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Tag: 5G

  • Bharti Airtel Misses Profit Forecast as Network Costs Climb 11 per Cent

    Bharti Airtel Misses Profit Forecast as Network Costs Climb 11 per Cent

    Bharti Airtel reported a second-quarter consolidated net profit of 88.88 billion rupees, equivalent to 940.45 million dollars, missing market expectations as network operating expenses rose.

    Consensus estimates compiled by LSEG projected net profit at 96.73 billion rupees for the three months ended September 30, even as total revenue increased 16.7 per cent to 608.78 billion rupees.

    Network costs jumped 11 per cent during the period, driven by the maintenance and operation of telecom infrastructure across the country. Licence fees climbed 13 per cent, pushing total quarterly expenses up approximately 15 per cent to 259.32 billion rupees. Consolidated profit nevertheless gained from the 67.92 billion rupees recorded in the corresponding quarter a year prior, though top-line growth could not fully cushion operational inflation.

    Tariff Limits and Premium Migration

    Average revenue per user increased 6 per cent year-on-year to 271 rupees, keeping Airtel ahead of domestic peers on unit realisations. The metric gained traction as the carrier added 18.8 million customers to its combined 4G and 5G footprint. Without broad-based tariff increases across the Indian market since July 2024, the business leaned on product pruning to lift receipts. Airtel removed several lower-tier prepaid denominations during the quarter, steering entry-level customers toward costlier recharge tiers.

    That migration strategy reflects the ceiling facing Indian operators until the next coordinated price adjustment takes place. Relying entirely on organic plan migrations carries friction, particularly as inflation pressures lower-income prepaid consumers. Brokerage Centrum projects an industry-wide tariff increase of 12 to 15 per cent across the next four to five months, an intervention that would directly feed operating margins.

    The Market Share Contest With Jio

    Competition across India remains defined by the pricing environment established since Reliance Jio entered the sector in 2016. Airtel closed the September quarter with an Indian customer base of 498.7 million, up 10.9 per cent year-on-year. That total leaves the operator trailing Jio, which commands 542.4 million subscribers.

    For mobile hardware distributors and digital platform operators, the divergence between the two dominant players shapes commercial exposure. Jio continues to capture volume across price-sensitive tiers, while Airtel defends higher-value urban and postpaid accounts through network coverage investments. Maintaining that premium positioning requires elevated capital allocation toward 5G base stations, driving the maintenance overhead that clipped Airtel’s quarterly earnings.

    Regional Support From African Operations

    International operations provided a counterweight to domestic margin compression. Revenue from Airtel Africa, which spans 14 countries across sub-Saharan Africa and delivers approximately one quarter of total group revenue, advanced 37.6 per cent.

    The current operating performance follows a prolonged period of post-auction network rollout across India, where capital spending on 5G spectrum and hardware converted into recurring maintenance obligations. While earlier quarters benefited from initial 5G user migrations, operating expenses have now caught up with network densification.

    Market attention now shifts to the timing of broad-based price adjustments, with operators balancing customer retention against the projected 12 to 15 per cent tariff revision expected before the end of the fiscal year.

  • Asia Pacific Fixed Wireless Connections to Reach 50 Million by 2031

    Asia Pacific Fixed Wireless Connections to Reach 50 Million by 2031

    Fixed wireless access (FWA) connections across the Asia Pacific will reach 50 million by 2031, rising from 28 million in 2026 as telecom operators expand 5G-based broadband services to areas lacking fiber infrastructure.

    Data analytics firm GlobalData projects the regional FWA market will expand at a compound annual growth rate of 12.5 per cent over the period. Adoption will be driven by rising demand for high-speed home internet, expanding 5G coverage, and persistent gaps in fixed-network reach across rural and underserved areas.

    Telecommunications providers, including Malaysia’s U Mobile and Indonesia’s MyRepublic Indonesia, are rolling out wireless broadband over 5G to connect households and businesses without physical fiber access.

    Bypassing the Digging Costs

    Laying physical glass into individual premises remains expensive. Wireless broadband delivers connections into homes and shops using rooftop or window receivers pointed at nearby mobile towers.

    Operators use this architecture to sign up residential customers and retail businesses that fiber networks bypassed. Malaysia’s U Mobile and Indonesia’s MyRepublic Indonesia are both expanding wireless broadband offers built on 5G infrastructure. Thailand’s AIS and New Zealand’s One NZ also sell fixed wireless connections to households and merchants needing quick installation without waiting for utility contractors.

    Sellers Add Bandwidth Demand

    Home demand centres on video streaming, remote working, online education, and connected household hardware. Merchant demand is shifting just as quickly.

    Small and mid-sized enterprises across the region require reliable links for cloud inventory software, digital point-of-sale terminals, and video conferencing. Plug-and-play receivers let shop owners start processing digital transactions without waiting weeks for fixed-line technicians to pull cables through conduits.

    Carrier Monetisation Pressures

    Telecom operators across Asia secured 5G spectrum and erected base stations. Consumer mobile phone plans failed to generate high enough average revenue per user to pay those networks off on their own.

    Fixed wireless gives carriers a second cash stream from the same radio towers without laying neighborhood distribution cables. Operators in India, New Zealand, and Hong Kong lead this network spending push, packaging broadband with tiered speeds, assigned data pools, and bundled digital subscriptions.

    Filling the Fixed Gaps

    Fixed wireless will run alongside underground fiber rather than replace it entirely in dense commercial districts. Fiber retains higher overall capacity, but wireless links solve the final-mile problem across dispersed suburban developments and island archipelagos.

    Carriers now compete on how quickly they can activate these accounts. The benchmark to track is whether operators hit the 28 million regional baseline projected for 2026 before accelerating toward the 50 million mark in 2031.

  • Malaysia Urged to Mandate Vendor Diversity for Dual 5G Networks

    Malaysia Urged to Mandate Vendor Diversity for Dual 5G Networks

    Malaysia should write explicit supplier diversification requirements into its national 5G framework, preventing both network operators from consolidating around identical infrastructure vendors, according to industry analysts.

    The dual-network architecture currently divides wholesale responsibilities between Digital Nasional Bhd, which deploys Ericsson equipment, and U Mobile, which selected Huawei and ZTE for the second rollout.

    Regulatory Gaps in Dual Deployment

    Ministerial Direction No. 7 of 2025 instructed the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission to implement a dual-network model, focusing on spectrum management and operational continuity. It stopped short of requiring a permanent division between Western and Chinese vendors.

    Global Asia Consulting analyst Samirul Ariff Othman noted that general licensing rules under the regulator remain technology-neutral. Without firm procurement stipulations, commercial operators could later merge supplier paths during future lifecycle upgrades or network-sharing deals.

    Shared vendor dependency exposes enterprise services and critical national infrastructure to common software flaws, export restrictions and single-source logistics chokepoints. A formal policy mechanism would mandate resilience reviews whenever an operator plans significant ownership or equipment vendor shifts.

    Cybersecurity and Foreign Enterprise Demands

    International corporate tenants and enterprise customers bring divergent compliance requirements to the market, particularly when handling regional supply-chain operations and data transfers across borders.

    Farlina Said, an analyst at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia, pointed out that service reliability and alternative infrastructure sources remain necessary to limit single points of failure across industrial sectors.

    Different multinational enterprises face distinct national cybersecurity mandates in their home markets, which dictate acceptable hardware vendors for connected factories, automated logistics hubs and cloud processing nodes. Preserving genuine equipment variety inside Malaysia provides enterprise tenants with the technical flexibility needed to meet those standards.

    Policy Shifts and Vendor Allocations

    Malaysia initially launched its 5G deployment as a single wholesale network managed exclusively by Digital Nasional Bhd anchored by Ericsson equipment. Political debate over monopoly risks and vendor access subsequently pushed authorities to approve a second commercial wholesale network.

    Parliamentary debate accelerated on October 22 when Machang MP Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal pressed the government to maintain balance between Western and Chinese technology systems across the country’s dual grid.

    The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission has yet to publish the explicit regulatory conditions and compliance penalties that will govern future vendor transitions across either licensed network operator.

  • China Records 15 Million Cars with Navigation on Autopilot Features

    China Records 15 Million Cars with Navigation on Autopilot Features

    China counted approximately 15 million passenger cars equipped with Navigation on Autopilot software as of August 2026, according to government academy data released in Beijing.

    Those vehicles account for roughly 25 per cent of the 61 million passenger cars nationwide carrying Level 2 driver assistance systems, reflecting the operational fleet rather than showroom deliveries this year.

    The Fleet on the Road

    Data released at the 2026 World Intelligent Connected Vehicles Conference by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology showed about 16 million passenger cars in China carried 5G communication terminals as of August, alongside 2 million vehicles with Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything equipment.

    The China Academy of Information and Communications Technology disclosed the operational figures during the conference in Beijing’s Yizhuang area. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Transport, and the Beijing municipal government jointly organized the three-day gathering.

    Hardware installations across the domestic fleet have outpaced urban infrastructure upgrades. Automakers selling in China have turned automated highway driving and urban point-to-point navigation into standard consumer features to protect showroom pricing, forcing suppliers to absorb sensor costs across high production volumes.

    Rewriting Vehicle Standards

    Regulators are moving to codify how these operating systems behave once drivers take their hands off the controls. Guo Shougang, head of the equipment industry department at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, released a draft update to China’s connected-vehicle technical standards guidelines for public review on October 21.

    The regulatory framework covers more than 400 existing standards across intelligent vehicles, communications, traffic management, and fleet operations. The 2026 revisions seek to expand safety criteria for core components, standardize system architectures, and set binding rules for operating autonomous driving services commercially.

    For automotive brands and tier-one component makers, the revised rulebook narrows room for proprietary software workarounds. Safety compliance costs will fall heavily on domestic electric vehicle assemblers that have marketed assisted driving capabilities aggressively to private retail buyers.

    Preparing Level 3 Approvals

    Work on the second batch of Level 3 autonomous driving market access pilots is underway, Guo said during the conference. Regulators have not named the participating carmakers, the specific models involved, or the date when commercial sales permits will take effect.

    The current phase builds on early regulatory permissions granted late last year. The ministry awarded conditional Level 3 market access approval to models from state-owned automakers Changan and BAIC in December 2025.

    Those initial vehicles remain confined to designated public test roads and strict operating conditions rather than nationwide consumer use. Regulators will monitor testing outcomes from the first cohort before expanding operational permits to the next group of carmakers.

  • Jio Platforms Reaches Fourfold Bookings in $3.2 Billion Mumbai Offering

    Jio Platforms Reaches Fourfold Bookings in $3.2 Billion Mumbai Offering

    Investors placed orders for more than four times the available shares in the US$3.2 billion initial public offering of Jio Platforms on its second day of bidding in Mumbai.

    Retail investors absorbed their full reserved portion inside the first two hours of trade on Thursday, booking 1.29 times the shares set aside for them.

    The listing gives Jio Platforms an equity valuation of up to US$108.3 billion. Institutional investors led the order book earlier in the week, with qualified institutional buyers bidding 9.78 times their allocation by the close of the second day, according to exchange data. The transaction represents the first public share sale from parent Reliance Industries in two decades, ranking as the largest equity offering ever mounted in India.

    Institutional Demand Sets Fast Pace

    Bidding dynamics broke normal patterns for large Indian initial offerings, where institutional buyers typically wait until the final afternoon to commit capital. The overall offering was filled within 90 minutes of opening on the first day, driven by institutions that snapped up their portion within minutes. Demand then spread into the retail tranche, which accounts for approximately one third of the total offering.

    Akash Ambani leads the telecoms business, which generates roughly 90 per cent of total revenue across Jio Platforms. The enterprise expanded on a simple business premise initiated in 2016: give away voice calls, discount wireless data sharply, and force rival networks into retreat. That playbook stripped millions of users away from incumbent operators Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea. Jio now counts more than 500 million subscribers, trailing only China Mobile among single-country network operators worldwide.

    Consumer Cash Flows Fund Network Upgrade

    For consumer-facing brands and digital retailers in India, the transaction secures the capital base of the country’s most pervasive digital gateway. Jio Platforms bundles high-speed connectivity with digital payments, cloud hosting, streaming, and retail interfaces. Controlling that digital pipeline gives Reliance use over consumer touchpoints that pure-play retailers and internet startups cannot match.

    The core operating risk rests on business mix. While parent Reliance Industries markets Jio as a digital and artificial intelligence platform, telecoms access fees still provide nine out of every ten dollars entering the business. Expanding into home broadband, 5G services, and cloud products requires sustained capital deployment, exposing the business to prolonged payback cycles if monetisation beyond connectivity lags expectations.

    Building the Conglomerate Consumer Arm

    Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani flagged the public share sale in June, framing the listing as part of a transformation from refining and chemicals manufacturing toward a consumer, retail, and tech conglomerate. Shares of parent company Reliance Industries have appreciated roughly 330-fold on the Mumbai exchange since 1990, establishing the group as a core holding for domestic retail accounts.

    Public bidding runs through a three-day window before closing. Unconditional trading in Jio Platforms shares is scheduled to start on October 28 in Mumbai, where the market will price the company directly against India’s highest-capitalised corporate listings.

  • Ericsson Bets on AI Traffic and 550 Million 5G Users to Drive India Growth

    Ericsson Bets on AI Traffic and 550 Million 5G Users to Drive India Growth

    Ericsson expects artificial intelligence applications and rising monthly data traffic to fuel a second wave of network investment in India, where 5G subscribers reached 550 million by September 2026.

    Monthly data consumption across Indian networks has climbed to between 36 and 37 gigabytes per user, according to company figures presented at the India Mobile Congress in New Delhi.

    The Swedish telecom equipment vendor is seeking fresh revenue after the rapid initial rollout of fifth-generation mobile infrastructure cooled. India accounted for 12 percent of Ericsson’s regional business covering South East Asia, Oceania, and India in 2025, down from 20 percent in 2023 during the peak of initial carrier deployments.

    Network Capacity Over Pure Consumer Use Cases

    Indian operators deployed 5G across 99.9 percent of the country’s districts in less than four years, making it one of the fastest national buildouts globally. The buildout occurred primarily because carriers needed immediate spectrum efficiency and radio capacity rather than waiting for specialized consumer applications.

    Nitin Bansal, managing director for India and head of networks for South East Asia, Oceania, and India at Ericsson, noted that 5G currently reaches roughly one-third of the country’s population. He argued that shifting directly to 5G rather than expanding older 4G infrastructure provided the necessary capacity to handle escalating consumer usage.

    Direct monetization remains the chief challenge for telecom operators Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio. Both carriers spent heavily on spectrum auctions and radio deployments starting in late 2022 and are now pushing higher-margin services to improve average revenue per user.

    Fixed Wireless and Enterprise Slicing

    Fixed Wireless Access has become the fastest monetization channel for Indian network operators looking to bypass fixed-line broadband delays. Data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India showed 13.45 million 5G FWA subscribers active at the end of August 2026.

    Service differentiation is shifting toward premium enterprise and high-tier retail customers. Bharti Airtel introduced commercial 5G network slicing, carving out dedicated network resources to provide guaranteed speeds and lower latency to postpaid retail subscribers.

    For equipment vendors including Ericsson, Nokia, and Samsung, these software-defined features generate recurring software licensing fees rather than purely hardware-driven revenue.

    Artificial Intelligence Shifts Network Requirements

    Emerging artificial intelligence workloads on mobile devices are changing baseline infrastructure demands across Asian markets. Generative AI tools and spatial computing applications require heavy uplink capacity and reduced latency, forcing operators to tune cell sites that were originally configured primarily for downlink video streaming.

    Ericsson expects carriers to reconfigure their 5G standalone cores to handle automated traffic management and machine-learning compute loads. Critical infrastructure monitoring and industrial automation in manufacturing hubs around Pune, Chennai, and Gujarat are also pulling private 5G deployments into commercial operation.

    Vendors face pressure to prove these upgrades deliver real cost savings. Indian telecom operators operate with some of the lowest tariffs in the world, leaving slim margins for speculative infrastructure spending without clear returns.

    Targeting One Billion Subscribers by 2030

    India launched commercial 5G services in October 2022 and has since become one of the two largest mobile data markets alongside China. The central government has set an official target of one billion 5G subscribers by 2030.

    Meeting that target requires converting roughly 450 million additional mobile users from legacy 4G and 2G connections over the next four years. That conversion will hinge on the availability of entry-level 5G smartphones priced below 8,000 rupees, alongside wider rural cell coverage where standalone economics remain tight.

  • Ericsson Beats Third-Quarter Core Profit Forecast at 10.1 Billion Crowns

    Ericsson Beats Third-Quarter Core Profit Forecast at 10.1 Billion Crowns

    Telecom gear maker Ericsson reported a third-quarter operating profit before amortisation and restructuring of 10.1 billion Swedish crowns on Thursday, beating market forecasts despite a year-on-year decline.

    The result exceeded the 7.87 billion crown mean analyst estimate provided by the company, even as core profit fell from 15.8 billion crowns a year earlier. Efficiency measures helped offset higher component costs.

    Margin Pressure From Memory Chips

    Organic sales climbed 7 per cent to 59.5 billion crowns, running ahead of expectations of 55.4 billion crowns. Adjusted EBITA margin fell to 17.0 per cent from 28.1 per cent a year earlier, though it cleared the 14.2 per cent analyst consensus.

    Chief executive Per Narvinger cautioned that rising component expenses will continue to squeeze profitability across upcoming reporting periods. “Looking ahead, the RAN (Radio Access Network) market is flat, geopolitical uncertainty remains elevated and component costs are a headwind to gross margin,” he said in a statement.

    Shifting Demand in Regional Networks

    Equipment suppliers face a split market as carrier spending diverges sharply by territory. North American business delivered a slight sales increase during the quarter, aided by the scheduled timing of customer network deployments.

    For network operators across regional markets, stagnant radio access investments limit near-term contract expansion. Rising server and memory prices divert capital expenditure into data centre capacity, leaving traditional cellular hardware vendors to protect margins through overhead reductions rather than volume growth.

    Supply Chain Spillover From Artificial Intelligence

    Surging procurement of high-bandwidth memory for artificial intelligence clusters has tightened semiconductor supplies across the broader electronics supply chain. Telecommunications hardware makers must now absorb these elevated silicon costs or attempt to pass them to network carriers that are already restricting infrastructure budgets.

    Hardware suppliers that delayed long-term component pricing contracts face immediate gross margin compression. With mobile service revenue growing slowly, telecom operators are resisting equipment price increases, shifting the financial burden back onto equipment manufacturers.

    Tracking Recent Financial Steps

    The latest quarterly update follows a warning delivered three months earlier. Ericsson cautioned in July that escalating memory chip costs tied to intense artificial intelligence demand would exert sustained pressure on hardware manufacturing margins.

    Investors and supply chain planners are now monitoring fourth-quarter inventory valuations and component purchase commitments to gauge the full margin impact entering next year.

  • DNB Secures $1.27 Billion Islamic Facility for Malaysia 5G Network

    DNB Secures $1.27 Billion Islamic Facility for Malaysia 5G Network

    Digital Nasional Berhad secured MYR 5.2 billion ($1.27 billion) in syndicated Islamic term financing. The facility funds the next stage of Malaysia’s national 5G deployment.

    The package refinances an existing Government Guarantee Revolving Credit Facility that expired on September 29, 2026. This shifts the wholesale operator away from direct sovereign debt backing.

    Refinancing state debt

    Maybank Investment Bank led the syndicate as mandated lead arranger, bookrunner, and coordinator. Joint mandated lead arrangers were AmInvestment Bank, CIMB Islamic Bank, RHB Islamic Bank, and United Overseas Bank (Malaysia). AmInvestment Bank also served as financial adviser to DNB.

    This long-term package ranks among the largest syndicated debt deals arranged for an unlisted Malaysian business. It provides independent capital to maintain infrastructure operations as the country prepares to licence a competing second 5G wholesale network.

    Ownership changes among carriers

    Proceeds prepare the ground for the Ministry of Finance Incorporated to surrender its ordinary equity. MOF Inc. Holds a 31.18 percent stake in DNB and plans to exit early in the fourth quarter of 2026. It will keep a special share to retain veto power over strategic national decisions.

    Three commercial mobile network operators, CelcomDigi, Maxis, and YTL Communications, each hold 22.94 percent stakes after injecting MYR 202 million ($49.45 million) apiece in May. Once the finance ministry transfers its ordinary holding, those three carriers will become equal shareholders in the business.

    Commercial impact and competitive risk

    For enterprise customers and mobile subscribers, private ownership removes the risk of sudden policy reversals tied to government budgets. Joint control forces the three competing retail operators to fund capital expenditure directly rather than rely on state guarantees.

    Commercial risk now shifts to network economics under Malaysia’s planned dual-network structure. When the telecommunications regulator awards the second 5G network, DNB must defend its wholesale traffic volumes against a rival system. The debt facility secures critical operating runway for that contest.

    Spectrum boost and network specs

    DNB expanded its active spectrum assets alongside the financing deal. The carrier activated an extra 100 MHz in the 3.3 GHz to 3.4 GHz band. Paired with its original 3.4 GHz to 3.5 GHz assignment, it now has 200 MHz of contiguous mid-band spectrum.

    All 240 MHz of DNB’s spectrum holdings converted into formal spectrum assignments on October 1, 2026, following approval from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission. The operator will direct the additional capacity into Massive MIMO, carrier aggregation, 5G-Advanced, and automated traffic management across metropolitan nodes.

    What happens next

    Next up is the formal completion of MOF Inc.’s equity exit before the end of the fourth quarter of 2026. Attention will then turn to how CelcomDigi, Maxis, and YTL Communications balance their board representation and whether any of the three seek access to Malaysia’s second 5G consortium.

  • Qualcomm to Pay Huawei in Multi-Year 5G and Artificial Intelligence Patent Agreement

    Qualcomm to Pay Huawei in Multi-Year 5G and Artificial Intelligence Patent Agreement

    Qualcomm has agreed to pay Huawei Technologies for access to its patents in a multi-year cross-licensing deal covering 5G, computing, and artificial intelligence, the Shenzhen company announced on Monday.

    The agreement makes the San Diego chipmaker a net payer to Huawei for the first time, pushing Huawei’s cumulative intellectual property licensing contract value past $6.9 billion.

    Under the terms of the transaction, Qualcomm will license Huawei’s portfolio and buy specific US patents held by the Chinese group across computing, artificial intelligence, and networking hardware. The deal does not include broader commercial tie-ups or component sales, and both companies must clear regulatory reviews in the United States before closing the asset transfers.

    Reversing the Flow of Licensing Cash

    The financial turnaround marks a sharp shift in the mobile supply chain. Huawei paid Qualcomm for patent access as early as 2001, and paid $1.8 billion in back licensing fees to settle an intellectual property dispute with the US group in 2020. Now the balance of standard-essential communications patents and edge computing IP has forced Qualcomm to write checks back to its Chinese competitor.

    For device makers across Asia, the agreement sets a pricing precedent. Hardware brands that design around Qualcomm chipsets have watched royalty rates climb as 5G and on-device AI architectures mature. A formal licensing pact between the two dominant patent holders removes immediate litigation risks for smartphone assemblers, while confirming that access to Chinese cellular and machine-learning IP will carry direct cash costs.

    Expanding Patent Monetisation Beyond China

    Huawei has spent the past five years building a high-margin licensing arm to recoup capital spent on domestic research and development. The business turned net positive on revenue in 2021 after US export restrictions curtailed Huawei’s handset shipments and blocked its access to American semiconductor fabrication tools.

    That monetization drive has yielded more than 260 patent agreements with global tech firms, including Nokia, Samsung, and Amazon, alongside domestic phone brands Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi. Huawei signed a similar multi-year cross-licensing agreement with US personal computer maker HP in August, covering foundational Wi-Fi technologies after resolving earlier disputes.

    The Long Legal Road from 2011

    Huawei collected its first external patent royalty payment in 2011 from Motorola. Over the subsequent decade and a half, the company poured capital into 3GPP wireless standards, optical transmission, and proprietary compute silicon, accumulating extensive patent portfolios in Europe, the US, and mainland China.

    US authorities continue to scrutinize cross-border technology transfers, creating friction for any transaction involving Chinese hardware intellectual property. The current agreement remains subject to Washington’s regulatory clearance, which will test whether standard-essential patent sales and cross-licensing can proceed amid ongoing federal export controls and pending legal trials.

  • Vietnam Shuts Down 2G Network as Viettel Migrates Millions to 4G

    Vietnam Shuts Down 2G Network as Viettel Migrates Millions to 4G

    Vietnam completed its nationwide 2G network shutdown on September 15, 2026, ending legacy service for an initial base of 18.2 million older connections. The migration clears radio spectrum across the country for faster data services.

    State operator Viettel handled the bulk of the transition, moving nearly 8.6 million subscribers onto 4G and 5G voice services between January and September 2026. The carrier reduced its remaining unmigrated voice cohort from 9.3 million users at the close of 2025 to 750,000 by the deadline, bringing 99 per cent of its customer base onto modern data and voice protocols.

    Hardware Subsidies and Village Outreaches

    Getting users off legacy networks required cheap replacement handsets. Low-income subscribers in rural provinces faced steep replacement costs for smartphones, prompting Viettel to market basic 4G feature phones starting at 200,000 VND with handset trade-in options.

    State funds filled the remaining equipment deficit. The carrier worked with the Vietnam Public-Utility Telecommunications Service Fund to distribute 400,000 4G handsets directly to low-income families and welfare beneficiaries. Viettel deployed field teams into remote communes alongside municipal digital task forces, swapping SIM cards manually and training older users on the new devices.

    The Regional Playbook on Spectrum Retirement

    Phasing out 2G has stalled across emerging markets where low-cost hardware remains scarce. In India, Reliance Jio urged regulators in early 2024 to establish a concrete switch-off timetable, yet roughly 250 million Indian users remained bound to 2G feature phones without a mandatory national deadline. South Africa delayed its initial June 2024 termination target to late 2027 after retail point-of-sale card terminals, security alarms and fleet tracking hardware failed to switch in time. Even Britain extended its decommissioning window through 2033 to protect 12 million legacy utility smart meters.

    Vietnam bypassed these extended delays by enforcing a split transition. Regulators barred network access for 2G-only mobile phones in October 2024 while allowing machine-to-machine hardware and devices lacking voice-over-LTE capabilities to operate temporarily on secondary bands. That phased policy gave enterprise fleet managers and utility operators a two-year buffer to retool automated hardware without blocking consumer spectrum reclamation.

    Infrastructure Buildout Across Rural Communes

    Carriers had to expand rural coverage before switching off old transmitters. Viettel added more than 6,000 4G base stations across interior provinces, raising its 4G population coverage to 99.7 per cent and connecting four million people in isolated settlements.

    Network operators secured vital transmission capacity through government spectrum auctions. Viettel secured rights to the 900MHz spectrum band, using the low-frequency band to project wide-area 4G and 5G coverage across mountainous terrain where higher frequencies fail to penetrate.

    Network Expansion and the 5G Target

    The transition resolves a prolonged upgrade cycle that started when Vietnam surpassed 100 per cent mobile penetration in 2009. The country counted 110.5 million mobile internet subscriptions as the switch-off concluded, though infrastructure imbalances persisted across isolated districts. The Ministry of Science and Technology has separately targeted 273 rural villages that still lack dependable reception to eliminate regional coverage holes.

    Carrier investments now turn entirely to high-band cellular deployment. Viettel is installing 20,000 additional 5G base stations using freed transmission spectrum, aiming to reach 50,000 total 5G sites and 97 per cent national population coverage by the end of 2026.

  • India Average Monthly Mobile Data Usage Passes 31 GB per User

    India Average Monthly Mobile Data Usage Passes 31 GB per User

    Indian mobile broadband subscribers consumed an average of over 31 GB of data per month in 2025, lifted by faster 5G network rollouts and cheaper handsets.

    The figure represents an 18 percent compound annual growth rate over the last five years, according to Nokia’s 13th annual Mobile Broadband Index.

    Total mobile data traffic nationwide crossed 27 exabytes per month in 2025. Fifth-generation network traffic expanded 70 percent year-on-year to hit 12.9 exabytes, generating nearly 47 percent of the total volume carried across Indian carrier networks. Demand centered heavily on video streaming in 4K resolution, cloud gaming platforms, and emerging artificial intelligence applications that require higher bandwidth.

    Metros Lead Fifth-Generation Shift

    Metro telecom circles generated the heaviest concentration of new demand. Fifth-generation networks accounted for 58 percent of all mobile data traffic in metro areas during 2025, up from the prior year. Traffic volume expanded in Category A, Category B, and Category C telecom circles as operators built out base stations beyond tier-one cities.

    Handset adoption accelerated alongside the infrastructure buildout. Active 4G devices in India reached 892 million units in 2025, with more than 383 million of those units supporting 5G connectivity. Over 90 percent of all smartphones shipped across India during 2025 arrived 5G-capable from the factory floor, allowing carriers to shift traffic from legacy bands without subsidizing hardware directly.

    Network Upgrades for Artificial Intelligence

    Carriers are now reconfiguring network backbones to handle heavier uplink loads and lower latency requirements created by distributed computing tasks. Artificial intelligence features integrated directly into consumer applications require faster two-way data transfer than traditional video consumption, which relies primarily on download capacity.

    Nokia country manager-designate for India Vibha Mehra pointed to shifting network requirements as artificial intelligence adoption spreads among mobile users.

    India’s mobile broadband landscape is entering a new phase of evolution, driven by rapid 5G adoption and the growing influence of AI-led applications. As networks transform to support new usage patterns and intelligent services, Nokia remains committed to partnering with telcos to build scalable, high-performance and future-ready connectivity infrastructure.

    Enterprise Pressure on Carrier Returns

    Surging data consumption does not translate automatically into proportional revenue growth for Indian telecom operators. Carriers spent heavily on 5G spectrum auctions and nationwide cell site upgrades over the past three years, yet average revenue per user remains among the lowest of any major global economy. Operators must monetize higher data usage tiers and enterprise services to recoup infrastructure investments.

    Content delivery networks and cloud software vendors face parallel capacity pressures. Retail platforms, mobile payments systems, and digital entertainment services operating in India must optimize delivery infrastructure to serve millions of simultaneous high-bandwidth sessions without degradation during peak evening hours.

    Path to One Billion Connections

    India currently ranks as the world’s second-largest market for total 5G subscribers and total 5G data traffic volume, trailing only mainland China in absolute throughput. The rapid uptake follows aggressive network deployments started in late 2022 by major domestic operators, who rolled out coverage to thousands of towns within twenty-four months.

    Nokia projects India will pass 1 billion active 5G subscriptions by 2031 as older 4G feature phones and legacy smartphones phase out through regular upgrade cycles.

  • NTT DOCOMO and Nokia Launch Multi-Vendor O-RAN Base Station Platform

    NTT DOCOMO and Nokia Launch Multi-Vendor O-RAN Base Station Platform

    NTT DOCOMO began commercial operations on September 9 for a multi-vendor base station platform built on open radio access network standards in Japan.

    The deployment allows DOCOMO to combine Nokia base station equipment with O-RAN-compliant radio units supplied by different vendors across LTE and 5G networks.

    DOCOMO deployed Nokia AirScale equipment incorporating Levante data-processing and Ponente control-processing technologies to handle more radio units while reducing power consumption.

    Hardware Details and Power Savings

    This updated equipment handles more radio units per site than DOCOMO’s previous Nokia gear while drawing less power. Lower electricity demand directly reduces operating costs across dense urban grids where base station density is highest.

    Under open interface specifications, engineers can pair the central processing base with high-power transmitters for suburban coverage or compact transceivers for city spaces. DOCOMO uses this modular mix to adjust capacity without replacing full base station stacks.

    Multi-Vendor Flexibility in the Field

    Japanese mobile operators have adopted open architecture faster than carriers in North America or Europe. By ending single-supplier reliance on base stations and antennas, DOCOMO forces vendors to compete on unit price, form factor, and power efficiency.

    Field maintenance and troubleshooting carry the main technical risks. Coordinating software upgrades and diagnosing network faults across hardware from different vendors creates operational friction that proprietary setups avoid.

    High-Density Event Deployments

    On September 12, the carrier brought the multi-vendor setup into field service at the 59th Joso Kinugawa Fireworks Festival. DOCOMO mounted the platform inside a mobile cellular vehicle, pairing it with Nokia Dual Boost Massive MIMO hardware to handle surges in data uploads and voice traffic.

    Engineers plan to expand the base station architecture nationwide. Initial site conversions will focus on metropolitan sectors, stadiums, exhibition centers, and outdoor entertainment venues where mobile traffic spikes.

    Roadmap to Autonomous Networks

    Work on the rollout stems from a technical memorandum of understanding DOCOMO and Nokia signed on August 12. That agreement established joint trials for virtualized radio access networks, cloud infrastructure, and AI-directed network management systems.

    Joint testing now focuses on running Self-Organizing Networks and RAN Intelligent Controller automation tools across mixed-vendor hardware fleets as DOCOMO prepares its transmission grid for 5G-Advanced and early 6G standards.

  • Over 1,500 Telecom Leaders Gather in Bangkok for Telecoms World Asia 2026

    Over 1,500 Telecom Leaders Gather in Bangkok for Telecoms World Asia 2026

    More than 1,500 telecommunications executives gathered in Bangkok on 27 October 2026 for Telecoms World Asia 2026 to address how operators can turn network scale into profit.

    The two-day conference, held at the Centara Grand and Bangkok Convention Center at CentralWorld, brings together mobile network operators, MVNOs, wholesalers, regulators, and technology companies from across Asia and international markets.

    Terrapinn Managing Director (Asia) Paul Clark noted that the region’s industry has reached a critical inflection point, with more than 130 leaders speaking across five tracks and over 120 exhibitors showing network platforms and infrastructure solutions.

    Monetising Generative AI and Advanced Networks

    Day One opened with an executive panel assessing whether generative artificial intelligence can generate direct commercial returns for carriers rather than inflating software costs. Speakers included Telekom Malaysia Group Chief Executive Amar Huzaimi Md Deris, XLSMART President Director and Chief Executive Rajeev Sethi, Circles.Life Chief Revenue Officer Sanjay Kaul, and Jazz Chief AI Officer Hamza Khokhar. EQator Director Jayanth Nagarajan moderated the session.

    Network evolution remains a major operational challenge across Southeast Asia. Average revenue per user remains compressed across the region, even with heavy capital outlays on spectrum and fiber backhaul. Vodafone Business International President Bhupinder Singh delivered an address examining execution gaps on the path from standalone 5G to 5G-Advanced deployments.

    APAC’s telco industry is at a critical inflection point. The operators, regulators, and technology leaders gathering in Bangkok this week know it better than anyone, and Telecoms World Asia 2026 is where the most senior voices in Asian telco come to move beyond the conversation and into action.

    Autonomous Networks and Executive Reorganisation

    Sessions on Day Two address structural operating changes required to integrate automated tools into network management. Telkom Indonesia President Director and Chief Executive Dian Siswarini, True Corporation Head of Corporate Strategy Tarit Nimmanwudipong, Axiata Group Head of Cyber Security Suresh Srinivasan, and Deutsche Telekom Managing Director Asia George Aprane join a keynote panel on executive restructuring models. APTelecom Co-Founder Sean Bergin moderates.

    China Telecom Chief Engineer Xinhua Shao presents technical frameworks for self-evolving autonomous networks. These architectures handle dynamic traffic routing and automated maintenance at scale. Title sponsor China Telecom leads regional carrier participation alongside Gold sponsors CommScope, China Mobile International, Equinix, NTT DATA, Plume, Tejas Networks, and Yango Tech, with lanyard sponsorship from China Unicom Global.

    Read-Across for Asian Carriers and Enterprise Tech

    Regional operators face a structural margin squeeze. Consumer mobile broadband yields are flattening, while enterprise cloud migration demands ongoing infrastructure spending. Thai host operator True Corporation and regional groups Axiata and Telkom Indonesia are reallocating capital away from pure base-station density. They are pivoting toward enterprise software integrations and wholesale managed services.

    This shift alters the commercial balance for enterprise technology suppliers and data center operators across Southeast Asia. Carriers demand clear payback periods on AI compute integration before committing to large-scale vendor licenses. That forces enterprise suppliers to structure contracts around verifiable operational cost cuts rather than speculative consumer revenue growth.

    Shifting Capital Deployment Strategies

    Debates in Bangkok follow two years of regional operator consolidation. Major carrier mergers in Thailand and Indonesia aimed to curb destructive price competition. Those balance-sheet combinations provided short-term cash-flow relief. However, carriers now face the reality that consolidated market share alone cannot offset the high capital costs of next-generation infrastructure.

    Mobile operators from Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and Thailand are reviewing commercial terms for shared wholesale infrastructure and enterprise private networks. The key metric to watch across participating carriers through the next reporting cycle will be non-mobile enterprise revenue as a share of total corporate earnings.

  • Jio Uses 524 Million Subscribers to Expand into Homes and Enterprise

    Jio Uses 524 Million Subscribers to Expand into Homes and Enterprise

    Jio Platforms expanded its push into home connectivity, entertainment, and enterprise services across India ahead of its upcoming quarterly subscriber reporting.

    The goal is to generate higher average revenue from its 524 million mobile subscribers, building on its top market position in nationwide mobile connections and fixed broadband.

    Controlling the Layers Beyond Connectivity

    Management wants control over the technology stack between network infrastructure and end consumers. Instead of operating purely as a carrier, the group deploys proprietary operating systems, budget hardware, and entertainment software. These tools drive subscriptions across households and workplaces.

    Hardware plays a central role in capturing entry-level users. The JioBharat handset runs the company’s proprietary JioOS operating system. That setup gives the operator direct access to millions of users on older 2G networks, turning voice-only subscribers into data consumers.

    Capturing Household and Business Spends

    Home broadband expansion builds on that base by bundling fixed wireless access, digital television, and streaming media. Jio cross-sells connected home packages to existing mobile accounts across its telecom footprint. This cuts customer acquisition costs compared to pure-play broadband rivals.

    For corporate clients, the company packages connectivity with enterprise software, cloud infrastructure, and productivity tools. The shift turns commodity data pipe contracts into integrated business deals with higher annual recurring value.

    Market Read-Across for Indian Tech and Retail

    Controlling device software and network access creates a closed ecosystem that rivals struggle to match. Competitors like Bharti Airtel invest heavily in premium 5G accounts and corporate partnerships. Even so, Jio’s base-level scale creates a captive audience for content and retail transactions.

    Across South Asia, this bundled distribution raises barriers for retail and digital operators. Outside app developers and media platforms must negotiate distribution terms with gatekeepers who control both the network pipeline and the device operating system.

    The Trajectory of Network Monetisation

    Years of heavy capital spending on nationwide 4G and 5G networks made Jio the country’s largest carrier by subscribers. The group initially used free voice calling and aggressive data pricing to grab share. It then pivoted toward digital payments, streaming content, and enterprise cloud hosting.

    Attention now shifts to conversion rates among JioBharat feature phone users when the operator reports its upcoming quarterly subscriber figures, revealing how many transition to higher-tier broadband and digital content plans.

  • Japan Four Big Telcos Form 5G Millimeter-Wave Sharing Pact

    Japan Four Big Telcos Form 5G Millimeter-Wave Sharing Pact

    Japan’s four nationwide mobile operators signed an agreement on September 21 to jointly study sharing 28GHz millimeter-wave 5G base stations and network architectures.

    The pact brings together KDDI, NTT Docomo, SoftBank and Rakuten Mobile. Together, their networks serve more than 200 million cellular subscriptions.

    Sharing high-band physical infrastructure

    Signals at 28GHz deliver ultra-high speeds and heavy throughput. However, the radio waves travel short distances and cannot penetrate concrete walls, glass or foliage. Covering a single commercial district requires hundreds of small cells and repeaters. That multiplies site acquisition costs and power bills for each carrier.

    Under the memorandum of understanding, the four operators will examine technical frameworks to share base station equipment, repeaters and related transmission assets. Each carrier will continue independent commercial rollouts. A joint working group will test how traffic from rival subscriber bases can run across shared physical nodes without degrading data security or individual network performance.

    The cost math behind 28GHz networks

    High-frequency spectrum rollouts have stalled worldwide because capital expenditure per square kilometer outpaces consumer revenue gains. Worldwide mmWave 5G spending is projected to climb from 3.84 billion dollars in 2025 to 4.42 billion dollars in 2026. Even so, individual operators face severe balance-sheet pressure when building proprietary high-band grids.

    By sharing cell sites and repeaters in dense retail quarters, transit hubs and stadiums, Japanese operators aim to cut duplicate capital outlays. Mall operators, transport hubs and enterprise landlords also gain. A unified model eliminates the need to host four separate sets of antennas and power feeds on roofs and interior walls.

    Shifting carrier spending to shared utilities

    This alliance shifts carrier dynamics across Japan. Rather than competing purely on antenna counts, the operators are treating high-frequency physical layer equipment as a common utility. Core networks and retail pricing plans will remain distinct.

    Operational risk sits in maintenance allocation and capacity bottlenecks during localized peak events. If one carrier’s subscribers crowd a shared node during an urban festival or sporting fixture, the system must arbitrate spectrum access without triggering regulatory complaints over fair competition.

    Earlier trials and global deployment lines

    Collaborative network trials have gained ground across international markets as carriers confront sub-6GHz spectrum exhaustion. Global equipment vendors and tier-one operators launched initial commercial mmWave clusters in early 2023. Enterprise fixed wireless access deployments then expanded into industrial parks and logistics hubs through 2024 and 2025.

    Japanese carriers previously tested private 5G and standalone 28GHz cells in manufacturing facilities and isolated transit pilots. Despite those trials, commercial handset connections rarely lock onto millimeter-wave signals outside select train platforms and flagship retail venues.

    Technical evaluations under the new memorandum will run over the coming quarters. Teams will focus on multi-operator core network integration and shared repeater specifications ahead of targeted commercial joint-site deployments.