Devices & Platforms

Drone deal for African roads; drone-supported 5G demo in Chile

Drone deal for African roads; drone-supported 5G demo in Chile

Drone technology continues to make inroads into developing markets, as recent news stories from the African Development Bank (ADB) and Movistar Chile indicate.

The African Development Bank and Aerosense, a leading Japanese company engaged in drone manufacturing, last week signed an agreement to advance cooperation and projects in drone technology in Africa.

Representatives of both institutions signed the agreement on the sidelines of the ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama, Japan.

Aerosense’s drone solution was selected through a call for proposals under the African Development Bank’s Sustainable Road Maintenance Programme for Africa (SRMPA) in June 2025.

Under the agreement, the Bank will facilitate coordination with the public sector, lead awareness-raising campaigns, support capacity building for local partners, and explore possible debt (and/or equity) financing support for projects related to the deployment of drone solutions.

Aerosense will be tasked with conducting demand studies for drone solutions in target African markets and performing technical feasibility studies for the application of drone solutions – bearing in mind local geographical conditions. If feasibility study results are positive, the company will explore possible deployment opportunities.

In Chile the drone news came as part of an announcement of operator Movistar’s modernisation of its mobile network in the Antofagasta region in the north of the country. The operator reportedly plans improvements in more than 200 sites, including growing the 5G network by 120% . More than 90% of this work is planned for this year and the rest between 2026 and 2027.

To demonstrate the capacity of the network, Movistar and ZTE carried out an open demonstration with an industrial, autonomous and artificial intelligence DJI Dock drone from Chinese company DJI, which connects to 5G through a platform that, thanks to its real-time communication, cameras and advanced sensors, allows it to generate heat maps. The network also enables precise data analysis using AI.



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