Cell C quietly turns on South African 5G via roaming deals
South African operator Cell C has quietly switched on 5G with no launch event, covering major cities including Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg. After shutting down its own radio access in 2023 and migrating to a virtualized RAN model, its 5G rides entirely on roaming agreements with MTN and Vodacom, giving it access to both carriers' full 5G sites (2.6GHz and 3.5GHz), while only the core network is Cell C's own. CEO Jorge Mendes says the company "technically has the widest 5G footprint in South Africa," with 5G expected to anchor FWA and similar use cases. Group revenue for 2026 reached ZAR 12.64 billion, up 14% year on year.
Loughborough demos rice-sized rainbow microcomb chip for 6G mmWave
A Loughborough University-led team has published in Nature Communications a rice-grain-sized microchip that generates a precisely ordered optical "rainbow" (microcomb) and converts it simultaneously into multiple millimeter-wave channels. Earlier research could only produce a single mmWave frequency at a time; the new design combines on-chip microresonators with a fibre loop to output many frequencies at once, opening multi-channel, high-bandwidth prospects for 6G and potential use in radar, spectroscopy, and high-precision quantum timing. The system is still bench-scale; the team is now exploring miniaturization and the feasibility of putting it on satellites.
VMO2 lights up 5G SA in Kent as UK standalone coverage expands
Virgin Media O2 has extended its 5G Standalone (SA) network to Kent in southeast England, adding coverage for 1.6 million people. The rollout is part of its GBP 700 million (about USD 954 million) mobile investment plan covering new sites, small cells, 4G/5G upgrades, network automation and new spectrum deployment. EE's 5G SA network already covers 78% of the UK population (54 million people), and VMO2's move shows the country's major operators are accelerating the shift from NSA to SA, paving the way for advanced services such as network slicing.
Ericsson trials AI-native scheduler on SoftBank's live 5G
Ericsson announced trials of its AI-native scheduler for link adaptation (part of its "AI in RAN" portfolio) on SoftBank's live commercial 5G network in Japan. Results showed roughly 25% higher spectral efficiency and 50% higher downlink user throughput. Ericsson called the trial a key step toward AI-native mobile networks, with AI-driven radio resource scheduling expected to play a central role in 5G-Advanced and future 6G systems.
3GPP Rel-20 freeze countdown: Maastricht and Prague push 6G
From 24 to 28 August 2026, around 2,000 engineers split between Maastricht (RAN) and Prague (CT/SA) for the final push before the Rel-20 Stage-2 architecture freeze. SA2 advanced the 6G architecture study FS_6G_ARC, covering topics including AI agent discovery and authentication, and generative AI traffic characteristics; CT3 began drafting the 6G capability exposure API framework; SA3 advanced the post-quantum crypto migration study FS_CryptoPQC. RAN5 elected Qualcomm's Pradeep Gowda as its new chair. Anything not cleared at the September plenary will face an 18-month wait.
Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung split on GPU-ized radios for 6G
Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung are visibly diverging on 6G architecture. Ericsson favours sticking with custom ASICs and dedicated accelerators, while Nokia and Samsung are evaluating GPU-ized radio units that can flexibly carry AI inference workloads. All three vendors plan to submit their own 6G white papers before end-2026, with the final shape landing in 3GPP Rel-21. The outcome will shape the power draw, footprint and AI capability of tomorrow's 6G base stations.
China Broadnet's 5G growth stalls, gap with China Mobile widens
China Broadnet's 5G subscriber growth has nearly stalled, with Q2 net adds well below industry expectations. Its 5G base remains significantly smaller than those of China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom, constrained by network coverage and brand awareness. Industry observers say Broadnet must accelerate the 700MHz co-build and co-share arrangement with China Mobile to scale up, but operator-internal coordination and device support remain obstacles.
Swiss Salt and Sunrise sign infrastructure-sharing MoU
Swiss operators Salt and Sunrise have signed a memorandum of understanding to share network infrastructure in order to strengthen rural coverage, as a first step toward evaluating a broader MOCN (Multi-Operator Core Network) sharing model. Both sides see sharing as a way to lower deployment costs in remote areas, speed up 5G coverage and boost network resilience. Swiss regulators have noted the collaboration and will assess how the sharing perimeter is drawn, mindful of preserving competition.
One NZ and 2degrees to merge RAN assets into infra joint venture
New Zealand's One NZ and 2degrees have unveiled plans to merge their radio access network (RAN) assets into an independent infrastructure business, aiming to lift operational efficiency, speed up new-technology rollouts and strengthen network resilience. The deal does not touch retail brands, with both continuing to compete as separate mobile operators. The new company will jointly manage RAN investment, operations and spectrum use, with integration expected to complete in 2027.
O2 deploys lamp-post small cells across Westminster
UK operator O2 has deployed 24 lamp-post-mounted small cells in London's Westminster borough, as part of its GBP 700 million (USD 954 million) mobile transformation plan. Strict heritage and planning rules in Westminster make conventional macro sites hard to site, making lamp-post-mounted cells a key tool for improving 5G coverage. O2 says it plans to replicate the approach in other historic urban areas across the UK.
India's COAI chief tips India to lead the 6G race
The head of India's Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said India is better placed than several global rivals to lead in the 6G era, while acknowledging a risk of "roadmap drift" between R&D and commercial deployment by 2030. India is currently aligning 6G use cases, localised standards and spectrum requirements with 3GPP and ITU. COAI points to India's large data base and domestic chip-design capability as key advantages.