Telecom news

• West Drayton station gets step-free access and larger ticket hall

  21-07-2021 19:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  The latest of the stations to be upgraded ahead of the Elizabeth line opening has been completed, to the west of London at West Drayton.
  The station has been given an expanded ticket hall sitting alongside its exiting northern entrance featuring a new glass and steel extension, alongside two new lifts enabling step-free access to the main platforms serving TfL Rail/Elizabeth line and GWR services.
  Station extension – from the planning document
  An additional lift at the station entrance con
  
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• Bharti does 5G OpenRAN deal with Intel

  21-07-2021 18:35
  
  Bharti Airtel has inked a mobile networks deal with Intel that will see it tap into the flexibility of OpenRAN technology as it rolls out 5G.
  The companies call it “a collaboration to drive network development of 4G and 5G virtualized radio access network (vRAN) and open radio access network (RAN) technology to transform Airtel’s networks to reap the full possibilities of 5G for its customers.”
  That’s essentially a way of saying that Bharti is pushing on with OpenRAN and
  
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• Grinling Gibbons 300th-anniversary exhibition opens next month

  21-07-2021 16:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Probably the greatest, and certainly the most famous, woodcarver the UK has ever known is the subject of a 300th-anniversary exhibition open for a few weeks next month.
  Hosted at Bonhams on New Bond Street, the exhibition has been organized by the Grinling Gibbons Society and will showcase key works in Gibbons’ uniquely exuberant style.
  Gibbons’ Baroque style perfectly lent itself to the opulent reign of Charles II, and he was able to secure prestigious commissions in the capital dur
  
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• Verizon also entrusts its messaging and RCS to Google

  21-07-2021 13:22
  
  Following in the footsteps of T-Mobile and AT&T, the last of America’s “big three” Verizon announced that Android Messages will be the default bearer of its RCS messaging service from next year.
  Even before the telcos formally abandoned their joint Cross Carrier Messaging Initiative (CCMI), T-Mobile had already adopted Android’s RCS solution which Google launched late last year. Simply called Messages, the app is pre-installed on new Android smartphones in the open ma
  
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• OpenRAN is unlocking innovation but also raises several challenges

  21-07-2021 13:11
  
  Telecoms.com periodically invites expert third parties to share their views on the industry’s most pressing issues. In this piece Steve Douglas, Head of 5G Strategy at Spirent Communications, takes a look at the pros and cons of OpenRAN technology.
  The last few years has seen a slew of new vendors enter the largely closed mobile network infrastructure sector. The promise of a low-cost, vendor-neutral telecoms future is tantalising but there are still questions over reliability and rob
  
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• London to Brighton railway to have a partial closure next February

  21-07-2021 13:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  A warning for commuters and holidaymakers, as the Brighton Main Line between Three Bridges and Brighton/Lewes will be closed for 9-days next February.
  Network Rail says that it will use the closure to replace 1980s track at Copyhold junction (near Haywards Heath), and at Burgess Hill. During the works, they will be replacing over 1,000 metres of railway track and renewing eight sets of railway points. Renewing the track and equipment at Copyhold Junction, a key junction on the network, aims to m
  
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• Viavi’s improved offer is once more dismissed by Exfo

  21-07-2021 12:50
  
  The drama never stops in the crazy world of telecoms test and measurement, with US outfit Viavi persisting with its unsolicited bids for Canadian rival Exfo.
  Viavi has chucked $8 per share onto the table, having had its previous offer of $7.50 thrown back in its face a month ago. On the other side of the negotiating table sits Germain Lamonde, who owns 51% of Exfo’s shares and pretty much all of those that confer decision-making power. He wants to take the company private and has offered t
  
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• Orange wants a stake in Ethio Telecom

  21-07-2021 12:47
  
  Orange has formally declared its interest in buying into Ethio Telecom, almost three months after it declined to participate in the sale of new telecoms licences in the country.
  The announcement came from Henok Teferra Shawl, Ethiopia’s Ambassador to France, Spain, Portugal, the Holy See and Monaco. In a Twitter post, Teferra shared that he had held “fruitful discussions” with a team from Orange, “which has formally submitted interest to participate in the partial privati
  
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• A day trip to – Audley End House and gardens

  21-07-2021 08:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  About an hour outside London is a grand house that would impress anyone, except its original builder, as what you see is missing two-thirds of the original house.
  Like most grand houses, this one owes its origins to the Dissolution of the Monastries, when the lands were granted to Sir Thomas Audley in 1538. A modest house was built, but that was demolished and a huge Jacobean palace was built instead by Thomas Audley’s grandson, Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk.Known as a “prodigy
  
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• The good, the bad, and the unclear: UK watchdog's latest report on Huawei

  21-07-2021 02:00
  The HCSEC Oversight Board has today released its annual report regarding the Chinese vendor’s equipment’s ability to meet industry standards regarding cyber security, concluding that “no overall improvement” has been made in the company’s software engineering and cybersecurity quality over the past three years. The HCSEC was established in 2014 to assess the suitability of Huawei equipment for UK networks, by was subsumed by the National Cyber Security Centre
  
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• Respect the siesta! Spanish operators ratify new code of ethics

  21-07-2021 02:00
  In a highly competitive telecoms market, it is rare to find all the major operators agreeing with each other. But in Spain, it appears there is one thing that can unite even the most disruptive telco: siesta.Today, Movistar (Telefonica), Orange, Vodafone, Masmovil, and Euskaltel have all agreed to a new Code of Ethics…read more on TotalTele.com »
  
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• JioPhone Next: Google and Reliance Jio team up for $50 smartphone

  21-07-2021 02:00
  India is a country that has been undergoing massive digitalisation for many years now. In the last five years, internet users in India have more than doubled to around 700 million, with forecast’s expecting this number to increase to 900 million by 2025.But while 700 million is certainly an incredibly large figure – over twice the internet users in the US – this represents only around half of India’s population, with more than half a billion people remaining offline.&nbs
  
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• EXFO fends off yet another bid from Viavi

  21-07-2021 02:00
  At the start of June, network testing equipment company EXFO’s founder and chairman, Germain Lamonde, announced his intentions to take the company private. Lamonde currently owns, both directly and indirectly, a 61.46% stake in the business and made an offer to shareholders for the remain equity at the price of $6 per share, a 63% premium on the company’s averaged stock value. Just days after this news was announced, rival testing company Viavi Solutions smelled an opportunity,
  
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• Google and Jio seek to convert 450m Indians into smartphone users

  21-07-2021 01:00
  Tech groups hope new device will crack untapped market but pricing hurdles pose challenge
  
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