At last week’s Huawei Connect 2025 event in Shanghai, Yang Chaobin, Huawei's Director of the Board and CEO of the ICT Business Group, officially launched Huawei's new open-access SuperPoD architecture, as well as a new line of SuperPoD-based products, which Yang said will enable the company to collaborate with partners to create a solid computing backbone for all scenarios.

Japan’s SoftBank announced on Monday that it has formed a consortium with Meta, IPS, Telekom Malaysia and XLSmart to develop a new subsea cable system connecting Japan and Singapore, with several other stops in Southeast Asia.

Operator Airtel Chad is reportedly planning a XAF50 billion (about US$90 million) investment plan aimed at improving network quality and expanding digital connectivity across the country.

A scheduled upgrade to its M-Pesa mobile finance service, announced last week by Kenyan operator Safaricom, was successfully completed today. It has been described as the most significant upgrade of the M-Pesa platform since 2015.

Late last week, the Finance and Budgetary Control Committee of the National Assembly of Senegal adopted a bill taxing digital financial services, including mobile money transactions and merchant payments.

Rakuten Symphony has announced a collaboration with Bangladeshi operator Grameenphone to build an Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN), making it one of the first pilots of the technology in South Asia.

Nokia has signed a contract to modernise Vietnamese operator Viettel’s broadband network in the capital city of Hanoi.

At Huawei Connect 2025 in Shanghai, China, Eric Xu, Huawei’s Deputy Chairman of the Board and Rotating Chairman, gave a keynote speech entitled “Groundbreaking SuperPoD Interconnect: Leading a New Paradigm for AI Infrastructure.”

Equinix announced on Monday it has launched its first International Business Exchange (IBX) AI-ready data centre in Chennai, which it says will support business digitization, resilience and AI development in India.

Indonesian telcos Telkomsel, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison and XLSmart officially launched an alliance on Friday that aims to accelerate standardization of security-focused open telco API protocols in Indonesia.

Google has announced plans to construct four new subsea cable connectivity hubs in the north, south, east and west regions of Africa as part of another wave of investment to boost connectivity and AI development across the continent. 

It’s been a busy week for ICT in Zambia with the approval of two new bills for the digital economy, a new strategic plan announced by Zambia's ICT regulator and the awarding of a World Bank grant that reports suggest may be used for digital infrastructure.

Ongoing efforts to make smartphones affordable to more Africans while still ensuring a margin for sellers are continuing. In fact, this week has seen an alliance between Africa’s best-known home-grown electronic marketplace and a financing group to encourage more Kenyans to buy smartphones.

The Iraqi government has announced plans to construct the country’s first data centres in partnership with Nokia.

Vodafone Romania and Digi Romania have entered binding agreements to acquire separate parts of OTE’s subsidiary Telekom Romania Mobile Communications (TKRM), reducing the number of mobile operators in the country to three.

There’s been an interesting new development in the ongoing story of the repositioning of Nigerian operator 9mobile as T2 Mobile. It involves a spectrum deal with one of the country’s leading operators, MTN Nigeria.

The Tunisian government has reportedly announced plans for a staggering 138 projects to accelerate the digital modernisation of government administration over the period 2025–2026.

Princeton Digital Group (PDG), a leading Asia Pacific data centre provider, has announced a partnership with clean energy intelligence platform Flexidao and Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited (TPREL), one of India’s largest renewable energy companies, to pioneer the implementation of time-matched, carbon-free energy (CFE) consumption at its 150MW MU1 data centre in Mumbai.

The latest government attack on internet connectivity – and one of the most drastic so far – comes from Afghanistan, where ruling group the Taliban this week imposed an internet ban on the northern Balkh province, where a Wi-Fi shutdown was confirmed on Tuesday. The Taliban has said that the fibre optic internet ban will eventually be nationwide.

SoftBank Corp tested new innovation in High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS) technology that can beam stable 5G connectivity from the sky to the ground, as the company advances in the nascent technology that can plug coverage gap in rural areas.

Indian telco Bharti Airtel says that its recent anti-fraud initiatives, to include an AI-powered spam detection solution, are paying off, with recent certified numbers showing a sizable drop in fraud losses and cybercrime incidents in general on its network.

Saudi Arabian telco Zain KSA is set to make a play in the insurtech space via its financial investment arm, Al Sayra Holding Company, which has formed a JV with global insurance specialist Prevensure to buy a stake in Saudi-based brokerage firm Green Shield Insurance Brokers Ltd (GSIB).

In what is proving to be a busy week for digital payments news in the Middle East and North Africa, a fintech and a major bank have recently announced a partnership to accelerate digital payments in Libya.

There’s been a flurry of digital payments news this week from Saudi Arabia involving a wide variety of major names in the market, notably Ant International, Google Pay and Thunes.

MTN Group is reportedly in discussions with US and European companies to develop the infrastructure needed to power AI services.

Cassava Technologies founder Strive Masiyiwa has announced plans to build five AI factories in Africa over the next 12 months.

ZTE announced on Tuesday that it has completed the first phase a network modernisation project for telecoms provider Mobiuz in the autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan and the Khorezm region in Uzbekistan.

Connectivity solutions provider iBASIS announced on Tuesday it has signed a management service agreement with Indonesian telco XLSmart to manage local and overseas mobile authentication traffic coming into its network.

According to local news reports, operator Vodacom Tanzania is planning a number of technology modernisation programmes likely to involve an outlay of more than US$100 million.

SLA Digital, a global provider of direct carrier billing, has announced a partnership with VUZ, which describes itself as an immersive video platform revolutionising digital experiences. The collaboration, say the partners, will enable a seamless mobile payment option for VUZ customers across the Middle East and Asia.

Vodafone Oman and digital financial service platform developer Software Group said on Monday they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on developing digital financial services in Oman.

Ericsson announced on Monday that it has signed an agreement with Zain Bahrain to supply RAN gear to the operator’s network capacity and enhance coverage of its 4G and 5G networks.

UAE-based satellite player Space42 and global satellite operator Viasat announced on Monday they plan to form a joint venture called Equatys that will offer global direct-to-device (D2D) satellite services whilst also promising to evolve mobile satellite services (MSS) to a 5G non-terrestrial network (NTN) environment.