According to figures widely reported in the Indian press, India’s three major operators are well below Department of Telecommunications (DoT) targets for 5G base station rollout – and in fact Vodafone Idea seems not have started yet.

The recently reported SES MEO satellite launches are continuing to bring business opportunities for SES and its customers: this time Ecuadorian state telco CNT is involved.

Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi has let go of around 10% of its workforce as the company cuts costs in the face of covid-19 outbreaks in China.

Telecoms and mining have come together in two recent projects involving technology vendor Huawei in South Africa and Laos. Both underline the potential of wireless in particular in industrial safety.

Filipino operator NOW Telecom has received a funding grant from the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) to deploy its 5G network.

Vodafone announced connectivity in the Cook Islands would be bolstered to 4G+ after signing a deal with SES to tap into the company’s new range of satellites.   

Ericsson says it is scaling up production capacity and operations with its partner, manufacturing company Jabil, in Pune, a city in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, to meet the needs of 5G network deployments in India.

Hot on the heels of rival Globe’s recent sale, PLDT announced it has sold 650 more towers raising PHP9.2 billion (US$165 million), reported CNN Philippines.

Private 5G networks are again making headlines in India after Indian communications solutions provider Bharti Airtel announced a partnership with IT services and consulting company Tech Mahindra to deploy what it claims will be India’s first 5G-enabled auto manufacturing unit.

The Chairman of regulator the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), PD Vaghela, has been widely quoted in recent Indian press reports as saying that TRAI is likely to come up with a model for the auction of satellite spectrum.

The Vietnamese government reported 71 million internet users in the country as the nation marked 25 years of internet connectivity while repeating ambitions to become a connectivity powerhouse in Asia.

Sivers Semiconductors, through Sivers Wireless, has signed a development agreement with an Indian 5G technology supplier that, it says, opens the door to the new 5G mmWave market in India.

Technology services company NTT India has, according to a number of reports in Indian media outlets, earmarked around US$2 billion to boost information and communications technology infrastructure in the country over the next four years. That’s an annual investment of USD 500 million in India.

It looks like Indian operator Vodafone Idea’s plans to pay at least some of its outstanding debts may have run into trouble.

Indian operator Bharti Airtel and social technology giant Meta Platforms say they plan to jointly invest in global connectivity infrastructure and CPaaS-based new-age digital solutions to support the emerging requirements of customers and enterprises in India.

Malaysia’s 5G agency Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB) hit back after new Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim accused the single wholesale 5G strategy  process of not being transparent.

JLG, the real estate and infrastructure arm and wholly owned subsidiary of Johor Corporation (JCorp), described as the principal development institution that drives the growth of the Johor state economy, has signed a data centre-related memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Mitsui & Co through its subsidiary Mitsui & Co (Malaysia).

The long-running ordeal of Huawei’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou has come to a close, with a US judge issuing the order to dismiss all charges against the executive.

AMD and Viettel High Tech – a member of Viettel Group – have completed a 5G mobile network field trial deployment conducted by Viettel and powered by AMD Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC devices.

A report from ABI Research predicted revenues from 5G private networks and network slicing deployments, will surge private enterprise revenues from US$732 million and US$151 million in 2022, to over US$13 billion and US$12 billion respectively by 2028 in the Asia-Pacific.

Samsung says it is planning to hire around 1,000 engineers for its R&D institutes across India. These include Samsung R&D Institute Bangalore, Samsung R&D Institute Noida, Samsung R&D Institute Delhi and Samsung Semiconductor India Research, also in Bangalore.

Indian IT services provider Tech Mahindra has signed a memorandum of understanding with Malaysian telecoms conglomerate Axiata Berhad to co-develop 5G enterprise solutions across five Asian countries.

Sustainability is in the news again with initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region and Armenia garnering headlines in recent days.

Thai operator AIS abandoned a joint venture with Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) to deliver digital banking services.