Australia: Telstra plans 5G expansion
Australian market leader Telstra has started marketing its first 5G-compatible smartphone and will make its 5G network accessible to the public before the end of the month. The company has already deployed its 5G network across ten cities and wants to expand its coverage to 35 over the next 12 months.
India: Airtel set target for IPO of Airtel Africa?
Bharti Airtel is planning to IPO its African division on the London Stock Exchange and is aiming to raise US$750mn. More information in the Africa news section.?
India: American Tower buys 13% of Tata’s JV
AMT has recently bought out a 13% stake from Tata Teleservices in their tower ventures for approximately US$356mn. The buyout raises AMT’s stake in ATC Telecom Infrastructure to almost 90%, with the remaining shares owned by Macquarie’s funds.?
India: Telecom Minister confirms plans for 5G auction
The 5G spectrum auction should take place within the year, as announced by the new telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. 5G tests will commence over the next three-four months too. Representatives of Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea have been quoted by various news sources complaining about the high cost of 5G frequencies.?
India: Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea to start 5G trialling
A Telecom Ministry panel recently deliberated on the characteristics of the 5G spectrum trial for the three Indian MNOs. Jio, Airtel and VIL will start the trials for three months, a timeframe scalable to one year if required for network stabilisation. The three MNOs will work respectively with Samsung, Nokia and Ericsson and 5G runs are likely to start this coming June.
India: Jio Digital Fiber to raise capital via syndicated loans
The newly launched Indian fibreco is planning to raise US$3.89bn in syndicated loans. The capital would be used to enhance its business operations.
In a previous move, the MNO had transferred the control of its fibre and tower units to two trusts created by Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings Ltd, after receiving the green light to demerge the two businesses from the National Company Law Tribunal. The tower unit, with its 175,000+ sites, is becoming the second largest towerco?in the world. Reliance Jio will be anchor tenant on all the towers, which will be leased to third parties for co-location.
India: Aircel’s spectrum to be returned to DoT
Bankrupt MNO Aircel has been demanded to return its spectrum by the Department of Telecommunications. The MNO has been attempting to sell the spectrum as part of its asset divestment, but the government has firmly rejected the plan since - as cited by the Economic Times - “spectrum is not an asset of any company.”
Indonesia: Smartfren to work with ZTE for 4G expansion and 5G trial
MNO Telekom PT Smartfren (Smartfren) has selected ZTE of China to expand its 4G LTE networks in and collaborate on the development of 5G technology in Indonesia.
The operator’s President Director, Merza Fachys, stated: “Currently, we are preparing to conduct a 5G trial in Indonesia. Not only that, our collaboration with ZTE also includes the expansion of?Smartfren’s 4G networks to deliver better service quality in Indonesia.”
Japan: MIC approves 5G spectrum allocation?
An advisory panel to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) has recently approved the allocation of frequency bands for 5G advanced services to the four MNOs that made applications NTT DOCOMO, KDDI (au), Softbank Corp and player Rakuten Mobile.?
The approvals dictated that all four MNOs should launch 5G services using the new spectrum in every Japanese prefecture within two years, and effectively sub-divided Japan into 4,500 ‘blocks’ (zones), requiring all four spectrum holders to set up base transceiver stations (BTS) in at least half of these within five years. The MIC also published its approvals relating to 5G BTS deployments for all four companies. All four MNOs aim to commercialise 5G services in 2020 and will invest US$14.4bn in the five-year deployment phase.?
Japan: Rakuten to build the world’s first 5G open vRAN network
Rakuten Mobile, the newly established Japanese MNO, will partner with NEC Crop to build the world’s first 5G open vRAN architecture in Japan. Both companies will work together and develop a 3.7GHz 5G Massive MIMO antenna to provide a compact, lightweight option, reducing installation and operation costs due to its low power consumption, as stated on a recent press release. Rakuten and NEC will deploy around 16,000 low-cost 5G base stations across the country over five years.
Malaysia: Telenor discussing merger with Axiata
Telenor Group and Axiata Group are evaluating a potential non-cash merger of their telecom and infrastructure assets in Asia, in which Telenor would take a majority stake. The new company would be headquartered in Malaysia and would serve nearly 300 million customers using approximately 60,000 towers across nine countries in Asia.?
Norway’s Telenor would own 56.5% of the new entity, based on equity value, with Axiata holding 43.5%. both have acknowledged that this is preliminary subject to adjustments and due diligence, and there is no certainty that the talks will result in any transaction agreement.?
Malaysia: U Mobile to partner with Nokia for Single RAN deployment
Malaysian MNO U Mobile has inked a three-year contract with Nokia to deploy a Single Radio Access Network (RAN) as well as microwave and IP-based mobile transport technologies, which will enable the operator to expand the delivery of mobile data services across the peninsula. Both companies will also be working together on 5G trials.
Myanmar: IGT to acquire MIG’s towers
Last month, Singapore Myanmar Investco (SMI) announced the sale of Myanmar Infrastructure Group’s (MIG) towers to market leader Irrawaddy Green Towers for US$8mn. IGT will be acquiring around 100 sites and MIG’s main client Ooredoo has already approved the transaction.?
Myanmar: Telenor 4G network reaches 307 townships
Norwegian’s Telenor arm in Myanmar has extended its 4G network to 307 of Myanmar’s 330 townships via more than 6,100 LTE sites nationwide. The company has already deployed 856 new LTE sites this year and is aiming to increase that figure to 6,100 LTE sites by the end of the year.?
The Philippines: China Telecom signs agreement to create Mislatel
Last month, China Telecom and Philippines conglomerate Udenna Corporation finally signed the official agreement to create Mislatel, the joint venture that will become the Philippines’ third mobile operator, committing to invest US$5.4bn.
After some public doubts, the Philippines’ senate approved the joint venture in February but now Mislatel has revealed plans to postpone its initial launch date from 2020 to early 2021.?
The Philippines: Smart to boost LTE-A capacity and coverage in Batangas
PLDT’s wireless arm Smart Communications is improving its mobile internet services in Batangas, one of the country’s biggest and most populated provinces. The MNO will be deploying more LTE base stations and adding new sites to better address needs of its customers, as stated by Smart’s Senior VP for Network Planning and Engineering Mario Tamayo.
The Philippines: Globe in talks with Mislatel for tower share
Globe Telecom and new entrant Mislatel are in discussion to share access to the former’s towers, as confirmed by representatives of the two MNOs during a hearing on common tower policy last month.
The Philippines: Globe to start working with towercos
Globe will become the first MNO to work with towercos in the country has the operator has recently signed an MoU with ISOC Infrastructure and edotco to build 150 towers in the Calabarzon region under the government’s common tower initiative. ISOC and edotco will co-own the towers and although Globe will be the initial host, the towercos will be able to co-locate PLDT and Mislatel.
The Philippines: Smart expands 4G network in Palawan
Smart Communications, the mobile division of PLDT, is boosting its 4G LTE coverage in Palawan, one of the country’s most touristic areas. The company is deploying additional sites and upgrading its network in the area. The operator will also roll out fibre broadband services for tourist and businesses.?
South Korea: Ministry shares 5G stats
The Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) has revealed that around 260,000 users have signed up for 5G since the three country MNOs launched services last month. According to the figures provided by MSIT, there are now 54,202 5G base stations in operation across South Korea.
Vietnam: Viettel deploys first 5G site
Market leader Viettel Telecom has installed its first trial 5G base transceiver station in Hanoi. The MNO plans to deploy around 70 sites in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City by mid-year as part of its evaluation and test process for 5G technology ahead of the big country rollout expected for 2020.??
Vietnam: Indochina Telecom becomes first MVNO in Vietnam
The company, which will be operating on the VinaPhone network, is initially introducing services for workers in industrial parks in nine provinces and cities, including Hanoi. The new MVNO plans to introduce a variety of packages tailored to different groups and user segments and will cooperate with Vietnam’s mobile network operators to negotiate the best deals.
Vietnam: VNPT-Vinaphone’s network reaches 60,000 base stations
State-owned operator VNPT-Vinaphone has increased its total number of 3G and 4G base stations to 60,000 after completing the deploying of 30,000 new LTE base stations across the country. The company has also announced an agreement with two international vendors to start preparing its network for 5G deployment.
