Mobile banking has been one of the great success stories in emerging markets - particularly within Africa - and in the wake of Covid-19, many in the financial sector are calling for further digitalisation to ensure resilience and growth.

The rollout out of voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) continues, with a leading Indonesian player joining the growing number of operators offering LTE-based voice calls to its subscribers.

The giant pan-African carrier MTN is enjoying differing fortunes in two of its markets, with expansion on the cards in Nigeria and tax demands making things tricky in Uganda.

New TITAN.IUM Platform Provides Performance and Scale for 5G while Ensuring Network and Service Evolution from 3G & 4G.

Jio Platforms’ hot streak of investment continues, with Microsoft reportedly in talks to buy a 2.5% stake for US$2 billion.

Findings quoted in the Indian press from market research companies IDC and Counterpoint Research indicate that India is facing its first-ever year of decline in smartphone sales; a drop of 13-15 percent is expected.

As we have noted before, despite delays to rollout or spectrum auctions in some countries due to measures to control the coronavirus, other countries are going ahead with 5G plans, virus or no virus.

Main One, a broadband infrastructure company working across West Africa, has been asked by Burkina Faso, backed by the World Bank, to provide bulk connectivity services to a consortium of operators for the next three years.

As part of its liberalisation of Ethiopia’s telecoms market, the country’s government will sell a 40% stake in state operator Ethio Telecom to private overseas investors.

Ecuador is the latest addition to the list of countries releasing or allocating extra spectrum to its operators to cope with growing data demand during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Asia-Africa-Europe-1 Consortium (AAE-1), one of the largest consortium cable systems in the world today, has recently completed a significant upgrade on its intercontinental cable system.

Huawei has announced the worldwide launch of the OceanStor Pacific Series mass storage system to deliver efficient, cost-effective and reliable services for AI, HPC, video and other mass data storage scenarios.

Slovenia’s regulator has confirmed that it will open a consultation on the country’s delayed auction of new spectrum frequencies.

Madagascar's strengthening economic output is helping to increase consumer spend on telecom services, reports Research & Markets.

Mobile Telecommunications Ltd (MTC), Namibia’s leading mobile operator, has selected CSG to lead its business transformation efforts. CSG is a US-headquarted company that delivers customer engagement solutions that help companies acquire, monetize, engage and retain customers.

Bharti Telecom, a holding company for Bharti Airtel, is looking to clear its debts by selling a 2.75% stake in the operator for US$1 billion.

STC (Saudi Telecom Company) has outlined plans to prioritise the growth of 4G and 5G technologies, noting that it expects to decommission its 3G network within “less than two years.”

East African press outlets are reporting that Uganda is to begin manufacturing its first smartphones. The manufacturing partner will be Chinese brand SIMI.

Indian space technology company Vestaspace Technology has announced plans to launch more than 35 high-speed 5G satellite constellations across India. Plans are for beta versions of the constellations to launch in September 2020 and fully operational satellites in early 2021.

Nothing, it seems, can stop the onward march of data centres in developing markets – as recent news from Brazil, India and South Africa indicates.

Belarusian market leader A1 together with ZTE has launched a standalone (SA) test 5G network across the country.

Intelsat and Mindset Network NPC have extended their partnership to provide students, teachers, healthcare professionals and patients across Africa with access to free online educational content.

Although delayed by the long civil war which ended in 1992, Mozambique was one of the first countries in the region to embark upon telecom reform, reports Research & Markets.

Latvia is expected to be one of the first countries to launch a smartphone app using a new toolkit created by Apple and Alphabet’s Google to help trace coronavirus infections.

Regulatory issues continue to be in the news for operators in India as they look for progress on 5G spectrum pricing and the apparently more urgent issue of the fixing of floor prices for tariffs.

KKR has become the fifth major foreign investor in Jio Platforms in a month, acquiring a 2.32% stake in the digital unit for INR113.7 billion (US$1.5 billion).