Networking

Working from home full-time has a unique set of challenges, such as finding the right spot for a workspace and getting all the right equipment. However, there’s one aspect that’s easy to overlook: Your home network’s security. More

Firefox web browser share keeps going down, while The Mozilla Foundation continues to make staff cuts and gives up its Mountain View California offices. More

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani announced on Tuesday that India’s largest telco, Reliance Jio, has plans to roll out commercial 5G networks during the latter half of 2021.
“I assure you that Jio will pioneer the 5G revolution in India in the second half of 2021,” said Ambani, during his keynote at India Mobile Congress 2020. 
“It will be powered by indigenous-developed network, hardware, and technology components.”
During the keynote, Ambani also said that he believes 5G will enable India to lead the world in progressing the so-called fourth industrial revolution.
“We are creating compelling home-grown solutions in education, healthcare, agriculture, infrastructure, financial services, and new commerce. Each of these solutions, once proven in India, will be offered to the rest of the world to address global challenges. 
The announcement comes despite India not yet giving the green light for a 5G spectrum auction.
Even though a 5G auction date has not yet been set, Jio Platforms has been working with Qualcomm to develop 5G solutions with a virtualised RAN. The companies jointly said in October that the 5G solutions are intended to fast track the development of indigenous 5G network infrastructure and services in India.

“We are excited about working with Qualcomm Technologies in developing new generation cloud native 5G RAN technology that is truly open and software-defined,” Jio Infocomm president Mathew Oommen said.
As of September 30, Reliance Jio has a customer base of over 400 million people, which the telco has touted makes it the only telco outside of China to boast such a figure. Reported as part of its second-quarter results, Reliance Jio said it had 405.6 million subscribers, which was an increase of 1.8% in comparison to three months prior.
In the prior quarter, Jio sold a third of itself to others for ₹152,056 crore. Buyers included Google, Facebook, Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR, Mubadala, ADIA, TPG, L Catterton, PIF, Intel Capital, and Qualcomm Ventures.
“All of these investments, excluding Google, have been completed post fulfilling applicable conditions and total amount of ₹118,319 crore has been received by the company,” Jio said in its second-quarter results.
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Emergency site in Cooma, New South Wales.
Image: NBN
The company responsible for the National Broadband Network (NBN) has taken the wraps off its first disaster satellite service at Namadgi in the Australian Capital Territory.
NBN has been handed AU$7 million to provide “designated emergency management sites and evacuation centres” with satellite connectivity. The company is aiming to have around 95 sites up and running by the end of 2020.
Broken down by state or territory, the ACT will have 12 sites at Namadgi National Park Visitors Centre, Tidbinbilla National Park Visitors Centre, Hall RFS Base, Guises Creek RFS Base, Southern Districts RFS Base, Tidbinbilla RFS Base, Rivers RFS Base, ESA Training Centre, Murrumbidgee Parks and Conservation Service Depot, Bendora Dam Parks and Conservation Service Depot, Glendale Parks and Conservation Service Depot, and Gudgenby Homestead Parks and Conservation Service Depot.
Queensland will have 14 sites live by the end of the year at Biloela Civic Centre, Collinsville Community Centre, Gloucester Sport and Recreation Building, Mackay Entertainment and Convention Centre, Bob Wood Hall, Sarina, Kianga Hall Moura, Robert Schwarten Pavilion, Taroom Town Hall, Cooktown Event Centre, Bundaberg Multiplex Sport and Convention Centre, Bundaberg Recreational Precinct, Ingham Showgrounds Pavilion, and Townsville Stadium.
South Australia is set to have eight sites at Victor Group Base, Kangaroo Island Group Base, Tatiara Group Base, Gambier Group Base, Kingscote Station, Loxton SES, Mallee Group Control Centre, and Netley SES.
Tasmania’s 16 sites in 2020 will be situated at Lilydale Memorial Hall, Wynyard Sports Centre, Swansea Town Hall, Mathinna Recreation Ground, Karoola, Miena Community Hall, Huon Valley PCYC Building, Elma Fagan Community Centre Waratah, Pyengana Hall, Currie Town Hall, Sorell Memorial Hall, Sheffield Kentish Town Hall, Alonnah Hall, Redpa Recreation Centre, Queenstown Sports Stadium, and Nubeena Recreational Ground.
Victoria will also have 18 sites ready this year at Bairnsdale City Oval, Cann River Rec Res, Paynesville Rec Res, Mallacoota Main Hall, Omeo Rec Res, Buchan Rec Res, Lakes Entrance Mechanics Hall, Cudgewa Temporary Community Support Hub, Licola Wilderness Village, Towong Temporary Community Support Hub, Tintaldra Temporary Community Support Hub, Myrtleford Sports Stadium, Orbost Cricket Club Oval, Myrtleford Senior Citizens Centre, Ovens DELWP Office, Mitta Valley ERC, Lucyvale/Berringama Temporary Community Support Hub, and Eskdale ERC.

Western Australia will have seven sites at Walpole Community Hall, DFES Broome, Jurien Bay Football Oval, LG Shire Office, Bremer Bay Sports Club, Leeman Sports Oval, and Peaceful Bay. The state also has an additional site labelled by NBN as private.
Missing from the list of sites are locations in New South Wales and the Northern Territory, which are set to be completed next year, with NSW, in particular, having non-standard installations. NBN said the installation dates were agreed upon by federal and state-level governments.
NBN also received AU$1.7 million to buy five more Muster trucks and 12 portable satellite kits, which will be delivered this year.
“This equipment can be rapidly mobilised to support communities with Wi-Fi connectivity when they are most in need and are strategically placed around the country so they can be deployed as soon as it is safe to do so,” the company said.
Gavin Williams, NBN’s chief development officer for regional and remote, said the company deployed emergency satellite links at 30 evacuation centres and 10 emergency response centres in NSW, Victoria, and South Australia last year to help 5,000 people.
“The devastation of last summer’s bushfire emergency reinforced the importance of connectivity in disaster situations and the important role NBN Co can play with the retail service providers in supporting communities when they are most in need,” he said.
“By providing free satellite Wi-Fi services and mobile device charging facilities during the emergency, we were able to help keep families and loved ones connected, and provide vital communication services into areas that otherwise might not have had them.”
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An 18-month long investigation by the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) has uncovered a “concerning trend” of complaints where consumers experiencing family violence were not always met by telcos’ standard systems and processes.
The Meeting the needs of consumers impacted by family violence report detailed that telcos faced four key challenges in meeting the needs of family violence victims. These included being unable to: Recognise and respond to consumers experiencing family violence, understand what consumers needed to stay connected and safe, ensure appropriate account security processes, and offer the right financial assistance.
The investigation uncovered some of the consequences of telcos being unable to meet those needs, such as victims suffering more detriment and further financial hardship. The lack of support also resulted in unauthorised disclosure of personal information, which often led to further dangerous consequences.
“Our understanding and approach to the impact of phone and internet complaints in family violence continues to evolve. While the number of these complaints is relatively low, the detriment suffered is often disproportionately high,” Ombudsman Judi Jones said.
See also: New Australian Online Safety Act to include take-down of cyber abuse    
The report suggested telcos could improve their services for consumers affected by family violence by working with family violence experts to develop training for staff, allowing staff to offer highly flexible payment arrangements, reviewing account securities, and listening to consumers about what they need to stay safe.
“This report makes recommendations for telcos wanting to improve their service to better meet the needs of their customers experiencing this vulnerability. I encourage providers to think deeply about changes they can make to best support consumers impacted by family violence,” Jones said.

“We acknowledge the good work of family violence specialists, the telco industry and consumer advocates in this space. We are all on the same journey as many organisations in improving our understanding of the impacts of family violence. We will continue to monitor and evaluate our approach as our understanding evolves.” 
The findings were welcomed by the Communications Alliance, which published a guide on how to assist consumers experiencing domestic and family violence in 2018.
“Family violence impacts far too many Australians, and all industries and individuals have a role to play to help keep people safe. Telecommunications services are vital to keeping people connected, and there are steps telcos can take to support consumers,” Communications Alliance CEO John Stanton said.
Stanton noted the Communications Alliance is currently working on updating and expanding its 2018 guide, saying in a statement it would take into consideration the findings by the TIO as part of the process.
“Many telcos have gone above and beyond developing staff training and innovative processes to support impacted consumers and keep them safe, and we are working across the industry to ensure all telcos are enabled to put the right systems, processes, and training in place to help consumers,” Stanton said.
If you need support because you or someone you know is experiencing family violence call 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) for 24/7 support and referrals.  
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Complaints to TIO continue to rise with spike from SMBs
The number of complaints to the TIO is now at its highest level for five quarters.
TIO warns of hardship spike after NBN financial assistance winds up
The TIO had expected an uptick in complaints regarding financial hardship during the pandemic, but these types of complaints actually dropped off because of industry and government financial support.
Complaints to TIO reveal impact COVID-19 had on consumers and small businesses
Complaints received between March and June 2020 were directly related to the pandemic.
Southern Phone reclaims crown as Australia’s most complained about telco
Complaints shot to 27.6 complaints per 10,000 services during the July to September quarter. More

A few years ago, only hardcore techies and television fans were cord-cutting. Today, there are more people watching streaming shows than there are paying for cable or satellite TV. 
There are three reasons for this shift. First, the best live TV streaming services now offer pretty much anything you’d ever want from a traditional TV service. Second, even though live TV streaming services costs are catching up with cable, for now, they’re still more affordable. Finally, the video-on-demand (VoD) services, which started the cord-cutting revolution, such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, are now more likely to produce “must watch” TV than their older competitors. 
For example, CBS All Access’s Star Trek: Discovery; Disney Plus’s The Mandalorian; and Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit all have huge audiences and are popular with the critics as well. Today, with the exception of HBO, which has its own streaming specific service now, HBO Max, you’re more likely to find the show you want to watch on a streaming service than on antenna, cable, or satellite.
But, which service is right for you? Before describing them, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention there are numerous free VoD services. If money is tight, there’s still a lot of good streaming movies and TV shows out there for you.
What you need to stream  
To make use of any of these services you’ll need broadband internet. If you’re living on your own, you may be able to get by with as little as 10 Mbp. If you’re sharing your home with others and/or you want to watch 4K videos, I recommend you have at least a 25 Mbps internet connection. Not sure how fast your connection is? Run the Ookla Speedtest.
These services’ pricing, show lineups, and how many streams you can watch at one time are all subject to change. For the most part, all of these support the most popular streaming devices. For example, no matter which service you subscribe to, an Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV Cube, Roku Express, or Google Chromecast will almost certainly support it. But if you’re using a more obscure streaming gadget, such as an Nvidia Shield TV Pro or Tivo Stream 4K, it might not work with your preferred service. Smart TVs also frequently don’t support newer streaming offerings. The moral of this story is before subscribing make sure the service will work with your hardware. 
Fortunately, most of these services give you a free 7-day trial period. Before signing up for a trial though check the fine print. You don’t want to end up paying for a service that you really don’t like. 

If you love the BBC, you’ll love Acorn TV

If you’re a fan of British TV like I am, then Acorn TV is for you. On it, I can get my fill of shows like Agatha Raisin, Doc Martin, Midsomer Murders, and Lovejoy. It also includes other shows such as the Australian hits Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries and  A Place to Call Home.
This service used to have a lot of performance problems. That’s no longer the case. That said, at best, you can only watch shoes in 720p HDTV. You’ll find no 4K or UHD content here. You can, however, stream up to a generous four shows at once. 
Acorn TV costs $6 a month or $60 a year. You can either stream it directly or you can subscribe to it via Amazon Prime Video. The advantage to this latter approach is far more streaming devices support Prime Video than Acorn TV.  
View Now at Acorn TV

Free two-day Amazon shipping and great videos, what’s not to like?

Amazon Prime Video is far more than just videos. For $119 a year or $13 a month, besides free videos, you get free two-day shipping on most Amazon purchases. If you’re already using Amazon Prime for buying stuff, using its Video service is a no brainer. 
The service offers VoD for older movies and TV shows. Many, but far from all, of these require an additional fee to rent or purchase. Lately though, like Netflix, Amazon is getting known for its great original content such as Fleabag, Good Omens, Jack Ryan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and The Boys. I’ll also always owe a debt of gratitude to Amazon for saving the best science-fiction show of all time, The Expanse. 
Many of Amazon’s originals and some newer films are available in 4K and UHD. You can stream up to three shows at once. 
Even if I didn’t shop at Amazon, I’d pay for Amazon Prime Video.
$9 at Amazon

Someday Apple TV Plus will be for everyone, today’s it’s really just for Apple users.

I’m not so sure though that I’d pay much more than the $4.99 per month that  Apple TV Plus costs. There’s just not a lot there. It has relatively few “free” videos in its library and its original content is, well, minimal.
The closest thing to a hit Apple TV Plus has is probably the drama The Morning Show. The what, you say? Exactly.
It does, on the other hand, have many movies you can watch for additional fees. You can share your subscription with up to six people via Apple’s Family Sharing feature. But that’s not as generous as it sounds. Apple caps simultaneous streams to three for most of its content.
One good point is that the content, when it’s available, can be viewed and heard in 4K, HDR, Dolby Atmos, and Dolby Vision. Just make sure you have the right gear to support it, or all that will go to waste.
Apple TV Plus has promise and it’s handy if you’re already deep into the Apple world. But if you’re not a dyed-in-the-wool Apple fan, this is one service you can skip. 
$5 at Apple TV Plus

CBS All Access
All CBS shows, all the time. You know, that’s just fine.

CBS was the first of the big broadcasters to decide to go into streaming in a big way with CBS All Access. Its biggest selling point is the insanely large CBS catalog of past and new shows as well as live CBS news and sports content. I don’t care what kind of show you like, you’ll find something you want to watch on this service.
What it doesn’t have is a lot of original content. What new shows it does have, such as Star Trek: Picard, The Good Fight, and The Twilight Zone, I like. But they may not be for you.
One blemish is that even the new Star Trek shows are only available in HDTV. For now, there’s no 4K or HDR content.
The basic CBS All Access plan, with commercials, costs $6 a month. To get rid of ads, you must pay $10-per-month. Annually, the limited-commercial plan is $60 per year, while the no commercials version will cost you $100 annually. But, pay attention, even with the high-end service, you’ll see ads when you watch live TV.
Is it worth it? I think so. You just need to ask yourself, “How much do I love Star Trek and the rest of the CBS TV library?”

Disney Plus includes content from Disney, Marvel, Fox Entertainment, and Star Wars.

Disney Plus is the one new streaming service I can recommend for almost anyone. The reason? I’ll give you four: the Disney, Marvel, Fox Entertainment, and Star Wars movies and TV show library. For popular entertainment, you can’t beat Disney Plus. 
Disney Plus is still building up its original content library, but it already has one huge hit, The Mandalorian. Honestly, though, tens-of-millions would still be subscribing even if they didn’t have any original content.
With the pandemic keeping us in our homes, Disney Plus is also exploring pay per view (PPV) for movies like the live-action Mulan. If this plan works out, you’ll see other movies, such as Marvel’s The Black Widow, appearing on Disney Plus screens. 
At $7 per month, it’s also one of the cheaper VoD best streaming. Better still, much of its content is available in 4K resolution with HDR color. For streaming, it also currently supports four simultaneous streams. 
There are some people out there, somewhere, who might not find something fun to binge-watch on Disney Plus. I just don’t know any of them. 
$7 at Disney Plus

Now that HBO Max is widely available, if you love HBO, you’ll love HBO Max.

HBO’s new streaming service HBO Max had trouble getting out of the gate. But now that Roku and Amazon Fire are coming on board, its future looks great. That’s because, like Disney Plus, it has a huge library of content people love to watch. Their audiences are different, though, with Disney Plus tending to be younger than the audience for such HBO classics as Deadwood and The Sopranos. 
You may be a little confused as to what’s what with HBO streaming. I can’t blame you. I watch a lot of HBO shows and I cover this stuff for a living, and I’ve been puzzled. Here’s how it works. HBO Go is on the way out. It dies on July 31, 2021. If you’re already an HBO Go’s customer, you’ll automatically be moved to HBO Max. HBO Now is still around, at least for now, but it’s been renamed HBO. 
So, what’s the difference? With HBO, you get, well HBO. With HBO Max you also get access to some movies and TV series from Warner Bros.; New Line; DC, CNN, TNT, TBS, truTV, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim; Looney Tunes Cartoons; CrunchyRole anime; and some classic movies from TCM. You’ll also be able to watch some new HBO Max exclusive shows. 
You can watch these on up to three devices at once. Unfortunately, for now at least, you’ll only be able to watch these shows in HDTV. 
If you’re already subscribed to HBO via your cable or satellite provider, you get HBO Max for free. Otherwise, HBO Max will run you $15 a month. That’s not cheap, but you do get a lot to watch for your money.
$15 at HBO Max

Hulu is still well worth a look.

Hulu’s big brother, Hulu + Live TV’s big selling point is it’s the one service which combines both live TV and VoD. It’s a powerful package. Besides great original content, such as exclusive titles like The Handmaid’s Tale, it also has a large catalog of other on-demand shows and movies. On top of that, you get over 65 live and on-demand channels. 
But Hulu + Live TV costs $65 a month, while Hulu, the pure VoD play, costs $6 a month or $60 a year with ads or $12 a month without ads. Is it worth it? I think so.
That’s because Hulu comes with a huge library of 21st Century FOX content, that’s too adult for Disney Plus. It also has a good selection of original content. This includes some of my personal favorites such as Harlots, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Veronica Mars. 
As for the video itself, Hulu supports two simultaneous streams. Some of its original shows are available in 4K, but most of the content is in HDTV.
$6 at Hulu

It’s still the best streaming service around thanks to its wealth of great original content.

The 800-pound gorilla of streaming is Netflix. It has great older TV show and movie content. But what most of us watch on Netflix is its ever-growing collection of original programs. 
Shows such as Glow, Emily in Paris, The Queen’s Gambit, and Black Mirror set the standard in great streaming TV, but I doubt very much you know exactly how many original shows Netflix produces. In 2019, Netflix released 371 new TV shows and movies. That’s more than one new video a day. Trust me, you’re going to find something you can not only watch, but love, on Netflix. 
All of this comes with a rather complex pricing scheme. At the first tier, $9, you can watch on one screen in SD. Move up to $14 a month, which is what I recommend, and you get HDTV and two simultaneous streams. For $18 per month, you get 4K and four streams.
The only thing I dislike about Netflix, and it’s really not the company’s fault, is its video partners are constantly moving shows and movies on and off the service. There’s a reason why there’s a website called What’s on Netflix, which does nothing but track what’s on and what’s about to leave Netflix. 
Still, let’s get real, Netflix is the one essential streaming service. 
$9 at Netflix

With a lot of great old NBC shows, Peacock is a promising work in progress.

Following CBS’s lead, NBC launched its own streaming network, Peacock, this summer. It includes a large collection of old and new NBC shows. 
Peacock, at this point, is relying on its rich library of classic NBC shows such as Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock, and Columbo. The streaming network also has the enormously popular Law & Order and Chicago Fire franchises. 
Since Peacock’s parent company owns Universal Pictures, Focus Features, and DreamWorks, we can be sure there will be lots of movies streaming from the service in time. So far, Peacock has little original content. So far, Brave New World and a Saved by the Bell reboot are the most interesting of the shows. 
At best, though, you can only watch these shows in HDTV. On the other hand, you can watch up to three streams at once. 
This network has three tiers. The first is free. You must put up with a few commercials, but you can watch a lot of NBC shows. For $5 a month, Peacock Premium costs $5 per month or $50 per year. For it, you get access to more of the NBC library and Peacock originals. But, you’re still stuck with commercials. If you want to watch without ads, you must upgrade to the Peacock Premium Plus ad-free plan for $10 per month or $100 annually. Still, with only five minutes of commercial, Peacock promises, at most, you may not want to pay for Premium Plus.
As a free service, Peacock’s great. If you find yourself, as I did, watching more and more NBC programs, you may find yourself spending the 50 bucks to watch even more shows.
$0 at Peacock TV

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SpaceX has just won a key grant worth nearly $1bn from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to bring its low-Earth orbit Starlink satellite broadband service to people in 35 US states. 
Elon Musk’s space transportation services company has scooped a sizable chunk of the FCC’s first round of support under the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF). The first phase is worth $9bn, but the total amount allocated to the fund to patch up rural America’s patchy internet is funded to the tune of $16bn over 10 years. 

Networking

SpaceX has been launching about 60 Starlink satellites a month and currently has just under 1,000 orbiting above Earth at an altitude of 500km, or 330 miles. 
The company has frequently promoted its Starlink missions with Falcon 9 rockets with reusable components. FCC chairman Ajit Pai initially expressed doubt whether SpaceX’s Starlink could meet its requirements for a service with a latency below 100ms for a mass-market service. 
SpaceX’s beta service – which opened in October and only services northern parts of the US and southern Canada – has consistently shown it can deliver download speeds from 50Mbps to 150Mbps and latency from 20ms to 40ms. Those speeds and latency beat what’s available to business and residents in rural and remote areas of the US. 
The Starlink public beta service costs $100 a month plus a $499 setup fee for the user terminal, tripod and Wi-Fi router. It’s not known what the cost of the service will be when it’s generally available. 
The RDOF grant will be good news for SpaceX. Elon Musk in May said rocket launches had been reduced to $1m a pop, but noted that the cost of deploying and supporting end-user terminals was the biggest unsolved challenge for Starlink.

The states the FCC granted the most money to deliver SpaceX’s satellite broadband service are Washington with $80m, Montana $73m, Virginia $62m, Pennsylvania $63m, Oregon $58m, Alabama $54m, Idaho $54m, Mississippi $44m, Colorado $40m, Maine $34m, Florida $33m, and Georgia $27m.
SpaceX appears to be the only low-Earth satellite provider that was awarded a grant. The only other low-Earth orbit bidder was Hughes Network Systems, a traditional satellite provider, which invested $50m in a UK government-backed consortium to save financially strapped Starlink rival OneWeb. 
Last month, the FCC granted OneWeb licenses to access the US market for low-Earth orbit broadband satellite services.
The FCC announced SpaceX’s grants as part of the first round of the RDOF, valued at $9.2bn over 10 years. RDOF aims to provide high-speed broadband internet services to 5.2 million unserved homes and businesses. 
The remaining $6.8bn of the $16bn fund will be rolled over into a second auction, the FCC said. 
Ajit Pai, the FCC chairman, who was appointed by outgoing US president Donald Trump, said the auction will be welcome news to millions of unconnected rural Americans. 
“We structured this innovative and groundbreaking auction to be technologically neutral and to prioritize bids for high-speed, low-latency offerings,” he said. 
“This auction was the single largest step ever taken to bridge the digital divide.”
More on Elon Musk’s Starlink and internet-beaming satellites More

Qualcomm range test in Italy
Image: Qualcomm
NTT Docomo has turned on carrier aggregation across its 5G networks in Japan on the mid-band n78 and n79 spectrum ranges.
Qualcomm said customers of the telco could hit 5G speeds as high as 4.2Gbps, but the use of a Snapdragon 865 chip is necessary to do so. Devices that have this chip include Samsung Galaxy S20 range, Oppo Find X2, and OnePlus 8.
“This level of service is achieved through 5G sub-6GHz carrier aggregation, which combines a 100MHz carrier in band n78 and a 100MHz carrier in band n79 to boost 5G performance and network capacity using Docomo’s diverse spectrum assets,” Qualcomm said.
“The deployment of 5G Sub6-CA, along with 5G mmWave 28GHz band that Docomo began operating commercially in September, will unleash the full potential of 5G and enable accelerated deployment of Docomo’s 5G service areas.”
The switching on of the sub-6Ghz aggregation is touted as a world first.
Last week, Qualcomm claimed a record for “ultra-broadband long distance speed with 5G technology applied to fixed wireless access”. In short, the company was able to get 1Gbps over a distance of 6.5 kilometres using 26GHz millimetre-wave spectrum and a sizeable fixed antenna.
The test was conducted on Telecom Italia’s live network, and was able to hit 1Gbps using a UDP speed test and 700Mbps for TCP. The Ericsson antenna used had extended range software, and Casa Systems AurusAI customer premise equipment was used to receive the signal.

Qualcomm said the test showed 5G could be used to deliver fast broadband to people without a fixed fibre optic connection.
“Through these new 5G fixed wireless access solutions, called Fiber To The Air, an increasingly widespread and efficient broadband coverage to the entire country,” it said.
The setup will be tested soon by “selected users” around Turin in an area without connectivity before other industrial districts will be tested, Qualcomm said.
Last week, Qualcomm launched its latest mobile device chip, the Snapdragon 888, which the company said will support 5G at millimetre-wave and sub-6GHz frequencies on “all major bands worldwide”. It will also support carrier aggregation, standalone and non-standalone modes, and dynamic spectrum sharing.
Speaking with journalists, Qualcomm SVP and general manager for mobile, compute, and infrastructure Alex Katouzian said that Apple putting Arm chips into laptops was a validation of its approach.
“As we’ve seen during the pandemic age and I think this is going to continue for many years to come, video conferencing and remote working locations are going to become more and more important, which means you have to have the capability of great video conferencing, you have to have the camera capability, you have to have the longevity of the battery, you should be able to work from any place that you are, inside your house or outside your house, and reach your work environment in a secure fashion,” he said.
“All of those things are validation of what we’ve been preaching and I think the strength is going to come from the fact that our partnership with Microsoft is going to be much stronger and extended into the future.
“I think many, many parties realise that the Windows-based ecosystem needs a boost like this, and we’re the partner of choice to make that happen — so, it’s a great opportunity and a great validation for Qualcomm.”
However, recent tests have Apple Silicon thumping the performance currently available on Qualcomm-made processors.
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