September saw a number of significant developments taking place in the telecom industry across the globe. In this monthly feature, we’ll take a look at some of the topics that were creating the most buzz on social media, as we continue to track the rapid changes taking place in the industry.
Spectrum Futures takes place in Bangkok
Spectrum Futures 2017 was held September 18-19 at the Pullman Bangkok Grande Sukhumvit in Bangkok. Designed to be an intimate discussion that complements our annual PTC conference in Hawaii, the event was full of excellent presentations and thoughtful participation from those industry leaders and experts in attendance. Read Russell Lundberg’s notes from the event here and check out Disruptive Analysis’ Dean Bubley’s presentation “Futurism: What does 2030 mean for Spectrum?” here.
Submarine cables continue to grow
Telegeography produced a great webinar, “5 Things We Learned About Sub Cable Route Diversity in the Asia-Pacific Region,” that is filled with plenty of “nuggets of submarine cable wisdom.” Construction of the 160Tbps Marea subsea cable was also completed this month, making it the highest capacity transatlantic cable currently in operation. As we’re seeing cables like Marea being co-owned by content providers like Facebook, it begs the question: who will be the dominant players beyond 2020?
The Inaugural PTC Innovation Awards
PTC’18 will see the inaugural PTC Innovation Awards. As part of our annual conference, we are excited to recognize the individuals and companies that have transformed and continue to transform our industry and the markets we serve with the mission to improve the quality of life in the Pacific Rim through ICT. We are currently seeking individuals from across the industry to serve on our judging panel. If you are interested in taking part, click here to learn more.
Developing strategies to support 5G
5G continues to be a hot topic, and among the most discussed aspects of the nascent technology is what technology configurations will be required to support it, and how best to deploy them from cost and performance perspectives. Millimeter wave spectrum is one of the most promising, but also has many question marks. It is a complex situation and so many companies are teaming up in order to solve the issue. The Spectrum Futures blog features several recent blog posts on 5G, including why the 5G era will be radically different than what we know now.
Cyberattacks continue to evolve
Cyberattacks continue to make headlines and create cause for discussion (and in some cases, panic). The Equifax data breach reportedly exposed the personal information of 143 million US residents, leaving consumers wondering about the safety of their identities as well as the security practices of the businesses they trust their data to. We also saw one of the first reported instances of ransomware attacks targeting data centers, impacting thousands of customers in the process.