impact international traffic patterns.

MSO notified CableLabs of intention to terminate its membership in January 2018, but CableLabs cites that it requires at least three years notice.

FCC wants an incentive auction to sell upper 37GHz, 39GHz and 47GHz bands in 2019, opening up more mmWave bands, as the global 5G 'race' gets real.

Unveiling a new smart speaker in Paris today, the CEOs of Deutsche Telekom and Orange hope growing concern about data privacy will provide a spur to Europe's homegrown technology expertise.

Amdocs CTO on how the company will play a role in the move to 5G services.

Regulatory group opens 'in-depth investigation' amid concerns that the deal could reduce competition and lead to higher prices in Germany and the Czech Republic.

New project jointly funded by NSF and industry consortium brings the power of profiles and fast instantiation to testing of massive software projects.

Huawei's CFO Meng Wanzhou is free on about $7.5 million in bail following a Canadian court ruling on Tuesday. President Trump offers to intervene if China will do a trade deal.

Upgraded, multi-room 'Fios TV One' platform adds support for 4K video, voice search & navigation, Netflix integration, WiFi-connected video clients.

In today's EMEA regional roundup: Orange unveils initial 5G plans; the latest boardroom shenanigans at TIM; Turkcell builds TV App Store with Metrological; ADVA unveils its Ensemble Controller.

Communications networking developments, such as IoT, edge computing and now the introduction of 5G services, has a "profound impact on the data center," says Ishmael Limkakeng, Cisco SVP data center business, who talked with Light Reading's Mitch Wagner.

Long-time marketing chief Michael O'Hara and the head of LatAm Sebastian Caballo are out the door - GSMA head calls for calm as MWC approaches.

Next-generation networks need innovation in the radio access network and Open RAN developments are set to disrupt the market – in a good way.

If Huawei catches a 5G cold, how many operators around the world will suddenly feel a little sick and stay in bed? 'Tis the (flu) season for rampant, worldwide speculation on the Light Reading podcast.

Survey sponsored by CenturyLink shows they are enthusiastic about its benefits even if almost half of them have yet to start the process.

Optical components vendor will never forget December 2018.

Deal delays cause the video software company to slash revenue guidance for full-year 2018, and note that Liberty Global divestitures could put a 'dent' on future numbers.

Google is launching beta support for Istio, the open source software for managing communications between Kubernetes containers, in its Google Kubernetes Engine.

Verizon says charges on its Oath business and severance charges will be reported in Q4.

New boss for the set-top software specialist involved in Charter's Spectrum Guide and WorldBox efforts.

Japanese government has issued guidelines that effectively lock Huawei and ZTE out of the country's public networks and look set to influence 5G network decisions by the country's operators.

In today's EMEA regional roundup: Tele2 and Telenor go big on 5G in Sweden; Vodafone takes its 5G network to the street level; Liquid Telecom attracts $180 million investment; and more.

Until recently, enterprise networks could remain static for years, but now new devices and the cloud require rapid evolution, creating service provider opportunities, says Scott Harrell, Cisco enterprise networking business lead.

The FCC's first 5G millimeter wave auction is nearly a month into active rounds of bidding.

CEO Vestberg said the loss of more than 10,000 employees will be seamless to customers.

A court in China has told Apple to stop infringing on Qualcomm patents and, in doing so, it called for Apple's subsidiaries to halt sales of the iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X.

Spending values mid-band airwaves at a higher level than in any country bar Italy, with the three existing operators and a new entrant picking up 5G licenses.

The arrest of Huawei's CFO on charges of fraud dominates headlines, but US hawks could seek to cripple Huawei in several ways.

Updates NSX to manage and secure containerized, microservices native cloud apps anywhere.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Nokia and friends deploy liquid-based basestation cooling in Helsinki; Liquid Telecom invests in Egypt; Deutsche Telekom launches 5G in Warsaw.

On the sidelines of Light Reading's 2020 Vision executive summit in Lisbon, PCCW Global's Shahar Steiff talks about the key challenges facing network operators as they figure out their edge computing strategies.

We spoke with leading global operators to find out how Open RAN initiatives can accelerate deployment of innovative radio technology in mobile networks.

Michael Glickman, SVP of Cisco's service provider business, talks with Light Reading's Mitch Wagner about the range of opportunities for service providers -- and Cisco -- to reinvent their business.

Interest heats up as remaining available 28GHz licenses dwindle.

Huawei, with Meng Wanzhou's involvement, allegedly used an 'unofficial' Hong Kong-based subsidiary called Skycom to trick US banks into clearing transactions for Huawei linked to companies in Iran.

CFO Alex Pease says broadband CPE is viewed as a 'strategic differentiator,' and struggles in the video set-top sector can be cost-managed.

Live from a shiny hotel in Lisbon, the podders hint at what's been discussed at LR's hush-hush 2020 Vision event, before moving on to Huawei's horrorshow, 5G smartphones and Iain's lunch.

Cloud-powered video platform is in 'extended trial period' with hotels, with more business- and sports-venue deployment models in the works.

A backlash against China's biggest vendor and problems with Ericsson's software could translate into a glorious opportunity for the Finnish firm.

As the volume of annoying robocalls continues to rise, an industry-wide effort to authenticate calls across carriers hopes to satisfy regulators.

This week in our WiC roundup: Girl Scouts make STEM their mission; Forbes' list of 50 women in tech; unconscious bias is no excuse; and more.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Montreal startup wins Nokia's IoT challenge; Tele2 and Deutsche Telekom strike roaming agreement; Ericsson fixes Telefonica's extended outage.

Users can bring their own AWS accounts to reduce hassles deploying OpenShift Direct in the public clouds, and enjoy price cuts starting at 25%.

The US is ratcheting up the pressure on China with the arrest of one of its most senior technology executives.

IBM bought Lotus Notes to help turn around its company culture; now it's looking to Red Hat for the same.

NeoPhotonics' exposure to China and Huawei is at 50%-plus of sales, Raymond James analyst says.

For 5G, the bigger the bandwith the better!

New end-to-end view of customer network, including in-home WiFi, will speed troubleshooting and offer proactive service and sales potential, vendor says.

Jayshree Kottapalli, group head of Analytics CoE (AI, Automation and Analytics) at Vodafone, talks about how Vodafone is using AI tools to mine the enormous volumes of data the operator collects.

Move puts Comcast on platform that's also supported by major digital distributors that include Apple iTunes, Microsoft, Vudu, FandangoNOW, Google Play and Amazon Prime Video.

Swedish vendor says it is working with customers to identify root causes and solve the problem.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Huawei finds solace in Portugal; French fiber pushes on; Colt expands in central and eastern Europe; VEON's new man in Ukraine; Nokia gets busy in China and Brazil.

China and Huawei respond with anger and denials after one of the Chinese company's most senior executives, the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, is arrested on North American soil.

'Robust' spending scrutiny combined with synergies from its Level 3 merger is helping CenturyLink significantly reduce capital expenditure, its CFO says.

Heavy Reading's Gabriel Brown discusses multivendor interoperability, x-haul transport and xRAN management interfaces for 5G with Cisco's global director of mobility.

Deal brings consolidation to the video and entertainment security market and a combined company that is eyeing opportunities in the IoT and connected cars.

Wanzhou Meng faces extradition to the US on suspicion of violating US trade sanctions against Iran.

Fingers can block signals from the phone antenna, so phone designers will have to work around that.

Spectrum Enterprise teams with Moviebeam to beef up video offering for hotels.

Divestitures will enable Liberty Global to be a 'national challenger' in parts of Europe where it has scale.

Sprint's spend will benefit a combined network with T-Mobile, Sprint's Andrew Davies says.

New tinier gateway is hardened for deployment on street furniture to provide backhaul for small cells, WiFi hotspots that will blossom with 5G densification, smart cities and more.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Ericsson and Telia test 5G in Stockholm; ADVA makes itself small; Safaricom trials tubular basestations; Yandex has a smartphone.

Following a Financial Times report this morning, the UK telecom incumbent has confirmed it will not use Huawei in multiple parts of its network.

Attackers can take over any node running vulnerable Kubernetes version, turning it into a 'zombie sock puppet.'

But cable operator is still evaluating its pricing and business model for mobile as it prepares to launch service in 1H 2019.

The UK telecom incumbent is tearing out Huawei equipment in apparent response to growing security concerns about the Chinese vendor.

AT&T horns in on the 5G smartphone game with Samsung too!

Verizon CEO doesn't want to name a 'killer app' for 5G, but he has a few ideas.

Trio of direct-to-consumer services launching next year will center on HBO, not become a content 'warehouse.'

No romance here, just a software release with practical features to put this automated orchestration platform into use globally.

The emergence of the eSIM will make it easier for customers to change operators and force the industry to have a proper conversation about the largely overlooked prepaid side of the business.

'We're staying tuned' to the potential danger, and Comcast itself might use 5G technologies in some instances, CFO says.

Rich Oliver, BT's head of IT and managed services, talks with Light Reading's Mitch Wagner about delivering services at scale by leveraging repeatable use cases and complete packages, rather than individual technology.

RJio's rivals are responding to its aggressive move into lower-income segments, but their strategy could backfire.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: CityFibre teams up with Arqiva on small-cell infrastructure in London; Sky falls in on Skyworth; Deutsche Telekom tops network test in Germany; Amazon Prime lands on TIM set-tops.

Developers complain about gosh-darn censorship.

AWS is transforming to reach beyond its hardcore developer base, says analyst Zeus Kerravala.

Since early 2017, The Carlyle Group and five other entities pursued M&A discussions with Arris before CommScope deal was consummated last month, filing shows.

Auction 101 keeps on trucking, with 355 licenses still outstanding.

In this video interview, Independence Research's Matt Davis examines the potential for cable operators to deliver mobile services to small-to-midsized businesses.

Cisco security head Gee Rittenhouse talks with Light Reading's Mitch Wagner about how network operators can use AI, machine learning, blockchain and other emerging technologies to protect against threats.

Verizon adds a fully integrated 5G smartphone to its line-up for 2019.

All three mobile operators in South Korea have now launched 5G networks, and their focus is on the business rather than the consumer market.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Accenture revives Telefonica; Telia's 5G robot; BT tees up new security boss; Deutsche Telekom digitizes breakdown recovery.

Finnish equipment vendor says loan will help to make the Nordic region more competitive in the forthcoming 5G era.

Decision arrives more than a year after a court ordered TWC to pay Sprint almost $140 million.

The French telecom incumbent is taking its AI-powered, digital banking service outside France, with launches planned in Romania and Spain next year.

A higher, 25% tariff slated to take effect in 2019 is postponed for 90 days as the sides try to iron out a long-term trade arrangement.