Wireless Networks

There’s been no let-up in 5G activity lately, with Zambia’s MTN announcing the country’s first 5G launch and Telia highlighting a dynamic spectrum sharing-based 5G launch now underway in Lithuania.

Diyar Al Muharraq, one of the largest real estate development companies in the Kingdom of Bahrain, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Saudi Telecom Company-owned operator stc Bahrain, to construct and operate additional telecommunication towers.

Chinese government-backed institute Purple Mountain Laboratories said that a research team had achieved a 6G-level wireless transmission up to a speed of 206.25 gigabits per second for the first time in a lab environment.

China’s state news agency Xinhua has reported that all of the nation’s administrative villages received broadband connectivity before the end of November 2021.

The Ghana Smart Cities Project has been given an official go-ahead after last year’s provisional authorization.

North Macedonia’s Mtel – which currently offers satellite TV services – has announced plans to begin a mobile offering in spring 2022.

Nokia is extending its partnership with Tele2 to deploy 5G RAN in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in a long-term deal.

World Mobile, the first mobile network built on blockchain and run by the people, partners with Altaeros, developers of the world’s first autonomous aerostats, to connect the unconnected.

India's first 5G technology trials for rural broadband began at Ajol village in the state of Gujarat with a base transceiver station (BTS) installed 17km away at Unava town in the Gandhinagar district.

ZTE Corporation together with the Sichuan Branch of China Mobile and Dahantricom Corporation has officially rolled out “Panda’s Coming”, the 5G Messaging application.

State-owned telco Thai National Telecom (NT), Thai MVNO The WhiteSpace (The WSP), power management and electronic components specialist Delta Electronics (Thailand) PCL and Taiwan service provider Chunghwa Telecom have announced a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for collaboration in a 5G private network.

Elisa Estonia has signed a five-year deal with Nokia that will see the Finnish vendor replace the operator’s existing 4G infrastructure and deploy 5G RAN nationwide.

Chile's telecommunications regulator Subsecretaría de Telecomunicaciones de Chile (Subtel) announced that Movistar (Telefonica), Entel, and WOM have activated their fifth-generation networks in the country around 10 months after acquiring 5G-compatible frequencies.

Rural communications firm NuRAN Wireless has signed a ten-year deal with MTN Group to deploy at least 250 sites across rural South Sudan.

Polish telecommunications provider Orange Polska (Orange Poland) has deployed private LTE and 5G networks at Nokia's factory and R&D facility in the city of Bydgoszcz.

Indonesian telecommunications company PT Indosat Tbk (Indosat Ooredoo) established the 5G Experience Center in Surabaya, in partnership with Nokia, Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS), and the University of Oulu Finland.

China United Network Communications Group Co (China Unicom) and Huawei jointly launched the Promotion Initiative for Smart Super Sensing with partners, calling for more joint research, application innovation, and standardization in 5G integrated sensing and communications to build an ecosystem for the smart super sensing industry.

Bharti Airtel, a major Indian communications and solutions provider, and Capgemini, which describes itself as a global leader in consulting, technology services and digital transformation, have announced that they will collaborate on bringing 5G-based enterprise-grade solutions to the Indian market.

As the debate over whether a single wholesale 5G network will be rolled out in Malaysia rumbles on, it seems that some of the country’s operators are now arguing for a second 5G provider.

Bangladesh state-run operator Teletalk has partnered with leading global ICT solution provider Huawei to roll out 5G in the South Asian country.

A $6 billion high-speed rail line connecting China with its Southeast Asian neighbour Laos opened on Friday, a milestone in Beijing's ambitious Belt and Road infrastructure plans.

There have been a few interesting 5G developments in Malaysia lately relating to the planned Single Wholesale Network (SWN) that is to bring 5G to the country’s end users.

Could a new partnership be a boost for the Internet of Things – or at least the LoRaWAN version of IoT – in the Middle East and North Africa?

Tajikistan’s Babilon-Mobile, which operates as Babilon-M, has selected Baicells as its provider for hundreds of new 4G and 5G base stations to be deployed imminently.

Altice Dominicana has begun deploying its 3.5GHz 5G network in the Dominican Republic.

Finnish multinational telecommunications major Nokia announced the successful completion of the first 25GPON trial in Turkey with Turk Telekom.

A new digital mobile network has launched in East Africa – an MVNO enabled by x-Mobility, a company that styles itself as an MVNE – a mobile virtual network enabler.

Airtel Lanka is set to extend its 4G services throughout Sri Lanka via a new network expansion initiative.

Nepal’s National Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has at long last cleared state-owned operator Nepal Telecom to trial 5G services in the market.

Malaysian operator Digi is back in the news, where its plans both for a merger with Celcom and for the ongoing shutdown of its 3G service are making headlines.