As the curtain falls on 5G with the final standard Release 19 taking center stage, the tech world is already buzzing with curiosity about 6G's debut. Adding to the excitement, 3GPP has unveiled the 6G logo, set to make its first appearance at a seminar in Rotterdam on May 8th.
Handset unit sales in Taiwan increased nearly 4% from a year earlier to 1.23 million units in the first quarter of 2024, when Android smartphone manufacturers experienced market share gain, according to sources at local channel distributors.
Amidst a backdrop of sluggish capital expenditures from telecom giants, the beleaguered telecom equipment market is bracing for an even more challenging 2024. Ericsson signaled caution, projecting a continued decline in the Radio Access Network (RAN) market at least through year-end.
In a market landscape fraught with geopolitical tensions, Huawei has managed to retain its top position globally in the communication equipment sector for 2023.
SpaceX's satellite communication service, Starlink, has embarked on an ambitious expansion journey, with a keen focus on penetrating the lucrative Southeast Asian market. The service has already established a footprint in nations such as the Philippines and Malaysia and now sets its sights on Indonesia.
In the relentless surge of AI, spearheaded by the ascent of Large Language Models (LLMs), a transformative wave is sweeping through industries, igniting fresh prospects, particularly for server providers and cooling specialists. Yet, it's the communication sector that stands poised for profound disruption. Industry insiders assert that AI's integration into telecommunications is not just inevitable but already underway, with major international players fortifying their infrastructural groundwork in anticipation of its widespread application.
In an ever-intensifying Sino-US conflict, one battleground stands out: the global telecommunications sector. At the center of this fray is Huawei, the Chinese tech giant that has faced relentless pressure from a US-led Western alliance of countries, over alleged security concerns.
With over five years since the inception of 5G commercialization, the global mobile communications standard organization, 3GPP, has propelled the technology into the realm of Release 18. This heralds the arrival of the 5G-Advanced era, yet two critical features outlined in earlier standards, standalone networks (SA) and millimeter waves, have yet to realize their full potential. Their adoption remains sluggish, prompting speculation about the timeline for their widespread implementation.
Communications technology has long been integral to warfare, and the wartime resilience of telecommunications infrastructure is especially critical as it underpins military Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance (C4ISR) capabilities. For instance, the US Department of Defense believes that the joint force has to be commanded across all warfighting domains and throughout the electromagnetic spectrum, and a Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) was laid out to guide and implement this vision.
The Satellite 2024, the world's largest satellite event, is held grandly in Washington from March 18 to 21. Over the past year, the satellite industry has matured, with an increasing number of satellite launches and advancing launch technologies. Meanwhile, the launch costs are decreasing, driving the satellite industry into the next phase and attracting more market participants.
Huawei held a partner summit on March 14-15, 2024. David Wang, executive director and chairman of Huawei's ICT Infrastructure Managing Board, pointed out from the outset that Huawei has weathered severe tests, with global revenue exceeding CNY700 billion in 2023, a year-on-year increase of over 9%, and operations returning to normality.
South Korea's telecom powerhouses, SK Telecom, KT, and LG U+, are supercharging their efforts in AI, rolling out cutting-edge large and small language models (LLM and SLM) to stake their claim in the global AI arena alongside international partners.
At MWC 2024, the spotlight wasn't just on the latest Generative AI advancements; there was also a palpable buzz around the burgeoning Open RAN initiatives led by telecom titans.
