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Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2018 – Day 2 Highlights

MWC 2018 – Day 2 Highlights

Despite most major smartphones announcements being over, Day 2 at the MWC 2018 in Barcelona continued to remain interesting. Major highlights from the 2nd day include the big Zenfone 5 series launch from Asus, continued focus on the race for 5G, and NB-IoT deployments.

Highlights from Day 2 are below:

Asus launched the Zenfone 5 and 5Z that sport the notch design

Asus launched the Zenfone 5 and 5Z, with a notch design similar to the iPhone X.  However, the notch hardware in Asus is not as sophisticated as that of the iPhone. The overall design also looks like iPhone X. Asus has redesigned the device’s look and it now includes larger display size with thin bezels in the same physical footprint as Zenfone 4. Asus has also used AI which is used to boost the app performance and adjust the screen color temperature.

Considering all these improvements Asus has adopted the major trends what other OEM’s are offering.  In order to stand, the company must continue to focus its R&D to help the challenger stand out in the vastness of Android smartphones.

Cisco announces the Jasper Control Center for NB-IoT platform

Cisco announced the commercial availability of their Jasper Control Center for NB-IoT platform with service provider partners in China, Australia, and Singapore. Cisco Jasper manages 70 million IoT devices across all service providers. The refined Control Centre product of NB-IoT provides several benefits for business enthusiasts. For one, multiple-mode management of connectivity across IoT devices that further enables them to provide customizable 4G service packages as per business requirements. Secondly, ability to combine automation capabilities with real-time visibility and insight across vast IoT estates, letting users manage large-scale deployments at minimal costs.

NB-IoT will be the clear winner of Cellular LPWA warfare in 2018. And, Chinese operators will continue to dominate NB-IoT. The demand of LPWA exclusive networks and platforms are increasing rapidly and NB- IoT is dominating LPWAN.  Most service providers in Asia and in Europe are looking at NB-IoT and have geared up their networks to support NB-IoT specifically. However, with the adoption of dual Cellular LPWA strategies by US operators, it will gain traction in overall LPWA connections by end of 2018.

Reliance Jio collaborates with Samsung to deliver NB-IoT deployment in India

Samsung will supply Jio with equipment to boost LTE network coverage and capacity. The IoT network, the first of its kind in the country, will support a variety of consumer and enterprise use cases such as vehicle tracking, smart appliances, smart metering, security, surveillance and various LPWA applications.

Reliance Jio is the fastest growing Telecom Operator in India, almost within a year it reached 160 million subscribers. Moreover, Reliance Jio recently acquired Reliance Communication’s spectrum, towers, and other wireless infrastructure. These assets are strategic in nature and are expected to contribute significantly to the large-scale roll-out of wireless and Fiber to Home(FTTH) and Enterprise services by Jio.

As per our India IoT Cellular Connection Tracker, Reliance Communication was holding 17 % IoT cellular connection in India dominated by 2G/2.5G and 3G.

MNOs race for early 5G deployments in the US

  • Sprint announced that its users will begin experiencing ‘5G-like capabilities’ as of April in six US cities. The network will not be the 3GPP-compliant and gigabit speeds will be enabled through software and hardware equipment provided by Samsung.
  • Meanwhile, AT&T and Verizon have confirmed that they will offer 5G services this year through portable hotspots called pucks, even though 5G mobile phones will not be available until next year.
  • T-Mobile has joined hands with Ericsson and Nokia for multi-band 5G network rollout across the US. Ericsson and Nokia are expected to provide the required hardware and expertise aiding the MNO to deploy the next-gen high-speed 5G network.

Although, 5G mobile phones may not be commercially available this year, network operators in US have been very aggressive towards early deployment of a 5G network. The next-gen 5G network will help operators gain the leadership position within the US telecom market.

Other:

ZTE announced the “Next-gen Big Video Platform”

Last year at MWC, ZTE announced the BigVideo Premium Video Platform solution which features low latency, and over-the-top (OTT) multicast delivery. This year ZTE’s has taken its premium video platform a step further by unveiling the “Next-gen Big Video Solution”, based on 5G and AI technologies. The Premium Video Platform was aimed at both relieving operators of some network transmission pressure and helping consumers experience high quality video streaming services. ZTE’s enhanced solution uses Mobile Edge Computing(MEC) which increases the efficiency of Content Delivery Networks(CDN), which is key to achieving ultra-low latency. The solution also incorporates AI-enabled advertising which will help create an additional revenue stream for operators. With 5G on the horizon, ZTE’s “Next-gen Big Video platform” will be a holistic solution that will help operators bring ultra HD, AR, VR video content to consumers in an efficient way.

 

Previous Posts:

MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS (MWC) 2018 – DAY 1 HIGHLIGHTS

MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS (MWC) 2018 – DAY 0 HIGHLIGHTS

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Anshika is a Senior Analyst with Counterpoint Technology Market Research, based out of Gurgaon. She has more than 10 years of work experience in market research and business intelligence field. She led various research and consulting projects for multiple sectors including BFSI and Telecom. Apart from this, she also has key client handling experience with leading MNCs. She holds a Master’s in Business Administration from IMT Ghaziabad, specializing in Finance; and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Hansraj College, Delhi University.

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