In its continuing drive to boost local industry, it now seems that India is taking aim at low-priced smartphones from China of the sort sold in large quantities in the country by companies like Xiaomi.

Paratus, described as a full-service network spanning the African continent and connecting customers internationally, has launched Namibia’s largest carrier-neutral data centre.

Nokia has announced that it has successfully completed testing of voice and data calls over what it says is the world’s first 4.9G/LTE private wireless network to support European Train Control System (ETCS) Level 2 Signalling.

State-owned Ethio Telecom released three new mobile financial services, a move to remain competitive against Safaricom which recently set up a base in the formerly closed-off Ethiopian market.

Major operators and the Kenya Communications Authority (KCA) have mutually agreed to set new interim mobile termination rates (MTR) and fixed termination rates (FTR). 

Lithuania’s three main operators have all procured spectrum holdings following the conclusion of the regulator’s auction of 5G-ready 3.5GHz airwaves.

The Ivory Coast government has announced it will sell a part of its minority stake in Orange’s unit in the country, as the company prepares for an IPO.

The Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) has signed a ten-year contract with authentication solutions company Authentix, under the terms of which Authentix will provide a marketplace governance programme to BURS for the digital marking and tracking of tobacco and alcohol products.

Philippines-based integrated telecommunications giant PLDT has been in the news recently after announcing plans to close down its 3G network. It has also announced the activation of a trans-Pacific cable system.

The Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) has updated its roadmap for the issue of 5G spectrum, covering airwaves in the 700MHz, 2600MHz and 26GHz bands.

Orange Egypt has resigned Nokia to a five-year contract to modernise its subscriber data management (SDM), a move Nokia said will bolster reliability and security for Orange customers and prepare the operator for a commercial 5G launch.

Globe Telecom has partnered with two other telecom players to construct a US$150 million fibre cable network to boost mobile and broadband services.

At Huawei’s Win-Win Innovation Week, Ryan Ding, President of Carrier BG, Huawei, gave a presentation entitled “Green ICT for New Value.”

Internet para Todos (IPT) has expanded its contract with Gilat for 4G cellular backhaul services in Peru.

Telecel Group announced it has opened dialogue with the Ghanaian government to acquire Vodafone’s unit in the country after the country’s regulator revealed it has not approved the deal.

Iraqi fixed-line provider Kurdtel Communications has selected solutions from digital enablement firm Alepo to modernise its network.

Veon subsidiary Banglalink has signed a tower sharing agreement with BTCL (Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited).

Board members of Thailand’s telecoms regulator ruled that True and DTAC did not submit enough evidence to showcase how their merger will not stifle competition in the Thai market, a significant blow to the dragged-out merger.

Further tower sales are afoot across Southeast Asia, with Indonesia’s Telkomsel and the Philippines’ PLDT each agreeing to shift more sites.

For the second time in as many days Indian tech giant Jio Platforms is in the dealmaking news, this time thanks to a partnership with Subex, a provider of telecom analytics solutions and AI-led digital trust products, involving the Subex AI orchestration platform, HyperSense.

NK 108 Empreendimentos e Participacoes (NK 108) has made a binding offer to acquire 8,000 fixed telecoms infrastructure sites from Brazil’s Oi.

Azerbaijan operator Azercell, the leading operator in the market, says it has launched a large-scale project to expand coverage and increase the capacity of its 4G LTE network across the country.

Omnichannel messaging services provider Mitto has now attained direct connectivity with all mobile network operators in Argentina following the announcement of its partnership with CATEL’s MVNO imowi.

Two of the partners in what is described as the first subsea cable connecting Latin America with APAC and Oceania have issued a request for proposals (RFP) to begin construction of the estimated 15,000-kilometre Humboldt Cable.

Indian utility group PGCIL (Power Grid Corporation of India Limited) has selected Tejas Networks to provide and install its optical networking equipment as part of an upgrade of PGCIL’s pan-India telecom backbone and access networks.

A newly completed acquisition in the data centre market promises to create the leading colocation and interconnection provider in Africa, according to Digital Realty, a global provider of cloud-and carrier-neutral data centre, colocation and interconnection solutions.

Indian tech firm Jio Platforms has partnered with Optiva for an end-to-end 5G solution for global markets that aims to accelerate the monetisation of 5G services and use cases.

Vodafone and Ericsson have launched AI and ML software to bolster private 5G networks for enterprises, which will be used to enhance production at Foxconn’s 5G factory in Hungary.

In a fascinating development very close to the launch of its new venture in Ethiopia, Kenya’s Safaricom has announced that current chairman of the board Michael Joseph has stepped down to lead the company’s Ethiopian campaign.

Some seven months after going into insolvency, and nearly four months after being saved from receivership by Singapore-based IoT solutions firm UnaBiz, Sigfox, the supplier of a proprietary narrowband technology designed specifically for IoT, has launched in South Africa.

Vodafone announced a US$55 million cashing injection to bolster its Fiji unit’s network infrastructure to support surging data demand in the archipelago nation.