The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) says that its Partner2Connect (P2C) Digital Coalition has now reached US$73 billion in pledges for universal connectivity, including fresh commitments this week from South Africa’s MTN Group and LEO satellite operator Globalstar.

Nigerian last-mile connectivity and tower operator Hotspot has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a consortium led by solar-power company Clear Blue Technologies to deploy 312 solar powered mobile sites across Nigeria.

UAE-based telco du announced at Mobile World Congress 2025 on Thursday it is collaborating with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Nokia to implement 5G cloud RAN technology in its network. 

Cambodian telco Smart Axiata said on Thursday it has joined the GSMA Open Gateway Initiative and signed an MoU at Mobile World Congress 2025 to collaborate with rival telcos CamGSM (a.k.a. Cellcard) and Metfone on deploying federated CAMARA APIs.

CelcomDigi said on Thursday it has signed several MoUs at Mobile World Congress 2025 – two with Huawei and ZTE related to AI-powered network evolution, and and one with Ericsson to develop private 5G solutions for Malaysia’s oil and gas sector.

Airwallex, a global payments and financial platform for growing businesses, says it has signed definitive agreements to acquire CTIN Pay, an intermediary payment service (IPS) licensed company in Vietnam.

India’s Tata Electronics and Taiwanese companies Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (PSMC) and Himax have announced a semiconductor-related memorandum of understanding (MoU).

The mobile payment group Safaricom M-Pesa, along with another, unnamed financial service provider, has signed a service level agreement (SLA) with the Ministry of Health of Ethiopia to transform healthcare payments through a secure, efficient and scalable digital payment system.

Viettel High Tech, a Vietnamese end-to-end 4G/5G solution provider and part of the state-owned multinational telecommunications, technology and manufacturing conglomerate Viettel Group, has officially announced the launch of its 5G equipment trial with the UAE's Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company PJSC (du), a leading telecom operator in the Middle East, at MWC25.

Qvantel is back in the MWC25 news headlines. The BSS specialist has announced a significant milestone in its partnership with Uzbek mobile operator Perfectum and tech giant Nokia.

Pakistani telco Jazz – owned by global digital operator Veon – announced at Mobile World Congress 2025 on Wednesday it is collaborating with Huawei to deploy solar power tech at 1,000 of its mobile base station sites across Pakistan.

Indonesian telco Telkomsel is having a busy week at Mobile World Congress 2025, following up MoUs with ZTE and Huawei on Monday with a flurry of deals with Ericsson, Pegatron and TikTok covering cloud-native edge computing, 5G factories and user verification.

PLDT’s mobile arm Smart Communications announced at Mobile World Congress 2025 on Thursday it is collaborating with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to power Smart’s strategy to boost customer experiences with AI-powered applications.

Orex SAI – the Open RAN joint venture between NTT DoCoMo and NEC – announced on Wednesday it has signed an MoU with Indonesian network service provider Solusi Sinergi Digital (Surge) and Nokia to connect underserved communities in Indonesia with Open RAN 5G fixed wireless access (FWA).

Tune Talk, described as Malaysia’s fastest-growing digital telco, has signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with Mavenir, the cloud-native network infrastructure provider, which will provide it with a cutting-edge cloud-native digital OSS and BSS platform. The announcement was made at MWC 2025.

Chinese wireless technology company Tongyu Communication has launched what it calls its groundbreaking MacroWiFi product at MWC25.

Quectel Wireless Solutions, an IoT solutions provider, has announced the launch of its 5G transparent antenna, the YFCX001WWAH, at MWC25. This solution is designed to improve connectivity while maintaining seamless device design.

Tech giant ZTE has announced at MWC25 that it has successfully completed the world’s first extended C+L band integrated 80×800 Gbps wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) trial in collaboration with China Telecom. This trial achieved flexible adjustment of wavelengths within a 12THz ultra-wide spectrum.

Huawei, together with global operators, partners, and industry organizations, discussed how operators can upgrade their operations models, reimagine new experiences, and enable new growth at the Intelligent Operations Summit held during MWC Barcelona 2025.

Uganda has been making headlines in the digital commerce world recently thanks to news involving two of its leading operators, Airtel and MTN, and leading payment enablers Network International and Mastercard.

Could a new hydrogen fuel cell-based backup power solution for telecom towers revolutionise power supply in India by providing a cleaner, more efficient alternative to traditional diesel generators?

Mavenir, the cloud-native network infrastructure provider, and e& UAE, telecom arm of global technology group e&, have announced a collaboration to advance e& UAE’s future of cloud-native converged packet core networks across 4G and 5G (NSA and SA) at MWC25.

Malaysian operator CelcomDigi has announced at MWC25 its new partnership with Aduna, a landmark venture between some of the world's leading telecom operators and Ericsson that began in 2024.

High altitude platform stations (HAPS) are back in the news at MWC25 with an announcement from AALTO, an Airbus subsidiary which designs, manufactures and operates the Zephyr HAPS. AALTO says it has completed successful connectivity testing in Kenya on behalf of its customer Space Compass Corporation and partner NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s leading mobile operator.

During MWC Barcelona 2025, Huawei held the Industrial Digital and Intelligent Transformation Summit 2025, bringing together global customers and partners to explore innovative industrial digital and intelligent transformation practices.

The Intelligent Operations Roundtable Meeting, hosted by Huawei in collaboration with TM Forum (Telecom Management Forum), has garnered significant attention from the industry.

Saigon Asset Management (SAM) revealed plans on Tuesday to launch a data centre campus in southern Vietnam with a targeted investment of up to US$1.5 billion, whilst also launching a US$300 million fund to boost data centre investment in the country.

Juniper Networks announced on Tuesday that Saudi Arabian telco stc will deploy Juniper 400G routers in its core network and select data centres to support expansion of its 5G network to reach 75 cities and regions.

Indonesian telco Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison said on Wednesday it has signed a MoU with Nokia and Nvidia at Mobile World Congress 2025 to deploy AI-RAN infrastructure in Indosat’s network.

Turkish telco Turkcell signed its second AI-related deal at Mobile World Congress 2025 on Tuesday – this one with Ericsson to develop, deploy and adopt generative AI (GenAI) solutions across Turkcell's networks and operations.

Indonesian telco Telkomsel and ZTE signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at Mobile World Congress 2025 in Barcelona on Tuesday to collaborate on AI-based technologies, 5G-LAN, and ultra-compact solutions for private industrial networks.

The Africa Group of Six (G6) – a coalition of African mobile network operators – says that while they have made considerable progress in their collective goal to expand mobile coverage in sub-Saharan Africa, 60% of people who live in covered areas can't afford handsets to use mobile services.

Turkish operator Turkcell and tech vendor Nokia have signed an agreement to elevate fixed broadband performance and customer experience across the Turkcell network by using Nokia’s AI-powered fixed network analytics solution.

Professional services group the EY organisation has announced at MWC25 the launch of the EY Telecom.ai agentic solution, a suite of artificial intelligence (AI) agents for telecommunication providers that will operate across the critical functions of finance, network, customer service and content life cycle management.