A Russian government commission has reportedly cleared Veon’s sale of its Russian unit Vimpelcom to the operator’s senior managers.

Liquid Intelligent Technologies is deploying Nokia’s transport network technology in a new terrestrial fibre route connecting Mombasa, Kenya to Johannesburg, South Africa.

Operator MTN Nigeria has been given permission by regulator the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to disconnect a number of value added service (VAS) providers that have not paid their interconnect debts.

The government of Guinea-Bissau is reportedly reviving plans to divest stakes in state-owned Guine Telecom and Guinetel.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) is preparing a non-binding offer for Telenor Pakistan pitching up to US$1.2 billion for the unit, reported local newspaper The News.

Tunisia’s Ministry of Communication Technologies has announced plans to launch the second phase of its white spots (areas that are currently uncovered) coverage project.

French Polynesian operator ONATi - a subsidiary of the OPT French Polynesia Group - has selected Intelia and Ciena to increase the capacity of the Honotua international submarine cable to 300Gb/s.

PT Profesional Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Protelindo), the largest telecommunication infrastructure company in Indonesia, has invested in UK-headquartered Stratospheric Platforms Limited (SPL), which seeks to provide high-bandwidth telecoms network coverage from the stratosphere using hydrogen-powered high altitude platforms (HAPS) delivered by unmanned aircraft.

Hungarian operator 4iG and the government sealed the acquisition of Vodafone Hungary, a major move in a series of acquisitions to mount a challenge against market leader and Deutsche Telekom–owned, Maygar Telekom. 

Operator Vodafone Oman and vendor Ericsson say they have carried out a successful test call that will pave the way for the commercial introduction of 5G standalone (SA) voice and data services for Vodafone subscribers in the Sultanate. 

India’s STL (Sterlite Technologies Limited) is divesting its support, monetisation, networking, and analytics solutions business to Skyvera.

The long-awaited end of charges for roaming between Brazil and Chile is not happening after all – or at least not yet.

Could the rollout of 5G services across India by operators be slowed without heavy investment in tower connectivity? That appears to be the question asked by ratings agency ICRA, which suggests that some three trillion rupees (about US$36.7 billion) will need to be spent over the next four to five years to fiberise towers.

Bangladesh’s Grameenphone has recorded increased year-on-year revenue for its seventh consecutive quarter, shrugging off a months-long government-imposed ban on SIM sales.

Bite Lithuania hailed 5G data speeds up to 2.679Gbps, which it claimed bested rival records, as the operator edges closer to launching its commercial network for smartphones next month.

Telecom Egypt acquired 5MHz of spectrum in the 1,800MHz band for US$125 million as the operator looks to support rising traffic on its network.

State-owned Indian operator BSNL has apparently partnered Echelon Edge, a global information technology and system integration company. The aim? To set up private 5G networks.

Malaysian rural broadband service provider MEASAT has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Parcel365, an app-based platform that allows consumers and sellers to send and receive parcels 24/7.

YahClick, the data solutions subsidiary of UAE-headquartered satellite operator Al Yah Satellite Communications Company (Yahsat), has signed a US$15 million six-year strategic partnership agreement with Canar Telecommunication Co of Sudan, further expanding YahClick’s satellite broadband presence in Africa.

The government of the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) has embarked on a national fibre ring project that will connect to the Arcos-1 system.

India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has cautioned several operators for applying for authorisation to land submarine cable systems in which they hold no stakes.

Zimbabwe’s telecoms regulator stated prolonged power blackouts are causing multiple network issues in the country.

Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison (IOH) said it is nearing complete nationwide network integration, a move that will boost coverage and customer experience.

Niger’s government will abolish the tax on incoming international traffic (Taxe sur la Terminaison du Trafic International Entrant, TATTIE), according to reports in Agence Nigerienne de Presse.

Argentina’s telecoms regulator will roll out a new rule demanding operators register customer biometrics when switching to new SIM cards, a move to boost security for subscribers and curb SIM hijacking.  

Antel, the leading mobile operator in Uruguay, is working with VMware, a provider of multi-cloud services for all apps, for a use case-driven trial using the VMware Telco Cloud Platform to support a proof of concept (PoC).

India seems to have taken the self-sufficiency theme to another level with a home-grown mobile operating system developed at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. It’s called BharOS (Bhar is short for Bharat, or India).

The Russian government has reportedly objected to operator Veon planning to join a raft of companies in selling off assets in the country and exiting the market.

Uzbekistan's state-owned operator Uzbektelecom has signed a new infrastructure agreement with four Japanese firms - Internet Initiative Japan (IIJ), NEC, NTT and Toyota Tsusho.

Nigerian operator Mafab Communications met its deadline extension and finally launched 5G services after months of delay.