Lianyungang completes China's first offshore Pre-6G cell-free trial station
The coastal city of Lianyungang in Jiangsu province has completed China's first offshore Pre-6G cell-free trial station this year, enabling voice and video calls over coastal waters. Conventional 5G networks tend to drop connections at cell boundaries, whereas cell-free technology draws on multiple antennas working together to supply the signal, so vessels moving offshore do not need to hand over repeatedly between base stations. The capability could eventually serve fishing boats, offshore platforms and maritime search and rescue. The city also used 5G-Advanced and Pre-6G technology to safeguard the network at the opening ceremony of the provincial games, described as China's first application of 6G technology in a large sporting event.
ZTE and du light the world's first commercial Upper 6GHz connection
ZTE and UAE operator du have activated Upper 6GHz radio equipment on a live 5G-Advanced network, using commercial CPE to achieve the world's first end-to-end commercial Upper 6GHz connection. The deployment uses ZTE's GigaMIMO technology and advanced antenna units to aggregate 350MHz of bandwidth in the 6775-7125MHz range, improving capacity, coverage and data rates. The partners said the milestone validates the band's commercial viability in real-world conditions and that they will continue developing Upper 6GHz capabilities to support the UAE's 6G vision and long-term evolution.
Wi-Fi 7 penetration to reach 40% next year as Wi-Fi 8 certification starts in September 2027
Networking chipmakers Realtek and RichWave used their latest earnings calls to lay out the Wi-Fi upgrade cycle. Realtek expects Wi-Fi 7 penetration in the PC and router markets to rise from about 30% this year to roughly 40% in 2027, with Wi-Fi 8 certification testing due to complete in June 2027 and formally start in September, and Wi-Fi 8 solutions ramping in the second half of next year. RichWave expects Wi-Fi 7 and Wi-Fi 6 to cross over in market share during 2027; Wi-Fi 7 already accounted for 48% of its third-quarter revenue, up 126% year on year. Both noted that Wi-Fi 8 will initially be markedly more expensive than Wi-Fi 7 because of its new control interfaces.
Gabon launches commercial 5G as two operators receive spectrum
Gabon officially switched on commercial 5G on 26 October at the first Gabon Digital Week in Libreville. After more than a year of consultation and negotiation, regulator ARCEP Gabon assigned frequencies to the country's two mobile operators, Airtel Gabon and Moov Africa Gabon Telecom. The new networks are expected to improve mobile performance and capacity, support new digital services for consumers, enterprises and the public sector, and strengthen home broadband through fixed wireless access, accelerating digital inclusion. ARCEP stressed that measurably improving quality of service remains the priority and that operators must comply strictly with coverage and quality obligations and offer tariffs suited to the local market.
Portugal's Meo launches 5G+ Priority Pass in first commercial 5G SA slicing offer
Portuguese operator Meo (Altice Portugal) has launched its first commercial product built on 5G standalone, the 5G+ Priority Pass, which uses network slicing to give residential and enterprise customers priority access and reliable data connections during congestion at major events, airports and busy urban areas. The product is sold as an add-on, priced according to the underlying plan. Meo said the launch builds on real-world testing completed earlier this year and marks the point at which Portuguese operators begin turning slicing from a technology demonstration into a sellable, differentiated service.
Telia expands 5G SA while building a shared Norwegian radio network with Ice
Telia said on its third-quarter earnings call that it is expanding commercial 5G standalone capabilities to deliver more secure and reliable connectivity, stronger protection against digital threats and a platform for new services, without disclosing geographic scope or timing. Telia also announced it will build and operate radio access networks jointly with rival Ice in Norway, with each keeping its own core network and competing in the market while the joint operation runs its own organisation. Operations are due to start in early 2027 with traffic migration completed by the end of that year, network build extending to 2030 and annualised benefits of NOK 300-400 million (USD 32.3 million) from 2029.
T-Mobile, Nokia and Nvidia complete world's first live AI-RAN call
T-Mobile, Nokia and Nvidia said on 26 October they had completed the world's first AI-RAN call on a commercial 5G network in Bellevue, Washington, using a commercial smartphone, Nokia Massive MIMO radios and anyRAN software, with baseband processing handled by servers running Nvidia's Aerial RAN Computer and connected to T-Mobile's existing 5G standalone core. AI algorithms were introduced into physical-layer functions such as channel estimation and beamforming. Nine EMEA operators including Deutsche Telekom, Orange, BT and Elisa are meanwhile running distributed AI network and AI-RAN trials on Nvidia infrastructure. Analysts noted that the real significance lies in showing general-purpose compute can now carry telecom-grade real-time baseband.
VodafoneThree drops Open RAN in the UK in favour of a GBP 2 billion integrated RAN
VodafoneThree explained at its October investor briefing that its UK network will be built with integrated radio equipment from Ericsson and Nokia rather than the Open RAN approach previously planned. Before the merger, Vodafone had intended to deploy Samsung software on general-purpose servers at around 2,500 sites currently using Huawei equipment, but that roadmap could not meet the strict site and spectrum deadlines attached to merger approval, and incumbent vendors had customised radio products for its spectrum holdings. The company is now pursuing a GBP 2 billion programme targeting about GBP 1 billion of annual cost savings by fiscal 2032 and 5G standalone coverage of 99% of the population by 2030. Deutsche Telekom separately confirmed that Nokia Open RAN will replace 3,000 Huawei sites by 2027.
T-Mobile says it will be first with 6G and again rules out a SpaceX MVNO
T-Mobile used its third-quarter earnings call to claim it will be the first US operator to launch 6G, pointing to the industry's expected 2030 timeframe. CTO John Saw said 6G will be the first mobile generation in which base stations behave like radar, with integrated sensing and communication creating a wave of new remote-sensing use cases, and that traffic in 2030 will remain downlink-dominated but increasingly uplink-rich as embodied AI devices proliferate. The operator is also building a kinetic edge with AWS and will take part in the upper C-band and 2.7GHz auctions to add 6G capacity. Its CEO again ruled out a consumer-facing MVNO deal with SpaceX.
FCC opens proceeding to auction 25MHz of mid-band spectrum for D2D and terrestrial mobile
The US FCC has unanimously adopted a notice of proposed rulemaking to auction 25MHz of mid-band spectrum, namely 1675-1695MHz and 2020-2025MHz, for direct-to-device satellite and terrestrial 5G use. Chair Brendan Carr said comparable D2D spectrum is already selling for tens of billions of dollars on the secondary market, suggesting strong bidding interest. The auction forms part of the US government's goal of releasing 400MHz of commercial spectrum by 2028, with further auctions to follow, including 160MHz of upper C-band before July 2027.
Seventh ASEAN 5G Conference hears that spectrum policy is investment policy
The seventh ASEAN 5G Conference took place on 29 October in Quang Ninh, Vietnam, as part of Vietnam International Digital Week 2026, bringing together regulators, ministry officials, international organisations and technology companies from across the bloc to assess 5G rollout progress and discuss strategies for the transition to the next mobile generation. Vietnam's deputy minister of science and technology urged the region to use today's 5G well while actively shaping tomorrow's 6G. A GSMA representative noted that ASEAN markets are advancing at different speeds, with Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand achieving broad coverage early while Vietnam started later but has high population coverage, and called on regulators to publish transparent roadmaps, set reasonable spectrum prices, simplify cell-site permitting and promote infrastructure sharing.
Rapid-deployment private 5G matures as events, emergency response and pop-up sites emerge
October 2026 brought a distinct rapid-deployment strand to private 5G. Riedel's Easy5G became the primary transmission path for onboard cameras in Germany's DTM series, delivering up to 140Mb/s uplink over 100MHz of bandwidth with only four to seven antenna sites per circuit. Citymesh, working with Anykrowd and Nevron, deployed a private 5G incident-reporting network for festivals and large events in Belgium that keeps running when public networks are congested. Wifinity launched a fully managed private 5G service for large outdoor venues in the UK, while Brazil's navy adopted a mission-critical private network with LEO satellite backup. Analysts say the heavy uplink demands of temporary sites are pushing such networks to become a category of their own.
LoRa Alliance to show live LoRaWAN device wall at Smart City Expo Barcelona
The LoRa Alliance said it will exhibit a live device wall at Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona on 3-5 November, where real LoRaWAN devices from multiple member vendors share a single network and telemetry such as air quality, leak detection and occupancy is streamed live to a large screen, demonstrating multi-vendor interoperability and scale to city decision-makers. The alliance says more than 150 million LoRaWAN-connected devices are deployed worldwide. A global LoRa ecosystem forum held in Shenzhen earlier reported more than 125 million end devices with 25% annual growth, identifying satellite-terrestrial integration and edge AI as the next directions.
Fidium Fiber adds more than 66,000 fibre passings in Maine and New Hampshire
US fibre operator Fidium, formerly Consolidated Communications, said it has completed fibre expansions in several towns across Maine and New Hampshire, adding more than 66,000 residential and business passings in total, including 15,600 in Sanford, 17,000 in Dover and 14,000 in Milford. Newly covered areas can order plans of up to 8Gbps bundled with Wi-Fi 7. The build-out is part of more than 103,000 new passings recorded across the US by Light Reading this week, with rural and county-level markets emerging as the focus of fibre construction.