U Mobile, Kyivstar and Uztelecom report 5G progress

By James Calloway

U Mobile has signed an agreement with MRT Corp to explore 4G and 5G indoor coverage at Johor Bahru's Bukit Chagar Immigration, Customs and Quarantine Complex. The Malaysian site forms part of the Johor Bahru–Singapore Rapid Transit System Link.

The complex is expected to handle approximately 40,000 passengers daily and accommodate about 600 government personnel. U Mobile would integrate its mobile network with existing indoor infrastructure. The system would support passenger communications, digital immigration services and possible future AI-enabled building operations. The proposal still requires technical evaluation, final agreements and regulatory approvals.

What does the Johor Bahru agreement change?

For passengers, the immediate change is a technical and commercial study, not a live 4G or 5G service. The agreement begins evaluation of an integrated mobile layer. It does not commit either party to construction.

U Mobile already provides indoor 5G coverage at more than 250 locations nationwide. Its ULTRA5G network has reached approximately 90% population coverage, more than nine months ahead of the operator's original target. Those figures describe the existing Malaysian network. They do not establish coverage inside the complex.

AI-enabled building operations are a future use case rather than a service already scheduled for launch. No construction timetable, launch date or project value accompanied the announcement. The next milestones are technical evaluation, signed final agreements and regulatory clearance. A rollout timetable should become clearer after those steps.

What do Kyivstar's pilot figures show?

Kyivstar has expanded its 5G pilot to Kyiv, making the Ukrainian capital its fourth testing location after Lviv, Borodyanka and Kharkiv. More than 724,000 subscribers have accessed the pilot network. It has generated over 755 TB of mobile data traffic.

Average download speeds run from 600 Mbps to 700 Mbps, while peak speeds reach 1.5 Gbps to 1.7 Gbps. About 40% of devices connected to Kyivstar's network support 5G. Kyivstar cited that share as evidence of future adoption potential. The figures describe a trial, not nationwide commercial 5G availability.

The trials will inform network planning, spectrum evaluation and a future commercial 5G deployment. Kyivstar's existing 4G infrastructure covers more than 96% of Ukraine's population. That network provides the coverage base for later 5G planning.

The operator reported approximately 22 million mobile subscribers and more than 1.2 million fixed-line subscribers in March 2026. The announcement gave no commercial 5G pricing, assigned spectrum or Kyiv launch date. The pilot results should not be read as a completed market launch.

How far has Uzbekistan's build-out progressed?

Uztelecom has modernized 1,566 existing base stations and commissioned 380 new sites in Uzbekistan. The work forms part of its 2025–2026 mobile network development programme. As of October 18, 2026, modernization had exceeded the original 1,507-station target by 59. That represented 104% completion.

The operator also completed 442 frequency additions to improve mobile capacity and network performance. Uztelecom reported 375 5G-enabled stations across Uzbekistan's 14 administrative regions. Tashkent city has 189 of those stations, while Samarkand has 84.

Modernized-site counts differed by area. Tashkent city recorded 194 modernized stations, while Tashkent region received 189 upgrades. Samarkand led new infrastructure deployment with 62 sites. Tashkent city and Kashkadarya followed with 52 each.

The programme seeks to improve network reliability, expand mobile broadband availability and accommodate growing data consumption. Uztelecom did not publish subscriber totals, population-coverage percentages or commercial 5G throughput. The disclosed result is physical network expansion, not a measured commercial gain.

U Mobile's border project remains tied to evaluation, contracts and regulatory approval. Kyivstar's commercial plans remain at network planning and spectrum evaluation. Uztelecom's 2025–2026 programme continues to add capacity and coverage as demand rises. The next checkpoints are signed agreements, spectrum decisions and measured service improvements.