While many countries in the world are taking steps to not use 5G equipment from Chinese networking vendors, Thailand telecom True Corp. has signed an agreement with Chinese smartphone and equipment maker ZTE Corp. to build a commercial 5G network in the country.
True currently has a 30% market share in the mobile market in Thailand and will adopt ZTE’s 5G radio access network (RAN) products and services to build the 5G network. ZTE will provide products including 5G 64TR/32TR/8TR/4TR macro stations and single-band/multi-band indoor QCell for a tri-band 5G network running on the 700 MHz, 2.6 GHz and 26 GHz spectrums.
The rollout of the 5G network in Thailand will include ZTE’s ultra-low latency, ultra-multi channels and ultra-high bandwidth products and technologies to boost wireless system capacity. The network is expected to be up and running later this year.
ZTE has already been working with True on various technical tests and verifying multiple 5G products including 3.5 GHz 64 channel massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), 2.6 GHz 64 channel massive MIMO and 2.6 GHz QCell.
5G rollout to more countries has slowed since the technology was introduced in 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, as lockdowns were lifted, deployment has resumed in many parts of the world and rollouts are increasing. Taiwan Mobile said it would use Nokia for its 5G commercial network in June and Canadian telecom Rogers said it is using Ericsson to power its 5G network in June. Also in Taiwan, Nokia agreed to install a 5G non-standalone network in the country for Taiwan Star Telecom (TST).
