Android gains share in urban China
The Android OS accounted for 85.3 per cent of smartphone sales in Q3 in urban China, its second highest share ever, according to Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

Domestic vendor Oppo continued to see significant growth, gaining 8.2 percentage points over the past year to become the 4th largest manufacturer in urban China with 11.2 per cent of smartphone sales. The Oppo R9 overtook the iPhone 6s as the best-selling device in the quarter, said Tamsin Timpson, Kantar’s strategic insight director for Asia.

iOS posted yet another year-on-year decline to 14.2 per cent of smartphone sales in Q3. But sequentially its share was up from 13.5 per cent in Q2.

With supply constrained on the iPhone 7, and particularly the 7 Plus, this positive turn for Apple is a good sign, suggesting that as supply grows to meet demand, Apple will be able to turn the tide in urban China, Timpson said.

Nepal’s Ncell ready to launch 4G in 3 cities
Nepal’s largest mobile operator Ncell said it is ready to roll out 4G service in three major cities within one month of receiving its 4G licence.

The operator, with a 46 per cent market share, submitted its 4G plan to the Nepal Telecommunications Authority early in the month, The Himalayan reported. The regulator issued Nepal Telecom a 4G licence last month.

Ncell plans to launch 4G service in Kathmandu, Pokhara and Damauli.

Far EasTone selects Ericsson for upgrade
Taiwan’s third largest operator Far EasTone extended its network contract with Swedish vendor Ericsson, which will deploy its radio technology on the 2.6GHz band, allowing the operator to roll out a combined LTE FDD/TDD network.

Adding TDD to the installed FDD network will significantly expand the total downlink data capacity, the vendor said.

Ericsson will also provide a core network expansion, optimisation services and a software upgrade service for both its core and radio access networks.

As part of a previously announced 5G partnership, the two companies also signed an agreement to collaborate in the transport, media and utilities sectors to support Far EasTone’s push in the Internet of Things (IoT) space.