Wireless Networks

Four ministries in Malaysia reportedly held talks on Saturday to develop an action plan to implement the country’s second 5G network, while telcos are expected to meet this month’s deadline to finalise their investment in the first one, Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB).

XL Axiata, one of the leading telecommunication companies in Indonesia, has partnered with Ericsson to deploy its dual-mode 5G core solution.

Ericsson and Huawei have made separate announcements showcasing advances in carrier aggregation for 5G microwave backhaul – one with Malaysian 5G wholesaler Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB) and the other with China Unicom Inner Mongolia, respectively.

Technology giant Huawei, alongside Chinese electrical appliance manufacturer, Midea, Thai operator AIS, and Chinese operator China Unicom say they have jointly implemented the first 5G fully connected factory in Southeast Asia, setting what they describe as a new standard for smart manufacturing in the region.

Nokia has announced that it has been chosen by Sigma Lithium, a leading global lithium producer, to deploy the first private LTE wireless campus network in the Americas that supports the mining of lithium – a metal critical to the production of batteries that power electric vehicles.

Vietnamese technology firm Viettel High Tech announced on Thursday that it has signed its second partner contract to sell its private 5G solution in India – this one with United Telecoms Limited (UTL).

State-owned Indian service provider BSNL has confirmed plans to start rolling out 4G services across the country from August.

Ericsson announced on Monday it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Jordanian telco Umniah to expand its 3G and 4G network in major cities across the country.

Chinese vendor ZTE announced on Monday that it has signed a strategic agreement with Veon’s Bangladesh operator Banglalink to enhance their existing collaboration to modernise and improve its 4G network infrastructure.

Chinese telecoms equipment vendor ZTE said on Friday it has collaborated with China Mobile and Qualcomm to achieve a peak download rate of 5.4 Gbps on a 5G-Advanced network by combining three-carrier aggregation with 1024QAM.

Liquid Intelligent Technologies, a leading provider of pan-African digital infrastructure, has partnered with Kampala-based telecommunications company ATC Uganda to expand Liquid’s public Wi-Fi network to 320 hotspots across the city.

Saudi oil giant Aramco has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with GCT Semiconductor Holding, a leading designer and supplier of advanced 5G and 4G semiconductor solutions.

China Mobile has launched what it claims is the world’s first commercial 5G-Advanced network ahead of the standard’s expected completion later this year, and is collaborating with Ericsson to develop use cases for it.

Ericsson and du, from Emirates Integrated Telecommunication Company (EITC), announced on Monday that they have leveraged carrier aggregation to achieve a download speed of up to 16.7 Gbps on du’s 5G standalone (SA) network.

Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) is an attractive play for many operators, and Nokia believes its potential can be further enhanced with the arrival of 5G FWA solutions using higher millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum.

Nokia has published the findings of its latest annual Indian market-focused Mobile Broadband Index (MBiT).

Frequency division duplex (FDD) technology operating in the sub-3 GHz frequency bands has a key role to play as services evolve into the era of 5.5G (5G Advanced), says Huawei.

Digicel Fiji announced on Friday it is working with Nokia to upgrade its cell sites to support its 5G rollout across the archipelago, less than a month after rival telco Vodafone Fiji received clearance for a non-commercial 5G pilot.

India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) revealed key initiatives on Monday to boost local development of 5G and 6G use cases, as well as a skilled workforce to support it.

Tower company  Edotco Bangladesh revealed on Thursday that it signed an MoU with Huawei Technologies (Bangladesh) to collaborate on deploying a telecoms tower in Bangladesh made of fiberglass reinforced plastics (FRP).

India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) announced on Friday that its next spectrum auction – which will put more 5G bands on the block – will commence on May 20, and has invited all players to apply.

Vietnam’s Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) has reportedly opened its long-awaited 5G spectrum auction to all players, starting with the 2500-2600 MHz band, with more bands to follow in the coming days.

Inmarsat Maritime, part of satellite communications company Inmarsat, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Aramco, a global integrated energy and chemicals company headquartered in Saudi Arabia, to undertake a 5G mesh network trial that aims to provide high-bandwidth connectivity for Aramco’s offshore work in the Arabian Gulf.

Ericsson has announced a strategic three-year neutral host provider (NHP) agreement with Advanced Communications and Electronics Systems (ACES), an international neutral host provider, aimed at the Saudi Arabian market.

An educational institution and a technology company in the UAE have announced a collaboration to drive IoT advances.

At Huawei’s Day0 Forum 2024, taking place on the eve of Mobile World Congress 2024, MTN Group’s Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer, Chika Ekeji, gave a keynote speech to explain how 5G is driving digital progress in Africa.

Cellular network infrastructure provider Baicells announced it has signed a partnership agreement with Indonesian telco Smartfren Telecom to supply 4G and 5G network solutions for private networks in Indonesia.

Malaysia-based telecoms infrastructure services company Edotco has formed a strategic collaboration with Telecom Infra Project (TIP) and Telkom University to create a neutral host ecosystem for Southeast Asia by leveraging Open RAN.

The much anticipated commercialization of 5.5G (5G Advanced) which starts in 2024 has energized exhibitors and speakers at MWC 2024 in Barcelona.

At Mobile World Congress 2024, Ericsson and Turkcell signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to advance 6G research and development in Turkey.

At Mobile World Congress 2024, Philippine telco NOW Telecom signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Rakuten Symphony to establish a collaborative framework for deploying a 5G Open RAN pilot in the Philippines.