HFCL, a leading Indian manufacturer of optical fibre cables, optical transport, power electronics and broadband equipment for the telecommunication industry, has won orders worth Rs447.81 crores (about US$56.2 million) from India’s state-owned operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and the telecom infrastructure provider RailTel Corporation.

Hungary’s National Media and Communications Authority (NMHH) revealed that 50,000 outdated mobile phones were traded in its replacement programme in the last seven months, an initiative in preparation for the shutdown of 3G networks.

Samsung did not rule out resuming stock shipments to Russia after the Korean company suspended orders in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine, reported Reuters.

IBM has partnered with Bharti Airtel to help deploy the operator’s edge computing platform in India, which will include 120 network data centres across 20 cities.

After a successful launch, Africell, Angola’s newest operator, is keeping up the pressure on its rivals with a major new offering: free mobile TV.

State-owned operator DataCo suffered massive service disruption as eastern Papua New Guinea was hit by a powerful earthquake.

Vedanta Limited, an Indian multinational mining company headquartered in Mumbai, and Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturer Foxconn have announced a $19.5 billion agreement to build what will be one of the first chipmaking factories in India.

Brazil-based company Neko had its 5G licence waivered after the company requested to vacate its holdings of airwaves in the 26GHz band.

Philippines-based integrated telecommunications giant PLDT has announced plans for the construction of a cable landing station and a subsea cable system.

Orange Money, the mobile money service of Orange, and leading pan-African payments company Cellulant have launched a partnership to enable card-to-wallet transfers for eight banks in Botswana.

Avanti Communications has signed a new agreement with Turksat that will see the firms deliver extensive, continuous coverage across Africa and the Middle East.

Satcoms giant Hughes has again been involved in deals that will deliver remote connectivity, this time in both India and Costa Rica.

Viettel prepared for its 5G deployment by tapping telecoms solutions firm Infinera to modernise its network for a pilot test. 

Ooredoo Group is reportedly considering the sale of its tower infrastructure, following a slew of other operators in raising capital through asset sales to fund growth plans.

Africa Data Centres is back in the news again. This time the company that describes itself as the largest network of interconnected, carrier and cloud-neutral data centre facilities in Africa has joined forces with Nigeria's principle internet exchange point, IXPN.

When we reported on the new rules on data storage introduced in Vietnam and announced in August, we added: “We’ll no doubt see how operators and social media companies respond fairly soon.” We didn’t have to wait long for a response, though it came from a slightly different source.

There may be more regulatory issues for the online giants to deal with, this time in Mexico where Google and Apple have been the target of accusations of uncompetitive behaviour.

Telecoms giant Bharti Airtel says its subsidiary, Nxtra by Airtel, is to become the first data centre company in India to install fuel cell technology to provide clean energy. Nxtra designs, builds and operate the largest network of hyperscale, core and edge data centres in the country.

The Jordanian Telecommunications Regulatory Commission penned an agreement with operator Zain in preparation for the launch of 5G services, following similar deals with Orange and Umniah.

Brazilian newcomer Winity Telecom has signed a six-year deal with Amdocs to support its deployment of 4G and 5G networks across remote rural areas of Brazil.

Intracom Telecom has announced its complete exit from the Russian market in the framework of the European Union sanctions on Russia imposed on February 25th 2022.

Indonesia’s Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) plans to sell off a spare 2×5MHz block of spectrum in the 2.1GHz band as it looks to push 5G deployments across the country.

A long-running dispute over unused spectrum in and around the 3500MHz band in Costa Rica appears to be at an end after an agreement this week between the government and the state utility that owned the spectrum.

ZTE and China Unicom have completed the industry's first trial of integrated sensing, computation, control and communication on a drone at a low altitude in Shanghai.

Telefonica Moviles (Movistar) has commenced its rollout of a 5G-ready network in El Salvador.

Estonian regulator TTJA (Tarbijakaitse ja Tehnilise Jarelevalve Amet / Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority) has commenced its latest round of 5G spectrum auctions, with six lots in the 700MHz band available.

A spectrum auction in Guatemala in the mid-2.5GHZ band, delayed for a number of years, is, apparently, set to go ahead.