Our every day CommsUpdate e-newsletter has featured a staggering 82,000 telecom tales since making its debut again in December 2002!
Twelve months is a very long time on the earth of telecom. So as one other eventful 12 months attracts to a detailed, we’re trying again on the telecom tales that captured our readers’ consideration throughout 2022.
From SIM card registration to Simba Telecom, satellite tv for pc broadband to Standalone 5G, the CommsUpdate group left no stone unturned of their quest to convey you the largest every day information tales from around the globe.
Learn on for the preferred CommsUpdate tales of 2022.
The Actual SIM Shady: Registration for the Nation
Our most learn story of 2022 was printed in April, when Kenya’s Communications Authority (CA) prolonged the deadline for cell phone customers to register their SIM playing cards with their service suppliers.
Again in February, the regulator directed the nation’s cell operators to make sure that the private particulars of their subscribers had been absolutely up to date by April 15, 2022, in accordance with the Kenya Data and Communications (Registration of SIM Playing cards) Laws 2015.
Nevertheless, market chief Safaricom reported that solely 67% of its SIMs had been up to date by that date, adopted by Airtel (55%) and Telkom Kenya (33%), and the CA prolonged the deadline to October 15. Safaricom’s compliance charge reached 93% by then, whereas Airtel’s stood at 91%. Ominously, post-deadline, the watchdog famous that Telkom’s case was “nonetheless beneath evaluate.”
Apparently, there have been a spate of SIM card deactivations in Africa this 12 months. This course of can be going down in Nigeria, Ghana, and Lesotho. SIM card registration in Namibia is on target to start on January 1, 2023.
Satellite tv for pc of Love: Starlink Goes World
Our second most learn story of 2022 involved Starlink, the Low Earth Orbit satellite tv for pc broadband supplier backed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX enterprise. Starlink has been featured closely in CommsUpdate this 12 months because it accumulates working licenses for all method of disparate markets throughout the globe.
In August, Starlink hit headlines within the Philippines—an enduringly common CommsUpdate hotspot—when it was revealed that Starlink Web Companies Philippines was aiming to supply full protection of the Philippines by mid-2023.
Starlink Web Companies Philippines obtained its certificates of registration as a worth added service supplier from the Nationwide Telecommunications Fee in Might 2022. Starlink goals to focus on villages and rural areas that stay unserved or underserved with broadband providers, offering a complementary service to these already supplied by different telcos.
Clearly not an organization content material to relaxation on its laurels, for the reason that summer season, Starlink has popped up in Qatar, Guadeloupe and Martinique, Japan, Malawi, Tanzania, and most not too long ago, Haiti.
Sultans of Swing: Vodafone Goes up In opposition to Omantel and Ooredoo in Oman
In certainly one of our first large tales of 2022, we reported that Vodafone Oman—which is owned by Oman Future Telecommunications—launched its pre-commercial cell trial within the Sultanate on December 30, 2021. A full industrial launch went on to happen in March 2022, making Vodafone the nation’s third cell community operator, alongside Omantel and Ooredoo.
The agency claims to have 5G community protection throughout Muscat and “ultrafast community protection everywhere in the Sultanate of Oman.” As of June 30, 2022 (most up-to-date confirmed knowledge) the newcomer claimed a good cell subscription base of 249,876. Nevertheless, it has an extended method to go earlier than it could possibly compete with its well-established rivals, every of which at the moment boasts greater than three million cell subscriptions.
Little Lion Man: Newcomer TPG Unveils Ferocious Rebrand
For our fourth hottest story of the 12 months, we head over to Singapore, the place the city-state’s latest operator is on the prowl for subscribers.
To mark its second anniversary in Singapore—and the achievement of signing up 500,000 subscriptions since its industrial launch in 2020—TPG Cell rebranded as Simba Telecom in April. Quite than a Disney-inspired alternative, the native press famous that the rebrand was a nod to the city-state’s “Lion Metropolis” nickname.
TPG, you could recall, was awarded Singapore’s fourth cell license by the Information-communications Media Improvement Authority in December 2016, and went on to launch full industrial providers in March 2020 after a prolonged trial interval.
The final 12 months has seen an intense stage of rebranding exercise, with quite a few well-known telcos refreshing their company identities. Say good day to Astound Broadband, Yettel, altafiber, and One New Zealand!
Nuthin’ however a 5G Thang: Orange Awards European 5G Standalone Contracts
On March 1, 2022, we reported that Orange Group chosen suppliers for the rollout of 5G Standalone (SA) networks in its European markets. Ericsson was handed contracts to deploy Orange’s 5G SA core community in Belgium, Spain, Luxembourg, and Poland, whereas Nokia obtained the go-ahead to provide 5G SA core networks in France and Slovakia.
The Paris-based firm stated in a press launch, “5G SA brings elevated efficiency when it comes to uplink knowledge charges for the tip consumer and decrease latency, and for companies, it meets the necessity for versatile, scalable, dependable and safe connectivity for real-time makes use of.”
Many because of all of our common CommsUpdate readers. We look ahead to holding you knowledgeable in 2023!
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