BROWSING: Softbank

  Japanese conglomerate Nippon Telegraph & Telephone (NTT), will take a 5% stake in compatriot electronics company NEC as part of an agreement to foster the development of 5G technology in Japan. The agreement, estimated at 60 billion yen ($562 million), will make NTT the third-largest...

Editor’s Note: RCR Wireless News goes all in for “Throwback Thursdays,” tapping into our archives to resuscitate the top headlines from the past. Fire up the time machine, put on the sepia-tinted shades, set the date for #TBT and enjoy the memories! SK Telecom launches...

Qualcomm has launched a certification programme for combining augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR) devices and Snapdragon-based 5G smartphones. The programme will approve tethered AR and VR devices for use by enterprises, as well as consumers, within 12 months, it said. At the same...

  New Japanese mobile network entrant Rakuten Mobile, a subsidiary of Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten, announced it will delay the launch of commercial 5G services due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a release, Rakuten Mobile said that the 5G service originally planned for...

HAPS Alliance includes Ericsson, Nokia, SoftBank, DT, Telefonica, China Telecom, Bharti Airtel and Loon, among others A coalition of companies are aiming for the stratosphere as a "multi-billion dollar market opportunity" in telecommunications, planetary observation and weather prediction and modeling—including five traditionally terrestrial cellular network...

  Japan’s largest carrier, NTT DoCoMo, expects to attract 2.5 million subscribers in the 5G segment by March 2021, the operator said in its earnings statement. The telco, which launched 5G service last month, said it signed up 14,000 5G users at end-March. 5G coverage is forecast to increase...

  SoftBank and KDDI announced that they established a joint venture to promote the deployment of 5G in rural areas across Japan, both firms said in a release. The joint venture, dubbed 5G JAPAN Corporation (5G JAPAN), is based on a previous agreement announced by the two...

Mike Sievert replaces John Legere as CEO of the combined T-Mobile It's official: Sprint is no more, and the New T-Mobile is here. T-Mobile US CEO John Legere has formally passed the torch to Mike Sievert, a month earlier than expected. Legere will continue to serve...

  Japanese carrier KDDI announced that it will launch its 5G wireless services on March 26 in 15 prefectures across the country. The telco also said that it aims to expand its 5G offering nationwide in the summer. KDDI also announced plans to install 10,000 base stations...

  Japanese wireless carrier SoftBank announced it expects to launch its 5G services on March 27, becoming the first of the country's three major mobile carriers to release details of its next-generation telecommunications service. NTT Docomo and KDDI Corp. are also expected to soon unveil plans...

  T-Mobile US and Sprint have slightly tweaked the merger agreement between the two companies, resulting in Deutsche Telekom having a larger stake in the combined New T-Mobile and a larger overall equity value for the merger deal, the two U.S. carriers announced Thursday. DT is...

Greetings from Atlanta, GA (Dwarf House, a.k.a. the Original Chick-fil-A restaurant pictured), and Charlotte, NC.  This week’s issue will be entirely devoted to the implications of Judge Marrero’s decision (here) on the telecommunications industry.  Because of word constraints, we are going to push several...

Satellite connectivity startup Skylo, promising NB-IoT on existing geostationary satellites, has emerged from stealth with $116 million in total funding, including a new $103 million Series B round led by Japanese telecoms group Softbank. The California-based company, targeting IoT data communications, previously raised $13 million...

Japanese telecoms group SoftBank claims to have tested non-standalone 5G with connected cars. Nokia, the kit partner for the tests, called it a “world-first trial”. The setup used 3GPP Release 15 compliant radio equipment running commercial-level 256QAM high-order modulation and 4x4 multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) spatial...

System relies on millimeter-wave-based backhaul to communicate with the ground and other UAS Japanese tech giant Softbank and Alphabet's Loon have taken another step in establishing communications links based on unmanned aircraft system (UAS) flying in the earth's stratosphere. The two companies said recently that they...

  Japan's communications ministry confirmed it will start accepting applications for the deployment of local 5G networks next week, Japanese press reported. Spectrum designated for local 5G will be released in Japan at the end of 2019. Companies, local governments and universities are expected to apply to...

Japan’s Softbank will plough artificial intelligence (AI) and internet-of-things (IoT) technologies into a burgeoning smart city project in Indonesia, after striking a deal with Jakarta-based conglomerate Lippo Group. The deal, with the Indonesian firm’s real-estate division PT Lippo Karawaci (LPKR), focuses on Lippo Village in...

SoftBank owns 80% of co-working provider WeWork The Wall Street Journal, citing "people familiar with the matter", reported on Nov. 11 that T-Mobile US CEO John Legere, who is also tapped to run a combined T-Mo/Sprint, is "in discussion...to take over leadership" of WeWork. A bit...

Japanese car maker Subaru and compatriot telecommunications group SoftBank have started joint research on use cases that apply 5G mobile communication systems and cellular V2X (C-V2X) communication systems to help realize an automated driving society, SoftBank said in a statement. With the main aim of eliminating...

Israeli firm Altair Semicondictor will embed ‘cloud location over cellular’ (C-LoC) software into its ALT1250 dual-mode NB-IoT and LTE-M chipset. It has worked with C-LoC technology firm Polte Corporation on the initiative. Altair claims the ALT1250 dual-mode cellular IoT chipset is the market’s smallest, enabling...

SoftBank to deploy 11,210 5G base stations by early 2023 Japanese telecommunications carrier SoftBank expects to complete  the initial phase of its 5G network two years ahead of schedule, according to a report by Nikkei Asian Review. The carrier had initially planned to install a total...

Sprint is supporting tests of LTE connectivity at 1.9 GHz and 2.5 GHz via a solar-powered, drone-based high-altitude platform system (HAPS) in Hawaii, partnering with fellow SoftBank company HAPS Mobile. HAPS Mobile is a joint venture formed in late 2017 by Sprint parent company SoftBank...

  Japanese operator Rakuten Mobile, a unit of e-commerce giant Rakuten, is likely to limit the scope of its mobile launch in October due to delays in the installation of wireless base stations across Japan, according to a report by Nikkei Asian Review. Rakuten Mobile’s plan...

Indian telecommunications operator Reliance Jio expects to connect at least a billion connected IoT devices to its Internet of Things (IoT) platform within the next two years, Indian newspaper The Economic Times reported the company’s Chairman Mukesh Ambani as saying. "Jio has developed an innovative service on its pan-India 4G network...