Wire & Cable Asia September 2017

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96 Wire & Cable ASIA – September/October 2017
Telecomnews
Nokia expanding in China
Nokia plans to establish a dedicated
unit to help major Chinese Internet
companies expand overseas.
The new unit will focus on data
centres, cloud computing, IP routing,
transport and services, as well as
emerging technologies such as AI,
machine learning and edge cloud.
Nokia’s move is among efforts to
expand the business beyond its
core telecoms operator market, and
to increase its Chinese presence
following the launch of the Nokia
Shanghai Bell joint venture in China
(formerly Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai
Bell).
In the meantime, Nokia has
completed its acquisition of the
telecoms software company Comptel,
first announced in February, at a cost
of around $396.8 million.
Filipino fibre rollout
Globe Telecom of the Philippines
has struck a deal with the city
governments of Cebu and Mandaue
to deploy fibre facilities in the two
cities. Work is already underway in
Mandaue, with plans to eventually roll
out 18 ‘Globe-at-Home’ fibre sites in
Cebu.
Huawei, with Japan’s NTT Docomo, have carried out a live 5G demo using
39GHz mmWave technology based on 3GPP standard 5G New Radio (NR)
current agreements.
During the trial, which took place at the 3rd Global 5G Tokyo Bay summit, the
companies reported that the cell coverage reached up to 2km with Gbps
peak throughput for a single user in the mmWave, demonstrating a real-time
three-way 4K video conference.
Takehiro Nakamura, general manager of Docomo’s 5G Laboratory, said:
“The successful field tests and showcase of the real-time three-way 4K
video conference conducted at 39GHz high frequency band technology is an
important achievement of the 5G joint innovation and field trial between the
pair, and this breakthrough will have a significant impact moving 5G a step
closer to commercialisation.”
The test system used a base station working in the 39GHz band with 1.4GHz
bandwidth, and two UEs (user equipment) and achieved 1.3Gbps (MAC layer)
peak throughput for a single user in the high band at a distance of 1.5km.
The test employed key 5G technologies, such as the MMFA (meta-material
focal array) and polar code.
Live 5G demo
Earlier this year, the telco unveiled its
plans to commission around 400,000
broadband lines, countrywide, by
the end of 2017 while it continues to
strengthen its mobile network in the
province.
In the meantime, Globe’s competition
in the Philippines, PLDT Inc (formerly
Philippine Long Distance Telephone
Company), has extended the reach
of its FTTH network to parts of
east Metro Manila, deploying more
than 70,000 new lines in Antipolo,
Caloocan, Cainta, Marikina, Pasig,
Pateros, Taguig and Taytay. The
provider’s ‘Home Fibr’ services in
east Metro Manila will include access
to TV and film streaming platform
Roku.
In June TeleGeography revealed that
PLDT had extended its FTTH footprint
in southern Metro Manila, enabling
homes and the area’s commercial
district to access super-high speed
Internet access. PLDT’s fibre optic
rollout programme aims to pass a
total of 4.4 million homes by the end
of 2017, up from three million homes
passed at the end of March.
2G comes to an end
Following a previously announced
timetable, Taiwan’s mobile operators
will no longer offer 2G services.
The China Post reported that all
GSM-based cellular services have
been discontinued, affecting around
60,000 subscribers belonging to
Chunghwa Telecom, 20,000 with
Taiwan Mobile, and around 8,000
contracted to FarEasTone.
After the 2G network shutdowns,
subscribers are left unable to send or
receive text messages, use any data
service, or to make any outbound
calls other than to emergency
numbers. Customers have until the
end of December to purchase 4G- or
5G-capable handsets and retain their
existing number, as all remaining 2G
numbers will be deleted after the end
of the year.
China could be world’s
largest 5G market by 2025
GSMA Intelligence and the China
Academy of Information and
Communications Technology (CAICT)
have issued a joint report on the
prospective 5G market.
The report reveals that Chinese
operators expect to launch
commercial 5G networks by 2020,
after a phased testing period between
2017 and 2019. Following commercial
deployment China is likely to be
the world’s largest 5G market, with
connections expected to reach 428
million by 2025. Global connections
are expected to reach 1.1 billion at
that point, with China accounting for
39 per cent of all connections.
Chinese operators are expected to
deploy standalone 5G networks,
requiring the construction of new base
stations, backhaul links, and a core
network, while other Asian markets
are considering non-stand alone 5G
that will run mainly on the existing
infrastructure. In these regions, 4G and
5G services will run in parallel.
The report also shows that 4G
penetration in China has increased
fivefold to 61 per cent over the
two-year period to March 2017,
with still significant headroom for
4G growth. As a result, 4G and 5G
networks are expected to co-exist
in China for a considerable period of
time. Despite the “largest market”
forecast, the rate of 5G network
rollout and adoption in China is
expected to be slower than it was for
4G, which Chinese operators were
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