A busy start to the week for payments giant Mastercard has included announcements of major deals in Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

RailTel Corporation of India has announced plans to establish a greenfield data centre for Ethiopia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to Indian news reports, the data centre will be housed within the existing building of the Ministry in Addis Ababa.

Reliance Jio Platforms is reportedly considering a public listing of around 2.5% of shares on the Indian stock exchange,  move that could raise roughly US$4 billion and potentially mark India’s largest-ever IPO.

The week just ended seems to have been a busy one for regulator Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA), with important rulings related to MVNOs and 5G reported by the local press.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation announced on Monday it has kicked off a 5G pilot programme in Lviv in cooperation with the country’s three main telcos – Kyivstar, Vodafone Ukraine and lifecell – although a full-scale launch will only come after the ongoing war with Russia finally ends.

A launch of India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle on Sunday carrying the EOS-N1 Earth observation satellite and 15 other satellites for domestic and international customers ended in failure, with all satellites lost.

Telkom Indonesia said on Friday that it has completed restoration of network and telecoms services in the Sumatra region that was devastated by floods and landslides last month.

Omantel announced on Sunday it has successfully and seamlessly upgraded its network to support 5G Standalone (SA) services and boost its ability to support the next wave of digital technologies in Oman.

Regulators in Malaysia and Indonesia announced separately over the weekend that they have temporarily restricted access to X’s AI tool Grok over its ability to generate and distribute non-consensual deepfake pornographic images of women and children.

A recent update of Brazil’s General Telecommunications Law means that cooperatives from all over the country have gained authorisation to offer telecommunications services, including telephony and broadband internet.

Sri Lankan operator Dialog Axiata has announced what it calls a landmark strategic partnership with UnionPay International (UPI), a China-headquartered company described as one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing global payment networks.

Aramco Digital, the technology subsidiary of Saudi oil giant Aramco, says it is set to launch the kingdom’s national industrial communications network operating in the 450MHz band.

Technology company ACES India and state-owned operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) have signed a strategic agreement to deploy advanced telecom and digital connectivity infrastructure at Noida International Airport in Uttar Pradesh, a state in northern India.

Millicom’s Paraguayan unit Tigo has raised around US$77 million through a bond issuance in the local capital market, marking a first for a Paraguayan corporate issuer in attracting international investors via locally issued instruments.

Ocean Network Express (ONE), one of the world's leading liner shipping companies, and Japanese technology group MTI have established a joint venture called Quaveo in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City.

As predicted in recent days by many news outlets, including this one, Indian operator Vodafone Idea today confirmed that its adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues for the period from FY 2006–07 to FY 2018–19 are to be frozen from 31 December 2025.

Luxembourg-based 5G NTN satellite operator OQ Technology has signed a LEO satellite partnership agreement with cloud-based hybrid connectivity provider Monogoto.

Latin America-focused operator Millicom is considering a possible acquisition of Telefónica’s Chilean unit, as the Spanish group continues to exit non-core markets, Bloomberg reported.

The rush to develop data centre infrastructure in Malaysia continues with Tien Wah Press Holdings saying that its joint venture (JV) with Singapore-listed property developer Lum Chang Holdings is entering the data centre business to tap into the growing demand for such infrastructure.

Oman Data Park (ODP), a managed services and cloud provider delivering ICT solutions, has entered into a strategic partnership with ZainTECH, the integrated digital solutions provider of MEA telecoms giant Zain Group, to strengthen cybersecurity services across Oman and selected regional markets.

Software provider Cerillion has won its largest contract to date after securing a GBP42.5 million (around US$57.1 million) deal with Oman-based operator Omantel.

Egypt’s regulator the NTRA (National Telecom Regulatory Authority) has granted tpay the country’s first licence to offer Direct Carrier Billing (DCB) for government payments.

A sixth subsea cable has been damaged in the Baltic Sea, keeping regional authorities on high alert amid growing scrutiny of Russian-linked maritime activity, the Financial Times reported. 

State-owned operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has announced the awarding of two more BharatNet contracts as the village connectivity project enters its third, and presumably final, phase.

Chinese smartphone maker Oppo is set to bring Realme back under its core brand structure as a sub-brand, as parent company BKK Electronics looks to better integrate resources and align its brand strategy alongside OnePlus.

RANext Technologies has been empanelled by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) as a Digital Connectivity Rating Agency (DCRA), meaning it is authorised to evaluate the digital connectivity infrastructure of properties to ensure seamless connectivity and readiness for smart technologies.

Veon-owned Banglalink has regained ISO 27001:2022 certification for its information security management systems, reaffirming its compliance with international cybersecurity standards.

As it suggested it would in late 2024, Zimbabwe has now started levying a new tax on payments to increasingly popular multinational digital service providers.

Africa-focused payments technology company Flutterwave is to buy Mono, an African open banking and financial data infrastructure provider.

Though it does not yet seem to have been formally confirmed by the Indian government, beleaguered operator Vodafone Idea (Vi) has apparently been granted a ten-year grace period before it has to pay more than 95% of its adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues.

Veon Group plans to invest US$20 million in its financial services subsidiary Mobilink Microfinance Bank, as the company looks to scale digital banking services in Pakistan.