Global smartphone shipments surged to 340 million units in Q1 2021, up +24% YoY representing the highest growth since 2015, according to the latest research from Strategy Analytics.

State-owned operator Telecom Egypt and Sudatel Group, a leading telecommunications service provider in Sudan, have signed a cooperation agreement in the field of international connectivity.

Slovenia’s multi-band 5G spectrum auctions have generated a total of EUR164.2 million (US$195.7 million).

Registration of new SIM cards had been suspended in Nigeria for about four months. Now there’s been a change of mind by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

International communications enabler BICS has been appointed as the main provider of managed roaming services by Unified National Networks (UNN).

The arrival of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) system will benefit underserved users in remote areas by supporting high-speed, low latency broadband service.

According to a recent report by Allied Market Research, the cybersecurity market is on its way to reaching $304.91 Billion, Globally, by 2027 at 9.4 percent CAGR; a market that had only generated $149.67 billion in 2019.

UPC Polska, the nationwide operator and provider of fibre-optic internet in Poland has expanded the coverage of its fixed broadband network services in an additional 12 cities, with customers able to reach up to 1 Gbps speed.

As promised at the launch in February, South African ISP Supersonic is now extending the coverage of its Unlimited Air Fibre wireless broadband product.

Cash is probably not going to disappear anytime soon in Africa, but a growing number of digital finance initiatives – including two recently announced in Kenya and Nigeria – may help to accelerate the process.

ScholarX Technologies Limited, an edtech start-up founded in 2016 and headquartered in Lagos, has announced a strategic partnership with telecommunications services provider Airtel Nigeria.

French regulator Arcep has approved Digicel and Free Caraibe’s network-sharing arrangement for the Antilles-Guyane region (covering French Guiana, Guadeloupe and Martinique).

Bharti Airtel’s board has approved a proposed restructuring of the operator’s business to shift its focus towards digital initiatives.

Israeli operator Partner Communications decided not to accept any of the bids received from potential investors for a 20% stake in its fibre infrastructure unit.

Veon has partnered with ZTE to deploy Uzbekistan’s largest virtualised SDM (Subscriber Data Management) platform via its local unit Beeline.

Seamless viewing, gaming and download experiences for customers in Bahrain could receive a boost after a recent deal between Tata Communications, a digital ecosystem enabler, and Bahrain Internet Exchange (BIX), its exclusive cable landing partner in Bahrain.

Senegalese regulator ARTP (L’Autorite de Regulation des Telecommunications et des Postes) has issued formal notices to two of the country’s operators for failing to comply with mobile number portability (MNP) regulations.

After signing a partnership agreement with Ericsson in late 2020, Telia Lietuva has begun deploying the Swedish vendor’s next generation mobile base stations across Lithuania.

After a slow 2020, Vietnam has logged record revenue growth from the export of handsets and components during Q1 2021.

Global payments company Mastercard and Saudi fintech business Geidea have announced a strategic partnership agreement to accept Mastercard payments for Tap on Phone solutions in Saudi Arabia. This is claimed to be the first such agreement to be signed in the Middle East and North Africa.

Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual has reportedly won 58 percent of operator Oi’s fibre business, for which it is expected to pay $2.3 billion.

Zimbabwean financial services provider First Capital Bank has announced the launch of Alisa, a WhatsApp banking chatbot, bringing together machine learning and cognitive computing technologies to provide customers and clients with various banking services.

Sri Lanka’s regulator is introducing new legislation aimed at boosting mobile coverage and service quality across the island nation.

Filipino operator Globe Telecom has gone live with Amdocs’ service and network automation platform for network functions virtualisation (NFV) and cloud orchestration.

China Mobile Cloud has selected Nokia to provide its Nuage Networks end-to-end SDN solution for nationwide deployment of a public cloud service.

Tencent Cloud, the public cloud service provider business of multinational technology conglomerate holding company Tencent, has announced the launch of its first internet data centre (IDC) in Indonesia.

UAE-based operator du has selected Netcracker’s Digital BSS for its digital transformation program.

Polish operator Orange Polska (OPL) has partnered with pension fund management company APG for the deployment of fibre to the home (FTTH) in Poland through a 50-50 joint venture. 

Tele2 Russia has launched new base stations via the 2300MHz band to bolster its commercial 4G/LTE services in Moscow and St Petersburg.

Phase-outs of two forms of telecoms technology are under way in Russia and Ukraine. While the contexts differ, both phase-outs aim to improve and modernise end user connectivity – eventually.