ZTE’s Grand Memo LTE is poised to become the first 4G device available for sale in China, after it became the first to be awarded a TD-LTE handset permit by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Tata Communications and PCCW Global have signed a landmark IPX peering agreement to broaden the reach of next generation IP services in Asia Pacific and Africa.

Flilipino market leader Globe Telecom is now offering LTE technology to homes across the country via its home broadband brand, Tattoo.

Zamir Telecom is upgrading the service on its London to Dhaka route using VoIP optimisation equipment from World Telecom Labs (WTL).

The Indian regulator TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) has recommended that the reserve prices for 2G spectrum be slashed to 60% of those set during the previous auctions in November and March.

Yatanarpon Teleport (YTP), a leading operators in Myanmar, has signed an agreement with global CSP Epsilon to deliver local data access services in the country.

Beleaguered Thai fixed and mobile operator True Corp may be forced to downsize its proposed infrastructure fund IPO by around 17%.

At the end of 2Q-2013, the total subscriptions in Africa reached 863 million according to ABI Research.

Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) is launching LTE services in the Cayman Islands, where it trades as LIME. It will be the first operator to offer the technology in the market.

Vodafone Egypt is deploying Ericsson’s Mobile Broadband Charging (MBC) to provide up to 10 million users with a vast array of data options and more flexible on-demand subscriptions.

Following successful launches in Ghana, Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire, MTN has introduced its cloud services offering to Uganda.

Lebanon’s largest private data carrier GlobalCom Data Services (GDS) is doubling the size of its VectaStar network to serve the growing demand for high speed corporate network services.

Beijing Mobile, a branch of the leading Chinese operator China Mobile, has signed a contract with Nokia Solutions and Networks to implement an extensive Quality of Experience (QoE) solution.

The Indian market leading operator Bharti Airtel is believed to be in discussions to buy a smaller rival operator, Loop Mobile.

Satellite provider Intelsat and Japanese operator SoftBank have successfully trialled a cost-effective, rural 3G mobile phone service in Kenya.

Russian operator MTS has selected Nokia Solutions and Networks to modernise and expand its networks in Ukraine and Turkmenistan.

The Scandinavian operator Telenor has stated that it will not discuss any mergers or acquisitions in India before the country’s government has clarified legislation concerning the telecom sector.

Slovakia has begun auctioning 4G spectrum in multiple bands.

The telecom industry’s first commercial 400 Gigabit per second (Gb/s) IP core network has been activated in Saudi Arabia by Chinese vendor Huawei and Saudi operator Mobily.

China Telecom has confirmed that its LTE network will support both TD and FDD strains.

Following the recent announcement of its partnership in Ghana, the electronic payment service iSend has unveiled new agreements in two more African markets.

Orange is looking to increase competition in South Africa’s mobile market by setting up an MVNO, and may also be joining a Wi-Fi consortium that aims to deploy an extensive network across the country.

The successful mobile payment service M-Pesa has been launched in Delhi by Vodafone India, in conjunction with ICICI Bank.

Vietnam is weighing up whether to harden its stance on over-the-top (OTT) messaging services, including Viber, Whatsapp and Vietnamese app Line.