Wireless Networks

The installed base of fleet management systems in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and Turkey will reach 12.5 million units by 2030. That’s the headline finding of a new report called Fleet Management in the Middle East.

Moldova’s national telecommunications operator Moldtelecom has completed a joint network optimisation project with intelligent operations provider Kenmei focused on improving 4G LTE performance and initial optimisation of Moldtelecom's 5G NSA C-band network.

Digicel PNG and Vodafone PNG announced on Tuesday they have signed a tower sharing licence agreement that will enable both telcos to share tower infrastructure across Papua New Guinea.

Teltronic, a Spanish company with more than 50 years of experience in the critical communications sector, says it will be supplying a 4G broadband communications network for national rail company EFE Trenes de Chile.

Ericsson announced on Tuesday it has signed a new multi-year agreement with stc Group to further expand the telco’s 5G network across Saudi Arabia.

State-owned Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC) has revealed plans to enter the country’s 5G race in October as part of a BWP240 million (US$17.8 million) investment plan in the 2026/27 financial year to modernise and upgrade its network.

South African fixed wireless connectivity and private network operator Comsol announced on Thursday it’s entering the country’s home broadband sector with a wholesale 5G-Advanced fixed wireless access (FWA) offering.

The Vietnam Telecommunications Authority (VTA) is reportedly stepping up plans to develop 6G technology and services in 2030 as 5G networks now cover the vast majority of the population.

Malawi fixed wireless access (FWA) service provider Converged Technology Networks (CTN) has reportedly partnered with unconnected.org and the Internet Society to expand its network cover more underserved areas in Lilongwe.

Mexico’s Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transport (SICT), through its Integrated Public Train and Transport Agency (ATTRAPI), has launched an international public tender to provide 5G telecommunications to two of the country’s rail corridors.

Ericsson confirmed on Friday it has won a contract from the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) – the Costa Rican government’s electricity and telecoms service provider – to deploy a 5G Standalone (SA) network for ICE’s telecom division, Kölbi.

Free space optics vendor Taara announced on Wednesday that Liquid Intelligent Technologies is using its technology to connect large enterprise customers to data centres in Lagos, Nigeria.

Moroccan operator inwi has partnered with Huawei to commercially deploy what is described as an innovative 1.8GHz + 2.1GHz dual-band 8T8R solution across the country's major transportation corridors, including high-speed railway and highway routes.

ZTE revealed on Tuesday it has signed an MoU with Indonesian telco XLSmart to expand their existing cooperation into the realm of AI-powered 5G networks and fixed wireless access (FWA).

Rakuten Symphony announced on Monday it has landed a grant from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) to partly subsidise its project with Ukrainian telco Kyivstar to expand their Open RAN tests from the lab to the field.

A private network deal involving Brazilian operator TIM, described as marking a new level in the digitisation and modernisation of energy distribution in Brazil, has just been announced.

Mobile service Dolphin Telecoms South Africa says it has officially launched its mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), delivering affordable mobile connectivity designed for people who live, work, study, or regularly travel in South Africa while maintaining strong ties with their home countries.

Zain KSA announced on Thursday it has commenced commercial rollout of Saudi Arabia’s first 5G-Advanced network, starting in Riyadh and Jeddah.

Vietnamese telco Viettel says it has become Qualcomm's first global partner for its in 6G Early Access programme, which it says expands its collaboration with the company across 6G, AI, data centre technologies, and advanced digital products.

Ukraine’s three main telcos – Kyivstar, Vodafone Ukraine and Lifecell – expanded pilot 5G services to Kyiv on Wednesday, with Odesa next on the list.

China Unicom Beijing and Huawei say they have launched what they claim is the world’s largest deployment of Huawei’s “GigaUplink” technology in a 5G-Advanced network.

Advanced technologies company Thales and operators Singtel (Singapore), Optus (Australia), AIS (Thailand) and Globe Telecom (Philippines) have announced the successful deployment of the world’s first multi-operator enterprise eSIM connectivity network for the Internet of Things (IoT).

South Africa mobile network operator rain and technology giant Huawei say they are jointly accelerating the deployment of a sub-1GHz massive MIMO 5G network across South Africa, with plans to deploy a multi-thousand-site scale commercial network.

Latvia’s SJSC Latvijas dzelzceļš, a group of transport, logistics and technology companies mainly focused on the provision of a competitive railway infrastructure, will be the first railway company in the Baltics to use a private 5G network technology provided by Latvian operator LMT Group.

Papua New Guinea saw movement on the 5G front on Friday after Digicel PNG announced its mobile network is now officially 5G-ready, while the country’s regulator released two draft plans for 5G spectrum bands.

Malaysian 5G wholesaler Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB) announced on Wednesday it’s doubling the mid-band capacity of its network, whilst also confirming that second 5G telco U Mobile has offboarded all of its 5G subscribers from DNB’s network to its own.

Operator Yas Tanzania and technology giant Ericsson have announced the first commercial deployment in Africa of Ericsson’s AIR 3285 radio, supporting what they describe as a major step forward in network performance and user experience across the country.

Tanzania Community Networks Company, a community-focused technology, information and internet business, has announced a deal with Korean IT company Innonet, to accelerate the deployment of TV white space (TVWS) connectivity solutions across East Africa.

A strategic partnership announced last week in the Philippines continues the trend towards using IoT to enhance business and public service efficiency across a wide range of use cases.

There are signs that some mobile connectivity is now available on Mumbai Metro 3’s relatively new underground Aqua Line, after a number of delays.