Telecommunication Technology: Issues and Trends In West Africa

Wireless operators in the United States have promised to launch 5G services as early as this year—but don’t expect many customers to upgrade to a new 5G smartphone anytime soon. According to two new analyst forecasts, sales of 5G smartphones will remain paltry for at least the next several years. For example, Strategy Analytics said that it expects the first 5G commercial handsets to go on sale starting in early 2019, but the firm said that 5G handsets will only account for 5% of global handset sales by 2021. “5G smartphone sales will begin in China, Japan, South Korea and the USA from 2019,” analyst Ville-Petteri Ukonaho  cautioned in a release from the firm . “But volumes in 2019 will be in just the millions, and only barely in the tens of millions in 2020.” Similarly,  Gartner predicted that , by 2021, just 9% of smartphones sold will support 5G. Related:  Editor’s Corner—What we know, and what we don’t know, about 5G in the U.S. “By 2021, 5G networks in key

A complicated drama is playing out at wireless silicon specialist Qualcomm, thanks to its former chairman, Paul Jacobs. He is reportedly considering stepping down from the board at the chipmaker, after it became known that he was exploring opportunities to acquire the wireless leader and take it private. People familiar with the matter  told  the Financial Times that Jacobs approached several investors to explore funding options for a takeover, including Japan’s SoftBank Group, which owns its own silicon company, ARM Holdings. Other sources  have said  that Jacobs may exit the board. Last week, Jacobs was stripped of his executive chairman title, likely in an effort to appease the angry shareholders who have increasingly questioned the company’s leadership. That move came as the company tried to fend off a $117 billion hostile takeover bid by rival chipmaker Broadcom, a deal that was  quickly blocked  by President Donald Trump on the basis of a national security argument.

Chinese handset maker and telecom supplier ZTE Corp. has reported full-year net profit of 4.57 billion yuan, or about $721 million. That’s a whopping increase of 293.8% over 2016, and marks a return to profitability after faltering a year earlier. It also reported revenue of 109 billion yuan in 2017, which is 7.5% higher than a year earlier. The swing back to black isn’t unexpected: The company said that 2016’s net loss of 2.4 billion yuan was a direct result of a  $892 million fine paid  to the United States for breaking U.S. trade sanctions; absent the penalty, ZTE said it would have made 3.8 billion yuan in net profit. For 2017, the company reported 64 billion yuan in revenue from its carrier networks division, 35 billion yuan in the consumer segment, and 10 billion yuan from its government and enterprise businesses. Out of the total, 62 billion yuan came from domestic activities in China, and 47 bilion yuan came from international markets. Aside from its market positi