This week saw a potentially highly significant signing ceremony take place when representatives of Iraq’s Informatics and Telecommunications Public Company (ITPC) and the Kuwaiti service provider Zajil Telecom signed a strategic collaboration agreement to create a communications route from the Gulf to Europe.

Executives at Philippine broadband provider Converge ICT Solutions have reportedly said that two major international subsea cable networks it’s participating in are behind schedule and may not be completed until next year.

Technology giant Huawei has been busy with information and communication technologies (ICT) education initiatives in recent weeks – in Kenya, Ethiopia and Egypt.

The Togo Digital Agency (Agence Togo Digital or ATD) is said to be working on a plan to speed up the digitisation of Togo’s public services.

Among the many businesses dealing with Zimbabwe’s attempt to move to a new currency last Friday was operator Econet, which last weekend said it was preparing its systems to allow trading in the new currency.

South African operator MTN has responded to the country’s ongoing power blackouts with further investment in generators in an attempt to make up for the deficiencies of state electricity provider Eskom.

Orange and online learning company Coursera are launching a free certification training programme for young people in Africa and the Middle East, to provide them with key skills in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, digital marketing, and entrepreneurship.

Saudi oil giant Aramco has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with GCT Semiconductor Holding, a leading designer and supplier of advanced 5G and 4G semiconductor solutions.

MTN’s super-app Ayoba had 35 million monthly active users in 2023 a year-on-year increase from 20 million due to feature upgrades and expansion into new markets, and now the operator aims to chase growth through expanding its B2B front. 

Vietnamese telecoms firm Viettel reportedly inaugurated its new data centre in Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park in Hanoi on Wednesday, claiming it to be one of the largest such facilities in Vietnam to date.

Pakistan Telecommunications Company Limited (PTCL) says it has raised US$400 million in debt financing to cover the cost of its planned acquisition of Telenor Pakistan.

Eutelsat Group announced on Tuesday that its LEO satellite unit OneWeb is providing broadband services in Antarctica for British Antarctic Survey (BAS) on a trial basis.

Philippine telco PLDT and its wireless unit Smart Communications, have established a Cloud Center of Excellence (CCOE) to help build up the skilled workforce needed to support its cloud strategy.

The Association of Mobile Telecom Operators in Bangladesh (AMTOB) has reportedly called on the government to lower taxes on telecoms companies, saying the current tax structure is limiting sector growth and hobbling the government’s own "Smart Bangladesh" strategy.

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has published what it calles the Draft Radio Frequency Migration Plan (Draft RFMP) and the Draft International Mobile Telecommunication Roadmap (Draft IMTR) for public consultation.

Google says its Firmina submarine cable has now landed on the Argentine mainland.

Not surprisingly perhaps, the pace of technological change is forcing governments to move quickly – or to try to move quickly – to keep up, as indicated by recent news from India.

Ericsson and Orange Egypt announced on Monday that they have signed a multi-year deal to collaborate on accelerating the telco’s digital transformation by fortifying its backend and building a resilient architecture across its network.

Kacific Broadband Satellites Group revealed on Monday it’s collaborating with Microsoft’s Airband initiative to connect rural educational and healthcare institutions across developing countries in the Asia Pacific using satellite broadband connectivity.

In a deal announced last week on its website by Ghana’s National Communications Authority (NCA), the NCA and the Autorité de Régulation des Communications Électroniques et de la Poste (ARCEP) of Benin say they have signed a bilateral roaming service agreement.

Indian data centre company CtrlS has launched Google Cloud Interconnect services in Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi.

Africa Data Centres, Africa’s largest network of interconnected, carrier and cloud-neutral data centre facilities, say it has broken ground on the construction of a solar farm in South Africa's Free State in collaboration with DPA Southern Africa, a joint company of the French energy utility EDF.

India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) reportedly announced on Friday that it has launched an experimental licence module that will allow its established 5G labs across India to test 5G use cases.

Indonesian telco Telkomsel has announced that it has launched an eSIM service for local customers, making it the last of the country’s major operators to do so, as the industry awaits upcoming eSIM regulations from telecoms regulator Kominfo.

Nepali telco Ncell says it has boosted connectivity speeds for its 4G service in various districts of the Lumbini and Bagmati provinces as part of an ongoing drive to improve Quality of Service (QoS) for customers.

Network International, an enabler of digital commerce across the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region, says it has entered into a strategic partnership with fintech solutions provider Souhoola to enable merchants with the capability to offer buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) payments at its networkpay point-of-sale terminals in Egypt.

Remittances are in the news yet again, this time in the shape of LemFi, a cross-border payment solution that allows people in the diaspora to send and receive funds back home. LemFi has announced that it has secured the approval of the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) to operate remittances in Kenya.

PLDT wireless subsidiary Smart Communications on Thursday launched a new push to drive adoption of eSIM among prepaid subscribers by allowing them to keep their existing number when they make the switch.

Indonesia’s Minister of Communication and Information Technology (Kominfo), Budi Arie Setiadi, has reportedly claimed that Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison and Nvidia intend to invest in an artificial intelligence (AI) centre in Central Java sometime this year.

Indonesian telco XL Axiata says it continues to be plagued with theft of its broadband routers by scammers, with the latest case occurring in Medan and Binjai on the island of Sumatra.