Huawei gathered experts in innovation and intellectual property rights (IPR) in Beijing on Tuesday to discuss and promote the importance of IPR in driving innovation, the need to balance openness in IP licencing with vigorous IP protection, and Huawei’s role in both.

Thuraya, a subsidiary of Space42, the UAE-based AI-powered spacetech company, has announced the commercial rollout of its next-generation mobile communications satellite, Thuraya-4, in South Africa.

Cassava Technologies, a technology company with a strong presence in Africa, has announced the launch of its Cassava AI Multi-Model Exchange (CAIMEx), a platform designed to make the world’s leading artificial intelligence (AI) tools and large language models (LLMs) easily accessible to mobile network operators (MNOs) across Africa.

ONATi, the incumbent telecommunications service provider in French Polynesia, has migrated the management of its interconnect voice traffic and national and international partners to Oculeus’ Captura NG solution.

Satellite technology company Avanti Communications announced on Tuesday it has expanded its partnership with Türksat with a new agreement that aims to extend high connectivity solutions across Africa, particularly underserved regions in Southern Africa.

SES and Africa Mobile Networks (AMN) announced on Tuesday they have successfully upgraded over 200 telecoms sites across Côte d’Ivoire to deliver 2G and 3G mobile data services to over 500,000 people in rural and previously underserved areas.

The United Arab Emirates regulator, The Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA), has announced the launch of what it calls the 6th Generation (6G) Initiative in the country.

UN partners, including the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and GSMA, announced on Monday they are working on expanding efforts in Chad and other refugee-hosting countries to provide affordable connectivity to millions of forcibly displaced people and local communities in the next five years.

Pan-African telecoms network services provider Paratus Group announced on Monday it has launched “Paratus 500”, a service that leverages all of its licenced fibre and satellite operations in 15 sub-Saharan markets as a single network.

Dhiraagu said on Monday that it has inaugurated its third data centre in the Maldives – this one being a certified Tier III facility in N. Velidhoo, which also makes it the first to be located in the atolls.

A number of major data centre operators in the Philippines have come together to form what is described as a unified alliance that aims to strengthen the country’s position as the next digital hub of Southeast Asia.

BENEFIT, a leading Bahrain company in fintech and electronic financial transactions, licensed by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) as an ancillary service provider to the Kingdom’s financial services industry, has announced a deal that will help to enable real-time cross-border payments between Bahrain and India.

It’s a major news day for data centre developments in Nigeria, and specifically Lagos, a city for which two leading names in Africa, Equinix and Rack Centre, have just announced big data centre and cloud service plans.

Paratus Botswana announced on Friday it is extending its national network coverage to Tati Siding, near Francistown, as part of its broader strategy to increase access to quality internet services for more communities and businesses across the country.

DITO Telecommunity and InfiniVAN announced on Friday they have signed a reciprocal fibre-sharing arrangement that they say will enhance network resilience, operational coverage and digital capacity across the Philippines.

Morocco’s three main telcos – Maroc Telecom, Orange Maroc and Inwi – officially launched 5G services in the country on Friday, mainly in urban centres, four months after receiving their 5G licences.

Veon Group’s Beeline Kazakhstan has partnered with Starlink to deliver mobile connectivity across Kazakhstan, extending service to remote regions currently beyond the reach of terrestrial networks.

An interesting memorandum of understanding (MoU) has just been announced in Brazil. It aims to support power infrastructure at the Rio AI City project and involves a number of partners – including one that is part of the Google Moonshot initiative.

Digital transformation projects focused on younger end users have been highlighted this week in West Africa where operator Orange Liberia has signalled its support for digital literacy and the government of Guinea has targeted internet provision for schools.

Umniah by Beyon has signed a five-year agreement naming Ericsson as its exclusive radio access network (RAN) supplier for 3G, 4G and 5G technologies in Jordan.

SpaceX’s satellite internet unit Starlink is reportedly in talks with operators in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to expand coverage to remote and underserved areas.

Satellite communications provider Globalstar has announced the addition of eight new six-metre C-3 tracking antennas to its ground stations across Brazil, supporting its third-generation mobile satellite services across Central and South America.

Multinational telecommunications corporation Orange and satellite operator Eutelsat have announced the inauguration of a new teleport hosting Eutelsat's satellite gateway in the Caribbean island Martinique. This strategic project aims to strengthen satellite coverage for the Eutelsat OneWeb constellation in the Caribbean region.

UAE-based Space42 announced on Wednesday that its next-gen Thuraya-4 satellite is now globally available for customers in Europe, Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East, with new markets including South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique and Zambia.

Pan-African telecoms and network services provider Paratus Group announced on Wednesday it has expanded its operations into Uganda via a joint venture with Kampala-based ISP and managed solutions provider Roke Telkom.

The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) reportedly plans to block satellite operators linked to China from providing services to broadcasters and teleport operators in the name of national security.

Bharti Airtel was given the greenlight to increase its shares in Indus Towers by up to 5%, strengthening its control in India’s largest tower infrastructure provider.

Axian Telecom’s fibre subsidiary, Axian Telecom Fibre, has completed the acquisition of 99.63% stake in Wananchi Group, a fixed broadband provider, as it looks to strengthen its position in high-demand fibre markets across East Africa.

Ericsson announced on Tuesday that it has renewed its partnership with Bahrainian telco Batelco by Beyon, which will deploy Ericsson’s latest RAN solutions to expand coverage of its 5G network.