U.S. wireless carrier AT&T and Swedish telecom giant Ericsson were among 12 new companies that joined the CBRS Alliance on Thursday.
Formed in August, the Alliance is focused on accelerating the development and roll out of LTE-based solutions for the 3.5 GHz band. The Alliance launched with six member companies, including Alphabet’s Access Technologies, Federated Wireless, Intel, Nokia, Qualcomm and Brocade’s Ruckus Wireless. Newcomers this week include Accelleran, Airspan Networks, American Tower Corp., AT&T, Baicells, CableLabs, Ericsson, ExteNet Systems, Nsight, Ranzure Networks, Rise Broadband, and ZTE USA.
During its third quarter earnings call this week, Verizon said it is safe to assume the recent Yahoo hack will have a “material impact” on the Internet company’s value given it was “an extremely large breach that has received a lot of attention from a lot of different people.” But don’t expect answers anytime soon. Verizon said the investigation into the breach – and its ultimate evaluation of what to do regarding its deal to acquire the company – will be a “long process.”
Verizon also shed some light on the sale of its data centers, noting it is currently negotiating with one party and expects to announce a deal early in the fourth quarter.
The carrier during the call also gave some figures around its Go90 mobile video platform. According to Verizon CFO Fran Shammo, average daily usage of the platform surpassed 30 minutes per viewer in the third quarter. Less than 20 percent of traffic for the app was served on Verizon’s network, he said. Shammo said Verizon is “very encouraged” by the traction the platform has gained.
Separately, Verizon on Thursday said its initial inventory of the new 128GB Google Pixel XL phone was sold out. Other models were available for purchase on Thursday, though, which was the first day of sales for the new device. Verizon is Google’s exclusive wireless partner for the Pixel.
Sprint has chosen packet microwave systems company DragonWave to supply its microwave backhaul equipment for its densification and optimization strategy.
DragonWave said Sprint chose its equipment for its dual channel capability and system gain, as well as advanced network security capabilities. Sprint COO of Technology Gunther Ottendorfer said microwave backhaul is a “cost-efficient, reliable alternative when used in the right ring structures.” According to Ottendorfer, microwave backhaul is a “key part of the extension of our overall toolkit” as the carrier works to densify its network.
