Telecom Egypt and Indian telecoms vendor Tejas Networks announced on Monday they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to boost telecoms R&D and manufacturing facilities in Egypt, as well as train up local skillsets.

Malaysia's communications minister says the government’s National Digital Network (a.k.a. JENDELA) programme to upgrade its broadband infrastructure is on track to be completed by the end of next year, with much of the work already done.

Ericsson and du, from Emirates Integrated Telecommunication Company (EITC), announced on Monday that they have leveraged carrier aggregation to achieve a download speed of up to 16.7 Gbps on du’s 5G standalone (SA) network.

Turkcell, the largest mobile operator in Turkey, has said it aims to ramp up investment this year as it plans for a new data centre and infrastructure for 5G services.

Neways, which specialises in mission-critical technology for leading semiconductor, connectivity and smart mobility companies, has announced the establishment of a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Klang, a major city in Selangor, on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia.

Nigeria has called for a coordinated and multilateral approach by the West African region to protect shared telecommunications infrastructure and diversify connectivity to ensure uninterruptible connections – with particular reference to submarine cables.

Eutelsat Group says it has signed a multi-year, multimillion-dollar deal with African ICT integrator NEC XON to supply connectivity capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa via Eutelsat’s OneWeb LEO satellite constellation.

Nokia announced on Sunday it has signed an exclusive partnership agreement with Bahrain operator Batelco, part of the technology-focused Beyon Group, to deliver mission-critical private 5G networks across Bahrain.

NEC Indonesia says it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Telkom Indonesia to collaborate in developing smart cities in the upcoming new capital city of Ibu Kota Nusantara (IKN), as well as other Indonesian cities.

UPDATED: Telkom South Africa confirmed the sale of its tower unit Swiftnet for ZAR 6.75 billion (US$355 million) to infrastructure-focused private equity firm Actis, a move to pay down debts and balance its books. 

Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) is an attractive play for many operators, and Nokia believes its potential can be further enhanced with the arrival of 5G FWA solutions using higher millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum.

Telecom Egypt says it has added European fibre backbone and transatlantic subsea cable infrastructure provider EXA Infrastructure to its WeConnect ecosystem in its latest move to establish Egypt as a major regional interconnection hub.

PLDT’s enterprise subsidiary ePLDT announced that the planned 50MW hyperscale data centre being built by its data centre unit Vitro is on track to go live as early as this July.

A roadmap for a 5G launch and the system for granting licenses and marketing the service were announced by Tunisa’s Minister of Communication Technologies Nizar Ben Neji earlier this week.

Given the recent damage to many of the subsea cables that provide connectivity to Africa, major connectivity providers have been swift to respond.

Less than two years after it announced the launch of commercial 5G services across several regions of the country, operator WOM Chile is having to refinance US$348 million in debt due this year – and hasn’t yet made it clear how this will happen.

Is Ghana accelerating the pace of satellite internet licensing in response to the disruption caused by the widely reported subsea cable damage off the coast of West Africa?

Vodacom South Africa confirmed up to 80 members of staff might be let go in a move to lower costs and continue its strategy to transition from a telecoms to technology company. 

The mobile money market matured as transaction value grew by 14% to US$1.4 trillion and total global registered accounts reached 1.75 billion in 2023, an increase of 12% year-on-year.

Hormuud Telecom launched 5G in key locations across Somalia with 4G customers receiving free upgrades to the next generation technology starting from today (March 21). 

Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) is the second telco to score 5G spectrum this month after reportedly winning the auction for the 3700-3800 MHz band.

Nokia has published the findings of its latest annual Indian market-focused Mobile Broadband Index (MBiT).

Safaricom Ethiopia’s M-Pesa mobile money service has signed an international money transfer agreement with Onafriq, Africa’s largest digital payments network, which currently operates in 40 African countries.

Thuraya Telecommunications Company, the mobile satellite services subsidiary of the UAE’s satellite solutions provider Yahsat, is partnering with data compression specialist Niflink to provide customisable telemedicine and e-learning solutions across its network using Niflink’s video compression technology.

Frequency division duplex (FDD) technology operating in the sub-3 GHz frequency bands has a key role to play as services evolve into the era of 5.5G (5G Advanced), says Huawei.

Cloud-based OTT video platform vendor Perception Group announced on Tuesday that mobile operator Africell Angola has launched AfriTV, an OTT mobile TV service using Perception’s TVCDN platform.

Ooredoo Group and e& Carrier & Wholesale announced that they have partnered to deploy the Gulf Gateway Cable (GGC1) subsea system to improve capacity, reliability and latency between data centres in Abu Dhabi and Doha.

The Nigerian neobank Kuda is reportedly expanding its reach with new payment licences in Tanzania and Canada.

Telecoms and agriculture are in the news yet again. Service provider MTN Nigeria has announced plans to partner the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), in disseminating weather and climate information to farmers and other users across Nigeria.