WCA September 2015

Telecom news

Ms Alleven wrote: “An FCC agent used a spectrum analyser and handheld antenna to confirm that the salon’s overhead light fixture emanated a stray signal at 705 MHz, causing interference to AT&T’s Band Class 17 LTE network.” Elsewhere in telecom . . . Ø Vendors Alcatel-Lucent, NEC and Nokia Networks, and operators Deutsche Telekom, Orange and Telefonica, are members of a 13-strong consortium with a brief to promote innovative thinking around mobile network architecture for 5G. Richard Handford of Mobile World Live reported that the 5G NORMA (Novel Radio Multiservice adaptive network Architecture) group – a part of the 5GPPP initiative – would work for a period of 30 months after its July launch. “5G NORMA is also about acquiring a leadership position for Europe in 5G,” wrote Mr Handford (1 st July) The announcement of its for- mation declared that NORMA “breaks away from the rigid legacy network paradigm” to attempt to adapt network usage to changes in traffic demand and network topology. The group will also evaluate the value to the mobile industry and its customers of the services enabled by the proposed architecture. Ø The British Bankers’ Association (BBA) said on 14 th June that b anking by smartphone and tablet has become the preferred way for Britons to manage their finances, as mobile banking overtakes bricks-and-mortar branches and the Internet in popularity. According to new research commissioned by the BBA, in excess of eight million consumers downloaded mobile banking apps over the previous 12 months and two million signed up to the ‘Paym’ service that allows payments to be made to mobile phone contacts. The British are now transferring more than £2.9 billion a week via apps.

The BBA reported that its customers will use mobile devices to tend their current accounts 895 million times in 2015, as compared with 427 million interactions at local branches. It forecast that by 2020 customers will use their mobiles to manage their current accounts 2.3 billion times a year – more than Internet, branch and telephone banking taken together. “Technology is changing our lives and banking is no different,” said CEO Anthony Browne of the BBA, which represents more than 240 member organisations and has a presence in 180 countries. “The rapid take-up of apps and mobile banking appears to be a real game-changer for the British public.” Ø After almost two years of some- times heated discussion among lawmakers, the European Union on 30 th June arrived at agreement on a telecommunications law to take effect in June 2017. It provides for the end of roaming charges – for voice, text and data – in EU member countries, with mobile phone users on the move paying what they do at home; plus new net neutrality rules designed to protect the right of all Europeans to access Internet content without discrimination. By enshrining for the first time the principle of net neutrality into EU law, the agreement ensures that Internet users will not be closed out or otherwise hampered. Paid prioritisation will not be permitted. “Access to a start-up’s website will not be unfairly slowed down to make way for bigger companies,” declared the EU in a statement. “No service will be stuck because it does not pay an additional fee to Internet service providers. There won’t be gatekeepers to decide what you can and cannot access.” At the meeting in Brussels, the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of Europe, reached also a compromise on an EC proposal for a single telecom market. The agreed measures are to be finalised in 2016 in a broad overhaul of EU telecom rules, including a more effective spectrum coordination process.

service Phys.org reports. (”New Wi-Fi Antenna Enhances Wireless Coverage,” 1 st June) Reviewing the article for FierceWirelessTech on 2 nd June, editor Monica Alleven noted that the invention is designed to address the coverage problem “dead spots.” These occur most often in areas where Wi-Fi is in high demand, such as conference centres whose walls or appliances block a router’s signal or degrade it to the point that it becomes too weak for a phone or tablet to be used reliably. (“Report: Researchers Use Fluorescent Light Tube to Create New Wi-Fi Antenna,” 2 nd June) The prototype antenna developed in Malaysia consists of a fluorescent tube that connects to the router through a tuned wire coil in a sleeve slipped over one end. The coil passes the router’s radio signal through the glass of the fluorescent tube and into the plasma. According to the research team, the plasma found in a standard 62-centimetre light tube is highly conductive; and signal measurement testing shows that it is strong and stable, Phys.org reported. Plasma happens to compare favourably with standard metal Wi-Fi antennas for transmitting and receiving. Plasma also has conducting properties comparable to a common metal radio antenna, allowing an attached router to send and receive radio signals through the light tube on the standard 2.4-gigahertz Wi-Fi frequency in the same way as through a regular antenna. The router’s radio waves can ionise the gas in the tube, enabling it to act as an antenna whether the light is in On or Off position. An example of a possible application could involve outdoor billboard lights. With the Malaysian technology installed, each plasma antenna array would then be integrated with a Wi-Fi router to provide large-scale, system-wide wireless communication. Ø Ms Alleven said there is no word on whether the technology “or something akin to it” might be considered for deployment in the USA. Back in 2013, she recalled, a common fluorescent light fixture in a hair salon in San Antonio, Texas, was identified as the source of interference for a nearby AT&T LTE cell site.

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Wire & Cable ASIA – September/October 2015