Chinese multinational telecommunicator vendor ZTE and velcom, the Belarusian telecommunication operator have deploed the first commericial 5G-ready virtual core network in Belarus. Due to superior technical results, the project is one of the shortlisted nominees for the Best Network Software Breakthrough award of the Mobile World Congress Barcelona 2018 (MWC).
Mobile phone manufacturers from China, South Korea and Japan including ASUS, Samsung, OPPO, LG and Sony have selected Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X50 5G New Radio (NR) modem for standard-compliant 5G NR mobile device product launches starting in 2019.
Chinese multinational telecommunications vendor Huawei has announced that it has penned 5G MoUs with 45 operators which spans across three continents - Asia, Europe and North America. Huawei’s rotating CEO Ken Hu made the confirmation during Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona. In addition to this Hu also revealed that the Chinese vendor is already conducting pre-commercial trials with 30 mobile players.
Active support and initiatives by financial regulators such as the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Bank Negara Malaysia and Bank Indonesia has enabled the Asia-Pacific Fintech ecosystem to grow significantly in 2017.
The Philippines’ National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has published draft criteria for interested parties to bid for a license to operate as the country’s third telecom operator. The NTC will hold a public consultation on the proposed rules in early March in Quezon City, Philippines.
VIAVI Solutions has announced a collaboration agreement with China Mobile Communications Corporation (CMCC) to introduce 5G service in China by the end of 2019. VIAVI is a preferred vendor of China Mobile, supporting their specific technologies and aggressive roadmap with advanced test solutions. VIAVI will provide test and measurement hardware and software for China Mobile and several equipment manufacturers to support development of Slicing Packet Network (SPN) with FlexE interface, the technology the carrier is positioning for 5G transport services.
Chinese vendor ZTE has hit back amidst allegations from the US government that they pose a serious threat to national security. A number of prominent Republican politicians and leading spy experts have expressed their concern over the influence of Chinese technology companies in the US.
Qualcomm announced Friday that its Board of Directors has unanimously rejected the revised non-binding, unsolicited proposal by Broadcom to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Qualcomm for $82.00 per share ($60.00 in cash and $22.00 in Broadcom stock), which Broadcom announced on February 5, 2018.
South Korean telecommunications incumbent SK Telecom and China’s global e-commerce Alibaba have entered into discussions in an effort to develop a blueprint for new ICT industries.
Japanese telecommunications multinational corporation SoftBank has formally announced plans to offer an IPO on part of its telecoms business in an effort to offer some separation from its other domestic investment activities.
