Indonesia-based mobile telecommunications services operator XL Axiata said that it has started operating a 4G network spread across 14 districts in Maluku and 10 districts in Papua and West Papua.

From March 2022, there will be no Internet Service Provider (ISP) infrastructure breakdown in Israel’s Internet market, and Bezeq Israel Telecommunications Company will be able to sell full Internet packages including both the infrastructure and connectivity options.

Globe Telecom, provider of telecommunications services in the Philippines, deployed Infinera's Auto-Lambda platform, to upgrade its existing 4G access and aggregation networks and in anticipation of providing future 5G services.

Mozambique will start turning off analogue television transmitters next Monday (September 27th) as the country transitions to the digital era, the National Institute of Communications (INCM) announced.

The Indian Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has Granted a unified license to RingCentral, a provider of global enterprise cloud communications, video meetings, collaboration and contact centre solutions.

In yet another boost to connectivity across the more than 16,000 islands that make up Indonesia, Ceragon, a solutions provider of 5G wireless transport, has said it has been selected to provide connectivity to remote Indonesian islands and regions.

Belize Bank Limited has launched a new banking app developed by Wallet Factory.

Indian telecoms giant Bharti Airtel has announced that it is joining global efforts to combat climate change.

Telecom Fiji Limited (TFL) will no longer charge for calls made from its network of public phone booths to emergency numbers or any TFL landlines.

Orange MEA is partnering with Ericsson as it looks to accelerate its pan-Africa Orange Money mobile finance service.

Gambian regulator PURA (Public Utilities Regulatory Authority) has ordered mobile provider Comium to suspend its services after it failed to pay a number of required fees.

Debt-ridden telecom operator Vodafone Idea (Vi) claimed to have recorded a peak speed of 3.7 gigabits per second (Gbps), the highest by any operator in India, during 5G trials in Pune (a city in the Indian state of Maharashtra) on the mmWave spectrum band.

ZTE Corporation announced that it has secured 50% of section 4 of China Mobile's high-end router and switch centralised procurement 2021-2022 and will supply the routers ZXR10 M6000-18 S and ZXR10 M6000-8S Plus.

Viettel, the largest telecommunications service provider in Vietnam, has reached speeds of over 4.7 Gbps over a 5G network it researched, tested, and established.

Yesterday’s big story that Ooredoo and CK Hutchison have agreed to merge their Indonesian units is not the only hot telecoms news from Indonesia in recent days. A 5G network launch and a potentially major data centre initiative have also made headlines.

Bangladeshi state-owned operator Teletalk has received 60MHz of spectrum in the 3.5GHz frequency band from the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) on subject to condition from BTRC to launch 5G services in Bangladesh.

ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (Thailand), a data centre service provider, announced the official opening of STT Bangkok 1, the first carrier-neutral hyperscale data centre in Bangkok built to global standards.

Brazilian carrier Vivo has announced the start of 5G tests in the millimeter-wave (mmWave) of 26 GHz band in partnership with Finnish vendor Nokia.

Schneider Electric and the University of Birmingham Dubai build green, energy-efficient data centre on-site at the new campus, and implemented by system integrator CDW.

In an interesting reminder of the growing relevance of smart grids and the Internet of Things (IoT) to developing markets, it has been reported that Kenyan operator Safaricom is offering to supply a $288 million smart metre system to the country’s main power utility.

Cable & Wireless Panama (CWP), which is 49% owned by Liberty Latin America (LLA), is acquiring Claro Panama from America Movil (AM) for US$200 million.

Liquid Intelligent Technologies is delivering affordable high-speed connectivity to communities in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) using Wireless Optical Communication technology (WOC) from Project Taara.

As part of its drive to address Africa’s vulnerability to climate risk, Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) has created an independent asset management arm, AFC Capital Partners, with a debut offering: the Infrastructure Climate Resilient Fund (ICRF).

Mauritius Telecom, a telecommunications company in Mauritius, has begun providing 1 Gbps broadband connectivity, claiming Mauritius is just the second African country after South Africa to provide gigabit speeds to residential subscribers.

The artificial intelligence (AI) subsidiary of MTS, Russia’s largest telecoms operator, has launched a US$ 100 million venture capital fund to accelerate investments in startups.

Hungary's 4iG will become the owner of Invitech ICT Services after the company concluded a sales contract with ICT Services' owner, Cyprus-based Rotamona, according to a report by state news wire MTI.

Celltick, a provider of cell broadcast-based products and public warning systems, has announced that the telecom operator Vi (Vodafone-Idea) is the first operator in the Indian State of Andhra Pradesh to support its Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) that is being deployed for the Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority (APSDMA).

US-based open RAN software company Parallel Wireless has announced plans to continue growing its footprint across the globe with the expansion of its open RAN research and development work in a number of countries that include Israel and India as well as the US and UK.

As expected, the Ethiopian government has formally announced its proposal for the partial privatisation of state-owned operator Ethio Telecom.

The merger of Papua New Guinea’s state providers Telikom PNG and bmobile is reportedly on track to close by the end of this month.