5G takes center stage in recent CONEXUS meet
27 Nov. 2019
The highlight of the event was the visit of CONEXUS leaders to VNPT headquarters, where they viewed smart agriculture applications geared toward optimizing the quality and quantity of agricultural production in Vietnam.
“We are proud to say that the relationship among CONEXUS Mobile Alliance members are stronger than ever,” said CONEXUS Board Chairman Supoj Mahapan of True in Thailand.
“We are glad to work with our CONEXUS colleagues to further strengthen our services across Asia, particularly for the traveling and migrant communities that our companies serve,” said Katrina Luna-Abelarde, CONEXUS Deputy Board Chair, PLDT First Vice President and Head of International & Carrier Business.
“We are excited to work with CONEXUS partners to promote our alliance as we move to the 5G era in 2020,” said Dennis Wong, CONEXUS Deputy Board Chairman and also Corporate and International Business Director of Hutchison Telecommunications (Hong Kong) Limited.
Amidst the VNPT visit and high-level meetings, CONEXUS leaders also reiterated the group’s strengthened commitment toward a shared learning progress in 5G, with members of KT of Korea and NTT DOCOMO Japan leading in the commercial implementation and experience of the technology, while continuing to strengthen existing cooperation in the roaming and enterprise business.
According to the latest GSMA Mobile Economy report, Asia Pacific is on track to become the world’s largest 5G region by 2025, and is expected to host some 675 million 5G connections by 2025, more than half of the global 5G total by then.
CONEXUS aims to build on the combined strength and experience of its members NTT DOCOMO in Japan, FET in Taiwan, 3 Hong Kong in Hong Kong, Indosat in Indonesia, KT in Korea, Smart Communications in the Philippines, StarHub in Singapore, True in Thailand, and VNPT in Vietnam, to deliver cutting-edge enabling technology to better serve customer needs and enterprise business requirements.
KT started commercializing 5G service in April 2019, and NTT DOCOMO launched 5G pre-commercial service in September 2019.
In addition to NTT DOCOMO and KT, other CONEXUS members have also been at the forefront of 5G roll-outs in their respective countries.
In the Philippines, for example, after firing up the country’s first 5G network and launched the first Smart 5G cities in Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga, a province north of the capital Manila, and in the Makati City central business district, the country’s premier commercial hub which hosts the country’s most ultra-connected businesses, enterprises and workforce, Smart Communications has also launched its Smart 5G Technolab, and established a Smart 5G Alliance, a partnership with government, academe, and global tech leaders in formulating 5G use cases with specific industries. This year, Smart launched the country’s first Smart 5G Campus in Ateneo de Manila University, the first Smart 5G Lifestyle Hub in Araneta City, and the first Smart 5G Stadium City in New Clark City in Tarlac, also north of the capital.
Smart’s parent company PLDT has committed historic levels of resources to network transformation, amounting to more than US$1.5 billion in 2019 alone. This amount also covers allocations for the deployment of 5G.
FET established the first 5G Lab in Taiwan in 2016 and completed the nationwide deployment of NB-IOT network coverage and made the first 5G network phone call in Taiwan.
In December 2019, 3 Hong Kong conducted 5G speed tests on the 3.5GHz spectrum band at its 3Supreme flagship store in an urban area, recording a speed of over 700Mbps. The company is devising simple and affordable 5G monthly tariff plans with a minimum data entitlement of 100GB. The price of 5G data per GB is expected to be far more affordable than that of 4G. A full price range of 5G smartphones from global brands is also expected to be available in the first half of 2020. 3 Hong Kong is fully committed to deploying a 5G network and developing innovative applications to provide customers with a revolutionary mobile experience in mid-2020.
Indosat, the 2nd largest operator in Indonesia, has already trialed 5G as of last year. It worked with Ericsson to perform a demonstration the first 3D Augmented Reality experience in Indonesia, and was set to soft launch 5G commercially this year.
Singapore’s StarHub has completed the first outdoor pilot of 5G New Radio on the 3.5GHz frequency band in collaboration with its infrastructure partner Nokia. Over ‘live’ 5G cells deployed on the roof of StarHub’s headquarters, the companies showcased to staff, industry partners and enterprise customers how 5G can enhance consumer services and boost efficiencies for businesses.
Meanwhile, regulators in Thailand and Vietnam have recently laid out 5G policy to guide operators True and VNPT, respectively.
NBTC, the Thai telecommunication regulator just granted the permission for True in November to temporarily undergo a demonstration of its 5G technology using the 28-GHz spectrum. The permission allows True to immediately take actions by importing a set of selected 5G equipment and undergoing its 5G demonstration at True Banding Shop ICONSIAM. True also introduced its latest commercial to reiterate its first 5G leadership and build the public’s awareness of 5G technology, which is transforming Thailand and Thai people’s living conditions.
In November 2018, Vietnam Ministry of Information and Communications laid down as a policy the trial of 5G starting from 2019 to 2020. VNPT set a target to be the first one launching 5G in Vietnam.
About Conexus
The alliance is formed to primarily develop and enhance international roaming and corporate mobile services for greater convenience and ease of use for its members' customers. The alliance boasts a combined customer base of about 321 million mobile subscribers in members’ markets. The alliance is committed to promoting voice, video and data roaming via its members' GSM, W-CDMA, LTE and IoT networks.
For more details about the program, please visit www.conexusmobile.com or contact mediaqueries@conexusmobile.com
