
Ericsson and T-Mobile ink $3.5B deal for 5G - TamoC
https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/11/ericsson-and-t-mobile-ink-3-5-billion-deal-for-5g/
======
dsl
The real kicker is the last line. T-mobile can software upgrade its LTE
equipment to 5G:

> The partnership with Ericsson means that T-Mobile’s already installed base
> of Ericsson Radio System radios will be able to run 5G NR with a remote
> software installation.

~~~
StudentStuff
Ericsson was/is Intel's large foundry client, but with the 10nm delays and
14nm being thoroughly booked with x86-64 and LTE modems for Apple, there isn't
room for Ericsson to produce new chips on modern nodes. Worse yet, I hear
Ericsson designed specifically for Intel 10nm, which leaves them up a creek
for the next few years.

A firmware update to make existing hardware have a longer lifespan and help
Ericsson to retain their clients was likely the only out here. If Ericsson had
the new chips they were planning on, this firmware update would be much more
expensive and less probable to actually see carriers taking them up on it.

~~~
ksec
>Ericsson was/is Intel's large foundry client

That is actually Nokia. Not Ericsson

~~~
StudentStuff
Nope, its Ericsson, and Intel fucked them over pretty badly. All of Ericsson's
newer chips were designed for 10nm, which doesn't work & Intel is full up on
14nm. Firmware updates to existing hardware and rebrands of existing chips are
all Ericsson has to retain customers until they can either get another fab to
build their chip (2 to 3 years from now), or Intel sorts out the yield issues
on 10nm.

[https://semiaccurate.com/2018/07/02/intel-custom-
foundrys-10...](https://semiaccurate.com/2018/07/02/intel-custom-
foundrys-10nm-meltdown-is-crushing-a-20b-market-cap-tech-giant/)

~~~
ksec
I mean like... For Christ Sake.

You take SemiAccruate as reliable sources, and even if the rumour were right.
Ericsson was / is never disclosed as an Intel Custom Foundry Partner.

The only self disclosed Telcom Equipment manufacturer using Intel 10nm is
Nokia, and BTW where is the NOKIA bankrupt and "no way out"

Seriously, this is HN, not Reddit.

~~~
StudentStuff
SemiAccurate tends to be fairly on point, they do have a heavy slant against
anyone that isn't on the GNU/Linux software support train.

FYI, Ericsson admitted to this silicon problem negatively impacting them
recently: [https://semiaccurate.com/2018/08/30/update-to-intel-
custom-f...](https://semiaccurate.com/2018/08/30/update-to-intel-custom-
foundry-10nm-customer-meltdown/)

------
cellularmitosis
Great. Now I'll be able to use up my monthly data in 2 minutes instead of 10
minutes.

Edit: I don't mean to poo-poo the advance of tech, but this really highlights
the disconnect between what's possible and what consumers actually want/value.

~~~
trizic
It would be great to see wireless providers becoming competitors to home ISPs.
If some day wireless speeds become comparable, the problem of having only one
home ISP would go away.

~~~
marasal
I get 50Mbps with 4G connection for 20euros per month. No data cap. Public
ipv4 address.

Router is 4 years old Huawei 4g router and I have installed outdoor antenna on
the roof for stable connection. I have been with this setup at home for the
last 4 years.

I could propably get faster connection with new router but this is fine.

~~~
babypuncher
That still doesn't compare to the 300Mbps I'm getting right now even through
Comcast, or the 1Gbps I'll be getting once the local fiber company builds out
in my neighborhood in the next year or so.

~~~
tjoff
Hardly comparable though. The context is wireless internet.

~~~
babypuncher
I thought the context was wireless ISPs becoming viable alternatives to
landline ISPs like Comcast, so it seemed like a relevant comparison.

------
ksec
This is good news as it kept Ericsson on the battle field. Nokia is looking a
lot worst though may be it will merge with Ericsson some day. In terms of
telecom equipment industry Huawei is now bigger than Nokia and Ericsson
combined. And may be I am the only one not entirely comfortable with that.

~~~
NKosmatos
I don't know from where exactly you get this impression but last time I
checked they only had a 1% difference (28% versus 27% and Nokia 23% with 2017
figures [0]). I can tell you that Ericsson is in a much better position than
Huawei. And although I would also like an Ericsson Nokia merger, I don't see
it happening soon ;-)

[0] [https://technology.ihs.com/600864/global-mobile-
infrastructu...](https://technology.ihs.com/600864/global-mobile-
infrastructure-market-down-14-percent-from-a-year-ago)

~~~
ksec
Interesting.

Because even if you take out all the revenue from the consumer mobile phone
business, which is growing rapidly as we speaks, the revenue from the rest of
Huawei is still bigger than Everything of Nokia and Ericsson combined, in both
2016 and 2017.

[1] [http://telecoms.com/481009/huawei-2016-numbers-reveal-the-
ex...](http://telecoms.com/481009/huawei-2016-numbers-reveal-the-extent-of-
ericson-nokia-and-ztes-challenge/)

[2] [http://telecoms.com/488793/2017-numbers-show-how-much-
huawei...](http://telecoms.com/488793/2017-numbers-show-how-much-huawei-still-
owns-the-telecoms-market/)

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nickserv
Good news for Erlang? I hope some of those dollars go to improving the
language and VM.

~~~
rdtsc
Here is a video of Joe Armstrong from React 2014 conference where in the intro
he describes how Erlang is used:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQIE22e0cW8&t=590](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQIE22e0cW8&t=590)

TL;DL: If Erlang breaks so does cat picture sharing for more than 50% of
world's smart phones.

------
xattt
Is there a specific 5G standard? In comparison to 3G which had CDMA2000 and
UMTS, there seems to be mutlitude of unnamed standards.

~~~
fuzzyset
4G mobile standard was LTE from 3GPP, which competed against WiMax from IEEE
and won in the late 00s.

5G mobile standard is NR (stands for New Radio) from 3GPP. There is no
competing mobile standard from anyone else.

Biggest change compared to LTE is the formal standard for millimeter wave
communication for mobile. Previously it's been used for fixed wireless access
and/or satellites. We'll see how it plays out in a mobile consumer
environment.

~~~
floatboth
So "long term evolution" turned out to not be so long term? :D

~~~
tormeh
Not really. 5G won't replace 4G. 5G just requires to many cell towers to make
sense outside of high-traffic areas like hospitals, airports and stadiums. 4G
will still be what's used in outside environments. That's how it's been
explained to me, anyway.

