TPT November 2019

G LOBA L MARKE T P L AC E

The 5G city spread Swiss operator Sunrise is providing 5G coverage in 262 towns and cities across the country, claiming to reach at least 80 per cent of the population at speeds of up to 2Gbps. Initially covering 150 towns and cities, the service went live in April. It is a flying start for 5G, but Switzerland is a highly urbanised country. With roughly 73 per cent of the population living in urban environments, network deployment is straightforward compared to rollout in a rural area. South Korea and the UK are also regions where a highly urbanised population is able to take advantage of the rapid spread of 5G. But elsewhere, 4G still has its place TeleSemana reported that the Ecuadorian network operator Claro plans to invest $500mn over the next three years to expand its 4G network, to begin testing 5G, and to acquire new spectrum in Ecuador’s scheduled auctions. Ecuador will auction spectrum in the 700MHz and 2.5GHz bands in November, and plans an auction of frequencies in the 3.5GHz band in August 2020. America Movil, which operates in Ecuador under the Claro brand, expects to increase its 4G network coverage to 85 per cent by the end of 2019, from an estimated 70 per cent at the beginning of the year.

Information sharing Boeing Commercial Airplanes’ chief engineer, John Hamilton, told a Reuters reporter [ 30 August, “Boeing aims to strengthen engineering oversight after panel review” ] that Boeing and its European rival Airbus SE meet several times a year to share data on safety. “The next time we get together, I am sure we will be sharing learnings from the Max accidents,” he said. Telecom Moves to delay cable on security grounds The Wall Street Journal reported that the US Department of Justice (DoJ) is making efforts to halt the completion of the Pacific Light Cable Network (PLCN), which had been scheduled to be ready for operation during the third quarter of 2019. The DoJ, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense have all voiced concerns that the project raises national security and law enforcement issues. The cable, stretching 12,971km between El Segundo in California and a number of destinations in the Philippines, Hong Kong and Toucheng, Taiwan, names Google and Facebook among its backers. However, it is the Chinese partner Pacific Light Data Communication (PLDC) – a subsidiary of Dr Peng Telecom and Media Group – and its connections to Huawei and the Chinese government that are causing the unease.

Gill Watson Features Editor (Europe)

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NOVEMBER 2019