The drive to bring affordable smart connectivity to tens of millions of Africans continues, this time through a partnership involving MediaTek, Digit and pan-African operator Vodacom.

CelcomDigi reported a dip in earnings due to depreciation of network assets, and flat revenues as the company continues its merger integration. 

The ITU Radiocommunication Assembly 2023 (RA-23) wrapped up on Friday with a lot of new resolutions covering 6G standards, sustainable usage of space spectrum and gender equality.

Telekom Malaysia and Chinese telecoms vendor FiberHome have launched an innovation lab to build up TM's digital talent ecosystem under their ongoing joint strategic partnership programme.

Canadian RAN provider NuRAN Wireless says that it has filed an application for a network infrastructure licence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to add more services to its portfolio.

Bahamas Telecommunications Company vice chairman Valentine Grimes said a portion of the cash raised by parent company Liberty Latin America in its recent tower deal, could be used to deploy 5G in the Bahamas. 

Indonesia operators partnered with the Ministry of Communication and Informatics (MCI) to set up a task force to deliver new ideas and incentives to accelerate 5G deployment. 

The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has awarded a feasibility study grant to Malaysia’s Hexa Capital Consultancy to develop what would be the first subsea cable system directly connecting Malaysia and the US.

What is described as a “landmark agreement” will lay the foundation for South Africa’s Gugulethu Colliery, a newly developed mine in Mpumalanga, to integrate 5G technology in its operations.

A project to build submarine cable network between Sihanoukville, a coastal city in southern Cambodia, and Hong Kong is to be completed in July 2025, according to regional press reports.

Satellite connectivity company Astranis announced it will have two satellites in operation next year over the Philippines to connect remote islands. 

Intelsat and Africa Mobile Networks (AMN) have revealed plans to deploy 1,340 new satellite-connected cellular towers in Madagascar, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Eutelsat OneWeb signed a multi-year master distribution agreement on Wednesday with African ICT integrator NEC XON to bring OneWeb’s LEOsat connectivity to Sub-Saharan Africa.

NOW Corp added another satellite broadband partnership to its collection on Wednesday, this one with aspiring LEOsat operator Rivada Space Networks to target enterprises in the Philippines.

Veon subsidiary Banglalink has signed an agreement to sell around a third of its tower portfolio in Bangladesh to Summit Towers for BDT11 billion (US$100 million).

Italian international service provider Sparkle has announced the expansion of its network footprint to South Africa with the opening of two new points of presence (PoPs) in Cape Town and Johannesburg.

Converged open-access digital infrastructure company WIOCC Group has launched what it calls “the first truly holistic managed network and infrastructure services company to serve Africa”.

The Ethiopian government failed to attract any bidders for its third telecoms licence according to sources speaking to Bloomberg, as investors are put off by the current political instability in the country. 

Teraco, Africa’s largest interconnection hub and vendor-neutral data centre provider, has made two recent announcements relating to expansion in the key South African market.

It looks like Colombia’s 5G spectrum auction is still on course to take place on 20 December, as stated by the Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications (Ministerio de Tecnologias de la Informacion y las Comunicaciones, MinTIC) in June.

Liberty Latin America (LLA) tapped voice security company Hiya to launch call protection software for subscribers in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. 

The London Internet Exchange (LINX) said on Tuesday that its internet exchange point (IXP) in Nairobi is now live and ready to serve East Africa.

South Africa-based CMC Networks says it has partnered with German network solution provider aconnic to deliver NFV to service providers in Africa and the Middle East.

Tunisian national operator Tunisie Telecom, and mobile transaction platform Telepin have announced the signing of a partnership agreement for the launch of the converged charging system for Tunisie Telecom’s customers.

Google has been fined US$164,000 by a Moscow court. The fine, which was imposed on Tuesday, was said to be for repeated refusal to store Russian users' data on servers inside Russia.

Vodacom Group reported an earnings hit due to macroeconomic conditions and loss in Ethiopia, however, its acquisition of Vodafone Egypt prevented further dips. 

Globe Telecom revealed battery thefts at its network facilities have more than doubled and are putting backup supply at risk in times of natural disasters. 

Operator MTN Nigeria and the African operation of American Tower Corporation, a leading independent owner, operator and developer of multitenant communications real estate, have entered into a new agreement that, they say, is expected to enhance wireless connectivity across Nigeria.

Telecom Namibia has signed an N$100 million (US$5.2 million) agreement with Huawei to deliver a fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) core network as part of its ongoing digital transformation and network modernisation project.

Indonesian operator Telkomsel has partnered with ZTE to launch MarineMobile, a 5G-based mobile maritime solution designed to help fishermen boost productivity.

The Republic of Djibouti has launched its first satellite, Djibouti 1A. It took off last weekend from the Vandenberg Space Force Base onboard the SpaceX Transporter-9, a dedicated SSO rideshare mission carrying a variety of payloads into sun-synchronous orbit.