Technology News 20 March 2025 - 30 May 2025

As of early 2025 Nicaragua had 8.71 million mobile connections, about 125% of the population, with more than 95% of lines capable of 3G/4G broadband. In January 2025, 4.47 million Nicaraguans used the internet, equal to 64.1% of the population. There were about 371,000 fixed broadband subscriptions in 2023, 5.43 per 100 people, with most lines in urban areas and fixed access below 6% nationwide. Since 2023 the government has activated free public Wi‑Fi hotspots in 25 parks, managed by TELCOR and municipalities. By 2023 about 87.4% of the population had 4G coverage and over 94% had 3G coverage, though

Malaysia’s internet penetration exceeds 97% of the population, with mobile subscriptions around 130%. Fiber broadband in Kuala Lumpur is widely available, dominated by Telekom Malaysia’s Unifi, with TIME dotCom, Maxis, and CelcomDigi as major players; TIME offers symmetrical speeds up to 1 Gbps in many high-rise residences. By early 2024, about 3.32 million of Malaysia’s 4.19 million premises had been fiberized under the JENDELA program, with Kuala Lumpur a focal point of the upgrades. 4G coverage is essentially universal in KL (about 97–98%), while 5G coverage exceeded 80% nationwide by end-2023 and is strong in the city center. 5G rollout

JENDELA (Jalinan Digital Negara) runs 2020–2025 and, by 2022 Phase 1 exceeded targets with 4G reaching about 97% of the population and fiber broadband deployed to 7.74 million premises, with Phase 2 targeting 100% population coverage in populated areas by end-2025. 4G coverage is about 97% of populated areas, with roughly 3% in geographies where access remains difficult, particularly in remote Sabah and Sarawak. Starlink Malaysia received a 10-year license in 2023, became commercially available mid-2023, with a monthly RM220 service, hardware kits priced around RM2,300 (standard) or RM11,000 (enterprise), delivering up to about 100 Mbps down and 20–40 ms

Dhiraagu (Dhivehi Raajjeyge Gulhun) was established in 1988 as the Maldives’ first telecom operator and former state monopoly. By 2000, basic telephone service had reached all inhabited islands and dial-up internet was available nationwide. In 2003 Focus Infocom received a second ISP license, and in 2005 Wataniya (Ooredoo Maldives) entered mobile service, ending Dhiraagu’s 17‑year monopoly. The Maldives’ telecom market is a duopoly dominated by Dhiraagu and Ooredoo, with Dhiraagu posting about MVR 2.8 billion revenue in 2019 and Ooredoo about MVR 2.03 billion, and Dhiraagu is 52% owned by Batelco and roughly 42% by the Maldivian government. 2G service

Thailand connected to the international Internet in the late 1980s and moved to full TCP/IP by 1992. In 2004, unmetered flat-rate broadband plans were introduced, spurring rapid broadband growth from 2005 onward. The Net Pracharat Village Broadband Internet project extends high-speed internet to over 75,000 villages. Thailand’s fixed broadband ranking rose from 34th in 2018 to 11th fastest globally by January 2024. By 2022, about 21.3 million households in Thailand had fixed broadband, nearly doubling from 2016. In late 2023 AIS acquired fixed ISP 3BB and its fiber assets, becoming the largest fixed broadband provider with about 4.7 million subscribers

Nepal’s mobile market is led by Nepal Telecom with about 57% share, Ncell around 36%, and Smart Telecom about 6%. WorldLink Communications is the largest fixed broadband ISP with 972,781 subscribers as of 2024, roughly 30% of Nepal’s fixed broadband connections. FTTH subscribers surpassed 2.5 million in January 2023 and reached about 2.89 million by late 2024, with home plans typically 20 Mbps to 100–300 Mbps and premium options up to 600 Mbps or 1 Gbps. 4G coverage reached about 88% of the population by 2023, with Nepal Telecom reporting 11.5 million 4G users and total mobile broadband subscriptions around

Telkomsel dominates Indonesia’s mobile market with about 45% of subscribers (roughly 153 million) in 2024, and IndiHome now accounts for roughly 75% of fixed broadband after the integration. IndiHome fiber-to-the-home footprint has passed 38 million homes, with at least around 10 million connected by mid-2024. The Palapa Ring backbone spans over 13,000 km of fiber, linking western, central, and eastern Indonesia to provide high-capacity backhaul beyond Java. Internationally, Indonesia is tied to multiple undersea cables, including new trans-Pacific links Project Echo and Bifrost (Meta) that will boost trans-Pacific capacity by about 70%, along with the Apricot cable planned to deliver

Univision LLC leads Mongolia’s internet market with about 62% market share and is part of the Unitel group, offering fiber-optic broadband and IPTV. MobiCom Corporation (including Mobinet) is the second-largest ISP with roughly 15% market share, and operates both mobile networks and internet services. Skymedia Corporation holds around 10% of the ISP market and Mobinet LLC about 3%, with smaller providers like ONDO filling the rest. In mobile, Mongolia is served by four operators—MobiCom, Unitel, Skytel, and G-Mobile—with 2014 data showing MobiCom at about 39.5% and Unitel at about 35.5% of mobile subscriptions. About 69% of Mongolia’s population lives in