Recent news from tech giant Huawei underlines the growing interest in many regions in the use of communications to enhance transport systems – specifically railways.

Given the ongoing worries in many countries about the demands of data centres on water supply, recent news from Google in Malaysia is undoubtedly timely.

TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) has set out draft guidelines for the implementation of AI (artificial intelligence) into telecom networks, infrastructure, and services.

The GSMA has re-elected Bharti Airtel executive vice chairman Gopal Vittal (pictured, below) as its chair for the 2027-28 term, while MTN Group CEO Ralph Mupita and Vodafone Group CEO Margherita Della Valle have retained their positions as co-deputy chairs.

Satellite operator SES revealed on Thursday it has been selected by Kazakhstan’s flagship airline, Air Astana, to install next-gen in-flight connectivity services across its Airbus A321LR fleet.

Bahrainian telco Batelco by Beyon and Ericsson said on Sunday they have extended their partnership to develop and modernize Batelco’s mobile broadband network across Bahrain, to include testing one of Ericsson’s AI-powered RAN solutions.

Visa announced on Friday it has signed an MoU with Senegal’s Ministry of Telecommunications and Digital Affairs to help support the government's digital payments ambitions.

The GSMA has urged the Gabonese government to reduce taxes on smartphones and mobile services to make internet access more affordable and bring more people online.

Viettel’s technology R&D arm, Viettel High Tech, said that it has successfully migrated more than 100 million Viettel subscribers and 5,000 tariff plans to its in-house cloud-native charging system, vOCS 4.0.

Saudi Arabia-based satellite operator Arabsat and satellite services and solutions provider Qatar Satellite Company (a.k.a. Es’hailSat) signed a strategic partnership agreement on Wednesday to expand joint initiatives in broadcasting and satellite communications.

Veon-owned Ukrainian telco Kyivstar announced on Thursday it has struck a deal to buy local cloud infrastructure provider GigaCloud in a deal valued at around US$50 million.

Guinea has appointed Mamy Diaby as CEO of state-owned telecoms operator Areeba, as the government restructures the struggling business after a sharp decline in subscribers and revenue.

Salience Consulting, a management advisory firm specialising in the digital infrastructure and ICT sectors, has been appointed to provide transaction advisory services for a proposed commercial spaceport in Kenya.

Chilean regulator Subtel has refused to renew concessions in the 800MHz band for operator WOM, apparently due to lack of use. Indeed, the operator has not had customers on these frequencies since 2 November 2016.

Fixed wireless access (FWA) connections across Asia-Pacific are forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 12.5% between 2026 and 2031, rising from 28 million to 50 million, as operators use 5G to expand broadband access beyond fibre networks.

International network services provider RETN said on Wednesday it has expanded its presence in Bulgaria via a deal with connectivity and telecom solution provider Neterra to install a new PoP in its Sofia Data Center (SDC) campus.

Airtel Rwanda announced on Tuesday it has launched Airtel IQ, a Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) offering for enterprises that integrates multiple real-time customer communication channels into existing applications and workflows.

DE-CIX and Thai telecoms service provider International Gateway Co (IGC) announced on Wednesday they have established a joint venture to create a new internet exchange (IX) in Bangkok to serve as a regional gateway to Southeast Asia.

The US$3.2 billion IPO of Indian technology and digital services multinational Reliance Jio Platforms has been one of this week’s big business stories, not least because the company's shares rose 27% in its Mumbai debut on Wednesday, making it India's second-largest company by market capitalisation.

Hayo, a global digital service provider, says it has expanded its presence in East Africa by establishing operations in Tanzania with the aim of helping to design, build and run critical digital infrastructure.

A reminder of the continuing dependence on diesel of many African countries as backup fuel for communications infrastructure comes from telecoms regulator ARPCE in the Republic of Congo (Congo-Brazzaville).

Bolivian state-owned operator Entel has begun shutting down its 3G network in the administrative capital of La Paz, reallocating spectrum in the 850 MHz band to strengthen 4G services.

Mobile industry organisation the GSMA says it has secured a US$1.2 million subaward from the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to strengthen mobile-enabled early warning systems across nine Pacific Island countries.

Malaysian service provider U Mobile has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Malaysia Rapid Transit Corporation (MRT Corp) relating to in-building coverage (IBC).

Gabon’s High Communication Authority (HAC) has lifted a ban on social media imposed eight months ago. The policy change was announced on Saturday in a televised statement.

The Abu Dhabi-based global technology group G42 has announced the signing of memorandums of understanding (MoUs) both at home and abroad taking its AI expertise to both the UAE and Greece.

India’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has announced plans to implement a pan-India dedicated broadband public protection and disaster relief (BB-PPDR) network for a number of agencies in the country.

Ukrainian operator Kyivstar has expanded its 5G pilot network to Kyiv, making the capital the fourth location where it is testing the technology following launches in Lviv, Borodyanka and Kharkiv.

State-owned operator Uztelecom has upgraded 1,566 base stations and launched 380 new ones across Uzbekistan as it expands mobile coverage and develops its 5G network.

Tata Communications announced on Monday it will invest nearly US$450 million to build 10,000 km of long-haul fibre infrastructure linking India’s key data centre corridors and AI hubs to create a national “AI super highway”.

Paratus Tanzania revealed on Monday that it has established a new point of presence (PoP) at Wingu Data Centre in Dar es Salaam that connects the telco to Paratus Group’s continental network in East Africa.

Kazakh telco Transtelecom (TTC) and payments firm CNP Processing announced a partnership on Thursday that will enable local enterprises to use Amazon Web Services (AWS) technologies for payment services, with local data storage and processing.