Indian Railways ministry technical arm RailTel Corporation and the state-run telecom research and development organisation Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT) have signed a pact to work together in the telecom space with a key focus on the modernization and expansion of communication networks across the country.

Russia's first ecosystem interuniversity quantum network with open access has been launched in Moscow.

Argentine government-owned telecommunications company Empresa Argentina de Soluciones Satelitales Sociedad Anónima AR-SAT (ARSAT) has signed an agreement with the Secretary of State for Energy to expand the country's Federal Fibre Optic Network (Refefo) by lighting up some 4,405 kilometres of unused fibre cables.

Angolan mobile phone company Unitel has so far invested 25 million U.S. dollars in technology innovation and digital upgrades to prepare for the launch of the 5G service in the country.

Telefonica, one of the largest telecommunications service providers in the world, has announced the sale of its El Salvadorean unit.

The Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka has been legally cleared to launch mobile number portability (MNP).

Orange Polska (Orange Poland), a Polish telecommunications provider, has launched a new data centre, the Warsaw Data Hub.

Djibouti Telecom, the government-run telecommunications monopoly in Djibouti City, has begun construction of a new cable landing station (CLS).

Oracle has opened a data centre in Israel which it claims is able to withstand rocket attacks to ensure continued resilience in the troubled state, according to local news reports.

Israel’s Ministry of Communications (MoC) has launched its first tender for the so-called ‘Incentive Areas’ that will likely not be covered by commercial fibre-optic deployments.

More than $73 million is now expected to change hands after the results of the 5G tender in the Dominican Republic were announced.

Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Digital Development has stated that Nur Telecom, which operates as O!, has opted not to acquire a 2300MHz TDD spectrum licence that it won at auction last month.

The government of India notified that for future telecom spectrum auctions telecom service providers (TSPs) do not have to submit a financial bank guarantee (FBG), in case of a successor bidder, to securitise annual spectrum installment.

ZTE Corporation announced that it has launched its new-generation compact metro edge ON products – the optical Omni-gateway ZXMP M721 series, namely ZXMP M721 CX66A (E) and ZXMP M721 CX63A (E).

The Latvian and Lithuanian Competition Councils have approved the acquisition by Latvian Mobile network operator company SIA Latvijas Mobilais Telefons (LMT) of Baltic data transmission network and IT security products group Santa Monica Networks (SMN) from Livonia Partners. Thus LMT has become the owner of 100% of the shares in SMN.

Argentina’s Grupo Datco, the owner of fibre-optic infrastructure firm Silica Networks, has announced plans to begin testing 5G and fibre-based fixed wireless access (FWA) technology.

The ongoing dispute over the planned withdrawal of temporary spectrum in South Africa looks set to continue after the regulator ICASA announced its plans to take on operator Telkom and its objections to the end of the temporary spectrum scheme.

As expected, Indian operators Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (aka Vi) have made clear their feelings about Department of Telecommunication (DoT) penalties for allegedly denying Reliance Jio Infocomm adequate points of interconnection (PoIs) in 2016, and thereby affecting Jio’s quality of service.

Hungary is launching a HUF5 billion (US$16 million) initiative to help consumers switch from 3G devices to 4G/5G smartphones.

Bharat FIH, formerly Rising Stars Mobile India, a subsidiary of FIH Mobiles, a Foxconn Technology Group Company, opened its research & development centre at the IIT Madras Research Park in Chennai, Tamil Nadu state, India.

The Rio Grande do Sul group Brasil TecPar, owner of the brands Amigo Internet and Ávato, has acquired five more ISPs and surpassed 300,000 customers.

The Slovak private equity fund Sandberg Capital has agreed with its joint venture partner DanubiaTel to sell its 50% stake in Swan, the country’s largest alternative telecommunications operator on the Slovak market.

Razer Gold, an independent virtual credit for games and entertainment, is now live with Vodafone Turkey, enabled by mobile commerce enabler Docomo Digital.

Kazakhstani infrastructure provider QazCloud has opened a new data centre in the country, in a town called Kosshy, in the Akmola region.

Having announced a preliminary agreement in June, Hungary-based IT and ICT company 4iG has now confirmed that it is to buy Israeli satellite operator Spacecom.

Airtel Tanzania has partnered with the country’s I&M Bank to launch a mobile overdraft service.

Qatar has said that Hamad Port is now the first 5G-enabled seaport in Middle East – with a little help from local operator Ooredoo.

In what is said to be a first for Sudan, a local company called alsoug has announced the close of a $5 million fundraising effort to establish a national payments network enabling quick, easy and safe transactions for all Sudanese.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has issued NGMS (Next Generation Mobile Services) spectrum licences to the winners of its recent spectrum auctions for the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit Baltistan (GB) regions.

Romanian regulator ANCOM has opened competitive bidding for short-term licences for the country’s unused mobile frequencies.

Telekom Malaysia (TM) is providing MEASAT Broadcast Network Systems (Astro) with a full suite of wholesale infrastructure and connectivity solutions, allowing Astro to deliver reliable broadband and content services.

MTN Uganda, the largest telecom company in Uganda, announced the opening of its initial public offer (IPO) of 20% of its ordinary shares, following approvals by the Capital Markets Authority of Uganda (CMA) and Uganda Securities Exchange (USE).