DigitalBridge’s Vantage Data Centers announced on Monday it has closed its acquisition of Yondr Group’s 300MW+ hyperscale data centre campus in Johor, Malaysia via a US$1.6 billion equity investment in its APAC platform by an affiliate of GIC, a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA).

Reported last week but only recently receiving wider coverage is the news that a Brazilian company – Rio de Janeiro-based Sollar Machine – has announced an investment of about US$9 million to build a data centre in Paraguay that will operate independently of the national power grid.

An interesting announcement relevant to Africa has come from official sources in the UAE, which has announced the launch of the AI for Development initiative, worth US$1 billion, to support and finance artificial intelligence projects in African countries.

Space Communication Technologies (SCT), Oman’s national satellite operator, has awarded a contract to Airbus Defence and Space, a major player in the aerospace industry, for OmanSat-1, the first Omani satellite.

Indian telco Bharti Airtel has reportedly accused domestic telecoms vendor Tejas Networks of installing "sub-standard equipment" in Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL's) 4G network, which Airtel claims is disrupting its network in the Rajasthan circle.

Edotco Bangladesh announced on Friday it has signed a new five-year space and power lease agreement with tower firm Summit Communications that it says sets the groundwork for a more integrated infrastructure model for accelerating tower rollouts,.

The Solomon Islands is set to get a second international subsea cable connection via a project funded by the Australian government to build a subsea cable that will interconnect with Google’s planned Bulikula system.

Ethio Telecom has partnered with Awash Bank to launch Tila, a new digital credit, savings and device-financing service available through the operator’s Telebirr mobile money platform.

NetBIT, the enterprise services unit of Mexican ISP ENI Networks, announced on Thursday it has collaborated with Ciena and Braxem to launch a new offering that leverages passive optical network (PON) access technology to drive digital transformation for Mexican enterprises.

NeutraDC Singapore – a subsidiary of Telkom Indonesia’s data centre arm NeutraDC – announced on Thursday it has signed an MoU with chipmaker AMD to implement proof-of-concepts using AMD’s Instinct accelerators and other initiatives to expand AI infrastructure in Southeast Asia.

There’s been a flurry of announcements from Humain, a Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF)-owned company delivering global full-stack artificial intelligence solutions, referencing names like Adobe, Amazon Web Services (AWS), xAI and Luma AI.

A potentially significant new approach to enabling real-time network optimisation and coverage improvement, particularly in underserved areas, has been trialled in the Philippines.

The Technology Innovation Institute (TII), the applied research arm of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), has announced plans to collaborate with UAE-based satellite company Space42.

Carrier-neutral data centre network Wingu Africa has announce the launch of Wingu Cloud Exchange (WCX), a locally hosted private cloud platform designed for the wider East African region.

Thailand is offering another strong reminder of its intentions in the data centre market with the recently reported approval of US$3.1 billion in new investments by the country’s Board of Investment (BOI) for four new data centre projects.

Princeton Digital Group (PDG) has begun construction on a new 120MW data centre campus, claiming it to be one of the largest single-site builds underway in Indonesia.

Globe Telecom has signed a new JPY20 billion (US$127 million) loan facility with Japan’s Mizuho Bank, adding fresh financing to support its capital expenditure plans and debt refinancing efforts.

UAE-based telco e& announced on Wednesday it has signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Motorola Mobility to explore new market opportunities in the Middle East region, possibly including AI.

Airtel Malawi officially launched its 5G network in select districts on Tuesday along with the nationwide rollout of Voice over LTE (VoLTE) for its 4G network.

A move described as “a bold and visionary step” by Sylvia Owusu-Ankomah, CEO of the Digital Chamber of Ghana, has seen the Ghanaian government give the green light to plans to build fibre chambers alongside roads, effectively eliminating the capital cost of digging for telecom operators.

Mira Aerospace, the high altitude platform systems (HAPS) subsidiary of Space42, the UAE-based space technology company, has announced the successful completion of the first public test flight of its advanced, solar-powered HAPS model, ApusNeo18.

Meta has completed the core build of its 2Africa subsea cable system, marking a major milestone in one of the world’s largest connectivity projects, with further expansions already underway.

Dhiraagu, the Maldives' leading telecommunications provider, has partnered with Infovista to implement comprehensive AI-powered optimisation across its generational networks from 2G to 5G.

IHS Brazil, part of the IHS Towers group, announced on Tuesday it has  expanded its distributed antenna systems (DAS) project at Afonso Pena Airport in São José dos Pinhais, Curitiba metropolitan area, in partnership with Motiva Airports.

Omantel says it has launched a new regional managed optical fibre network (MOFN) in collaboration with Zain Group and Zain Omantel International (ZOI) with optical solutions from Ciena.

IFC, a global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets, has announced a partnership with operator Orange Mali to support the company in upgrading its infrastructure, expanding broadband coverage, and ensuring equal access to telecommunications services for all communities.

Google says it plans to deploy a new trans-Indian Ocean subsea cable system that will connect Oman, the Maldives Islands in South Asia, and Christmas Island, an Australian territory. It will be called Dhivaru after the line that controls the main sail on traditional Maldivian sailing vessels.

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) is set to sell around half of its stake in Ooredoo Group in a move to raise additional capital on the Qatar Stock Exchange.

Huawei’s sixth Innovation and Intellectual Property (IP) Forum, held in Beijing this month, saw experts in innovation and intellectual property from around the world gather to explore the importance of openness and IP protection in driving innovation and social progress.

Ericsson announced on Monday it has inaugurated its new office in Lusaka, Zambia, which it said marks a significant step towards not only enhancing its local and regional presence, but also supporting Zambia’s digital transformation ambitions.

New data released by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on Monday indicates that while the number of internet connections is growing, the digital divide is still deepening in other key metrics such as speed, reliability, affordability and skills.

Indian real estate developer Anant Raj, now also operating in the data centre space as Anant Raj Cloud, has reportedly signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Andhra Pradesh, a state on the east coast of southern India, for the development of new data centre facilities and an IT park.