What’s up with… Nokia & AT&T, the SASE market, Project Kuiper

  • Nokia digs in at AT&T
  • SASE solutions market value set to double by 2029
  • Amazon’s Kuiper gets UK licence

In today’s industry news roundup: AT&T still loves Nokia really; SASE market to benefit as enterprises prioritise cloud-first strategies; UK regulator Ofcom hands Amazon’s Project Kuiper a licence to offer satellite broadband services; and much more!

Nokia may have been sidelined as a radio access network (RAN) equipment supplier by AT&T – see Nokia licks its wounds over AT&T’s RAN rejection – but the Finnish vendor still has a piece of the action in other parts of the giant US telco’s operations. One example is AT&T’s important voice services management platform, where Nokia has landed a multiyear expansion deal to update its cloud-native IMS Voice Core system to support high-quality voice over new radio (VoNR) services. AT&T is to use Nokia’s voice core applications via the Nokia Cloud Platform “to streamline network activities, enhance automation, and minimise manual intervention,” noted the vendor in this announcement. Yigal Elbaz, senior VP for technology and network services at AT&T, noted: “With focused execution and investment, AT&T continues to make excellent progress in realising automation at all levels of its network and service operations. We are pleased to continue our relationship with Nokia to further optimise our network operations and enable new services that better support our customers’ evolving needs.”

News of that deal comes just as research house Omdia and cloud communications platform specialist Alianza released a report, Bringing AI to Main Street, that suggests “traditional voice offerings are primed and ready for an AI upgrade”. The report “explores how AI is revolutionising traditional voice services, offering transformative opportunities for both small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and communication service providers (CSPs),” noted Alianza in this press release. “We’re at a critical turning point for voice services,” noted Dag Peak, chief technology and product officer at Alianza. “AI has the potential to not only modernise how businesses communicate but also drive significant efficiency and revenue growth. SMBs and CSPs each face unique challenges in the coming years, but AI opens the door for both to innovate and thrive,” he added. Alianza, in case you’d forgotten (or missed it), is the company that is acquiring voice communications technology specialist Metaswitch from Microsoft.  

If you’re looking for a growth market that isn’t directly related to AI right now, check out the global secure access service edge (SASE) sector which, according to research firm Dell’Oro Group, is set to nearly double between now and 2029, when it’s due to be worth a whopping $17bn, representing a 12% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). According to the Dell’Oro team, the increasing presence of vendors offering SD-WAN and SSE [security service edge] capabilities, which defines single-vendor SASE, is projected to account for 90% of the total SASE market by 2029. That trend “fuels market expansion as enterprises seek integrated networking and security solutions that streamline operations and reduce complexity,” it added in this press release. Mauricio Sanchez, senior director of enterprise security and networking at Dell’Oro Group, noted: “Despite macroeconomic pressures slowing near-term growth, the long-term outlook remains strong as enterprises continue prioritising cloud-first strategies. SASE is not just an option – it is becoming necessary for organisations navigating hybrid work environments and multicloud ecosystems,” he added. And which vendors are set to capitalise on this trend? Sanchez didn’t specify in this particular announcement, but his previous notes on the SASE market have identified Zscaler, Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Broadcom, Fortinet and Netskope as the current market leaders. 

Project Kuiper, the low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation being built by Amazon, has been awarded a licence by UK regulator Ofcom that allows it to provision “satellite connectivity services such as high-speed, low-latency broadband”, though it should be noted that Kuiper also has its eyes on the satellite-to-smartphone sector, along with the likes of Elon Musk’s Starlink, which is already providing its LEO-enabled broadband services in the UK. The licence granted to Amazon Kuiper Services Europe allows it to operate in frequencies between 27.5-27.9405 GHz, 28.4545-28.9485 GHz, and 29.5-30 GHz. Ofcom also announced that it is releasing further radio spectrum in the 27.5-30 GHz (28 GHz) and 32 GHz bands, which are particularly suitable for satellite and fixed wireless connectivity. Read more.   

– The staff, TelecomTV

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