China’s central bank is seeking feedback on its antitrust proposals for stricter regulation of payment services provided by non-bank companies, such as Alibaba and Tencent.

Reports in the Kenyan press are making clear how much of a hit the country’s banks have taken from the recent surge in mobile money payments.

Latvia’s Bite has deployed a further six 5G base stations in Riga to expand its coverage in the capital.

Cable technology supplier Nexans opened a new plant in Morocco for its telecoms business unit, a move to bolster its industrial capabilities to cater to the European and North African markets.

Nepal is set to receive a new player in its mobile financial space in the form of the Nepali Digital Payment Company.

Tower One Wireless has stated that it has 75 new cell sites under construction across Latin America.

Vodafone and Russian operator MTS announced an extension of an existing strategic partnership through to 2023, as part of plans to further streamline operations.

TPay Mobile has partnered with Bango to increase access to digital commerce across Turkey, the Middle East and Africa.

Although Afghanistan continues to be confronted by numerous challenges, largely due to the material effects of many years of war and civil strife, there have been successes in the country’s efforts to rebuild infrastructure and create a functional telecom sector.

The Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) is calling for feedback on its mobile number portability proposals via a public consultation.

Saudi Arabian operator Mobily, alongside vendor Nokia, is claiming a first: the first-ever network slicing trial on a live commercial network.

Vogel Telecom has partnered with Ciena to deploy Sao Paulo’s first 800G optical network.

Gilat Satellite Networks won another contract to boost mobile connectivity, this time to expand signal for two Mexican operators in a multi-million-dollar deal from AXESS Networks.

India’s Tower and Infrastructure Providers Association (TAIPA) has written to the country’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT), hoping to get speedy implementation of recommendations on infrastructure sharing policy. 

Satellite operator Eutelsat Communications has signed a framework agreement with its distribution partner InterSat to provide connectivity services to the Post Office in Côte d’Ivoire.

Philippines-based operator Globe Telecom reportedly announced plans to upgrade 3G infrastructure to 5G-ready 4G systems in several locations on the islands of Visayas and Mindanao, continuing its mass connectivity upgrade programme.

Cameroon was for many years one of the few countries in Africa with only two competing mobile operators. After some delays, Viettel Cameroon launched a third network and has since grown its subscriber base rapidly.

Swedish equipment vendor Ericsson was chosen by Taiwanese operator Asia-Pacific Telecom (APT), to modernise its national 4G network with non-standalone 5G-ready equipment and services.

Further proof of the vast strides being made by cashless payment on the African continent comes from Malawi where a new agreement aims to enhance the country’s e-commerce sector.

The Brazilian government will not prevent Huawei from competing in 5G auction which is due to be held in June, a potential blow to US government efforts in restricting the manufacturer.

Telecom services in Madagascar have benefited from intensifying competition between the main operators, including Orange Madagascar, Airtel and the incumbent telco Telma.

Recent publicity from Equatorial Guinean operator Getesa has confirmed that it is now offering 4G/LTE smartphone services.

Chile’s regulator Subtel has confirmed that it now plans to auction several 5G frequencies across several rounds of bidding after a stalemate between the initial technical offers received from the country’s major players.

As part of its commitment to ensuring access to affordable broadband connectivity in Africa’s underserved populations, Tizeti, which describes itself as West Africa’s pioneer solar-based internet service provider, is rolling out its LTE network in Nigeria’s Edo State.

Jordan is host to a growing number of ICT companies and has emerged as a technology start-up hub for the Middle East. This has been made possible due to a focus on ICT education and a regulatory environment supportive of ICT investment.

There’s been adverse publicity about its planned privacy update, notably in the vast Indian market, but this week there’s been better news for WhatsApp in India with the announcement that Reliance Industries plans to embed its ecommerce app JioMart into WhatsApp within the next six months.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) loaned satellite company Eutelsat €200 million, to launch a satellite designed to boost capacity, and provide ubiquitous and affordable fixed and mobile broadband services in Europe.

The Philippines government pushed on with plans to rapidly deploy towers in the country to improve connectivity, by adding another company to its exclusive list of independent tower companies.

This week a decree was announced in Algeria, promising number portability – which should be a reality two to three years after it was first included in the provisions to a new law.

Investment company Scale Capital was reportedly considering a mobile services launch, following up to its recent acquisition of DirecTV's broadcast business.

A partnership to help satellite service providers access Brazil’s connectivity market has been announced between satellite connectivity provider SatADSL and Telespazio, a satellite solutions and services company with a wide international network of space centres and teleports.

The formal establishment of Ethiopia’s first-ever carrier-neutral hyperscale data centre park, located in the ICT Park, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, took place this week when wingu.africa, a pan-East African data centre operator based in Djibouti, broke ground on the development.