Mobile Industry Live: April 2021
News in brief and insights from across the mobile industry
A new ‘Ericsson Open Lab’ has been opened in Ottawa Canada to provide a space for it to collaborate with customers and other partners on the development of virtualised Radio Access Network (vRAN) technologies. The initial focus will be on Cloud RAN products, and the facility will be available virtually.
SSE Enterprise Telecoms has rebranded as Neos Networks – the name of the company that SSE bought back in 2022. Neos is currently in the middle of a major network build programme and hopes to reach more than 680,000 UK postcodes with fibre by the end of 2021.
LG will no longer make new mobile phones and will instead focus on other areas of the industry such as AI, connected home technology and 6G. LG was once the world’s third biggest phone maker but had struggled to remain competitive in recent years, with the unit losing billions of dollars.
Juho Sarvikas has said he will assume the position of VP and President of North America at Qualcomm – two weeks after stepping down as Chief Product Officer at HMD Global. The latter manufactures Nokia devices under licence.
Lutz Schüler will be CEO of Virgin Media-O2 Joint venture
Telefonica and Liberty Global have confirmed that Virgin Media CEO Lutz Schüler will be chief executive of the planned joint venture between their UK subsidiaries. Schüler joined Virgin Media from Liberty’s German cable business Unitymedia in 2018, first as COO and then CEO from June 2019. O2 CFO Patricia Cobian will perform the same role at the enlarged company.
Motorola has launched the enterprise partner program, offering resellers the opportunity to provide enterprise-grade smartphones, support and services to their customers. The program includes marketing and commercial support as well as training and knowledge.
O2 and Virgin Media can press ahead with their £11 billion merger after competition authorities found no reason to block the deal. The Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) said there was no evidence the transaction would have a detrimental impact on the wholesale market for backhaul services.
Lyca Group has promoted current Lycamobile COO Navanit Narayan to Group CEO, tasked with the firm’s ongoing expansion into digital services and new markets. Narayan joined Lycamboile last year after a 30-year career which has seen him assume roles at Nokia and Vodafone idea.
The Internet Services Providers’ Association (ISPA UK) has announced CityFibre, EPS Global, Fibrain, Netgem, Openreach and Plume as its six annual partners for 2021. ISPA represents more than 150 ISPs in its policy and regulatory efforts.
