Indian newcomer Reliance Jio is looking to strengthen its presence in the market via acquisitions of smaller firms in order to compete more effectively with its larger rivals.

The government of Serbia has rejected all 6 binding offers that it received for the 58% majority stake in Telekom Srbija.

Brazilian regulator Anatel has confirmed that 9 companies have registered to bid in its upcoming multi-band auction.

The government of Bangladesh has unblocked access to Facebook without lifting similar restrictions on other messaging services such as Line, Viber and WhatsApp.

NTT Communications Corporation now holds a National Long Distance licence in India via its newly-established subsidiary, NTT Communications India Network Services.

The tender to find managing companies for Lebanon’s state-owned operators has been deemed unsuccessful by the country’s government.

Indian state-owned operator BSNL is implementing Syniverse’s GRX Network Solution, INPack, to expand its global data roaming capability.

Blue Label Telecoms is acquiring a 35% stake in South Africa’s smallest mobile operator, Cell C.

Russia’s MTS is launching a new app offering several communications services across Moscow.

South African operator Vodacom has agreed not to acquire Neotel’s spectrum under the revised terms of its proposal to acquire the company.

Vietnamese operator MobiFone has become the first operator in the country to launch a Wi-Fi calling service.

Brunei’s leading mobile operator Telekom Brunei Berhad (TelBru) has selected Aptilo Networks to enable carrier Wi-Fi for its Nationwide Wi-Fi service.

Ooredoo Kuwait has tapped Mahindra Comviva to manage its end-to-end VAS business.

Indian number four Reliance Communications (RCom) is selling its mobile towers to the private equity firms Tillman Global Holdings and TPG Capital Management.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has cut MTN’s $5.2B fine by 25%, reneging on its initial offer to lower the penalty by a third.

Afghan market leader Roshan has signed a multiyear agreement with Syniverse for revenue assurance and fraud detection services.

Turkcell is attempting to acquire a controlling stake in Fintur Holdings from its partner TeliaSonera.

Thai market leader AIS has formed a new partnership with BaseKit to offer the latter’s website building platform to SMB clients.

South African operator Neotel has deployed solutions from ADVA and Juniper to create a flexible, dynamic and integrated packet optical network architecture.

VimpelCom is combining its Pakistani unit Mobilink with rival operator Warid Telecom in a deal marks Pakistan’s first merger.

Satellite operator SES S.A. partnered with Burkina Faso’s electoral body CENI (Commission Électorale Nationale Indépendante) to enable secure digital transmission of the country’s recent electoral results.

Intracom Telecom has announced it will supply the Warsaw Metropolitan Police (KSP Warsaw) with its OmniBAS platform.

China Mobile has put in a CNY31.88 billion ($4.98 billion) for local fixed-line provider Tietong in order to bolster its portfolio of assets.

Orange and French energy firm ENGIE have formed a partnership focused on delivering electricity to rural Africa.

BlackBerry has confirmed that it will exit Pakistan over after it was unable to reconcile its commitment to privacy with the government’s security concerns.

International online money transfer service Continental Money is partnering with global remittance hub TransferTo to offer international mobile top-up to its customers.

MFS Africa has announced a group framework agreement with Vodafone, expanding the partnership between the multinational mobile operator and the pan-African Fintech firm globally.

Bharti Airtel Africa has tapped IMImobile to provide its mobile billing solution Tap2Bill for merchants and content providers across Africa.

An Israeli-Palestinian agreement has been reached on the assignment of radio frequencies for the exclusive use by Palestinian cellular operators as well as on a shared basis by Palestinian and Israeli operators.

The government of Myanmar has stated that it will make 4G spectrum available to operators as soon as they are able to begin providing commercial services.