To understand more, let’s talk a little bit about wireless communication technology.  

There are four categories of wireless communication technology: RF (radio frequency) transmission, IR (infrared frequency) transmission; microwave transmission, and lightwave transmission. 

All of them are based on something called electromagnetic (EM) waves, which can carry information between receiving and transmitting devices (and no, they won’t give you Covid-19). 

5th generation mobile network (5G) is a type of RF, and so are its predecessors, as well as WiFi, Bluetooth, etc. RF signals range from 3 kHz to 300 GHz, and the higher the frequency, the more efficient it is in transmitting data. 

High-frequency RF signals are ideal for wireless communication networks because of their ability to penetrate through objects (think buildings, doors, windows, etc) as opposed to other types of EM waves.

The 5G advantage

The key performance indicator for mobile networking communications evolution lies in how fast data can be transferred over the network. 

For 5G and above, this is manifested in what the industry terms ‘ultra-high’ data speeds, low-latency (the time it takes to transmit signals between transmitters and receivers — e.g. cell tower and mobile phone), and increased bandwidth availability. 

So 5G networking technology offers wider bandwidths, and it can also operate in lower frequency bands (6 GHz) that 4G typically uses. 5G can use the mmWave frequency — i.e. 24 GHz and up. 

RF frequency transmitters, especially for mobile network technologies such as 5G and 6G, rely on a device called a power amplifier. 

They essentially convert low-frequency bandwidths into higher bandwidths and are a critical component in cell towers. 

But the frequency alone doesn’t determine its speed. 5G has bigger channels, which speeds data transfers up. 

Furthermore, installing 5G is far less of a hassle because their transmitters are so small. As such, they can be easily fitted onto existing 4G base stations, on top of their own 5G base stations. 

But wait, that’s not all! 

The small form factor of 5G tech means they can be fitted onto any structure, such as bus stops or benches — making it nearer and far more available to users. 

This also means it is excellent for IIOT, which will drive the fourth industrial revolution (IR 4.0). The massive 5G speed bump can mean a world of difference for mission-critical applications requiring sensitivity and speed for faster response times. 

So what makes 6G special?

As mentioned above, the KPI for mobile networking communications is its speed. 6G will far surpass 5G because it can operate at terahertz frequency bands (THz). 

To recall, current RF bands operate from 3 kHz to 300 GHz. 6G will operate at 1,000 GHz, or, 1 THz. 

Furthermore, it is supposed to have a latency below 100 microseconds. To put it into perspective, 6G will be 100 times faster than 5G, have enhanced reliability, and far wider networking coverage.

According to de Alwis et. al (2021), emerging applications such as the Internet of Everything, Holographic Telepresence, collaborative robots, and space and deep-sea tourism are showing the limitations of 5G.

Said limitations include data rate, latency, reliability, availability, processing, connection density, and global coverage, spanning over ground, underwater, and space.

As such, 6G tech promises capabilities to overcome these limits of 5G, many leading tech nations such as Korea, Japan, China, and the US have already embarked on research into 6G technology. 

Actually, scratch that — they’re now locking heads with each other to see who can be the first to achieve mass-market implementation.

6G from LG 

Together with the Fraunhofer Research Institute in Germany, LG showcased its 6G power amplifier for the first time at the 2021 Korea Science and Technology Exhibition. 

Using a 6G power amplifier, LG demonstrated the success of data transfer using the 1 THz (1 terahertz) frequency band.

However, this is not the first time the power amplifier was demonstrated. LG had already tested its 6G in Berlin back in August this year. It achieved successful transmission of data on the 1 THz frequency band over a 100-meter distance outdoors.

One downside of 6G, is, as you have read, the distance it can cover is really short, at 100 meters. Furthermore, it experiences power loss during transmission and reception. 

These two issues mean that 6G requires higher power amplification in order to generate a stable signal across ultra-wideband frequencies (i.e. above 1 THz). LG admits that these are some of the biggest challenges in the evolution of 6G.

What’s the future of 6G technology like?

While LG’s reveal in Berlin was a milestone in the field of wireless 6G evolution, their progress is still… miles away (sorry) from commercial viability. 

The current state of 6G technology is not feasible for mobile networking connectivity, because it would mean you’d need 6G stations every 100 meters. Just imagine how troublesome that would be to implement.

Additionally, a key factor for the success of previous xG networking communications was global standardization. For 6G, this is expected to happen in 2025, with commercialization to happen within four years thereafter.

According to LG, 6G will be a key component of Ambient Internet of Everything (AIoE). AIoE is an emerging technology with IoT at its core — it aims to make environments more sensitive, adaptive, autonomous, and personalized for consumers by recognizing human presence and preferences.

As such, research is still ongoing in the field of 6G development.

Transmission range extension will translate into real-world, commercial application and viability to reduce costs of manufacturing and installing base stations and transmitters.

So, don’t get too excited yet.

Yes, this achievement is quite groundbreaking, but we are barely making headway into 5G implementation across the world, and we’re still dealing with a global semiconductor shortage. 

There’s still a lot of time for the experts to do their magical science stuff to bring us the next evolution of wireless communications technology for the masses. 

And by that, we mean probably in ten years.

So just sit back, relax, and continue scrolling TikTok with your 5G smartphone.

The post 6G technology, 5G and LG – what’s it really all about? appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

5G in Asia has seen mixed development over recent months. While some countries have already started using the new network, some are still in the testing stages for it. South Korea was the first country in the world to deploy 5G while China and Japan have followed closely.

Over in Southeast Asia, Singapore and Indonesia have begun 5G trials or rolled them out, whereas Malaysia had just rolled out its 5G network last week, after months of controversies surrounding pricing issues.

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In fact, according to a report by GlobalData, by 2023, the APAC region is predicted to reach 477 million 5G subscriptions. With more use cases for 5G being developed as well, the technology is only going to see more demand in the years to come.

For John Harrington, Head of Asia-Pacific and Japan at Nokia, the state of 5G in Asia is at a pretty interesting stage.

Although different countries are at different levels of 5G adoption, the reality is, the soonest network availability is becoming the end goal for all of them.

Nokia currently has 204 commercial 5G deals and 72 live 5G operator networks around the world.

In Southeast Asia, Nokia deployed the first 5G standalone RAN sharing network for the M1-Starhub joint venture in Singapore.

The commercial deployment of a 5G SA network will introduce compelling new use-cases and cater to the growing data demand in the country, putting Singapore at the forefront of 5G standalone technology in the region.

Over in Indonesia, Nokia and Indosat Ooredoo launched commercial 5G services in Surabaya City. The deal will see Indosat Ooredoo’s customers experience new enterprise and industrial use cases underpinned by the 5G network.

More recently, Nokia and Teletalk, the largest telecommunications service provider in Bangladesh, launched the country’s first 5G network in Dhaka. The 5G network launch in Bangladesh marks a step forward in the country and sets the foundation for next-generation mobile services.

Nokia enabling telcos to provide enterprise 5G use cases

John Harrington, Head of APJ at Nokia

With countries launching 5G services, John pointed out that Nokia is also enabling telco companies to offer more services, especially on 5G use cases for enterprises as well.

“The blueprint for a network operator is fairly straightforward. The module has been replicated from 3G to 4G and now 5G. What’s interesting is in markets like Japan and Singapore are starting to use more software-defined networking, cloud-based software, and such. And a step further than that is how is 5G going to enable these use cases,” said Kit.

At the same time, Nokia also recently announced multiple SaaS services for communication service providers, as part of the company’s overall strategy. The move reflects a culmination of steps Nokia has taken in recent years to enhance network operations, including rearchitecting its software applications to make them fully cloud-native and deployable in any cloud environment, edge, public or private.

For enterprises, the availability of 5G will only benefit them in the long run. To remain competitive in the industry and to also use the latest technology for better operations and productivity, 5G will be key for them.

And with telco companies now providing them the tools to make it a possibility, there is no denying that the entire region will soon see more 5G use cases becoming mainstream.

For Harrington, Nokia’s prospects in the Asia Pacific region remain high. And despite the competition increasing from other tech companies as well, John believes that they are heading in the direction and there are still plenty of opportunities available, especially with the full potential of 5G not fully achieved yet.

The post Here’s Nokia’s take on the state of 5G in Asia appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

In most parts of the world, the fifth-generation (5G) networks are still on the brink of rollout — but not China. 

The Asian nation of 1.4 billion is way ahead of the game as it houses the largest and most advanced standalone 5G network, covering all prefecture-level cities.

In fact, more than 97% of counties and 40% of towns in China have access to 5G, data by the country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) shows.

To put in context just how advanced China is when it comes to the adoption of 5G, MIIT data also shows that the country has built over 1.15 million 5G base stations.

These millions of stations alone account for more than 70% of the world’s total, according to Xie Cun, MIIT’s head of the Information and Communication Development Department.

To top it off, China is also the largest market for 5G smartphones, mainly due to the fact that a wider range of devices that support the network at different prices are made available.

Data by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), a research institute under the MIIT, shows that China’s 5G phone shipments in November alone amounted to 28.97 million units, a year-on-year (YoY) increase of 43.9%.

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The industry report also indicated that the proportion of its shipments in total mobile phone shipments reached an all-time monthly high of 82.2%. In terms of the domestic market, total mobile phones shipped topped 35.25 million units last month, expanding 19.2% YoY, the CAICT said.

As for the first 11 months of the year, the country’s 5G phone shipments totaled 239 million units, a 65.3% rise compared to the same period last year, accounting for 75.3% of the total shipments.

A 5G dream that sets China apart from the rest

China is aiming to get 56% of the country on 5G networks by the end of its 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), up from 15% in 2020.

According to a local report, the number of 5G terminal users in the country has reached 450 million, accounting for more than 80% of the world’s total, he said.

Data provider GSMA Intelligence said in a November report that the country’s 5G connections are expected to reach 865 million by 2025, accounting for 40% of the global total.

Currently, according to the China Internet Development Report (2021), last year alone, the number of 5G users in China exceeded 160 million; or 89% of the total number of 5G users in the world. 

Overall, China has taken the lead in the world’s 5G network rollout.

The country’s 5G technology bellwether, Huawei has even made further progress, saying it will launch its 6G networks by 2030, a network that is 50 times faster than 5G. 

The post 5G phones are selling like hot cakes in China appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Thailand is leading the region in mobile network technology as it has become the first country to launch ASEAN’s first 5G Smart Hospital. 

The collaboration with Huawei Technologies aims to bring patients a more convenient and efficient experience by introducing 5G, cloud, and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. This includes promoting Siriraj Hospital to become a model for smart hospitals in Thailand and the world.

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First and largest 5G smart hospital in ASEAN

According to a press statement from Huawei, the 5G smart hospital project is the “first and largest” in Thailand and the Southeast Asian region. The new digital health care facility is located in Bangkok and will showcase various innovative digital applications. 

Both Huawei and the Siriraj Hospital strengthened their partnership around 5G since the pandemic started. A five-year memorandum of understanding of an immediate upgrade of the hospital’s previous infrastructure and the conduct of demonstration exhibitions and events to promote 5G was signed by both parties recently.

The Siriraj World Class 5G Smart Hospital project comprises nine sub-projects comprising smart emergency rooms and emergency medical service, a pathological diagnosis system with 5G and AI, an AI platform for non-communicable diseases, smart inventory management, a permission-based blockchain for personal health records, smart logistics with a 5G self-driving car, multi-access edge computing and a hybrid cloud system.

Siriraj Hospital and Huawei also stated that they established a Joint Innovation Lab to incubate innovative 5G applications. It is expected that 30 5G medical applications will be incubated and promoted nationwide in 2022.

The first step in the utilization of digital technologies

“The Thai government understands the importance of technology, successfully drafting a plan for Digital Thailand. The utilization of digital technologies and 5G in the medical field will help reduce processes for medical personnel, decrease overall risk, and will improve the effectiveness and efficacy of healthcare for patients, Thailand Prime Minister and Minister of Defence General Prayut Chan-o-cha said during his address on the national policy on 5G technology and digital economy.

He added that Siriraj 5G Smart Hospital is a pilot project, which will expand to other hospitals in the future. 

Abel Deng, Chief Executive Officer of Huawei Technologies (Thailand) Co., Ltd., highlighted that this cross-sector collaboration will enhance and upgrade the services of Siriraj Hospital to progress it to become a smart medical centre using digital technologies based on 5G, AI, Big Data infrastructure, and Cloud Edge processing for patient tracking, disease diagnosis by AI on Cloud, data storage and analysis, and allocation of resources.

All of which will help pave the way to fulfil the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital’s vision to become the “Medical Institute of the Nation, a Creator of Global Citizen Wellbeing”, and a Smart Hospital model for other hospitals in Thailand,” he said.

“This signifies a model for upgrading Thailand’s public health industry in the future and contributes to Siriraj’s transition to becoming a Smart Hospital, in line with Huawei’s mission to Grow in Thailand, Contribute to Thailand,” said Deng.

The post Thailand, Huawei unveil ASEAN’s first 5G “Smart Hospital” appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Malaysia, after much delay, officially rolls out the first batch of publicly accessible fifth-generation (5G) mobile coverage in three main city areas. The country has also set a goal to have 80% of its population accessible to 5G mobile coverage by 2024. 

At this point, the 5G access will be provided by two of the country’s oldest mobile operators Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) and YTL Communications Sdn Bhd, to their respective customers within the said coverage areas. The rollout took place amid an ongoing impasse amongst local telco providers over the government’s decision to have a single wholesale 5G network.

The government has mandated Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB), a wholly-owned unit by the country’s Minister of Finance (Incorporated), to be the single neutral party to undertake the deployment of 5G infrastructure and network nationwide. DNB has been collaborating with relevant stakeholders including Ericsson, which is the appointed network equipment provider (NEP), local mobile network operators (MNOs) and other licensees, site owners, fiber optics providers, power and utility players, as well as financial institutions.

The move to adopt a single wholesale network concept was largely unaccepted by industry players especially MNOs on the basis that a state-run network could hamper competition. To recall, Malaysia’s government in February scrapped a plan to apportion spectrum to carriers, opting instead for a single shared network in a bid to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and accelerate infrastructure buildup.

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That decision left carriers worried that it would result in a nationalized monopoly which would be more costly than deploying 5G on their own. DNB however has emphasized that it will charge operators less to access its 5G network than the cost they incurred for 4G.

Looking back at a report by Reuters last month, the impasse between mobile operators and DNB was brewing due to concerns over pricing and transparency issues. In fact, major wireless carriers have recommended the government to allow two wholesale 5G networks, each to be built and operated by a consortium of carriers. The cabinet eventually, after much back and forth, informed that a decision will be made by next January on whether to allow multiple 5G providers. 

Other players on 5G roll out in Malaysia

TM and YTL Communications are the first two companies to take advantage of DNB’s offer of free wholesale 5G services to all MNOs that are integrated into the DNB network. According to both players, end-users with 5G-compatible devices will be able to enjoy an average speed of 100 Mbps. “This means a user at the weakest point of 5G coverage would on average receive 100 Mbps on a 5G-compatible device,” the press release reads.

DNB’s CEO Ralph Marshall said his unit provides wholesale 5G services to the MNOs at a significantly lower cost than their present cost to produce 4G capacity. “MNOs should therefore be able to offer lower prices to their customers for mobile services, which will include 5G services,” he said during his opening remarks at the launch earlier today.

Since DNB is the sole provider of wholesale 5G services, it will not be competing with the industry in providing 5G retail services to end-users. Instead, DNB’s Ralph said they will be complementing efforts by the MNOs with a view to accelerating adoption of 5G in the country. Currently, local players are recommending the government to allow two wholesale 5G networks. In hindsight, YTL objected to the plan and expressed support for a single 5G network. Telekom Malaysia on the other hand said it would back any decision made by the government.

DNB’s COO Ahmad Taufek Omar told reporters after the launch on Wednesday that DNB is seeking to finalize its wholesale agreements with carriers during the initial 5G rollout period until March next year and hopes to sign long-term contracts with them at the same time. Operators that sign up to its wholesale plan before March 31 will receive further free access to all additional 5G capacity during the initial period of operation, it said.

Among the device manufacturers that support 5G in Malaysia are Honor, Huawei, Nokia, Oppo, Realme, Samsung devices under the Galaxy S21 series, Vivo, Xiaomi, and even ZTE. DNB said they are targeting to add several other manufacturers including Apple, Motorola, Asus, a number of Samsung devices including the Flip 3, as well as TCL.

The post 5G goes live in Malaysia at long last appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

In Asia, South Korea became the first country to deploy 5G networks. According to a report by GlobalData, by 2023, the APAC region is predicted to have 477 million 5G subscriptions.

The report also found strong indicators that Asia will set the global benchmark for 5G, with deployments expected in China, Japan, and India.

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In Southeast Asia, 5G networks in Singapore are already seeing new use cases and verticals being enabled in different industries.

For example, Singtel’s 5G standalone network, which is expected to be 10 times faster than 4G, covers over two-thirds of the island. Nationwide coverage by the telcos’ various 5G networks is expected to be achieved by 2025.

To further demonstrate the region’s commitment to 5G development, various device manufacturers in Asia, including ZTE, have previously announced 5G-ready devices. This is another indicator displaying Asia’s 5G market preparedness.

In 2022, Asia is expected to make up for just under half of all 5G subscriptions worldwide. Regional revenue from 5G subscriptions is estimated to reach $4.5 billion by 2022, with a growth of over 280 million subscriptions (or 49% of global totals).

Though this only accounts for a small portion of all mobile subscribers, its rapid growth is still encouraging.

Different countries have different approaches to developing and laying out their own 5G infrastructures. Of note is the fact that certain telcos are looking for an open-source infrastructure for 5G.

To understand more about how telco companies can benefit from an open-source 5G infrastructure, Tech Wire Asia speaks to Ben Panic, Senior Director for Telco Sales Vertical for APAC at Red Hat.

What is an open-source 5G infrastructure and is it inter-operable?

An open-source 5G infrastructure (or, open telco), refers to the use of open-source solutions to foster flexible platforms. These platforms will provide a strong 5G architecture foundation that telcos can leverage to bring new services to market.  Open source 5G platforms will also provide operators with the flexibility and ability to drive innovation from a multi-vendor solution.

Ben Panic, Senior Director, Telco Sales Vertical APAC, Red Hat

Telcos can tap into software-based cloud-native functions from their network equipment provider (NEPs) and independent software vendor (ISV) communities, all of whom enable 5G infrastructures.

Cloud-Native Functions (CNF) combines advanced cloudification of network functions with the automation capabilities of cloud computing platforms.

By deploying an open-source and standards-based platform for CNFs, telcos will have a stable, interoperable foundation to build on.

How will telco companies and businesses benefit from using open-source 5G infrastructures? 

Telecommunications service providers are accustomed to change, and Red Hat has been supporting customers globally as 5G and Edge increasingly become the industry standard.

As this rate of change accelerates, an open-source approach helps digital service providers respond to new customer demands.

Open source provides a stable foundation that also allows for efficiency and scalability.

In addition to these benefits, infrastructure modernization creates the following opportunities for telcos:

• Drives New Revenue – The open telco cloud approach provides the operator with the opportunity to leverage their private cloud for internal and external workloads. These external client-facing workloads can drive new enterprise use cases to build new revenue streams.  There are use cases for retail security, agriculture, mining, transport, local government, manufacturing, and logistics that all leverage the 5G network. Tapping into the partner ecosystem that surrounds open source provides more choice for an operator than a legacy approach, where the focus would have been on a vertical silo approach.
• Increases agility and flexibility – Virtualization technologies can provide the scalability, manageability, and automation of infrastructure that can help service providers keep pace with both expected and unplanned growth and market changes. Meanwhile, container technology enables apps to be strategically deployed and moved across environments to keep up with demand.
• Delivers increased customer value – For example, automated management tools can help telcos launch, deliver, and scale services quickly and reliably across the cloud-based infrastructure. Moreover, having an integrated environment for building and deploying containerized applications can enable telcos to rapidly create compelling new services using modern app development approaches.
• Reduces costs – Cloudifying their infrastructure with an open framework will allow telcos to increase resource utilization, and improve overall efficiency with a common, unified infrastructure.

So how much cost savings are we talking about here with open source 5G infra?

If we look at APAC, Vodafone Idea (VI) has saved over 85% CAPEX in their 4G core by virtualizing the network and leveraging our Red Hat OpenStack Platform. They also decreased their service creation time from months to weeks to deploy a new core in the mobile network.  The time to market-saving is a major benefit, as it allowed VI to monetize their investment faster.

Another example I can share is from a customer in Belgium. Proximus is Belgium’s largest telecommunications provider, and they wanted to replace a costly legacy network environment with a more flexible, scalable network functions virtualization (NFV) approach.

By standardizing its NFV strategy on the Red Hat OpenStack Platform supported by Red Hat Ceph Storage, Proximus can now cost-effectively run critical service functions, lowering associated costs by 20%.

By using Red Hat OpenShift for its web properties and cloud-native development environment, Proximus is also able to deploy and run container-based microservices at scale, saving approximately US$35,000 in monthly infrastructure setup and maintenance costs.

Given the speed and development of telco services regionally, and the appetite for digital-first services enabled by telcos, we’re certainly excited about helping APAC with open source 5G cost-saving measures.

The post Is open source the key to optimizing Asia’s 5G networks? appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

In what appears like a desperate attempt to bring Malaysian telcos on board, Reuters reported today that the Finance Ministry’s special purpose vehicle, Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB), has announced that it will offer wholesale 5G services to mobile carriers at no cost.

In a statement, the state agency claimed that 5G services will be commercially available from 15 December onwards in three central areas, including parts of Kuala Lumpur. 

This offer to allow all operators to be part of its network for free will take place during the initial 5G rollout period taking place next week — and will be valid up to 31 March 2022. 

DNB is seeking to finalize its wholesale agreements with carriers during this period and hopes to sign long-term contracts with them by early 2022.

As reported by Reuters, an RAO (Reference Access Offer) will be approved by Malaysia’s communications regulator soon following extensive feedback from the industry. 

An RAO is a public document that will cover the details of the DNB’s 5G wholesale model, including pricing and service commitments.

Operators that sign up to its wholesale plan before March 31 will receive further free access to all additional 5G capacity during the initial period of operation, it said.

It also reiterated that its 5G pricing plan would be cheaper for mobile carriers than the cost they have incurred for 4G.

Telcos have said under the proposed pricing plan, they could end up paying more than they would have if they introduced 5G on their own, as the plan did not take into account additional requirements related to issues such as traffic volume and contingency costs, added Reuters.

Malaysia, a Southeast Asian country of 32 million has been wracked with multiple obstacles to its 5G deployment, falling sharply behind its ASEAN peers. 

With less than a month to the country’s once-deferred 5G rollout plans, reluctance by multiple local carriers to be integrated has been a thorn in DNB’s side. 

In November, none of the country’s major telcos have signed any agreement to use the Ericsson-built and designed network infrastructure due to transparency and pricing issues.

Telekom Malaysia Bhd on Saturday, however, became the first operator to sign up for 5G trials with DNB.

Malaysia’s 5G approach an industry first

From as early as July this year, local telcos had voiced strong sentiments against the very way the government had chosen to handle the deployment of a nationwide 5G network. 

To recall, the main contention point revolved around the anti-competitive nature of allowing only a single entity — i.e. 5G operator DNB, the rights to own all the 5G spectrums within and as well as the Ericsson-designed and built infrastructure. 

Previously, 2G, 3G, and 4G spectrums in Malaysia were allocated to telcos, allowing them to own their own spectrums and price their packages competitively.

However this time, DNB would retain ownership of the entire 5G spectrum, in what appears to be a bid to turn it into a leased “shared commodity”, and theoretically reduce overall costs — at the price of ownership by telcos. This is, however, reportedly disputed by telcos and industry players, mainly due to the lack of pricing transparency.

Telcos around the world commonly bid for or are allocated spectrums, so the Malaysian government’s stance on 5G spectrum allocations would be an industry first. Individual ownership of networking spectrums often results in more competitive prices for consumers.

Critics maintained that multiple roll-out contracts to different vendors, spectrum auctions, and a second 5G network alongside DNB’s should be the course of action, in line with global norms, a sentiment shared by global mobile operator cooperative GSMA.

The post Has Malaysia’s 5G operator DNB finally given in to telcos? appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Unlike previous WiFi frequencies, WiFi 6E operates in the 6GHz frequency band. Promising better connectivity and lower latency, especially indoors, countries around the world are slowly opening the unlicensed band for WiFi usage.

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In Asia, South Korea is the only country that adopted the 6GHz spectrum for WiFi 6. Japan, Australia and other countries in the APAC region are now also considering enabling its use. More recently, in Southeast Asia, Malaysia has announced that its seeking feedback in regards to the usage of the frequency bands in the country.

The Malaysia Communications and Multimedia Commission said they’re looking for public consultation for the usage of 6GHz frequency bands by other emerging technologies including 5G. The regulator is also seeking opinions for the operating frequency range of Wi-Fi 6E in Malaysia as well as its coexistence with existing services and methods to overcome interference between them.

Interestingly, the WiFi Alliance reports that it is not just the Wi-Fi ecosystem that is calling for regulators to consider license-exempt access to the upper 6 GHz band. Satellite operators, which are playing a key role in expanding access to connectivity, are also advocating that this spectrum be used by low power license-exempt technologies, rather than IMT (International Mobile Telecommunications). The EMEA Satellite Operators Association submitted an input contribution encouraging ATU administrations to assess the need to use the 6425-7125 MHz band for Wi-Fi applications.

The E in WiFi 6E

To understand more about WiFi 6E and how enterprises can benefit from it, Tech Wire Asia caught up with Carlos Gomez Gallego, Chief Technology Officer for the Asia Pacific and Japan at Aruba to get his insights on the technology.

“WiFi 6E is a completely new band. We don’t have to worry about legacy devices because there are no legacy devices on WiFi 6E. It means we not only double the frequency for usage, but we have less congested airwaves and have broader channels. So it really increases the capacity and reduces the interference to be able to run more mission-critical applications or maybe applications that have higher bandwidth for lower latency requirements.”

(Photo by Omar TORRES / AFP)

With the opening up of the spectrum, it eventually doubles all of the spectrum that is available today with WiFi 5. It’s a significant step in the industry to offer the same WiFi experience with lesser interference and lower latency.

“Connectivity is critical to digital transformation, and it comes in a variety of forms. In the last decade, mobile phones and cellular coverage have become standardized across the world. But if we’re working at the office or home, WiFi is the dominant technology. We tend to use WiFi indoors and cellular outdoors,” said Carlos.

Carlos explained that studies have shown endless possibilities for WiFi, especially in providing greater economic values to both enterprises and SMEs. And the usage of WiFi is not going to change anytime soon, especially with IoT devices and sensors in organizations, like the manufacturing industry, increasing.

“There are different radio technologies that are suited for different purposes. For example, the access point that Aruba provides not only has the latest WiFi 6 and WiFi 6E, they also have Bluetooth radios. It allows enterprises to use that one piece of infrastructure for multiple use cases. What this means is, employees can use WiFi but the radio functions can be used for smart building use cases like unlocking a smart lock and such. We look at the best connective technology for each use case and try to provide the same security control and optimizations across the different radio technologies,” added Carlos.

When it comes to security, Carlos pointed out that WiFi 6E has security that is built-in by default at the standards level. To meet these security standards, Aruba is also part of the bodies in the industry and contributes to making WiFi 6E more secure. This includes securing the algorithms and encryption in WiFi. On top of that, there are also additional security services that ecosystem partners can provide, depending on security requirements.

“If you remember when WiFi first came to market, everyone was skeptical. But today, WiFi networks are more secure than wired networks. There are still some very open wired networks with vulnerabilities. Moving forward, we want to look at security not just as wireless network security, WAN security, data center security, and such, but to provide a solution that encompasses all of the connectivity technologies,” commented Carlos.

Ideally, the aim is to enable IT, teams, to have a top-down view of security and not be siloed. There are many networks and security for them to look at. A unified connected security system through the network will enable better visibility for them. With each environment having its own security needs, providing a security overlay on top of what’s built in to support the different verticals and use cases is vital for a coordinated and orchestrated approach.

With that said, it is now only a question of when the spectrum will be made available for access. As more countries are beginning to realize the potential of the technology, hopefully, its implementation will be sooner than we think.

The post Can the E in WiFi 6E empower businesses? appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Australia has announced measures to ring-fence dozens of sensitive technologies from foreign interference, stepping up efforts to safeguard against “national security risks” from China and others.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison unveiled a list of 63 “critical technologies” to be promoted and protected at an online forum in Sydney — a step toward limiting what government, industry and universities can and cannot share with foreign counterparts.

The list includes 5G communications, quantum technologies — which are based on the physics of sub-atomic particles — artificial intelligence, advanced magnets, 3D printing, drones and vaccines.

The measures aim to “balance the economic opportunities of critical technologies with their national security risks”, Morrison told a forum hosted by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

Items on the list will not be automatically banned for export or proscribed, but may be subject to “additional risk management”, including measures to stop “unwanted tech transfer”.

The 5G battle between Australia and China

Australia has become increasingly concerned about the transfer of sensitive technology to foreign military powers, particularly to China, under the guise of academic cooperation.

In 2018, the Turnbull government blacklisted both Huawei and ZTE from Australia’s 5G network in response to security advice. Canberra has also moved to limit the ability of Chinese state-linked firms to operate critical infrastructure in Australia.

A decision to effectively bar Huawei from running Australia’s 5G network was the catalyst for a major diplomatic rift between the two countries.

For almost two years, high-level diplomatic contacts have been frozen and Beijing has levied a raft of sanctions that some have called a “shadow trade war”.

Australia is currently in the process of auctioning 5G spectrum licenses.

Norms and values

Morrison on Wednesday also listed nine critical technologies that will be the focus for investment, hoping the expertise will help “uphold our liberal democratic traditions” in what he described as an era of “strategic competition”.

“The simple fact is that nations at the leading edge of technology have greater economic, political and military power,” he said.

“And, in turn, greater capacity to influence the norms and values that will shape technological development in the years to come.”

The list also includes nuclear technology — a marked departure for a country that has long been opposed to fission power and currently only has one research reactor.

Australia recently signalled its intention to purchase long-range, ultra-stealthy nuclear-powered submarines from the United States or Britain, cancelling a vast order of diesel-powered subs from France.

But the list goes further, including a range of nuclear technologies linked to power generation, space travel, reprocessing and isotope production.

Many of the other listed technologies have military or dual-use applications, such as synthetic materials that bend light or radio waves, self-fixing materials designed for advanced body armour, laser communications or quantum cryptography.

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© Agence France-Presse

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This news comes with a little more than a month left to its former plan to rollout commercial 5G services in a few states by the end of 2021. 

DNB had, earlier this year, confidently announced the roll-out of 5G services in three Malaysian states by end of 2021, with plans to roll out to other states by 2023. 

In a report by Reuters, none of the country’s major telcos have signed an agreement to use the Ericsson-built and designed network infrastructure due to “transparency and pricing issues”, according to “state agency and industry executives”. 

In July this year, DNB had awarded an RM11 billion (US$1.7 billion) project to Swedish telecomms multinational Ericsson to design, build and maintain the 5G infrastructure in Malaysia.

5G for Malaysia delayed… again

Malaysia falls behind some of its ASEAN peers such as Singapore, and Vietnam, among others,  in terms of 5G rollout. Previous plans estimated commercial 5G deployment to be in the third quarter of 2020 due to the nullification of spectrum allocations.  

DNB acknowledged that its initial timeline for negotiations had been “too optimistic”. 

DNB is a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) established by the Malaysian Ministry of Finance in March 2021 to roll out infrastructure and 5G network deployment nationwide. 

This approach, announced by former Malaysia Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, is opposed to assigning spectrum to individual telcos or consortiums.

According to the Reuters report, DNB will be seeking formal long-term agreements in early 2022 as it continues negotiations to follow up on its plan to deploy 5G in three states in Malaysia in December. 

“The target now is to have a live network, covering… a total of 500 sites by the end of December, with at least some operators on board to provide a 5G network to end-users,” Chief Technology Officer Ken Tan said. DNB made no mention of plans of action should these negotiations fail to bring onboard any MNOs.

The ire of local telcos

Earlier this year, sentiments by local telco players skewed negative, with main contention points revolving around the anti-competition nature of awarding all the 5G spectrums to a single entity, i.e. DNB. 

Critics maintain that multiple roll-out contracts to different vendors, spectrum auctions, and a second 5G network alongside DNB’s should be the course of action, in line with global norms.

This sentiment is shared by global mobile operator cooperative GSMA, which warned that a single vendor award would not be in line with DNB’s aim of ‘better and cheaper 5G services’ due to a lack of market competition.

Several telcos have already invested in infrastructure upgrades to support 5G services, but are concerned about a “nationalized monopoly”. According to current and former industry sources who declined to be named in the Reuters report, this arrangement would eventually hurt their bottom lines and restrict their access to future tech.

These sources further estimated that up to RM 45 billion (US$10.8 billion) in market value could be “destroyed across all mobile operators”, including the Big Three — Axiata Group, DiGi, and Maxis.

“By 2030, the majority of the network will be on 5G, then there are enforced limitations on our existing (non-5G network) assets,” one of the sources said to Reuters.

“Successful 5G integration” of telcos in Malaysia?

With that said, however, at a DNB event on Wednesday, the agency claimed successful integration of five MNOs into its 5G network, with a sixth planned for a later date, reported Edge Markets.

DNB asserts its spectrum pricing will be “non-discriminatory” and be the same for all MNOs. According to chief commercial officer Ahmad Taufek Omar, MNOs are being charged “only as a form of cost recovery”.

Omar clarified that their pricing model is composed of three mechanisms, namely coverage capacity; additional capacity, and buffer capacity. 

However, he acknowledged that prices may differ based on the size of the MNO. 

“… bigger MNOs will have larger requirements and therefore prices will be affected. But once we give the bigger MNO that [modified] price, the other MNOs can also request for the same price. There is no such thing as a different price for each MNO”.

Omar failed to disclose the actual costs of the pricing, however.

Chief executive Ralph Marshall also stated that the network would be capable of integrating up to 12 MNOs by next year. 

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