As CSP’s experience disruption to traffic patterns as a result of the global Covid-19 pandemic, what are the key challenges facing their data centres?

The Indian smartphone market grew 9% year-on-year hitting over 53 million units in Q3, the highest evert shipment uptick in a quarter for India, according to Counterpoint Research.

Israeli operator Bezeq made good on a pledge to expand its fibre optic network with the completion of its fibre optic rollout in the town of Metulla, marking the first community in Israel to be entirely connected to the operator’s fibre network.

Philippines operator DITO Telecommunity said it is on target to launch commercial services in March next year, saying it is on track to pass a government technical audit.

Hrvatski Telekom, a leading operator in Croatia, has claimed a first with the launch of a commercial 5G network, which, it says, places Croatia alongside developed European and world markets.

The Kenya government announced it will lay 630km of fibre optic between the towns of Eldoret to Nadapal, to deliver high-speed internet services and increase trade in east Africa.

African data centre developer and operator Raxio says it has officially secured land at the Ethio ICT Park in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for its newest data centre.

NEC Corporation India has been selected by Saharanpur Smart City Limited (SSCL) as the master system integrator for implementation of the integrated command and control centre and smart components in this major smart city project in Uttar Pradesh.

Satellite telecommunications solutions provider Axess Networks, which is providing backhaul connectivity services for connectivity supplier Altán Redes in Mexico, has been assigned further participation in the Shared Network project developed and operated by Altán Redes.

The Nzadi Cable System Project, which will be implemented in waters offshore Angola, is now under way.

Veon announced it reached it an agreement to sell its Armenian unit to Team LLC, putting an end to months of dispute amongst rivals.

Japan, the US and Australia will fund the construction of a subsea cable connecting the Pacific archipelago islands of Palau, a move against Chinese influence in the region, reported Nikkei Asian Review.

Orange stated its Guinea unit suffered a cut to its international communications for three days without any prior knowledge to it happening, as the country was rocked with protests.

Vodacom said it had seen a surge in base station vandalism and battery thefts in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal, urging communities to aid it in preventing connectivity switching off in the region.

Network testing company Ookla reported UAE-based operator Etisalat had the fastest mobile data speeds in 2020 so far.

AT&T Mexico has returned a portion of its 800MHz spectrum to the country’s regulator in a bid to reduce its costs.

Telecom Egypt tapped Ericsson to leverage the vendor’s technology to migrate its international gateway, in a bid to accelerate services and commence entry into the IoT market.

Bharti Airtel announced it will exit the Ghanaian telecoms market with the government set to acquire all shares in its joint venture AirtelTigo.

Vodacom South Africa is deploying Nokia’s 5G radio, core and fixed network solutions to enable ultra-fast 5G services for its subscribers.

The 5G debate in India continues. The latest submission, according to the Indian press, comes from the industry think-tank Broadband India Forum.

State-run operator Baharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) reportedly flagged to India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) any disinvestment from 2G networks will hit its revenue, and massively affect its standing in the Indian market.

Chayora Limited, an international infrastructure investor, developer and operator of hyperscale data centre campuses in China, has been confirmed by the Open Compute Project Foundation (OCP) to be the first data centre facility having achieved OCP Ready certification in China.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) revealed it approved MTN Nigeria and Emerging Markets Telecommunication Service (EMTS) to carry out a network sharing trial, a move to spur resource sharing among operators to improve connectivity services.

The past few days have brought more news of the HyperActive programme, expected to launch in mid-2021, whose primary aim is a flight demonstration of hyperspectral imaging and communication payloads.

Chilean telecommunications watchdog Subtel announced a search for partners to finance a project to lay subsea fibre optic cables to connect South America to the Asia-Pacific region.

Bharti Airtel, India’s largest integrated telecommunications company, has announced its entry into the cloud communications market with the launch of its new offering, Airtel IQ.

Philippines operator PLDT announced it secured permission to double its tower presence in the country, as part of plans to meet growing connectivity demands and government targets.

Bulgaria has signed a 5G security declaration with the United States in a bid to protect its communications networks.

A reminder of one of the problems that undersea connectivity can bring comes from Bangladesh where undersea cable maintenance is under way, bringing some disruption to internet connectivity.

Microsoft has announced a cloud deal in Brazil and a virtual conferencing facility agreement in Kenya.

Telecom Egypt announced plans to construct Egypt’s largest international data centre, in a move to fortify its standing in the country as the largest subsea cables operator in the region.

A dramatic response from Cambodia’s Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (MPTC) to apparently unacceptable business practices has seen the ministry suspend or revoke the licences of 17 telecommunications operators.