In a recent tweet, President Joe Biden emphasized the importance of high-speed internet as a necessity rather than a luxury. Acknowledging the digital divide that persists across the United States, his administration has committed to investing in expanding access to affordable high-speed internet. This ambitious endeavour aims to bridge the gap and ensure that all Americans can reap the benefits of a connected world.

Rural areas suffer from infrastructure issues and lower population density, both major setbacks

Affordable high-speed internet is a game-changer, levelling the playing field for individuals, communities, and businesses. The digital divide refers to the socio-economic gap between those who have access to reliable internet connectivity and those who do not. It limits opportunities for education, employment, healthcare, and social engagement, contributing to already existing inequalities. By addressing this disparity, the Biden administration strives to empower underserved communities and foster a more inclusive society.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo compared the initiative to the construction of the interstate highway system. Just as the highways connected communities and facilitated economic growth, affordable high-speed internet access will serve as the backbone for progress in the digital age. It will connect communities across the nation to regional and national networks, unlocking new opportunities for innovation, education, telemedicine, and entrepreneurship.

The task of expanding affordable high-speed internet access is not without its hurdles. Rural areas, in particular, face unique challenges due to geographic constraints, limited infrastructure, and lower population density. Implementing robust connectivity solutions in these regions requires careful planning, increased investment, and innovative approaches. The Biden administration’s commitment to overcoming these obstacles should ensure that no community is left behind in the digital revolution.

Affordable high-speed internet is a lifeline for students and educators. It enables remote learning, access to online resources, and virtual collaboration, bridging educational gaps and providing equal opportunities for all. Additionally, it opens up avenues for remote work, giving individuals the flexibility to pursue employment opportunities regardless of their geographic location. By breaking down barriers to education and employment, affordable Internet serves as a catalyst for economic growth and social mobility.

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Although 5G was only introduced less than 5 years ago, implementation has only really started picking up steam recently in countries such as the United States, Europe and India. The race for 5G technology is on and with it comes a new era of innovation and transformation in the smartphone industry. So these are the 3 ways 5G will transform the smartphone market in the next 5 years.

1. Better Smartphone Technology

5G technology will usher in a new era of smartphone technology. The low latency properties of 5G networks and improved download and upload data speeds will likely result in the mass adoption of virtual reality (VR), mixed reality (XR) and augmented reality (AR) applications. These technologies have been around for some time but have been limited by the capabilities of current mobile networks. With 5G, users can expect to see more immersive and interactive experiences on their smartphones.

2. Larger 5G coverage 

5G will start to make an impact on the telecoms industry. Nearly all commercial 5G deployments to date have relied on non-standalone 5G (NSA 5G), which uses new radio technologies but still relies on existing network infrastructure. This means that telecom giants can deploy 5G today by leveraging the ecosystem and models in place for mobile broadband and enhanced mobile broadband while extending with more powerful cellular network connectivity. In turn, there will be larger and wider 5G coverage, meaning smartphones will not only be able to faster internet but stay on faster Internet for longer as well.

3. Smartphone Affordability

With prices for premium 5G smartphones expected to be up to 1000 USD for millions of customers, this applies significant pressure on telcos’ balance sheets. Up to 10 per cent of it can be tied up in receivables for smartphone-related affordability options. This could result in telcos offering more attractive financing options for customers looking to upgrade to a new 5G smartphone. And likewise, to appease telco companies, smartphone companies will be releasing more affordable 5G smartphones to the public as well.

OnePlus, recently announced the OnePlus Ace 2V, an relatively affordable 5G lower mid-range smartphone that features MediaTek’s flagship Dimensity 9000 SoC, a metal frame, and a 120Hz AMOLED display. It is available with up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to 512 GB of UFS 3.1 storage.

If you are interested in the OnePlus Ace 2V, you can pre-order one yourself today at Giztop starting from only 399 USD for the 256GB storage option.

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Huawei is currently developing 5.5G technology, the next step after 5G, which aims to comprehensively enhance network connectivity and move away from connectivity-based development to full-service enablement. Huawei is collaborating with industry partners to advance towards an intelligent world.

At Mobile World Congress (MWC) Barcelona 2023, Huawei unveiled a full series of One 5G solutions capable of driving all bands to 5G. This development of better 5G, Huawei calls the technology – 5.5G. John Gao, head of the 5.5G domain development at Huawei noted that among the new service trends driven by the new standard was a shift in communications being content.

Huawei believes that this new technology has the power to transform and digitize many different industries. The company predicts that 5.5G will vastly outperform 5G in many aspects such as cutting down the cost-per-bit of eMBB by ten times and delivering higher uplink capabilities using UCBC to meet the requirements of eighty per cent of ToB scenarios.

However, Huawei has been facing significant challenges due to global trade restrictions imposed on them. The U.S. crackdown has cut off the company’s access to essential supplies. Huawei’s global supply chain is being put under intense pressure.

Despite these challenges, Huawei remains committed to evolving their technology and pushing forward with their development of 5.5G. The company believes that this new technology will bring many benefits and advancements in the field of telecommunications.

It remains to be seen how these trade restrictions will affect Huawei’s ability to develop and implement their 5.5G technology on a global scale. However, the Chinese tech giant remains optimistic and determined to overcome these challenges.

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Despite Wi-Fi 6 and 6E adoption rates still being relatively low in 2022, it seems that Intel, the leading semiconductor tech giant is already wanting to move on to the next generation of broadband internet – WiFi 7.

In their latest YouTube video uploaded on Intel’s Newsroom channel, Intel, in collaboration with Broadcom, is shown to demonstrate that Wi-Fi 7 can achieve speeds of up to over 5 Gbps, at least 5 times faster than the 1 Gbps that Wi-Fi 6 maxes out at, and 25 times faster than the average speed of Wi-Fi 5 which is only 200 Mbps.

The demonstration was done using an Intel-powered laptop that has support for Wi-Fi 7 and using a Broadcom access point router, the 5 Gbps speed achieved was stable and steady throughout the test. Broadcom adds that the value of Wi-Fi 7 goes beyond simple speed increases to deliver greater network capacity, Wi-Fi 7 will also bring along the benefits of much lower latencies. 

“The reduced latencies will be invaluable for immersive experiences over Wi-Fi, with the most obvious applications being online gaming and reduced latency for wireless VR headsets. For media streamers, it also opens up the eye-popping possibility of UHD 16K resolution high fps streaming (or more people on the network streaming 4K or 8K videos),” Broadcom explains.

In their press document for Wi-Fi 7, Intel mentions that the company hopes to deploy and supply Wi-Fi 7 modems in Intel-powered laptops starting in 2024, and the documents also reiterate the 4 main pillars of improvement for the next generation of Wi-Fi.

The 4 key advancements are respectively accelerated connectivity, rock-solid reliability, wired-like responsiveness, and enhanced privacy and security. In detail, Intel promises that Wi-Fi 7 will deliver

1. Greater than 5 Gbps PC Wi-Fi speeds with consistent ultra-low latency – share files in seconds vs minutes.
2. Peace of mind your PC will make and maintain the best Wi-Fi connections simultaneously.
3. No-compromise gaming throughout the home.
4. Trust in your connectivity.

As shown in the comparison table provided by Intel above, Wi-Fi 7 has new specifications standards when compared to previous generations. The new Wi-Fi 7 will feature tri-band operations, under 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz frequencies. The tri-band operations allow for more multi-device connections across Wi-Fi 7 without much interference as compared to single-band operation and dual-band operation. 

The underlying technologies behind Wi-Fi 7 also include wider 320 MHz channels in the unlicensed 6GHz spectrum, higher order 4K QAM data modulation, and the upcoming WPA4 network security encryption standard. For more news on Wi-Fi 7, you can read more on MediaTek’s take on Wi-Fi 7 in our article linked here.

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(Source, Via)

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Starlink, which is a part of the SpaceX company led by Elon Musk, has registered its business in India as the company is preparing to apply for licenses from the local government for the internet service business.

Sanjay Bhargava, the country director for Starlink in India said: “SpaceX now has a 100 percent owned subsidiary in India. The name is SSCPL – Starlink Satellite Communications Private Limited and the incorporation date is Nov 1, 2021.”

He also confirmed that the company will now start applying for licenses to start its broadband services as it applies for regulatory approval. It intends to start its satellite-based broadband services next year and had taken orders from customers earlier this year.

Initially, the company will be focusing on offering its services in ten rural Lok Sabha constituencies. The company claims the service is “ideally suited” in areas where connectivity is “unreliable or completely unavailable”.

Starlink is planning to offer 200,000 active terminals in over 160,000 districts by December 2022. It remains to be seen if the company is able to achieve that because the track record paints a different picture. As of August this year, the company had shipped 100,000 user terminals in 14 countries.

Sanjay Bhargava, a former PayPal executive, was hired to lead the India division of Starlink in October this year. Apart from him, the company has hired several key executives in India in recent months, including Parnil Urdhwareshe, who was previously overseeing AMD’s policy efforts in India.

For those who are unaware, Starlink is launching small satellites to build a low-Earth orbiting network to provide low-latency broadband internet services. It is aiming to serve rural communities in India and is working with Niti Aayog, an Indian think tank, to identify 12 districts in the country for the company’s initial deployment.

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Telegram, an application for instant messaging, has said that the platform gained more than 70 million new users during the Facebook outage on Monday as people across the world were left without key messaging services for about six hours.

A couple of days ago, Facebook suffered an outage on its network for around six hours during which all of its services, including Messenger, social media platform Instagram and messaging service WhatsApp, were inaccessible for users globally.

Telegram founder Pavel Durov said that “the daily growth rate of Telegram exceeded the norm by an order of magnitude, and we welcomed over 70 million refugees from other platforms in one day.”

He also added that some of the users of the platform in the United States may have experienced slower speeds as millions rushed to sign up at the same time, but that the service worked as usual for the majority of users.

Telegram recently topped one billion downloads and earlier this year, the platform had over 500 million monthly active users.

It’s not just Telegram that benefited from Facebook’s problem. Signal, which is a competitor of WhatsApp and Telegram, also said that millions of new users joined the platform for secure messaging.

Also, this isn’t the first time Telegram and Signal gained millions of new users at the expense of Facebook. Recently, when WhatsApp updated its privacy policy and struggled to explain it properly, both platforms added millions of new users.

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Unbridled by the constraints of traditional ground infrastructure, Starlink has the potential to deliver high-speed broadband internet to remote locations. With an aim to deliver services internationally, Starlink is now operational as a beta for the early birds and is continuously expanding. The only downside being in beta is the internet speed but it looks like that will be taken care of very soon. Responding to a query, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has claimed that Starlink satellite internet service will have the capability of data transfer as high as the speed of light. SpaceX plans to deploy laser-equipped satellites into orbit that will play a major role in eliminating the reliance on ground stations.

At present, the Starlink network relies on a dish, satellites, and ground stations. From what it looks like, the company is aiming to get rid of these ground stations that have proved to be a hindrance to fast data transfers due to the long time they take to communicate with the satellites. With lasers, the transmission speed, as Musk claims, is expected to be around 40% faster than what it usually is in optical fibers. As a result, we might witness blazing fast internet transfer capabilities without having the need to touch the ground.

Processing is not an issue. Lasers links alleviate ground station constraints, so data can go from say Sydney to London through space, which is ~40% faster speed of light than fiber & shorter path.

Also, no need for ground stations everywhere. Arctic will have great bandwidth!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 2, 2021

Considering Musk’s statement and calculating the speed based on the existing speed with optical fiber, Starlink will be able to transfer data packets at 180,832 miles per second and it turns out that this speed is approximately 97% of the speed of light in a vacuum.

Musk has ensured that Starlink will soon cut down the ground station element from the whole of Arctic and provide enough bandwidths as well. Considering the fast-paced developments in the SpaceX camp, this doesn’t seem far-fetched. SpaceX plans to further increase the data capacity by three folds, reduce latencies to 50ms, and enhance coverage to polar regions with the help of the company’s second-generation satellites.

SpaceX is also accelerating the launch of a little above 1,200 Starlink satellites over the next few months but may face a little delay due to rocket oxidizer shortages and a tedious satellite manufacturing process.

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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IRY-_IjDkg[/embedyt]

(via)

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Google’s parent company Alphabet has confirmed that it is shutting down Loon, a venture that aimed to provide wireless internet connectivity to remote regions of the world through high-altitude balloons.

Alastair Westgarth, CEO of Loon, said that the decision to shut down the venture comes because of the lack of willing partners and the inability to build a sustainable business model around this effort.

In a blog post making this announcement, he said, “While we’ve found a number of willing partners along the way, we haven’t found a way to get the costs low enough to build a long-term, sustainable business. Developing radical new technology is inherently risky, but that doesn’t make breaking this news any easier.”

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Last year, it announced launching a fleet of 35 balloons in Kenya to offer internet service to more than 50,000-kilometer region to the subscribers of Telekom Kenya. Recently, the company had started deploying a new navigation system that was capable of teaching itself how to navigate balloons better than the original navigation system.

Prior to launching the first commercial project in Kenya, Project Loon was granted an experimental license by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for 30 Project Loon balloons to fly over Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The Project Loon, which started in 2012, was earlier a part of the Google X division. In 2018, it was spun out as an independent company under Alphabet, alongside Wing, the tech giant’s drone business. In 2019, the venture had secured around $125 million from SoftBank-backed fund.

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Despite being the world’s second largest smartphone market and having one of the most affordable data rates in the world, India has ranked 131st in terms of Global Mobile Data Speeds.

According to Ookla‘s Speedtest Global Index for September 2020, the average mobile download speed in India is 12.07Mbps. This figure is significantly lower than the global average of 35.26Mbps. Furthermore, the average mobile upload speed and latency in the region didn’t show any favorable results either, with a 4.31Mbps upload and 52ms of latency, which is again lower than the global average of 11.22Mbps upload and 42ms latency.

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Notably, India’s neighboring nations including, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, all ranked higher on this list. These countries arrive in at 102, 116, and 117th positions respectively. Each of these nations also had mobile data speeds over 17Mbps. On the other hand, the Southeast Asian country faired much better on the fixed line broadband category, ranking in much better at the 70th spot, with an average download speed of 46.47Mbps. Although, this number is still below other smaller nations like Ghana, Moldova, and Malta.

The global speed index is revealed every year, and it has been common in recent years to find India later down the list, despite having one of the best potentials. Indian telecommunications firms suffering from weak financial positions might be a cause for the lower rankings, which might also be the reason why India fell two spots below its ranking from back in 2019.

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China, Huawei, and other Chinese carriers wish to redesign the current internet model in China. The proposed plans offer certain positives but its possible abuse may raise some alarm. The report arrives from Financial Times and covers the newly proposed internet protocol announced at the ITU.

The new internet protocol had been proposed as a more efficient manner to address the issues telecoms face and a better network management system than the existing TCP/IP standard. However, the glaring issue with the new protocol is its clear authoritarian values. This will effectively give the Chinese government even more control over censorship and surveillance over its residents.

Notably, the new internet protocol will also feature a “shut up command,” which would allow a central part of the network to be cut off from data going to and from an address. In other words, a single killswitch that could potentially take away the internet from a group or section of people. This can also be clearly used by China to silence the ongoing activist movements without resorting to direct and visible actions.

As of right now, concerns regarding the new IP have already crossed the minds of people. Furthermore, it is being speculated that the new system might even require authentication of the identity of the user and not just address just for internet data access. The Chinese government has already made many moves to identify its internet users and their speech, but this will allow them to clearly link and individual and their actions online, which may even lead to them being banned from using the internet entirely.

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According to a Huawei spokesperson, the new internet protocol is being designed solely to better cope with the technical demands of the changing digital landscape and not to exert control. The telecommunications giant has stated that the update is vital to powering “holo-sense teleportation” and self driving cars. This system will also be available and “open to scientists and engineers worldwide.”

Unfortunately, this is less than consoling considering the framework for the design and its supporters. Regardless of its wide availability, it does not assure any of its probable authoritative rules. Rather, other nations with similar beliefs like Russia may even land in support of the new system, although they already have their very own RuNet.

Currently, it is unknown if the ITU will accept the new internet protocol standard. Although, its mere existence will likely instigate more people under the civil liberties side that see TCP/IP’s “dumb” nature as a positive since it still offers a surface level of freedom and anonymity as of right now.

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(Via)

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Earlier this week, the Russian Government announced that it had conducted a series of tests that allowed the country to completely disconnect from the global internet. The test started out last week and went on for a couple of days and involved multiple local internet service providers and telecom companies alongside the Government.

The main objective of the long series of tests was to see if the RuNet system worked properly. It is a Russian internet infrastructure capable of functioning without access to the global DNS system or external internet. In other words, the RuNet from Russia network is the world’s largest intranet system.

Unfortunately, the Government did not reveal any technical or finer details regarding the tests and how they were carried out. The official spokesperson only mentioned that several disconnection scenarios were tested by the Russian Government. One of the scenarios even included a simulated cyber attack from a foreign country or any hostile entity.

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In a press conference today (26th December 2019), Alexei Sokolov, the Deputy head of Ministry of Digital Development, stated that both “authorities and telecom operators are ready to effectively respond to possible risks and threats and ensure the functioning of the Internet and the unified telecommunication network in Russia.” He aso went on to mention that the test results will be presented to President Putin next year.

The initial testing of the RuNet systems was planned to take place back in April 2019 but had got delayed till now. It was delayed to give the Government time to pass supporting and supplementing laws in the country. This includes the “internet sovereignty” law, which grants the Russian Government power to disconnect the entire country from the rest of the world at will with little reasoning. The grounds on which this drastic measure will be undertaken is apparently for emergencies and “national security.”

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(Via)

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China is now set to enforce a new law which would make it compulsory for internet users posting comments on any blog or platform to show their real identities. The new law will become effective from October 1st and would require tech firms to take down the identities of every one that is posting a comment on internet message boards they control. The Chinese government explains that the new measure is a to discourage “false rumors, filthy language, and illegal messages.”  

This isn’t coming as a surprise as it is just the latest in a series of clampdown which the government has continued to institute, with an increased intensity in the past few months. It is viewed as yet another censorship of the internet which is aimed at curtailing free speech. Truth is, fewer persons would now want to challenge or criticise the government knowing fully well that the security agents can easily track you down. China is well known for its clampdown on dissidents, some of whom are hurled into prison or placed under house arrest. Also recall that the government recently strengthened its grip on the internet with a recent order that the three main state-owned telecoms network carriers – China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom block all personal VPNs by February 1, 2018, according to a report from Bloomberg.

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Apart from the recent clampdown on VPN, Facebook has for long being a casualty of the government’s internet censorship as well as Snapchat, Twitter and other social media apps, except those complying with the government’s censorship rules like WeChat, Weibo, and Baidu. Whatsapp was recently affected by the censorship policy as sending or receiving images and of course, videos via Whatsapp is practically impossible without the use of VPN. The government’s sledgehammer has also descended almost all of the foreign content hosted on the two popular video sharing websites — AcFun and Bilibili have vanished overnight. These two websites were extremely sought after by the Millennials in China because they had some of the most popular TV shows and movies from US, UK, South Korea and other foreign countries. Unlike Sina, iQiyi, and other Chinese video platforms, these two websites don’t have strict in-house censorship, which in turn made them popular hubs for foreign content. But all that has now changed, all thanks to the intervention of the Chinese government.

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These moves are viewed as being precipitated by the upcoming national congress of China’s ruling party which will be held later this year. The government is known to often enforce strict clampdowns targetted at opposition elements in order to avoid anything that would be embarrassing to the government as well as to discourage criticism of party policies. Why this latest move is different is that the government is now going after the content directly unlike in the past when its censorship was centered around services.

(source, via)

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