Semiconductor company Marvell Technology “nearly tripled” its revenue from wireless carriers the past two years by “growing our overall market share” in 5G infrastructure, said CEO Matt Murphy on an earnings call Thursday for fiscal Q2 ended July 31. “We expect a sustained period of strong revenue growth from this end market driven by an increase in 5G deployments, which are still in the early stage of worldwide adoption.” Growth from 5G is expected to “significantly accelerate” in calendar Q4, he said. Marvell has substantially reduced its “dependence” on the consumer market, “which tends to be more volatile with shorter product life cycles” than the enterprise sector, he said. Its consumer operations now generate only 15% of Marvell revenue through its “de-emphasis” on PC components and the December 2019 sale of its Wi-Fi connectivity business to NXP, he said. “We have significantly increased our exposure to the data center and carrier end markets, which are characterized by long product life cycles, sticky design wins and multi-generational engagements.”

A hacker used “brute force” to hack into T-Mobile’s system and steal customer data (see 2108180062), CEO Mike Sievert blogged Friday. T-Mobile is working with law enforcement and is constrained in what it can say, he noted. “What we can share is that, in simplest terms, the bad actor leveraged their knowledge of technical systems, along with specialized tools and capabilities, to gain access to our testing environments and then used brute force attacks and other methods to make their way into other IT servers that included customer data,” Sievert said: “In short, this individual’s intent was to break in and steal data, and they succeeded.” T-Mobile is acting to make its systems more secure, he said. The carrier is getting help from cybersecurity experts at Mandiant and consulting firm KPMG, he said. Mandiant has been part of the forensic investigation “and we are now expanding our relationship to draw on the expertise they’ve gained from the front lines of large-scale data breaches and use their scalable security solutions to become more resilient to future cyber threats,” he said: KPMG is reviewing “all T-Mobile security policies and performance measurement.”

Rakuten Group CEO Hiroshi Mikitani and top executives from Rakuten Mobile met with FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks on the role the company’s technology can play in “accelerating the deployment of secure, next-generation wireless networks” across the U.S. “American wireless carriers can deploy a cloud-native network running on the Rakuten Communications Platform at lower cost, higher security, and more quickly than traditional wireless appliances,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 21-63.

New America’s Open Technology Institute and Public Knowledge see room for improvement on mobile broadband maps, representatives told Broadband Data Task Force Chair Jean Kiddoo and FCC Wireless Bureau staff. The LTE availability map released this month (see 2108060064) “was a strong step,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 19-195. “As that map still relies on the Form 477 data with which the Commission has long been saddled, the map has shortcomings that will need addressing,” they said: “Without added detail of signal strength and the throughput speeds experienced by consumers in local communities, consumers, schools and local governments will have little idea whether an area of the map deemed ‘served’ by 4G LTE would bring them wireless connectivity sufficient to access reliable broadband internet connectivity or merely to complete a voice call.”

The radio access market is likely to grow 10%-15% this year, due to investments in 5G, Dell’Oro Group said Wednesday. The market is “showing remarkable resilience in the face of various risks including the on-going pandemic, supply chain shortages, and export restrictions,” the group said. Huawei and ZTE lead deployments in China and Ericsson and Nokia outside of China. “The underlying long-term growth drivers have not changed and continue to reflect the shift from 4G to 5G,” new fixed wireless access and enterprise capital expenditures “and the transitions towards active antenna systems,” said Stefan Pongratz, vice president and analyst: “A string of indicators suggest this output acceleration is still largely driven by the shift from 4G to 5G, which continued at a torrid pace in the quarter, even as LTE surprised on the upside.” Dell’Oro said in a second report that revenue in the mobile core network market slowed to 6% percent year over year in Q2 after four quarters of double-digit growth. The group attributes that to indecision by providers, except in China, on moving to stand-alone 5G networks. The Asia Pacific region generated 70% of the revenue, the report said: The top five providers, in order, were Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia, ZTE and Mavenir.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence finalized a new practice guide, “Mobile Application Single Sign-On: Improving Authentication for Public Safety First Responders,” NIST said Wednesday. The guide “describes a reference design for multifactor authentication and mobile single sign-on for native and web applications while improving interoperability among mobile platforms, applications, and identity providers,” it said.

The FCC delayed by two weeks the comment deadlines on a July notice on technical requirements for mobile challenge, verification and crowd source processes required under the Broadband Data Act (see 2107160067). The new deadlines are Sept. 10 for initial comments, replies Sept. 27, it said Wednesday in docket 19-195. The California Public Utilities Commission sought the delay, saying the notice “solicits comment on highly technical and complicated issues that require complex analyses, an involved process which has been slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic.” The Wireless Bureau and Broadband Data Task Force said “this proceeding could benefit from the information and input the CPUC intends to submit through its comments.”

The FCC sought comment Wednesday on a petition by AURA Network Systems and A2G Communications for a rulemaking on expanding the use of air-ground radiotelephone service (AGRAS) channels between 454.675-454.975 MHz and 459.675-459.975 MHz for voice and data communications, including by drones. The companies said in a petition they hold all the active licenses in the 450 MHz AGRAS band. “While the bandwidth limitations in the 450 MHz AGRAS band make the spectrum unsuited for commercial broadband data services, the band is ideal for serving aviation subscribers with voice and data service,” they said: “The band is particularly well suited” for drone “Control and Non-Payload Communications." Comments are due in 30 days in docket RM-11912, said a Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau notice.

Verizon should make clear in ads its claims of offering “5G from America’s most reliable network” aren’t based on tests of its 5G network, recommended the Better Business Bureau's National Advertising Division. Discontinue the claim or clarify that “most reliable” is not a “specific reference to 5G,” the group said Tuesday. “The 2020 RootMetrics testing relied upon by Verizon as support for its ‘most reliable’ claims noted that testing was completed across all available networking technologies, including 4G LTE or earlier technology and that the metrics provided reflect all network types (i.e., 5G along with prior generation networks) rather than a specific 5G network’s performance, unlike more recent RootMetrics testing,” NAD said. AT&T challenged the claim. Verizon didn’t comment.

The in-band power levels in Gogo Business Aviation's proposed next-generation air-to-ground (ATG) system don't change appreciably, and it continues to meet out-of-band emission (OOBE) limits, so there's no reason to expect more risk of harmful interference, Gogo said in docket 21-282 reply comments Tuesday. It's seeking a waiver of effective radiated power limits for ATG operations in the 849-851 MHz and 894-896 MHz bands. Gogo said more-stringent OOBE limits urged by waiver opponents (see 2108090058) would be contrary to FCC precedent, and it would continue to follow the 800 MHz ATG band's traditional OOBE limits. Florida Power & Light, backing Motorola's opposition, said Gogo should be required to provide an analysis affirmatively demonstrating no harmful interference to the adjacent 900 MHz band, which FPL uses for a private land mobile radio system for dispatch communications, nuclear power plant security, smart grid energy efficiency monitoring and electric distribution system controls.