Mobile World Live (MWL) brings you our top three picks of the week as Elon Musk criticised Reliance boss Mukesh Ambani over lobbying for a satellite spectrum auction, Nokia and Ericsson remained optimistic despite sluggish mobile network sales and experts outlined enterprise connectivity benefits at MWC Las Vegas.
Musk faces-off with Ambani over spectrum allocation
What happened: In what has been dubbed by Indian media as a battle of the billionaires, Elon Musk appeared to hit out at Mukesh Ambani for lobbying the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to conduct a satellite spectrum auction, claiming the move would be “unprecedented”.
Why it matters: Reliance Jio argued spectrum assigned to non-domestic players will create an uneven playing field, noting in a letter to TRAI the regulator’s stance that spectrum allocation should be administrative is “without any basis”. Musk argues airwaves have been “designated by the ITU as shared spectrum for satellites” for some time.
Reuters reported Telecoms Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia announced at a local event it will go ahead with spectrum assignments administratively “in line with Indian laws” and global trends, raising the prospect of a price war between Musk’s Starlink and Ambani’s Reliance.
Citing person close to the issue, Reuters noted Reliance Jio now fears losing its subscribers to Musk after spending $19 billion in a mobile auction in 2022. However, Gareth Owen, associate director at research firm Counterpoint told the outlet: “Terrestrial networks will always be less expensive, and businesses will never switch completely to satellite.”
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Nokia, Ericsson hopeful amid continued mobile network woes
What happened: Nokia and Ericsson bosses both vocalised positive reassurances on their businesses despite weak market conditions, with the Finnish vendor blaming a continued decline in mobile networks for a drop net sales.
Why it matters: Nokia recorded an 8 per cent drop in revenue in Q3, a loss CEO Pekka Lundmark blamed on “challenging market dynamics”. It however expects market recovery, having secured “several important deals” including a contract with Vodafone Idea.
Meanwhile, Ericsson boss Borje Ekholm anticipated “further near-term sales pressure” for its enterprise networks business, adding it beefed up its private 5G line-up to boost the unit’s performance.
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Feature: Top enterprise takeaways from MWC Las Vegas
What happened: MWL rounded up key highlights about enterprise 5G from MWC Las Vegas, including takes from Qualcomm, Salesforce, Nokia and T-Mobile US.
Why it matters: During the event, the GSMA laid out four goals for the mobile industry to capitalise on 5G in enterprise, a segment GSMA’s CMO Lara Dewar argued will be fundamental to the next phase of growth.
Notably, T-Mobile US Business Group SVP Mishka Dehghan said 5G applications in enterprise IT has blossomed into what the company interpreted as “a tonne of momentum” for small- to medium-sized businesses, as enterprises in this category have showed high interests in tailored services.
Elsewhere, head of the enterprise market unit for Mobile Networks at Nokia, Jeff Pittman, pointed to the importance of collaboration between vendors, operators and system integrators to support 5G deployment for businesses, as enterprises usually do not have the bandwidth to navigate emerging services.
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