What’s up with… Viettel, VodafoneThree, Eir

• Viettel targets the Caribbean with Dominican launch plans
• VodafoneThree completes RAN and core merger
• Eir plots 3G shutdown in Ireland

In today’s industry news roundup: Viettel is set to invest $560m to launch a fourth operator in the Dominican Republic market; VodafoneThree – with a little help from Ericsson – completes the integration of its radio and core at more than 10,000 sites across the UK; Irish operator Eir is planning to close down its 3G network from October; and much more!

Vietnamese operator Viettel has unveiled plans to invest $560m to launch a new operator in the Dominican Republic, which will be the fourth player in the Caribbean country. Through investment arm Viettel Global Investment, the telco will establish a new telecommunications entity named Viettel Dominicana, according to a filing on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, as reported by TN Global. Viettel will initially focus on network buildout and core services, including mobile, fixed broadband and e-wallet services, before expanding into datacentres, cloud computing and cybersecurity. The new unit will look to compete with Claro, Altice and local operator Viva for the 11.5 million residents of the Dominican Republic. It is the latest overseas investment for parent company Viettel Global, which has put money into 11 markets outside of Vietnam: Namely Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Timor Leste, Peru, Haiti, Mozambique, Tanzania, Cameroon, Burundi.

VodafoneThree has marked another milestone in its merger, having now completed the integration of the former Vodafone UK and Three’s respective core and RAN infrastructure. The shared network now spans more than 10,000 sites – up from just 600 last summer – across the UK, meaning customers signed up to either Three or Vodafone can connect to the best possible service. According to the operator, formed through a joint venture completed last year, the infrastructure integration, which was carried out by Ericsson, has eliminated 16,500 square kilometres of not-spots, too, and both Vodafone’s and Three’s networks are sharing C-band spectrum, increasing 5G capacity for around 71% of the population. Ericsson’s integration happened in two phases, the first of which leveraged existing RAN hardware and pre-merger spectrum to gain easy wins. The second saw the Swedish vendor harmonising spectrum to enable deeper carrier aggregation and better efficiency. Full details are available in this Ericsson whitepaper.

Ireland’s biggest telco, Eir, will begin to switch off its 3G network from October in order to free up spectrum for 4G and 5G, according to reports. State broadcaster RTE reported that Eir will begin the switch-off on 1 October and the process will be phased over several weeks. It follows a similar move from rival Vodafone, which became the first operator in Ireland to switch off its 3G network back in 2024, and Three, which also shut off 3G that year. Eir said the switch-off will only impact a small number of its 2 million customers, adding that it will contact customers who use 3G-only services to warn them. Lyca Mobile and GoMo also use the Eir Network.

Telefónica Germany has renewed its deal to use Hansen Technologies’ cloud, AI and API-powered BSS solutions in its network. The German operator first partnered with Australian-headquartered Hansen in 2024 and the partnership has seen Telefónica migrate several million of its customer base onto Hansen’s cloud-native ecosystem. It is also one of the first operators to trial Hansen’s pre-integrated agentic AI offering. Thomas Bergmann, director of mass market at Telefónica Germany, said: “Telefónica Germany is fundamentally modernising how we design, manage and evolve products and services. Our BSS transformation focuses on agility, scalability and preparing our core systems for AI-native capabilities. Renewing the partnership secures the foundation for this next phase – with Hansen as a strong technology partner supporting our journey.”

NTT Docomo Global has expanded its partnership with Accenture and AWS to build infrastructure for enterprise agentic AI focused on governance and trust in systems. The international arm of the Japanese telco will work with the two tech firms to further develop its Universal Wallet Infrastructure platform, announced earlier this year, which allows users to manage digital identity, credentials, money and documents across multiple apps, wallets and services. NTT said it will provide the trust infrastructure layer for UWI, while Accenture will supply the technology strategy, and AWS will contribute cloud and AI services to the project. The three will also work together to build joint go-to-market activities, such as customer workshops and product showcases. For full details, see this press release.

– The staff, TelecomTV