Magyar Telekom announced the sale of spectrum to rival Yettel in a move to optimise its frequencies portfolio, and increase capacity in 4G and 5G services.   

The question of whether over-the-top (OTT) services need to pay for the infrastructure they use has come up again – this time in South Africa, where an industry organisation wants digital content and service providers to help pay for the roll out and upgrade of network infrastructure .

Liberia is the latest African country to be hit with internet service disruptions, which the Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA) has attributed to a cut in the ACE (Africa Coast to Europe) subsea cable.

Amazon Web Services announced the launch of its AWS Asia Pacific (Malaysia) Region on Thursday, along with a pledge to invest an estimated US$6.2 billion (around MYR 29.2 billion) in Malaysia from now to 2038.

A second big data centre story this month has come from the Democratic Republic of Congo as it inaugurates a US$30 million data centre from Raxio Group, said to be Africa’s leading carrier-neutral Tier III data centre operator.

African fibre company Liquid Telecommunication Holdings is seeking to raise US$225 million in equity by the end of the year, according to a number of reports.

Ethio Telecom partnered with financial powerhouse Visa to launch the first Visa digital wallet in Ethiopia, a move the operator claimed modernises remittance and bolster its fintech business.

Brazilian ISP InfoRR is partnering with service provider 4WNet Telecomunicações to build a new DWDM optical network using equipment from Brazilian vendor Padtec to expand operations from the state of Roraima to Amazonas.

Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison’s ICT arm Lintasarta announced on Wednesday the launch of GPU Merdeka, its new GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) that offers a sovereign AI cloud running on Nvidia GPUs and software.

Nokia announced on Thursday that Telekom Malaysia (TM) will use its Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) solution to build a dedicated terrestrial optical network to better manage growing data traffic and improve data center connectivity.

The Acting Board of the Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA) has signed two major regulations which, it argues, are aimed at enhancing opportunities for many Liberians, including entrepreneurs, and will improve service quality and government revenue.

There have been further developments in the controversy in Pakistan reported yesterday relating to slow internet speeds.  A new contribution from regulator the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has moved the blame away from VPNs.

State-owned operator Viettel labelled its latest standalone 5G network test as a “major step” towards its expected commercial deployment this year.

Mubadala Investment Company, the Abu Dhabi sovereign investor, has announced an investment in Yondr Group, a leading global hyperscale data centre developer.

Bhutan Telecom is deploying Ciena’s coherent routing solutions to support booming data traffic demands in the Kingdom of Bhutan.

Telecoms players in the Philippines say that the government’s recent moves to streamline the permit process for faster network rollouts are helping, but that stakeholders need to do more to make the process smoother.

A2P voice and messaging solutions provider Vox Solutions said on Tuesday it has signed an exclusive interworking agreement Libyan mobile operator Almadar Aljadid to help it combat A2P SMS and flash call fraud.

Nigeria’s Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, in collaboration with the country’s National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), has launched a data-capturing scheme for Nigerian farmers.

The African smartphone market saw smartphone shipments grow by 6% year-on-year to 17.8 million units in Q2 2024, continuing recovery over the past three quarters against macroeconomic volatility.

We are now some weeks into an apparent internet slowdown in Pakistan, but no clearer on what is causing it, albeit activists and the state seem to have decided who is to blame.

Peru’s recently published Legislative Decree 1627, related to 5G deployment, comes with an attractive offer: 5G spectrum, at no apparent cost, in exchange for coverage.

North Korea’s Pyongyang Information Technology Bureau is reportedly conducting inspections of the country’s electronic payments network to update equipment and stabilize operations in a drive to boost confidence in the country's transition to digital finance.

Zambia has completed the construction of a ground receiving station which it says will pave the way for the launch of the country's long-awaited first satellite.

Singtel and Bridge Alliance said on Monday they will extend SingTel’s GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) offerings to enterprises across Southeast Asia via alliance member operators, starting with Thailand’s AIS, Malaysia’s Maxis and Indonesia’s Telkomsel.

India’s state-owned operator BSNL plans to launch 4G services in the country this October, according to local news reports. This follows what seem to be encouraging trial results.

African technology group Liquid Intelligent Technologies has announced a strategic partnership with US connectivity innovator Globalstar to deliver advanced 5G connectivity solutions across Africa, the Middle East and the Gulf.

Bayanat, a provider of AI-powered geospatial solutions, and Yahsat, the UAE’s flagship satellite solutions provider, have announced the successful launch of their first low Earth orbit (LEO) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite. It went into orbit at the end of last week.

Nokia announced it secured a contract from TIM Brasil to expand the operator’s 5G network across 15 Brazilian states in January 2025, a move that will deliver high-speed connectivity to a wider population and enable enterprises to tap into digital services.

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has kicked off a consultation process to develop a new framework that will make it easier for LEO satellite operators such as Starlink to acquire a licence to offer services.

Senegal finally launched its first-ever satellite, GAINDESAT-1A, into orbit on Friday – after numerous delays – marking the first stage of its budding national space programme SENSAT.

Malaysian telco Maxis says it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China Mobile International (CMI) to collaborate on exploring and developing private 5G applications and solutions for enterprises.