Uzbekistan’s Rubicon Wireless Communications, which operates CDMA mobile services under the Perfectum brand name, has announced a major new initiative to transform its business by launching a 5G network.
Perfectum plans to roll out a 5G Standalone (SA) network in partnership with Finnish vendor Nokia, with which it has signed a Memorandum of Cooperation, aiming to deploy the new system ‘throughout the country in a short time’ to achieve the first commercial 5G SA launch in Central Asia, its press release disclosed.
Furthermore, earlier this month at the GITEX industry event in the UAE, Perfectum entered into a partnership agreement with UAE-based mobile operator Etisalat (e&) via which it aims to tap the latter’s expertise to develop its business processes, both in terms of technical platforms and commercial operations.
Perfectum’s release on its website revealed that its ‘Business Transformation Strategy’ based on 5G New Radio (NR) technology was made possible by a nationwide frequency award of 1×100MHz TDD spectrum in the n77 (3.7GHz) band following a successful application to Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Digital Technologies, whilst noting that it also possesses 2×15MHz in the n5 (850MHz FDD) band courtesy of its existing CDMA operations.
Taking into account the available spectrum, the company says it selected the 5G SA model as the most suitable for meeting demand from both consumer device users and enterprise customers in various industries. Perfectum expects its 5G SA network to give powerful impetus to Uzbek development of advanced technologies in areas including IoT/urban infrastructure (smart city) solutions, autonomous vehicles, telemedicine and virtual/augmented reality (VR/AR).
TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database says that majority-state-owned Perfectum has provided CDMA mobile services since 2001, having originally launched a Digital AMPS (D-AMPS) network in 1997.