Strategic Investments in 4G Networks have set High Expectations for 5G in The Channel Islands

There are three island territories within the British Isles that are known as Crown Dependencies; these are the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey which make up Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man. The Crown Dependencies are not part of the United Kingdom, but are self-governing possessions of the British Crown.

The Channel Islands, located in the English Channel between the UK and France, are a popular tourist destination and a hub for offshore finance. While they may be small in size, the Channel Islands have a thriving mobile market, with a range of operators offering services to locals and visitors alike.

The state of mobile operators in the Channel Islands is generally strong, with reliable coverage and high-speed data services available to residents and visitors. The two main mobile operators are Sure and JT. Both companies offer a range of voice, text, and data services, as well as a variety of plans and packages to suit different needs and budgets. Both Sure and JT, have invested heavily in their network infrastructure and are constantly improving their services to meet the needs of their customers.

Sure, owned by the Batelco Group, offers 2G, 3G, and 4G services across both Channel Islands (Jersey, Guernsey) and the Isle of Man. They have invested heavily in their network infrastructure to ensure reliable coverage and high speeds. Their 4G mobile network was found to be the fastest for data downloads in both Guernsey and Jersey and averaged more than twice as fast as the other operators in both islands.

JT, previously owned by the Jersey government is now privatized, they also offer 2G, 3G, and 4G services across both Jersey and Guernsey. 

JT has also invested heavily in its network infrastructure and has worked to expand its coverage and improve its services. The company has a reputation for offering competitive pricing and excellent customer service, which has helped it to maintain a significant market share despite the competition from larger operators like Sure.

Airtel-Vodafone is the third mobile phone provider in Jersey and Guernsey and a partnership between Bharti Airtel of India and Vodafone UK. Their coverage is on par with their competitors. 4G/LTE has been started and covers most of the islands now.

Founded in 2007, Airtel-Vodafone claims to have a subscriber base of over 45,000. However Sure are due to acquire Airtel-Vodafone. The acquisition is tipped to bring investment to the Channel Islands, according to Sure's parent company, Bahrain-based telco Batelco. In a press release regarding the matter, Batelco claimed that the merger of the operators would ‘trigger significant investment in the Islands’ digital infrastructure including the introduction of the latest 5G technology to the islands, resulting in the delivery of innovative mobile networks on an accelerated program to provide high-speed gigabit technology’.

As of April 2023 letters have been sent to Ofcom by the Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority (JCRA) it recommended that each operator be allocated 2×10MHz of 700MHz spectrum, as well as a contiguous 40MHz block in the 3.4GHz-3.8GHz band. Notably, frequencies in the latter band are expected to be increased incrementally over the duration of the licence to eventually reach 100MHz, subject to a number of factors, including: effective defragmentation of spectrum in the 3.4GHz-3.8GHz range; a 5G service launch within a defined period of Ofcom awarding a spectrum licence and rollout of a minimum stated number of 5G equipped base stations; and demonstrable evidence presented that spectrum already awarded is being efficiently used.

With regards to the JCRA’s specific frequency recommendations, meanwhile, it has suggested that JT be allocated the following spectrum blocks: 713MHz-723MHz/768MHz-778MHz and 3.52GHz-3.56GHz. For Sure, meanwhile, the recommendation is that the operator is awarded the following spectrum blocks: 723MHz-733MHz/778MHz-788MHz and 3.67GHz-3.71GHz.

Uzbekistan is Toying with 5G

The mobile market dominates Uzbekistan’s telecoms sector in terms of penetration, revenue, and growth. There are four major operators providing a modicum of competition; three of the four are government-owned entities although private operator Beeline Uzbekistan has been able to capture up to a third of the market. The last two Covid-affected years have proved challenging for Beeline, in particular, but its most recent operating results suggest a turnaround in the company’s fortunes is under way. Overall, the mobile market is expected to reach 100% penetration in 2023 – a 50% increase in the last five years.

At the end of 2020, Uzbekistan embarked on a “Digital Uzbekistan 2030” strategy to stimulate the country’s digital transformation across various industries. To achieve this, Uzbekistan is expanding its telecommunication infrastructure to improve communication quality and close the urban-rural divide (50% of the population lives in rural areas) by inking several partnerships. VEON, Beeline Uzbekistan’s parent company, announced in May 2022 that it would invest $250 million over the next five years to develop the communications infrastructure and ecosystem of digital services in Uzbekistan to support Digital Uzbekistan 2030.

Andrzej Malinowski, the CEO of Beeline Uzbekistan, acknowledges that “there is a clear understanding that (mobile) is a driver of the economy and the best way to further improve education level within the country. We want to enable remote education and build an education platform as a social project, make it zero-rated and available to all”.

VEON also announced it would advise and provide digitalization services to the Uzbek government during the country’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). In September 2022, state-backed Uzbektelecom signed eight contracts with Huawei and ZTE worth $506.8 million. The deal, backed by Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications (MITC), to implement a telecommunication network and infrastructure across the western and eastern regions of the country in two phases to deliver expanded population coverage and QoS. Furthermore, Uzbektelecom has also signed a contract with four Japanese companies — NTT, NEC, Toyota Tsusho, and Internet Initiative Japan (IIJ) — to deploy a telecommunications infrastructure development project to provide data center and telecommunication infrastructure to enable “Digital Uzbekistan 2030”.

Uzbekistan's 4 national GSM-based network operators are: Mobiuz (formerly UMS), Beeline, Ucell and Uztelecom (Uzmobile).

2G/GSM is on 900 and 1800 MHz, 3G on 2100 MHz. 4G/LTE has started on 2600 MHz (B7) on Ucell and Beeline on 850 MHz (B5, B18) with additional 700 MHz on Ucell, 800 MHz (B20) on Mobi.uz, 1800 MHz (B1) on Uztelecom and with EVO using TDD-LTE on 2300 MHz (B40) dubbed as "Super iMAX". For many years Uzbekistan has been struggling to bring its telecommunications system up to the standard found in developed countries. Over the last two decades the situation has been gradually transforming, but coverage and speeds are still quite low outside the major population centers. 

Uzbekistan’s state operator Mobiuz has embarked on a wide-reaching modernisation of its network in order to boost capacity and quality of service.

Mobiuz has begun offering 5G services in areas of Tashkent. All Mobiuz subscribers with 5G-capable devices can activate the service to access data speeds of “up to 300Mbps” free of charge. In addition, the operator has introduced a new 5G tariff priced at a monthly rate of UZS75,000 (US$6.80) that it claims can deliver speeds as high as 1Gbps. Mobiuz has also claimed that 5G users will experience substantial latency improvements.

The network is currently powered by eight 5G base stations located around the city. Mobiuz has received a soft loan of US$150 million from the Chinese state in August 2019 to help the operator invest in its network up until 2023 – including substantial equipment overhauls, nationwide 3G & 4G coverage expansion, internet upgrade and the implementation of 5G - all using equipment provided by Huawei.

The operator also has16 5G base stations operational in test mode in the city of Samarkand. In Samarkand, Mobiuz’s 5G base stations were initially installed at the ‘Silk Road Samarkand’ tourism centre, in central districts of the city, at the main railway station and at the Mobiuz Service Centre.

 

Beeline is the second provider in the country. It's controlled by Russian-backed Veon (formely VimpelCom). 

Recently Beeline network has launched mobile connectivity across the metro service  in the capital city of Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The new Beeline Uzbekistan coverage will provide 4G connectivity at all 31 underground stations on the four lines of the metro service. In 2022, the Tashkent metro enabled 220 million passenger journeys or a daily average of around 620,000 riders.

The expansion of 4G coverage to the Tashkent metro is part of Beeline’s ‘4G for all’ strategy, which saw the roll out of 2,300 4G base stations in 2022. The Beeline Uzbekistan network for the Tashkent Metro was developed using the Uztelecom infrastructure based on multi-operator RAN active equipment and sharing technology.

As of late 2021, Ucell has been servicing 7+ million subscribers with its 4G networks covering nearly 75% of the country’s major cities and towns. The company was the first to roll out a 5G network in Uzbekistan in the central business district of the capital city Tashkent on 8 April 2021. The company claimed that ‘real-world 5G speeds are approximately 1Gbps’ from launch, highlighting that ‘the data transfer rate is 10-100 times higher than 4G technology.’ Users can connect to 5G via Ucell sales and service offices in Tashkent or via a call centre.

Up until 31 May 2021 5G-capable device owners can sign up for a promotional Ucell 5G data package valid for five days costing UZS5,000 (USD0.48), allowing unlimited 5G internet usage ‘at up to 1Gbps’ within the central Tashkent coverage area. Ucell’s website confirmed that the new network uses 5G Band 78 (3500MHz) frequencies, with mobile USB/modem/router devices supported alongside smartphones. The website also states that ‘Ucell is developing new territories and very soon the technology will become available in other areas of the city and other cities of Uzbekistan.’

Uztelecom used to be a CDMA-only provider on 450 MHz (CDMA 2000 1x). In 2015 they started with GSM in 2G and 3G in Tashkent. They are the smallest GSM-provider in the country with a limited GSM coverage so far and only 5% of the country's users. Nationwide service extension is under way and 4G/LTE has started in 2017 on 1800 MHz (band 3). It's still the smallest, but fastest growing provider in the country.

In March 2023 Uztelecom began a mobile network upgrade project which includes deployment of 5G technology alongside 4G LTE coverage expansion and data speed improvements. Over 3,000 existing base stations throughout the country will be modernised alongside the rollout of more than 2,000 new base stations under the ‘Season of Renewal’ project.

In the first stage of the project, they plan to achieve ‘full’ 5G network coverage of the capital Tashkent plus ‘partial’ 5G coverage in regional centre cities, following which plans for subsequent stages of 5G expansion across the country ‘will be analysed’. The company also declared that it will be the first Uzbek network operator to provide 5G access on flagship smartphones, including Apple iPhone devices.

Uzbektelecom (Uztelecom) have previously signed deals including a 3G/4G/5G expansion worth over USD500 million with Huawei and ZTE in September 2022. Since July that year the telco operates a limited pilot 5G network in Samarkand.

Related Posts:

• Operator Watch Blog - Emerging 5G Markets: Uzbekistan 

Little Appetite for 5G in Burundi with 4G/LTE Continuing Gaining Ground

Burundi, a small landlocked country in East Africa, has a rapidly growing mobile market with several operators competing for customers. While the country faces some challenges in terms of infrastructure and regulatory issues, the state of mobile operators in Burundi is generally positive, with reliable coverage and a range of services available to customers. 

Burundi is among those countries in Africa which largely depend on mobile networks for voice and data services. There is little in the way of fixed-line infrastructure outside the main towns, and most investment has been earmarked to improve the quality of mobile services and the reach of LTE networks rather than on extending the reach of fixed-line telecoms. Investment in national fibre networks generally supports mobile backhaul rather than fixed broadband services.

Almost all mobile subscribers are prepaid: there were only about 7,250 contract subscribers in late 2021, accounting for 0.1% of the total.

The number of mobile subscribers increased sharply in 2021, year-on-year, reaching about 8.1 million. As with the increase in the number of subscribers, the various different communication requirements which have resulted from restrictions aimed at controlling the pandemic since 2020 has resulted in a significant increase in voice traffic. The average number of voice minutes increased 25% between the fourth quarter of 2020 and the third quarter of 2021, while the number of SMS sent increased 50%.

There are four main mobile operators in Burundi: Econet Leo, Onatel, Lumitel, and Smart Burundi. Each of these operators offers a range of services including voice, messaging, and mobile data. As of the first quarter of 2022, the Burundian telecom market had 7,798,885 subscribers shared among these four operators.

Econet Leo was the first mobile operator to launch in Burundi in 2003. The company is a subsidiary of Econet Wireless International, a telecommunications group based in South Africa. Econet Leo has been able to establish itself as one of the leading mobile operators in Burundi due to its extensive network coverage and affordable pricing.  The operator provides standard 2G GSM services over 900 and 1800 MHz, and launched 3G UMTS services in July 2011. In March 2017 Econet Leo switched on 4G LTE over the B3 (1800 MHz) band initially in the capital Bujumbura and was slowly rolling out across the nation.

Lumitel is a relatively new player in the Burundian mobile market, having launched in 2015. The company is owned by Viettel, a Vietnamese multinational telecommunications company. Despite being a new entrant, Lumitel launched the first 4G/LTE network simultaneously in six provinces of the country in 2016 covering the core central parts of Bujumbura, Gitega, Ngozi, Rumonge Makamba and Muyinga. They have been able to rapidly expand network coverage and had approximately 3 million subscribers as of 2021.

Onatel is another major player in the Burundian mobile market. The company was founded in 1978 and was initially a state-owned telecommunications provider. However, in 2006, Onatel was partially privatized, and Vivendi, a French multinational media conglomerate, acquired a 51% stake in the company. They offer mobile services under the brand name "Tempo" and provide a range of services including voice, messaging, and mobile data. The company has an extensive network coverage, with its services available in all provinces of Burundi. In addition to mobile services, Onatel also offers fixed-line and internet services to its customers.

Smart Burundi is the fourth mobile operator in Burundi, having launched in 2019. The company is a subsidiary of Smart Africa, a pan-African telecommunications company. Smart Burundi has been able to establish itself in the market by offering affordable pricing and a range of innovative services. 

However the Agency for Regulation and Control of Telecoms (Agence de Regulation et de Controle des Telecommunications, ARCT) in Burundi has reportedly shut down Smart Burundi over its failure to settle its tax arrears and the expiration of its operating licence on 27 July. The ARCT requested Smart to cease all operations on 18 August at which point it reputedly owed around USD3.2 million in arrears. Further, the regulator noted that whilst Smart had filed to have its licence renewed in March this year, its failure ‘to provide the certificate of non-accountability requested by the Burundian Revenue Office which must confirm that the telecom company owes nothing to the tax authorities’ meant that its concession subsequently lapsed.

Overall, the Burundian mobile market is competitive, with each of the four main operators offering a range of services at affordable prices. The government of Burundi has also taken steps to improve the country's telecommunications infrastructure, including investing in fiber-optic networks and promoting the deployment of 4G technology. With continued investment in infrastructure and the rollout of 5G technology, the Burundian mobile market is poised for further growth and innovation in the years ahead.

KDDI Launched their Metaverse and Web3 Service called αU (Alpha–U)

On March 7, 2023, KDDI launched  αU (Alpha–U), a metaverse and Web3 service, and introduced to its customers a new world where anyone can become a creator and to support the new generation of users who effortlessly move between the real and virtual worlds. The name αU comes from the Greek letter alpha (α), which symbolizes the beginning of something new, and the letter U, which stands for user. This reflects KDDI's goal of creating a new digital world that is accessible to everyone and that offers new opportunities for interaction and engagement.

αU is designed to be a comprehensive platform that offers a wide range of features and services for the Web3 era, including the metaverse, live streaming, and virtual shopping. Users can create their own avatars, their own virtual communities, explore virtual worlds, participate in a range of games and activities and interact with other users in real-time. The platform also offers a range of tools for content creators, including the ability to create and sell digital items and experiences.

This service eliminates the boundary between the real and virtual worlds, allowing users to enjoy everyday experiences such as attending live music performances, enjoying art, having conversations with friends, and shopping―anytime, anywhere. By collaborating with domestic and international partners, KDDI will provide support introducing Japanese creators and content to the world. Their aim is to build a creator economy in which creators can produce value and be compensated for their work. 

One of the key features of αU is its integration with Web3 technologies, which are designed to provide a more decentralized and transparent digital environment. The platform uses the Ethereum blockchain to enable secure transactions and to create a digital economy that is controlled by users rather than centralized authorities.

KDDI in partnership with Geometry Ogilvy Japan, had previously launched Virtual Shibuya, an urban-linked metaverse, in May 2020, and Digital Twin Shibuya, which links real and virtual spaces, in October 2022 as part of its continuous initiatives to expand urban experiences by utilizing 5G communications and AR/MR technologies.

Yasushi Arikawa, senior creative director, creative head of experience at Geometry Ogilvy Japan, explains that the initial version of the project was already under way before Covid hit, but it accelerated the need to create a virtual space as the city locked down;

“Having discussed the feasibility of implementing the experience in the real city, we then pivoted, and in May 2020 ‘Virtual Shibuya’ was born, a virtual platform that would itself reinvent the city of Shibuya. The city was locked down, and for those who could not go out ‘Virtual Shibuya,’ easily accessible with a smartphone, was immediately accepted as a new entertainment experience. The highly successful launch event attracted more than 53,000 visitors." 

"In October 2020, after the second and third waves of Covid, we hosted ‘Virtual Shibuya Halloween’ in a safe and secure virtual space to discourage people from visiting the huge ‘Halloween in Shibuya’ event that usually attracts one million visitors a year and represents Shibuya Ward. Several programs were held, including Trick or Treat content with digital incentives, avatar contests, talk shows and music concerts, which were successful in attracting more than 410,000 visitors.”

Mr Arikawa elaborates:  

For the past three years, Virtual Shibuya has offered this new form of entertainment enabled by technology, such as live music performances from artists, talk shows featuring anime and manga characters, and other urban-linked experiences that are anchored in a virtual space. 

αU will evolve this from a traditional public space for experience to a space for communication.

Geometry Ogilvy Japan, also created a virtually produced film to showcase aU. This 30-second clip which showcases four artistic illustrations made by GenZ artist Mayu Yukishita, The AI and a virtual singer tell a story about the concept of “Already, one world” that blends the real and virtual worlds, takes us beyond the “uncanny valley” to an emotionally charged story

KDDI is also working in collaboration with Google Cloud on αU. Google Cloud’s Immersive Stream for XR product creates high-definition virtual entertainment experiences. Immersive Stream for XR allows users to engage in an immersive, interactive, and photorealistic experience, without downloading an app so they can immediately engage with content on any device.

The implementation of these technologies will promote further collaboration between KDDI and Google's technical teams in the future. Their aim is to create use cases that lead to innovation and new consumption and experience behaviors, such as the realization of the Metaverse Web3 service "αU”, a world where anyone can become a creator and leverages content distribution on platforms like YouTube.

The launch of αU is a significant milestone for KDDI and for the wider metaverse and Web3 community. The platform offers a range of innovative features and experiences, and it has the potential to become a major player in the growing digital economy. As the platform evolves and expands, we can expect to see new and exciting applications emerge, and we can look forward to a future where the digital and physical worlds are more closely connected than ever before.

Related Posts: 

• Free 6G Training: KDDI's Seven B5G/6G Technologies Contributing to Society 5.0 Implementation
• Telecoms Infrastructure Blog: KDDI's Underground 5G Base Stations
• Telecoms Infrastructure Blog: KDDI Plans to Improve Rural Connectivity in Japan using SpaceX's Starlink
• Operator Watch Blog: Is Japan an undisputed 4G/LTE Leader?
• Operator Watch Blog: KDDI Japan's IoT march continues with over 10 Million Connections
• The 3G4G Blog: Demystifying and Defining the Metaverse
• Free 6G Training: What is Metaverse and will it play a big part in 6G?
• Operator Watch Blog: Dialog Launches First Immersive Metaverse, Futureverse, in Sri Lanka
• Operator Watch Blog: Indonesia Joins the Metaverse World with metaNesia 

Seychelles Plans to Introduce 5G and Competition

Situated in the middle of the Indian Ocean with less than 100,000 inhabitants, the Seychelles is Africa’s least populous sovereign nation.

There are two mobile operators in the Seychelles: Airtel Seychelles and Cable & Wireless Seychelles. 

The following frequencies are used in Seychelles:

2G: 900 MHz

3G: 2100 MHz

4G/LTE: 800 MHz (Band 20)

5G NR: unknown

Commercial 5G NR has been available in Seychelles since June 2020 with Cable & Wireless Seychelles. However, 5G NR is currently only available to postpaid customers. It is unknown when prepaid customers can get access to 5G NR networks. Moreover, it is unknown when Airtel Seychelles will launch 5G NR and whether it will be available to prepaid customers from the start or not.

Airtel Seychelles has more than a 50 percent share of the mobile market in the country. It was the first company to launch prepaid mobile services in 1999 and gradually upgraded its network to 3G and 4G connectivity. According to Amadou Dina, Managing Director of Airtel Seychelles.

“Airtel Seychelles is among the top four companies in the world in terms of telecommunications. We have almost 98 percent smartphone penetration and 95 percent 4G penetration in the country.” 

C&W Seychelles competes closely with Airtel in this duopoly mobile market. Recently C&W revealed that it has carried out a network optimisation project including adding extra 4G LTE and 5G mobile base stations to strengthen capacity, data speeds and coverage. The company – which launched 5G services in July 2020 – stated in one of the posts: ‘We can confirm we have rolled out more 5G and LTE mobile sites … more customers can access much faster LTE and 5G in more areas than before.’

In a parallel project, C&W announced that it is constructing new cell tower sites to mitigate poor call drop rates in certain network sections, with 13 new tower sites deployed in September 2022, out of a total of 25 planned for completion by the end of October. So far, the towers have been deployed in zones with weak cell coverage in the following areas: Anse Royale/Les Canelles, Anse Faure, La Salette, Piton, Bougainville, La Gogue, Anse Reunion, Le Niole, Ma Joie, Morne Blanc, Providence, St. Louis and Sunshine House.

This duopoly mobile market may soon be disrupted by Intelvision, a fixed broadband and pay-TV provider in the Seychelles, which has revealed a plan to enter the mobile market with a network rollout in partnership with Chinese vendor Huawei. Intelvision has been assigned 5G-suitable mobile frequencies, whilst in October 2019 the operator revealed a strategy to enter the mobile market in partnership with Huawei, although its initial plan to begin 4G/5G network rollout in 2020 was delayed. 

Little Progress on 5G in Egypt

 

Egypt’s mature mobile market has one of the highest penetration rates in Africa. Progress in the adoption of mobile data services has been hampered by the lack of sufficient spectrum. To address this, the regulator in September 2020 made available 60MHz in the 2.6GHz band, though the spectrum was not allocated until late 2021. The additional spectrum will go far to enabling the MNOs to improve the quality of mobile broadband services offered. Further 5G trials are to be held later in 2022, focused on the New Administrative Capital.

The international cable infrastructure remains an important asset for Egypt, which benefits from its geographical position. Telecom Egypt has become one of the largest concerns in this segment, being a participating member in numerous cable systems. In mid-2021 the telco announced plans to build the Hybrid African Ring Path system, connecting a number of landlocked countries in Africa with Italy, France, and Portugal. The system will partly use the company’s existing terrestrial and subsea cable networks.

Egypt also has the biggest mobile phone market in Africa with 4 network providers: Vodafone Egypt, Orange (formerly: Mobinil), Etisalat and WE (by Telecom Egypt).

Telecom Egypt rebranded its retail business to WE in 2017 with the launch of its mobile offering. Since 2017, this operator has expanded nicely, and users have more than doubled since the end of 2019. Market research company Omdia estimates that at the end of June 2022, the operator had about a 10% share of the Egyptian mobile market.

Telecom Egypt owns a 45% stake in Vodafone Egypt, which is the country's biggest mobile operator with almost 42% market share. Orange Egypt has about 26% market share and Etisalat almost 22%.

According to the most recent Open Signal report on Egypt, it's evident that WE is the dominant operator when it comes to national mobile network experience in Egypt. The operator wins five out of the 10 awards outright — Video Experience, Games Experience, Download Speed Experience, Excellent Consistent Quality and Core Consistent Quality. In addition, WE also shares the top spot alongside Etisalat in Upload Speed Experience, as well as Availability, there is a three-way split between Etisalat, Vodafone and WE. Meanwhile, Vodafone is the only other operator to achieve outright wins; it leads in Voice App Experience, 4G Availability and 4G Coverage Experience.

However, our results also reveal that there is a lot of room for improvement across all national operators.

Vodafone Egypt is the largest mobile network operator in the North African nation and holds a 43% revenue market share, and has 43 million consumer and enterprise customers. The operator is also Egypt’s largest mobile wallet provider through Vodafone Cash, according to the national telecoms regulatory authority.

Vodacom’s acquisition of a 55% stake in Vodafone Egypt was concluded in December 2022 on the basis of a €577m ($622m) cash offer and the issuance of more than two million shares. The deal, worth R43.6bn, the largest in the South African network operator’s history, has resulted in parent Vodafone increasing its shareholding in Vodacom to 65.1% from 60.5%.

The transaction means Vodacom’s population reach in the African market now exceeds 500 million. Egypt is Africa’s third most populous nation, with a population exceeding 110 million.

Orange was previously the biggest mobile provider in Egypt back in the days when it was still called Mobinil. In 2016 they were rebranded to the Orange label. They offer a good coverage in the country and 4G/LTE has started in 2017 on 1800 MHz (B3) in major towns and resorts.

The National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA) has allocated new frequencies to Orange Egypt, offering 30MHz in the frequency space of 2,600MHz with a Time Division Duplex (TDD) system.

The new frequencies were allocated in return for USD 440 million, to be used for providing mobile phone services in the Arab Republic of Egypt. The frequencies can be used for both 4G and 5G deployments.

Etisalat Misr is the third operator in terms of market share. 

Etisalat Misr has selected Ericsson to modernise its Business Support Systems (BSS), with it claimed that the transformation will see the upgrade and modernisation of the former’s BSS platform to support data and VoLTE traffic growth, 5G readiness and IoT.

It was noted that the agreement will equip Etisalat Misr with a range of upgraded capabilities across all its business operations in the customer, product, and service management domains and for customers, enterprises, partners, network technologies and events. Ericsson BSS will reportedly enable Etisalat Misr to further spur innovation and enhance customer satisfaction with more flexibility. A press release regarding the agreement also noted that it will secure capacity expansion for VoLTE using Ericsson Cloud VoLTE technology, with this expected to enable a superior customer experience for ‘several millions of users’.

Telecom Egypt is the state-owned landline monopolist. In 2016 it acquired a LTE license and the network has been started in autumn 2017. They provide 4G/LTE at first "experimentally" on Bands 1 and 8 (900, 2100 MHz). 2G and 3G coverage is done through roaming agreements with Orange and Etisalat. The country’s long-awaited 4th mobile network is branded as WE.

Related Posts: 

• Operator Watch Blog: Egypt Mobile Network Operators Overview 

Jio Platforms (JPL) is Flaunting their 5G Wares

In the world where we talk about just two or three major mobile network infrastructure vendors, challengers are rising, either using Open RAN/Networks as their base, innovations as a leverage or the might of a huge population to ensure their network infrastructure has been tested in the most extreme of scenarios. Jio Platforms (JPL) is probably relying on all the three conditions listed above. 

15. Jio Platforms has been created to bring together digital assets of Reliance spanning across connectivity and technology investments under a single wholly-owned subsidiary.#NayeIndiaKaNayaJosh #Jio #RelianceARhttps://t.co/yAe8B9NKbo pic.twitter.com/5GD2c6XyYm

— Flame of Truth (@flameoftruth) July 9, 2020

Jio Platforms Ltd. is an Indian technology company and a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited, headquartered in Mumbai, India. Jio Platforms has an end to end 5G solution consisting of 5G Radio, a complete 5G Core Network, AI/ML ATOM platform for 4G/5G, MANO for cloud CNF orchestration, ACI for cloud infrastructure deployment as well as the Cloud-native OSS Platforms.

In addition to these core platforms, Jio Platforms has also created its own cloud-native probing solutions for radio and core networks, simplifying network debugging and not requiring any systems integration with probe providers. To enable a SaaS-based model, JPL has also developed a sophisticated array of BSS solutions.

The entire product line is cloud native and can be deployed either on a public cloud or a private cloud.

In the recently concluded MWC 2023, Jio Platforms sponsored quite a few tracks and spoke in some as well. Aayush Bhatnagar, SVP of Technology at Jio Platforms gave a fantastic presentation in the track, '5G Advanced, Ready for Take-Off!'. His talk is embedded below:

Video courtesy of 6G World

While Jio relied on Airspan (for small cells) and Samsung for 4G/LTE networks, for 5G Jio has partnered with Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung, Cisco, Microsoft, etc.

Ericsson's press release mentioned that it will supply: Ericsson’s energy-efficient 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) products and solutions (from the Ericsson Radio System portfolio) and E-band microwave mobile transport solutions will be deployed in the 5G network for Jio.

Nokia's press release mentioned that it will supply: Equipment from its AirScale portfolio, including base stations, high-capacity 5G Massive MIMO antennas, and Remote Radio Heads (RRH) to support different spectrum bands, and self-organizing network software.

Telecom TV has a good summary of Jio Platforms presentation from DTW2022 (a version of their presentation video is available here). The JPL speakers mentioned that the company always had in mind that it wouldn’t be developing platforms, cloud-native functions and applications just for itself – it always had the broader market within India, and beyond, in mind. This was the reason they adopted a platforms-as-products (PaPs) strategy to its R&D.

It's yet to be seen how equipment from JPL interworks with ones from Nokia, Ericsson and everyone else. Right now Reliance Jio is busy launching 5G in more and more cities. The speeds, quality of experience and reliability will be the judge of their network and and a catalyst for adoption of Jio Platforms.

Related Posts: 

• Operator Watch Blog: World's Largest Mobile Networks by Data Traffic - March 2021
• Operator Watch Blog: India Auctions 4G (and 5G) Spectrum
• Operator Watch Blog: Jio is the Largest Mobile Network in India by Subscriber Numbers
• Operator Watch Blog: Jio going it alone for 5G Development
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• The 3G4G Blog: Reliance Jio and 5G Network Architecture Option 6
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