WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.620 Welcome to episode 234 of the G2 on 5G. It's 00:00:03.620 --> 00:00:07.179 the latest Insight Scoop on everything 5G and 00:00:07.179 --> 00:00:10.259 6G, and we cover six topics in about 20 minutes, 00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:12.099 and it's brought to you by More Insights and 00:00:12.099 --> 00:00:14.599 Strategy. I'm Will Townsend, and joining me again 00:00:14.599 --> 00:00:17.579 this week is fellow analyst Anshul Saag. Let's 00:00:17.579 --> 00:00:19.600 get started with my first topic. I want to talk 00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:23.079 about Deutsche Telekom, and in 2026, they are 00:00:23.079 --> 00:00:26.500 planning to build an AI gigafactory. So this 00:00:26.500 --> 00:00:31.879 news follows prior news around the company and 00:00:31.879 --> 00:00:34.640 mobile network operator wanting to build an AI 00:00:34.640 --> 00:00:38.780 cloud. And no surprise, they're working with 00:00:38.780 --> 00:00:42.240 NVIDIA on this. And they report that testing 00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:45.679 of AI functions are already underway. Key to 00:00:45.679 --> 00:00:48.259 this is also a partnership model. So Deutsche 00:00:48.259 --> 00:00:51.619 Telekom is working not only with NVIDIA and a 00:00:51.619 --> 00:00:53.880 company called Brookfield. But there are nearly 00:00:53.880 --> 00:00:57.579 100 applicants that want to participate in this. 00:00:58.100 --> 00:01:02.340 And from my perspective, we've seen mobile launch 00:01:02.340 --> 00:01:05.599 cloud services. I don't know, man, what's your 00:01:05.599 --> 00:01:07.859 thought? Can Deutsche Telekom be successful with 00:01:07.859 --> 00:01:09.859 this? It's interesting because Brookfield is 00:01:09.859 --> 00:01:12.840 a big infrastructure company. So this is clearly 00:01:12.840 --> 00:01:16.019 an infrastructure play. I believe that this will 00:01:16.019 --> 00:01:19.000 likely be something that they try to offer to 00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:25.439 companies to... get this AI performance on the 00:01:25.439 --> 00:01:27.840 5G network as close as possible to the user. 00:01:28.120 --> 00:01:31.280 And I think that's the play is CSPs, they can 00:01:31.280 --> 00:01:33.420 only get so close to the customer. And the truth 00:01:33.420 --> 00:01:36.099 is the mobile network operators like a Deutsche 00:01:36.099 --> 00:01:38.859 Telekom are always going to be closer. So I think 00:01:38.859 --> 00:01:40.819 this might be one of those plays where we're 00:01:40.819 --> 00:01:44.620 going to play towards low latency AI applications. 00:01:45.019 --> 00:01:47.219 That's how I see this, but those might still 00:01:47.219 --> 00:01:49.060 be a little bit down the road, which is why. 00:01:49.469 --> 00:01:51.269 This might be a process of a couple of years 00:01:51.269 --> 00:01:53.170 until it actually gets rolled out and built out. 00:01:53.310 --> 00:01:55.049 And by then there might be more demand for this 00:01:55.049 --> 00:01:58.030 edge AI capability. Yeah. Now, hey, you make 00:01:58.030 --> 00:02:00.510 a great observation. Edge AI, right? And that's 00:02:00.510 --> 00:02:02.769 something that we have been talking about on 00:02:02.769 --> 00:02:08.189 this podcast for quite some time. And there are 00:02:08.189 --> 00:02:10.750 going to be applications that are going to take 00:02:10.750 --> 00:02:12.729 full advantage of that when you think about manufacturing 00:02:12.729 --> 00:02:17.030 and logistics and that sort of thing. And yeah, 00:02:17.169 --> 00:02:19.930 great observation, my friend. Hey, let's go to 00:02:19.930 --> 00:02:22.110 your first topic. You want to talk about Reliance. 00:02:22.509 --> 00:02:25.289 They're launching 10 new nationwide 5G network 00:02:25.289 --> 00:02:28.270 slices in India. I didn't catch this news, so 00:02:28.270 --> 00:02:30.090 I'm looking very forward to hearing what you 00:02:30.090 --> 00:02:32.729 have to say about it. Yeah, so I saw this on 00:02:32.729 --> 00:02:37.409 RCR. And basically, it's 10 different types of 00:02:37.409 --> 00:02:40.289 slices that run nationwide across India. They 00:02:40.289 --> 00:02:44.689 include IoT, gaming, FWA, and mission -critical 00:02:44.689 --> 00:02:47.520 services. They said that their fixed wireless 00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:50.460 subscriber business, which is one of the slices, 00:02:50.719 --> 00:02:53.979 it's called AirFiber, 7 .4 million subscribers, 00:02:54.460 --> 00:02:58.439 making it the world's leading FWA provider, which 00:02:58.439 --> 00:03:00.419 if you remember, we get to take credit for this. 00:03:00.500 --> 00:03:02.819 We both said that was going to happen. We said 00:03:02.819 --> 00:03:05.680 that Gio was going to be the one who got FWA 00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:09.520 scale the fastest and the most. And they did. 00:03:09.800 --> 00:03:14.139 And yeah, this is just Reliance talking about... 00:03:14.349 --> 00:03:17.770 using their own in -house 5G ESA core and deploying 00:03:17.770 --> 00:03:21.169 real world applications nationwide and not talking 00:03:21.169 --> 00:03:23.569 about them as pilots or having them in certain 00:03:23.569 --> 00:03:27.449 locations, but building it fully nationwide and 00:03:27.449 --> 00:03:30.889 having SLA based 5G experiences that isolate 00:03:30.889 --> 00:03:33.949 traffic for each slice that really guarantees 00:03:33.949 --> 00:03:37.430 performance for what people need. And I am actually 00:03:37.430 --> 00:03:40.389 hoping that I can get a gaming slice deployed 00:03:40.389 --> 00:03:43.520 here in San Diego. for comic -con next year because 00:03:43.520 --> 00:03:46.879 the pc gaming room that we have at comic -con 00:03:46.879 --> 00:03:48.860 that's actually officially part of comic -con 00:03:48.860 --> 00:03:51.819 has no internet because internet is a complete 00:03:51.819 --> 00:03:54.340 and utter nightmare at conventions it typically 00:03:54.340 --> 00:03:56.860 is right yeah and i'm going to try and find a 00:03:56.860 --> 00:03:59.639 way to work with one of the providers to do that 00:03:59.639 --> 00:04:02.699 network slices are really important in congested 00:04:02.699 --> 00:04:05.840 environments and yeah it's this is really not 00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:08.139 a surprise if anything i would call this a victory 00:04:08.139 --> 00:04:12.080 lap and yeah like i think geo's just beginning, 00:04:12.180 --> 00:04:14.879 because I think there are going to be some applications 00:04:14.879 --> 00:04:19.220 that they are going to make possible before anybody 00:04:19.220 --> 00:04:22.759 else. And this is the beginning of it. So let 00:04:22.759 --> 00:04:25.420 me make sure I understood what you said. So are 00:04:25.420 --> 00:04:31.220 they slicing for both mobility and FWA? Yep. 00:04:31.639 --> 00:04:35.279 Wow. That's interesting because all of the discussion 00:04:35.279 --> 00:04:38.839 and talk has been around today has been mostly 00:04:38.839 --> 00:04:41.750 around mobility. So that is an interesting wrinkle 00:04:41.750 --> 00:04:44.350 that they're introducing. It's similar to what 00:04:44.350 --> 00:04:48.170 AT &T did, right? Their first standalone rollout 00:04:48.170 --> 00:04:51.610 was a slice specifically for fixed wireless. 00:04:51.990 --> 00:04:55.709 I remember that. And I got corrected because 00:04:55.709 --> 00:04:58.509 they didn't want me to use the term slice. Okay. 00:04:58.529 --> 00:05:01.089 So it's not a slice. You're talking about turbo, 00:05:01.250 --> 00:05:05.850 right? Just the whole FWA deployment. Okay. It's 00:05:05.850 --> 00:05:09.350 standalone, right? But I don't know if... It 00:05:09.350 --> 00:05:12.310 sounds like turbo is not a slice, right? Not 00:05:12.310 --> 00:05:14.769 quite. Yeah. And it's funny. I went back and 00:05:14.769 --> 00:05:17.050 forth with a lot of folks internally on this 00:05:17.050 --> 00:05:20.089 and wrong or indifferent. It was around the whole 00:05:20.089 --> 00:05:22.949 net neutrality discussions as well. Turbo is 00:05:22.949 --> 00:05:24.550 a pretty interesting offering. We've talked about 00:05:24.550 --> 00:05:27.269 it on prior podcasts, but it's mobility, right? 00:05:27.589 --> 00:05:31.829 Yeah. Yeah. I think it is as well. Yeah. It applies 00:05:31.829 --> 00:05:34.529 to both, but it's really, it's it ladders into 00:05:34.529 --> 00:05:38.149 what AT &T is doing with guarantee. And delivering, 00:05:38.350 --> 00:05:43.810 yeah, not a hard SLA that's monetized, but really 00:05:43.810 --> 00:05:47.430 trying to step up and provide not only the most 00:05:47.430 --> 00:05:50.709 consistent and reliable mobility and F2BA service, 00:05:50.829 --> 00:05:55.649 but also offer the best deal. Geo is just putting 00:05:55.649 --> 00:05:59.689 it into a slice so they don't have to overcomplicate 00:05:59.689 --> 00:06:02.569 it, right? Yeah, no, it's interesting. They continue 00:06:02.569 --> 00:06:06.180 to be an innovator, a leader. They lean into 00:06:06.180 --> 00:06:09.639 disaggregated infrastructure. They've done quite 00:06:09.639 --> 00:06:12.819 a bit. And they've done it very cost effectively. 00:06:13.120 --> 00:06:15.480 I looked at their most recent earnings. Super 00:06:15.480 --> 00:06:18.279 solid. They continue to crank on the important 00:06:18.279 --> 00:06:20.699 things there. And they're ultimately providing 00:06:20.699 --> 00:06:24.319 lots of value to their subscribership. And they 00:06:24.319 --> 00:06:27.019 are growing. By my estimation, they're growing 00:06:27.019 --> 00:06:29.019 at a faster clip than their other competitors 00:06:29.019 --> 00:06:32.180 in India. But good stuff, my friend. Let me go 00:06:32.180 --> 00:06:34.300 hit my second topic. I want to talk about T -Mobile. 00:06:35.109 --> 00:06:38.610 And they're working with fluid conservation systems. 00:06:39.129 --> 00:06:41.730 And what they're doing is they're teaming up 00:06:41.730 --> 00:06:45.769 for U .S. water utility transformation. And this 00:06:45.769 --> 00:06:49.269 has to do with IoT and leak detection systems. 00:06:49.889 --> 00:06:54.009 And so obviously, T -Mobile is providing its 00:06:54.009 --> 00:06:56.290 T -IoT platform, something that you and I have 00:06:56.290 --> 00:06:58.810 talked about on many different occasions. But 00:06:58.810 --> 00:07:01.670 it's a really interesting use case. It's acoustic 00:07:01.670 --> 00:07:05.670 water leak solution. It's actually using sensors 00:07:05.670 --> 00:07:10.310 to listen acoustically to determine leak detection. 00:07:10.649 --> 00:07:14.709 And if you think about it, this requires a lot 00:07:14.709 --> 00:07:17.170 of technology. It's going to require ultra -low 00:07:17.170 --> 00:07:22.870 latency. It's not your typical industrial -type 00:07:22.870 --> 00:07:26.750 IoT use case. But I thought it was really interesting 00:07:26.750 --> 00:07:30.269 to highlight. It's doing a lot of different things. 00:07:31.930 --> 00:07:35.370 Basically replacing the manual hydrant -to -hydrant 00:07:35.370 --> 00:07:38.769 inspection process, what Cellular is doing for 00:07:38.769 --> 00:07:41.009 smart metering, where you don't have to send 00:07:41.009 --> 00:07:44.290 the meter mate or meter man. You can do this 00:07:44.290 --> 00:07:47.269 all electronically. In Austin, Texas, before 00:07:47.269 --> 00:07:50.550 I moved to Bastrop, they had implemented something 00:07:50.550 --> 00:07:54.750 like that. And again, one of the other big challenges, 00:07:55.050 --> 00:07:57.750 and at least in older cities, and we had this 00:07:57.750 --> 00:08:01.089 issue in Austin at my older home. central austin 00:08:01.089 --> 00:08:04.629 a lot of the infrastructure is aging a lot of 00:08:04.629 --> 00:08:08.310 like the connections from the water mains into 00:08:08.310 --> 00:08:12.329 homes are not pvc they're metal in some instances 00:08:12.329 --> 00:08:15.110 they're ceramic because some of the neighborhoods 00:08:15.110 --> 00:08:18.009 in austin date back to the 40s and 50s and actually 00:08:18.009 --> 00:08:20.069 in my old neighborhood it was a cotton plantation 00:08:20.069 --> 00:08:24.029 many years ago but but but there's so there's 00:08:24.029 --> 00:08:25.629 an environmental impact of what they're doing 00:08:25.629 --> 00:08:27.709 here so i love it it's driving sustainability 00:08:28.589 --> 00:08:31.990 it's driving efficiency and it's leveraging the 00:08:31.990 --> 00:08:35.549 power of t -mobile's nationwide network so what 00:08:35.549 --> 00:08:38.830 are your thoughts i saw this announcement yeah 00:08:38.830 --> 00:08:43.309 i do think that this is actually a lower like 00:08:43.309 --> 00:08:47.129 frequency connection so i don't think this needs 00:08:47.129 --> 00:08:49.850 a very high throughput connection yeah it's i 00:08:49.850 --> 00:08:53.129 think it's leak detection tends to be it's really 00:08:53.129 --> 00:08:56.440 to preserve the infrastructure that could be 00:08:56.440 --> 00:08:59.860 leaked into. Mold remediation is a huge problem. 00:09:00.080 --> 00:09:03.600 So if you can spend $5, $10 a month at most to 00:09:03.600 --> 00:09:05.779 save yourself thousands of dollars on the road, 00:09:05.860 --> 00:09:09.720 it's nothing. But I do think that this is one 00:09:09.720 --> 00:09:13.019 of those things where somebody has to connect 00:09:13.019 --> 00:09:15.639 it somehow. Most likely there's probably some 00:09:15.639 --> 00:09:19.620 kind of a hub that's taking the sensor data and 00:09:19.620 --> 00:09:23.440 then transmitting it up to the cloud. And yeah, 00:09:23.500 --> 00:09:25.100 this is just one of those things where it's like 00:09:25.100 --> 00:09:28.679 there's so many opportunities for modernization 00:09:28.679 --> 00:09:32.399 of infrastructure and also monitoring old infrastructure 00:09:32.399 --> 00:09:35.980 as well. I think there's multiple avenues that 00:09:35.980 --> 00:09:38.799 this can benefit both consumers and government 00:09:38.799 --> 00:09:42.840 and other NGOs. And in general, I just think 00:09:42.840 --> 00:09:45.720 that there's a lot of opportunity to modernize 00:09:45.720 --> 00:09:54.200 and improve and save on costs. a disaster these 00:09:54.200 --> 00:09:56.220 sensors can also be used to know which homes 00:09:56.220 --> 00:09:59.000 are underwater which homes aren't there's all 00:09:59.000 --> 00:10:01.100 kinds of things but the acoustic sensor is an 00:10:01.100 --> 00:10:03.320 interesting one yeah because most of the leak 00:10:03.320 --> 00:10:06.679 sensors that i've experienced have been a physical 00:10:06.679 --> 00:10:09.320 sensor that sits at the bottom of your sink yeah 00:10:09.320 --> 00:10:11.899 moisture yeah and yeah we're still detecting 00:10:11.899 --> 00:10:14.340 for moisture but i actually had a leak happened 00:10:14.340 --> 00:10:16.759 in my old apartment and the detector went off 00:10:16.759 --> 00:10:20.519 it works yeah now water is a precious resource 00:10:20.519 --> 00:10:23.350 and i think we've all experienced water leaks 00:10:23.350 --> 00:10:26.990 in our day and as a homeowner i had an issue 00:10:26.990 --> 00:10:29.049 moving into my new home as well and it's sometimes 00:10:29.049 --> 00:10:31.590 very difficult to pinpoint that and this is certainly 00:10:31.590 --> 00:10:35.769 more of a commercial to your point critical infrastructure 00:10:35.769 --> 00:10:38.769 type deployment but it would be cool to see this 00:10:38.769 --> 00:10:41.909 cascade down into the consumer realm but i just 00:10:41.909 --> 00:10:43.169 thought it was a really interesting use case 00:10:43.169 --> 00:10:47.799 and again t -mobile continues to build upon what 00:10:47.799 --> 00:10:50.799 it's doing within enterprise services and T -Mobile 00:10:50.799 --> 00:10:53.159 for business. And we were talking about T -Mobile 00:10:53.159 --> 00:10:55.799 five, six years ago when they were battling to 00:10:55.799 --> 00:10:59.460 acquire Sprint. And it's just been fun to see 00:10:59.460 --> 00:11:02.980 the evolution of the company over time. And for 00:11:02.980 --> 00:11:05.080 our viewers and listeners, Anshul and I will 00:11:05.080 --> 00:11:08.240 be spending more time with the team there in 00:11:08.240 --> 00:11:10.179 Bellevue towards the end of the month. And so 00:11:10.179 --> 00:11:12.799 some of that will be probably under non -disclosure, 00:11:12.860 --> 00:11:15.980 but anything that we can publicly share. We will 00:11:15.980 --> 00:11:18.879 probably speak to you in a future podcast. But 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:21.779 let's go to your second topic. And we're going 00:11:21.779 --> 00:11:23.820 to get the space mob excited about this one, 00:11:23.860 --> 00:11:26.399 my friend. But you want to talk about AST Space 00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:32.500 Mobile and Global S -Band Spectrum. Yes. So this 00:11:32.500 --> 00:11:35.659 is actually quite a big deal. The details of 00:11:35.659 --> 00:11:38.820 this deal will be disclosed on earnings on Monday. 00:11:38.960 --> 00:11:41.700 So this is like a pre -read for earnings. And 00:11:41.700 --> 00:11:45.990 basically they signed a deal. an agreement to 00:11:45.990 --> 00:11:50.789 acquire S band priority rights under the ITU 00:11:50.789 --> 00:11:55.830 and that this spectrum will be valuable for them 00:11:55.830 --> 00:11:59.889 to essentially access at a global scale because 00:11:59.889 --> 00:12:02.129 right now a lot of satellite providers including 00:12:02.129 --> 00:12:05.019 them They're using terrestrial licenses. And 00:12:05.019 --> 00:12:07.379 they're working individually with mobile network 00:12:07.379 --> 00:12:09.460 operators. And that becomes a very segmented 00:12:09.460 --> 00:12:12.379 process, right? Yeah. It's a pretty, it's a lot 00:12:12.379 --> 00:12:16.139 of work, a lot of legal, a lot of wrangling and 00:12:16.139 --> 00:12:19.059 harmonization, all kinds of things. Sure. But 00:12:19.059 --> 00:12:23.679 they did say that it is a, in the 1980 to 2010 00:12:23.679 --> 00:12:28.440 megahertz and 2170 to 2200 megahertz bands. And 00:12:28.440 --> 00:12:33.639 then it's a $64 .5 million deal. $26 million 00:12:33.639 --> 00:12:35.899 paid at closing and then deferred consideration 00:12:35.899 --> 00:12:40.059 of $38 million. And the company expects the deal 00:12:40.059 --> 00:12:41.860 to close in the second half of this year. So 00:12:41.860 --> 00:12:44.980 the spectrum will be available fairly soon. So 00:12:44.980 --> 00:12:47.820 it's clearly somebody who already owns it. They 00:12:47.820 --> 00:12:50.860 have not disclosed who's the owner of the spectrum, 00:12:51.019 --> 00:12:55.759 but MSS spectrum is pretty valuable because you 00:12:55.759 --> 00:12:57.440 don't have to use terrestrial spectrum like we 00:12:57.440 --> 00:12:59.980 mentioned earlier. And this would enable them 00:12:59.980 --> 00:13:02.700 to power their own service and not to have to 00:13:02.700 --> 00:13:05.419 be depending on different carriers around the 00:13:05.419 --> 00:13:07.259 world to do. This is like a huge net positive 00:13:07.259 --> 00:13:09.500 for the company. I think people will be very 00:13:09.500 --> 00:13:12.179 excited about this and we'll get more details 00:13:12.179 --> 00:13:15.720 on Monday when they report earnings. But I think 00:13:15.720 --> 00:13:18.240 AST being able to deploy their own service would 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:21.200 be huge. And it would be cool to see how that 00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:25.159 translates to smartphone compatibility and all 00:13:25.159 --> 00:13:28.129 these other things that are. always challenging 00:13:28.129 --> 00:13:30.830 down the road. But yeah, I don't really see this 00:13:30.830 --> 00:13:32.649 being bad in any way, shape or form. If anything, 00:13:32.850 --> 00:13:35.029 it shows that the company's maturing and that 00:13:35.029 --> 00:13:38.230 they're looking to bolster their capabilities 00:13:38.230 --> 00:13:41.809 at a global scale. Yeah, I totally agree. Now, 00:13:41.950 --> 00:13:46.330 early on, I weighed in a few years ago and evaluated 00:13:46.330 --> 00:13:49.169 after spending time with AST Space Mobile, their 00:13:49.169 --> 00:13:51.990 tech stack versus Starlink. One of the things 00:13:51.990 --> 00:13:54.950 I pointed out was that at the time, it seemed 00:13:54.950 --> 00:13:58.230 like AST Space Mobile was going to be just satisfied 00:13:58.230 --> 00:14:01.149 with being that middleware provider. And I pointed 00:14:01.149 --> 00:14:04.669 out that Starlink has a competitive satellite 00:14:04.669 --> 00:14:07.730 FWA offering, and that could create some friction. 00:14:07.809 --> 00:14:10.929 The partnership that Starlink has with T -Mobile, 00:14:11.110 --> 00:14:15.590 I believe it's a time -bound exclusive between 00:14:15.590 --> 00:14:18.149 the two companies, and so that will expire eventually. 00:14:18.690 --> 00:14:21.990 But yeah, this sort of builds upon prior news 00:14:21.990 --> 00:14:25.750 that AST Space Mobile is absolutely focused on 00:14:26.839 --> 00:14:30.919 creating a standalone service. But I still think 00:14:30.919 --> 00:14:33.519 that there's an opportunity for that to coexist 00:14:33.519 --> 00:14:36.960 with what they're doing with Vodafone, what they're 00:14:36.960 --> 00:14:40.419 doing with AT &T for direct to sell, and what 00:14:40.419 --> 00:14:42.419 they're doing with other MNOs around the world 00:14:42.419 --> 00:14:46.460 because they've got 60 plus some odd MOUs with 00:14:46.460 --> 00:14:48.659 mobile network operators. But this just gives 00:14:48.659 --> 00:14:51.480 them additional flexibility. And the last time 00:14:51.480 --> 00:14:53.440 that Bill and I were together, it was in Barcelona. 00:14:54.279 --> 00:14:56.500 We were talking about a lot of different things. 00:14:56.519 --> 00:15:00.759 And there are, I think it's no secret that there 00:15:00.759 --> 00:15:03.059 are some applications tied to the government. 00:15:03.580 --> 00:15:05.899 And I don't have any detail on that. And he couldn't 00:15:05.899 --> 00:15:08.299 go into any detail on that because that is obviously 00:15:08.299 --> 00:15:11.240 very highly confidential. But we were also talking 00:15:11.240 --> 00:15:14.259 about, think about reimagining the experience 00:15:14.259 --> 00:15:17.639 on aircraft, right? Because when you're flying 00:15:17.639 --> 00:15:21.129 at 25, 30, 35 ,000 feet. When we're talking low 00:15:21.129 --> 00:15:23.509 Earth orbit satellites, think about the distance 00:15:23.509 --> 00:15:27.570 versus traditional geosynchronous satellite connectivity. 00:15:27.909 --> 00:15:30.070 We all know that the performance that we have 00:15:30.070 --> 00:15:32.450 with services like GoGo is less than desirable. 00:15:32.590 --> 00:15:35.049 I've been a little opinionated about that, but 00:15:35.049 --> 00:15:37.629 this is all exciting. I think it's going to provide 00:15:37.629 --> 00:15:40.789 flexibility. It's going to provide them to look 00:15:40.789 --> 00:15:44.029 at different areas that they can go search for 00:15:44.029 --> 00:15:46.970 adjacency and incremental revenue opportunities. 00:15:48.080 --> 00:15:49.960 I think it's just an exciting development in 00:15:49.960 --> 00:15:52.480 general for NTN services. Great stuff. And I'm 00:15:52.480 --> 00:15:54.259 glad you picked that as a topic. Had you not, 00:15:54.399 --> 00:15:57.139 I probably would have picked it. But let me wrap 00:15:57.139 --> 00:16:00.399 up with my third and final topic. And I had been 00:16:00.399 --> 00:16:03.480 pre -briefed by the Salona team on this, but 00:16:03.480 --> 00:16:06.960 this week they've launched a new architecture 00:16:06.960 --> 00:16:11.480 called AirFlex. And I provided some insights 00:16:11.480 --> 00:16:14.899 on both my LinkedIn and XHandles, but from my 00:16:14.899 --> 00:16:18.120 perspective, this is pretty game -changing. And 00:16:18.120 --> 00:16:22.299 so what it's doing, it's moving the core in the 00:16:22.299 --> 00:16:27.659 cloud, basically. And so doing it, Solana is 00:16:27.659 --> 00:16:30.799 going to make it just as easy as a Wi -Fi deployment. 00:16:31.220 --> 00:16:35.940 Basically, you hang their private 5G access point, 00:16:36.080 --> 00:16:40.940 and then there's an amount of processing on that. 00:16:41.240 --> 00:16:44.080 I asked them what the chipset was because I knew 00:16:44.080 --> 00:16:46.830 you would be interested in that. I didn't get 00:16:46.830 --> 00:16:50.470 a complete answer on that, but actually I did. 00:16:50.529 --> 00:16:53.230 Now that I think about it, it's NXP. I thought 00:16:53.230 --> 00:16:55.570 it would be Qualcomm. They are using Qualcomm 00:16:55.570 --> 00:16:58.289 modems, but they're using NXP SSCs for this. 00:16:58.610 --> 00:17:01.610 But from my perspective, this reduces the friction. 00:17:02.190 --> 00:17:07.130 This improves the viability of sort of cherry 00:17:07.130 --> 00:17:09.430 picking different environments. If you think 00:17:09.430 --> 00:17:12.289 about like a college campus and the student union, 00:17:12.390 --> 00:17:15.759 that's a story under the ground. or whatever, 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:18.380 it's just going to provide flexibility. What 00:17:18.380 --> 00:17:22.720 I also like about it is that Celona is able to 00:17:22.720 --> 00:17:25.339 process secure local break on the access point. 00:17:25.880 --> 00:17:28.000 What do you think buddy about all that? I think 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:31.619 it's interesting. The access point solution is 00:17:31.619 --> 00:17:33.579 something that I'm not really familiar with. 00:17:33.700 --> 00:17:37.000 Yeah. So I'll take your analysis at face value. 00:17:37.220 --> 00:17:39.400 Yeah. Basically what it does is it eliminates 00:17:39.400 --> 00:17:42.900 the need to have core infrastructure racked within 00:17:42.900 --> 00:17:45.170 an environment. So it just provides flexibility 00:17:45.170 --> 00:17:47.990 from a deployment perspective. And if you think 00:17:47.990 --> 00:17:50.829 about branch locations where you have little 00:17:50.829 --> 00:17:54.250 IT staff, you're just going to be able to deploy 00:17:54.250 --> 00:17:56.710 their private 5G solution that much more easily. 00:17:56.890 --> 00:17:59.289 So I'll probably be going a little bit deeper 00:17:59.289 --> 00:18:02.690 into this in a future contributed writing piece, 00:18:02.789 --> 00:18:05.509 but I just thought it was a pretty cool announcement 00:18:05.509 --> 00:18:07.950 to mention. It's going to be pretty game -changing 00:18:07.950 --> 00:18:10.680 from my perspective. Let's wrap up with your 00:18:10.680 --> 00:18:12.539 third and final topic. And you want to talk about 00:18:12.539 --> 00:18:16.579 D -Link and TP -Link and some new Wi -Fi 7 travel 00:18:16.579 --> 00:18:21.539 routers. Yeah, I actually saw the TP -Link one 00:18:21.539 --> 00:18:24.460 first when I was doing some laptop research on 00:18:24.460 --> 00:18:28.980 Notebook Check's website. It's the TP -Link BE3600. 00:18:29.039 --> 00:18:31.799 It's a travel router. And it's powered by USB 00:18:31.799 --> 00:18:34.279 -C. So you can literally just plug it into anything 00:18:34.279 --> 00:18:36.960 with a USB -C port to power it. And it can be... 00:18:37.420 --> 00:18:40.539 It's designed to be used with a 5G modem to allow 00:18:40.539 --> 00:18:45.299 for literally palm -sized routers. So you can 00:18:45.299 --> 00:18:48.519 connect it via USB -C for power. And then it 00:18:48.519 --> 00:18:52.339 has Ethernet ports and even a USB port. And yeah, 00:18:52.400 --> 00:18:53.940 it's something you can just throw in the bag. 00:18:54.039 --> 00:18:56.640 And it's really tiny. And it can help you connect 00:18:56.640 --> 00:19:01.359 all of your devices to the 5G internet. I really 00:19:01.359 --> 00:19:04.440 think it's great. I don't think it actually has 00:19:04.440 --> 00:19:07.309 an integrated modem. So you would still need 00:19:07.309 --> 00:19:11.529 to have some kind of a modem to drive it. But 00:19:11.529 --> 00:19:13.869 it is Wi -Fi 7. So it's like really small and 00:19:13.869 --> 00:19:16.869 will enable really fast Wi -Fi wherever you might 00:19:16.869 --> 00:19:21.769 go. But there's also a device from D -Link, which 00:19:21.769 --> 00:19:24.170 does have a built -in modem. And that one is 00:19:24.170 --> 00:19:30.680 the, this is a horrible name. G572 5GNR BE7200 00:19:30.680 --> 00:19:33.220 Wi -Fi 7 router. And this one's cool because 00:19:33.220 --> 00:19:35.299 it does have a 5G modem built in. So you just 00:19:35.299 --> 00:19:38.000 pop in a SIM card and you get Wi -Fi 7 connectivity. 00:19:38.519 --> 00:19:42.420 And it's fairly small. It's funny because the 00:19:42.420 --> 00:19:45.240 images on their website or on the announcement 00:19:45.240 --> 00:19:47.799 from TP Tech Power Up, they don't really show 00:19:47.799 --> 00:19:49.359 what it looks like, but it's actually like a 00:19:49.359 --> 00:19:51.519 barrel shaped kind of device. It's still fairly 00:19:51.519 --> 00:19:54.920 compact. It doesn't look like a router with antennas 00:19:54.920 --> 00:19:56.279 and stuff like that. So it's a little bit more 00:19:56.279 --> 00:19:58.619 portable, but I wouldn't consider that a travel 00:19:58.619 --> 00:20:00.700 router as much. It does seem like it would be 00:20:00.700 --> 00:20:04.299 something for a backup or if you wanted to have 00:20:04.299 --> 00:20:09.599 Wi -Fi 7 at your business. Wi -Fi 7 is just more 00:20:09.599 --> 00:20:13.279 secure, has better range. And yeah, I think it's 00:20:13.279 --> 00:20:16.759 nice to see more Wi -Fi 7 5G routers out there. 00:20:18.089 --> 00:20:20.150 It's also showing that the cost of deploying 00:20:20.150 --> 00:20:23.410 Wi -Fi 7 and 5G together is coming down so that 00:20:23.410 --> 00:20:26.109 people can combine the two latest and greatest 00:20:26.109 --> 00:20:28.869 technologies. And this potentially connected 00:20:28.869 --> 00:20:33.210 to a 5G slice could even improve connectivity 00:20:33.210 --> 00:20:36.450 even better for business and personal use in 00:20:36.450 --> 00:20:39.630 ways that Wi -Fi 6 with 4G wouldn't have been 00:20:39.630 --> 00:20:44.559 able to do a few years ago. Yeah, yeah. So what 00:20:44.559 --> 00:20:47.059 do you think, what are the ideal use cases for 00:20:47.059 --> 00:20:50.240 this? Obviously it's portable. So it's for folks 00:20:50.240 --> 00:20:53.599 that travel, folks that use a lot of different 00:20:53.599 --> 00:20:57.819 devices, like including like camera. The first 00:20:57.819 --> 00:20:59.500 device would definitely be something where you 00:20:59.500 --> 00:21:03.339 use this connected to something that's like already 00:21:03.339 --> 00:21:06.220 a 5G modem of some sort, like a USB modem. You 00:21:06.220 --> 00:21:08.140 connect that to this and then you would get Wi 00:21:08.140 --> 00:21:11.140 -Fi 7. What it does is it ensures that you get. 00:21:11.450 --> 00:21:13.990 better coverage in the area that you're in. So 00:21:13.990 --> 00:21:16.309 you don't have to like huddle next to the hotspot. 00:21:16.349 --> 00:21:18.869 Like a hotspot. Yeah. Cause a hotspot doesn't 00:21:18.869 --> 00:21:21.730 have the antenna intuition. Yeah, exactly. And 00:21:21.730 --> 00:21:24.029 then on top of that, the other device, I would 00:21:24.029 --> 00:21:26.569 see that as almost a backup where you have wifi 00:21:26.569 --> 00:21:29.009 for stuff, but then you have this device kind 00:21:29.009 --> 00:21:33.109 of sitting around idling in case your internet 00:21:33.109 --> 00:21:35.609 goes out, you can have this as a backup. Also, 00:21:35.690 --> 00:21:38.069 maybe I would take this to places where you normally 00:21:38.069 --> 00:21:40.259 don't have internet. We want to have good coverage. 00:21:40.319 --> 00:21:42.279 We have people walking around with POS devices 00:21:42.279 --> 00:21:44.759 because most points of sale now are some kind 00:21:44.759 --> 00:21:48.519 of handheld tablet or phone like device. And 00:21:48.519 --> 00:21:50.279 those need to have coverage. You want to have 00:21:50.279 --> 00:21:52.019 something with a little bit better coverage than 00:21:52.019 --> 00:21:56.259 a hotspot or even a wifi puck. Cause the truth 00:21:56.259 --> 00:21:58.640 is none of those antennas to your point are limited. 00:21:58.799 --> 00:22:00.799 And so was the power that they draw. This is 00:22:00.799 --> 00:22:02.200 something that would be a little bit more permanent. 00:22:02.859 --> 00:22:05.119 but also doesn't have to be because as long as 00:22:05.119 --> 00:22:08.579 you have power, these Wi -Fi 7 5G routers can 00:22:08.579 --> 00:22:11.880 actually be pretty useful. Yeah, I imagine they're 00:22:11.880 --> 00:22:14.220 powered via USB, I would imagine, right? When 00:22:14.220 --> 00:22:15.940 they're plugged into a notebook or whatever. 00:22:16.099 --> 00:22:19.160 Yeah, so the first one for sure. I couldn't get 00:22:19.160 --> 00:22:22.019 details on the second one because their product 00:22:22.019 --> 00:22:24.900 page isn't fully rolled out yet. But yeah, it 00:22:24.900 --> 00:22:26.819 looks like that might be a possibility for the 00:22:26.819 --> 00:22:29.140 second one as well. I just, I'll be honest with 00:22:29.140 --> 00:22:32.000 you, D -Link didn't do the best job of... I went 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:33.980 through the product page a bunch of times and 00:22:33.980 --> 00:22:36.220 I just didn't find anything. Meanwhile, TP -Link's 00:22:36.220 --> 00:22:39.759 webpage is like a million times more useful and 00:22:39.759 --> 00:22:42.660 I can actually see how useful it is compared 00:22:42.660 --> 00:22:46.180 to TP -Link. Yeah, TP -Link does a great job. 00:22:46.339 --> 00:22:49.019 Like I've got one of their extenders in my garage 00:22:49.019 --> 00:22:52.420 so that when we're at the pool, the TV can get 00:22:52.420 --> 00:22:54.720 a decent connection for Netflix and all of that. 00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:57.460 And I use TP -Link here in my house for internet 00:22:57.460 --> 00:23:00.930 because it's basically the fastest. Wi -Fi 7 00:23:00.930 --> 00:23:03.869 router out there. Yeah, for sure. Hey, buddy, 00:23:04.009 --> 00:23:05.849 it was another great podcast. Why don't you take 00:23:05.849 --> 00:23:08.950 us home? Absolutely. We hope our viewers and 00:23:08.950 --> 00:23:10.569 listeners found this week's topics interesting. 00:23:10.869 --> 00:23:12.509 If anyone out there would like to provide insights 00:23:12.509 --> 00:23:14.769 on a specific 5G topic for a future podcast, 00:23:15.069 --> 00:23:17.690 please reach out to us on social media. Will's 00:23:17.690 --> 00:23:20.230 at WillTownTech and I'm at Anshul Saag. We hope 00:23:20.230 --> 00:23:22.130 you have a great weekend and please tune in again 00:23:22.130 --> 00:23:23.910 next week. And don't forget to rate and subscribe.