Claro Ecuador Launches 5G in Cuenca and Salinas
Claro Ecuador, part of América Móvil, has extended its 5G network to the cities of Cuenca and Salinas, following earlier launches in Guayaquil, Quito, Puerto Ayora and Coca at the end of 2025. The expansion is a key step toward the carrier’s goal of nationwide 5G coverage by mid‑2026. Users in the newly covered areas can now experience download speeds up to 1.5 Gbps and latencies roughly ten times lower than 4G. The rollout underscores the rapid acceleration of high‑speed mobile infrastructure across Ecuador.
Megafon Adds Automatic Top-Up Option for Multiple Lines
Russian telecom operator Megafon launched an automatic top‑up service that lets users replenish the credit of up to five mobile lines in a single, recurring transaction. The feature works across Megafon’s own network and other Russian operators, with no commission...
5GAA Renews Pact with EU 6G Industry Body
The 5G Automotive Association (5GAA) has extended its partnership with the EU’s 6G Smart Networks and Services Industry Association (6G‑IA) by renewing a 5G‑focused memorandum of understanding first signed in August 2022. The renewed MoU emphasizes policy coordination in vehicle‑to‑everything (V2X)...
Orange Extends 5G to 7 in 10 Small Towns in Extremadura
Orange Spain announced that its 5G network now covers 286 municipalities in the Extremadura region, giving high‑speed mobile connectivity to seven out of ten small towns by early 2026. The rollout includes 71 villages with fewer than 500 residents, underscoring...
Yas Togo and Moov Togo Top nPerf's WAEMU Mobile Internet Rankings in 2025
Yas Togo and Moov Africa Togo have secured the first and second spots in nPerf’s 2025 mobile‑internet quality rankings for the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU). The rankings, released by Togo’s telecom regulator ARCEP, confirm Togo as the...
Vodafone Italia Ups Price of Selected Prepay Plans by up to EUR 4/Mth
Vodafone Italia announced that, beginning 30 April, selected prepaid mobile plans will see monthly price increases ranging from €0.95 to €3.99. The adjustments affect a subset of its prepaid portfolio and are presented as necessary to sustain network quality and service...
Fourth Mobile Network in Germany: 1&1 Denies Sale Rumors and Focuses on Expansion
Ralph Dommermuth, CEO of United Internet and 1&1, dismissed rumors of a sale to Telefónica, confirming the firm’s commitment to its own fourth mobile network in Germany. By the end of 2025 the network reached roughly 27 percent of households, with...
BT Reports over 3 Million Households Switched to Digital Landlines
BT announced that more than three million UK households have transitioned from the legacy Public Switched Telephone Network to digital landline services, marking a critical milestone in the nationwide PSTN phase‑out. The company plans to complete the switchover by the...
Slovak Operators Prepare to Make 5G SA Available to All Customers Eventually
Orange Slovakia and Slovak Telekom already provide 5G Standalone (SA) services to B2B customers. O2 Slovakia aims to launch its 5G SA network within the year, while 4ka targets a 2027 rollout. All four carriers plan to extend SA connectivity...
TIM Brasil Teams up with Huawei to Upgrade 5G Network
TIM Brasil announced a partnership with Huawei to upgrade its 5G network using AI‑driven smart antennas. The rollout will initially span eight major Brazilian metropolitan areas, covering roughly 30% of TIM’s 5G base stations. These sites handle about 27% of...
Weekly Wrap: Signature Spectrum Course Updated to Reflect Today’s Policy Priorities
PolicyTracker’s flagship course, Understanding Modern Spectrum Management, will run as a hybrid event from 14‑18 September 2026, offering three‑hour live sessions both online and at a central London venue. The curriculum has been refreshed to address current policy priorities, including...
Broadband Shorts March 2026
Broadband providers are reshaping the market through a series of high‑value acquisitions and strategic partnerships. Verizon closed its $20 billion purchase of Frontier, adding 2.2 million fiber subscribers, while AT&T acquired over one million Lumen customers and secured Starry’s millimeter‑wave technology. The...
Home Telecom Selects Teleste and Mega Hertz to Drive High-Split HFC Modernization
Home Telecom announced the completion of a high‑split HFC modernization using Teleste’s ICON Series intelligent amplifiers and Argus Network Management System, delivered and integrated by Mega Hertz. The solution supports 1.8 GHz forward‑path capacity and is ready for DOCSIS 4.0 deployments, while...
New Features — Broadband Quality Monitor (BQM)
ThinkBroadband has upgraded its Broadband Quality Monitor (BQM) with two data‑export features. Users can now download a single CSV containing twelve months of ping‑latency data, replacing the previous one‑day limit. A separate daily CSV for the prior day becomes available...
Lab: Anycast Gateways on VXLAN Segments
Anycast gateways, traditionally limited to VLAN segments, are now officially supported on VXLAN segments, extending a decade‑old Arista capability. The new lab exercise demonstrates how to configure dual anycast gateways across VXLAN underlay and overlay networks. It can be run...
Cape: Getting to the Core of Connectivity
Cape announced a $100 million Series C round to fund its rebuild of the telecom core. The company operates as a heavy MVNO, leasing radio access while owning the logical network layer that handles authentication, signaling and metadata. By redesigning the core,...
NYU WIRELESS Workshop Convened in January
On January 20‑21, 2026, NYU WIRELESS hosted its fourth annual workshop on the Brooklyn campus, gathering leading academic and industry experts to discuss the future of massive MIMO. The two‑day event, themed “Twenty Years of Massive MIMO: What’s Next?”, featured...
Elza Erkip and Marwa Chafii Honored by Women in 6G
NYU WIRELESS professors Elza Erkip and Marwa Chafii have been recognized by the Women in 6G initiative as part of its 2026 “100 Brilliant and Inspiring Women in 6G™” list. The honor underscores their contributions to wireless communications and positions...
WBA Publishes Industry First Guidance on AI, ML for Intelligent Wi-Fi
The Wireless Broadband Alliance released its first industry guidance on applying AI and machine learning to Wi‑Fi networks, emphasizing a shift from rule‑based to predictive, self‑optimizing management. The report, led by Intel and co‑authored by Airties, Cisco and HPE, details...
Light Spectrum Licensing
The FCC is weighing a "light licensing" approach that would let satellite operators register additional ground stations in the upper‑microwave (mmWave) bands, a spectrum currently held by major cellular carriers. AT&T, T‑Mobile and Verizon each spent roughly $2 billion acquiring 24‑50 GHz...
Four Million Residents in Scotland Covered by 5G+ Using O2 Mobile Network
O2 has launched a 5G+ (standalone) network that now reaches roughly four million residents across Scotland, covering 66 large towns, 175 smaller towns and 1,120 villages. The rollout replaces the earlier 4G‑dependent 5G deployments with dedicated small‑cell infrastructure, delivering lower...
Comcast & NVIDIA’s Killer AI Cocktail: Edge, SLMs, and 15ms Latency
Comcast and NVIDIA announced a joint deployment that places GPU accelerators at the network edge to run stateful small language models (SLMs) within 15 ms of the user. By processing tokens locally, the solution eliminates the round‑trip latency inherent in centralized...
Subsidizing Obsolescence: How FCC Rules Keep Copper Alive
The FCC’s new notice of proposed rulemaking seeks to eliminate the remaining intercarrier compensation (ICC) fees and phase out the Connect America Fund ICC subsidy, completing the shift to a bill‑and‑keep model for IP‑based fiber networks. Legacy carriers still receive...
Emerging Market Operators Push for Tighter LEO Satellite Rules as Competitive Tensions Rise
At Mobile World Congress 2026, operators from MTN, Axiata and Ooredoo called for tighter regulation of low‑Earth‑orbit (LEO) satellite services, arguing that existing telecom rules are decades old and create an uneven playing field. They welcomed providers such as Starlink...
NCA Discusses Draft Numbering Regulations Ahead of SIM Registrations
Ghana’s National Communications Authority (NCA) has convened telecom operators and other industry participants to review its draft Numbering Resource Registration Regulations. The draft incorporates feedback from earlier consultations and is positioned to underpin the upcoming mandatory SIM‑card registration drive. NCA...
Ericsson Welcomes US Economic Affairs Under-Secretary to 5G Manufacturing Base
Ericsson hosted U.S. Under Secretary for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg at its 5G Smart Factory in Lewisville, Texas, showcasing a domestic manufacturing hub for next‑generation network equipment. The tour, attended by the U.S. ambassador to Sweden, the Swedish ambassador, CEO...
UK, European Consortium Launches Nomadlink Connectivity Solution
A UK‑European consortium comprising Excelerate Technology, Eutelsat and Livewire Digital has unveiled the Nomadlink connectivity trailer. The mobile unit promises near‑instant broadband for rural and isolated sites, targeting large public gatherings, major incidents and other high‑demand scenarios. By integrating satellite...
Summa Networks, Cataleya Partner on Secure Core and VoIP Platforms
Madrid‑based Summa Networks and communications‑software specialist Cataleya have announced a partnership to deliver secure, cloud‑native core‑network and VoIP signalling platforms for mobile operators. The joint offering combines Summa’s modular HLR, HSS, EPC and IMS stack with Cataleya’s Orchid Link Session Border...
Russia Sees Investment in Public Wi-Fi Networks More than Double in 2025
Russia’s public budget for public Wi‑Fi upgrades jumps to 9.62 billion roubles in 2025, more than double the 3.77 billion allocated in 2024. Data traffic on these networks surged 10.6‑fold year‑on‑year, reaching 13.8 million petabytes. The growth is linked to mobile‑internet disruptions caused...
Brazil Aims for 80% 5G Population Coverage by 2026
Brazil's Ministry of Communications aims for 80% of the population to have 5G coverage by the end of 2026, spanning 2,220 municipalities. This exceeds the original target of 1,469 cities. To date, 5G is active in about 1,420 municipalities, focusing...
Achieving Operator Growth in the AI Development Era
At MWC Barcelona 2026, Huawei introduced an “Agentic Operations” framework for telecom operators, leveraging AI agents across user interaction, experience operations, and network O&M. The approach showcased rapid GTM acceleration in Kenya, a 30% reduction in handling time in Hong...
Fixing Federal Permitting
The House passed H.R. 5419, the Enhancing Administrative Reviews of Broadband Deployment Act, directing the Interior and Agriculture departments to assess and report on administrative barriers to broadband permits on federal lands within a year. The bill follows previous executive...
Bouygues Telecom Taps Polystar to Drive Analytics and Performance Management
Bouygues Telecom has launched a cloud‑native Analytics and Performance Management platform built on Polystar’s Kalix suite, completing a multi‑year migration. The solution unifies data from over 60 core and RAN systems, delivering granular KPI insights across vendors. Customized dashboards and...
IMT-2030 (“6G”) Minimum Technology Performance Requirements for Radio Interface Technologies
At the February 2026 ITU‑R WP 5D meeting in Geneva, the working party reached consensus on the technical performance requirements for IMT‑2030, the forthcoming 6G standard. The draft report defines 20 minimum performance requirements, including seven entirely new metrics, to evaluate...
What Every Family Should Compare Before Switching Cell Phone Companies
T‑Mobile’s Better Value Plan is positioned as a cost‑effective family cell‑phone option that bundles unlimited premium data, generous hotspot limits and a 5‑Year Price Guarantee. For a three‑line household the plan costs about $143 per month, delivering over $1,000 in...
Part I: Outcomes From the IEEE–ITU Sustainable Climate Symposium
The IEEE‑ITU Sustainable Climate Symposium in Geneva highlighted how artificial intelligence can make telecommunications networks more energy‑efficient and climate‑resilient. Participants from standards bodies, UN agencies, industry, and academia discussed AI‑driven optimization, circular‑economy models, and the need for robust governance frameworks....
Giffgaff Adds 24 Month Contracts with No Price Rise in Minimum Term
Giffgaff has introduced 24‑month full‑fibre broadband contracts that lock in prices for two years, avoiding the typical £3‑£4 annual hikes seen across the sector. The plans start at £25 per month for 200 Mbps, £28 for 500 Mbps, and £32 for 900 Mbps,...
Press Release: National Airlines Selects Viasat IFC for A330s
Viasat Inc. announced that its in‑flight connectivity solution has been selected for National Airlines’ three new Airbus A330 aircraft. The airline equipped the jets with Viasat’s GM‑40 Ka‑band terminal, delivering high‑capacity Wi‑Fi capable of HD video streaming and AI‑driven applications...
Where’s the Growth?
The Census Building Permit Survey shows a pronounced regional split in new‑home construction, with South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, Idaho and Delaware topping single‑family permits per 100,000 residents, and Washington, D.C., South Dakota and Colorado leading multifamily permits. North Carolina’s...
MANRS for Enterprise Customers
The MANRS initiative, aimed at securing Internet routing, has few participants in Croatia, Slovenia and Austria, leaving enterprises in those markets without verified ISP compliance. The author highlights the difficulty of locating MANRS‑certified providers and points to a new MANRS...
Converge to Deploy 1 Million Ports in 2026, Sets Capex at PHP 23 Billion
Converge ICT announced it will add nearly one million new ports to its network by 2026, targeting underserved regions in the Visayas and Mindanao. The rollout is backed by a PHP 23 billion capital expenditure plan, a 30% increase over the previous...
Telefonica Germany Partners Automobile Association ADAC to Launch New Digital Benefit Programme
Telefonica Germany has entered a partnership with the German automobile association ADAC to embed its O2 and Blau mobile‑service portfolios into ADAC’s newly launched digital benefits platform. Existing O2 and Blau tariffs will be available to ADAC members, and Telefonica...
T-Mobile Poland Offers Full Range of Prepaid Card Purchase Functions Online
T‑Mobile Poland has moved its entire prepaid SIM purchasing workflow online. Customers can now activate eSIMs, select new telephone numbers, and use Mobile Number Portability via the website. The service also supports ordering physical SIM cards with free delivery. This...
A1 Slovenia Leads Survey as Most Frequently Recommended Mobile Operator for Seniors
A recent Aragon agency survey shows A1 Slovenia is the most frequently recommended mobile operator among Slovene users aged over 60. More than 80% of these senior customers actively use mobile data, a rate that exceeds the national average. Seniors...
Beeline Kyrgyzstan Launches Mobile Plan with Zero-Rated AI Apps
Beeline Kyrgyzstan has rolled out a new Ukmush AI tariff priced at KGS 500 per month. The plan offers 80 GB of mobile data, unlimited on‑net calls and SMS, 60 minutes of off‑network calls, and unlimited data sharing. It also zero‑rates traffic to...
The Human Touch
Consumer Cellular, an AT&T‑based MVNO targeting seniors, has surpassed 4.4 million subscribers while many rivals shrink. The carrier maintains a $30 average revenue per user and attributes growth to live‑person customer service and a rapid rollout of brick‑and‑mortar stores. Since opening...
XLSMART Unveils AI-Powered Vision to Lead Indonesia's Digital Future
XLSMART, the product of the 2025 XL Axiata‑Smartfren merger, announced an AI‑centric strategy to become Indonesia’s digital‑economy engine. The telecom now serves 73 million customers, holds a 27% market share and operates 225 000 base stations. AI “copilots” powered by Huawei’s AUTIN...
Can Africa Succeed Where India Failed with the $40 Smartphone?
The GSMA announced a pilot program to launch $40 4G smartphones in Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda by 2026, aiming to connect tens of millions of Africans who are offline despite network coverage. The initiative bundles operators, manufacturers,...
Pilot Photonics Selected by Finchetto for Optical Network Switch
Pilot Photonics, an Irish integrated‑laser specialist, has partnered with Finchetto to supply its nanosecond tunable lasers for the development of the world’s first fully optical passive network switch. The switch aims to slash data‑centre power consumption by up to 20×...
Case Study | Geospatial Technology Accelerating India’s Telecom Growth Story
India’s telecom sector is leveraging geospatial technology to accelerate network rollouts and bridge the digital divide. Jio’s AirFiber project used Esri’s ArcGIS platform to create a national‑scale 3D GIS model covering over 100 million buildings in 900 cities. The system generated...
