• AT&T and Ericsson team on private networks
• Apollo snaps up US tower portfolio
• GlobalConnect launches a ‘one-stop shop’ for high capacity connectivity

AT&T's latest integrated move on the private network sector and a US tower acquisition top today's news pile.

AT&T, in partnership with Ericsson, has launched AT&T Private Cellular Networks, which enables enterprises to use localized Ericsson radio access and core systems and AT&T edge computing along with CBRS spectrum to build their own mobile network. Fine out more in this official announcement. 

Apollo Global Management has acquired a portfolio of US mobile tower assets, including a “pipeline of contracted towers under development,” from Lendlease. The acquired assets will be rebranded as Parallel Infrastructure, the name used prior to being acquired by Lendlease in 2017. The acquired portfolio includes almost 500 macro cell towers, with several hundred more in various stages of development. AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile US are all existing customers. 

GlobalConnect has launched a new business unit, dubbed GlobalConnect Carrier, which is targeting “tech giants” companies with large capacity needs (including the hyperscalers), telcos and systems integrators. Its aim is to become the “preferred [wholesale] carrier in Northern Europe,” which pits it right up against Telia Carrier, which is just about to be offloaded by its current parent, Telia. See this announcement for more details and watch out for further analysis soon on TelecomTV.

IBM has landed a major deal with Indian operator Vodafone Idea, which has hired IBM to help it “embrace open source at scale across the enterprise by implementing the Big Data Platform on open source Hadoop framework.” See this press release for more.

Nokia says its indoor small cells will be built using 5G radio access network technology from Qualcomm. “With the inclusion of the Qualcomm FSM100xx software-defined small cell modem, software upgrades allow for simplified advancement to future mobile network standards and releases. Features such as Narrowband IoT support for low-power, wide-area coverage, emergency helpline services, local break out and telecom grade security help operators address indoor network needs without the complexity and cost of a macro deployment,” notes Nokia in this press release.

Ericsson has landed a 5G core deal with Dutch operator KPN. 

Nokia and Nextlink Internet are building and upgrading networks with Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum and the vendor’s Airscale 4G LTE RAN to offer Internet access services to users in Central US areas that have little or no broadband access. Nextlink believes it will be able to offer Internet speeds up to 100 Mbit/s downlink and 20 Mbit/s uplink in rural and underserved regions in 11 states: Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming.