The Ethiopian government is once again inviting global operators to bid for its lucrative telecom license, stirring intrigue within the global telecom community. Will the Ethiopian Communications Authority’s (ECA) revamp strategy succeed this time, especially considering the previous subpar offers? While this market opportunity boasts a burgeoning economy and promising regulatory developments, interested parties face rigorous competition and potential operation setbacks.
In this dynamic digital era, telecom stakeholders are exploring innovative ways to connect people, homes, industries with machines and vehicles. Huawei’s Li Peng emphasizes creating value with 5G, citing its ability to deliver higher traffic, extensive connectivity, reliable latency, and multifaceted cloud services.
The US and India strengthen their strategic partnership, focusing on 6G research, Open RAN, and semiconductors, while collaborating on technology sharing, co-development, and co-production opportunities between industry, government, and academia.
Telecom operators globally embrace digital transformation, with East Asia dominating the top positions in Omdia’s benchmark. China Mobile leads, driven by high-speed broadband deployment and innovative service development, followed by SK Telecom’s AI-focused reinvention.
Hangzhou leads the digital revolution with the Dual 10 Gigabit City project, partnering with industry giants like Huawei to foster 5.5G technology, enhance connectivity and pioneer innovative applications for a smarter future.
Meta introduces Channels, a privacy-centric feature for WhatsApp, enabling one-way broadcasts to followers without revealing personal information. With options to block screenshots and control discoverability, Channels may fill the market gap for a more private broadcast platform.
Telekom Malaysia and China’s ZTE embark on an R&D partnership for network and digital transformation strategies, raising questions about potential geopolitical ramifications. Reflecting Malaysia’s growing interest in collaborating with Chinese suppliers, the deal’s long-term effects remain to be seen.
Global smartphone market recovery slows as consumer demand remains weak, with IDC revising downward its shipment projections. Despite exciting innovation in foldable phones, longer replacement cycles and high inventory levels signal a cautious outlook.
The race for AI dominance intensifies, while AI experts and public figures urge mitigating risks, through CAIS’s ‘Statement on AI Risk’. However, the statement’s clarity and usefulness are questioned, as transparency and collaboration face geopolitical challenges.
Open RAN Revenue Growth Slows Global Open RAN revenues saw a 10-20 percent growth in Q1 2023, while the vRAN market expanded by 20-30 percent, according to Dell’Oro’s report. However, this growth is slower than the previous year, mainly due to a decline in North America. The Asia Pacific region performed well and offset the North American decline. Despite the slowdown, Dell’Oro remains optimistic about Open RAN, expecting it to account for 6-10 percent of the global RAN market in 2023. On the other hand, Dell’Oro has lowered its full-year outlook for multi-access edge computing (MEC) by over 20 percent, citing a slowdown in China’s 5G market and subdued enterprise interest. Read the full article. Cisco Partners with the Greater Manchester Digital Security Hub Cisco has partnered with the Greater Manchester Digital Security Hub (DiSH) to enhance cybersecurity in the region. Cisco’s Country Digital Acceleration (CDA) program will focus on…
