edotco Group Sdn. Bhd. (edotco) and the Telecom Infra Project (TIP), announced today that they are on track to unlock new network efficiencies that will improve connectivity at urban street level and indoor coverage in underserved areas in South East Asia and South Asia, starting in Malaysia.
edotco, part of the Axiata Group, is a leading regional integrated telecommunications infrastructure services company. Telecom Infra Project (TIP) is a global community of companies and organizations that are driving infrastructure solutions to advance global connectivity.
With the initial phase of the collaboration on the OpenRAN trials progressing well since early this year, edotco and TIP are moving to the next phase focusing on the development of end-to-end urban solutions for 4G and 5G. The next phase will focus on the development of a deployment blueprint which will be tested in a TIP Community Lab together with System Integrators, with the goal of simplifying the process of network coverage extension and modernization. Once the blueprints have been validated, they will be shared with the broader TIP community and products will be listed on TIP Exchange.
Dato’ Izzaddin Idris, Interim CEO, edotco Group, said: “With new network demands on the rise and the critical need to connect the underserved communities, we must accelerate the adoption of next-generation solutions. These new solutions, based on a vendor-neutral hardware and software-defined technology will present a technological revolution for seamless connectivity in underserved communities, while providing cost-effective options to network operators”.
In addition, both edotco and TIP alongside the participation of two Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in Malaysia will soon conduct proof of concepts (PoC) for 4G OpenRAN across 15 locations within Klang Valley. This work marks the first and largest field trial of OpenRAN in the Southeast Asia region.
Attilio Zani, TIP Executive Director, said: “This project shows TIP’s commitment to deliver open, disaggregated network solutions across all connectivity scenarios, from ultra-rural to dense urban environments. This new collaboration to develop end-to-end urban solutions addresses the increasing needs from service providers to deliver better connectivity to their customers in urban environments. This is a great example of how companies can collaborate in TIP’s ecosystem to build and test (validate) the robust infrastructure needed to provide the backbone for critical services, smarter cities, safety and digital inclusion”.
The blueprint will be field validated during these field trials. The field trials will comprise testing for use cases including high-density locations and indoor environments. Following a successful field trial and viability assessment of this end-to-end next generation solution, edotco alongside Telecom Infra Project (TIP) will gear up for trials and subsequently, commercial deployments dedicated to advancing connectivity for urban communities based on a wholesale service model, thereby enabling network operators to efficiently expand 4G and 5G urban networks.
Aaron Bernstein, TIP Board Member and Director, Connectivity at Facebook, said: “We are encouraged by the pace of innovation we are witnessing as a result of the joint efforts between players within the ecosystem. With edotco’s regional expertise and commitment to empowering greater connectivity with tailor-made innovative solutions, we are optimistic that as an industry, we will soon have access to next-generation solutions that are able to extend network coverage and capacity in urban environments”.
This marks the second major project for edotco with the Telecom Infra Project (TIP) community this year. In March 2020, edotco announced it was testing and deploying TIP-incubated OpenRAN 4G solutions at sites in selected high traffic areas, as a solution to provide wholesale services to mobile operators.
