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.

Taiwan’s National Communications Commission (NCC) demanded Asia-Pacific Telecom (APT) improve its 4G coverage before it is allowed to enter a 5G network sharing agreement with rival Far EasTone Telecommunications.

IT and network technologies giant NEC Corporation has signed a contract for a cable project involving Palau, an archipelago of over 500 islands, part of the Micronesia region in the western Pacific Ocean.

Turk Telekom and Juniper Research struck a partnership agreement to develop Open RAN 5G technologies, a move to accelerate innovations and ecosystems in the technology.

For the second time this week comes news of an offering of streamed film entertainment aimed at a mobile-centric market. This time the market is India.

Debt-troubled South African operator Cell C has started the process of migrating customers to its roaming partners’ tower infrastructure as it prepares to switch off its own radio access network.

The only English-speaking nation in South America, Guyana has a small population which traditionally had one of the lowest GDP rates in the region. Although GDP growth had been steady in recent years, the sale of oil from offshore reserves which started in February 2020 promises to completely transform the economy.