Could two new undersea internet cable routes planned for 2023 or early 2024 offer Vietnam relief from its international connectivity issues?

Zimbabwe’s telecoms regulator gave operators permission to raise prices by up to 50% this April to combat rising operating costs.

The European Commission (EC) adopted a proposal to include roaming into an agreement to support war-torn Ukraine, a move that will enable Ukrainians to not pay additional charges in EU territories.

Starlink has received a licence to provide satellite broadband services in Rwanda.

The Philippines smartphone market declined by 8.6% year-on-year as manufacturers shipped 16.3 million units in 2022, as consumer and vendor confidence was hit by macroeconomic conditions.

Pakistan-based business communications company Multinet has announced that it will be upgrading its optical transport network that today spans the entire country covering more than 120 cities, across more than 14,000 kilometres.

ZTT International Submarine Cable & System has been hired as the cable supplier for three stretches of the Brazilian government-sponsored Amazon river fibre project Norte Conectado.

Serbia’s state-owned Telekom Srbija, which operates as MTS, has partnered with the country’s Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure (MGSI) to develop and implement digital solutions in the fields of infrastructure, transport and utilities.

Globe Telecom lauded its achievement in hitting infrastructure deployment targets as the Philippines-based operator continues its build-out to meet consumer demand for connectivity, which has gathered pace since the pandemic.

Operator Tigo Tanzania and vendor Ericsson have entered a partnership to launch 5G and to fully modernize and expand the existing Tigo 4G network across Tanzania.

Hard on the heels of news of its increased stake in African giant Vodacom, the Vodafone Group has responded dismissively to rumours that it is considering a partial or total sale of the company.

Africa and the Middle East continued to boost revenues for Orange as the group claimed success in its 5-year plan to invest in “fundamentals” to achieve growth.

For anyone wondering how close the long-awaited merger between India’s ailing state-run telecoms carriers Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) may be, it’s apparently getting closer – albeit there appears to be another hurdle.

Satellite operator Kacific and satcom technology and solutions provider ST Engineering iDirect say they have extended their technology partnership to expand satellite connectivity in Southeast Asia and other regions.

Following the apparent resolution of its tax dispute with the Ghanaian government, MTN Group, Africa’s largest mobile network operator, has now said it plans to invest US$1 billion in Ghana over the next five years.

Xavier Niel, the billionaire owner of French telecoms group Illiad has increased his stake in Millicom to 19.6% through his investment company Atlas Investissement.

Nokia announced the completion of the first Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDN) with Vietnamese operator Viettel, a move that will “dramatically” increase capacity for the operator.

South African operator Telkom said it could put up for sale a minority stake in its core fibre business by March, as the company explores options to improve profits, Reuters reported.

Ooredoo Group reported a revenue lift of 4% in its 2022 full financial year, from QAR21.9 billion to QAR22.7 billion, as the company saw gains across most of its units.  

Intra-African cross-border remittances and digital wallet company EziPay has partnered with digital payments gateway MFS Africa to bring last-mile connectivity for remittances and collections to and from mobile money wallets and bank accounts in Africa.

Somalia’s National Communications Authority (NCA) has confirmed that the country’s operators have implemented the interconnection agreement signed in December 2022.

Dialog Axiata dropped to a loss in its full financial 2022 year due to one-off costs and rising operating expenses, despite also seeing growing revenue across its segments.

Brazil’s CADE (Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Economica / Administrative Council for Economic Defence) has cleared an amendment to the network sharing arrangement between Vivo and TIM Brasil.

NEC Corporation and ADVA will jointly deploy time synchronisation solutions for Telkom Indonesia, allowing the fixed network operator to prepare its transport network for delivering time-sensitive 5G services across the country.

Tizeti, described as West Africa’s pioneer solar-based internet service provider (ISP), is launching its 4G LTE network in ten new states in Nigeria.

ARSAT, Argentina’s national telecommunications company, has awarded MDA, a provider of technology and services to the global space industry, a contract to design, build and supply all of the Ka-band multibeam antennas for Argentina’s ARSAT-SG1 satellite.

Millicom reported a “strong” 2022 in its latest Q4 financial report despite macroeconomic challenges and stated market share growth in mobile and fixed lines in the majority of its units.

In recent days AST SpaceMobile, which describes itself as the company building the first and only space-based cellular broadband network accessible directly by standard mobile phones, has announced collaborations with operators in Brazil and Saudi Arabia.

SC Ventures, Standard Chartered's innovation, fintech investment and ventures arm, has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Yabx, a firm aiming to enable the underserved with limited credit history to get fair access to financial services tailored to their needs.

Orange Madagascar has signed a ten-year Network-as-a-Service (NAAS) deal that will see infrastructure provider AMN Group deploy a minimum of 500 rural base stations across the country.

The initial phase of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)’s first open-access, carrier-neutral data centre - OADC Kinshasa; FIH1 - will go live in Q2 2023.