According to Indian news reports, the government is considering setting up what it calls an empowered group of ministers (eGoM). Its role? To manage the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) crisis now affecting a number of telecommunications companies.

Omantel has announced a partnership with Ericsson to manage its multi-access mobile networks.

There has been an announcement in recent days of a major backhaul delivery in Africa by SpaceBridge, though the customer name has not yet been revealed.

A new survey that has gained a lot of interest in the Indian press says that 81 percent of mobile phone users in the country now use a 4G smartphone.

Encouraging news about useful applications of mobile technology to farming has recently come in from two countries in Africa.

After over a year of negotiations, MTN Uganda has reached an agreement to renew its licence for US$100 million.

Sri Lankan operator Lanka Bell is partnering with Route Mobile to boost its offering with additional cloud-based solutions.

The Afghanistan Telecoms Regulatory Authority (ATRA) has fined the country’s five main operators a total of AFN1.2 billion (USD15.7 million) for falling short of quality of service (QoS) standards.

Nigeria is still the biggest telecommunications market on the African continent. But will SIM registration rules eventually put a dent in the numbers?

The government of India has ordered the country’s telecoms operators to play a 30-second audio clip about coronavirus in place of a ringing tone in order to raise awareness of the pandemic.

Press reports from the Gulf region have highlighted Ooredoo Qatar’s recent announcement that more than 100,000 customers have signed up for its recently launched Shahry 5G and Qatarna 5G plans.

The news that self-assessment done by Indian telecommunication companies for AGR dues has come up with much lower figures than the government’s has added a further layer of confusion to an already uncertain situation.

Recent reports in the Vietnamese press indicate that state-owned operator MobiFone has successfully piloted a 5G mobile network in four Vietnamese cities.

Congolese regulator ARPTC (Autorite de Regulation des Postes et Telecom) has granted Liquid Telecom a licence to build a second submarine cable landing station.

Orange Money is launching in Morocco.

Syniverse has signed a new indirect channel partner, CPA Ferrere, to sell its Syniverse Mobile Engagement suite of services to companies in the agribusiness, financial, public and healthcare sectors in South America.

Multinational operator Airtel Africa has announced that it has finalized the acquisition of 10 MHz of spectrum in the 900 MHz band in Nigeria from fellow operator Intercellular Nigeria Limited.

Indian operator Bharti Airtel has announced plans to collaborate with technology company Cisco to launch what Cisco calls India’s largest 5G-ready, 100G IP and optical integrated network designed to enhance network availability, capacity and scale.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has blocked access for around 2.2 million SIM cards which were incompletely or inaccurately registered.

The government of Côte d'Ivoire is seeking to increase the usage of mobile banking in the country by allowing interoperability between different digital financial services.

It’s still not clear whether Vodafone Idea will be helped out by the Indian government, but reports on last week’s meeting between the CEO of parent company Vodafone and government ministers indicate that the participants seemed to be making the right noises.

Inadequate rural coverage is often a problem in African markets but Liberia’s House of Representatives has now asked the country’s Post and Telecommunication Committee to launch an investigation into the issue – and the country’s two leading operators in particular. 

Ooredoo, the international communications company operating across the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia, has signed a deal with Huawei that will cover its networks in Kuwait, Oman, Indonesia, Tunisia and the Maldives.

Consulting and investment company SUB.CO has announced that its Oman Australia Cable (OAC) project has entered contract in force (CIF) status, with its final system connection expected to be completed in December 2021.

Interesting news on the success or otherwise of attempts to bridge the digital divide comes from a new GSMA study that finds that the mobile internet gender gap has narrowed – but the gap is still a big one.