Elara Communications is launching an international calling app for customers in rural and remote villages in south-eastern Mexico, in partnership with IDT Global.

Sierratel has launched new advanced landline services in Sierra Leone. The launch was overseen by consultancy and management firm MDIC.

The government of South Africa is reportedly considering divesting its 14% stake in Vodacom, worth around $2.3 billion.

Chinese manufacturer Lenovo is setting up a new company in China focused on low-cost smart devices.

Loop Mobile is attempting to rescue its proposed deal with Bharti Airtel by cutting its assets from the agreement in the hopes of speeding up the approval process.

Telenor has echoed Vodafone India’s request for the Indian government to allocate spectrum secured at auction.

A new family tracing and reconnection service is being launched in the Philippines through a partnership between Ericsson, Smart and Refunite.

Kenya’s Equity Bank will be issuing an ultra-thin mobile banking smart SIM featuring technology from SIM manufacturer Taisys.

Facebook and Ericsson claim to have developed a methodology that will improve app performance by as much as 70%.

The consortium behind the Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE-1) submarine cable system project has signed a supply contract with NEC for the S1H segment, which connects Thailand, Vietnam and Hong Kong.

Alcatel-Lucent is launching a 100 gigabit-per-second fibre-optic network with MTN Nigeria.

The Mexican regulator IFT has agreed with the country’s ministry of telecoms and transport (SCT) that the state network should be up and running by 2018.

Vodacom has launched Long Term Evolution (LTE) in Lesotho, addressing the relative scarcity of fixed line connections in the country.

Vodafone India has requested that the country’s Department of Telecommunications immediately allocate the 1800MHz spectrum that it won at auction in February.

Orange Botswana has entered into a multi-year managed services agreement with Ericsson.

The Communications Authority of Kenya has given preliminary approval for the proposed takeover of Essar’s yuMobile by Airtel and Safaricom.

TIM Participacoes has hired investment bank Bradesco to help it explore strategic options in an appointment that the operator has described as “routine”.

The Asia America Gateway consortium is upgrading its trans-Pacific cable network using solutions from Ciena to address the growing demand for broadband access.

Pan-African telecoms operator Gondwana International Networks (GIN) has announced that its AfricaOnline business has launched a managed infrastructure and services solution in Ghana.

Vodafone CEO Marten Pieters has stated that the UK-headquartered group will spend $1 billion on upgrading its network and operations across India.

The Vietnamese government’s proposed IPO for state operator MobiFone has reportedly attracted significant international attention from heavyweight players.

Televõrgu AS has deployed the ADVA Optical Networking’s 100G Core to connect Northern and Eastern European countries to Central Europe over a route running through the Baltic States and Poland.

Vodafone Qatar has announced a non-binding agreement to acquire the Qatar National Broadband Network (QNBN).

Virgin Mobile Middle East & Africa (VMMEA) is now operating an MVNO service in Saudi Arabia.

Alcatel-Lucent has closed the sale of its subsidiary Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise to China Huaxin Post & Telecommunication Economy Development Centre.