Wireless Networks

The University of Dubai and MEA-Comm UAE, a technology company working to transform the region into a thriving digital economy, say they have signed an MoU to launch the first regional 5G testbed to, as they put it, “accelerate Industry Revolution 4.0 in the UAE and MEA region”.

Ukrainian telco Kyivstar announced on Wednesday it’s launching voice over Wi-Fi (VoWiFi) services for eligible subscribers, enabling them to make calls via Wi-Fi access points in locations with weak mobile signals.

Ericsson and Saudi Arabian telco Mobily said on Tuesday they have successfully completed a trial of Ericsson’s 5G uplink interference optimizer, an Open RAN rApp that uses AI to make 5G uplinks run faster and more efficiently.

Edotco said on Monday its Bangladesh unit has signed a multi-year deal with Grameenphone to extend their existing infrastructure leasing agreement to support the telco’s 4G network expansion into underserved areas.

Nokia and UAE-based telco du, from Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (EITC), said they have deployed what they claim is the first commercial deployment of a 5G Cloud RAN solution in the Middle East and Africa region.

Tonga now has 5G after the country’s two main mobile operators – state-owned incumbent Tonga Communications Corporation (TCC) and Digicel Tonga commercially launched their respective 5G networks within a week of each other.

Multi-project developer Red Sea Global (RSG), whose projects include what are described as 'regenerative tourism destinations' AMAALA and The Red Sea in Saudi Arabia, says it has unveiled the region’s first unified critical communication system (UCCS).

MTN Group, Africa’s largest telecommunications operator, and the ORAN Development Company (ODC) have agreed a strategic partnership through which they say they will develop and test innovative open RAN (ORAN) solutions tailored to unique requirements of networks across Africa.

Built at du’s Dubai headquarters, the 5G-A Innovation Center is going to be a key building block of the next generation of 5G, not just for the UAE but for anyone associated with the next iteration of 5G.

Another distributed antenna system (DAS) contract relating to transport hubs has been won by Indian RF equipment manufacturer Frog Cellsat, this time in the largest city of the Indian state of Assam in northeastern India.

MTN Group announced on Monday it has commercially launched its 5G network in Congo-Brazzaville, making it the group’s sixth 5G launch in Africa along with last week’s launch of 5G in Benin.

Indian state-owned telco BSNL’s recently issued 5G tender has reportedly been poorly received by potential bidders – particularly by Ericsson and Nokia, who are unhappy with BSNL’s plan to use only indiginous gear to build the network.

Telecom operator MTN Benin officially launched the country's first commercial 5G network on Friday, with initial services available in select areas of the port city of Cotonou and Abomey-Calavi.

Indonesian telco Telkomsel said on Thursday it has teamed with ZTE to implement an AI-powered network solution in its 4G network to optimise base station performance after completing tests in Makassar and Kendari.

Operator MTN South Africa and leading tech vendor Huawei say that they have completed the first 5.5G network trial in South Africa at the MTN head office in Johannesburg.

Vietnamese telco Viettel announced on Wednesday it has commercially launched Open RAN 5G on its network using its in-house gNodeB solution developed in partnership with Qualcomm.

Technology group Liquid Intelligent Technologies, and South Africa’s Western Cape Government have announced at the Africa Tech Festival 2024 in Cape Town that they have renewed a partnership to continue expanding connectivity in the province.

Industries are rapidly adopting artificial intelligence (AI) as a cornerstone for operations and strategy, creating massive real-time data streams and setting high standards for mobile network performance.

State-controlled telco Telecom Egypt said on Monday it has signed several multi-year agreements worth up to EGP30 billion (US$609.5 million) to provide infrastructure services to Vodafone Egypt to support its preparation for rolling out 5G.

At the Global Mobile Broadband Forum 2024 (MBBF 2024) in Istanbul, an exclusive ELITE FWA Club Media Roundtable discussed the potential for Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) and 5.5G, which is also referred to as 5G-Advanced or 5G-A technologies across the GCC.

On Day 2 of the Global MBB Forum 2024, Yang Chaobin, Huawei's Board Member and President of ICT Products and Solutions, opened the keynote speech with the declaration that the mobile AI era is roaring in.

Ericsson announced on Tuesday it has completed the expansion and modernisation of MTN Rwanda’s network in Kigali to extend coverage and make the network ready for 5G rollouts in the future.

Sri Lankan operator Dialog Axiata has claimed a first: the deployment of the world’s first commercial virtual base station controller (vBSC) with Ericsson.

While Nigerian plans to open up the market to many new MVNOs are not necessarily guaranteed success, they have certainly been good for Wireless Technology Labs (WTL), which recently announced that it had been chosen by MobileCoreX Ltd (MCX), a Nigerian mobile virtual network enabler (MVNE), to spearhead the development of the country’s first mobile virtual network.

Malaysian operator U Mobile has won the rights to implement Malaysia’s second 5G network to compete with original 5G operator Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB), leaving rival contenders CelcomDigi and Maxis to rethink their 5G plans.

The Day One Keynote session at MBBF 2024 emphasised that we are entering a new era of AI facilitated by the expansion of 5.5G. With 5.5G expanding the boundaries of connections, AI allows them to connect intelligently.

Brazilian neutral network and digital infrastructure company V.tal, recently in the news thanks to its interest in troubled operator Oi Brasil’s fibre broadband base, is now making headlines through an indoor 5G deal for Brazilian shopping centres.

Millicom International Cellular, a provider of fixed and mobile telecommunications services in Latin America, has announced a tower sale agreement with SBA Communications Corporation (SBA), an independent owner and operator of wireless communications infrastructure.

Orex Sai – the Open RAN joint venture between NTT DoCoMo and NEC – says it has been selected by Cambodia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications for a project to deploy a 4G Open RAN test network.

ZTE has unveiled the innovations of its RAN multi-agent collaboration solution with China Mobile during the China International Information and Communications Technology Exhibition (PTEXPO) in Beijing.

The Iraqi government is reportedly in talks with foreign companies to operate the country’s planned 5G network, a year after the 5G network plan was greenlighted by the Iraqi Communication Ministry.

The growing role of advanced wireless communications in transport hubs and transport networks has been underlined by two recent deals in Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra state, southwestern India, involving the city’s metro and a new airport.

Ericsson said on Friday its Nigerian unit has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Nigerian government to establish a framework of cooperation covering 5G technology development, deployment and innovation.