Page 98 - SAMENA Trends - November-December 2021

REGULATORY & POLICY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

Vodafone Egypt Reportedly Negotiating with NTRA on Possible 5G Trials

Mohamed Abdullah, CEO of Vodafone ‘are currently being studied technically addition, the executive confirmed that,
Egypt, has said that his company has with NTRA regulators’, though it was with Vodafone Egypt having invested
been in negotiations with the National stressed the two parties were ‘still in nearly EGP8 billion (USD509 million)
Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA) the process of studying and exchanging to obtain spectrum in the 2.6GHz band
regarding the possibility of undertaking ideas’. Meanwhile, as part of the same (a development announced in late-
5G trials in the New Administrative Capital. interview Abdullah said that development 2020), it was ‘working on developing an
In an interview with Daily News Egypt of its infrastructure one of his company’s optimal preparedness strategy for these
the executive confirmed Vodafone Egypt key priorities, noting that the Vodafone frequencies’. Further, it was confirmed
had been ‘conducting many meetings Egypt had recently built 590 portable that the operator has now paid 50% of the
and discussions with NTRA regarding the communication towers, while having cost of this spectrum, with the second
launch of 5G’, the cellco aims to begin obtained an initial approval for the payment instalment understood to be due
trials in the New Administrative Capital, construction of a further 250 towers, with in January 2022.
with it said that its proposals in this area another 100 towers pending approval. In

Nepal Improves Fixed Broadband Speed

Nepal’s Fixed Broadband broadband speed recorded at an average of 15.41 Mbps. at 146.64 Mbps. Among SAARC, India
has improved in Speedtest’s latest Global Similarly, the upload speed was just stays at the top with 46.18 Mbps speed,
Index. Meanwhile, mobile broadband recorded at 9.41 on average with 23 ms and Bangladesh follows at second with
speed has jumped down in the October latency. As per Speedtest, the global fixed an average 29.01 Mbps speed on average.
index. Globally recognized internet data broadband average for download speed Nepal ranks third at 27.59 Mbps speed. Sri
analytic organization Speedtest has just clocked 56.09 Mbps and 23.53 Mbps Lanka, Maldives, and Pakistan follow at
released its Global Index for October. upload speed on average. Meanwhile, the fourth, fifth, and sixth respectively. They
As per the data, Nepal has a mixed bag latency was 10 ms on average. Singapore, averaged 17.27, 10.72, and 8.75 Mbps
impression. In Speedtest’s October Index, the broadband utopia was atop with download speed on average. Bhutan and
Nepal’s fixed broadband download speed 188.11 Mbps download speed and 161.52 Afghanistan perched at seventh and eighth
was 27.59 Mbps on average. The upload Mbps upload speed. Thailand and Hong positions among their SAARC siblings
was speed was also very encouraging at Kong earned 2nd and 3rd rank respectively with 7.46 Mbps and 1.76 Mbps download
24.20 almost equaling the download speed in the index. Chile and Denmark rest at speed on average. The global average
with 10 ms latency. As per the data, Nepal’s fourth and fifth. The South American speed of mobile broadband was recorded
rank in mobile broadband has gone down nation’s download speed clocked at at 28.61 for download. Ookla recorded
by 3 positions. Resting at 107th, Nepal’s 163.49 Mbps on average. Meanwhile, upload speed at 8.32 Mbps and latency at
mobile broadband download speed was Denmark’s download speed was recorded 23 ms. While Nepal was able to improve
its Fixed Broadband profile by one rank
further up at 97th, the Mobile broadband
position has faltered down to 107th. UAE
(United Arab Emirates) leads Speedtest’s
Global Index for Mobile Broadband at the
top with 130.19 Mbps speed. The Gulf
country’s upload speed though is minimal
compared to its download speed which is
23.93 Mbps only. Norway and South Korea
follow at second and third with 107.50
Mbps and 98.93 Mbps respectively. Qatar
and Netherlands rank at fourth and fifth
respectively. Speedtest recorded Qatar’s
download speed at 92.83 Mbps and the
Netherlands at 91.96 Mbps. Nepal which
rests at 107th position has 15.41 Mbps
download speed and 9.41 Mbps upload
speed with 23 ms latency.

98 NOV-DEC 2021