A parliamentary commission has called for the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo to abolish a tax on mobile devices.

Senegalese regulator ARTP (L’Autorite de Regulation des Telecommunications et des Postes / Regulation Authority for Telecommunications and Posts) has fined the country’s three mobile providers a total of XOF20.284 billion (US$35 million).

MENA’s largest Open Banking platform Tarabut Gateway has announced a partnership with Zain Bahrain to provide the region’s first use case of Open Banking payments within a telco app.

Qatari multinational telecommunications company Ooredoo Group has received a delegation of senior representatives of its partner, the Chinese partially state-owned technology company ZTE Corporation to sign an extension of their existing partnership.

Indonesian digital communications company Indosat Ooredoo and Groundhog Technologies, a Mobility Intelligence provider, are developing an on-demand advertising software platform Programmatic, which aims to provide data-driven digital advertising solutions that help marketers achieve optimal advertising of Advertising Services.

The Human Rights Division of Ghana's High Court presided over by Barbara Tettey –Charway has struck out the application for an interlocutory injunction to halt the ongoing registration of SIM Cards.

Poland’s regulator UKE (Urzad Komunikacji Elektronicznej / Office of Electronic Communications) has confirmed its reallocation plans for the 2100MHz band.

The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has awarded a grant to Smart Communications, the mobile unit of PLDT, to help the operator extend its 5G offering to 96% of the Philippines’ population.

Pan-African operator Airtel Africa and Ericsson have announced the launch of a data centre in the East African island country of the Seychelles.

Russia’s largest integrated digital company Rostelecom and VEB Ventures, a company of the VEB.RF group signed an agreement on the formation of the Atlas joint venture to create a fundamentally new backbone fiber-optic communication line (FOCL) Transit Europe – Asia of a new generation (TEA NEXT).

Hungarian IT service management company 4iG said it has signed a final contract to buy an 80.27% stake in Albanian telecommunications operator Albtelecom from Cetel Telecom, a majority-owned subsidiary of Turkey’s diversified holding company Calik Holding.

Indonesia and Huawei mull the expansion of the partnership between digital transformation and a number of initiatives to develop digitalization, 5G, AI, and new energy.

The Egyptian government has started steps to raise the efficiency of basic communications services in the Sinai Peninsula.

Operator AT&T Mexico has announced the start of deployment of its 5G network in the country. It also says it has plans to connect the first 50 mobile devices to the network, in order, it suggests, to test the browsing experience.

We know that China has pledged to hit peak carbon emissions by 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2060. But will the rush to develop data centres get in the way? It seems that central government thinks it could.

Indonesia’s Telkomsel is reportedly planning to sell further tower assets to Mitratel, the tower unit of its parent firm Telkom Indonesia.

Nepal’s Vianet Communications is expanding its high speed fibre network in the west of the country with China Telecom subsidiary CCS (China Communication Service).

Indian telecom operator Vodafone Idea (Vi) has announced that it partnered with Nokia to demonstrate network slicing over the 5G standalone (SA) network.

Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC), operating under the Vivacom brand, has reached an agreement to acquire 100% interest in local company Telnet, an operator with a well-developed network and distribution in the region.

PPF Telco, which controls over 90% of telecommunication company O2 Czech Republic (O2 CR), has obtained approval from the Czech National Bank (CNB) to start the buyout of shares from minority shareholders.

Israeli telecommunications company Bezeq has selected Ribbon Communications to carry increasing IP traffic loads via a new flexgrid 400G optical backbone network with multi-degree DWDM (Dense Wave Division Multiplexing).

Brazilian regulator Anatel (Agencia Nacional de Telecomunicacoes / National Telecommunications Agency) has confirmed that the country’s government has authorised the 700MHz, 2.3GHz, 3.5GHz and 26GHz spectrum bands for 5G use.

CVTelecom (Cabo Verde Telecom) and Angola Cables have signed a joint cooperation agreement to identify synergies to expand connectivity and network capabilities.

Leading Indian operator Bharti Airtel has selected Juniper Networks, which specialises in secure, AI-driven networks, to deliver network upgrades for the expansion of Airtel’s nationwide broadband coverage across India.

Two major names in their fields, LOGOS and Pure Data Centres, are planning to partner in order to develop data centres across the Asia Pacific region.

The telecom regulatory authority of India (Trai) has directed all telcos to immediately enable the facility to send a text message or SMS shortcode 1900, which is used for porting from one carrier to another.

South African mobile communications company Vodacom has reduced out-of-bundle roaming data speeds on partner networks around the world by up to 88%.

Brazilian telecom operator Americanet announced the purchase of the ISP Omni, from the state of Goiás, for an amount of US$10.6 million.

Mavenir, the network software provider, announced that T-Mobile has become the first operator in the Czech Republic to enable customers who own select smartwatches, to connect to their existing mobile number.

Chilean regulator Subtel and the regional government of Ñuble in southern Chile have signed an agreement for a fibre optic and last mile programme.

Recent deals in Kenya and South Africa have highlighted the continuing expansion of the African SME market and the growing number of African fintech and specialist communications companies serving SMEs.