• Deutsche Telekom boasts mid-band ‘world record’
• Nvidia bets big on India with yet another AI tie-up
• Netcracker taps the GenAI zeitgeist

In today’s industry news roundup: Deutsche Telekom claims to have hit the 12 Gbit/s mobile data transmission mark across 6GHz spectrum; Nvidia is building a strong set of AI allies in India; Netcracker Technology joins the GenAI gang ahead of DTW; and more!

Deutsche Telekom (DT) claims to have set “a new world record in mobile radio” by achieving a speed of 12 Gbit/s using the 6GHz spectrum. In tests conducted in the German city of Alzey, the telco measured that this speed, as well as the bandwidth generated, were up to twelve times higher than in current 5G networks. The testing was carried out in real conditions and used a rooftop location with a 6GHz antenna, as well as a 3.6GHz antenna that DT uses for 5G. By combining the two data streams from both antennas over a distance of around 100 metres, the top speed achieved was 12.3Gbit/s. Measurements from the 6GHz spectrum alone showed speeds of around 11Gbit/s. While the 6GHz frequencies tested by DT are not yet available for mobile communications, DT has made a strong case for them with its demonstration in light of discussions about the use of high frequency bands from 2025 that are set to be held at the World Radiocommunication Conference in November. “The 6GHz spectrum has the characteristic to meet the growing demand of our customers for more capacity and more speed. That is why we hope that the World Radiocommunication Conference will set the direction for mobile radio use,” emphasised Abdu Mudesir, head of technology at Telekom Deutschland. Meanwhile, DT has also been busy demonstrating multi-domain 5G dynamic slicing orchestration for enterprise services – with the help of Blue Planet, Ericsson and Mavenir – see DT and partners demonstrate multi-domain 5G dynamic slicing orchestration for enterprise services.

AI chip giant Nvidia is making strides in India. Following its announcement last week that it will team up with India’s leading mobile operator Reliance Jio in a bid to develop the country’s “own foundation large language model”, the company has now unveiled an “extensive collaboration” with Indian conglomerate Tata Group to build an “AI supercomputer”. The two will join forces to deliver “AI computing infrastructure and platforms for developing AI solutions”. They will also develop an AI cloud in India to provide “critical infrastructure that enables computing’s next lifecycle”, essentially enabling enterprises to transfer data across the AI cloud at high speeds. “The global generative AI [GenAI] race is in full steam,” said Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s founder and CEO, explaining that this collaboration will also support “the exponential demand of generative AI startups and processing of large language models.” Concurring with these comments, Tata’s chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran explained that the partnership “will democratise access to AI infrastructure, accelerate build-out of AI solutions and enable upgradation of AI talent at scale.” Read more.

And yet more AI-related action… With only a week to go before the doors open at the TM Forum’s DTW event (being held again this year in Copenhagen on 19-21 September), the digital support systems (DSS) vendors continue to unveil their latest offerings. Last week we heard from the likes of Amdocs, Salesforce and Aria Systems, and now it’s the turn of Netcracker Technology, which has unveiled its GenAI Telco Solution that enables communications service providers (CSPs) to “harness their valuable telecom data and knowledge in a secure and controlled way to bring exceptional benefits to customers, partners and their own businesses,” and includes support for specific telco-centric applications. The Netcracker team said it has tailored its solution to the specific needs of telcos, which handle large volumes of often highly confidential data that is constantly changing. “The Netcracker GenAI Telco Solution enables service providers to securely tap into their telco data and maximise the value from multiple GenAI models and platforms,” stated Bob Titus, CTO at Netcracker. “When leveraging enterprise telco data with GenAI, it is crucial to address the data privacy, security and quality concerns. Our solution and library of interaction models allow service providers to quickly generate tangible business value from GenAI for their customers and their internal operations,” added Titus. Read more.

Still with AI developments… Facebook’s parent, Meta, is developing a new AI system, known as a large language model (LLM), to compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard. According to a Wall Street Journal report, cited by Reuters, the company wants to make its new model several times more powerful than Llama 2, the commercial version it released in July, which is distributed by Microsoft. The new system is expected to be ready in 2024 and is set to help enterprises build services that can produce sophisticated text, analysis and other content. Apple has also reportedly jumped on the AI bandwagon and is working on its own system, dubbed Ajax.

Middle Eastern telco group STC might be in for a rough ride as it attempts to bolster its presence in Europe, as it recently unveiled that its intention to acquire a 9.9% stake in Telefónica is facing opposition from the Spanish minister of labour and social economy, Yolanda Díaz. According to a Reuters report, she has reportedly urged the government to block the deal, citing the strategic importance of Telefónica as an operator that handles data transmission and provides services to Spain’s defence sector. Her stance has been conveyed to the Spanish minister for economy and digitalisation, Nadia Calviño, who has previously committed to protecting the country’s strategic interests while highlighting the need for Spain to attract foreign investment. According to the report, the government is analysing the telecoms sector, its relation with the nation’s security and defence, STC’s shareholding, the exercise of voting rights and board participation.

Global operators are mobilising support for Morocco after the country was hit by a devastating earthquake on Friday. Over the weekend, Orange announced that it had mobilised across its operations globally to deliver “specific offers designed to support the affected populations and Orange’s teams in Morocco by facilitating communications.” Its offers include free calls to Morocco (one of its operating markets) for its customers in France, free voice and SMS communications from Europe to Morocco, as well as similar offers across 18 countries in Africa and the Middle East, until 16 September. Proximus, the telco group that operates in the Benelux region (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg), has issued a similar form of support, making calls and text messages from Belgium to Morocco free of charge for its customers until 12 September. US operator T-Mobile has also reacted to support the affected nation, waiving international roaming and long-distance call fees to and from Morocco and the US until 15 September.

Qualcomm will continue supplying Apple with its 5G chips until 2026 at the earliest, under a new agreement signed between the two giants. This deal builds upon a patent licence agreement from April 2019 after the two companies settled a legal dispute over royalties. Qualcomm noted that its long-term financial planning projection will assume that 20% of Apple’s smartphones will use its chips by 2026. Find out more.

- The staff, TelecomTV