Pakistan’s Zong targets 60% 4G coverage
Pakistan’s third largest operator plans to invest $300 million to $400 million this year to take 4G to 60 per cent of the population and 3G to 100 per cent.

The investment, however, is down sharply from the $1 billion it invested last year as rising taxes have forced it to curb capex, the Express Tribune reported.

The China Mobile-backed operator, which has 2,700 4G base stations nationwide, plans to double that number this year.

Ericsson wins 5-year Telenor deal in Asia
Telenor awarded Ericsson a five-year contract to build out dtac’s 4G network in Thailand and upgrade Grameenphone’s (Bangladesh) and Telenor Myanmar’s existing 3G and 2G networks.

The agreement covers hardware, software and services, and Ericsson will install its multi-standard radio base station, the RBS 6000, which supports 3G and 4G in a single cabinet. Indoor small cells will also be deployed.

China Mobile opens 5G innovation centre with 11 partners
China Mobile officially launched its 5G joint innovation centre jointly with its first 11 partners last week at the GTI Summit held during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The 5G Joint Innovation Centre will include several open laboratories, with the central laboratory to be built at the China Mobile Research Institute in Beijing.

Its partners are Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia, Qualcomm, ZTE, Datang, Intel, Keysight Technologies, Haier, Hisense and Beijing Shougang Automation Information Technology.

Its focus in the beginning will be on IoT and industrial internet, covering new business innovation and conducting research on environment monitoring, flexible manufacturing, smart meters and smart homes.

PLDT’s AppCard raises $20M in funding
AppCard, a marketing and loyalty platform for SME retailers set up by PLDT in the Philippines, has raised $20 million in Series B funding.

Loyalty Partner founder Alexander Rittweger and PLDT’s investment arm PLDT Capital led the fund-raising, along with existing investors PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, Alphabet executive chairman Eric Schmidt and Yahoo founder Jerry Yang.

AppCard combines smart data capture with artificial intelligence to automate marketing, allowing thousands of retailers to market directly to their shoppers in a “personalised” way, PLDT said in a statement.

AppCard, which is designed to cater to specific retail verticals, released its latest version in the second half of last year.