Mobile World Live (MWL) brings you our top three picks of the week, where open RAN was the subject of a slew of headlines coming out of TIP’s FYUZ23 in Madrid, Ericsson disclosed a Vonage-related hit to its financials and another major mobile industry anniversary was reached.
Vodafone goes on the open RAN offensive
What happened? Vodafone provided multiple updates on its open RAN progress in and around FYUZ23, including a pilot in Italy and progress on its silicon initiative with Intel.
Why it matters: The operator group has been one of the most enthusiastic advocates of open RAN, and the sheer volume of announcements it made at FYUZ23 indicates it is pushing forward on a number of fronts, from the technology components to deployments in the field.
Ericsson takes a hit
What happened? Ericsson announced a chunky financial impairment of around $2.9 billion related to cloud company Vonage which it acquired in 2022.
Why it matters: Ahead of its results next week, the vendor made the disclosure due to “the significant drop in the market capitalisation of Vonage’s publicly-traded peers, increased interest rates and overall slowdown”. Despite the apparent fall in the value of its assets, the vendor maintains Vonage is key to its enterprise strategy.
Happy birthday commercial mobile
What happened? Today (13 October) marks the 40th anniversary of the first commercial mobile phone call, a key milestone for the industry.
Why it matters: As celebrated (somewhat early) by Boingo Wireless at MWC Las Vegas 2023, today marks an important anniversary, the second major landmark celebrated by the mobile industry this year.
As CCS Insight director, consumer and connectivity Kester Mann put it to MWL, in the last 40 years “the mobile phone has become the most prolific consumer electronics device on the planet, playing an integral role in the lives of billions of people every day”.
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