Ethio Telecom is back in the news – this time via plans to launch a smart city project in Bahir Dar, capital city of the Amhara region in northern Ethiopia, following the deployment of commercial 5G services.

Orange once again highlighted the “outstanding performance” of its Africa and Middle East unit, which led growth in its third-quarter financial results.

Industry association the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), which includes Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea among its members, has questioned the continuation of licence fees in their present form.

As technologies such as AI, 5G-A, and cloud computing accelerate ever more rapidly, our physical and digital worlds are growing increasingly intertwined.

The Iraqi government is reportedly in talks with foreign companies to operate the country’s planned 5G network, a year after the 5G network plan was greenlighted by the Iraqi Communication Ministry.

Indian state-owned telco BSNL is reportedly planning to lease out its land assets to data centre operators and renewable energy firms as part of a broader strategy to turn around its flagging telecoms business.

Philippine telco PLDT announced on Wednesday it has a secured a PHP2 billion (US$34.4 million) social loan facility from HSBC Philippines to finance its fibre infrastructure rollouts to underserved and unserved communities.

Global Tower Corporation Pty Ltd (GTC), described as an independent player licensed for the construction and provision of telecommunication tower and related infrastructure services in the Kingdom of Cambodia, has secured US$19.97 million in financing from EXIM Bank Malaysia to support the expansion of essential telecommunications infrastructure across Cambodia.

Satellite communications company ST Engineering iDirect, says it has been selected for the Phase Two expansion of Indonesia's Satria-1 satellite network.

GSM-R (Global System for Mobile Communications – Railway) specifications were released two decades ago. These have been successfully used around the world, but can no longer support the bandwidth, latency, and connectivity required by railways as they go digital.

Two 5G spectrum allocations owned by government-owned groups in Argentina are now to be put up for sale after a presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni made an announcement to this effect earlier this week.

Nokia announced on Tuesday it has opened its first innovation centre serving Africa and the Middle East in Morocco, which will not only provide Nokia's network infrastructure technologies to play with, but also programmes to boost digital skillsets.

Malaysians are generally optimistic about the potential of AI to improve mobile services, but they don’t quite trust it yet, as concerns about security, privacy and control over personal data remain high, according to a new study released by Telenor Asia on Wednesday.

Kenyan operator Safaricom's M-Pesa mobile money service has teamed up with Kenyan start-up tappi to digitise 650,000 business users in the country.

Brazilian telecommunications company Oi is continuing the slow business of restructuring its operations and settling debts. It has now signed a deal with infrastructure business American Tower Corporation (ATC) that will see it transfer selected towers (the number has not been revealed) and properties to ATC.

Hungarian operator group 4iG has officially entered the telecoms market in North Macedonia by establishing a subsidiary, ONE Macedonia Telecommunications, as part of its growth strategy.

Indonesian telco Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison said on Tuesday it has teamed with Mastercard to integrate its in-vehicle payments solution with Indosat’s AI-powered fleet management system NEXTFleet.

Telecom Namibia said on Monday it has launched a dedicated whistleblowing hotline that enables anyone – including its own employees – to report any fraudulent and corrupt activities being committed within Telecom Namibia’s organisation.

Ericsson says it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with UAE-based operator e& International to explore the potential for developing autonomous networks powered by AI over the next three years.

Brazil has imposed new tariffs on various imports from China and other Asian nations, including iron, steel and fibre optic cable, in what officials say is an effort to combat dumping.

V.tal, a global end-to-end digital infrastructure solutions company operating in the Americas and owner of the largest neutral fibre optic network in Brazil, has unveiled the new brand for its data centre business unit, Tecto Data Centres.

The growing role of advanced wireless communications in transport hubs and transport networks has been underlined by two recent deals in Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra state, southwestern India, involving the city’s metro and a new airport.

A long-term investor in Veon has publicly criticised the operator’s board of directors for underperformance, calling for immediate action to improve the company’s fortunes.

Nokia announced another deal in Vietnam, this time with Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) to supply equipment for the operator’s 5G rollout.

Philippines-based operator Globe Telecom reduced its carbon emissions by 4.2% through Qualcomm’s AI-powered RAN automation platform, as part of its broader goal to achieve net zero by 2050.

Bangladesh’s telecoms regulator has reportedly fined mobile operators Grameenphone, Robi Axiata and Banglalink for breaching regulations on promotional SMSs, despite telcos saying the regulations are impractical and too restrictive.

Ericsson said on Friday its Nigerian unit has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Nigerian government to establish a framework of cooperation covering 5G technology development, deployment and innovation.

The Intelsat 33e geostationary high-throughput satellite (HTS) covering Europe, Africa, the Middle East and parts of the Asia-Pacific experienced a permanent power failure on Saturday and has since broken up.

Hormuud Telecom strengthened its EVC Plus mobile money platform by making it interoperable with MyBank and Agro Bank, with plans to onboard more banks in 2025.

Hong Kong-based HGC Global Communications (HGC) says it has officially launched data centre interconnect (DCI) clusters in key data hubs across Asia to position itself as a major regional provider of in-country and inter-country data centre connectivity.

Liberty Networks and Gold Data announced on Wednesday that Telecom Italia’s international telecoms arm Sparkle has joined their plan to construct a new subsea cable system – renamed MANTA – connecting the US, Mexico, Panama and Colombia.