The 5G Factor: Speedy T-Mobile, Ericsson, Qualcomm, Thales Collab, China and Private 5G, Thumbs up on the Ericsson Vonage Deal, and a Vacillating Elon Musk Loses Allies

In this week’s episode of The 5G Factor, I’m joined by my colleague and fellow analyst, Ron Westfall, for a look at the 5G ecosystem and the goings on that recently caught our attention. Our coverage includes some of the latest 5G news, including: Ericsson, Qualcomm, and Thales collab. Ericsson, Qualcomm, and Thales are collaborating to take 5G to space — which is pretty exciting. The companies are looking at using satellite driven non-terrestrial networks, or NTN, using low Earth orbit satellites (LEO), to enable this communication capability on a worldwide basis. This will be a game-changer delivering connectivity only for under-served area and hard to reach areas, and providing a solid assist in worldwide military operations, workers stationed in the middle of the sea, remote deserts, dense forests, and other places that are incredibly difficult to reach. Each of the three companies are making unique contributions to make this happen. Ericsson is testing the vRAN stack, Thales is ensuring the 5G payload will work for satellite comms, and Qualcomm is is working to ensure the 5G handset form factor will support all these capabilities. T-Mobile outruns the competition. T-Mobile aces speed tests – again, and largely performs better than its major competitors when it comes to speed (upload and download), and overall network tests. And not only is T-Mobile winning when it comes to speed tests, it’s also coming out on top as it relates to overall mobile experience, voice experience, and games experience. These kinds of results are as significant for consumers as they make decisions about devices and mobile service providers as it is for enterprises who seek enhanced collaboration experience for their WFH teams and field personnel and beyond. Elon Musk might not be winning friends at the FCC. Analysts are discussing the fact that Elon Musk, who likes to whine when things don’t go his way, might be losing support from both Democrats and Republicans with the Twitter games he’s playing. Last week we covered Elon Musk’s (lame) move against 5G, claiming that 12 GHz spectrum will be harmful to his SpaceX Starlink satellites. Analysts are opining that this might bode well for DISH as the primary user of the 12 GHz band, providing service to satellite customers. Watching this shift in sentiment is interesting. China isn’t wasting time on private 5G. Thwarted in other 5G-related undertakings, Chinese operators are wasting no time building out enterprise private 5G networks. In fact, they’ve deployed 6,518 private 5G networks so far this year, up from 1,655 just a year ago. Where are they putting those private 5G networks. U.S. Regulators Greenlight Ericsson Vonage Deal. Ericsson gets final approval from U.S. for Vonage acquisition. This both diversifies and strengthens Ericsson’s offerings base and is a good thing for customers as well.