The government of Pakistan has renewed the licence of state operator PTCL (Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited) for a further 25 years.

The new chief executive of Telecom Namibia, Stanley Shanapinda, announced the operator will look to leverage its current footprint and strike network sharing agreements with rivals to tap into new locations in its pursuit of growth in the country.

Effective regulatory reform has made Botswana’s telecom market one of the most liberalised in the region. There is a service-neutral licensing regime adapted to the convergence of technologies and services, and several operators now compete in all telecom sectors.

During the last few years Libya has struggled to rebuild its economy and infrastructure following disruption caused by the civil war and the subsequent political unrest. Much of the telecom infrastructure was destroyed or stolen following the 2011 disturbances, including about a quarter of the country’s mobile tower sites.

Angola’s President Joao Lourenco has cleared the way for Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) on government-owned stakes in three of the country’s telecoms operators.

Lightstorm Telecom Ventures (LTV) has deployed Ciena’s coherent optics, network management and advanced automation software to serve OTT, data centre and cloud providers across India.

Last year Brookfield Asset Management Inc and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) were said to be mulling a bid for the fibre unit of Brazilian telecom firm Oi SA. Now press reports suggest that one of these two – the CPPIB – is going ahead.

Molotov, an OTT distribution platform that can be made available on all screens and connected devices, is making a major push into French-speaking Africa, adjusting its offering to the needs of a heavily mobile phone-dependent viewership.

The joint 5G deployment proposed by a number of Russia’s operators has been approved by the country’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS).

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Vodafone’s Indian unit Vi completed re-farming its 3G spectrum to enhance 4G connectivity in eleven cities in the region of Gujarat, and deployed an additional 5MHz of 2,100MHz band spectrum.

The Peruvian Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC) announced it will invest PEN15 billion ($415 million) as part of measures to bring 4G connectivity to over a million citizens who have never had access to mobile services before.

SKY Brasil, the largest satellite pay TV operator in Brazil, and Viasat Inc, a global communications company, have announced a partnership to increase the availability of fast, reliable satellite internet across Brazil.

The founder of Indian messaging app Hike has called on users to shun services from Facebook and opt instead for privacy-focused apps such as Telegram and Signal as his company exits the messaging market.

Plans to increase fibre production are often noteworthy, but the announcement by HFCL Limited, one of India's largest optic fibre manufacturers, that it is planning to increase fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) cable production by 33 percent at its Hyderabad facility could be very significant.

Global cybersecurity company Kaspersky has suggested that economic uncertainty is set to shape the 2021 cybercrime agenda in Africa.

Belarus’s government and telecom regulator are concluding three major programs aimed at developing the telecom sector and digital economy.

The Turkish communications satellite Turksat 5A launched in the US last week, bringing with it, potentially, a new source of satellite-borne services to the aviation and maritime markets.

Philippines-based operator Globe Telecom awarded Gilat Satellite Networks a multi-million-dollar contract to expand the operator’s cellular backhaul through satellites, a move designed to upgrade Globe’s nationwide coverage.

Philippines-based mobile wallet platform GCash gained an investment of over $175 million from private equity company Bow Wave Capital Management (Bow Wave) and shareholders, as part of the financial growth plans of Globe Telecom.

The advance of Sigfox in the IoT space continues: the global 0G network and cloud provider for industrial data has announced the addition of Ukraine to its coverage area.

A pilot project, recently launched in Uganda, aims to demonstrate more cost-efficient ways in which both electricity and ICT can be brought to rural areas. It comes at a time of renewed growth for the country’s telecoms sector.

Tele2 has selected Nokia to deploy its Standalone (SA) 5G Core and Voice over 5G (Vo5G) to enhance its cloud infrastructure and improve data and voice connectivity for subscribers in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

Claro Brasil has selected Ribbon’s SBC Software Edition to expand and secure their extensive Voice over IP network.

Ethiopia was one of the last countries in Africa to allow its national telco a monopoly on all telecom services including fixed, mobile, internet and data communications.

Philippines-based operator DITO Telecommunity expressed confidence in passing a first government technical audit of its network which begins next week (January 7), to stay on course for its March launch.

News from several countries across Central and Latin America has emerged in the past few days, with regulators laying out plans for the year to come.

North Korea possesses an underdeveloped yet growing market. The sector has been supported by some foreign investment, including the Egyptian telecoms investment company Orascom Telecom Holdings.

Mexico’s Movistar has completed the first phase of it network migration initiative, under which it has connected subscribers across several states to infrastructure operated by AT&T Mexico.