• Go Ignite seeks 5G hopefuls
• Deutsche Telekom goes large with LTE-M
• Innovium raises $170 million, gets ‘unicorn’ tattoo

A 5G startup pitching program, a national cellular IoT network and a monster round of funding for a data centre tech specialist are the tastiest treats in this news smorgasbord. 

• Go Ignite, an alliance formed by Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Singtel and Telefónica, has launched a program called Go Ignite: 5G Open Call that aims to identify startups or venture-backed, independent companies tht are developing products or services for the 5G market that could be adopted by the operators. Companies can pitch their ideas through an online process and, if they pass an initial evaluation, then get to make a pitch to the Go Ignite telcos. This is a good idea, of course, but what happens afterwards? As we have heard recently, small companies are in need of ‘shepherding’ and simplified engagement models if they are to thrive in the telecoms ecosystem. 
• Deutsche Telekom is busy elsewhere today… It has completed the rollout of its “5G-ready LTE-M network” and has a number of commercial IoT services on offer based on the new network, which can be updated to support 5G with a software upgrade. As part of the launch, DT is also offering LTE-M roaming in France, with its partner Orange, and will add roaming in Belgium via the same partner within the next few weeks. The launch comes courtesy of the German operator’s recently spun-out IoT unit, which came into being on July 1.
• And the final item involving the giant German telco… Ericsson has extended its long-standing supplier relationship with Deutsche Telekom by landing a deal to supply the German operator with 5G RAN gear, including the vendor’s spectrum sharing technology.
• Data centre switching silicon firm Innovium, a rival to Broadcom, has raised $170 million in a funding round that, it boasts, makes it “the first network silicon company to achieve unicorn status.” Make of that what you will. More importantly, its products, designed for cloud and edge data centres, have already been “adopted by world’s leading hyperscale Cloud providers and leading OEMs including Cisco.” Now, THAT is something worth boasting about…
• Dutch operators paid a combined €1.23 billion for licenses in the Netherlands’ first 5G spectrum auction, the country’s Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Policy has announced. KPN, VodafoneZiggo and T-Mobile each landed licenses. KPN has stated it is pleased with the outcome.
• New Zealand operator Spark is building a “self-healing” next-gen optical transport network with technology from Ciena.
• The value of cybersecurity investments is set to grow by 5.6% to be worth $43.1 billion in 2020, in the best case scenario forecast by Canalys. Even in the worst case scenario, it is set to grow by 2.5%. The research company breaks the market into five segments, of which Network Security is the largest, accounting for 36% of anticipated investments: However, it is the only one of the five segments expected to shrink year-on-year in terms of the value of investments. 
• Remember when 2G phones got so small you could lose them in a deep pocket?  Those days might be back. A Chinese vendor. Unihertz, has announced what it claims is the world’s smallest 4G smartphone. Jelly 2 runs Android 10 and has a 3-inch display. Find out more here.
• Cybersecurity firm Darktrace, which has developed AI algorithms that can detect patterns in network activity and identify or anticipate security threats, is planning an IPO, according to Sky News, which pins the company’s value at north of £1.5 billion ($1.9 billion). It has raised more than $230 million since it was founded in 2013. 

- The staff, TelecomTV