Category Archives: Communications

T-Mobile and Sprint Looking to Merge: Will Government Let Them?

Communications
Graphic courtesy of RRZEicons

As two of the US’s largest telecom companies seek to join forces, state attorneys general are seeking to stop them, for fear of creating a company that will violate anti-competition law.


T-Mobile and Sprint are seeking a merger valued at $26.5 billion in a federal trial due to begin this week in Manhattan, presided over by US Judge Victor Marrero. The judge will listen to arguments against the merger from lawyers representing a group of states, including New York and California, who will say that such a merger will interfere with competition, ending with higher prices for consumers.


The states will assert that it would be a blow to competition to make what is already a small field of four competitors, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint and AT&T and shrink it down to only three. Even though the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice both ruled in favor of the merger, the states want to argue that the decisions were mistakes and the deal should be prevented.


Spring and T-Mobile lawyers also have reasons to allow the merger, saying that a few crucial things have changed over the years which make a merger more competitive and helpful for consumers.

Ericsson’s First Smart Factory is Coming to Somewhere in the USA

Communications, News,


Although its exact location has not yet been announced, Ericsson confirmed that it is going to build its first smart factory in the USA soon. The factory will be fully automated and will build advanced antenna system radios as well as 5G radios. The products are both essential components for the insertion of 5G networks into North America.


The new factory is an additional component of the company’s global supply chain. Already working closely with its customers in Europe, Asia and America, Ericsson is continuing to insure they meet their customers’ needs.


Vice President and Head of Networks for Ericsson, Fredrik Jejdling, said;


“We continue to focus on working closely with our customers and supporting them in the buildout of 5G globally and in North America. In addition, we are digitalizing our entire global production landscape, including establishing this factory in the US. With 5G connectivity we’re accelerating Industry 4.0, enabling automated factories for the future.”


The company says that they want to open the new factory by the beginning of 2020. Their vision is that the new smart factory will be powered by Ericsson 5G solutions which are built specifically for industry. The operation will help to promote sustainability, including the goal of receiving LEED Gold Certification.


In the early stages the new factory will employ about 100 human workers working in tandem with the automation. The company already has a new R&D facility and software development center in Austin, Texas, which is already near the Austin ASIC Design Center. The Center opened at the end of 2017 and builds core microelectronics for 5G radio base stations.

A Fascinating Move in the Aerospace Industry

Communications, Companies, , ,

In a fascinating move, the aerospace industry have been looking to 3D printing technology, also known as additive manufacturing. What has typically required welding together 20 parts, for instance, can now require the use of printing just one. Many industry giants like Lockheed Martin and Honeywell are using additively manufactured components into their designs. GE Aviation has recently invested $70 million in their Auburn, Alabama factory to make 3D printed fuel nozzles for their LEAP jet engine.

As Greg Morris, who is leading the additive manufacturing team for GE Aviation in Cincinnati Ohio explained to Business Insider about their situation, “We get five times the durability. We have a lighter-weight fuel nozzle. And we frankly have a fuel nozzle that operates in an environment more effectively and more efficiently than previous fuel nozzles.”

As a leading expert in the aerospace industry, Elio Moti Sonnenfeld, explained, “These technologies are transforming what we have always known was possible and making the impossible seem possible.”

In another example, Belgian aerospace company Sonaca has accounted that they are creating a partnership with France based Fives-Michelin Additive Solutions (FMAS) to both develop and produce 3D printing titanium parts that would be used for the aerospace industry.

For this specific situation, the goal for Sonaca and FMAS is to combine Sonaca’s aerospace experience with the additive manufacturing skills that Fives-Michelin has. As Bernard Delvaux, the CEO of Sonaca said “We are extremely happy to work with Fives Michelin Additive Solutions. Their reputation in AM and the performance of their machines, backed up by several years of industrial practical application, is a remarkable asset.”

Experts in the aerospace industry have explained the impact of these partnerships. As Elio Moti Sonnenfeld explains, “With the ability to create certified 3D printed titanium aerospace parts, the companies hope that they can offer clients a location where they can design, manufacture, engineer and certify production parts.”

Additive manufacturing technologies have become a location of great interest for aerospace companies. Elio Moti Sonnenfeld explains that 3D printing can offer aerospace companies a way to produce end-use parts that is both cost effective and time efficient.

In total, additive manufacturing now represents a $3 billion slice of overall manufacturing output. Greg Morris is predicting that the number will soar as high as $100 billion in the coming years.

 

 

T-Mobile’s Legere Makes Predictions for Coming Year

Communications,

T-Mobile’s John Legere at the T-Mobile Press Conference, CES 2014, Las Vegas. Photo courtesy of fanaticTRX.

John Legere, CEO of T-Mobile, related in a blog post how he sees the future of his company as well as some other issues. Stating that “by far the fastest area of growth for us,” is T-Mobile’s increase in business customers. He predicted that the number of businesses switching to T-Mobile will grow even faster than the current doubling of small to mid-size businesses already being served by T-Mobile.

Legere explained why businesses are beginning to prefer T-Mobile for their wireless services.

“American businesses are fed up with backroom deals, overages and overcharging from AT&T and Verizon,” he said. “So it should come as no surprise that businesses of all sizes are flocking—and will continue to flock—to the Un-carrier.”

Other predictions were mostly bragging about T-Mobile’s consumer base and its growth. He also touched on improvements in his company’s LTE coverage. He also stated that T-Mobile will “walk away a winner” in the lowband spectrum auctions coming to the Federal Communications Commission in 2016.

Legere also predicted/threatened that he plans on getting into Twitter battles with presidential candidates. This was a reference to a November incident in which Legere jousted with Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump after Trump tweeted that he uses T-Mobile and “it’s pathetic, dropped calls, no service.”

Nancy Glass: The Business of TV Productions

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Nancy Glass of Nancy Glass Productions, has taken quite a lead in cable TV programming  in Philadelphia. Her company’s profile speaks for itself: Nancy Glass has produced: Dangerous Grounds, Tanked, R.V. 2015, We Move Animals, Footsteps in the Snow, to name but a few. Having brought in Argle Bargle Films and Rearrange Media earlier this year, Nancy Glass Productions has been able to “diversify content and leverage facilities.” With this arrangement, Nancy Glass Productions takes a 50% profit, and Argle Bargle Films/Rearrange Media, the other 50%.

Running a TV business in Philadelphia – over New York or LA – Glass has found comes with pluses and minuses. In terms of benefits, overheads are definitely cheaper but then being away from central TV locations means that travel is involved as Glass seeks to sell her “sizzle reels.”

Still, overall, given the way the world is moving increasingly into web-based operations, being a little further out shouldn’t be too much of an inhibition for companies such as Nancy Glass Productions.  As Glass herself pointed out: “We go to everybody. We talk to online platforms; we talk with cable; we talk with broadcast networks…You take a risk on things you like. That’s what you do. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t.”

So far, though, things seem to be working out pretty well for Nancy Glass Productions.