India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) revealed key initiatives on Monday to boost local development of 5G and 6G use cases, as well as a skilled workforce to support it.

Digicel Samoa announced on Monday that it has been granted conditional approval from the Government of Samoa to launch 5G technology, and is already working with Nokia to upgrade its cell tower sites.

NOW Telecom suffered another legal setback in its quest to become the next major telco in the Philippines after the Supreme Court upheld earlier rulings denying its petition for a preliminary injunction against the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).

Networking systems, services and software company Ciena has announced an upgrade to support growing demand for more bandwidth for the SEA-ME-WE 4 cable across the Asia-to-Europe route.

Wholesale connectivity provider Botswana Fibre Networks (BoFiNet), which operates Botswana’s largest fibre network, is boosting its offering with solutions from DZS.

Last week’s inauguration of Tunisia’s Ifriqiya submarine cable is part of a wider plan to boost the country’s international connectivity, according to a number of reports.

Tower company  Edotco Bangladesh revealed on Thursday that it signed an MoU with Huawei Technologies (Bangladesh) to collaborate on deploying a telecoms tower in Bangladesh made of fiberglass reinforced plastics (FRP).

India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) announced on Friday that its next spectrum auction – which will put more 5G bands on the block – will commence on May 20, and has invited all players to apply.

Vietnam’s Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) has reportedly opened its long-awaited 5G spectrum auction to all players, starting with the 2500-2600 MHz band, with more bands to follow in the coming days.

Airtel Tanzania managing director Dinesh Balsingh revealed the operator had expanded its coverage with newly constructed towers, as part of an initiative to boost connectivity in rural locations, The Citizen reported.

MTN Uganda Mobile Money managing director and CEO Richard Yego revealed the operator is aiming to almost double its loans to UGX1 trillion (US$256,000) this year. 

As Nigeria’s MVNO sector gathers pace, software solutions provider Mobilise has launched Tier 5 MVNE services to cater to this burgeoning market segment.

Colt Data Centre Services (Colt DCS) announced on Thursday that it has purchased a new 10-acre plot in Ambattur, Chennai, on which it will build a hyperscale data centre to expand its presence in Southern India.

Mongolia got a head start this week in its ambition to launch a national satellite with the launch of two domestically manufactured low earth orbit (LEO) nano satellites and a 'sandbox' to develop the local space industry.