5G connections will reach 1.5 billion globally by 2025, up from 5 million in 2019, according to a Juniper Research – an annual average growth of 150% over the next six years.

A critical difference between 5G networks and preceding generations will be the diversity of organisations building, managing and monetising them.

The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has told charity Electrosensitivity-UK it must not run the advert again in its current form as it contains unsubstantiated claims.

The Italian telco has surpassed speeds of 2Gbps on its 5G network in what is understood to be a European-first.

The UK regulator says its proposed new framework will improve the business case for fibre investment and protect customers from high prices.

From March, Dutch operator KPN will offer up to 1Gbps on its fibre network, gradually extending it to 1.5 million consumers, business and wholesale fibre customers in city areas.

OMTEL is the country’s biggest telecoms infrastructure operator with 3,000 sites and plans for 400 more by 2024.

Despite the Trump Administration’s efforts to keep its equipment out of Western networks and upset its supply chain, last year Huawei’s sales rose to $122 billion.

By the end of the year, Telefónica UK connected 13 more cities to its 5G network.

O2 and EE have joined Transport for London’s (TfL) trial to add 4G mobile coverage in Tube stations and tunnels on the Jubilee line for the first time.

The two plan to deploy between 900 and 2,000 new mobile network sites between 2020 and 2024, mostly in rural areas and along transport routes.

The French government has launched a procedure for assigning 5G spectrum licences after approving specifications proposed by the telecoms regulator, Arcep.

International Data Corporation (IDC) projects the number of 5G connections to grow from 10 million in 2019 to 1.01 billion in 2023.

BT has agreed the sale of its Spanish assets, including 5,600 km of fibre networks and three data centres, to private equity group Portobello Capital.

In November 2019, Michele Gamberini was appointed to lead the Chief Technology & Information Office at Italy’s TIM. In this first interview since his appointment, he talked to Annie Turner about the tasks ahead.

It is just over a year since the world’s first commercial 5G service went live, so this feels like as good a time as any to take stock and assess progress over the past 12 months, says Kester Mann, Director, Consumer and Connectivity, with CCS Insight.

Telenor has completed the vendor selection process for its 5G network in Norway, plumping for Ericsson over existing provider Huawei.

Gartner warns that many infrastructure and operations (I&O) issues are not obvious now, but will “cascade” as the use of AI and edge computing proliferates.

Orange has agreed a €700 million loan with the European Investment Bank (EIB), the long-term lending institution of the European Union owned by its Member States.

Dutch telco KPN plans to connect 320,000 households in Amsterdam with fibre to the home (FTTH), starting early next year.