Today a contingent of mobile communications companies announced their collective support for the acceleration of the 5G New Radio (NR) standardization schedule to enable large-scale trials and deployments as early as 2019 in front of MWC 2017 in Barcelona.

Verizon will test faster fifth-generation mobile broadband service in 11 markets in the first half of this year as the nation’s largest wireless carrier tries to take the lead in the 5G race, according to Bloomberg.

In 2016 Ericsson Nikola Tesla Group continued with a series of its successful business years. Sales revenue increased by 16.7% year-over-year due to strong revenue growth in CIS market and continued growth of revenue in Ericsson market.

In 2016, Hrvatski Telekom generated revenue amounting to HRK 6.97 billion, which is by 0.7% better than in 2015. HT maintained its leading position in all segments of the telecommunications market, the main contributors being mobile and wholesale revenues, growth of the ICT segment, and the electricity business.

GSMA announced the launch of the ‘IoT Big Data API Directory’ that will make harmonised data sets from multiple sources worldwide available to developers and third parties, enabling them to create innovative new IoT services.

Nokia has completed the first 5G connection in Oulu, Finland, using a data center based on Intel architecture and the Intel 5G Mobile Trial Platform as the end-user device.

High-speed Internet use continues to grow in OECD countries with mobile broadband penetration reaching 95 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants in June 2016, up from 86 per 100 a year earlier, according to data released by the OECD.

Not everyone is happy with processes in EU and some think that the roaming deal in Europe is a huge "mess". This is the position of experts and operators in the mobile telephony market who are skeptical of the decisions reached by the EU to abolish roaming fees by June 15, 2017. The skeptics include Manuel Zanella, CEO of ChatSim, Instant Messaging Mobile Operator.

Vipnet, the second largest domestic telecom operator, announced that in 2016 it achieved revenues of EUR 398.3 million with a growth of 8.6 percent compared to the previous year. In the same period, profit before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization and depreciation (EBITDA) was in the amount of EUR 88.3 million with a very strong growth of as much as 12.3 percent.

Intelsat S.A., operator of the world’s first Globalized Network, powered by its leading satellite backbone, announced today that Quantis Global, one of the leading broadband service providers in Europe and Northern Africa, signed an agreement to enhance and expand the Quantis network using services provided by Intelsat EpicNG high-throughput satellites (HTS) and IntelsatOne Flex services, bringing higher performing broadband services across the region.

The WhiteSpace Alliance (WSA), a global industry organization enabling sharing of underutilized spectrum, is working with the Government of India to bring cost-effective broadband services to its citizens.

Telia Carrier announced that it has established a new route stretching from Stockholm to St. Petersburg via Tallinn, and has upgraded multiple submarine cables to future proof its network, bringing lower latency and additional capacity. The new route further diversifies the wholesale carrier’s network and the upgrade enables Telia Carrier to provide 100G+ services to carriers, content and cloud providers in the Baltics, Russia and beyond.

H1 Telekom Shareholders' Assembly, which should take place next Wednesday, January 25, is the decisive factor for the reshuffling and the future of that alternative telecom operator. Namely, the word on the telecom market is, confirmed for ICTbusiness.info by several completely independent sources, that the bankruptcy of H1 Telekom could happen on the very next day.

While continuing its efforts to develop next generation communications technologies, Turkcell has once again proved its pioneering status by completing Turkey’s first ever 5G test. Carried out in cooperation with Ericsson, the trial reached speeds of 24.7 Gbps on the 15GHz band and represented one of the first 5G tests in the world.

AT&T said their CEO Randall Stephenson’s meeting with President-elect Donald Trump touched on job creation, investment and competition, but the elephant in the room, merger with Time Warner, didn’t come up, according to Bloomberg.

Ericsson connected the dots between the latest technology innovations and their dependence on infrastructure at the world's largest consumer electronics fair, CES 2017, in Las Vegas. Building on its theme of "Making 5G a Reality," Ericsson show attendees how networks, media and IT work in concert to improve our daily lives and work.

Deutsche Telekom is pressing for Europe-wide rules to stop the misuse of prepaid mobile phone accounts by terrorists, including those who carried out attacks in Paris and Brussels, according to Bloomberg. The carrier will reach out to politicians, competitors and regulators to discuss possible measures including mandatory ID checks for people who buy prepaid cards and a limit on how many each person can buy, according to a spokesman, Andreas Middel.

Indian government is not in favor of offering Apple concessions to start manufacturing iPhones in the country, according to Bloomberg. It is also unlikely they will ease norms governing local sourcing for the manufacturer of iPads and iPhones as such a step can’t be granted to just one company, according to the New Delhi-based official, who didn’t want to be identified.

AT&T has reached speeds of up to 14 gigabits a second in lab trials of 5G wireless technology, and plans to test the high-speed network by beaming its DirecTV Now video service to homes in Austin, Texas before midyear, according to Bloomberg.

Huawei pledged to overhaul its culture and rethink the way it conducts business, expecting global uncertainty to mount in 2017 after sales growth slowed, according to Bloomberg. China’s largest telecommunications equipment maker expects a 32 percent rise in revenue to $75 billion in 2016, rotating CEO Eric Xu said.

Hrvatski Telekom, leading telecommunications services provider in Croatia, announces that on 22 December 2016, it bought Bonds issued by Deutsche Telekom AG listed on Luxemburg Stock Exchange, in the amount of EUR 125 million, in line with the approval by the Supervisory Board.

The U.K. government is clawing back 292 million pounds in subsidies from BT to reinvest in spreading super-fast broadband connections to businesses and homes in remote areas, according to Bloomberg. Under a contract with the government, BT receives taxpayer funds to support the rollout of super-fast broadband, with speeds of 24 megabits per second or more, but returns some of the subsidy when more customers than expected take up the service.

Canada’s communications regulator announced a C$750 million fund that companies can tap to subsidize high-speed internet projects in rural parts of the country, according to Bloomberg. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission said broadband internet should be seen as a “basic” service across the country. The C$750 million will be distributed over five years and doled out based on applications from telecommunications carriers.

Telia Carrier today announced its new partnership with Savecall, Germany’s top consultant and broker of ICT services with offices in Munich, Wiesbaden and Berlin. In addition to Savecall’s consulting and brokering services, this partnership allows the company to act as a reseller of Telia Carrier’s complete suite of IP, Wavelength and Ethernet services.

Telia Carrier announced that it has established an additional point of connectivity in Budapest, Hungary, to meet an increasing demand for wholesale IP transit and Ethernet services amongst carriers, content and cloud providers alike.

Sky is about to jump into the U.K. wireless market, betting that even as a latecomer it can pry customers away from the four established competitors by harnessing its powerful entertainment brand and millions of existing subscribers, according to Bloomberg. Prospects for Sky’s mobile offer remain hard to pin down for analysts. Their forecasts for the company’s share of the 15.2 billion-pound U.K. market range from as little as 1 percent to 10 percent, which would bring it close to  CK Hutchison Holdings’s Three U.K., now the No. 4 player.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond will announce a plan to invest 1 billion pounds to improve Britain’s broadband infrastructure, part of a program aimed at boosting productivity as the U.K. leaves the European Union, according to Bloomberg. The plan, under which 2 million more households could get access to full-fiber broadband, will be confirmed in Autumn Statement, the Treasury said in an e-mailed statement.

AT&T will offer wireless subscribers the ability to stream lower-quality video to save on data charges, an industry practice that has raised concern about equal treatment of internet content, according to Bloomberg. Beginning in early 2017, AT&T customers will have the option to use Stream Saver, a video-delivery setting that provides DVD-quality, 480p-screen resolution, according to a statement. The feature will be optional and no extra cost, the company said.

The Obama administration’s signature policy on technology was net neutrality. Rules passed by the Federal Communications Commission in 2015 prohibited internet service providers from treating web traffic differently depending on the service being used, according to Bloomberg.

Telia Carrier announced that it has established a new point of presence (PoP) in Zagreb, Croatia, now providing wholesale IP transit and Ethernet services for carriers, content and cloud providers. With the fastest growing internet penetration rate in the region, Zagreb has become a conduit for connectivity as domestic operators and those in surrounding countries can now connect via the Croatian capital to bring high speed connectivity services closer to end users.