Global operator Sparkle announced on Thursday it has signed three new capacity agreements to expand the reach of European research and education network operator GÉANT across Europe, Africa and MENA.

Brazil’s Ministry of Communications says that, following the auction of the 700MHz band, held in April by telecoms regulator Anatel and the Ministry of Communications, highway coverage will be expanded.

SMART Zambia, an official body mandated to coordinate and implement electronic government, and ICT giant Huawei Technologies have announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding to jointly support the development in Zambia of a National Artificial Intelligence Data Centre.

Telenor IoT, a leading global provider of IoT connectivity, and Sateliot, a low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation based on the 5G standard, have announced a strategic partnership that they say represents a significant milestone in expanding global IoT coverage.

Huawei executives said the company is repositioning itself from a traditional storage hardware supplier into a provider of full-stack AI data infrastructure, arguing enterprises will need to overhaul existing architectures to cope with the rapid rise of AI workloads.

Global digital operator Veon announced on Wednesday that Ukrainian ride-hailing platform Uklon – which is owned by Veon’s Kyivstar – has started testing autonomous vehicle technology for a planned robotaxi service in Ukraine.

Last week’s launch of Bharti Airtel’s Priority Postpaid service has reignited debate in India’s telecoms sector over whether network slicing – a key feature of standalone (SA) 5G – is consistent with the country’s net neutrality policy.

A number of news outlets are reporting that tech giant Samsung Electronics is planning to invest about US$1.5 billion in Vietnam to build a semiconductor testing plant, though neither the company nor the country have formally confirmed this.

Another plan to tax mobile money transactions is under attack – this time in Kenya, the market that, arguably, pioneered mobile payments.

Tirana International Airport (TIA) has become the first airport in the Western Balkans to deploy Airbus’ airport safety solution, a solution powered by Vodafone Albania’s 5G network.

Huawei unveiled what it called a “new semiconductor path” to drive the chip industry forward, claiming traditional Moore’s Law is reaching its physical limits.

Veon criticised the high rate of taxation on the telecoms sector in Bangladesh and Pakistan, warning it risks slowing digital and economic growth in both countries.

Digicel PNG announced on Wednesday it is now authorised to resell Starlink’s LEO satellite broadband services to businesses across Papua New Guinea, a month after a government ban on Starlink operations was rescinded.

Kyivstar announced on Tuesday it has completed its acquisition of six solar power plants in the Lviv region of Ukraine in a deal worth UAH3.6 billion (US$80.8 million) as it continues to chase renewable energy as a new revenue stream.

ZTE said on Tuesday that Uzbekistan telco Ucell has completed commercial deployment of ZTE's AI‑powered energy‑saving solution for RANs across its network.

Avelacom, a ultra-low latency connectivity and infrastructure provider, says it has launched a new direct low-latency route between Bangkok and Tokyo, which, it says, delivers less than 65 ms round-trip delay (RTD).

The East African Community (EAC), a regional intergovernmental organisation comprising eight partner states, says it has commenced a series of regional engagements aimed at advancing the development of a harmonised Regional Mobile Roaming Framework.

Mobile money service Vodacom M‑Pesa Tanzania has announced a new partnership with digital payment giant PayPal that will enable customers in Tanzania to seamlessly transfer funds between their PayPal and M‑Pesa wallets through the M‑Pesa Super App.

PLDT’s wireless arm Smart Communications announced on Tuesday it will bundle AI-powered glasses with native access to Google Gemini with two postpaid plans starting this Friday.

Vietnam's Viettel Group announced on Friday it has held discussions with the Central Bank of Haiti to expand cooperation on telecoms and digital finance projects in the Caribbean country via its local operation, Natcom.

Cambodian telco CamGSM (a.k.a. Cellcard) revealed on Monday it has doubled its 5G network coverage since its initial launch in January, and is on track to double it again by the end of July this year.

Global cable manufacturer Prysmian announced on Thursday it  has partnered with Ufinet Brasil to deploy a 30 km underground network to boost interconnectivity for hyperscale data centres in Sao Paulo Province’s Alphaville.

Sri Lankan telco Dialog Axiata launched its “Air Fibre” 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) service on Sunday, the first such service to be offered in Sri Lanka.

Digicel Samoa announced on Monday it has expanded its network on Savai’i with the launch of two new telecoms towers in Samalaeulu and Falelima, which it says will improve mobile and data connectivity for customers across the island.

Among headlines relating to ongoing device registration efforts across Africa is recent news that Cameroon’s customs administration has ordered mobile network operators to block digital devices that have not been registered and cleared through the country’s new electronic customs system.

NEC XON, a leading African integrator of ICT solutions and part of NEC, a Japanese global company, says it has reinforced its position in the African wireless connectivity market through a strategic distribution partnership with Mimosa Networks.

Bahrain-headquartered global technology group Beyon has announced the signing of a public private partnership (PPP) commitment agreement with the Ministry of Communications in Kuwait and the Kuwait Authority for Partnership Projects (KAPP).

The Latin American smartphone market recorded 34.8 million smartphone shipments in Q1 2026, representing 3% year-on-year growth, defying broader global declines driven by rising memory component costs.

It is being widely reported in the African technology press that pan-African operator MTN plans to turn its African towers into an AI inference grid.

Digital Edge, which delivers data centre and fibre solutions for hyperscalers and enterprises across nine countries in the Asia-Pacific region, has announced the successful closing of its inaugural US$575 million holding company (HoldCo) financing.

Togo and Poland have signed a EUR24 million (about US$27.85 million) financing agreement to support the local development of next-generation drones.