What’s up with... Chinese 5G, HPE, Kamala Harris, OpenVault Broadband Report

  • Weight-watching Chinese 5G phones
  • HPE enhances container platform data fabric
  • Kamala Harris a win for Silicon Valley
  • OpenVault Broadband Insight Report

Batteries are key to the shape and weight of 5G smartphones - we all knew that, but did we know it in such depth?

Weight Watchers: IDC points out that in ‘just a year’ Chinese 5G phones have completed what it calls a rapid “heavy first, then light” transition as consumers made their preferences known and the market share of 5G smartphones there (despite the relatively slow build-out of 5G infrastructure with ‘just’ 410,000 5G basestations so far) has soared. Over a single year over  67 million units had been sold and by May this year 5G phones were already outselling 4G. IDC charts the progress of the ‘heavy first, then thin and light’ transition and explains the various dynamics. 

HPE has enhanced its container platform to include support for a data fabric, called HPE Ezmeral, spanning multiple Kubernetes clusters. These can be physically located in data centers in different geographies. 

There's speculation in the quality US press (The Washington Post) that Kamala Harris, Joe Biden's pick as the Vice-Presidential candidate in his run for the White House, will, if elected be "a quiet ally to Silicon Valley". She  previously served as both a San Francisco district attorney and the Attorney General of California and has a deep interest in and knowledge of communications technologies,  personally knows many industry CEO's and, as a result, is seen as "the best-case scenario" for America's high-tech sector. Kamala Harris has certainly been less strident than some others in the Democratic Party in calling for tighter regulation and even the break-up of companies such as Facebook and Google.

Increased use of video-conferencing, remote learning and entertainment services caused by the lockdowns during the spread of the corona virus resulted in a 5.3 per cent increase in upstream broadband consumption between the start of April and the end of June. The latest OpenVault Broadband Insight Report shows that high quality, robust broadband access is now more important than it ever has been, across every level of society and socio-economic group. The implications for telcos, ISPs, CSPs and DSPs are profound given that home-working will become permanent for many when the pandemic is over (see today’s Stand by and prepare for a “Decade of the Home”: profound implications for services). Major investment will be required given new research showing that many home workers can lose as much as a couple of hours work a day because of slow/unreliable Internet connections.​

Email Newsletters

Sign up to receive TelecomTV's top news and videos, plus exclusive subscriber-only content direct to your inbox.