Huawei reclaimed its second place spot in the CEE (Central & Eastern Europe) smartphone market from Apple over the last quarter.

Facebook has quietly begun offering a new photo-sharing app in China via a local company with which it has no affiliations.

Orange Poland has implemented virtualised versions of Openet’s Policy Manager and Evolved Charging solutions.

Several Chinese firms are being investigated by the country’s internet authorities after claims that their social media services were being used to disseminate illegal content.

Omantel is acquiring a 9.8% stake in Kuwait’s Zain Group for $846 million in a cash transaction.

TerraPay has obtained an approval from Bank of Uganda to facilitate International money transfers to mobile wallets in the country.

Helios Towers Tanzania (HTT) has reached an agreement with Zanzibar Telecom (Zantel) for the acquisition of all unique sites in their mainland tower portfolio.

Djibouti Telecom has signed a contract with France-IX to peer its IP traffic through France-IX’s IXPs in Paris and Marseille.

China Unicom has rejected reports suggesting that its collaboration on operating centres with internet giants Tencent and Alibaba indicates that the firms will invest in the operator.

Indian market leader Bharti Airtel has sold another stake in its tower unit Infratel to a consortium of investors.

Latin American telecoms provider Grupo Gtd has selected Netcracker solutions to enable its large-scale IT consolidation, transformation and network virtualisation program.

Mexican regulator IFT has begun a public consultation over the terms for its delayed 2.5GHz band spectrum auction.

The merger between Idea Cellular and Vodafone India has received conditional approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), moving it another step towards final clearance.

Vodacom has successfully acquired a 35% stake in Kenya’s Safaricom from its parent firm Vodafone Group for ZAR35 billion ($2.6 billion).

Indian mobile payments firm Paytm may launch chat services in an effort to shore up its position against WhatsApp and Hike – both of which are looking into offering mobile payments.

Chinese device manufacturers expanded their share of the global smartphone market to 48% in Q2, according to Counterpoint Research.

Wari Group is threatening Millicom with a legal challenge after the Tigo parent company reneged on their agreement for Wari to acquire Tigo Senegal.

India’s state-owned operator BSNL is expecting its request for 4G-ready 700MHz spectrum to be granted imminently, according to its chairman Anupam Shrivastava.

China’s crackdown on VPNs has prompted Apple to withdraw “some” VPN applications from the Chinese App Store.

India’s Snapdeal has abandoned merger negotiations with larger e-commerce rival Flipkart, resolving to remain independent and bringing months of talks to an end.

Millicom has scrapped its agreement to sell its Tigo Senegal unit to Wari Group after finding a different buyer for the operations.

iSAT Africa is providing a key East African customer fully managed satellite telecommunications services including satellite backup of its fibre network via a new agreement with Thaicom.

Customers of Indian newcomer Reliance Jio are experiencing slower connections due to the 4G operator’s network being “overloaded”, according to wireless mapping firm OpenSignal.

Zong 4G has collaborated with LePhone to launch affordable 4G handsets in Pakistan.