TeliaSonera International Carrier has added 11,500 fibre miles (18,400 km) to its global backbone, which will provide diverse connection into South America.

NII Holdings, which operates under the Nextel brand in Latin America, has completed two previously announced deals to sell various communications sites to American Tower Corporation.

Indian market leader Bharti Airtel is looking to raise as much as $1 billion to fund its participation in upcoming spectrum auctions as well as potential acquisitions.

Eutelsat is expanding its services in the French West Indies and French Guiana.

Distribution networks specialist BeyondBranches launched a mobile financial agent network in Nigeria in association with integrated payment processing service provider Interswitch.

A new partnership is set to bring formal financial services to rural communities in the Philippines.

Newcomer Brazilian operator On Telecom is launching a range of broadband services for residential customers in Sao Paulo and the surrounding environment using wireless LTE / 4G spectrum to provide high-bandwidth connectivity.

The Czech Republic’s 4G spectrum auctions have not attracted a new market entrant, contrary to the hopes of the market’s regulator CTU.

Ericsson has been selected by China Mobile to deploy LTE TDD in 15 key provinces in China.

South African fixed-line provider Telkom is “continuing to explore all avenues to derisk [its] mobile business”, according to CEO Sipho Maseko.

Myriad has rolled out the latest version of its MSNGR chat service across five major operators in the America Movil group.

India's massive mobile market entered a period of uncertainty in 2012 and this has continued into 2013.

Brazilian operator Oi has stated that it may sell shares in order to raise money for further acquisitions should the need arise.

Gemalto and Vinaphone are launching a SIM-based version of Yahoo Messenger across Vietnam.

MTN Group is extending the reach of its regional networks with Etisalat’s SmartHub, a global communications hub facilitating direct routing of traffic between the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe.

Telecom Egypt could acquire a controlling stake in Vodafone’s Egyptian operation once the 4G licensing process is underway.

China Mobile is attempting to court business from mobile users overseas by relaunching an OTT app that uses data connections to offer free calls.

Moroccan telecoms firm inwi is deploying digital security specialist Gemalto’s LinqUs Facebook-for-SIM mobile application, which now includes the popular Facebook Messenger feature.

Telefonica is looking to take on America Movil in Mexico, where the latter has a hefty market share of around 70%.

Idea Cellular has dramatically cut its tariffs, with 2G data prices down by up to 90% and 3G reduced by a third.

The Indian branch of Vodafone has launched the operator’s M-Pesa mobile money and transfer service in Assam and other northeastern states, in partnership with ICICI Bank.

Alcatel-Lucent and China Mobile have announced that the French vendor’s all-IP Evolved Packet Core portfolio has been selected to support the nationwide rollout of China Mobile’s 4G LTE network, set to be the world’s largest mobile ultra-broadband network.

ZTE has introduced three new smartphones for users in Mexico, including the latest models in the bestselling Blade series, adding localised innovations and upgraded features to deliver a better user experience to Mexican consumers.

A new partnership between Telecom Namibia, NewTelco SA and German Internet provider Deutscher Commercial Internet Exchange will establish international access points in South Africa and Namibia to the German Internet exchange (DE-CIX).

Econet Wireless subsidiary Econet Solar International is aiming to deliver its Home Power Stations (HPS) to over 125,000 homes across Africa in 2014.

African carrier’s carrier WIOCC has formed a partnership with Dalkom Somalia to launch connectivity to and from Somalia via the EASSy cable from Q1 2014, offering services directly from Mogadishu to the rest of the world. Capacity will be available from 2Mbps to 10Gbps and above.