Tajikistan's telecommunications infrastructure was arguably the least developed of all the former Soviet republics. With a telecom network that was at near total collapse, the government has had the daunting task of bringing it up to modern standards...

Following a bribery charge, a Malaysian operator has prohibited international vendor Alcatel-Lucent from involvement in any contracts, tenders and joint ventures for the next year...

The growth of mobile services is a key part of extending the benefits of communications in emerging markets. It is also essential for mobile operators looking for new services to differentiate their offering and generate new income. Mobile banking has been one of the big success stories in the last few years. Now attention is turning to other areas in the financial area. One of these areas is mobile insurance...

Cameroon's economic growth has lagged behind other countries in the region, and this is mirrored by the development of its telecommunications sector...

Indonesia’s largest mobile operator has deployed a portal which will allow any of its 90 million subscribers to create their own SMS-based applications...

One of the six GCC countries, Oman has a GDP per capita at a similar level to that of Saudi Arabia but with a much smaller population...

A lengthy saga has finally come to a close, with Etisalat announcing that it is no longer aiming to purchase a controlling stake in the Kuwaiti firm Zain...

Following on from the announcement that acquisition laws could be relaxed, India’s Department of Telecom is reportedly considering further overhauls to the country’s telecoms regulations that would favour equipment manufactured in India...

India could soon see the number of operators in its market drop significantly, with recent reports suggesting that the country’s Department of Telecoms may relax merger and acquisition rules “so significantly that it will leave only around six operators in any service areas”...

A leading operator in the Cook Islands is deploying a new fraud management system to crack down on fraudulent activity...

Nine cities in China’s Fujian province are to be connected to a wireless broadband network launched by the operator China Tel Group...

Several of Malaysia’s key cities will soon be covered by a 100 Mbps wireless network to be deployed by the country’s 3G mobile service operator U Mobile Sdn Bhd, in partnership with the equipment and solutions vendor ZTE...

Equipment giant Nokia Siemens Networks is set to establish an LTE manufacturing facility in Russia...

Developing Telecoms recently had the opportunity to speak to VNL Chairman & CEO Rajiv Mehrotra about the firm’s activities in the field of rural connectivity...

One of Tanzania’s major operators is transforming its network to improve performance and service quality for its nine million subscribers...

A new joint venture between France Telecom and Kuwaiti logistics firm Agility has been formed in order to purchase a 44% stake in the Iraqi operator Korek Telecom...

Fourth quarter data provided by operators in the Philippines has resulted in expectations being checked for the market’s growth...

The South African operator MTN is set to provide its Nigerian subsidiary with an investment of US$1 billion. MTN Nigeria is the largest operator in the country, which is Africa’s biggest mobile market...

Yemen is much the poorest country in the Middle East and economic difficulties are numerous. Around 35% of the population is below the poverty line...

New deals between America Movil and Digicel will see operations from each firm change hands. Digicel is set to acquire America Movil’s Jamaican operations, but will also sell its businesses in Honduras and El Salvador to the Lat-Am giant in a separate deal...

The Ghana Cocoa Board, The Hershey Company, and the World Cocoa Foundation have announced a first-of-its kind program to use mobile technology to deliver practical information on agricultural and social programs to rural cocoa farmers and enable the farmers to ask questions and provide feedback...

The largest service provider in Vietnam, Vietnam Telecoms National (VTN), has successfully completed a next-generation 100 Gigabit per second network trial on its backbone network...

The beleaguered merger proposal between Zain and Etisalat could be back on track, with Zain reportedly agreeing to sell its Saudi Arabian operations...

Two Indian operators have received notices of cancellation from the country’s Department of Telecommunications regarding the licences which they hold in certain regions, following their failure to comply with the requisite 2G network deployment criteria...

A major Indonesian provider of wireless communications infrastructure has strengthened its focus on acquiring and leasing network infrastructure to telecom operators...

The Russian mobile broadband service provider Yota is readying its first LTE modem for launch next month. The firm aims to follow this launch with mobile routers, embedded laptops and smartphones...

The CEO of VimpelCom, Alexander Izosimov, has made it clear that while he expects the firm’s shareholders to greenlight its planned merger with Wind Telecom next week, the Russian operator will not be pursuing any more large scale acquisitions for some time thereafter...

The State Grid Corporation of China is building a Qinghai-Tibet power grid to improve and optimise power allocation in the region...

Iraq’s government is aiming to raise around US$2 billion by auctioning off the country’s fourth national mobile licence by the end of 2011...

Subscribers of one of the Caribbean’s leading service providers, United Telecommunications Services (UTS), are now able to access improved data services...

The Chinese government has proposed tracking the location of smartphones as a means of managing and ameliorating heavy traffic in Beijing...

The global Average Selling Price (ASP) for approximately 70% (4.8 billion) of active mobile phones will fall under USD 100 by 2015...

Consumers in Paraná, Brazil, will soon have access to high-speed, affordable data services following the deployment of a 3000km optical fibre network by regional telecom operator Copel...

The gravity of India’s 2G licensing investigation is becoming increasingly apparent, with another high-profile industry member resigning after being implicated in the scandal...