Wireless Networks

Continuing the rural broadband theme that has been in the news lately, NetOne – Zimbabwe’s second-biggest operator and a state-owned entity – has announced the next phase of its mobile broadband expansion project.

The giant telecoms corporation America Movil, having decided on a reorganization earlier this year, is now to propose a spinoff of its towers business to shareholders.

The principal telecommunications company in Bahrain Batelco has announced the expansion of its mobile network, to cover major housing developments currently being built by the Ministry of Housing and the private sector across Bahrain.

The Peruvian Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC) has announced continued enhancements in its drive to expand mobile coverage in rural areas.

Altan Redes, the consortium tasked with deploying Mexico's 4.5G shared network – called Red Compartida – has announced that it has secured a $50 million loan from shareholders.

Iraqi operator Asiacell Telecom has chosen Nokia to build its next-generation microwave network.

Confirming what a lot of people might have guessed given the events of recent years, Nigerian regulator the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) recently reported an increase of over 200 per cent in data usage over the last three years in the country.

Nokia and Indosat Mega Media (aka IndosatM2), a subsidiary of telecommunications provider Indosat, have announced that together they have enabled smart Wi-Fi for what they call an improved broadband experience in Indonesia.

Indonesia’s XL Axiata has detailed its 5G service expansion strategy as it seeks to extend its offering outside of Java.

ZTE Corporation together with the Hangzhou Branch of China Telecom has conducted 300MHz 5G QCell verification in Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center.

The new major telecommunications provider in the Philippines DITO Telecommunity Corp. said that it has further expanded its network coverage to seven more areas across the country.

A1 Croatia has launched its 5G offering after winning a holding of 5G-ready spectrum at auction last week.

Mobile operator Megafon has expanded the coverage the first federal-scale Voice over LTE (VoLTE) cellular network in the Russian Federation.

Sercomtel, a regional telecom operator in the state of Paraná, Brazil, Nokia, and Brazilian agricultural research corporation Embrapa have launched 5G connectivity pilot projects in Brazil to develop techn services for the agribusiness sector.

Ukrainian operator Intertelecom has announced the next phase of its gradual shutdown of CDMA-based wireless services.

stc has expanded its strategic partnership with Ericsson for the deployment of 5G Core for New Radio standalone on Ericsson Cloud Native Infrastructure.

United Group has selected Nokia to deliver its cloud-native core network products in Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia.

Bahrain-based telecommunication company Zain Bahrain has promised continued investment to expand its 4G and 5G network footprint in the country, with a strong focus on the 5G and LTE enhancements to further improve reliability and indoor coverage.

In an effort to boost its rural coverage, Vodafone Romania deployed more than 700 LTE base transceiver stations between March 2020 and June 2021.

ZTE Corporation together with the Quanzhou Branch of China Telecom has taken the lead in deploying the QCell 5G SuperMIMO solution in Quanzhou, China.

Two recent news stories from Nigeria underline the fact that efforts are continuing in the country to expand connectivity to less-well-served areas, in these two cases through rural satcoms and urban Wi-Fi.

The third telecommunications player in the Philippines, DITO Telecommunity Corp it already has two million subscribers, five months after its commercial launch.

The telecommunications company that operates in Albania, One Telecommunications (Telekom Albania), has completed the second and final phase of network modernisation, relying entirely on Ericsson technology.

South African operator MTN has announced plans to invest some $11.8 million in network expansion in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province.

Indonesian telecommunications provider PT Indosat (Indosat Ooredoo) has reaffirmed plans to phase out its 3G network as it shifts resources to develop 4G and 5G services in a rapidly evolving market.

Serbian state-owned telecommunications operator Telekom Srbija will establish a subsidiary in North Macedonia called Mtel and start offering mobile services there by the end of 2021.

MyT Mobile, Mauritius Telecom (MT)'s mobile network, has launched the 5G services in the country one month after it obtained a 5G license for mobile telephony.

5G to drive mobile services market in China through 2026, said a study. The total mobile service revenues in China are poised to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.1% from US$131.3bn in 2021 to US$152.7bn in 2026.

Globe Telecom, a provider of telecommunications services in the Philippines, announced that it had upgraded its third-generation (3G) network in 12 provinces to 4G Long-Term Evolution (LTE) with the completion and modernisation of several sites.

Ukrainian telecommunications company Kyivstar said that it covered an area with around 1.2 million residents with its LTE network in January-June 2021.