The mobile industry has confirmed that it has achieved a critical milestone in the race to bring 5G networks to life: official approval of "5G standalone" specifications. In a collective announcement, 3GPP and dozens of wireless companies are describing the approval as kicking off "the final sprint towards 5G commercialization," which will begin in the United States this year and elsewhere next year. The newly completed specification enables developers to choose from a standalone 5G standard that doesn't depend upon 4G, or the earlier non-standalone 5G standards with 4G ties.

Read more: Mobile industry reaches milestone in race to deploy 5G networks

The Arab Information and Communication Technologies Organization (AICTO) has recently announced the opening of its center of excellence "China-Arab BDS/GNSS Center-AICTO" established in El Ghazala Technological Park, Tunis within the scope of the bilateral relationship between the League of Arab States and the People's Republic of China and the cooperation agreement signed by H.E. Eng. Mohamed Ben Amor, Secretary General of AICTO and H.E. Mr. Chengai Ran , CEO of the China Satellite Navigation Office (CSNO) in Cairo, Egypt on the 20th of January 2016.

Read more: AICTO inaugurates new center to reinforce Arab-Chinese cooperation

The 10th Telecom Review Summit kicked off in Lebanon on Friday April 13, 2018, gathering the country and region's most influential industry players under one ceiling. Held under the patronage of His Excellency Mr. Saad Hariri, President of the Council of Ministers of Lebanon, the Telecom Review Summit gathered over 450 attendees from over 18 countries, and hosted Lebanon's first 5G trial conducted by local telecom operator Alfa and Swedish vendor Ericsson.

Read more: 10th Telecom Review Summit in Lebanon achieved great success with 450+ attendees from 18+ countries

Qualcomm’s former chairman Paul Jacobs will head a new San Diego-based company which he launched along with two other former Qualcomm executives, Derek Aberle and Matt Grob. XCOM will mainly focus on developing 5G technology. Aberle will be the company’s COO and Grob will assume the role of CTO.

Read more: Former Qualcomm executives launch 5G-focused company

Emirates Data Clearing House (EDCH), a subsidiary of Etisalat Services Holding, hosted the seventh GSMA Wholesale Agreements and Solutions Group (WAS#7) in Dubai from March 19-22, featuring keynote speakers and an update from the GSMA Technology Group on industry-wide issues affecting all GSMA work. Emirates Data Clearing House General Manager, Nasser Salim, encouraged attendees to collaborate and "take steps to improve our industry."

Read more: EDCH hosts GSMA Wholesale Agreements and Solutions Group in Dubai

The issue of regulating and legalizing ride-sharing services in Egypt was raised in the last couple of months when an Egyptian court ordered the suspension of such services in March after a group of taxi drivers claimed that they were illegally using private cars as taxis.

Read more: Is Egypt finally giving the green light to ride-sharing services?

The Minister of Communications and Information Technology in Egypt, H.E. Yasser ElKady,  received the German Ambassador to Egypt Julius Luy on March 15, where they discussed enhancing cooperation between the two countries in the ICT field, especially in the projects of digital transformation, smart cities, electronics manufacturing and technological innovation.

Read more: Egypt and Germany to enhance cooperation in ICT

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