The $100 billion high speed broadband bill reintroduced by Rep James Clyburn is aimed at closing the digital divide. This is both timely and significant, as the FCC estimates at least 21 million Americans currently may not have access to high speed internet, including as many as 1 in 4 rural households and 1 in 3 households on tribal lands. This puts students and workers in those areas at a severe disadvantage through no fault of their own. That is the digital divide that H.R.1783 aims to correct over the next five years.
T-Mobile WFX Unlimited 5G Plans Take on Verizon and AT&T in The Enterprise
With the launch of T-Mobile WFX unlimited 5G plans, it’s clear that T-Mobile is taking on Verizon and AT&T in the enterprise. Futurum’s Olivier Blanchard walks through the T-Mobile offering and T-Mobile’s clear move to take this opportunity to reduce friction and provide businesses with a relatively pain-free alternative and an enterprise-grade unlimited data plan.
Qualcomm’s new Fixed Wireless Access Platform to Bring mmWave 5G Performance to the Network Edge in 2022
Futurum’s Olivier Blanchard takes a dive into Qualcomm’s new Fixed Wireless Access platform, which is expected to bring mmWave 5G performance to the network edge in 2022. Until now, the prevailing expectation surrounding mmWave cell deployments was that network operators would focus mostly on high density markets like urban centers, stadiums, airports, highly industrialized areas, and so on, and that therefore, suburban and rural areas would mostly miss out on ultra-fast mmWave 5G performance. Qualcomm’s introduction of its new mmWave 5G FWA CPE platform changes things. By extending mmWave 5G performance to the network edge, many suburban and rural markets that until now fell just out of reach of the best that 5G has to offer will soon have access to mmWave 5G performance just like densely populated markets.
Qualcomm’s Upgradable New Snapdragon X65 Modem Promises to Bring 10gbs speeds to 5G phones as Early as this Year
Qualcomm’s upgradable new Snapdragon X65 modem promises to bring 10gbs speeds to 5G phones as early as this year. Next-gen 5G phones with 10 gigabit per second speeds, all-day battery life, and smart AI-optimized mmWave antennas are coming — and quickly. By delivering not only an upgradeable 10gbs 5G modem but complete RF/RFFE solutions optimized to support global sub-6GHz and mmWave bands, Qualcomm manages yet again to give major OEMs a compelling reason to build their premium and flagship 5G devices around Snapdragon modem-RF systems.
Moving on from Huawei, Honor May Find The Perfect 5G Mobile Platform Partner In Qualcomm
In the wake of becoming independent from Huawei last year, the company is now free to work with U.S. chipmakers. While the company reports multiple partnership with key global chipmakers, Futurum’s Olivier Blanchard has his eye on Honor and Qualcomm and the ability of Qualcomm’s mid-range and budget SOCs as early as next year. Why? The Snapdragon platform’s ability to deliver mmWave-ready modems and complete SOCs across a range of price-points is an advantage that may prove difficult for Mediatek to overcome.
GSMA Intelligence Report: Mobile Operators May Still be Underestimating the ROI of 5G mmWave Deployments
In the new GSMA Intelligence report published today, it’s clear that mobile operators may still be underestimating the ROI of 5G mmWave deployments. The comprehensive report shows various inflection points where mmWave begins to become profitable in areas where demand for capacity is concentrated (like dense urban areas, large buildings, airports, advanced manufacturing plants, and stadiums), and where 3.5 GHz networks can no longer keep up with demand, with and without the deployment of FWA solutions. Most importantly, the report illustrates that overcoming misconceptions about mmWave’s financial viability faster than other operators may be the ultimate competitive advantage in a maturing 5G economy.
Mobile News from CES: Qualcomm Powers Samsung’s Galaxy S21 Lineup, Featuring the Snapdragon 888 5G Platform
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 5G platform powering the Galaxy S21 lineup confirms Samsung’s focus on remaining leader in premium mobile experiences. It is reassuring to note that Samsung chose not to cut corners by selecting a slightly lower-tiered mobile platform for its S21 lineup. Samsung clearly wants to remain a leading player in the premium Android space and isn’t beyond potentially cutting into its own margins this year to protect its enviable market-share in order to achieve that goal.
CES 2021 News: Verizon Partners with Microsoft and AWS to Roll Out Mobile Edge Compute in its 5G Network Fueling Smart City Development
In exciting news from CES 2021, Verizon chairman and CEO Hans Vestberg, announced the company is placing massive amounts of computing power right at the edge of its 5G network and partnering with Microsoft and AWS on the deployment of its Mobile Edge Compute (MEC) concept. This effort is part of a collective effort to fuel smart city development and other innovation.
Qualcomm’s New Snapdragon 480 5G Mobile Platform Expands the Company’s Portfolio Into Budget Tier
Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 480 5G Mobile Platform expands the company’s portfolio in the budget tier, offering price points at mid- and high-tier levels that seem pretty certain to expand its market share ahead of competitors. This is a smart business strategy for a chipmaker looking to leverage 5G early to accelerate revenue growth with minimal friction from competitors. It’s also a smart ecosystem strategy, as Qualcomm can use this opportunity to prove to handset makers that it can become their single source of 5G mobile SOCs at every price point.
Qualcomm Snapdragon Summit, Day 1: Qualcomm’s Powerful New Snapdragon 888 5G Chipset Will Define Premium Mobile Experiences in 2021
Qualcomm opens the week at its Snapdragon Summit with a focus on premium mobile experiences, 5G, and the dawn of an entirely new era for mobile in 2021. Many of the technologies showcased today will naturally trickle down vertically to other Snapdragon tiers, as well as outward to adjacent growth segments for the chipmaker, like Always-On, Always-Connected laptops, XR devices, Edge/Cloud AI products, and 5G Fixed Wireless solutions, among others.