During the period from July 1st to 7th, 2025, the following international news occurred:
1. Former FCC Chair Ajit Pai warning America has lost 5G lead to China
Former FCC Chairman Ajit Pai cautioned that the United States has relinquished its 5G leadership position to China, which now dominates the field. Pai noted that while the White House prioritized 5G as a national policy in 2019, the U.S. now lags behind China in commercial 5G deployment and standard-essential patents. With 5G increasingly integrated with AI technologies, Chinese companies like Huawei have demonstrated remarkable resilience. Pai urged the U.S. telecom industry to refocus on the synergistic development of 5G and AI, leveraging emerging opportunities such as private wireless networks and wireless broadband to regain competitive advantage. Analysts suggest the U.S. still has potential to reclaim leadership but must accelerate its efforts.
2. Vodafone collaborates with University of Málaga in Spain to develop photonic chips
Vodafone Group and the University of Málaga in Spain are collaborating to develop photonic chips based on microwave photonic silicon-based technology, for 5G-Advanced and 6G networks. This technology uses light to process signals, developing passive and active chips to replace beamforming components, supporting the deployment of 32 small independently controlled antennas on a single pole, improving signal accuracy and network performance, reducing power consumption and enhancing coverage in high-traffic areas. The project is supported by the EU's IPCEI initiative and Spain's Ministry of Industry, planning to release a blueprint within two years, with the long-term goal of realizing optical wireless units to promote upgrades in energy efficiency and capacity of future networks.
3. China's 5G-A Subscribers Surpass 10 Million: Huawei Supports Operators in Accelerating 5G-A Development, Jointly Creating New AItoX Value
At MWC Shanghai 2025 with the theme "Accelerating Towards an Intelligent World", Huawei, together with China's three major operators, released 5G-A experience operation and AItoX commercial innovation achievements, launched the AI UBB solution, which covers from home broadband to bearer networks end-to-end, accelerating high-level network autonomy. Xu Zhijun proposed four growth paths: focusing on user demands, stimulating video consumption, connecting intelligent connected vehicles, and expanding FTTR coverage for individual businesses. To date, over 300 cities in China have achieved 5G-A coverage, with subscribers exceeding 10 million, empowering upgrades in multiple fields. Global operators are exploring new values in experience operation through AI.
4. Nordic makes double swoop for US IoT duo to set-up as one-stop for AIoT
Norwegian chip manufacturer Nordic Semiconductor announced the acquisition of U.S. IoT companies Memfault and Neuton.AI to provide one-stop full-stack IoT solutions, transforming from a hardware manufacturer to an end-to-end provider. Memfault offers cloud-based device lifecycle management, while Neuton.AI adds ultra-compact edge AI capabilities (tinyML), targeting the consumer, medical, and industrial markets. This move makes Nordic the first semiconductor company to integrate hardware, software, and cloud services; its nRF54 series chips will integrate Neuton.AI's neural network framework, supporting the deployment of 5KB-level tiny AI models. The tinyML chip market is expected to reach $5.9 billion by 2030.
5. Deutsche Telekom said that around 98% of households can already access the carrier’s 5G network
Deutsche Telekom announced that its 5G network already covers 98% of German households, with LTE coverage reaching nearly 100%. Between March and May 2024, the operator added 276 new base stations and upgraded 1,209 existing sites, of which 278 were connected to 5G for the first time. The company plans to double network capacity through multi-band combinations by 2027, with 90% of base stations to provide a download speed of 1Gbps per cell. In the Berlin area, Deutsche Telekom operates 1,070 sites, will build 200 new base stations in the next three years, and will focus on deploying the 3.6GHz frequency band at transportation hubs. In addition, the company has conducted tests on industrial-grade private 5G networks in the 26GHz millimeter wave band.
6. Indian enterprises get their say on private 5G spectrum
India's Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is conducting a survey on the demand for private 5G spectrum among large enterprises, planning to directly issue dedicated spectrum licenses to enterprises through TRAI. The survey targets enterprises with net assets exceeding 10 billion rupees (approximately $11.5 million), with a deadline of July 31. This move is based on the 2022 policy framework, which was shelved due to the immature 5G terminal ecosystem at that time, and is now relaunched as the device ecosystem improves and system integrators' interest increases. The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) previously opposed the scheme of enterprises directly accessing spectrum on grounds of interference, security and compliance, demanding restrictions on the scope of use and regular audits. The government proposes to open up frequency bands such as 3.7-3.8GHz for the deployment of enterprise private networks.
7. Vodafone Idea to expand 5G to 23 new Indian cities
Indian telecom operator Vodafone Idea (Vi) announced plans to extend its 5G network to 23 additional cities, including Ahmedabad and Jaipur, leveraging AI-driven Self-Organizing Networks (SON) and Open RAN technology for optimized deployment. The company's 5G services now cover all 17 telecom circles in India. Concurrently, Vi continues to upgrade its 4G network, achieving a 35% increase in site capacity and a 26% improvement in speeds, while expanding population coverage from 77% to 84%. The operator has secured $3.6 billion in equipment supply agreements with Nokia, Ericsson, and Samsung, and completed a $4.3 billion government equity conversion, raising the Indian government's stake to 48.99%.
8. Zain launches 5G-Advanced across Kuwait
Kuwait's Zain Telecom launched the country's first commercial 5G-Advanced network, covering most parts of the country, capable of meeting growing data demands, supporting smart city services and expanding IoT capabilities, aligning with Kuwait's Vision 2035. From June 30 to July 29, eligible postpaid users can enjoy a 30-day free trial. In addition, Saudi Arabia's Zain KSA launched the construction of 5G SA networks in the 600MHz band during the same period. According to GSA statistics, 26 operators worldwide are investing in 5G-Advanced technology, with 6 operators having launched such networks, and 5G-Advanced deployments in Asia are the most active.
9. SK Telecom Faces Continued User Exodus Amid USIM Security Crisis, Highlighting Need for Stronger Cybersecurity
South Korea's SK Telecom suffered a severe USIM card security crisis: a hacker attack in April led to a data breach of 27 million users' data, and as of May, only 3.2 million users had completed card replacement. The operator launched temporary measures such as protective services and rerouting functions, and established a Customer Trust Committee to deal with the crisis. According to Omdia data, SK Telecom added only 186,000 new users in Q1 2025, significantly lagging behind competitors. Analysts suggest that it should strengthen compliance, employee training and cybersecurity investment (its 2024 security investment was 60 billion won, lower than that of KT and LG U+) to rebuild user trust. This incident has sounded an alarm on cybersecurity for global operators.