Wireless Networks

Six months after having started the first pilots, Mas Movil last week officially announced the activation of the initial phase of its 5G network in Panama. But it is also looking forward to 2025 when new spectrum should be available.

Ericsson announced on Tuesday it has completed an automated upgrade of Vodafone Oman’s core network applications and cloud infrastructure, which will enable the telco to deploy standalone (SA) 5G services.

Vietnamese telco Viettel announced the nationwide launch of its standalone (SA) 5G service on Tuesday, making it the first operator in the country to do so.

Philippine telco Dito Telecommunity has launched a 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) service featuring a home Wi-Fi service powered by 5G RedCap technology.

The Indian wireless network megadeals keep on coming. The latest, involving tech giant Ericsson, is a multi-billion dollar contract for 5G equipment which it will supply to Indian operator Bharti Airtel.

Nokia has partnered with RACSA (Radiográfica Costarricense SA) to deploy the first 5G standalone (SA) network in Costa Rica.

All four of Egypt’s mobile operators are officially clear to offer 5G services after the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) awarded 5G licences to Vodafone Egypt, Orange Egypt, and e& Egypt on Monday.

The battle for India’s end users is not just about coverage on streets and in homes. Continuing the trend of bringing wireless communications to public rail transport, two of the country’s big three operators have just announced new metro coverage achievements in two major cities.

Ericsson and Malaysian wholesale 5G operator Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB) said on Tuesday they successfully partnered with Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) to conduct what they say is the country’s first live TV broadcast over a commercial 5G network.

Nokia revealed on Saturday details of last week’s billion-dollar network contract win with Indian telco Vodafone Idea to modernise and expand its 4G network – to include 5G upgrades – over the next three years.

Tunisia’s three biggest mobile operators – Tunisie Telecom, Orange Tunisie and Ooredoo Tunisia – reportedly submitted their applications for 5G licences on Monday, with approval expected in the next three weeks.

Continuing a busy week for Nokia in terms of news headlines, operator Zain Iraq has announced a strategic partnership with the technology giant to upgrade its network in the south of Iraq.

Service provider Telia Lithuania and Ribbon Communications, a global provider of real-time communications technology and IP optical networking solutions, have come together to upgrade communications for Lithuania’s rail network.

Service provider MTN South Africa and technology giant ZTE Corporation have announced Africa's first 5G ultra-range maritime offshore coverage at Mossel Bay, Western Cape, South Africa.

One week after launching 5G across Uzbekistan, state-owned telco Uzbektelecom JSC, which operates as Uztelecom, made good on its promise to launch 5G-Advanced (a.k.a. 5.5G) this week, albeit only for testing.

Nokia has announced a strategic partnership with iSAT Africa to enhance rural connectivity in Liberia.

State-owned telco Uzbektelecom, which operates as Uztelecom, announced on Thursday that it has launched its non-standalone (NSA) 5G network in all regional centres of Uzbekistan, and has teased plans to move ahead with 5G-Advanced technology soon.

Service provider Ooredoo Qatar has announced the successful completion of its trial of Wi-Fi 7 technology. The trial was completed on fibre-to-the-room (FTTR) devices for the first time in the region. The company plans to launch the technology in 2024.

At the IEEE PIMRC conference held on September 4, 2024, Dr. Tong Wen, Huawei Wireless CTO, presented his views on the development direction of the 6G industry. Titled “The Architectural Framework for A-RAN and A-Core”, Dr. Tong Wen noted “6G will not be a simple upgrade of 5G - it should integrate AI revolution for the past 20 months, so to reshape the wireless industry and take it to the next height.”

In what is claimed to be a first for Europe, service provider Vodafone and Czech power generation conglomerate ČEZ Group have introduced what they say is Europe's first private 5G mobile phone network (MPN) at a nuclear power plant – albeit in pilot form – in Temelin, a municipality and village in the south of the Czech Republic.

The World Health Organization found there is no link between brain and head cancer from use of mobile phones or being situated close to mobile towers.

Indian telco Bharti Airtel, MediaTek and Nokia announced on Monday they have completed a trial that successfully combined TDD and FDD mid-band spectrum to boost 5G uplink speeds as high as 300 Mbps.

Will Albania soon join the club of 5G-ready countries? Telecoms regulator AKEP has officially opened the competition for the first frequencies to be used for 5G. This will involve five blocks in the 3400-3800MHz frequency band – two of 80MHz and three of 40MHz.

Orange Liberia and ZTE said on Thursday they have successfully completed a project to build new base station sites in rural areas across the country that they say significantly enhances network coverage in those areas.

Bite Group has selected Nokia’s Packet Core appliance-based solution as it seeks to deploy advanced 5G services while simplifying its network architecture in Latvia and Lithuania.

Operator Claro Argentina and vendor Nokia have signed what is described as a comprehensive 5G deal through which Nokia will deploy 5G infrastructure across the country for Claro.

After a number of delays, the Colombian government’s plans to connect schools in isolated areas via Wi-Fi is apparently resuming.

Nokia has announced that it is further strengthening its partnership with 4G and 5G network-as-a-service (NaaS) operator Next-Gen InfraCo (NGIC) by building a 5G mobile core network.

Bhutan Telecom is deploying Ciena’s coherent routing solutions to support booming data traffic demands in the Kingdom of Bhutan.

Four out of Malaysia’s five mobile operators are officially in the running for the country’s second 5G network after submitting their bids to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).

Maxis and Huawei Technologies (Malaysia) announced on Monday they will establish a new innovation centre to develop 5G-Advanced solutions with a focus on use cases, customer experience, operating efficiencies and nurturing local talent.