Slovakia’s incumbent telco Slovak Telekom retains its dominance of the fixed-line voice and broadband sector, though there is effective competition in the mobile market, where most investment is being channelled. The main operators including O2 Slovakia and Orange Slovakia have expanded into offering bundled fixed and mobile services.

The number of active internet users in India is likely to grow nearly 45% to 900 million by 2025 compared to 622 million as of last year, said a study.

Chinese state-owned telecommunication company China Telecom and ZTE Corporation have successfully deployed ZTE's core router ZXR10 T8000 in China Telecom's IP MAN in Hunan, a mountainous province in southern China.

Vodacom KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) has announced it has spent R100 million (US$7.3 million) to build 84 new base stations for previously unconnected areas of the coastal South African province.

Telit, a global enabler of the Internet of Things (IoT), has expanded its partnership with Hi-Mix Eletrônicos S/A, a Brazilian Electronic Manufacturing Service (EMS) provider, for the production of LTE modules.

Mauritius is the latest African country to be able to boast a presence in space. The first Mauritian satellite (a CubeSat – MIR-SAT1) was successfully launched yesterday on board the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.

Peru’s government has implemented a new law requiring operators to guarantee a minimum connection speed of 70% of the contracted rate – an increase of 30%.

With a population approaching 125 million and with relatively low broadband and mobile penetration, Mexico’s telecom sector retains significant potential for growth.

A major drawback for Paraguay’s telecom sector is that the country is landlocked, making it dependent on neighbouring countries for interconnection with submarine cable networks.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in India announced the operational guidelines for the production-linked incentive (PLI) and invited applications for the scheme for telecom and networking equipment.

Fiber broadband provider Converge ICT Solutions Inc is acquiring the stake of PLDT unit Digital Telecommunications Philippines (Digitel) in two firms involved in cable landing stations in the Philippines.

Fiji's principal telecommunications holding company Amalgamated Telecom Holdings (ATH) has announced the signing of a conditional share sale agreement to purchase a 30.34% interest in Bluesky Pacific Holdings from Unit Trust of Samoa (UTOS).

Mobile TeleSystems (MTS), the largest mobile network operator in Russia, has signed a cooperation agreement with Microsoft and SAP.

Peru’s Programa Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (Pronatel), has awarded Gilat Satellite Networks, a leader in satellite networking technology, solutions and services, a $13 million contract for the delivery of internet services to hundreds of sites in Peru.

Fixed-line teledensity in Papua New Guinea has seen little change over the past two decades. Progress in the country’s telecom sector has come primarily from mobile networks, where accessibility has expanded considerably in recent years, with population coverage increasing from less than 3% in 2006 to more than 90% by early 2021.

Ethio Telecom’s new mobile money service Telebirr apparently registered over one million users in the week after its launch. Now, according to some reports, registrations have passed the three million mark.

Timor-Leste has been moving forward with the regeneration of its economy and rebuilding key infrastructure, including telecommunications networks, that were destroyed during the years of civil unrest.

Following yesterday’s news that CG NET will deploy a new fibre-to-the-home network across the Kathmandu Valley, Nokia has confirmed that it is the sole supplier for the system.

Vietnamobile has signed a multi-year deal with CSG to drive customer billing, mediation and settlement operations in order to support its growth as it introduces new products and services.

Indian telecom operator Reliance Jio and US-based chipmaker Qualcomm Technologies have collaborated for local manufacturing of critical equipment to catalyze the 5G ecosystem in India.

Middle East’s first privately owned submarine cable system Gulf Bridge International (GBI) and Versa Networks, a vendor in the SD-WAN and SD-Security market, have extended its long-standing collaboration with GBI joining the Versa ACE Partner Program.

The Moroccan National Telecommunications Regulatory Agency (ANRT) has published a decision detailing a number of amendments concerning spectrum used with low-power short-range devices.

Chaudhary Group, a Nepalese conglomerate which boasts over 100 companies under its umbrella and an investment outlay of over $1 billion, has announced the launch of a fibre internet service in Nepal.

UFINET, a neutral infrastructure wholesale operator in Latin America, has announced its selection of ICE6 800G coherent technology from Infinera, a global supplier of open optical networking solutions, for its new national long-haul network in Colombia.

More tower deals have been announced in what has become an increasingly busy market for both buyers and sellers. The latest two deals involve American Tower Corporation (ATC) buying in Latin America and Airtel Africa selling in Tanzania.

There have been media reports that Syria’s Ministry of Internal Trade and Consumer Protection has approved articles of association for a potential third wireless provider.

Slovenian fixed and mobile operator T-2 has completed the buyout of regional telco Telesat.

Russian integrated telecommunications operator Megafon has started testing Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) in the city of St Petersburg.

PLDT wireless arm Smart Communications, the first to launch 5G in the Philippines, has fired up more than 3,000 5G sites across the country as of May.

Polarium which provides energy storage solutions built on lithium-ion technology for the telecom, commercial, and industrial segments, has announced a new deal with ATC Africa, the African subsidiary of American Tower Corporation.

Last week saw an announcement from Angola’s Instituto de Gestão de Activos e Participações do Estado (IGAPE), opening what is called a Limited Tender for Previous Qualification to privatise 51 percent of operator Net One.