Silicon Investor - Sequans Communications

[FJB] This Karam guy is just a total....

FJB — 8/14/2025 9:01:11 AM

[FJB] I got lucky dumping this near $2. $4.8 million in revenue, while they were ramp...

FJB — 3/7/2024 11:58:27 AM

I got lucky dumping this near $2. $4.8 million in revenue, while they were ramping production all through '23. Seriously, WTF. They need to be audited big time. Your revenues should not be going down while you ramp shipments. I guess I will read their comments, to see what kind of possible BS they are making up now. This Karam dude, might be the most dishonest CEO in history...

[FJB] Hope there is another offer. That is pretty sad...

FJB — 8/7/2023 10:22:53 AM

[FJB] I see a lot Field Nation jobs for installing CradlePoint outdoor routers. They ...

FJB — 8/2/2023 3:59:44 PM

I see a lot Field Nation jobs for installing CradlePoint outdoor routers. They run on this chip:

The Snapdragon X55 5G modem, which includes 5G Sub-6GHz, 5G mmWave antennas, 4G, 3G, and 2G RF systems, Transceiver, RFFE, PAM, ET, and Diversity Receiver costs $97.20

[FJB] Tuesday, August 8, 2023 at 8:00 a.m. ETParis, France--(Newsfile Corp. - July 24,...

FJB — 7/24/2023 3:14:06 PM

Tuesday, August 8, 2023 at 8:00 a.m. ETParis, France--(Newsfile Corp. - July 24, 2023) - Sequans Communications S.A. (NYSE: SQNS), a leading developer and provider of 5G/4G solutions for IoT devices, will release its financial results for the second quarter of 2023 on Tuesday, August 8, 2023, during pre-market hours. Following the announcement, Sequans' management will host a conference call at 8:00 a.m. ET.

Conference Call Details

Date:	Tuesday, August 8, 2023
Time:	8:00 a.m. ET / 14:00 CET
Dial in:	U.S. toll-free: 888-886-7786 International: +1 416-764-8658
Access:	When prompted, provide event title or access code 82293666.

[FJB] STILL NO EARNINGS DATE. SEQUANS BENEFITING FROM THIS TREND TOWARD FASCIST GOVER...

FJB — 7/20/2023 10:54:51 AM

STILL NO EARNINGS DATE. SEQUANS BENEFITING FROM THIS TREND TOWARD FASCIST GOVERNMENTS...

[X]

Coming soon to the USA if we let it pic.twitter.com/kJvHJ68XxD
— Hodgetwins (@hodgetwins) July 18, 2023

[/X]

[FJB] I have a Verizon FWA point now. It is faster than my Comcast wired for less mon...

FJB — 7/3/2023 5:08:39 PM

I have a Verizon FWA point now. It is faster than my Comcast wired for less money. Comcast is just such a horrible company I had to try it. I've only pointed it in one direction so far and hit 180Mbps.

[JCnieuwenj] Sequans: Finally Ready To Achieve Its Potential Jun. 30, 2023 10:38 AM ET Summ...

JCnieuwenj — 7/3/2023 3:51:47 AM

Sequans: Finally Ready To Achieve Its Potential

Jun. 30, 2023 10:38 AM ET

SummarySequans, a developer and provider of 5G and 4G chips and modules for IoT devices, is expected to provide significant upside with its stock potentially doubling over the next year.The company's Taurus 5G chips are expected to capitalize on the growing 5G/4G Cellular IoT market, projected to exceed $3 billion by 2025.SQNS can achieve $125M+ of annualized product design wins by 2023YE, not reflecting the “opportunity pipeline” where SQNS is likely to solidify new 5G chip relationships and receive up-front payments.The company is set to become a leader in the 5G chip market with its “Taurus” line and is expected to capitalize on the growing 5G/4G Cellular IoT market, projected to exceed $3 billion by 2025.The company is also a potential takeout candidate, with a target price of $6-8 per share based on 4-5x EV/sales valuation.

SweetBunFactory

Sequans (NYSE: SQNS) is a microcap opportunity likely to provide significant upside. This has been that "promising company" since its IPO back in 2011 and enthusiasm over the potential market for its chip designs drove the stock to the high $60s. After reaching that all-time high, the stock has been on a steady downward grind until recently bottoming around $2 per share. While initial investors and even subsequent investors have largely thrown in the towel, the company is finally achieving the potential for which investors had once hoped (see 50% of $750m 3-year pipeline secured by Design Wins). It reminds us of how AMD languished behind Intel for years before emerging as the leader. While we would not suggest that SQNS is going to supplant any of the major chip companies anytime soon, we do believe it has finally made the transition to inserting itself and becoming an industry key player and has leading-edge technology that will either result in a massive sales ramp or one of the big players taking it out for the IP that targets new growth verticals and the significant market opportunity for its Taurus 5G chips. 5G/4G Cellular IoT market is projected to exceed $3 billion by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 38%. From its current valuation, our base case has this stock doubling over the next year and can see this potentially achieving $6-8 per share over the next 12 to 18 months. Projecting $0.50 per share in EPS and at least $125m in revenues for calendar 2025.

Historical SQNS Stock Chart (Tradingview.com)

The stock action shows strong support roughly at ~$2 per share where the stock found a bottom in 2020 at the height of COVID fear. The stock has languished but we believe is poised to finally achieve its potential as design wins and customer adoption begins to translate to revenue and earnings.

SQNS is a high-performance, leading-quality developer and provider of 5G and 4G chips and modules for high-growth IoT devices. When SQNS was launched, it was initially targeting high-speed wireless in collaboration with Alcatel and Swisscom. The initial customers included Acer, Cisco, and Huawei to set up 4G wireless networks. Most of the initial production was in Taiwan and Singapore. Georges Karam (from Juniper Networks) was the original founder and remains CEO but has added some IT talent as well as expanding R&D in both France and Israel. For 5G/4G massive IoT applications, Sequans provides a comprehensive product portfolio based on its flagship Monarch LTE-M/NB-IoT and Calliope Cat 1 chip platforms, featuring industry-leading low power consumption, a large set of integrated functionalities, and global deployment capability via major and strategic partners. For 5G/4G broadband and critical IoT applications, Sequans offers a product portfolio based on its Cassiopeia 4G Cat 4/Cat 6 and new high-end Taurus 5G chip platforms (the world's first chipset specifically optimized for 5G Broadband IoT Devices), optimized for low-cost residential, enterprise, and industrial applications. We believe Sequans has the best performance, most optimized, broadest product scope, competitive pricing, and full partnerships/distribution in place for large & fastest growing 5G/4G Cellular/Broadband IoT Markets. Further, Renesas Electronics (the world's third-largest automotive semiconductor company, the largest microcontroller supplier, and 1 of 225 stocks that compose the Nikkei Stock Average, www.renesas.com) made an equity investment into SQNS and took a Board seat. Renesas has been helpful in making introductions to companies such as Honeywell, Itron, etc. Renesas also is acquisitive and could buy SQNS to round out its portfolio. SQNS is a fabless semiconductor company based in Paris, France with offices in the USA, UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, Finland, Taiwan, South Korea, China, and Israel.

Q3 23' revenue ramp begins + 4Q 23' Sampling of new high-end Taurus 5G B-band IoT chip line (has numerous competitive advantages and proprietary IP) and IP licensing discussions should begin to kick in significantly by year-end. We anticipate shareholders will see solid and consistent revenue growth in 2024 with an achievable 20%+ operating margin at Scale. Growth is coming from smart meters and now new customers, entering new markets, and launching new, higher ASP products including 5G Taurus. License and service revenue supports a higher gross margin. Cash is up due to a recent $20m private placement ($2.06 per share) and a potential $50m in non-dilutive European Chip Act and French government funding available late summer-Fall 2023, if they choose to secure it. We believe SQNS will likely obtain government funding, and that funding can pay down debt and also be used for growth. There are several likely catalysts approaching and the timing seems crucial at this point, as many of the original investors have capitulated and the stock has reached the point at which the risk/reward seems quite asymmetric. We believe Sequans has the right products for the right markets and distribution and at the optimal time. Despite reaching this point taking longer than expected (primarily industry-specific, not company-specific issues) and some dilution from the capital raise, some shareholders suffering from "next year" fatigue have exited the stock clearing the way for new investors to accumulate positions with the company finally beginning to ramp and looking toward $0.50 per share in EPS for calendar 2025. At today's $2.25/share, SQNS now trades at 4.5x calendar 2025 EPS when fabless semis typically trade closer to ~18x. Indeed, the operating profit potential of the IoT segment alone could exceed $25-32M starting in 2024/2025 with $100M in Product sales supporting a high valuation that meets our price target and excludes the large upside from the new 5G chip business ("Taurus").

Industry & Customer Targets are:

• Massive IoT (smart city, smart meters, asset tracking, ehealth) - low throughput, low power, low cost

• Broadband & Critical IoT (high growth and largest market)- high throughput, low latency

5G/4G Cellular IoT market is projected to exceed $3 billion by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 38%. Broadband IoT product pipeline (Taurus for 5G Broadband & Critical Iot Chip) sampling in late 2023. Targeting: Private networks (airports, mining, campus, mobile routers, fixed wireless access, IoT, industrial -5G IP Platform for Cellular IoT - license and royalty revenues stream being discussed with strategic partners.

Large & Fast-growing 5G/4G Cellular/Broadband IoT Markets -Sequans will both pioneer new markets (5G Broadband & Critical IoT) and grow share in existing high-growth markets. MIot Growth is driven by applications in Smart City, Asset Tracking, eHealth/Fitness/Consumer, Smarthome, and additional markets. Targeting $1.5 billion SAM by 2025.

Sequans Introduces Taurus 5G NR: The World's First Chipset Specifically Optimized for 5G Broadband IoT Devices (May 23, 2023) here (PR newswire)

Near-term Potential Catalysts: The CEO of SQNS will present virtually to some of the Roth Conference (London) attendees post-conference. We believe he will provide a compelling update that will have the tech world and investors enthusiastic about the capability of their chip designs. Further, revenues start rising sequentially in the quarter beginning July 1, 2023 (3Q). Additionally, French government semiconductor investment (non-dilutive) should be secured in late summer and European Chip Act money secured in fall 2023. Subsequently, SQNS will use some of those proceeds to pay down debt due in 2024 which may also lift the stock.

Next Quarterly EPS call (2Q 23'): 1st-half August 2023 (they will be in 3Q during the call, which is significant as 3Q is when the long-awaited sequential revenue ramp begins).

Investor Presentation May 2023

SQNS Qtrly REPLAY (May 2023):

Additional Potential Upside (not in current numbers and not being discussed by the company publicly):

2H 23' sampling of the new, high-margin, Taurus chip could bring in up-front cash from customers looking to secure early supply.With 5G data plans on a reliable 5G network, 5G laptops can maintain continuous, secure, and high-speed connectivity wherever you are, eliminating the need for Wi-Fi or hotspots, reducing connectivity downtime. A new report claims AAPL will update that device with an M3 chip later this year instead of simply killing it off. The news comes from 9to5Mac, and the website says its sources have confirmed the 13-inch MacBook Pro is going to get a refresh with a new M3 chip. Today, only ~4% of PCs are connected to cellular, but we believe this is likely to rise to ~10% by the end of 2026. However, Apple may get more aggressive on this prompting competitors such as Lenovo, Dell, and HP who would need to increase their own 5G chip sourcing to add to their laptops. They could potentially engage Sequans to produce this chip (if they are not already). Once Taurus is launched, Sequans will address this business by selling modules with the Chinese strategic partnership announced in August. This will be their first market entry with a better cost module. If successful, Sequans could secure an up-front investment to ramp up this business for laptop manufacturers. Global notebook shipments are expected to reach 214 million units in 2027.Thales and Sequans are bringing to the market an optimized iSIM technology for IoT devices that simplifies connectivity plan provisioning and management.

We like 5G Taurus strategic deal revenues and 2H23 sampling of Taurus, MIoT's strategic pipeline growth, large-cap customer-led 2nd half 23' conversion potential, and longer-term prospects for $100-120M in annual MIoT sales. Both 4G and Taurus 5G lines do have patent protection and a first-mover advantage. They have both the right products for the right markets and the right distribution at the right time. No more substrate or other supply issues (most issues were industry-specific; not company-specific. TSMC supports them).

ValuationSequans - Target price: 4-5x EV/sales would value SQNS at $6-8/share. Further,17x our CY25E EPS of $0.50 translates to the middle-low-end of the public comp range of 3-9x EV/CY23E sales (~6x) and recent semiconductor M&A of 4-10x and target of $8.50/share. The market leader in the oligopoly for IoT-optimized silicon solutions (and in the future 5G). Industry firsts in broadband LTE (TDD, carrier aggregation, Cat 4, Cat 6) as well as IoT-optimized solutions (Cat 1, Cat M1/NB IoT). Sequans has the Broadest Product Scope in 4G/5G IoT. note: "5G" is not just for mobile phones, it's for IoT!

COMPS: "mini-Qualcomm," PXLW, MMAT, QUIK, RGTI, GSI, etc. (in 4G/5G: Qualcomm is not optimized, Mediatech, GTC, Altair Nordic)

CUSTOMERS & INDUSTRIES: direct, strategic, distributors (ex: Renesas, Gentech, Gemalto, Toshiba, Honeywell, Itron, Avnet, Microchip, Verizon, etc.) in the logistics, robotics, carriers, private networks, Smart meters, security, telematics, e-health, smart homes, wearables, payments, and additional industries.

Technology Partners / MCU Vendors -Majority of IoT devices integrate an MCU •Current Relationships Cover 55-60% of Microcontroller Market •Strengthens our position with Tier 1 customers •Integrating Monarch Platform for rapid go-to-market.

ex: Massive IoT sales pipeline growth driven by smart city/metering segment market leadership, new design wins with Cat M/NB Monarch 2 and recently launched Cat 1 Calliope 2. (Market leader with comprehensive 4G/5G technology for Massive, Broadband & Critical IoT).

-Massive IoT - Go-to-Market: Module Partners: Gemalto, Renesas

-OEM/ODM: Toshiba, Itron, Honeywell, Comcast, Geotab, WNC, Invoxia, Withings, etc.

-Global Distributors: Avnet, Digi-Key, Mousen, Richardson, etc.

-Technology Partners: Microchip, NXO, Renesas, Skyworks.

-Majority of IoT devices integrate an MCU. Current Relationships Cover 55-60% of Microcontroller Market

-5G Taurus platform targeting >$1.5 Billion SAM in 2025 and growing at 38% annually, sampling later this year and already generating significant interest from multiple tier-one customers. SQNS already inked a $50m, 3-year licensing deal which will include royalty payments for up to ten years.

Broadband IoT - End Markets:

-OEM/ODM & Partners: Gemtek, Renesas, etc. Millions of CPE, Gateways, and Mobile Routers are Deployed Worldwide.

-End Markets: Emerging Markets, Tier 2/3 Carriers: Globe, Xplornet

-Developed Markets: Tier 1 Carriers: Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile

-Enterprise, Private Networks, CBRS: amic, Cambium Networks, Puloli

Relevant Financial Metrics:

· June 15, 2023, intraday price $2.25

· Market Cap ~$107 M

-Q1 2023 financials:

· Weighted average number of diluted ADS (Non-IFRS) at 3/31/2023: 48,382,629

· Cash and cash equivalents and short-term deposits at March 31, 2023 totaled $5.3 million compared to $10.7 million at December 31, 2022. The quarter-end cash balance does not reflect the $20 million proceeds from the private placement, which closed on April 12, 2023.M

· Debt: ~$57 M

· EV: ~$140 M

· EBIT - $(4.0) M

· EPS - $(0.10) - Company will give guidance for 3Q 2023.

· Cash Flow (estimate) 2024 - likely break-even ex-corporate overhead in mid-2024, likely C/F positive later in 2024.

FY	EPS	YoY	PE	Sales	YoY
2023	(0.40)	NM	5.58	$46M	-19.60%
2024	(0.26)	+35%	NM	$75M	+60%
2025	$0.50	NM	NM	$125M	+200%

EV/Sales (TTM) - current (23') 2.50 and ~1.7x EV/24E sales

Cash Flow (estimate) 2024 - would be break-even ex-corporate overhead in mid-2024, likely C/F positive later in 2024.

Convertible - Converts at $7.66/share. Lynrock Lake LP (Cynthia, ex-Soros tech, loves SQNS and is friendly). Perhaps being renegotiated now. Also, debt due Lynrock in 2024 can be paid from the French government and European Chip Act stimulus money (+$20m cash currently from the company's recent private placement at $2.06/share).

We believe that this story presents an attractive entry-level and from a timing perspective is opportunistic for both 2H 2023 revenue ramp 2024 revenue growth and/or potential takeout candidate. Clearly, there are investors experiencing investor fatigue, having owned this company for years waiting for the ever-elusive ramp. However, most issues were industry-specific and affected most other smaller fabless semi-companies as well. We understand the desire to monetize this investment by many existing shareholders but believe the lengthy wait is about to be rewarded. We expect a mixed and slow 2Q prior to a 3Q ramp (Quarter beginning July 2023), but believe shareholders are largely anticipating this. We anticipate multiple large deal pipeline conversions with Design wins. SQNS apparently already has had one bid for takeout so possible the company is gone within a few quarters (although that would likely leave a significant upside on the table). Cash is strong as they did Private placement for $20m and have a potential $50m in non-dilutive government funding available if they want it. Takeout multiple /58m fully diluted shares = 4-10x EV/sales industry takeout multiples (would value SQNS at $6-8/share (@ 4-5x EV/sales). In the event of no takeout, company design wins translate to $0.52/share for CY2025 and a 17x multiple arriving at $8.84/share.

> $750 million of 3Y LNR (local negotiated rate) projects revenue with ~50% secured in Design Wins. Should get to that $100m annual run rate in next 12+ months (21% is shipping now, 30% will ship subsequently, and the balance). SQNS can achieve $125-$140M of annualized product design wins (at full production) by the end of 2023. This does not reflect an "opportunity pipeline."

> $100 million of annualized product revenue potential from current customers (and my takeout valuation is only based on $70m of 2024 sales). Thus, when Taurus sales kick-in late in 2024, sales should ramp. Now, 2H23's tier-1 metering ramps clear and low forward Price:Sales (bottom 1/3 of long-term range).

Global Cellular IoT Chipset Shipments Share by Vendor 2022 (Counterpoint Research Global Cellular IoT Module and Chipset Tracker by Application)

Recent Company Achievements:2019 - major $35+ million strategic partnership with Fortune Global 500 company2020 - announced a technology access and license agreement with Renesas2020 - Sequans Accelerates 5G Development With Expanded Team in Israel2021 - appointed leader of 5G project consortium funded by French government2022 - recent $50+ million strategic partnership expands addressable market to China, with potential for royalty revenue over 10 years starting in 20252023 -Growing pipeline • > $750 million of 3Y LNR projects revenue with ~50% secured in Design Wins2023 - Adds Dr. Maria Merced to its Board of Directors. Merced is currently president of TSMC Europe (Taiwan Semiconductor).$100 million of annualized product revenue potential from current customersScarcity of SQNS 5G IP platform for Cellular IoT attracting new strategic partners for large addressable markets that Sequans could not easily pursue alone.IP licensing agreement can provide license and royalty revenue streams over multiple yearsMarket leader with comprehensive 4G/5G technology for Massive, Broadband & Critical IoTFour primary growth drivers 2023 - 2026Massive IoT with Monarch 2 design wins in pipeline moving to mass productionCat 1 Calliope 2 launch expanding pipeline and doubling Massive IoT SAM5G IP Licensing and royalty revenue stream with new deals under discussionBroadband IoT product pipeline expands with the launch of 5G Taurus in 2023Growing pipeline • > $750 million of 3Y LNR projects revenue with ~50% secured in Design Wins> $100 million of annualized product revenue potential from current customersFrom May 2023 SQNS PowerPoint Presentation

Taurus for 5G Broadband & Critical Iot - launch Fall 2023. Private networks (airports, mining, campus, mobile routers, fixed wireless access, Iot, industrial

5G IP Platform for Cellular Iot - license and royalty revenues stream being negotiated with strategic partners

Smart Cities and Smart Meters and other industries driving them now

2022 - $50m strategic partnership expands the addressable market to China, with potential revenue over 10 years starting in 2025

Four primary growth drivers 2023 - 2026Massive IoT with Monarch 2 design wins in the pipeline moving to mass productionCat 1 Calliope 2 launch expanding pipeline and doubling Massive IoT SAM5G IP Licensing and royalty revenue stream with new deals under discussionBroadband IoT product pipeline expands with the launch of 5G Taurus in 2023 into 24'Growing pipeline> $750 million of 3Y LNR (local negotiated rate) projects revenue with ~50% secured in Design Wins> $100 million of annualized product revenue potential from current customersSQNS can achieve $125-$140m of annualized product design wins (at full production) by the end of 2023. This does not reflect an "opportunity pipeline."**Regional info is in the 20-F. See the table at the top of page F-26, copied below:

Selected Sequans Notes to the Financial Statements (Sequans)

Catalysts (near-term):1. Positive SEQUENTIAL revenue growth in 3Q 2023 (starting July 1. 2023)

2. Sampling 5G Taurus in 3q. Buzz will get around how good it is. It's a game-changer. Expect partner and customer announcements on Taurus before year-end. It should follow that SQNS will receive up-front payments from those wanting SQNS to ramp supply and delivery.

3. Potential Apple announcement of adding an M3 chip to their 13-inch MacBook Pro will excite everyone about SQNS Taurus and a potential deal between HP, Dell, or Lenovo with Sequans for a 5G chip for their laptops. This is clearly neither in estimates nor expectations.

4. Receiving some of the chip stimulus money from the French gov (recently announced as officially available) - potentially $30-50M in non-dilutive capital. French money should be allocated at the end of summer 2023.

Potential Risks:Competition. The industry is competitive, and many of the company's competitors have greater resources. However, we believe Sequans is the market leader in this oligopoly for IoT (and in the future 5G) silicon.Component Shortages (industry): Sequans is a small fabless semiconductor vendor and may receive a lesser priority than larger competing vendors for components in the event of a shortage.Cyclicality. There is some economic sensitivity to the business and revenues may reflect that.Fabless model. If the company's foundry partner (Taiwan Semiconductor) or others have operating challenges or a lack of capacity, it could affect Sequans negatively.Financial results. SQNS has a history of operating losses. While the company recently completed a $20m private placement, there is no guarantee it will have sufficient operating capital indefinitely and would be forced to raise capital publicly.Customer orders and Industry Pushouts. The timing of customer orders is unpredictable. Pushouts have been a recurring theme from Sequans over the past few years, however, we believe the increasing breadth and diversity of the design win pipeline is providing a strong indicator of ramping sales.Industry change. The industry is subject to rapid technological change, and a failure to adapt to such change in a timely manner could negatively affect results.Foreign Exchange Risk: The company derives a significant portion of its revenues globally in various countries and needs to make FX conversions.Solvency. The company has a debt due in 2024 which may hamper its ability to invest in the business. This may also force the company to raise additional capital in the future.Pricing pressure. The company's business could be affected by pricing pressure in the market.

[FJB] Sequans did not announce CC/results timing on this last day of the quarter as ha...

FJB — 6/30/2023 11:20:50 AM

Sequans did not announce CC/results timing on this last day of the quarter as has been their policy for the last couple years. So that is unusual. I can only take it as more bad news based on track record... Please prove me wrong Georges.

[FJB] THEY MISSPELLED HER NAME IN PARAGRAPH ONE. Sequans Elects Maria Marced to Board...

FJB — 6/29/2023 8:19:11 AM

THEY MISSPELLED HER NAME IN PARAGRAPH ONE.

Sequans Elects Maria Marced to Board of Directors
Paris, France--(Newsfile Corp. - June 29, 2023) - Sequans Communications S.A. (NYSE: SQNS) announced that Dr. Maria Merced has been elected to its board of directors.

Marced is currently president of TSMC Europe where she is responsible for driving the development and strategy of TSMC's business in Europe. Before joining TSMC, Marced was senior vice president of sales and marketing at NXP/Philips Semiconductors where she also served as GM of Philips' Connected Multimedia Solutions Business Unit, overseeing Philips' semiconductor solutions for connected consumer applications. Earlier, Marced spent more than 19 years at Intel, rising to the position of vice president and GM for Intel's Europe, Middle East and Africa region. Marced serves as chairwoman of the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) EMEA leadership council, an organization dedicated to the advancement of the worldwide semiconductor industry.

"We are very pleased to have Maria join our board," said Georges Karam, Sequans CEO. "Sequans will benefit from her wealth of experience in our industry where her leadership skill has been demonstrated at some of today's most important semiconductor companies."

"Sequans has established itself a leader in cellular IoT semiconductor solutions and has delivered highly successful 4G and 5G IoT chips and modules," said Marced. "I look forward to helping Sequans increase its influence and strengthen its leadership position."

About Sequans
Sequans Communications S.A. (NYSE: SQNS) is a leading developer and supplier of cellular IoT connectivity solutions, providing chips and modules for 5G/4G massive and broadband IoT. For 5G/4G massive IoT applications, Sequans provides a comprehensive product portfolio based on its flagship Monarch LTE-M/NB-IoT and Calliope Cat 1 chip platforms, featuring industry-leading low power consumption, a large set of integrated functionalities, and global deployment capability. For 5G/4G broadband IoT applications, Sequans offers a product portfolio based on its Cassiopeia Cat 4/Cat 6 4G and high-end Taurus 5G chip platforms, optimized for low-cost residential, enterprise, and industrial applications. Founded in 2003, Sequans is based in Paris, France with additional offices in the United States, United Kingdom, Israel, Hong Kong, Singapore, Finland, Taiwan, South Korea, and China. Visit Sequans online at www.sequans.com, and follow us on Twitter and Linked-In.

[FJB] You may have seen on the news that China is done with zero Covid policy. No mor...

FJB — 12/28/2022 8:45:59 PM

You may have seen on the news that China is done with zero Covid policy. No more shutdowns of Sequans' direct customers' suppliers. No more excuses for a slow ramp...

[FJB] It seems like most of Sequans' customers have their products manufactured there,...

FJB — 11/23/2022 1:28:45 PM

It seems like most of Sequans' customers have their products manufactured there, so that can't be good. It was one of the excuses used this year for slow ramp in products that have made it to production.

pjmedia.com /news-and-politics/rick-moran/2022/11/22/fears-that-chinese-covid-lockdowns-will-cause-a-severe-global-recession-n1647991Fears that Chinese COVID Lockdowns Will Cause a Severe Global Recession

11/22/2022
New cases of COVID-19 are on the rise in China again, which has many international economists worried that the lockdowns resulting from Beijing’s Zero-COVID policy will lead to a severe global recession.

The one-two punch of slowing U.S. growth due to rising interest rates and the Chinese Zero-COVID policy locking tens of millions of people in their homes and out of their workplaces could bring economic growth in developing countries to a screeching halt. The slowdown would eventually reach the U.S. as slowing exports would affect the manufacturing sector.

[JCnieuwenj] never has, never will... Flat revenue for Q4, but still likely in better shape ...

JCnieuwenj — 11/2/2022 8:24:44 AM

never has, never will...

Flat revenue for Q4, but still likely in better shape than recently. Wonder why Wall Street will make of that...

[FJB] I would have thought it would be clear sailing by now, but not with Georges at t...

FJB — 11/2/2022 6:43:30 AM

I would have thought it would be clear sailing by now, but not with Georges at the helm...

[FJB] Pixel watch uses an Exynos processor with built-in LTE... semiconductor.samsung...

FJB — 10/7/2022 5:20:15 AM

Pixel watch uses an Exynos processor with built-in LTE...

semiconductor.samsung.com

[FJB] LAS VEGAS – #MWC22 – Here at the first MWC trade show in Vegas, there's broad ag...

FJB — 9/29/2022 9:22:47 PM

LAS VEGAS – #MWC22 – Here at the first MWC trade show in Vegas, there's broad agreement that fixed wireless access (FWA) represents the 5G industry's first big success.

But there's very little consensus on what might be next.

The situation likely comes as a bit of a relief for many show attendees. During North American MWC shows prior to the pandemic – in the very early days of 5G – there were plenty of public proclamations about the "fourth industrial revolution" that 5G would instigate. There was also plenty of hand wringing over whether 5G would actually create new lines of revenue for operators facing billions of dollars in spectrum and equipment expenditures.

Early 5G results were not encouraging, at least in the US. Some operators that tried to charge extra for 5G quickly backed away from those plans. Over time, 5G simply became another mobile add-on alongside streaming video services, hotspot allocations and international roaming options.

FWA as the first big 5G use case

Now, thanks to widespread FWA services powered by midband spectrum, that situation is much different. For example, with roughly 1.5 million FWA customers, T-Mobile is already the nation's ninth largest Internet service provider (ISP). And, according to BroadbandNow, it's also the nation's fifth fastest ISP.

Together, the FWA offerings from T-Mobile and Verizon have – for the first time ever – stopped the cable industry's seemingly inexorable growth curve.

Lately, it's been hard for some US wireless industry executives to keep their 5G swagger to a minimum.

"Great progress, very confident in what we are delivering, delighted with the speeds that we are delivering on in-home broadband," T-Mobile's networking chief Neville Ray said this summer. "I think we are bringing to the market probably the real first 5G use case. Everybody has been hunting for this thing. But in-home broadband, fixed wireless is here, and it's here to stay."

Of course, that's a matter of some debate. Some in the cable industry have described FWA as a "parking lot" for future cable subscribers. They argue that FWA will not be able to keep pace with skyrocketing home data usage, and that today's FWA customers will eventually churn to the cable networks of tomorrow to remain connected.

Nonetheless, the mood here at MWC Vegas – the first GSMA show in Nevada following years of North American MWC shows in Los Angeles – is relatively buoyant. After all, 5G has officially created a big, new line of business beyond smartphones.

And now, MWC discussions have begun focusing on what might be next.

An ongoing search

"There's a very good chance that we don't know what the killer app for 5G is," said David Christopher, EVP of business development and strategic alliances at AT&T, during his keynote appearance.

Entner (left) and Christopher discuss 5G during a keynote event at the MWC Vegas trade show.
(Source: Light Reading)

Analyst Roger Entner of Recon Analytics agreed. "We're at the very beginning of our voyage here."

AT&T's Christopher pointed to a handful of market sectors where 5G might make an impact in the coming years, including the Internet of things and the digital divide. But he focused much of his comments on the role that 5G could play in city operations and logistics.

In speaking with Christopher, Entner said one of the most compelling smart city applications comes from Denver, where city planners have set up a system to dynamically route traffic away from schoolyards during recess, in order to improve air quality for children.

AT&T isn't the only company making noise about 5G and smart cities. Indeed, NTT at the MWC show here announced that it is helping to launch a massive private 5G network for the City of Las Vegas. Once deployed, it will "be the largest open, municipal network CBRS deployment in the US," according to Shahid Ahmed, EVP New Ventures & Innovation for NTT.

But other big 5G players have their own ideas about what might be the "next big thing" in 5G. For example, Verizon during its keynote appearance announced that it would supply 5G connections to an Android video game device from Razer. The gadget – to be officially unveiled next month – allows gamers to play games downloaded locally or those accessed directly from the cloud. The carrier's message is simple: Only the speeds and latency of Verizon's 5G network can support cloud gaming services.

Meanwhile, T-Mobile officials argued that enterprises represent the next big opportunity for 5G. "Businesses can take their entire operations online," said Callie Field, president of T-Mobile's Business Group, during her own MWC keynote appearance. Field is the executive in charge of meeting T-Mobile's previously stated goal of doubling its share of the enterprise market from around 10% today to 20% by 2025. "We are ready to untether American businesses," she said.

In pursuit of the goal, T-Mobile this week announced that its new 5G Advanced Network Solutions effort will now build industry-specific solutions for retail, manufacturing, logistics and smart cities. Dubbed Advanced Industry Solutions, T-Mobile said the effort "simplifies the process by managing all the pieces, so customers have only one team and company to work with."

On to the metaverse

Finally, some in the 5G industry are looking to the horizon for the next big use case for the industry. Michel Castaldelli, head of connectivity partnership for Meta (formerly Facebook), said the metaverse remains a major goal for the company. He suggested that today's networks won't be able to handle the demands of the metaverse. He said that Meta believes metaverse applications will require 25 Mbit/s speeds and latency of around 25 milliseconds. He said only 20% of networks globally can handle such requirements.

That may be music to the ears of some vendors.

"We're a very long way from designing networks like that, a very long way," said Ericsson CTO Mike Murphy. He said Ericsson typically designs mobile networks to offer 10 Mbit/s speeds at the edge of the cell, and that metaverse services will require that figure to rise to 100 Mbit/s. Ericsson, of course, sells the equipment that can support such increases.

Thus, it remains unclear whether smart cities, cloud gaming, the metaverse or some other service will rise as the next big use case for 5G. Undoubtedly it will remain a topic of some debate at future MWC shows, including the upcoming one in Barcelona in February of next year.

Related posts:

Here's what's next for T-Mobile's FWA business Samsung's Johnston upbeat on opportunities at MWC Vegas A look at FWA's Pyrrhic victory over cable

[FJB] finance.yahoo.com /news/powercast-creates-cellular-based-remote-131700936.htmlSQ...

FJB — 9/27/2022 10:58:09 AM

finance.yahoo.com /news/powercast-creates-cellular-based-remote-131700936.htmlSQNS,INFN | Stock Prices | Quote Comparison - Yahoo Finance5-6 minutes
Operating in the lower 600 – 900 MHz frequency bands licensed by mobile carriers, the over-the-air RF charging platform enables carriers to monetize underused low-frequency bands and offer "Power as a Service" to charge low-power devices and smart home IoT sensors that eliminate disposable batteries

, /PRNewswire/ -- Mobile World Congress -- Powercast Corporation, the leader in radio-frequency (RF)-based over-the-air wireless power technology, has created a unique cellular-based RF Power-Over-Distance Wireless Charging Platform, built around Sequans (NYSE: SQNS) Monarch cellular IoT connectivity technology. Powercast will demonstrate the solution at Mobile World Congress in Las Vegas, September 28 – 30, booth w2.1226.

Powercast’s 700MHz Battery-Free Sensor (temperature, pressure, humidity) used in the new cellular-based RF Power-Over-Distance Wireless Charging Platform on display at Mobile World Congress this week in Las Vegas.

Powercast will demonstrate the solution at Mobile World Congress in Las Vegas, September 28 – 30, booth w2.1226.

Operating in the lower 600 – 900 MHz frequency bands licensed by mobile carriers, the Powercast cellular-based RF Wireless Charging Platform has unique benefits.

Because cellular bands are licensed, or private, they have more flexibility on how much power they can transmit, antenna gain, and bandwidth which enables end devices to charge faster and at greater distances when compared to unlicensed, or public, bands.
As cellular service moves increasingly to higher frequencies like 5G to increase data throughput, carriers can monetize their underused low frequency bands and offer "Power as a Service."
Ability to simultaneously charge at-a-distance many consumer devices, such as smart home security and automation IoT sensors, TV remotes, keyboards, ear buds, headphones, smart watches, fitness bands and hearing aids.

"Because many RF transmitting devices operate in unlicensed bands such as the 915MHz band, there are limits on transmit power, antenna gain, and other parameters so many devices can coexist and be interoperable," said Charles Greene, PhD, COO and CTO of Powercast. "This innovative way to use licensed cellular frequencies to increase device charging power will allow manufacturers to create green, sustainable IoT devices that can charge more quickly and at longer distances from a cellular RF transmitter."

The platform combines Sequans' Monarch 2 GM02S module with a Powercast RF transmitting antenna to send RF over-the-air to a tiny Powercast PCC110 Powerharvester® receiver chip embedded in end devices. The Powerharvester harvests RF out of the air and converts it to DC (direct current) to either power a battery-free device, or charge a rechargeable battery, both of which keep disposable batteries out of landfills.

In the Mobile World Congress demo, a Sequans Monarch 2 cellular modem teams with Powercast's 700MHz antenna to transmit a 700MHz RF cellular signal to Powercast's PCC110 receiver and RF-to-DC converter chip, which then powers a battery-free sensor beacon to transmit temperature and humidity data to a gateway or phone.

"This collaborative effort to introduce cellular technology into the over-the-air RF wireless charging picture creates opportunities for more manufacturers to develop environmentally-friendly smart home IoT ecosystems that eliminate disposable batteries," said Louis Chuang, EVP and GM of the Massive IoT Business Unit of Sequans. "With cellular everywhere, the opportunities are endless. Powercast is pioneering this field, and shares Sequans' vision to make IoT more sustainable by integrating an increasing number of functionalities, and limiting the semiconductor carbon footprint."

Multimedia assets are available: c212.net

About Powercast

Powercast is the established leader in RF wireless power-over-distance solutions. Since its founding in 2003, Powercast has led the industry in RF wireless power innovations that meet FCC and other global standards. Powercast's technologies eliminate or reduce the need for wires and batteries, working at distances of 120 feet. The company's collaborative approach and expertise in all aspects of product design, from vision through prototyping and commercialization, has resulted in dozens of applications, extensive commercial success in both industrial and consumer applications, and over 10 million units shipped. With more than 100 customers and partner companies globally, Powercast leads the RF wireless power market with 79 early and fundamental patents worldwide and 23 patents pending. www.powercastco.com

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/powercast-creates-cellular-based-remote-rf-wireless-charging-platform-to-enable-mobile-carriers-to-offer-power-as-a-service-301634249.html

SOURCE Powercast

[FJB] Google's Pixel Watch is going to have an LTE model. Sequans has the lowest powe...

FJB — 9/24/2022 1:28:11 PM

Google's Pixel Watch is going to have an LTE model. Sequans has the lowest power IoT LTE chip, so maybe there is a chance...

Google Pixel Watch: Specs, $349+, Wear OS 3, and everything we know so far

[FJB] He answered a question about the status of completion of Taurus in the CC on str...

FJB — 9/2/2022 2:08:40 PM

He answered a question about the status of completion of Taurus in the CC on strategic deal. The baseband is 90% complete. RF was sampled back in May from other CC. Full solution due in 1st half of '23. Then work to get to mass production after that...

[FJB] Sequans Communications Closes Multi-Year Strategic 5G Partnership Agreement f...

FJB — 8/30/2022 11:14:10 PM

Sequans Communications Closes Multi-Year Strategic 5G Partnership Agreement

finance.yahoo.com /news/sequans-communications-closes-multi-strategic-100000599.html

, /PRNewswire/ -- Sequans Communications S.A. (NYSE: SQNS), a leading developer and provider of 5G/4G solutions for IoT devices, today announced the closing of a multi-year, strategic 5G licensing agreement with a new strategic partner.

www.sequans.com (PRNewsfoto/Sequans Communications)

Under the terms of the agreement, the first three years' revenue is expected to be in excess of $50 million. An initial payment in excess of 25% of the license will be received within 30 days of the closing, with additional milestone payments scheduled to be received regularly over the next three years. The partner has the rights to manufacture and sell the Taurus platform exclusively in the Chinese market for negotiated royalty payments on its future chipset sales.

"We are delighted to announce this new 5G strategic licensing agreement for our Taurus platform, which we expect to fund the balance of its development and expand our addressable market to China, a market currently not served by Sequans," stated Georges Karam, CEO of Sequans. "The agreement will generate licensing revenue over the first three years and royalty revenue for 20 years on the sale of partner's products based on our 5G technology. For the remainder of 2022, we expect this licensing revenue, when combined with our current expectations for the rest of our business, will enable us to target non-IFRS operating profitability for the second half of the year and non-IFRS operating break-even in 2023."

Mr. Karam concluded, "We believe our Taurus technology is uniquely positioned to be a leading 5G solution fully optimized for enhanced broadband and critical IoT applications. This, combined with the flexibility of our business model, makes us an attractive potential partner to many players interested in new 5G applications and markets."

Updated Q3 2022 Outlook

The following statement is based on management's current assumptions and expectations and assumes no increase in the severity or duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, China's pandemic lockdowns and supply chain disruptions on the timing of product shipments and project advancement. This statement is forward-looking and actual results may differ materially.

Management is targeting sequential revenue growth of at least 10% in the third quarter of 2022, with gross margin in excess of 65%.

Conference Call and Webcast

Sequans plans to conduct a teleconference and live webcast to discuss the 5G strategic partnership agreement today, August 30, 2022 at 8:00 a.m. ET /14:00 CET.

To participate in the live call, analysts and investors should dial 877-407-0792 or +1 201-689-8263 if outside the U.S. When prompted, provide the event title or access code 13732569. A live and archived webcast of the call will be available from the Investors section of the Sequans website at sequans.com.

An audio replay of the conference call will be available until September 13, 2022 by dialing toll free 844-512-2921 or +1 412-317-6671 from outside the U.S., using the access code 13732569.

[FJB] I have never heard someone more incoherent than CEO, Georges Karam. I don't bel...

FJB — 8/19/2022 5:57:36 PM

I have never heard someone more incoherent than CEO, Georges Karam. I don't believe he has a PhD for a second.

There is a post way, way earlier in the board where Georges in an interview says his profession of choice outside his current one, would be POLITICIAN.

I almost puked. I was already deep in the stock. The CEO said he wanted to LIE FOR A LIVING.

I think Georges is an absolute PIECE OF SHIT. He still can't speak English. His speaking makes him sound confused.

Confused out of your mind is not the impression you want out of a CEO.

GEORGES KARAM IS A FUCKING LOSER. PROVE ME WRONG YOU EFFEMINATE, FRENCH, FAGGOT...

[FJB] He literally said a "couple weeks" in the conference call. His English is as go...

FJB — 8/19/2022 7:22:36 AM

He literally said a "couple weeks" in the conference call. His English is as good as his sense of time. LOL...

[JCnieuwenj] How long for the "final logistical steps.” ??? Now back to pre-earnings level, ...

JCnieuwenj — 8/19/2022 4:04:43 AM

How long for the "final logistical steps.” ???

Now back to pre-earnings level, and I'm still -51%, first time bought in 2016. This level of patience....

[FJB] THEY COMPLETED THE STRATEGIC DEAL, THANKFULLY. IF YOU LOOK BACK ON THE BOARD, T...

FJB — 8/2/2022 6:21:21 AM

THEY COMPLETED THE STRATEGIC DEAL, THANKFULLY. IF YOU LOOK BACK ON THE BOARD, THERE IS HUGE DEMAND FOR NON-SOC 5G CHIPS, WITH VERY LITTLE SUPPLY. IF THEY CAN GET TO MARKET WITH TAURUS, THIS THING MIGHT FINALLY PAY OFF IN A VERY GOOD WAY. ASSUMING GEORGES DOESN'T FIND SOME NEW WAY TO SCREW THINGS UP. LOL!

“Our second quarter growth was boosted by our Monarch Cat-M product family, which grew 13% sequentially and 122% year-over-year, continuing its first-quarter strong performance,” said Georges Karam, CEO of Sequans. “Revenue for the quarter increased 11% year-over-year, with Massive IoT growing 12% and the Broadband category growing 9%, due to services revenue. Broadband revenue decreased sequentially due to the expected decline of licensing revenue generated by our existing 5G agreements, which was fully offset by the growth in our Massive IoT business. Our product revenue pipeline continues to build with more design wins, and we are moving them towards mass production, although the shutdowns in China have delayed a few product launches. While most of the design wins are with the Monarch family, our main growth driver, we are seeing increasing interest in our new Cat 1 Calliope 2 platform that we expect to drive additional growth in 2023.”

Mr. Karam continued, “I am pleased to announce that we finalized all the terms of a licensing agreement with a new 5G strategic partner that is expected to fully fund the development of our 5G platform. Execution of the deal should be concluded shortly subject to some final logistical steps.”

[FJB] Microchip MCU Development Board Connects to 5G LTE-M Narrowband-IoT Networks ww...

FJB — 7/22/2022 7:17:33 PM

Microchip MCU Development Board Connects to 5G LTE-M Narrowband-IoT Networks
www.eetasia.com /microchip-mcu-development-board-connects-to-5g-lte-m-narrowband-iot-networks/
Microchip Technology Inc.s

7/19/2022
Article By : Microchip Technology Inc.

Microchip's AVR-IoT Cellular Mini Development Board provides a robust platform to start building sensor and actuator nodes on 5G narrowband IoT networks.

IoT network developers are looking for an easy path to implement a secure cellular connection in their design applications but are faced with design complexities and high deployment costs. To offer a solution for network designers who need the ultimate in location flexibility, low-power consumption and deployment simplicity, Microchip Technology Inc. has developed the AVR-IoT Cellular Mini Development Board based on the AVR128DB48 8-bit microcontroller (MCU). This solution provides a robust platform to start building sensor and actuator nodes on 5G narrowband IoT networks.

The AVR-IoT Cellular Mini Development Board is a small form factor board, making it an ideal solution for developers who want to connect IoT devices to an available 5G network. This is an essential feature for devices on the go or located in remote areas with limited availability of Long Range (LoRa) networks or other Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) solutions.

Customers can tap into the flexibility and ease of design offered in the latest AVR128DB48 8-bit MCU family, including security protection with Microchip’s ATECC608 CryptoAuthentication device. The ATECC608 device can easily be configured to most major cloud service providers through Microchip’s IoT Provisioning Tool.

“Microchip continues to expand its family of AVR 8-bit MCUs for developers to implement a variety of embedded designs with ease and flexibility,” said Greg Robinson, vice president of marketing for Microchip’s 8-bit MCU business unit. “The ability to connect remote and mobile devices to a 5G narrowband network with an 8-bit MCU opens up new opportunities for battery-operated devices because of key factors such as low power combined with high-quality analog peripherals.”

The AVR-IoT Cellular Mini Development Board comes pre-configured to send data from on-board light and temperature sensors to the cloud, viewable using Microchip’s sandbox portal. The sandbox portal provides customers with the ability to track and monitor their device in real time from a remote location. This functionality covers the core requirements of many applications in various industries including agriculture, industrial and energy, as well as consumer spaces such as transportation of goods, alarm systems, building automation and remote monitoring.

To provide an even easier, more efficient and more cost-effective solution for developers to connect IoT devices to 5G using the AVR128DB48 MCU, Microchip partnered with Sequans to include its Monarch 2 GM02S single-chip radio equipped with 5G LTE-M and narrowband IoT. Microchip also partnered with Truphone to provide the SIM card for cellular service that offers reliable coverage worldwide.

“The Monarch 2 GM02S is a 5G-ready LTE-M and narrowband-IoT solution on a single-chip, which we designed specifically for narrowband IoT applications, including sensors, wearables and other low-data, low-power devices,” said Didier Dutronc, executive vice president of partnership strategy at Sequans. “By partnering with Microchip on its AVR-IoT cellular board, we are simplifying and lowering the costs of IoT device design.”

“We are committed to reinventing the way in which people, things and businesses connect through our ground-breaking embedded SIM (eSIM) technology,” said Steve Alder, chief business development officer of Truphone. “Owning and operating all elements of the eSIM ecosystem in-house coupled with access to a large number of low-power cellular networks through a single SIM SKU, provides Microchip customers looking to connect IoT devices a future proof cellular service.”

The AVR-IoT Cellular Mini Development Board is a great solution for makers and hobbyists as it fits the Adafruit Feather form factor. It features a Qwiic/Stemma I2C connector for easy functionality extension, creating a clear path to production. It is also Arduino®-compatible and is supported by Microchip’s Github Library which provides functionality for HTTPS, MQ Telemetry Transport (MQTT), low power and more.

[FJB] THEY DON'T EVEN MENTION PRIVATE NETWORKS, WHICH IS THE BIGGEST USE CASE... www....

FJB — 7/21/2022 6:14:26 PM

THEY DON'T EVEN MENTION PRIVATE NETWORKS, WHICH IS THE BIGGEST USE CASE...

www.fiercewireless.com /wireless/3-main-cbrs-use-cases-and-why-cable-may-benefit-most

The 3 main CBRS use cases, and why cable may benefit most

By Linda HardestySep 20, 2019 11:39am4-5 minutes 9/20/2019

The CBRS Alliance held an event this week to celebrate the start of initial commercial deployments for Citizens Broadband Radio Services (CBRS). An analyst from New Street Research attended the event and handily summarized the three key uses cases for CBRS.

First, the spectrum will be used for wireless capacity deployments over small cells in dense urban markets, and this will result in the biggest impact from CBRS, writes New Street Research analyst Spencer Kurn.

He noted that Verizon plans to use CBRS solely for additional wireless capacity in dense markets, primarily outdoor.

A second big use case for CBRS is for fixed wireless broadband (FWB) deployments in rural markets. “AT&T plans to deploy CBRS spectrum for FWB in rural markets,” writes Kurn. “They will use a traditional RAN architecture on 1,100 macro sites (2% of total). Their ultimate goal is to use CBRS in conjunction with the C-Band to significantly boost capacity.”

Smaller wireless operators are also interested in CBRS for fixed wireless. Claude Aiken, CEO of the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA), spoke at the CBRS Alliance event this week. Aiken told FierceWireless that many WISPA members are following CBRS closely as their access to spectrum is being changed. “The upside is there’s potentially more spectrum available,” he said. “The downside is you no longer have that semi-protected framework available to you. It will be more mediated by the Spectrum Access System (SAS).”

RELATED: Why small wireless carriers care about all the CBRS hullabaloo

Access to CBRS spectrum for fixed wireless also presents a big opportunity for cable companies and a competitive threat to wireless companies.

Cable's opportunity

“Overall, the insights from the event support our view that cable companies stand to benefit the most from CBRS,” stated Kurn.

While wireless carriers large and small will use CBRS to advance their fixed wireless rollouts, this probably won’t have a huge impact on their overall subscriber counts. But, New Street Research predicts that it could have a more significant impact for cable operators who will use CBRS to extend their reach in rural markets from the edge of their cable plant. “We estimate this could enable cable companies to pass an incremental 6-7 million homes,” writes Kurn.

Charter CEO Tom Rutledge, speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia event this week, also talked about the company’s interest in rural markets. Charter has been testing CBRS radios on its plant with dual SIM devices that allow a customer to use its wireless MVNO, which rides on Verizon’s network, or alternately use Charter’s network, whichever is best from an economic standpoint. “That looks like it works,” he said.

RELATED: Charter sells wireless service to small businesses

New Street’s models assume that cable may be able to reduce its MVNO costs by roughly two-thirds over the next several years “boosting EBITDA per sub by ~$10 per month, on average."

Finally, the third big use case for CBRS is private LTE deployments.

RELATED: Cradlepoint eyes CBRS spectrum to offer private LTE as an escape from Wi-Fi

Ken Hosac, VP of IoT strategy and business development at Cradlepoint, says his company sees an opportunity to provide private LTE to enterprises by using CBRS. “A lot of enterprises are trying to use Wi-Fi in applications where it’s just not working,” he said. The company says its wireless routers can be used in conjunction with the CBRS spectrum to provide enterprises with a way to escape from Wi-Fi in use cases where Wi-Fi is not sufficient.

[FJB] www.fiercewireless.com /tech/will-private-wireless-kill-network-slicing-before-i...

FJB — 7/16/2022 3:28:10 PM

www.fiercewireless.com /tech/will-private-wireless-kill-network-slicing-before-it-even-gets-startedWill private wireless kill network slicing before it even gets started?By Linda HardestyApr 2, 2021 03:31pm6-8 minutes 4/2/2021

The telecom industry has been trumpeting 5G network slicing for a couple of years now, saying carriers will be able to make money by selling “slices” of their networks to different enterprises for their exclusive use.

But then, along came the private wireless network craze. It’s being spurred in the U.S. largely by the auction in 2020 of Citizens Broadband Radio Service ( CBRS) spectrum.

With spectrum, an enterprise can run an LTE or 5G private wireless network to get broadband connectivity, similar to a public wireless network, but which the enterprise can completely control.

Don Alusha, a senior analyst at ABI Research, said, “Private networks typically have their own authentication and authorization of devices and equipment. Whereas 5G slicing customizes network services according to different ranges of granular requirements, and reliability is guaranteed by service providers.”

Why would a company want a network slice, when it can just create its own private network?

Both Ericsson and Nokia are working on technology for private wireless as well as network slicing. And executives from the companies talked about the two.

Paul Challoner, VP of network product solutions with Ericsson North America, said 5G network slicing will require a 5G standalone (SA) core and SA devices. Only T-Mobile in the U.S. currently has a 5G SA core, while AT&T and Verizon do not, yet. Dish Network is building it 5G network from scratch, so it will immediately have an SA core, and Dish is integrating the technology for network slicing from the get-go.

RELATED: AT&T, Verizon hedge on 5G core timelines

Challoner said network slicing will provide isolated network resources with security and tailored service level agreements (SLAs) for each enterprise.

But it’s unclear how many slices a mobile operator will be able to offer.

David Eckard, VP of strategy and technology for Nokia in North America, said the capacity question and number of slices depends on the use cases. But he said, “I think it’s going to be a handful.”

Challoner said, “Every network has a capacity, which is determined by the spectrum and the number of radios you have. As long as I have enough physical capacity in my overall network, I can partition it off for use by a client.” He also pointed out that network slicing technology is being developed to work on a dynamic basis. “If the enterprise is not using it, I can use it for other purposes,” said Challoner.

RELATED: Marek’s Take: Make way for the 'slice economy'

Alusha said private networks are “a static deployment,” while network slicing, on the other hand, “is more associated with dynamic deployments.” But he added, “How do we make sure the processes of one enterprise are isolated in such a way there’s no interference with other enterprises?”

Private wireless

In contrast to network slicing, which is based on a carrier’s full network, private wireless networks are often more localized.

Karim El Malki, president of Athonet, said private wireless is great for an enterprise that has a need for its own wireless network that is fully controlled by its IT department. It will provide secure connectivity within a prescribed area such as an airport, school or factory. These types of organizations have typically relied on Wi-Fi until now.

Private wireless can be a huge upgrade from Wi-Fi, and the cellular technology with private wireless can support companies that want to process all their data on-site and keep everything secure.

But private wireless networks might be a concern for enterprises that have multiple business locations that need to communicate with each other. In this case they’re dealing with a wide area network (WAN), rather than a local area network (LAN). “A private network is deployed within some clear boundaries of a given facility,” said Alusha. “Within that setting it works really well. Whereas with network slicing, operators already have infrastructure deployed.”

Challoner said network slicing has an advantage in that regard. “If I want my employees to go outside, seamless roaming with the public network is a tremendous advantage. I want that mobility with the WAN.”

While network slicing may have an advantage with roaming, El Malki doesn't think it has an advantage in terms of a WAN.

He said Athonet can serve up private wireless networks across a national footprint, for example a retail chain. Athonet treats it almost like a Wi-Fi set-up, only it’s using cellular CBRS spectrum and LTE technology. The company provides each outlet with a customer premises device that self-configures. “We’ve cloudified and automated the whole deployment, put out a small cell, it connects to the cloud, data stays local,” said El Malki. “The private wireless objective is really to make it possible for thousands of stores or locations to get their private networks and have people move between them and maintain private connectivity.”

Athonet’s customer premise device comes with a SIM card, or the company even supports eSIM, and its core network manages all the SIMs.

What if network slicing is a dud?

Vendors such as Ericsson and Nokia are investing heavily in network slicing, and they want to see a return on that investment. Alusha said some people feel that if network slicing doesn’t come through, then the promise of 5G will have failed because it’s been touted as a big way for operators to get new business revenues.

Perhaps enterprises will make their choices based on the cost difference.

“Private networks tend to be high-cost solutions, particularly if extended to the wide area network,” said Alusha. “Whereas slicing is relatively low-cost because vertical industries use operators’ deployed network assets.”

But Challoner said it’s too difficult to say which will be most cost-effective: private wireless or network slicing. He said there are “too many dependencies,” including the size of the enterprise, the spectrum and the data requirements, to name a few.

El Malki said, “Network slicing is the operator play for their central network. But there’s limitations due to the complexity, and you cannot have that many slices. It’s not infinitely scalable.”

[FJB] THIS SHOULD BE HIGHLY POSITIVE FOR SALES. THEY WILL BE ABLE TO MEET ANY UPSIDE,...

FJB — 7/16/2022 12:11:45 PM

THIS SHOULD BE HIGHLY POSITIVE FOR SALES. THEY WILL BE ABLE TO MEET ANY UPSIDE, AND CUSTOMERS WILL NOT BE LIMITED BY PARTS TOO.

Chip shortage may be coming to an end, TSMC is still king

Slowing demand sees wave of chip order cancellations

By Adrian Potoroaca July 8, 2022 at 12:50 PM

In brief: The chip boom of the past two years that spurred a global shortage is coming to an end, and that shouldn't surprise anyone. Chipmakers, consumer tech companies, and retailers are expecting rockier months ahead, but consumers can finally hope for good availability and pricing on both current-gen and next-gen products.

techspot.com

[FJB] THERE IS A SHORTAGE OF 5G END DEVICES. HOPE SEQUANS CAN GET THAT STRATEGIC DEAL...

FJB — 7/11/2022 6:39:11 PM

THERE IS A SHORTAGE OF 5G END DEVICES. HOPE SEQUANS CAN GET THAT STRATEGIC DEAL DONE...

enterpriseiotinsights.com /20220711/5g/the-trouble-with-private-5g-for-industry-4-0-part-2-the-devicesThe trouble with private 5G for Industry 4.0 | Part 2 – the devicesJames Blackman7-8 minutes 7/11/2022
This is article is taken from a recent editorial report on Industrial 5G Innovation – From Setting Standard to Becoming Standard; the previous instalment in this serialised version of the report is available here. Subsequent instalments are listed below (linking either to the original report, or to web articles, as they are available). The report includes additional features and interviews, and is available here. A webinar on the same topic is also available, here, with speakers from ABI Research, MFA, Schneider Electric, and Vodafone.

ARC Advisory Group maintains Release 16 end-devices will only be available at the end of the year – much “later in 2022”, then, to adjust the Keysight quote. This is the “very earliest” they will appear, it adds. But Release 16 networks are available now. NTT makes clear there are no proper industrial attachments for its networks, forcing vendors and integrators into cut-and-shut workshops to magic-up industrial devices – like characters from Saturday afternoon television in the 1980s (see main image).

“We have the network, but not the devices. You need natively-supported devices for those URLLC capabilities, and you can’t find them anywhere. So we end up with these MacGyver-style customer 5G sensors. But how much can we do that? I mean, how scalable is that – to produce these one-off devices? It is a problem. Because to be honest with you, without devices, this ain’t moving,” says Shahid Ahmed, in charge of new ventures and innovation at NTT.

“These URLLC/TSN attributes are probably a year or two away, but lots of our clients, which have moved out of pilot into production, want those capabilities now. And while latency is not a key driver, yet – it is actually coverage and bandwidth, for now – it will be very soon because they are pivoting to use cases two and three, which require lower latency and higher control. And we are all wondering, where on earth are the devices? Who is building the devices?”

All of which begs the question, why does telecoms talk about 5G as if it is powering Industry 4.0 already? Nokia, famously, has 400-500 large enterprises using its private cellular gear, and is pitching squarely to ‘critical industry’. Cellular appears, fairly clearly, to have a place in industry, backed up by the flurry of press notes from everywhere about new 5G deployments. But at the same time, the industrial 5G story is sinking under its own hype.

Leo Gergs from ABI Research rejoins: “It’s a good question; I’m still figuring it out. I mean, it is not always clear what use cases are attached to these deployments. Most are probably voice driven, rather than IoT driven. Certainly with the Nokia numbers, the majority are LTE deployments. 5G is making little progress – only 10-15 percent are on 5G. Just because there are few industrial cases that can be only addressed with Release 15, which cannot already be addressed with LTE.”

To be clear, Ahmed at NTT is only joining-in the conversation on devices; it is quite busy enough, it seems, with 15-grade system designs. And Nokia knows all of this very well, too, of course, and has (it says) eased off the crank arm of the 5G hype machine. Stephane Daeuble, responsible for enterprise solutions marketing at the Finnish firm, suggests ‘industrial 5G’ only effectively exists currently as industrial 4G/LTE.

He responds to a question about competition in the market, with IT outfits like Cisco and HPE joining the fray on one side, with defensive talk about 5G as a complement to Wi-Fi, and OT specialists like Siemens joining on the other, with passive-aggressive talk about 5G as a 2023/24 story. “5G has put cellular in the picture, but enterprises don’t care that it is 5G; the talk quickly turns to use cases. We don’t want to hype the market any more than it is already. ”

He tells a story about recent work with an unnamed cake maker, or something like. “The customer was keen to trial private 5G. So we gave them private 5G, and they ran a whole trial, and then, when it came time to deploy, they deployed 4G,” Daeuble explains. “Because they called the icing manufacturer and the croissant maker, and whoever else, and they all said, ‘No, I don’t have 5G machines – but I do have 4G machines.”

He goes on: “When it comes to running a real factory, or real port, or real mine, it is always about the ecosystem. It is the same as six months ago. We continue to help the ecosystem test and develop the technology. At the same time, unless we are given the chipsets – even for our own networks, by the way, which are Release 16 in terms of capability on the radio and everything – then we can’t validate. That is the reality.”

And when are those chipsets coming? “You have to ask the chipset makers,” he responds. “We are using Release 15 capable chipsets. We can upgrade them to Release 16, but they are still consumer chips. Release 16 is two years old now. And we still haven’t seen a really committed roadmap for a Release 16 industrial-featured chipset. At the moment, I think it is scheduled for early 2023. But that is 16; it is not 17.

“Release 17 is when you start to have, maybe, 70 percent of what you need, and 18/19 is when you finish it off. The industrial players want to test it all to be certain it works and does what is written in the standard – before they start to put it into their products. And also just because the lifecycle of industrial machines in the field is 20, 30, 50 years, and they want to be sure they are going to last – and the chips they put in them won’t need to be upgraded later.”

For ‘chipset makers’, read Qualcomm (and read right, in report, for its response) and Mediatek, too; for ‘industrial players’, read Siemens ( discussed already), plus the likes of Bosch and Schneider Electric (interviewed on pages 30-32).

[FJB] REDCAP STANDARD APPROVED THIS WEEK cnx-software.com 5G RedCap leverag...

FJB — 6/11/2022 4:43:46 PM

REDCAP STANDARD APPROVED THIS WEEK

cnx-software.com

5G RedCap leverages 5G features, limits bandwidth to 85Mbps for industrial IoT applications - CNX Software
Nir Shapira,

3 minutes

5G is often associated with Gigabit speeds when found in mobile handsets or connected laptops, while there’s also 5G LPWA for battery-powered IoT devices. 5G RedCap, which stands for Reduced Capability, offers a middle ground for industrial IoT applications that keep some 5G features such as low latency, low power consumption, enhanced security, and network slicing while limiting the bandwidth to around 85 Mbps.

5G RedCap, also called NR Lite, will be part of 3GPP Release 17 scheduled for later in 2022, and further improved in Rel 18 in 2023. It will be first found in applications currently relying on LTE Cat 1 through Cat 4, and can be considered a light version of the 5G standard. An article on Telit says Rel 18 will specifically address the low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) segment currently carried seamlessly (e.g. no hardware changes required) in 5G by LTE-M and NB-IoT.

Source: Slide from Qualcomm 315 5G IoT modem presentation I found out about 5G RedCap in a recent article by a business development director in the CEVA mobile broadband business unit, as the company is developing the PentaG2 5G baseband platform IP for Mobile Broadband and IoT, and their PentaG2-Lite modem will support the new 5G Reduced Capability (shown as Reduced Capacity below) for applications such as wearables, surveillance, the Smart grid, and telematics.

The PengaG2-Max IP is designed for enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), and both the Lite and Max may be used for low latency applications relying on 5G URLLC such as V2X, AR/VR headsets, and so on. So RedCap is simply a cost-saving exercise compared to 5G NR while benefiting from the 5G extra features compared to LTE Cat. 1.

We can see PentaG2-Max and PentaG2-Lite have similar block diagrams, but with the CEVA-XC DSP block and neural-network coprocessor completely gone from the Lite version, as well as one less CEVA-BX2 multipurpose hybrid DSP and controller, among other changes.

Since the 3GPP Release 17 standard is yet to be ratified it will take a while before 5G RedCap modules become available, and CEVA expects those to start selling in late 2023 or 2024.

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.

[FJB] del

FJB — 5/12/2022 8:50:20 PM

[FJB] finance.yahoo.com

FJB — 5/3/2022 6:28:27 AM

[FJB] www.lightreading.com /cable-tech/charter-wraps-build-out-of-mobile-core-as-cbrs-...

FJB — 4/29/2022 8:11:11 PM

www.lightreading.com /cable-tech/charter-wraps-build-out-of-mobile-core-as-cbrs-market-trial-nears-/d/d-id/777162Charter wraps build-out of mobile core as CBRS market trial nears | Light Reading6-7 minutes
Charter Communications' plans for a CBRS network targeted to high-usage areas is moving forward, with expectations that the operator will launch its first market trial by mid-2022.

With the launch of the trial approaching, Charter completed the build-out of its mobile core network in Q1, Charter CEO Tom Rutledge said Friday on the company's first quarter earnings call.

Charter added 373,000 mobile lines in Q1 2022, extending its total to 3.93 million.
(Source: Charter Communications)

Charter has selected one still-unnamed market for the initial CBRS rollout. The general idea is to use that market as a template for Charter's CBRS strategy, which is to offload traffic in high-usage areas. That, the company reasons, will result in an improved mobile experience while also providing a way to save costs tied to its MVNO agreement with Verizon.

Mobile continues to be a general bright spot for Charter. The company added another 373,000 mobile lines in Q1 2022, beating Wall Street expectations of 328,000 and improving from year-ago additions of 300,000 lines. Charter, which just missed the record 380,000 lines it added in the previous quarter, ended Q1 2022 with 3.93 million mobile lines.

Mobile costs also increased 32.8%, to $760 million, a figure that includes mobile device, customer acquisition and service/operating costs.

Charter still doesn't use handset giveaways and subsidies, but is trying to sweeten the pot with other types of perks. Among them, Rutledge noted that Charter kicked off the market launch of Spectrum Mobile Speed Boost in April. This feature enables Spectrum Mobile customers to receive speeds of 1 Gbit/s on their mobile service devices when they are at home – even if their wireline broadband speed is provisioned to deliver less than 1-Gig.

Per the FAQ, Mobile Speed Boost doesn't allow for device tethering, and is not guaranteed to be available at all times.

Broadband subscriber slowdown continues

Alongside continued growth of its mobile business, Charter, like other cable operators, continued to see broadband growth slow. Charter added 185,000 broadband subs in Q1 (+164,000 residential and +21,000 business customers), versus additions of 355,000 a year ago, for a total of 30.27 million. Analysts were expecting Charter to add about 227,000 total broadband subs in the quarter.

Chris Winfrey, Charter's COO, attributed the slowdown primarily to record low churn and lower-than-usual transaction volume, as well as slower household growth rates. He said competition from fiber and fixed wireless access (FWA) providers have had the smallest impact on the rate of broadband subscriber growth at Charter.

Winfrey acknowledged that FWA might be converting some mobile-only and DSL customers that would normally come to Charter. But he added: "I don't believe fixed wireless access is having any material impact on us today."

Still, slower broadband growth is having a negative impact on cable stocks (Charter shares were down 6% in morning trading Friday). That's due in large part to the fact that cable operators have been adamant that broadband/connectivity now represents the centerpiece of their business.

However, some analysts wonder if perceptions are due for a change as mobile becomes an increasingly important piece of the businesses at Charter and Comcast, and as both move ahead with network strategies to offload data and reduce mobile data costs.

"To be clear, we certainly aren't suggesting that investors should ignore the slowdown in broadband growth rates; broadband is, of course, Cable's core business," MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett said in a research note issued Friday. "But we do believe investors should stop focusing only on broadband. Cable isn't a broadband-only business."

Investors, he suggested, should stop thinking of Charter and Comcast as "only" MVNOs.

"Cable's hybrid MVNO/MNO isn't a poor-man's substitute for an owned-and-operated network, it's actually better," Moffett suggested. "Over time, Charter and Comcast will move more and more traffic onto their own networks, leveraging their existing infrastructure for low-cost backhaul. Their goal is not to be an entirely facilities-based mobile network operator (MNO), but in fact, to optimize at each point in the network."

More pay-TV losses as Comcast JV emerges

Turning to video, Charter shed another 112,000 customers (-123,000 residential against +11,000 business customers), for a total of 15.72 million.

But Rutledge is enthused about the national streaming joint venture with Comcast announced earlier this week. The JV will enable Charter to offer a competitive app store. This will include a new level of navigation, search, content curation, billing and content security, he said.

"It will give consumers new devices and content providers new opportunities to create customer relationships on a platform designed to help them sell video effectively," Rutledge explained. "Comcast has created excellent IP [intellectual property] for this venture and we have high expectations that we can work together to continue its development and distribution."

Under terms of the proposed JV, Charter will contribute $900 million over multiple years (the exact timeframe hasn't been disclosed). Rutledge said the JV will provide opportunities for Charter to generate advertising and transaction revenues.

He also expects the move to play a role in Charter's IP video migration, putting Charter in position to eventually reclaim spectrum used today to deliver legacy QAM/MPEG digital video services.

Related posts:

[FJB] www.fiercewireless.com /private-wireless/att-sees-private-networks-broadening-ve...

FJB — 4/29/2022 8:10:23 PM

www.fiercewireless.com /private-wireless/att-sees-private-networks-broadening-vendor-ecosystemAT&T sees private networks broadening vendor, customer ecosystemBy Martha DeGrasseApr 1, 2022 11:17am4-5 minutes 4/1/2022

AT&T expects enterprise adoption of private wireless networks to open opportunities for non-traditional vendors in the network equipment arena. William Stovall, VP for Enterprise, Mobility and IoT at AT&T, said that as private 5G networks become available for mid-market enterprises, the carrier may become “more diverse with vendors and our equipment.”

“There is opportunity there,” said Stovall, adding AT&T wants to “align to the optimal vendor” for each deployment in order to “match the right RAN solution to the customer’s needs.”

AT&T is not the only carrier to turn to non-traditional vendors for private wireless networks. Verizon and NTT Docomo’s technology services group have both tapped Celona for private wireless hardware and software.

Meanwhile, traditional network equipment vendors Nokia, Ericsson and Samsung are all building their own private networks businesses.

Related

Private networks move to the mid-market

Mid-market enterprises will be a focus of AT&T’s private networks business, Stovall said. Like larger companies, these firms want to capture and analyze data faster, he said. He explained demand for fleet and asset tracking solutions is also a need for mid-market firms. AT&T wants to offer private networks to track assets on company premises and transition those assets to its public network when they leave.

In addition to asset tracking, Stovall named manufacturing, healthcare, education and defense as key markets for AT&T’s private network solutions. Expanding on comments made by AT&T CEO John Stankey at the company’s recent investor day, Stovall said the carrier has developed dedicated groups to focus on specific vertical markets.

Stovall foresees these vertical teams “leading industry ideation” by building specific expertise. He said teams include sales professionals, systems engineers, program managers, and solutions architects, adding AT&T has also created a 5G Center of Excellence that crosses verticals.

A key component of AT&T's private 5G strategy is its recently announced partnership with Microsoft, which is in the process of integrating AT&T’s core network with Azure. At Mobile World Congress 2022, AT&T said it will also integrate its 5G network with Azure private MEC, with the goal of delivering a one-box private network solution that enterprise customers can self-install.

“This allows you to start scaling these at places like remote hospitals or a business’ satellite locations,” Stovall explained. “This can use CBRS or licensed spectrum. … It is meant to drive simplicity and flexibility.”

Stovall said a number of AT&T’s CBRS engagements have involved organizations using the midband spectrum under General Authorized Access, meaning they do not pay for licenses and can use the spectrum whenever it is not needed by a license holder or the U.S. government. AT&T can provide network deployment and management expertise, as well as a connection to the public network for both IoT devices and smartphones. “You’re seeing a growing smartphone base that is beginning to include CBRS spectrum bands,” Stovall noted, adding CBRS-enabled scanners are also hitting the market now.

CBRS does not yet support 5G, but LTE is still the technology of choice for most private networks. Relatively few endpoints support 5G, so private networks that require the high speeds and low latencies of 5G often use routers to connect devices to the network.

AT&T is deploying a 5G private network at Ford’s Rouge Electric Vehicle plant in Dearborn, Michigan, where the automaker will build electric vehicles. Stovall said the network will go live later this year. One of the network’s use cases could be a machine vision solution using smart cameras connected to 5G routers, Stovall said, adding the network might also leverage 5G smartwatches for some use cases.

[FJB] www.businesswire.com /news/home/20220428005443/en/GFO-Investments-and-Airspan-Ne...

FJB — 4/29/2022 8:09:03 PM

www.businesswire.com /news/home/20220428005443/en/GFO-Investments-and-Airspan-Networks-Partner-to-Help-Transform-the-Hospitality-Industry-at-The-Gale-South-Beach-One-of-the-First-US-Hotels-to-Offer-a-High-Speed-5G-CBRS-Private-Network-to-its-GuestsGFO Investments and Airspan Networks Partner to Help Transform the Hospitality Industry at The Gale South Beach, One of the First US Hotels to Offer a High-Speed 5G CBRS Private Network to its Guests6-8 minutes

BOCA RATON, Fla.--( BUSINESS WIRE)-- GFO Investments, a private wealth management advisory firm focused on real estate development and hospitality ventures, today announced that The Gale South Beach, a Curio Collection by Hilton hotel, will be one of the first hotels in the US to provide its guests with a 5G high-speed wireless private network enabled by CBRS spectrum. The network is a partnership with Airspan Networks Inc., a subsidiary of Airspan Networks Holdings Inc. (NYSE American: MIMO), a U.S.-based provider of groundbreaking, disruptive software and hardware for 5G networks. The network is a model for the hospitality industry.

“Airspan is a leader in 5G private network deployments, and we are proud to work with GFO Investments to provide this innovative network solution in one of the first CBRS deployments of its kind at a US hotel.”

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“This new technology will provide hotel guests with the fastest and most responsive digital connectivity available, impacting both guest engagement and hotel operations,” said Russell Galbut, chairman of GFO Investments. “Launching at The Gale South Beach will open new doors for hoteliers, enabling operators to revolutionize their offerings with new technology, both in-room and across hotel campuses.”

5G Technology to Transform the Hospitality Customer Experience

This Private Network solution will improve the hotel guest experience by providing excellent indoor and outdoor high-speed voice and data coverage and hotspot capabilities on property. With the exponential growth of video conferencing, 5G eliminates the typical problems related to virtual meetings. Additionally, hotel operators can streamline operations with rapid communication between different systems. The new technology allows for faster automated check-in and check-out procedures for Hilton Honors loyalty members, which cuts labor costs and eliminates lines that are irritating for guests. With 5G, all systems are interconnected and communicate seamlessly in real-time.

“The Gale South Beach has always strived for innovation by acquiring new technological advancements,” said Jared Galbut, President of Hospitality for GFO Investments. “The rooms already have contactless guest engagement and touchless room controls through Google Nest Hub and Volara. Now, with 5G technology, these in-room amenities can be unified and effortlessly controllable through apps using the new network. We plan to continually advance our technological amenities as the industry grows, providing our guests with the most cutting-edge offerings available.”

The CBRS network will cover the hotel property, both indoors and outdoors, offering 5G mobile coverage for guests visiting the hotel’s dining outlets, rooftop pool, public spaces and guest rooms. The hotel’s staff will benefit from having access to this private network to provide hotel operations teams with voice and data applications including intranet and Internet access, Push to Talk (PTT) services and reliable video, along with streaming services for hotel guests to use on their smartphones. The network is being deployed with dozens of radios strategically placed throughout the hotel for optimal coverage and performance exclusively for the hotel’s clientele and staff.

“This deployment is a great example of how 5G private network deployments using CBRS can and will transform the hospitality industry,” said Airspan Chairman and CEO Eric Stonestrom. “Airspan is a leader in 5G private network deployments, and we are proud to work with GFO Investments to provide this innovative network solution in one of the first CBRS deployments of its kind at a US hotel.”

Citizens Broadband Radio Service, or CBRS, is a 150 MHz-wide slice of the radio airwaves set aside by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for the deployment of 5G private networks, eliminating for the first time the need to acquire expensive spectrum licenses.

About Airspan

Airspan Networks Holdings Inc. (NYSE American: MIMO) is a U.S.-based provider of groundbreaking, disruptive software and hardware for 5G networks, and a pioneer in end-to-end Open RAN solutions that provide interoperability with other vendors. As a result of innovative technology and significant R&D investments to build and expand 5G solutions, Airspan believes it is well-positioned with 5G indoor and outdoor, Open RAN, private networks for enterprise customers and industrial use applications, fixed wireless access (FWA), and CBRS solutions to help mobile network operators of all sizes deploy their networks of the future, today. With over one million cells shipped to 1,000 customers in more than 100 countries, Airspan has global scale. For more information, visit www.airspan.com.

About Gale South Beach

The Gale South Beach, built in 1941 by Miami architect L. Murry Dixon, is a historic property located at 1690 Collins Avenue in South Beach that combines comfort, convenience and luxury. The renovated property offers a modern adaptation of the classic Italian Riviera villa style. The 87-room boutique hotel features exclusive Menin Hotels GUY and GIRL amenities in addition to complimentary beach club access at Shelborne South Beach. The elegance of the 1940s is evident in the Italian details and wood accents of the certified green rooms, with tropical Art Deco charm in mind. Its Carrera marble-clad rooftop deck boasts an infinity pool and expansive views of the city and ocean. Gale South Beach features the award-winning restaurant Dolce Italian with a private garden oasis and specialty handcrafted Italian dishes. The hotel is also home to The Regent Cocktail Club, one of the Top 10 Hotel Bars in the World, featuring live music and drinks. Images: HERE

[FJB] I BELIEVE THE RECENT FUND RAISING IS SOMEHOW SUPPLY CHAIN RELATED... Apple repo...

FJB — 4/28/2022 6:35:42 PM

I BELIEVE THE RECENT FUND RAISING IS SOMEHOW SUPPLY CHAIN RELATED...

Apple reports earnings… Tim Cook warns of $8 billion supply shock…

Apple stock fell nearly 4% in extended trading after initially rising after Apple CFO Luca Maestri warned of several challenges in the current quarter, including supply constraints related to Covid that could hurt sales by between $4 billion and $8 billion. Apple also warned that demand in China was being hurt by Covid-related lockdowns.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the company was “not immune” to supply chain challenges.

[FJB] www.lightreading.com /5g/fwa-market-to-grow-by-23m-customers-in-2022---analysts/...

FJB — 4/18/2022 3:56:46 PM

www.lightreading.com /5g/fwa-market-to-grow-by-23m-customers-in-2022---analysts/d/d-id/776714
FWA market to grow by 2.3M customers in 2022 - analysts

As operators like Verizon and T-Mobile prepare to report their first quarter earnings results, analysts are predicting plenty of growth in the fixed wireless access (FWA) sector.

The reason, according to the financial analysts at Cowen, is simple: "These carriers are undeniably swimming in capacity with no data-rich 5G use cases on the horizon."

Meaning, robust 5G networks are available today, but there aren't any data-heavy apps that are chewing through all that capacity. As a result, operators like T-Mobile and Verizon are moving into the FWA business in order to profit from their excess 5G network capacity.

The Cowen analysts predict Verizon, T-Mobile, Starry and other FWA providers will collectively add almost 2.3 million new customers during the course of 2022. And they're predicting that growth will continue in the coming years: They're expecting Verizon to accumulate up to 5 million total FWA customers by 2025, and for T-Mobile to count up to 8 million total FWA customers by that year. Starry, the analysts said, expects around 1.4 million customers by 2026.

WeLink is one of a number of FWA providers. The company's service requires a visit from a technician who installs an antenna on a customer's roof.
(Source: WeLink)

The financial analysts at Morgan Stanley Research recently predicted similar growth lines. They expect Verizon and T-Mobile to report a combined 400,000 new FWA customers during the first quarter of 2022, up from the roughly 300,000 they reported in the fourth quarter of last year.

Implications and ramifications

But how exactly is this FWA trend affecting the wider market for broadband Internet services? According to the financial analysts at New Street Research, the growth in FWA will impact the cable industry, but perhaps not as much as some have feared.

FWA "must be taking some subs from cable," they wrote, but added that "it just doesn't seem right" that a major chunk of new FWA customers are fleeing cable broadband services that the analysts admit are superior to FWA.

Instead, the New Street analysts wrote that there are a variety of factors impacting the cable industry. Those factors include a decline in the sale of DSL services, new fiber network buildouts and a slowdown in the number of people moving to new homes. Such moves often generate new broadband customers.

Broadly, the New Street analysts expect a slowdown in the cable industry in 2022, a rise in the sale of FWA services and a slight increase in the number of customers for fiber Internet services.

New Street offered new predictions for broadband industry net customer additions through 2022. Click here for a larger version of this image.
(Source: New Street Research. Used with permission.)

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[FJB] [graphic]

FJB — 4/1/2022 9:34:21 PM

[60HzEE] No longer interested in Sequans. He's long on talk and short on action. If it ...

60HzEE — 3/30/2022 3:21:43 PM

No longer interested in Sequans. He's long on talk and short on action. If it were up to me, he wouldn't still be there..... Just my two cents.

[FJB] You still think Georges is a good CEO?

FJB — 3/30/2022 2:38:28 PM

[FJB] VERIZON IS VERY GUNG-HO ON FIXED WIRELESS. I HOPE TAURUS IS ON TRACK... www.li...

FJB — 3/4/2022 2:12:48 PM

VERIZON IS VERY GUNG-HO ON FIXED WIRELESS. I HOPE TAURUS IS ON TRACK...

www.lightreading.com /the-edge/verizons-5g-opportunities-first-fwa-then-edge-then-metaverse/d/d-id/775803

Verizon's 5G opportunities: First FWA, then edge, then the metaverse

During a three-hour presentation, Verizon laid out its broad market strategy for investors. At the heart of the company's strategy is to build a 5G network "as a service" and use it to expand its existing smartphone business, and also extend into new opportunities.

According to Verizon's leadership team, the first and clearest of those new opportunities is fixed wireless access (FWA).

Specifically, the company said it now expects to report the addition of at least 150,000 new FWA customers in the first quarter of this year, double what it reported in the fourth quarter of last year.

Verizon said it expects 4-5 million fixed wireless customers by 2025.
(Source: Verizon)

Verizon said it now expects to record a total of 4-5 million FWA customers by 2025. That's slightly below T-Mobile's goal of gaining around 7-8 million FWA customers during roughly the same time.

Verizon executives said that around 30% of the operator's FWA are new to the company, which they said provides Verizon with the opportunity to sell additional services including mobility to those customers.

Company officials reiterated their belief in Verizon's ability to handle the massive amounts of network traffic that homes and offices can generate.

Verizon CTO Kyle Malady explained that Verizon today has deployed 60MHz of midband C-band spectrum for FWA, but it will raise that number to around 160MHz by 2023 when the rest of the company's C-band holdings are freed for commercial 5G. The amount of spectrum an operator deploys into its network directly relates to the amount of traffic it can support.

Malady also suggested that traffic patterns favor Verizon's FWA strategy. He said smartphone traffic typically peaks between 12 p.m. and 6 p.m., thus freeing up network resources after that time. And that's typically when FWA traffic starts to ramp up, he said.

From the edge to the metaverse

According to Verizon's executives, the company's second major opportunity revolves around edge computing.

Whether it's private edge computing services supporting private wireless networks, or public edge computing running on services from Amazon, Microsoft or Google, Verizon said it will work to flesh out the opportunity.

Along those lines, Verizon reiterated the massive opportunity it sees around edge computing, and said that it expects to generate at least $1 billion in revenues from public MEC (multiaccess edge computing) services by 2025.

And third, company executives suggested that, beyond FWA and edge computing, the next big opportunity for Verizon sits in the metaverse. Along those lines, Verizon announced a "first-of-its-kind strategic partnership" with Meta (formerly Facebook) geared toward developing a Verizon position in the metaverse.

"The collaboration will explore how Verizon's mobile edge compute infrastructure can deliver intensive XR cloud rendering and low latency streaming, which are core capabilities needed for metaverse applications," Verizon explained.

Verizon's announcement with Meta is noteworthy considering the social media company used the recent MWC trade show in Barcelona, Spain, to lay out its networking vision for the metaverse.

Finally, Verizon also expects to record growth from its core smartphone business. For example, the company expects 4% wireless service revenue growth by 2024, and a similar increase in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA).

Part of that growth is based on Verizon's hopes to get its customers to sign up for more expensive unlimited data plans; around 33% of Verizon's unlimited plan customers subscribed to those kinds of plans at the end of 2021, and Verizon expects that number to rise to 70% by 2025.

"Today we're here to talk about a very different Verizon," CEO Hans Vestberg said during the operator's presentation.

"No company is better positioned than Verizon," he added. "We're building on 21 years of proven leadership."

The network

Of course, Verizon's strategy ultimately revolves around its network. Broadly, Verizon reiterated that its overall capital expenses would start to decline next year from a high point of $22.5 billion in 2022 to around $17 billion starting in 2024.

On the fiber side of things, Verizon said it expects to expand its Fios network from around 16.5 million locations at the end of 2021 to around 18 million by 2025. By then, Verizon said it expects around 8 million Fios customers.

Concurrently, the company said it's working to connect more cell sites to its owned fiber network. Verizon said around 45% of its cell sites connected directly to its fiber network at the end of 2021, a figure it expects to increase to 50% by the end of 2022. Verizon said it saved $300 million during 2021 by connecting its cell sites to its fiber network, instead of paying rent to other fiber providers.

Want to know more about 5G? Check out our dedicated 5G content channel here on Light Reading.On the wireless side of things, Verizon said it expects to expand its new midband C-band 5G network to reach 175 million people by the end of 2022. Previously Verizon said it would reach that goal by the end of 2023.

However, Verizon said that "for now" it would maintain its previously announced target of covering 250 million people with C-band 5G by 2024.

Interestingly, Verizon's Malady said the operator would start expanding its 5G standalone core sometime later this year. He said Verizon is currently seeding the market with phones capable of supporting the standalone version of 5G, which does not require an anchor 4G network.

He said Verizon would begin shunting some FWA traffic onto its standalone 5G core in June. However, he said Verizon wouldn't start putting smartphone traffic onto that core until 2023.

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[FJB] YOU SHOULD PROBABLY ISSUE SOME PRESS RELEASE FOR ANY TIER 1 CUSTOMERS, BECAUSE T...

FJB — 3/4/2022 9:53:55 AM

YOU SHOULD PROBABLY ISSUE SOME PRESS RELEASE FOR ANY TIER 1 CUSTOMERS, BECAUSE THE MARKET IS THINKING YOU WILL GO BUST. MAYBE WHEN THEY ENTER PRODUCTION...

FROM CC:

We are currently engaged on over 100 projects, many with high profile tier 1 customers. The majority of the design win projects are still in the development phase and have not yet contributed significantly to our revenue. We expect many of them to go into production in 2022, with three major ones having an annual run rate potential of over 1 million units.

[FJB] www.lightreading.com /the-edge/verizons-sowmyanarayan-on-how-fwa-supports-edge-c...

FJB — 3/4/2022 1:01:23 AM

www.lightreading.com /the-edge/verizons-sowmyanarayan-on-how-fwa-supports-edge-computing-private-wireless/d/d-id/775756Verizon's Sowmyanarayan on how FWA supports edge computing, private wireless | Light ReadingNews Analysis Rob Pegoraro, Contributor, Light Reading 3/3/20225-6 minutes
MWC22 – At the show once called Mobile World Congress, Verizon's news emphasized the non-mobile sort of wireless. The company announced a high-profile deal to build a private 5G network for BlackRock at the investment firm's new headquarters in Manhattan, as well as initiatives with VMWare and the private-wireless startup Celona to help businesses connect devices, buildings and people.

And on Tuesday, a Verizon executive took time to brag a little about what lighting up C-band 5G has done for the fixed wireless access (FWA) service Verizon offers for homes and businesses.

Adding those midband 5G frequencies has allowed for an enormous expansion in the number of homes and businesses covered – more than 30 million residences and more than 2 million businesses, the company announced Feb. 14.

"Even when we don't have millimeter wave (mmWave), we see 100, 200, 300 megs, consistent speed," said Sampath Sowmyanarayan, chief revenue officer at Verizon Business. He added that C-band is delivering a range that matches Verizon's expectations, including indoors: "We are seeing good coverage exactly where we thought."

Opening new markets

Having C-band work in buildings on a self-installed basis where mmWave 5G originally required a tech to set it up has given Verizon a whole new product to sell, especially to businesses that find themselves unexpectedly needing bandwidth overnight.

Verizon's 5G Home Internet service router.
(Source: Verizon)

"They don't have to wait for a technician to come," Sowmyanarayan said. "We ship the box – I think you can order up to 6 or 7 at night. By 9 o'clock [the next morning] you're up and running with broadband."

He added that Verizon's been able to scale this up for larger enterprises.

"We are doing a large, 4,500-store deployment for one of the retailers," Sowmyanarayan said. "It's getting done in 90 days."

Verizon sells unlimited plans for businesses starting at $69 for 100 Mbit/s service, while home users get unlimited home 5G, with speeds varying by location, starting at $50; substantial discounts are available on both sides to customers who already have smartphone service from Verizon.

"Half the time it's just classic replacement for broadband," Sowmyanarayan said of the customers Verizon is drawing. "They don't like the cable company."

Cable operators' demonstrated fondness for data caps has played heavily into Verizon's sales pitch, even if it's also led to some expressions of disbelief from cynical customers determined to find a cap in the fine print.

"We are good at fine print as a company, we have a lot of lawyers," Sowmyanarayan said. "We have done the fine print, and there is no data cap."

The other half of Verizon's new fixed-wireless use cases are what he described as "IP deserts" – semi-fixed places like kiosks, food trucks and construction trailers that hadn't benefited from their own connectivity before.

Sowmyanarayan described the BlackRock and Celona announcements as further extensions of fixed-wireless potential that can further its mobile-edge-computing ambitions.

Computing at the private edge

"The Celona thing is another way for us to have a private network solution for us," he said. "For us, private network is the entry for the MEC [multi-access edge computing]."

At BlackRock's new HQ – 15 floors rented at 50 Hudson Yards – Sowmyanarayan said that Verizon's involvement allowed that financial giant to meet changed expectations about in-office work after two years of remote work.

"How do you upscale the office environment when people come back to work?" he asked. "They're going to have the most technologically advanced office in the world."

The next chapter in Verizon's C-band story may not get written by the company alone – it still has to resolve lingering concerns over possible interference from C-band cell sites with radio altimeters in airplanes – but Sowmyanarayan professed no concerns there.

"We are very confident and comfortable with our position on the interference and the lack thereof," he said, adding that he doesn't expect to see the company extend its voluntary six-month reduction in C-band deployments around airports.

After that will come expanding Verizon's C-band past the initial 46 "partial economic areas" at the end of 2023. Sowmyanarayan said that Verizon would follow its past practice of having cell sites prebuilt in those markets to allow day-one C-band 5G service: "Literally the day the satellite companies open that up, we'll turn it on."

[FJB] Sequans' Monarch 2 GM02S Module Certified by Deutsche Telekom PARIS,...

FJB — 2/28/2022 8:29:44 AM

Sequans' Monarch 2 GM02S Module Certified by Deutsche Telekom

PARIS, France – February 28, 2022 --- Sequans Communications S.A. (NYSE: SQNS) announced that its Monarch 2 LTE-M/NB-IoT GM02S module, based on the Monarch 2 (SQN3430) chip, has been certified by Deutsche Telekom. Monarch 2 is Sequans’ second-generation LTE-M/NB-IoT technology and is designed to support massive IoT applications such as meters, trackers, sensors, and wearables. The Monarch 2 GM02S module delivers ultra-low power consumption, an integrated MCU and application SDK, and a Single-SKU™ RF front end that supports deployment in any band worldwide. It is fully backwards compatible with Sequans’ first-generation Monarch platform.

“The certification of Monarch 2 GM02S module supports Deutsche Telekom’s commitment to offering world-class connectivity, assuring their IoT customers of high performance and successful business cases,” said Didier Dutronc, EVP and head of Sequans massive IoT division. “This new certification expands the reach of our Monarch 2 GM02S module in Europe and adds to the growing list of approvals by network operators around the world.”

“We are pleased to complete the certification of Sequans’ Monarch 2 GM02S module, one of the most advanced cellular IoT connectivity modules available today,” said Miguel Rodriguez, Sr. Manager IoT Integration & Validation, Deutsche Telekom. “The GM02S brings future-proof technology which interoperates seamlessly with our 5G massive IoT networks, coupled with differentiations that greatly optimize power consumption.”

Monarch 2 GM02S Module Product Description
Monarch 2 GM02S is the industry’s most advanced LTE Cat M1/NB1/NB2 connectivity solution. It is based on Sequans’ second-generation Monarch 2 chip platform, which is designed and optimized to support 5G massive IoT. Monarch 2 provides significant improvements in performance and power consumption, while providing seamless migration for Monarch 1 customers because it is based on Sequans’ existing LTE-M/NB-IoT protocol stack—one of the most mature and proven in the entire LTE ecosystem. Monarch 2 GM02S is the world’s first Common Criteria EAL5+ certified cellular IoT platform for integrated SIM (iUICC), providing best-in-class security. Monarch 2 GM02S also includes Sequans’ Single-SKU™ RF front end, supporting deployment in any band worldwide, for true global deployment capability. A low-power application MCU allows customers to port their own code into the module via a feature rich SDK. On top of its ultra-low power consumption, Monarch 2 GM02S utilizes a single rail power supply starting at 2.2 V, the lowest voltage supported by any LTE-M/NB-IoT module in the industry today.

See Monarch 2 GM02S and Sequans at Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, February 28 – March 1, hall 5, stand 5H40.

About Sequans

Sequans Communications S.A. (NYSE: SQNS) is a leading developer and supplier of cellular IoT connectivity solutions, providing chips and modules for 5G/4G massive and broadband IoT. For 5G/4G massive IoT applications, Sequans provides a comprehensive product portfolio based on its flagship Monarch LTE-M/NB-IoT and Calliope Cat 1 chip platforms, featuring industry-leading low power consumption, a large set of integrated functionalities, and global deployment capability. For 5G/4G broadband IoT applications, Sequans offers a product portfolio based on its Cassiopeia Cat 4/Cat 6 4G and high-end Taurus 5G chip platforms, optimized for low-cost residential, enterprise, and industrial applications. Founded in 2003, Sequans is based in Paris, France with additional offices in the United States, United Kingdom, Israel, Hong Kong, Singapore, Finland, Taiwan, South Korea, and China. Visit Sequans online at www.sequans.com, and follow us on Twitter and Linked-In

[FJB] Sequans Integrates MicroEJ Edge Container on its Monarch 2 LTE-M/NB-IoT Platform...

FJB — 2/24/2022 1:32:29 PM

Sequans Integrates MicroEJ Edge Container on its Monarch 2 LTE-M/NB-IoT Platform
- Standard software container provides Sequans customers with the fastest go-to-production track, with budget and design time cut by up to half

- Demo of MICROEJ VEE (the Edge container) for Monarch 2 at MWC 2022

PARIS and BOSTON, Feb. 24, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Sequans Communications S.A. (NYSE: SQNS), leading provider of cellular IoT chips and modules, and MicroEJ, leading provider of standard software containers for IoT, announced a collaboration whereby the standard software Edge container, MICROEJ VEE, has been ported to Sequans' Monarch 2 platform, bringing significant benefits to Sequans' IoT customers. Benefits include a fast go-to-production track, which reduces development time and cost, and easy porting of non-cellular application types to cellular using Sequans' Monarch 2 technology.

www.sequans.com (PRNewsfoto/Sequans Communications)
"The proven MicroEJ development environment allows for fast development of IoT applications on our cellular IoT Monarch chip and module and will benefit our customers across many market segments," said Georges Karam, Sequans CEO. "With MicroEJ, we provide our customers a standard software container that enables them to capitalize on existing and future software development with an ease-of-use comparable to developing apps on smartphones."

MICROEJ VEE is a standard container for virtualization (Java* code) that allows developers to:

Capitalize on software assets: Developers can reuse and duplicate the software on several devices while guaranteeing optimal security and integrating new features without disrupting the design of new IoT products.
Simulation: MICROEJ VEE comes with its Virtual Device counterpart for desktop environments, enabling engineers to design and qualify their specifications on the virtual Monarch 2 based device, ahead of hardware design based on Sequans' Monarch 2 platform.
Deliver a low power solution: MICROEJ VEE leverages Monarch 2 low power features set, with a software friendly power mode framework that optimally adjusts power consumption.
Fast go-to-production: MICROEJ VEE application container enables products to be designed up to three times faster, significantly accelerating time-to-market by enabling several teams to work in parallel with clear interfaces between the various skills. This allows teams to work in parallel to "divide-and-conquer" and massively reduce the complexity of an embedded hardware and software IoT device.

"Our collaboration with Sequans, the leader in cellular IoT, promises great benefits to the electronic ecosystem," said Dr. Fred Rivard, MicroEJ CEO. "With our comprehensive MICROEJ VEE edge container integrated in Monarch 2, the world's most secure and advanced LTE-M/NB-IoT connectivity solution, device makers and developers anywhere in the world have a complete solution to create or adapt cost effective and useful devices, fast."

Leveraging Monarch 2's embedded application MCU, the Sequans/MicroEJ collaboration contributes to a more sustainable IoT environment with fewer components, enabling easier supply chain management within the current context of component shortages. Typical applications that can make the best use of the MICROEJ VEE application development environment include smart utility meters, appliances, wearables, and industrial IoT devices.

Monarch 2 GM02S is the world's only cellular IoT module with a certified Common Criteria EAL5+ secure enclave for integrated SIM (ieUICC) that is compliant with GSMA standards. The module also supports a single rail power supply starting at 2.2 V, the lowest level in the industry, allowing for better efficiency of the internal power management unit, further reducing power consumption, and lowering battery and BOM cost. For full product details, visit Sequans' Monarch 2 GM02S web page.

Sequans and MicroEJ are demonstrating the new integrated solution at MWC 2022 in Barcelona, February 28-March 3. Visit Sequans in hall 5, stand 5H40.

* Java™ is Sun Microsystems' trademark for a technology for developing application software and deploying it in cross-platform, networked environments. When it is used in this site without adding the "™" symbol, it includes implementations of the technology by companies other than Sun. Java™, all Java-based marks and all related logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems Inc, in the United States and other Countries."

About MicroEJ
MicroEJ is a leading developer and supplier of standard software containers for embedded and IoT devices. MicroEJ is focused on providing device manufacturers with secure products in markets where software applications require high performance, compact size, energy efficiency, and cost-effective development. Today, over 100 million flagship MICROEJ VEE have been sold, and chosen by many enterprises to design their electronic product applications in a large variety of industries, including smart home, wearables, healthcare, industrial automation, retail, telecommunications, smart city, building automation, transportation, etc.
For more info: Press Kit – www.microej.com
Contact: press@microej.com

About Sequans
Sequans Communications S.A. (NYSE: SQNS) is a leading developer and supplier of cellular IoT connectivity solutions, providing chips and modules for 5G/4G massive and broadband IoT. For 5G/4G massive IoT applications, Sequans provides a comprehensive product portfolio based on its flagship Monarch LTE-M/NB-IoT and Calliope Cat 1 chip platforms, featuring industry-leading low power consumption, a large set of integrated functionalities, and global deployment capability. For 5G/4G broadband IoT applications, Sequans offers a product portfolio based on its Cassiopeia Cat 4/Cat 6 4G and high-end Taurus 5G chip platforms, optimized for low-cost residential, enterprise, and industrial applications. Founded in 2003, Sequans is based in Paris, France with additional offices in the United States, United Kingdom, Israel, Hong Kong, Singapore, Finland, Taiwan, South Korea, and China. Visit Sequans online at www.sequans.com, and follow us on Twitter and Linked-In

Sequans media relations: Kimberly Tassin (USA), +1.425.736.0569, kimberly@sequans.com
Sequans investor relations: Kim Rogers (USA), +1 385.831.7337, kim@haydenir.com

Cision
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[FJB] www.lightreading.com /asia/after-two-blockbuster-years-mediatek-revamps-to-stay-...

FJB — 2/16/2022 2:06:30 PM

www.lightreading.com /asia/after-two-blockbuster-years-mediatek-revamps-to-stay-ahead/d/d-id/775319After two blockbuster years, Mediatek revamps to stay ahead | Light ReadingNews Analysis Robert Clark 2/16/20223-4 minutes
Sometimes a crisis really is an opportunity. Just ask Taiwan chip champion Mediatek.

It has ridden the pandemic to achieve record results and become the leader in smartphone chips.

In the last two years it has doubled revenue and increased earnings nearly five times while its stock price has risen threefold.

More than 2 billion electronic devices sold last year – from smartphones and tablets to smart TVs and routers – carried Mediatek components.
(Source: Ascannio/Alamy Stock Photo)

Last month it handed down another blockbuster result, with quarterly sales up 34% year-on-year to NT$129 billion (US$4.63 billion) and full-year revenue rising 53% to NT$493 billion. Quarterly net income doubled and full-year earnings soared 170%.

The Taipei-listed firm has benefited from the supply chain crunch that has driven up prices as well as the pandemic-induced growth in demand for smartphones and other devices.

It has enjoyed a further boost from Huawei's handset market exit, with China-based clients such as Vivo, Oppo and Xiaomi rushing in to fill the breach.

The company has overtaken Qualcomm to lead the smartphone SOC market, with a 43% market share in Q3, thanks to its competitive 5G products and the high demand for 4G SoCs, according to Counterpoint Research.

More than 2 billion electronic devices sold last year – from smartphones and tablets to smart TVs and routers – carried Mediatek components, the company said.

'More aggressive' growth plans

Now it has restructured itself into three units: smartphone, edge platforms, which covers devices, and its new power IC unit that is targeting industry verticals.

CEO Rick Tsai told analysts as a result the company expects the total addressable market to grow to $140 billion in 2024 up from $80 billion in 2021, with forecast CAGR revenue of "mid-teen percent for the next three years."

He said in Q4 the mobile phone unit accounted for roughly 52% of revenue, smart edge 41% and power around 7%.

In 2022, the company expects 5G to keep driving the smartphone market, and will likely account for more than half of all device sales worldwide, he said. Mediatek aimed to maintain its China 5G market share, but expected 5G shipments outside China would double in 2022.

Want to know more? Sign up to get our dedicated newsletters direct to
your inboxTsai highlighted Mediatek's high-end Dimensity 9000 SOC, which has been adopted by most major China brands and is due to launch in March, and the company's first millimeter wave chipset, which will go into mass production in the second half of the year.

Tsai also held out the possibility of pursuing acquisitions to drive growth, noting that Mediatek's greater scale allowed it to get "more aggressive.... we are looking at all options." "With our business realignment to invest heavily in computing, connectivity and smart edge platforms, we believe we are on the right track to capture future growth opportunities," he said.

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[FJB] Craig Ellis The next question relates to a point that came up a quarter ago, an...

FJB — 2/9/2022 1:35:44 PM

Craig Ellis

The next question relates to a point that came up a quarter ago, and it was the fact that the massive IoT business was breakeven in the calendar third quarter. And I know at this point in its growth, that might be a little bit lumpy quarter to quarter. But can you just talk about the visibility you have to massive IoT being, one, more consistently breakeven and then, two, consistently moving into profitability, when might that occur? And what are some of the things that would drive this to sustained profitability in that business from here?

Georges Karam

When you talk about profitability, it depends what you load under massive IoT, right? So, in general, we tend to talk about our legacy business, which is – include all what we have and take out the 5G investment, if you want. This is in referring to the timeline and so on, what we have spoken about. We remain in this game. If we take this year, in average, with the growth factor – growth targets we put to our ourselves, if I take out the 5G investment, definitely, we'll be profitable as a company. There is no doubt on this. And, obviously, the driver behind it making this growth because you can imagine the broadband is very limited, the services, they are what they are, they're more flat, so the main growth is coming from massive IoT that we said doubled year-over-year in terms of product revenue. And we expect to continue to see it, the growth on the massive IoT is expected, if not doubling, in any case, to be close to 70%, 80% – 70% this year year-over-year. So, the main growth is coming from this segment.

And this is based on the – again, the four segments I spoke about between smart homes, smart cities and the tracking and the health and medical, with design win in hand, turning to mass production. And this is what gives us the confidence that we'll achieve this.

[FJB] THANK YOU JOE BIDEN?!?! LOL. HOPE THEY GET A CRACK PIPE TOO... The CBRS, we a...

FJB — 2/9/2022 1:31:59 PM

THANK YOU JOE BIDEN?!?! LOL. HOPE THEY GET A CRACK PIPE TOO...

The CBRS, we are present in all this, Raji, and we did really phenomenal job last year because we have many design win, many customers. The challenge about this is that it remains fragmented. To be honest, all of them – each deal is a small deal, maybe excluding the tablet where it was sizable. I qualify it. And this is really, for example, a tablet for a jail just to give for prisoner. It's ruggedized tablets used by the prisoner and we were shipping in volume for it. And there is nice market, by the way, there. I'm sorry for the prisoner, but it's not a bad market for us.

[FJB] Rajvindra Gill Good job on the momentum in the business. Georges, just wanted t...

FJB — 2/9/2022 1:25:14 PM

Rajvindra Gill

Good job on the momentum in the business. Georges, just wanted to quickly talk about your partnerships with all the MCU suppliers, the major ones, Renesas, NXPI and Microchip. You talked about that they're very crucial in enabling you to scale and add to your sales trajectory. I'm wondering if you could elaborate a little bit further on kind of what you're seeing each of those MCUs doing this year in terms of rolling out your technology and folding it into their MCU portfolio. You mentioned NXPI, for instance, but wanted to get a little bit more clarity on how those MCU companies are incorporating your cellular IoT in their IoT portfolio.

Georges Karam

Indeed, as I mentioned, this is really – since two years, we took this path by partnering with the MCU partner knowing that none of them has cellular and, obviously, we can be for them what ARM is for them on the MCU, providing the cellular technology. And our strategy with them, to be honest, is really to play fair play with all of them and not to have an exclusive relationship preventing us from working with the other guy and offering to every one of them the full potential from a deal which could be just only partnering on the marketing side, to go further in the tools and the development, to get an integrated product by resell, and even towards IP integration, if this makes sense for MCU. So, this portfolio, it's very transparently offered of options to all of them.

Now, obviously, each one of them has his own agenda, his own way of moving on cellular, the timeline, how critical it is, and I cannot elaborate more because everyone has really his own strategy and everyone has his NDA with me. So, I will keep it confidential, what I know about each one of them. But in general, all I could say, they are different. The way we are approaching with them, everyone is following a track which is different from the other, which is, to some extent, nicer for me because I see which one is more successful. And the public one, we know that today, NXP, they have now platform with us, which is not my resell. In other words, we are joining customers and offering a platform together. And they will sell and I will sell.

Renesas took the decision to integrate our products in their portfolio. So, they resell. Their team is completely engaged. They have pipeline which is controlled by them, not by me. And I have visibility on it. But obviously, it's their pipeline and they drive it the way they want.

Microchip has something maybe in the middle today. I cannot elaborate more because it's not public. So that's how it is.

So, I still believe that working with them is very helpful because all the IoT devices integrate MCU. And all of them, when they need cellular, they need an MCU in 80% of the cases. So, the relationship with the MCU vendor is crucial. But the way we take it to market, obviously, it remains specific to each one of them.

All that I can say today, Renesas is going to be direct revenue that we will be shipping to Renesas this year, and I will not say negligible number, but it's not really – it's the beginning of the relation. But we have hope that this will go much bigger next year and maybe will be two digit next year as soon as we go to next year based on the pipeline I see today.

And with others, as there is no buy/resell today, it remains minimum revenue, if you want, direct revenue, but, obviously, we have design win together that are integrated in my pipe when I talk about my pipe.

[FJB] Scott Searle Lastly, and then I'll hop back in the queue, but talking about the...

FJB — 2/9/2022 1:15:24 PM

Scott Searle

Lastly, and then I'll hop back in the queue, but talking about the growth this year, that 30% to 40% growth in 2022, it sounds like you have both a combination of strong visibility to that in terms of your backlog and pipeline as well as your supply at a wafer level. Can you flex higher, does Renesas help on this front? I'm kind of wondering, in that, what are you factoring in in terms of contribution from the new Cat 1 product portfolio and if there are any larger smart city opportunities in there? Because I think that there were some larger potential opportunities there, timelines there where were a little bit fluid. So wondering what's kind of factoring into your current thoughts for 2022.

Georges Karam

We're factoring, essentially, the deal we have in hand more than what could happen or quite an advance and could turn some revenue this year. Obviously, all the new engagement, they are not really on track now to move to mass production quickly. The probability that they will contribute to revenue this year will be very limited, maybe towards the end of the year, but it's on the edge. Specifically, the new platform, Cat 1, we're not factoring revenue this year. We are assuming this will be more beginning of the next year. We could have some positive surprise if things move differently from this thing. And, obviously, we're leveraging the deals that are quite secured with our partners, the design win with Renesas or others. So there will be contribution of Renesas in our revenue this year. We are sure about it.

Now, on top of what I said in terms of guidance, we're taking into account the supply chain constraints, obviously, if we have more positive demand from customers and so on, we could start hurting the supply. So, when I'm giving my comment on the supply, it's really the supply we need to cover those kinds of numbers. If at the end, we have much more demand than this accelerating, then the limiting factor becomes, again, the supply. It doesn't mean we'll not be able to fix it. Because, as I mentioned, the Renesas deal could help from this angle as well. But for the time being, I'm just limiting to what we – deals we have in hand and supply to serve this deal. This is the number I'm factoring. This is the element I'm taking into account to mention this number, 30%, 40% growth.