Africa’s smartphone market saw shipments decline 2.3 per cent quarter on quarter (QoQ) during Q3 2021, though feature phones performed reasonably well, according to the latest figures announced by market intelligence provider International Data Corporation (IDC).

Mexico’s MCM Telecom has announced a collaboration with Telia Carrier that will see its customers in Querétaro benefit from Telia Carrier’s number one ranked global backbone, AS1299.

Infrastructure firm Equinix has acquired West African data centre and connectivity solutions provider MainOne as it seeks to expand into the region.

South African multinational mobile telecommunications company MTN announced the launch of two new MyMTN Home Uncapped speed-based plans on 5G, promising fast data speeds, low latency, increased reliability, and good coverage.

A $6 billion high-speed rail line connecting China with its Southeast Asian neighbour Laos opened on Friday, a milestone in Beijing's ambitious Belt and Road infrastructure plans.

The Ecuadorian government announced that the special consumption tax (ICE) for mobile phone services is scrapped in the country.

Vantage Data Centers, a global provider of large-scale data center campuses, along with Digital Bridge Group Inc., its lead investor, have completed the acquisition of PCCW’s data centre business (PCCW DC).

There have been a few interesting 5G developments in Malaysia lately relating to the planned Single Wholesale Network (SWN) that is to bring 5G to the country’s end users.

Kenya’s main power utility Kenya Power is reportedly planning to start offering internet connectivity.

Starlink Internet Services, a division of the SpaceX aerospace company, plans to apply for the appropriate licences to sell satellite-based internet commercially in India. This happened after last week’s announcement from India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) that the company had no right to sell broadband connections in the country as it had not yet been licensed to do so.

MTN Uganda is today proceeding with the listing of its 22.4 billion ordinary shares on the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE), with trading commencing immediately.

Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund (SWF) Public Investment Fund (PIF) is selling a 5.01% stake in Saudi Telecom Co (STC) through a secondary share offering to raise as much as $3.1 billion.

The World Bank Group has approved US$100 million in financing under the International Development Association’s (IDA) Scale-Up Window to help the Government of Rwanda increase access to broadband and selected digital public services, and strengthen the digital innovation ecosystem in Rwanda.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied China Telecom Americas Corp.'s emergency motion to pause a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) order revoking the company's authorizations to continue operating in the U.S.

MTN Cote d'Ivoire (MTNCI), a subsidiary of South Africa-based MTN Group, is currently conducting a pilot phase of 5G in the West African country with beach resorts and rainforests.

The Czech units of O2 and T-Mobile have confirmed that they shut down their 3G networks on 30^th November.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) confirmed Airtel Nigeria, MTN Nigeria and wholesaler Mafab Communications as the three qualifying bidders for its scheduled 3.5GHz spectrum auction.

Eutelsat and Vodacom Tanzania PLC have signed an agreement for packaged services to bring connectivity to underserved regions of Tanzania, leveraging the EUTELSAT KONNECT high-throughput satellite.

Vodafone Qatar has announced its latest milestone in the development of its GigaNet 5G network, with the completion of Qatar’s first successful trial on the millimetre wave (mmWave) spectrum.

Reuters reported that Indian telecom operator Bharti Airtel is in early talks for a majority stake in broadcast satellite service provider Dish TV India Ltd, qutoting local media Mint.

Polsat Plus Group in Poland has officially announced the completion of the merger of its two mobile network subsidiaries, Polkomtel, trading under the Plus brand, and Aero2.

French ICT group Atos , Siemens and the Moroccan Office for Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE) have announced a project to install 100,000 smart meters (smart grid) throughout the Kingdom.

Ukrainian fibre infrastructure and digital services provider Datagroup has tapped Cisco to modernise its backbone network.

Veon has closed the sale of its Russian mobile towers to local firm Service-Telecom, a partner of VimpelCom’s Beeline, for RUB70.65 billion (US$957 million).

Data centres and the cloud are again in the news in Latin America thanks to announcements from Google in Chile and Codisa in El Salvador.

Singapore’s M1 has confirmed its intent to acquire a stake of “up to 70%” in Malaysia’s Glocomp Systems and two affiliate firms for SG$36 million (US$26.4 million).

The state-owned telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has announced the rollout of its 4G services across the country by September of next year and will generate around INR 9 billion in revenue, said local media reports.

Baltcom, an integrated telecommunications provider in Latvia, has completed its acquisition of Microlines Group, which comprises Microlines, Electrons.lv, Elektrons, Bit Telecom, QWERTY and Clouds 365.

Vodacom Business, a Pan-African Information, Systems, Technology and Communications service provider to enterprises across the continent, has expanded its Cloud Connect offering to support businesses across Africa.

Indonesia-based mobile telecommunications services operator XL Axiata said that its unit XL Axiata Business Solutions sees the huge market potential for business-to-business (B2B) and SME corporate services in Sumatra.

Could a new partnership be a boost for the Internet of Things – or at least the LoRaWAN version of IoT – in the Middle East and North Africa?