Operator Movistar Colombia has announced the launch of its shared network with former rival operator Tigo. This comes after a fairly lengthy wait since we reported the companies’ signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to pursue a network sharing arrangement via a jointly owned infrastructure company in mid-2023.

The move was approved by the Colombian business regulator later on that year. In February the board of Colombian telco Une EPM authorised a binding agreement between its mobile subsidiary Tigo and Movistar, which is controlled by Spanish giant Telefónica and has the Colombian state as a key minority shareholder.

The agreement involves the two companies’ 2G, 3G and 4G networks. However, as readers will be aware, the two companies have also jointly bid for 5G spectrum aiming for a shared 5G rollout of this technology. Reports suggest that the two companies have jointly developed just under 100 5G sites.

The launch of the shared network will allow Movistar to significantly increase its 3G and 4G mobile coverage. Tigo has reportedly said that the shared network will boost its nationwide mobile coverage by around 22%.

As the BNamericas website points out, Movistar Colombia has been one of the operators with the lowest mobile coverage nationwide. In the last three years, it was also the operator with the lowest number of sites deployed. Claro is the operator with the largest number of sites deployed nationwide in all technologies with 10,157, followed by Tigo’s 7,575, Movistar with 7,023, and WOM’s 5,045.

As a united force, Movistar and Tigo serve nearly 35 million customers. The country’s population is estimated at just under 53 million.

Further complicating matters, we reported in July that Tigo owner Millicom International Cellular had entered into a non-binding MoU to acquire a 67.50% stake in Movistar from owner Telefonica Hispanoamerica, for approximately US$400 million.

Technology giant Ericsson and Bahrain-headquartered technology group Beyon have renewed their collaboration to expand their joint sustainability initiatives and circular economy practices for building energy-efficient networks in Bahrain.

The two companies have also announced the successful outcomes of their initial sustainability collaboration, signed in early 2024, for accelerating the journey to a net zero future for both companies and managing waste from electronic and electrical equipment (aka WEEE or e-waste).

The memorandum of understanding (MoU), which we reported at the time, and which was signed by Bahrain operator Batelco, part of the Beyon Group, aimed to reduce Beyon’s environmental footprint by addressing energy consumption and carbon emissions on live networks operated by Batelco, using Ericsson’s sustainable solutions.

Implementation of this MoU, say the partner companies, has so far resulted in a 30% energy reduction on Batelco’s network by the deployment of the Ericsson 5G radio access network product, Radio 6646, a triple-band, tri-sector radio that, Ericsson says, can do the job of nine radios.

Additionally, energy-saving software features such as cell sleep mode and artificial intelligence (AI)-powered MIMO sleep mode, were implemented on pilot sites, leading to a 22% average reduction in energy consumption where the features were activated.

A further 18% energy reduction was realised through the deployment of the single-antenna footprint interleaved antenna integrated radio (AIR) 3218 compared to AIR 3227 to provide 5G massive MIMO while addressing space constraints on rooftops and towers.

Circular economy practices have also been addressed; in particular an e-waste recycling initiative has been launched under the Ericsson Product Take-Back Programme. These efforts enable Beyon to recycle end-of-life electronic and electrical equipment in a responsible and sustainable way, supporting the group’s e-waste management efforts.

Furthermore, the collaboration also focused on knowledge sharing, with monthly sessions involving global experts discussing climate action, circularity, and the collective efforts required to achieve net zero goals.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) and a consortium of six international financial institutions have committed over US$900 million in financing to global data centre operator Yondr Group’s hyperscale data centre campus in Johor Bahru, a city on the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula.

IFC is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets and a member of the World Bank Group. Yondr Group is a global developer, owner and operator of hyperscale data centres.

DBS, Deutsche Bank, Global Infrastructure Partners (a part of Blackrock), HSBC, ING and Natixis CIB joined IFC in the latest round of financing for the 98-megawatt project in Johor Bahru, which is the first phase of a 72.5-acre data centre campus that is set to deliver 300 megawatts of critical IT capacity when fully complete.

The project, says the IFC, is set to become one of the largest and most technologically advanced data centres in Asia Pacific, supporting rapidly growing demand for data processing capacity in the region.

IFC announced a financing package of up to US$150 million for Yondr’s Malaysia project in May 2024, comprising an initial US$50 million bridge loan that, it says, played a crucial role in advancing the project and attracting the six international financial institutions into this most recent financing round. IFC has now committed its second tranche of financing of US$100 million alongside financing from the other lenders.

The campus will be certified by the Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies green building programme, IFC’s green building certification system focused on making buildings more resource efficient.

In this regard, it may be no coincidence that, as we reported at the time, January saw the launch of what Yondr Group called “an ambitious sustainability plan”, which includes a target to achieve net zero by 2030 for scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions.

This project is IFC’s third investment in Malaysia since 2023, when it said it was establishing a presence in Malaysia to support the country’s efforts to foster greater sustainable, resilient, and inclusive economic growth.

Telin, a provider of premium international carrier voice, data services, and business solutions, and subsidiary of Telkom Indonesia, and Citra Connect, an Indonesian provider of connectivity services and digital solutions, have officially held a ceremony for a new cable landing station (CLS) at Nongsa Digital Park, Batam, the largest city in the Indonesian province of Riau Islands.

This CLS, says Telin, serves as an integral part of the strategic infrastructure project connecting Indonesia with the rest of world, marking a significant milestone in strengthening Indonesia’s international connectivity, notably via the Indonesia Cable Express (ICE) submarine cable, which consists of seven cable systems.

The ICE system is an initiative that establishes vital links, including unlocking Batam and Indonesia not only to major cities in Indonesia and neighbouring countries like Singapore and Malaysia, but also to the Middle East, East Asia, Australia and the US.

Telin says the construction of the Batam CLS solidifies Batam’s role as Indonesia’s primary gateway for international connectivity, fostering digital and economic development in western Indonesia and supporting regional integration. It will also help to support data centre development in Indonesia and South East Asia.

Budi Satria Dharma Purba, CEO of Telin explained after the ceremony that the CLS will offer landing points for four cable systems – predominantly ICE Cable Systems – and added: “Looking into the future, we are equipping ourselves with the infrastructure and vision necessary to anticipate new technological advancements and connectivity needs across Indonesia and beyond. »

The ceremony marked the installation of the first foundation pillar of the CLS and was attended by a number of senior figures from the companies involved.

Four items of regional interest to catch up with on the eve of Christmas. … [visit site to read more]

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Nicholas Rossman, Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF)

Trust in the mobile sector could be a lot better. The Mobile Ecosystem Forum’s (MEF’s) 2024 Consumer Trust Study reveals the Global Trust Index, at 55%, to be down one percentage point in like-for-like markets. While this might seem moderate, it underscores a concerning reality: for nearly half of mobile users worldwide, trust in data sharing is fragile. … [visit site to read more]

The IFT-12 tender, in which spectrum will be made available for 5G networks in Mexico, will begin on 27 January when an invitation to would-be buyers to express their interest begins, according to an announcement from regulator the Federal Institute of Telecommunications (IFT).

The IFT-12 tender aims to allocate 2,223 radio spectrum blocks for the provision of wireless access services in different frequency bands. This seems to be mainly for 5G, although some news outlets suggest that some spectrum might be used to support or expand LTE.

In addition, according to Statista, as of September 2024 two 5G networks were actually deployed in Mexico, owned by AT&T and Telcel’s Radiomovil Dipsa. At the same time, says the global data and business intelligence platform, there were also five LTE networks in Mexico, each owned by a different operator. 

The bidding mechanism for this tender is called the multiple round ascending simultaneous type. The IFT version will involve a maximum of three competitions in which spectrum acquisition limits will increase in each contest based on demand in the previous contest and spectrum available.

The IFT explains that it is imposing limits seek to prevent levels of spectrum accumulation that may harm free competition and economic competition, as well as avoid the establishment of barriers to entry. In addition, it seeks to encourage the entry of new participants or strengthen the ability to compete of those already established and promote the efficient use of the spectrum.

The IFT has also incorporated incentives to participation, designed to promote competition and the provision of services at competitive prices for end users. Blocks will be available in the 600MHz band, the L-band, the 800MHz band, the AWS band, the PCS band and the 2.5GHz band, for national and other sorts of coverage.

There are some coverage obligations included in the national blocks of the 600MHz band and in the 2.5GHz band, to support less well-served areas. More information is available on the IFT website.

The long-awaited IFT-12 may the last tender carried out by the IFT before its final disappearance in 2025.

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Toni Eid, founder of Telecom Review Group, was undoubtedly right when he said: “5G-Advanced has seen remarkable progress in the Middle East.” He was speaking at the recent 18th Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit 2024 in Dubai where he was delivering the opening speech prior to a panel entitled World’s First 5G-A Region Sets Sail.

The backdrop to this event is 5G-Advanced networks moving from testing to commercial deployment – notably in the Middle East. Which is why a panel of industry associations, regulators, operators and vendors were being asked to describe how far 5G-A had come in the region – and where it could be going next.

Moderator Issam Eid, CMO Africa, Levant, KSA & Qatar, Telecom Review Group, asked the panel about the challenges currently within the 5G-Advanced ecosystem. How, he asked, can industry organisations and government agencies overcome these challenges, drive collaboration and foster a more mature industry value chain?

Fayez Abu Awad, Policy Director, MENA, GSMA, warned: “When considering the next stage of evolution of 5G we have to be mindful of the fact that ARPU has been stagnant for quite a while. We need to make sure that we have the use cases monetised properly in 5G-A.”

His answer (and a regular theme of the panel) was cross-industry collaboration. The GSMA is working on opening access to the capabilities of the network – and advocates for an open API approach.

Dr. Khalid Al Awadi, Manager, Broadcasting and Space Services, of UAE regulator TDRA UAE, focused first of all on spectrum utilisation – notably the adoption of new spectrum frequency allocations for IMT or mobile services.

The integration of non-terrestrial networks – a characteristic of 5G-Advanced – is also a challenge. Will more bands be needed?

More important, perhaps, is the future of private 5G. As he said: “We’re talking about different industries utilising data communication. We have a big challenge with regards to knowledge and understanding.”

Finally can costs be brought down? Regulators, he suggested, need to focus on a framework for spectrum sharing or RAN sharing.

The operator members of the panel then addressed the question of the current status of 5G-Advanced development – and what influence will 5G-Advanced technology evolution and network deployment will have on the Middle East.

Hasan Alshemeili, Head of Technology Planning of Emirates-based operator du, was able to describe a success story in his market where 5G outdoor coverage is almost universal and 5G-Advanced use cases have been demonstrated, notably band aggregation to achieve extraordinary Gigabit speeds.

du was also the first regional operator to deploy 5G-Advanced over DAS using Huawei LampSite X. 5G-Advanced coverage he said, is now 20% of the nation “and our strategy is to increase our footprint to 40% by next year”.

As for applications, he said that 5G-Advanced will help to accelerate digital transformation by enhancing connectivity across different sectors such as healthcare, manufacturing, transportation (V2X for example) and smart cities.

Dr. Ayman Elnashar, VP of Technology Strategy, Architecture & Innovation, e&, highlighted his market’s achievement: the fastest 5G speeds of any nation globally. He also noted that e& is planning for private 5G thanks to a partnership with oil and gas giant ADNOC to deploy the biggest private network in the world.

Of course 5G-Advanced is still being standardised – with enhancements likely to continue for some while. The recent 3GPP Release 18 will enhance the uplink while Reduced Capability (RedCap) New Radio is helping to expand the NR device ecosystem. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) will play increasingly important roles in 5G-Advanced.

Release 19 promises to expand the addressable market for 5G massive IoT. Base station intelligence, energy-saving ambient IoT, improved power consumption for base stations and devices and continuing enhancements to RedCap will help to address sustainability and energy efficiency. Further ahead, Release 20 will address 6G and AI-focused network design.

Stelios Savvides, Chief Technology Officer, Vodafone Oman, agreed that the GCC area is very advanced in 5G-A but asked: What are the use cases and network scenarios that are helping to drive investments?

One answer comes from Oman itself during Salalah’s tourist season. “We’ve been looking at advanced scheduling, in terms of uplink improvements, to drive throughput and of course some features around sensing interference – how we can drive the network to give a much better experience.”

Segmentation – differentiated quality of services for certain customers – has potential and gaming is an undoubted 5G-A opportunity, he said, as are lowering costs with RedCap and controlling capacity and access on the network, IoT, super low latency, mobile private networks, live feeds and more.

Ramy Boctor, Chief Technology Officer, Vodafone Qatar reminded his audience that “5G SA is a big piece in a bigger puzzle… the nature of traffic is changing now.”

Video on demand, live video streaming, gaming and virtual reality are all video services, but the latency and bandwidth requirements of these are different. What’s going to shape 5G demand soon could be more the application than the end user, he argued. Content providers therefore need open APIs.

“It’s not a matter of getting a connection to the content it’s how you get this connection. How fast do you get it? What’s the nature of this bandwidth?” New features are important, he noted, but 5G is also there to provide premium connectivity.

And new features are coming under 5G-Advanced: enhanced connectivity, uplink, download, latency, power efficiency and sustainability. AI-led automation will enhance site creation and network optimisation. Among applications, 5G-Advanced-led healthcare, smart cities, traffic management, safety, and urban management are part of a constantly lengthening list.

Equipment vendors were then asked about the role equipment vendors can play in application and businesses model explorations when collaborating with operators.

Allen Tang, President of ICT Marketing & Solution Sales Dept, Huawei MECA was very upbeat. Joint innovation has been key: terminal manufacturers, operators, regulators and standard organisations working together will accelerate the maturity of the 5G-A ecosystem, he argued.

New spectrum is becoming available. 3CC aggregation is already influencing deployment – and 3CC smartphones are on the way. New technologies like 5QI with SQL technology will allow new business models (like experience monetisation) for operators. And suppliers like Huawei can do a lot of innovation with operators to solve any issues during the journey to mobile AI, and the transformation from NSA to SA architecture.

Khalid Al Awadi, TDRA, added: “The most important issue that we need to take into consideration to adopt and progress 5G implementation is the collaboration of different stakeholders in the industry.”

Talking about 5G-A monetisation, Zoran Lazarevic, Chief Technology Officer, Ericsson MEA, asked how we can connect every killer application with each and every operator globally. How is it going to be maintained and, where necessary, upgraded? What about contract agreements and monetisation? Ericsson and some of the biggest operator globally are trying to address this with a global network API platform to offer connectivity to developers.

One-size fits all networks may not work with 5G-Advanced capabilities like slicing, low latency and performance-based business models, he suggested. Developing the applications to manage this means collaboration.

Mohamed Samir, VP Middle East Market, Nokia, again noted that 5G-Advanced is an evolution of the promises of 5G, including real-life applications to meet different demands. But while the vendor can supply the technology to enable that, collaboration means different operators can build the right business models to serve different consumers. “It’s all about bringing value at the end to the whole ecosystem,” he said.

Fayez Abu Awad of the GSMA added: “We have here representatives of the supply side economic equation. What we’re missing is the demand side.”

The modern mobile industry will extend to multiple sectors, and, he said: “We will never be experts in aviation, tourism or government. However, the experts within these sectors need to understand the capabilities that we can offer as an ecosystem and start dreaming of their own applications.” And the GSMA open gateway API initiative can help, supporting standardisation that makes a service, no matter where it’s developed, easily and rapidly deployable on your own network.

Another question for vendors was: Can AI can be leveraged to create synergies with 5G? It certainly supported network performance during the Qatar World Cup but with 5G-Advanced embedding AI functionalities in the OSS system this combination is becoming exponentially more powerful. Indeed, the complexity of 5G-A mobile networks cannot be managed by human beings alone; you have to have support from the AI, gen AI and LLMs.

Allen Tang reminded us of the fundamental importance of building for the cloud, of training to support AI, of ongoing telco-to-techco transformation and of the need to address monetising AI in a way that will enhance the customer experience and allow differentiation.

Dr. Ayman Elnashar, of e& also reminded us of the role of AI in solving network problems via automation, managing performance and energy and more. And collaboration, which will extend to the likes of Azure, AWS and Oracle for help building cloud infrastructure and hosting LLMs. With appropriate alliances, he added, operators can take a lead with AI.

The overall message of the day? Well, this panel revealed many fascinating and varied perspectives on 5G-A its role and future, but there was undoubtedly one clear overall message: collaboration will help 5G-A to fulfil its potential.

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Steve Douglas, Head of Market Strategy, Spirent Communications

The start of a new year is a perfect time to take stock of the telecommunications industry and cast our eyes forward to what’s coming next. Of course, when you work closely with the companies preparing to actually deliver new innovations to users, you don’t need a crystal ball to see what’s coming. You can just observe how they spend their time and resources.  … [visit site to read more]