News agencies are reporting that vendor Ericsson is planning to invest about 1 billion reais (close to $240 million) in Brazil to add a new assembly line dedicated to fifth generation technology.

If you needed further proof of the diversification of what was once a dedicated e-commerce company, the fact that the Amazon subsidiary Amazon Web Services recently announced the expansion of AWS Ground Station in the Middle East should give some indication.

More 5G activity has been reported in two very different markets in West Africa: Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, and Gabon, whose population, at an estimated 2.1 million, is a little over one hundredth the size of Nigeria’s.

Zain, a major mobile operator in eight markets across the Middle East and North Africa, has claimed a first in the MENA region with a new 5G roaming service.

The third market entrant in the Philippines, DITO, has signed tower sharing agreements with Leo Technologies Infrastructure Corp and Alt-Global-Solutions Inc.

Following requests from interested parties, the Israeli Ministry of Communications has postponed a 5G frequency tender.

A story gaining a lot of attention since early November has been the passage through Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, of a bill that aims to prevent the sale of certain devices lacking pre-installed Russian software. Now that bill has received its third and final reading.

Orange Group is selling its entire 95.5% holding in its Niger operation to Zamani Com after getting the green light from Niger’s telecom authorities.

Malaysian satellite operator MEASAT and satellite services provider Arianespace have announced the signing of a launch services contract for MEASAT-3d that could boost 4G and 5G growth in Malaysia.

Ratings agency Fitch has cautioned that the Indian government’s two-year moratorium on spectrum fees will not offset dues.

Mexican operator Telefonica Movistar has announced the signing of a last-mile wireless capacity access agreement with AT&T in Mexico. Parent company Telefonica, which has a strong presence in Spain, Europe and Latin America, says that this a long-term agreement.

You wouldn’t necessarily describe it as unobtrusive, but Mynmar’s first telecom tower constructed from bamboo, which has been installed in Thanlyin, a major port city, is certainly sustainable.

America Movil’s chairman Carlos Slim has pledged an investment of BRL30 billion ($7.2 billion) into the group’s Brazilian operations.

The International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) is coming to South Africa for the first IAA Symposium on Small Satellites in Africa.

The deputy prime minister of Thailand has told the country’s operators that they should aim to launch commercial 5G by mid-2020.

A plan to upgrade communications infrastructure connecting the major Myanmar cities of Nay Pyi Taw, Yangon and Mandalay, along with the Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ), has been announced.

Described by international operator Eutelsat as a major contribution to reducing the digital divide in Africa and Europe, Eutelsat’s KONNECT satellite is now ready to ship to its launch site with a launch planned for mid-January 2020.

Wiicom has tapped Intracom Telecom for a network delivering mobile and ultra-broadband services to residential consumers and businesses across Cameroon that cannot be reached by fibre.

IT services, consulting and business solutions organization Tata Consultancy Services has announced the launch, in collaboration with wireless technology giant Qualcomm Technologies Inc, of what it calls a first-of-its-kind Innovation Hub in Hyderabad, India.

El Salvador has announced the auction of 20MHz of mobile spectrum in the 1900MHz (PCS) band on 12^th December.

Data centre company PT DCI Indonesia (DCI) has announced that it will build a third data centre facility in Cibitung – but it’s not stopping there.

Underlining its growing strength in diverse areas of telecommunications and IT, search engine giant Google has announced that Curie, a 10,500-kilometer-long undersea cable, now connects Google data centres in the US and Chile.

According to reports in the Chinese press, the country’s leading operator is targeting the signing of some 70 million 5G users by the end of 2020.

The city of Jerusalem is deploying Siklu’s millimeter wave (mmWave) core and access network equipment for an ongoing project which will become one of the largest municipal networks in the world.

Better communications for remote areas of Sudan are the hoped-for result of a new agreement between a number of satcoms companies.

Is India’s Reliance Jio behind the extension of a bid submission deadline relating to the assets of bankrupt rival Reliance Communications (RCom)? Bharti Airtel seems to think so.

Cell C customers will be able to roam onto MTN South Africa’s network in any part of the country after the operators extended their roaming arrangement.