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Connectivity News 22 June 2025 - 4 July 2025

Connected Deserts: The Digital Landscape of Internet Access in Oman (Including Satellite Internet)

Connected Deserts: The Digital Landscape of Internet Access in Oman (Including Satellite Internet)

As of January 2024, Oman had 4.58 million internet users, representing 97.8% of the population. Median mobile data speed was 71.3 Mbps and fixed broadband speed 68.4 Mbps in January 2024. By end-2024, about 90% of housing units had fiber or high-speed broadband availability. Omantel held roughly 48% of mobile subscribers in 2024, Ooredoo about 45–50%, and Vodafone Oman around 10%. 5G deployment grew 19% in 2024, with Omantel achieving an average 5G download speed of 233 Mbps. In March 2025, the TRA licensed Starlink, making it widely available with residential plans around 30 OMR per month and 80–160 OMR
4 July 2025
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Internet Access in Kuwait (2025 Comprehensive Report)

Internet Access in Kuwait (2025 Comprehensive Report)

Kuwait had approximately 4.29 million internet users, about 99% of the population, as of early 2024 per DataReportal. The country had around 7.89 million cellular mobile connections in 2024, equating to 182% of the population due to multiple SIM usage. Zain Kuwait launched 5G in 2019, becoming the first to roll out 5G among the three major operators, with 5G coverage reaching about 97% of the population by 2020. In July 2024, the Ministry of Communications announced the shutdown of copper services in several districts of Kuwait City and suburbs, encouraging customers to switch to fiber via ONTs. By 2022,
2 July 2025
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Fiji’s Internet Revolution: Expanding Broadband and Satellite Connectivity in the Pacific

Fiji’s Internet Revolution: Expanding Broadband and Satellite Connectivity in the Pacific

Approximately 79–85% of Fiji’s population are Internet users in recent years, up from 48% in 2018. Over 96% of Fijians have access to at least a 4G mobile signal, with 2G nearly extinct. As of 2024, Fiji hosts six international submarine cables with landing stations in Suva or Savusavu, including the Southern Cross Cable Network and Southern Cross NEXT. Cables connecting Fiji to the region include the Tonga Cable (827 km to Suva, in service since 2013), the Tui-Samoa cable (deployed 2018), the Interchange Cable Network ICN1 (since 2014), and Gondwana-2/Picot-2 (launched 2022). In 2025 Fiji landed the Tabua cable,
1 July 2025
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IoT Platforms and Devices Roundup – June–July 2025

IoT Platforms and Devices Roundup – June–July 2025

In late June 2025, Xiaomi unveiled the YU7 EV, its first electric SUV, alongside the Smart Band 10 fitness tracker and prototype Xiaomi AI smart glasses. Samsara announced the Samsara Wearable at its Beyond conference on June 24, 2025, a rugged safety device with over one year of battery life that detects falls and alerts supervisors via the cloud platform. STMicroelectronics released two new IoT MCU families in June–July 2025, the STM32WBA6 with multi-protocol 2.4 GHz radio and the ultra-low-power STM32U3 for coin-cell or harvest-based devices, both with hardware crypto and secure key storage to support CRA. Emnify launched Consumer
1 July 2025
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Internet Access and Satellite Connectivity in Turkmenistan

Internet Access and Satellite Connectivity in Turkmenistan

As of early 2024, Turkmenistan had about 2.59 million internet users, roughly 39.5% of the population—the lowest penetration in Central Asia. Turkmenistan’s telecom market is a state monopoly led by Turkmentelecom (Turkmen Telecom), with TM CELL/Altyn Asyr as the sole mobile operator after MTS exited in 2017–2018. There were about 4.34 million mobile subscriptions in early 2024, representing 66% of the population, with 3G introduced in 2010 and 4G LTE in 2013. In 2023 the government set a minimum broadband speed of 1 Mbps and a top tier of 6 Mbps, though real-world speeds are often far lower. The median
30 June 2025
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Plan-S Expands Connecta Constellation to 17 Satellites, Boosting Gigabit Industrial IoT and Cutting Latency

Plan-S Expands Connecta Constellation to 17 Satellites, Boosting Gigabit Industrial IoT and Cutting Latency

The four new Connecta satellites named Connecta IoT-9, IoT-10, IoT-11, and IoT-12 were launched in June 2025 aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 on the Transporter-14 rideshare. The launch brings Plan-S’s Connecta constellation to 17 satellites in orbit, with 12 commercially active satellites and the remainder as test/demo units. The new satellites enable gigabit-level data access across the Connecta network, with aggregate throughput on the order of gigabits per second (Gbps). <li Plan-S reports a 40% increase in data collection frequency due to the new satellites, reducing data latency and moving toward near real-time global data collection. The Connecta system uses a
28 June 2025
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Why Luxembourg’s Internet Is Speeding Ahead—But Can It Reach the Stars?

Why Luxembourg’s Internet Is Speeding Ahead—But Can It Reach the Stars?

As of 2024, 94.7% of Luxembourg households are served by a Very High Capacity Network (approximately 1 Gbps or more), with coverage rising to 95.2% by 2025. Fiber-to-the-premises coverage is about 80% of households, with FTTH deployment underway since the late 1990s. Cable broadband via DOCSIS 3.1 from Eltrona/Telenet reaches about 90% of households, typically delivering 500 Mbps or higher. NGA availability (networks offering at least 30 Mbps) reaches 99% of households thanks to VDSL2 with fiber-to-the-cabinet and cable networks. Orange Luxembourg offers Livebox Fiber up to 8.5 Gbps down and 1.5 Gbps up for around €99.99 per month. Luxembourg
26 June 2025
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Uzbekistan’s Internet Makeover: Blazing Speeds, New Satellites, and Lingering Barriers

Uzbekistan’s Internet Makeover: Blazing Speeds, New Satellites, and Lingering Barriers

Uzbekistan’s internet infrastructure has shifted from slow dial-up to fiber and 4G/5G networks, with Uztelecom expanding fiber backbones and boosting international capacity to 3.2 Tbps in 2022. As of 2022, 2G networks blanket 99% of the population, 3G covers about 90%, and 4G LTE reaches roughly two-thirds of residents. In 2023, Uzbekistan began rolling out 5G with thousands of base stations, with the first phase targeting full 5G coverage in Tashkent and partial coverage in provincial centers. Uztelecom dominates fixed broadband, carrying 98% of fixed connections, while private mobile operators include Ucell, Beeline Uzbekistan, Mobiuz, and Perfectum Mobile. There were
25 June 2025
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Cosmic IoT Revolution: How Optimized Satellite Constellations Are Connecting Every Corner of Earth

Cosmic IoT Revolution: How Optimized Satellite Constellations Are Connecting Every Corner of Earth

Starlink has over 7,500 active LEO satellites as of 2025 at about 550 km altitude, with plans to up to 42,000, uses Ku/Ka bands and laser inter-satellite links, and is piloting Direct-to-Cell IoT connectivity with latency around 20–50 ms. OneWeb has approximately 600 active satellites out of 648 in its first-generation network in near-polar orbits at about 1,200 km, delivering ~70 ms latency and enterprise backhaul IoT capability, with global coverage achieved in early 2023 and a merger with Eutelsat. Iridium operates 66 active cross‑linked LEO satellites at around 780 km, uses Ka-band inter-satellite links, provides truly global 100% coverage,
25 June 2025
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Starlink’s Sky‑High Cell Service—How T‑Mobile’s October Data Launch Could Obliterate Dead Zones and Rewrite Mobile Internet Forever

Starlink’s Sky‑High Cell Service—How T‑Mobile’s October Data Launch Could Obliterate Dead Zones and Rewrite Mobile Internet Forever

On 1 October 2025, T-Mobile and SpaceX will enable third‑party app data for a curated list of apps (WhatsApp, X, Google, Apple, AccuWeather, AllTrails) after the commercial SMS/MMS debut on 23 July 2025. SpaceX has placed more than 650 direct‑to‑cell satellites in orbit, with 657 currently operational forming the initial U.S. mesh. U.S. coverage now spans about 500,000 square miles, with capacity projected to double by 2026 as more satellites with 2 GHz payloads launch. The FCC approved the service in November 2024 as a “public‑interest benefit” and said it can support 911 access in remote areas while deferring higher
24 June 2025
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State of Internet Access in Palau: From Coral Reefs to Starlink

State of Internet Access in Palau: From Coral Reefs to Starlink

Until 2017 Palau relied entirely on satellite internet, with only about 25% of the population online. In 2017 Palau lit its first fiber link by connecting a spur into the trans-Pacific SEA-US cable, known as Palau Cable 1, near Guam, financed by a $25 million Asian Development Bank loan. Palau Cable 2 is under construction as part of the Echo transoceanic cable, linking Palau to the Google/Meta-led Echo network; activation is now expected in Q1 2025 with a landing station in Ngardmau State and funding from a Japan–Australia–United States trilateral partnership. Mid-2023 Palau experienced a week-long outage of its lone
23 June 2025
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The Real Wi-Fight: Romania’s Race to Connect Every Corner of the Country

The Real Wi-Fight: Romania’s Race to Connect Every Corner of the Country

Romania’s first Internet connection was established in 1993 via ici.ro. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, urban residents built “rețele de cartier” by stringing Ethernet cables between buildings, helping the country leapfrog DSL. By 2020 Romania ranked third in the world for fastest fixed internet speeds, behind Singapore and Hong Kong. As of 2024, 88.6% of Romanian households had internet at home, with 92.5% of urban and 83.2% of rural households online. Fiber dominates the fixed network, with about 93% of localities passed by FTTH/B and about 93% of localities able to access gigabit speeds. Digi (RCS&RDS) had about
22 June 2025
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