Telebirr, a mobile payment and digital wallet service launched by Ethiopia’s state-owned operator Ethio Telecom in May 2021, has reached over 17.6 million subscribers with a cumulative transaction value of 12.58 billion birr (about $245.2 million) to date.

After last year’s announcement of plans for a scheme to support drone manufacture, five drone manufacturers and nine drone component manufacturers have now been selected as initial beneficiaries of the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme to boost drone manufacturing in India, the aviation ministry has announced.

The Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN) has announced it will review its frequency band every four years, a move to be in line with International Telecommunication Union (ITU) guidelines, which promote cross border interoperability and support for new technologies.

Princeton Digital Group (PDG), a leading developer and operator of internet infrastructure headquartered in Singapore, and the Indonesian Internet Service Provider Association (APJII), which supports internet development in Indonesia, have announced a collaboration to boost Indonesia's internet infrastructure.

STC, Nokia and MediaTek have revealed a joint effort to verify 3 Component Carrier Aggregation (3CC-CA) in a 5G standalone network for the first time in the Middle East, a method to optimally combine spectrum assets to enhance 5G experiences.  

PP Telecommunication (PPTEL), a leading network service provider based in Sarawak in Malaysia, has selected Juniper Networks, which describes itself as a leader in secure, AI-driven networks, to provide solutions to build a new core network that will support its growth plans.

Indian data centre growth – or proposals for such growth – continues. Late last week saw the news that Indian data management specialist VueNow is, according to local press reports, proposing to build dozens of edge data centres across the Indian state of Bihar, although this proposal is as yet some way from the approval stage.

Smartphone brand Infinix has launched the Infinix Wallet, a digital wallet app co-developed with mobile financial services platform PalmPay. The aim of the app is to provide a seamless digital financial experience to users across emerging market economies, starting with a number of African markets.

Viettel Group has announced the international Asia Direct Cable (ADC) is now connecting Vietnam, a subsea cable state-owned operator has invested in.

Google’s first-ever African product development centre is to open in Nairobi, underlining the importance to the company of the African market and its growing base of internet users.

As part of the operator’s wide-ranging network upgrade, Nokia will deploy its XGS-PON equipment for Cable Bahamas (REV)’s new fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network.

Chile’s Entel has pledged to invest more than US$665 million throughout 2022 into its operations across Chile and Peru.

The merger between True and Dtac is again seeing opposition as a government committee tasked with analysing the merger, will push to delay the deal because of legal ambiguities and questions about the Thai telecoms regulator’s authority on the deal.

Broadband internet via satellite is coming to 500 rural communities in Mexico thanks to Spanish telecommunications satellite operator Hispasat and Mexican internet service provider GlobalSat.

As recently happened – more than once – in Nigeria, the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) has extended SIM card registration in the country beyond last week's deadline.

Digital infrastructure services provider Summit Digitel has announced that it has signed an agreement with Indian operator Bharti Airtel to provide its tower infrastructure for Airtel’s wireless network rollouts.

Senegal’s telecoms regulator has reduced fines imposed on operators Sonatel, Free and Expresso Senegal, but demands they allocate funds to improve coverage and service quality.

Parallel Wireless is conducting an Open RAN field trial over the 2600MHz band in Brazil, in partnership with local operators and organisations.

Bahrain-headquartered technology solution provider Kalaam Telecom has announced the completion of its acquisition of Kuwaiti ISP and ICT services company Zajil International Telecom Co (KSCC).

Batelco and Ericsson have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on next-generation 5G technologies.

The 2Africa subsea cable consortium, comprised of China Mobile International, Meta, MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, STC, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone and WIOCC, has announced the first landing of the 2Africa cable – in Genoa, Italy.

MTN Cameroon and state-owned Cameroon Telecommunications (Camtel) have penned a national roaming agreement which will see the latter expand its coverage significantly.

The rapid growth of mobile money-based services continues. Ooredoo Money Services, part of Qatar-headquartered operator Ooredoo, has announced a partnership with Thunes, a global payment services platform based in Singapore, to provide instant money transfers to multiple mobile wallets internationally.

In a major boost for the TETRA radio standard, MacroAsia Corporation (MAC), a leading provider of aviation-related support services in the Philippines, says it has relied on Teltronic, a designer and manufacturer of mission-critical radio communications, to deploy a TETRA communication system that services six airports in the country.

South African operator MTN has announced an expansion drive into rural and peri-urban areas and a major 5G rollout, at a cost of some R749 million (about US$51.5 million dollars), in the Western Cape province this year.

Telecel Group has finally completed its acquisition of Mattel Mauritania from Tunisie Telecom and Comatel for an undisclosed fee.

Google’s Equiano subsea cable system will connect Nigeria this month (April) a move that is expected to boost broadband speeds for the country and its neighbours fivefold.

Fresh from its commercial launch in Angola’s capital of Luanda, Africell has revealed the next locations for its phased network rollout of 4G services.