Telecom Egypt released a barrage of announcements at Mobile World Congress this week covering two 5G partnerships, Africa’s first 1.2 Tbps fibre connection and a 50G PON trial.

Could the fortunes of Indian operator Vodafone Idea be about to change? That’s probably too optimistic an assessment at this stage, but recently announced plans to raise Rs45,000 crore (about US$5.5 billion) via equity and debt signal that a much-needed funding boost may finally be on the way for Vodafone Idea.

A renewed and expanded deal between Openserve and Intelsat and could signal a major boost for connectivity in South Africa.

At MWC24, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison announced a collaboration with NVIDIA to help establish Indonesia as a leading player in the AI sector.

Turkcell, the largest mobile operator in Turkey, and satellite-direct-to-mobile-telecoms (Sat2Phone) provider Lynk Global have announced a contract signing signalling the start of initial Sat2Phone services utilising what Lynk calls its ‘cell-towers-in-space’.

Telkomsel has signed an agreement with Google Cloud to integrate enterprise-grade generative AI (gen AI) into its operations and core product offerings for consumers and businesses.

Ericsson and Saudi Arabian IoT digital solutions provider iot squared have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at MWC 2024 to offer the Ericsson Connected Recycling (ECR) platform as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) in Saudi Arabia.

Orange Middle East & Africa (OMEA), a major telecom player in the region, has announced at MWC 2024 a strategic partnership with Tencent Cloud, the cloud business of global technology company Tencent, to enrich the ecosystem and service offering of its super-app Max it for businesses and populations in the region.

There’s been another announcement at MWC 2024 from Intelsat, operator of one of the world’s largest integrated satellite and terrestrial networks, this time involving a project with prominent telecommunications firm and systems integrator Saudi Net Link (SNL).

At MWC24, Huawei brought together global carriers, industry organizations, and academics at the Digital Operations Transformation Summit 2024 to discuss how carriers accelerate digital operations transformation.

Egyptian operator Etisalat Misr by e& and digital BSS specialist Qvantel have announced that they have signed an agreement at MWC to implement the Qvantel Flex BSS solution to help in the digital transformation of Etisalat BSS.

Vietnam will reportedly begin blocking signals for 2G-only mobile phones next month as part of its broader plan to fully phase out 2G service later this year.

At Mobile World Congress 2024, Philippine telco NOW Telecom signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Rakuten Symphony to establish a collaborative framework for deploying a 5G Open RAN pilot in the Philippines.

Global satellite operator Intelsat announced on Tuesday it has renewed and expanded its relationship with South African telecoms infrastructure provider Openserve to include new hardware and satellite connectivity.

Global digital operator Veon announced on Tuesday that its digital operator in Pakistan, Jazz, has launched a new mobile service brand called ROX that targets digital natives with an “integrated lifestyle experience”.

At Mobile World Congress 2024, Malaysian operators CelcomDigi and U Mobile agreed to share 100 multi-operator core network sites across Malaysia, as well as collaborate on developing use cases for 5G-Advanced (5G-A).

Cloud company Amazon Web Services (AWS), has announced plans to launch an AWS infrastructure Region in Mexico by early 2025.

As 4G delays and subscriber losses continue, it has been reported that the Indian government is looking at ways to improve operational efficiencies in state-owned operator BSNL to enhance its competitiveness.

Bharti Airtel, one of India's leading telecommunications service providers, has announced what it calls a pioneering initiative to deliver uninterrupted connectivity to metro commuters by deploying high-capacity nodes 35 metres below the River Hooghly (popularly known as the Ganga) in West Bengal.

G+D a major name in digital security, financial platforms and currency technology, and operator China Unicom have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at this year’s MWC to establish a strategic partnership in the areas of eSIM technology and services.

Ericsson revealed it will upgrade Malaysia’s 5G network to 5G Advanced, a move the vendor claimed will open new features and capabilities to attract adoption from enterprises. 

Hungary’s 4iG Group and Elisa Polystar have signed a cooperation agreement for the implementation of an automated network management and customer experience monitoring system.

United Group acquired Bulsatcom, a direct-to-home satellite television and broadband internet provider in Bulgaria.

Nokia and Telecom Argentina have announced a collaboration agreement which will help foster the GSMA’s Open Gateway ecosystem for network operations in Latin America.

Corning Incorporated, an innovator in materials science, is showcasing at MWC 2024 a new radio access network (RAN) compute platform, developed in collaboration with Dell Technologies and Intel, to speed the deployment of 5G networks inside high-density buildings.

There’s more environment-focused news from big industry names at MWC 2024. This time it involves Indonesian telecommunications company Telkomsel, which has formed a strategic collaboration with vendor Ericsson.

At Mobile World Congress on Monday, payments company Visa and the GSMA Mobile for Development Foundation (a.k.a. the GSMA Foundation) launched the Digital Finance for All (DFA) Initiative to advance digital financial inclusion in developing markets.

Vicinity Technologies Limited, a wireless communication products and technologies provider, has announced the availability of its 5G cloud-managed intelligent network at the MWC 2024. This solution, it says, enables ultra-low latency 5G applications and offers numerous benefits for various industries.

The enterprise division of the Orange Group, Orange Business, a leading network and digital integrator, and technology giant Cisco have announced at MWC 2024 the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for a joint action plan to help reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

SK Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, e& (Etisalat and) Group, Singtel and SoftBank Corp are the big names behind the Global Telco AI Alliance (GTAA), which this week held its inaugural meeting at MWC 2024 and announced plans to establish a joint venture.

Thales announced on Monday it is partnering with Google to launch its new eSIM Discovery service that aims to make it easier for users to download and activate eSIMs onto compatible Android devices, including tablets, laptops, and smartwatches.

ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin has announced over US$9 billion in investment commitments from mobile operator groups to extend global connectivity. The announcement was made yesterday at MWC 2024.

Direct-to-phone satellite operator Lynk Global announced on Monday it has successfully tested its Sat2Phone technology in Argentina for the first time in collaboration with Telefónica.