China Unicom and China Telecom have reportedly been allocated spectrum that can be used to offer FDD-LTE services.

India’s Department of Telecoms has awarded Idea Cellular a Unified Licence for 7 of the country’s 22 telecom circles – Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, Kolkata, North East, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

Indian operator Reliance Jio Infocomm has received approval from the country’s telecoms ministry to use its nationwide 4G spectrum to provide high-speed LTE services for voice and mobile broadband.

Deutsche Bank has partnered with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to acquire a 2.7% stake in the Russian fixed-line operator Rostelecom for RUB7.7 billion ($240 million).

Bolivia’s largest satellite network operator Entel has selected Gilat’s SkyEdge II solution for the government’s national digital inclusion initiative.

Tata Communications has extended its low latency network in Asia with direct connections to the National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE), the Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX) and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEx).

Econet Wireless is adding a new service to its EcoCash offering which will allow customers to use the service as an interest-earning savings account.

Following suggestions that TIM’s Brazilian operations could be acquired by Vodafone, Telecom Italia has dispelled claims that it is negotiating a sale of the operator in order to reduce its debt.

Bangladeshi market leader Grameenphone has begun rolling out 3G services across the country, starting in the capital city of Dhaka.

The Nokia subsidiary Here is launching a community mapping pilot program in India.

Russian private lender Bank Rossiya is reportedly looking to acquire a 50% stake of operator Tele2 Russia.

Vodacom Tanzania has lodged an additional $7 million order with Ceragon to upgrade and support backbone links across the country.

Mobile payments specialist Bango has partnered with software developer MMIT to release M-Iflọ, a safe payment solution that enables online transactions for digital content.

Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) will launch LTE mobile data services later this year as part of its Christmas marketing campaign in The Bahamas.

ZTE has been selected by U Mobile Sdn Bhd to provide a disaster recovery (DR) system to strengthen the resilience and robustness of Malaysia’s most dynamic and innovative 3G mobile network.

The largest operator in Slovakia, Slovak Telekom, is updating its legacy charging system with a new solution from Oracle.

One of Russia’s largest operators, TTK, has launched its 100G Ultra Long Haul (ULH) DWDM network in the St. Petersburg-Moscow and Moscow-Chelyabinsk-Ekaterinburg segments.

Pakistani authorities in the Sindh province are conducting a crackdown on OTT services based on security concerns.

Brazil’s largest telco Oi has agreed to merge with its major stakeholder Portugal Telecom (PT) to create a combined entity called CorpCo.

A new partnership between global CSP Epsilon and dark fibre infrastructure provider PT Power Telecom will open up the Jakarta metro area to international network operators.

French group Vivendi has extended its deadline for a binding offer on its 53% stake in Maroc Telecom, as talks with Etisalat progress.

The African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF) has received a $US1.4 million grant from Accenture to develop a pilot mobile health training program for community health workers in Kenya.

The mobile phone company Tigo announced this week that it has acquired more than 250,000 new customers in less than three months following its return to two troubled eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

A new kind of mobile device insurance is launching in Kenya following a team-up between Oxygen8 Group and Kenya Orient Insurance Limited.

Malaysian operator Celcom, a subsidiary of Axiata, has selected LTE solutions from NSN for a launch in the Klang Valley, which comprises Kuala Lumpur and the surrounding suburbs.

Telstra has announced that it now has the ability to provide end-to-end network solutions to Indian customers, bolstering its network coverage and investment in India.