MTN Group pledged to invest US$215 million in infrastructure into Benin over the next three years after seeing positive results from 5G trials in the country. 

Sri Lankan operator SLT-Mobitel said it has expanded its partnership with insurance company Union Assurance to enable its customers to access tailored life insurance plans via its mobile money platform mCash.

Malaysian ICT distributor VSTECS said on Monday its subsidiary VSTECS Astar has become the latest company authorised by SpaceX to resell Starlink’s LEO satellite broadband service across the country.

Operator Orange Madagascar has announced plans to double its network coverage to reach about 90% of the island country’s 29 million people by the end of this year.

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), the largest integrated information communication technology (ICT) company in Pakistan, and DE-CIX, a leading internet exchange (IX) operator, have announced the inauguration of what is called the ‘Pakistan Internet Exchange (PIE) powered by DE-CIX’, which is described as the first carrier- neutral IX in the country.

Synspective, a Japanese SAR satellite data and analytics solution provider, has entered into memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with Uzbekistan’s Centre for Space Monitoring and Geoinformation Technologies and Kazakhstan Gharysh Sapary (KGS), the national space agency of Kazakhstan.

Israeli operator Bezeq announced it will enter the electricity supply sector this year with aims to be a "major player", and seizing opportunity as the nation opened its energy sector to fresh competition. 

Vietnam’s Ministry of Information and Communications has reportedly urged the country’s telcos to find new growth opportunities in digital as the sector’s growth continued to slow down in 2023.

Malaysian telco Maxis revealed on Friday that it has formalised its collaboration with Public Bank to accelerate digital adoption among Malaysia’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

China Unicom and Huawei said that they have successfully deployed and tested a pilot large-scale 5.5G (a.k.a. 5G-Advanced) network in parts of Beijing with downlink speeds of at least 5 Gbps.

Bangladesh Infrastructure service provider Summit Communications has signed a deal with Juniper Networks to upgrade its core optical network to 400G in anticipation of a surge in traffic demand once 5G is commercially launched in the country.

As widely predicted, the impending Indian spectrum auction, probably taking place in March, is not going to generate a lot of revenue for the country’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT), something the DoT itself has now admitted.

Millicom, a leading provider of fixed and mobile telecommunications services in Latin America, has announced that its subsidiary, the operator Tigo Colombia, has agreed to sell approximately 1100 wireless communications towers to affiliates of investment funds managed by KKR, a leading global investment firm.

Will Costa Rica’s 5G rollout be delayed by problems with telecoms regulator Sutel? That, it appears, is the fear of the country’s IT sector.

Orange Business and Tēnaka, a social business that works to restore and protect marine ecosystems worldwide, have partnered to scale the coral reef restoration in a Marine Protected Area of the Coral Triangle in Malaysia.

All five of Malaysia’s mobile operators have launched special “p-hailing” data plans as part of a new government initiative targeted specifically at gig-economy delivery drivers and riders.

The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) has reportedly approved incumbent telco PLDT’s planned P6.75 billion (US$120 million) buyout of broadband and cable TV provider Sky Cable Corporation.

Cambodian operator CamGSM said on Wednesday that it has secured a US$70 million guaranteed loan from GuarantCo – a subsidiary of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) – to support its sustainability bond.

The somewhat confusing saga of debts that may be owed by Nigeria’s second-biggest operator to its biggest has taken a new twist as Globacom has been granted an additional 21 days to pay the interconnect fees owed to rival operator MTN.

While Indian operator Reliance Jio claims to have completed its national 5G rollout, and rival Bharti Airtel hopes to complete it by March, Vodafone Idea and new market entrant Adani Data Networks may be facing fines for not meeting the minimum 5G rollout obligations that have been set.

A consortium led by Actis, a global investor in sustainable infrastructure, says it has acquired the macro tower portfolio of Telekom Srbija a leading operator across Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro.

Malaysian mobile operator CelcomDigi announced a new partnership on Tuesday with Yinson GreenTech under which new postpaid 5G customers can also get an electric bike on an instalment plan.

Thailand’s state telco National Telecom (NT) is reportedly seeking government approval for a 5-billion baht (US$145 million) expansion plan that, among other things, calls for building two new data centres to satisfy cloud demand among state agencies.

A widely reported but so far formally unconfirmed news story suggests that Cellnex, a leading operator of wireless telecommunications infrastructures, is considering a stake sale of its Polish unit.

Indonesian ISP Link Net is reportedly planning to raise up to US$500 million by selling a stake in its fibre business as it gears up to expand its network coverage.

Connectivity provider Paratus South Africa has extended its partnership with satellite operator Eutelsat to include LEO satellite connectivity from Eutelsat OneWeb in its service offerings in South Africa.

It has been widely reported in the Indian press that Tata Communications Transformation Services (TCTS), a subsidiary of Indian digital ecosystem enabler Tata Communications, has issued a service contract  termination notice to operator Vodafone Idea (aka Vi) after the company did not pay TCTS on time.