Proposed merger transaction now set to face regulatory scrutiny at EU level.

US Internet giants like Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Netflix dominate global cable systems traffic at 76% of trans-Pacific traffic and 92% on Atlantic routes.

Backed by more than 700 US operators, Lou Borrelli and the NCTC are pursuing a wave of new initiatives, including a 'Connectivity Exchange,' MVNO deals, a refreshed focus on video and tighter ties to tech suppliers.

Verizon raised its service prices, but warned in its second quarter earnings report that it now expects slower revenue growth and lower earnings during 2022 than it previously forecast.

'FWA is just humming for us,' CEO Hans Vestberg said. Verizon added a record 256,000 residential and business FWA subs in Q2 2022, extending its grand total to about 700,000.

Industrial action at telcos continues to spread as rising inflation drives demand for higher wages.

From a staffing perspective, the US operator is now 38% smaller than it was just five years ago, and it's probably not done yet.

The FCC set aside $9 billion in 2020 to help fund the construction of 5G networks in rural areas of the US. But the operators serving that market are arguing for more, to the tune of $36 billion.

Light Reading's Mike Dano explains why Cox Communications' mobile service was a long time coming, why T-Mobile tried to slow Cox's deployment with a lawsuit, which service provider Cox ultimately chose to partner with on the mobile service, and more.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Ericsson swallows Vonage; Deutsche Telekom and Commerzbank combine for supply-chain slickness; the Internet of Sheds.

Jens Voigt, Head of Product Management, BlueMarble at Comviva, joins Light Reading Editor Ken Wieland to discuss if BSS be able to empower CSPs to deliver faster RoI. 55% operators believe B2B to be the biggest revenue area in 5G, but 62% are not confident about their BSS readiness to support new business service models. #sponsored

Rakuten Symphony is planning to further expand staffing in the domains of open RAN, cloud, automation, data and telecom standards.

Huawei has issued nearly 3x more debt in 2022 than all of last year, with another $591 million in notes.

Deal could fetch up to $20 billion for Suddenlink's networks in rural segments of the nation, according to Bloomberg.

Airbus will enter the 'connectivity services business' by formalizing a division around its Zephyr High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS). In doing so, it's engaging a space fraught with failures.

AT&T added 316,000 fiber subs, almost enough to offset losses of legacy DSL and other 'non-fiber' subs. Meanwhile, the company is preparing to 'reposition' its flagging wirelines business unit.

AT&T gained almost twice the postpaid phone customers that analysts had expected in the second quarter. And AT&T said it's around six months ahead of schedule in its midband 5G network buildout.

Hear advice on how to craft a solid entry for the Leading Lights Awards, find out when the deadline to enter is, how much it costs and more.

Nick Feamster, director of research for the Data Science Institute at the University of Chicago, recently joined the Light Reading Podcast to discuss his team's research based on the Internet Equity Initiative data portal, which uses Ookla Speedtest data to map out Internet inequities.

Deal expected to be signed in days. Meanwhile, Masmovil and Orange reportedly secured a euro 6.6 billion (US$ 6.7 billion) loan to finance their proposed merger.

After deals with Ericsson and Casa Systems, Mediacom selects Samsung to help power an expanding CBRS network used to provide broadband in rural locations.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Vodacom revenue rises; Proximus bags spectrum in the 1400MHz band; Vodafone helps explore links between food and COVID-19.

The Finnish equipment vendor delights shareholders with growth in sales and profit at its most important units.

The cable company plans to launch mobile services first in Hampton Roads, Virginia; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Omaha, Nebraska, with an advertising campaign planned for August.

Google's and Oracle's London-based data centers experienced outages on Tuesday as temperatures reached 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission ordered an investigation into LTD's status as an eligible telecommunications carrier (ETC), putting more of its RDOF dollars at risk.

Co-CEO Ted Sarandos says Netflix has enough content for a 'great' ad-supported experience, stressing gaps won't be a 'material holdback to the business'.

Joe Biden says open RAN will 'outcompete' other platforms, but his government's anti-China policies have hampered US development, says Parallel Wireless CEO.

Qatar-based Group said to be in preliminary talks with suitors for its Myanmar unit.

According to a recent survey, the number of Americans who think Verizon has the best 5G network is declining. Meanwhile, the number who think T-Mobile has the best 5G network is increasing.

'Verizon anticipates small cells activity will ramp in 2023,' wrote the financial analysts at Wells Fargo of their recent meeting with Verizon CTO Ed Chan.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Ericsson says private networks are good for airlines; Altice's FTTH infrastructure gets Arcep approval; London's Google Cloud data center suffers heatwave meltdown.

Linked to a National Cable Television Cooperative agreement, Qwilt says over 100 US cable and broadband operators are to use open caching platform to boost streaming quality.

The Sweden-based group maintains its outlook for 2022 despite worrying macro-economic trends.

A good amount of spectrum availability, coupled with a limited number of players and a high reserve price means bidding will be subdued.

ETNO wants Big Tech treated differently from other companies that rely on telecom infrastructure.

Commercially-ready quantum is about a decade away. Among telcos, China and South Korea operators have dabbled in quantum key distribution (QKD) initiatives.

Dell'Oro Group forecasts that DWDM long-haul revenue will grow at a five-year compounded annual growth rate of 5% to hit $17 billion by 2026.

Netflix says it's likely to debut a less expensive, ad-supported product in a 'handful of markets where advertising spend is significant.'

In a draft order, the FCC outlined an initiative called 'Your Home, Your Internet' aimed at increasing participation in the Affordable Connectivity Program among those receiving federal housing assistance.

Hilliary Communications was supposed to make a down payment on September 17, 2020, but it didn't until October 8, 2020. The reason? Executives were 'operating on a limited capacity while quarantined.'

With the makeup of the FCC still in a 2-2 deadlock, two Democratic senators reportedly are preparing to introduce a bill that aims to reclassify the Internet as a highly regulated Title II service.

Another strong showing in the Baltics, an uplift in Sweden's B2B market, and continued cost savings translate into unchanged guidance.

Slow progress over past six months contributes to sharp adjustment downwards of hardware revenue from private LTE/5G small-cell networks over 2022-26 period.

The Norwegian operator paid an impairment of NOK2.5 billion (US$251 million) for Telenor Pakistan, in part due to spectrum license renewal costs.

Dish Network's mobile brands range from Boost Mobile to Project Genesis, Ting Mobile, Republic Wireless and Gen Mobile. Here's how Dish is using them.

CommScope says its deal to develop and supply a remote MACPHY for Liberty Global's future DOCSIS 4.0 and 10G-capable networks is exclusive. But the operator has been sharing the wealth among access network vendors.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Polish pair join forces on cloud infrastructure; Ericsson's Possible Perspectives; Openreach opts for ADVA, expands on the Isle of Wight.

The two Kiwi transactions are the latest in a flood of tower deals in Asia-Pacific over the past year.

As private equity and specialist 'towercos' have advanced, Europe's operators have retreated from asset ownership.

Deutsche Telekom has been steadily increasing its stake in T-Mobile US and currently owns around 48% of the company. DT's recent tower sale should net the company the cash to raise that above 50%.

The percentage of US streamers without a pay-TV package hit 40% in Q2 2022, up from 28% a year earlier, according to MoffettNathanson's latest 'SVOD Tracker.' Meanwhile, total streaming penetration in the US hit 81%.

This week in broadband builds: Mercury Broadband's RDOF plans; Spectrum live in Dona Ana; SiFi, Google Fiber to build Mesa open access network; Fidium live in Concord; Brightspeed's Missouri build.

The FCC has approved roughly $2 billion in Congressional funding to finance the removal of Huawei and ZTE equipment from US networks. But the FCC is now asking for another $3 billion to fully fund the program.

Iain Morris joins the podcast to explain that while current management's efforts have righted the ship in some ways, the sins of Ericsson's past continue to make investors skeptical.

Unions keep doors open for talks, but BT indicates it has nothing more to offer. As a result, BT customers face a summer of disruption to their broadband and phone services.

Plume's Bill McFarland on how home network data shows how IoT brands perform and why IoT support and management is a critical to broadband service strategies.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: ETNO bangs on about Big Tech again; CityFibre loses competition appeal; Zain earnings up.

The cable and mobile operator has reportedly offered GB pound 3 billion to buy a big rival that lost customers during the pandemic.

FCC critic Microsoft says its 'Digital Equity Data Dashboard,' a tool that aggregates data from multiple sources, is an accurate, neighborhood-by-neighborhood view of broadband availability and 'digital equity.'

In Verizon's 15th DBIR, the service provider revealed that ransomware attacks doubled from 12% of security breaches in 2020 to 25% in 2021.

Huawei's handset business might be getting crushed by sanctions, but the big vendor is not giving up on consumers.

Overall quality issues climbed in the latest J.D. Power 'US Wireless Network Quality Performance Study,' which found that Verizon Wireless ranked the highest in five of the six regions evaluated.

Swedes say last hurdle cleared for $6.2 billion cash acquisition of US cloud-based comms provider.

The telecom veteran says his investment company is currently in discussions with several international wireless network operators to purchase their spectrum licenses and then lease them back.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Proximus rolls out EV charging stations; Amazon tries to placate European Commission over data practices; Hyperoptic hits 100k new-builds.

The Finnish operator reports healthy growth in sales and profits for its second quarter but its outlook for the full year is downbeat.

Light Reading's Jeff Baumgartner provides insight into a recent report on the pay-TV market and how both traditional players and OTT-TV service providers are struggling to retain their subscribers.

Just a month after closing its acquisition of Xandr from AT&T, Microsoft has been named Netflix's 'global advertising technology sales partner.'

Digicel is just one of a series of skirmishes in a new Cold War unfolding around Pacific infrastructure.

This episode features Ji Soo Song, broadband advisor at the US Department of Education's Office of Educational Technology (OET). We discuss the department's Digital Equity Education Roundtables initiative and how educational institutions can use infrastructure funding to help close the digital divide for students.

I took a tour of the company's Riverfront campus in Colorado, which houses around 1,000 employees who are all working to build and sell the company's new 5G network. Here's what I saw.

The Swedish equipment maker says it is the biggest vendor outside China by far and has coped better with supply chain problems than close rivals.

Deutsche Telekom to relinquish 51% stake in GD Towers, implying $17.5 billion enterprise value for its wireless infrastructure assets in Germany, Austria.

Germany's new Gigabitstrategie targets a bonfire of regulations to help speed fiber and 5G deployments.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: A1 bags 5G spectrum in North Macedonia; Google versus the regulators, part 94; UK online safety legislation hits the buffers while government implodes.

The world's latest smartphone, branded 'Nothing 1,' uses a parrot in its marketing. That's appropriate - because it's basically just a mimic.

Juniper's EX4100 switch series integrate with the Mist Wi-Fi Assurance service to automatically determine where there are gaps in coverage in enterprises' WLAN deployments and verify the correct placement of access points.

Led by a record decline in cable, traditional pay-TV providers lost 1.86 million in Q1, and virtual MVPDs shed about 201,000 subs, according to MoffettNathanson's latest 'Cord-Cutting Monitor.'

Avanci said it will increase its patent licensing prices from $15 to $20 per vehicle starting in September. The move essentially represents a call to action to much of the global automotive industry.

CEO Chet Kanojia says the fixed wireless broadband specialist is close to announcing a new expansion market that will come online later this year.

KKR-led private consortium is reportedly the last bidder standing for the German incumbent's mobile assets.

Cloud native RAN offers opportunities for network architecture evolution, automated operations, and advanced end-user services.

Terms are still sketchy, but analyst believes they could center on data sharing, help Amazon's FreeVee streaming service and perhaps put pay-TV in position to deliver HBO Max fare outside the service's central app.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Nothing thinks it's onto something with new phone; UK sports broadcasters come under scrutiny; Sparkle enlists Italian navy to protect subsea comms.

The social media website is suing the Tesla billionaire with the explicit aim of forcing him to buy at the original price.

Chinese vendors will not be allowed to work with Indian operators on the expansion of existing networks under rule changes.

Now seems like a good time to be a software engineer, with both BT and Vodafone chasing global talent.

The CRTC has given the Canadian operator until July 22 to respond to questions about the network outage.

Milestone seemingly puts Google's service atop the heap of virtual multichannel video programming distributors, but one analyst calls the combination metric 'pretty useless.'

Lumen expanded its edge services into Europe by turning on 100G MPLS and IP network connectivity, plus increasing power and cooling at several edge data center locations.

Light Reading is now accepting nominations for outstanding achievements in 5G, broadband, optical networking, edge computing and more as part of its annual awards program, the Leading Lights.

Verizon's new 'Welcome Unlimited' pricing plan offers one line of service for $65 per month, a $5 per month reduction from the operator's existing 'Start' unlimited plan.

Formica, a 33-year cable industry vet who will retain some ties to cable tech training specialist NCTI, has been appointed chief program officer of The Cable Center.

The German operator has extended its existing partnership with the public cloud provider.

Chinese operators have deployed 6,518 private 5G networks, between them supporting some 20,000 applications.

Finnish supplier extends partnership with Hill Air Force Base, National Spectrum Consortium to test co-existence of 5G and military radar using O-RAN/RIC tech.

Indian conglomerate Tata Group, which operates a substantial fiber network in the country, has rolled out its own 'super app' called Tata Neu. Other operators around the world could follow suit.

OpenVault is the first to join a Kyrio-led partnership program focused on Profile Management Application (PMA) technology, which aims to boost DOCSIS network capacity by as much as 40%.

Research by a new group called the Moral Rating Agency shows that nine of the world's biggest technology companies are at some risk of Russian expropriation.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Nokia goes with Infovista for network testing; Synamedia buys Quortex; Zayo cuts ribbon on new subsea route.

The Indian conglomerate wants spectrum to set up private networks for its businesses, but a future consumer move is not out of the question.

Broadcom President Thomas Krause is leaving the chipmaker just a few weeks after it announced it would buy VMware for $61 billion, a deal he helped put together.

Nokia got a German court to ban the sale of Oppo smartphones, while Ericsson convinced a Colombian court to ban the sale of Apple phones. At issue are billions of dollars in patent licensing fees.

Housing move activity, a key ingredient for cable broadband subscriber growth, remains in a weakened state, with few signs that it will reverse course any time soon.

KT says financial services revenue accounted for 14.5% of operating revenue in 2021. This is all part of KT's ambitious plan to transition from telco to digital platform operator, developing fresh revenue streams from content, ecommerce, financial services and cloud.

The world's richest man blames Twitter deceptiveness after pulling out of deal, but it would allow him to focus on his space and satellite ventures.

A white paper published by the Bank for International Settlements outlines the dangers of entrusting financial systems to a handful of Big Tech players.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Nokia leads German 6G project; security block to Truphone deal challenged; chip firms collaborate on French plant.

Worries over dominance of major telcos heightened after network outage affects banking, travel emergency services and more.

Light Reading's Mike Dano discusses growth predictions for the wireless industry in 2022 and explains the battle between WCO Spectrum and T-Mobile over the purchase of 2.5GHz spectrum licenses from academic institutions.

Unlike many network sharing deals that are based on joint access, this partnership gives Telstra full control over the infrastructure and network coverage.

Kyle Traxler created wireless Internet provider Cleo Communications in order to participate in the FCC's Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) program. However, according to the agency, Cleo didn't provide any telecom services.

Beeline Russia points to ongoing technical limitations that prevent the 3.4-3.8GHz band being used for 5G in Russia.

In public comments filed to the FCC, ISPs and consumer advocates disagreed over how to address 'digital discrimination' and whether or not it exists.

Cisco is reportedly in talks about acquiring a Wi-Fi player currently owned by two of India's biggest operators.

But the download surge in June won't necessarily translate to an increase in fixed wireless access subs 'due to product sampling and churn,' say the analysts at ISI Evercore.

European cable executives Dr. Andrea Huber and Diane Christman discuss gender equity challenges the pandemic has exacerbated for women in tech fields.

In the latest US streaming rankings by JustWatch, Apple TV+, Disney+ and HBO Max all gained market share in Q2, while Netflix shed some of its lead.

Parallel reportedly laid off up to 80% of its staff last week. Now it's working to rally its remaining customers with the promise of continued investment and support.

China's private data center operators are starting to eye opportunities abroad. While the domestic market is still growing at a healthy clip, it's getting tougher to make money as new private players pile in.

BofA Global Research surveyed global operators' pricing strategies in order to find the trends. The results are mixed.

Matt Larsen, CEO of Vistabeam, joins the podcast to discuss the role of fixed wireless in reaching unserved populations and how more federal funding to close the digital divide could have the opposite impact.

Gary Winnick's WCO has already put $1 billion toward purchasing 2.5GHz spectrum licenses out from under T-Mobile. That, coupled with the FCC's upcoming 2.5GHz spectrum auction, could create troubles for T-Mobile.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Brian Protiva steps down at ADVA; Enea starts its 5G engine; Isle of Wight is half-done.

Mobile operator takes a 25% stake in New Digital Solutions, joining Vimpelcom, Rostelecom and MegaFon.

The Italian telecom incumbent wants to sell its capital-intensive, low-growth and debt-ridden networks business for a reported euro 25 billion.

Fresh talks with competition watchdog, as part of a mediation process involving a tribunal judge, hit the buffers.

Andre Fuetsch, who oversees the mobile and fixed network technology direction for AT&T, is set to retire in September. The move is one of many recent departures and promotions in Ma Bell's exec suites.

The ongoing supply chain challenges are underpinning a need for more reliance on virtualization, and enterprises are planning for significant investment in their digital infrastructure, according to Equinix.

A new federal program and a new Supreme Court ruling both put more power into state regulators' hands. How the US telecom industry handles that development remains to be seen.

The Wireline Competition Bureau issued a public notice seeking comment on the interagency agreement between the FCC, USDA and NTIA on broadband coordination.

Omdia analyst James Crawshaw thinks the Cardinality acquisition can help Polystar become a more significant player in the service assurance and analytics market.

US authorities are reportedly urging the Dutch government to prevent a national tech champion from shipping critical equipment to Chinese customers.

Vewd's initial focus for smart TVs tailored for service providers is Europe, but the idea could be extended to multiple regions, including the US and Latin America, says Xperi's Geir Skaaden.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Nokia wins Portuguese optical transport deal; Dutch workers don't need to put their trousers on; Ofcom tells tech firms to get ready for online safety.

European Innovation Agenda sets out 25 actions with a focus on scaling up startups, attracting new talent and simplifying listing rules.

Cowen analysts predict that the US wireless industry will grow by 8.9 million postpaid phone customers during 2022. That figure is down just slightly from 2021 numbers but still way up from 2020 numbers.

Duo flag AI/ML platform designed to give Vodafone predictive capabilities that can enhance customer experiences and improve network performance.

Juniper CTO Raj Yavatkar joins the Light Reading podcast to discuss new business opportunities for 5G and how service providers can more efficiently and cost-effectively run 5G networks.

The caveat is that SpaceX must accept any and all interference from future 5G operations, including those in the 12GHz band.

The FCC opened its broadband data collection system to service providers. But some are worried the lengthy mapping process will leave behind those who need service the most.

Glance, a smartphone startup, aims to start offering lock-screen-based smartphone content in the US, according to reports. This is a road many, many companies have been down before.

The midsized cloud-computing platforms risk being squeezed in a pincer movement of public clouds and specialists.

Xperi's bid to buy Vewd, a streaming media platform specialist, aims to accelerate its activities in the smart TV market dominated by Samsung, Roku, Amazon and Google.

Analysts are expecting Samsung Electronics to report its best Q2 performance in four years on the back of strong semiconductor sales.

An Omdia study projects that online video subscribers will hit the 2 billion mark worldwide by 2027. Traditional pay TV is stagnating, but will account for a majority of video subscriptions revenues for at least another six years.

The Fiber Broadband Association is assisting state officials and broadband offices to put grant programs together for the best and most effective use of this once-in-a-generation opportunity to provide quality high-speed broadband to all communities, with $45 billion in BEAD funding and another $25 billion in ARPA funds to close the digital divide.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: 5G goes agricultural in Dorset; Italy's railways get 4G; Deezer flotation falls flat.

KKR's bid with two other groups is said to be favorite, although the German telco could still decide to hang on to its towers portfolio.

The Dutch operator says the Swedish equipment vendor will build a 5G network and take over the current 3G and 4G systems.

The Japanese operator's network failure knocks out 39 million services across banking transport and payment.

The UK operator is building a 'golden cluster' of open RAN sites in Torquay and is kicking off a hardware acceleration project in Malaga.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Sigfox reborn as UnaBiz; new boss for Open Access Data Centres; EU makes life easier for Amazon Prime refuseniks.

T-Mobile said it dismantled Sprint's 4G LTE network yesterday and will shutter its own 3G UMTS today. In April, officials suggested 300,000 postpaid phones and 700,000-900,000 IoT-style devices would be affected.

Once a deal is approved by the city council, Mesa will become the first city in Arizona to welcome Google Fiber. Network construction could start by early 2023.

This week in broadband builds: WeLink's DC rollout, Ziply goes live in Sumas, Brightspeed's initial Ohio build, Clearwave's debut in Kansas.

AT&T, Verizon and other operators have already engaged in a round of pricing and service fee increases. But analysts suggest we haven't seen the last of the price hikes.

NEC snags Dublin-based Aspire Technology for 5G open RAN systems integration expertise.

BT claims to have 'robust plans' in place to counter possible strike action.

Altice USA's new high-end tier allows users to stream in HD and chew up 50 gigabytes of data before speeds are throttled down.

In this podcast, Pearl TV's Anne Schelle discusses recent tests of the new ATSC 3.0 broadcast signaling standard at the Motown 3.0 Open Test Track in Detroit and explores other potential use cases for the standard, also known as 'NextGen TV.'

Fierce competition from the Chinese looks like the main cause of massive layoffs, but the open RAN player had other problems, too.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Deutsche Telekom goes roaming; Telesign/NAAC deal is off; MTN reshuffles top team.