With the ink hardly dry on a UAE-Malaysia agreement to help the Asia-Pacific country build more data centres, the UAE has now signed a digital infrastructure deal with Greece.

MTN struck a deal to have financial powerhouse Mastercard invest US$200 million to take a minority stake in the operator’s fintech unit. 

A rather unusual 5G story comes from Chile, where operator Movistar recently requested that the imminent second 5G spectrum tender be suspended – a request that has been rejected by the Chilean antitrust authority the TDLC (el Tribunal de Defensa de la Libre Competencia).

Geespace, a subsidiary of Chinese carmaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, says it has added another 11 LEO satellites to its planned global constellation designed primarily to serve connected and self-driving cars.

E& Carrier & Wholesale Services (C&WS) an internet, mobile and regional hub for international cable systems, is set to anchor the 2Africa subsea cable; this will be the most extensive subsea cable system landing in the UAE to date.

Nokia announced it signed a multi-year patent cross-license agreement with Chinese smartphone vendor vivo. 

Saudi Arabia has launched Alat, a new company that says it aims to transform the country into a global hub for sustainable technology manufacturing.

Subsea cable activity in the Asia-Pacific region isn’t slowing down any time soon, judging by two recent announcements.

Telefonica Peru reported over half of data traffic stemmed from fibre optic cables and is now aiming to have over three-quarters of traffic on fibre by the end of 2024. 

Ericsson announced on Friday it has signed long-term co-operation agreement with Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT Kharagpur) for joint research in tech areas including AI and edge compute to contribute to development of 6G.

Telecoms infrastructure firm edotco announced Friday it has signed a collaborative agreement with electric vehicle (EV) charging solutions provider ChargeSini to deploy EV charging infrastructure across Malaysia.

Telecom Egypt and Budapest-based telecoms/IT group 4iG have formally established a joint venture to build their proposed express subsea cable between Albania and Egypt.

Vietnam has confirmed plans – approved by the government and announced by the Ministry of Information and Communications – to invest in two to four more international telecommunications cables with a data capacity of 60 Tbps by 2025.

Indian conglomerate Tata Group is reportedly in talks to partner with Taiwan-based electronics manufacturer Pegatron to set up an iPhone factory in India, as Apple aims to shift its reliance on Chinese manufacturing.

Vodacom Group reported revenue increased by 26.8% to ZAR8.9 billion (US$477 million) in Q3, fuelled by its acquisition of Vodafone Egypt, as well as hitting the 200 million customers milestone in the quarter, doubling its base since 2018. 

Polish IT company Comarch announced that it has signed a deal with Ukrainian telco Kyivstar to help modernize and update its field service maintenance activities.

The Indian government has extended the customs duty exemption given to vessels engaged in laying submarine cables to 30 September. The exemption was originally due to end on 31 March.

Google isn’t the only tech giant to be promoting a cloud-related first in Africa this week. Oracle, which already has a cloud presence on the continent, has announced plans to establish a new public cloud region in Nairobi.

Google launched its first cloud region in South Africa, a move to provide low latency cloud services to businesses in the continent. 

Digital payments in Cambodia grew significantly in 2023 in terms of digital wallet accounts and transactions, according to the latest figures from the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC).

Indonesia’s internet penetration rate has reportedly edged up from 78.1% this time last year to 79.5% as of January 2024, with younger people – particularly ‘Generation Z’ – continuing to be the key demographic in terms of usage.

Veon subsidiary Banglalink said on Wednesday it has completed the sale of part of its tower portfolio in Bangladesh to Summit Towers for BDT11 billion (US$100 million).

Service provider Telekom Malaysia is said to be exploring plans to build a new hyperscale data centre, expanding its capacity from the existing Klang Valley Data Centre (KVDC) and Iskandar Puteri Data Centre (IPDC).

Morocco-based telecommunication operator Inwi has announced the signing of a strategic partnership agreement with the Medusa submarine cable system to reinforce its trans-Mediterranean connectivity.

IHS Nigeria reached the milestone of deploying 10,000km of fibre optic cables across Nigeria, a move to fulfil rising broadband demand. 

Liberty Latin America (LLA) switched on its 5G network in Costa Rica for localised tests as part of plans for commercial launch this year. 

Telkom Indonesia’s startup incubator Indigo and digital entertainment unit Nuon Digital Indonesia have agreed to collaborate with the Ministry of Trade to accelerate development of the country’s games industry.

Indonesian operator Telkomsel announced it has formed a strategic partnership with Google to provide rich communication services (RCS), including a rich business messaging (RBM) feature aimed at enterprises.

Musang Valley Plantation (MVP), a leading integrated plantation company in Malaysia, is using advanced Earth observation (EO) data and analytics solutions provided by SC Solutions to drive and implement sustainable practices and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives.

A Moroccan commercial court has this week told Maroc Telecom, the leading telecommunications company in Morocco, to pay compensation of  about US$636 million to its competitor Inwi for unfair competition practices.

The third-biggest South African operator, Telkom, has released an announcement claiming it has helped to win convictions for cable theft and infrastructure vandalism at various operations across the country.

Chinese smartphone manufacturer OnePlus and Reliance Jio partnered to set up a 5G innovation lab in India. 

Russian operator group MTS offloaded its Armenian unit MTS Armenia to Cyprus-based Fedlico Group after finally gaining regulatory approval.