Finally in the news for other reasons than its part in the bid for Oi’s mobile divison is operator Claro Brasil, which has offered more details on its plans to bring the first 5G network to Latin America by using Ericsson Spectrum Sharing.

Israel’s Ministry of Communications (MoC) has stated that the country is in the final stage of its 5G spectrum tender.

Following yesterday’s news that a number of kit vendors may not be taking new orders for 4G equipment from Vodafone Idea due to concerns about recovering payments comes news that Nokia may pull out of its relationship with BSNL.

The Telkom Kenya merger with Airtel Africa is off after lengthy regulatory delays have apparently contributed to both parties abandoning the deal.

MTN Group has confirmed that it will focus its strategy on its core African markets in the medium-term future.

There’s been yet another development in the long-running story of Brazilian telecommunications company Oi’s attempts to ease its debt by selling off some of its assets. There may now be at least three bidders for the company’s fibre unit.

Digicel Tonga has successfully implemented a network-wide upgrade to LTE.

A significant announcement from one of India’s big three operators has seen Bharti Airtel agree a multi-year, strategic collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Motorola Solutions has launched a new two-way radio device specially designed for small and medium businesses in Sub Saharan Africa.

Orange Niger, the second largest mobile operator in Niger, has selected wireless backhaul solutions and services from wireless hauling specialist Ceragon Networks Ltd to modernise its nationwide backbone network to 4G.

The Slovenian telecommunications regulator has listed its requirements for winning bidders in the country’s delayed auction of 5G spectrum.

For some, 5G may seem a technology whose main applications are to high-end technologies and users. It’s timely therefore that Nokia has announced plans to set up a robotics lab at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore for research on socially relevant use cases based on 5G and emerging technologies.

Bharti Airtel has selected Ribbon Communications’ 5G-Native Neptune platform to enhance its mobile backhaul transport capabilities.

Ukraine’s Ukrtelecom is planning deploy ultrafast broadband reaching 2.6 million people living in rural areas.

Poland’s government is looking to hold its delayed 5G spectrum auctions in early 2021.

Africa Mobile Networks has extended its satellite cellular backhaul contract with Gilat Satellite Networks.

Some of the more unusual recently reported side-effects of the coronavirus pandemic have been delays to the sale of part of Africa’s largest fibre company and extensions of operator licences in the Philippines.

Brazilian business outlet Valor Economico has named Banco BTG Pactual as one of the ten investors that have bid for Oi’s holding in fibre firm InfraCo.

Remote connectivity is a continuing focus in African telecommunications, and a recent announcement from Telecom Namibia underlines the relevance of satellites and VSATs to this drive.

According to the Reuters news service, South African operator Telkom has launched a life insurance business that, it has said, will initially sell funeral insurance.

NetEngine 8000 series routers help carriers achieve business success in the 5G and cloud era by enabling them to build an intelligent IP network featuring super capacity, intelligent experience, and autonomous driving.

Kazakhstan’s largest operator Kcell has tapped Gilat Satellite Networks for a cellular backhaul project that will provide connectivity to hundreds of rural villages.

XL Axiata has selected Ericsson to deploy 5G-ready cloud core technology solutions for the operator in East Indonesia. This includes Ericsson Cloud Packet Core and its network functions virtualization infrastructure (NFVI) solution.

The government of Namibia is reportedly undertaking an assessment of the environmental impact of 5G before introducing the technology to the market.

Thailand’s True Move will deploy ZTE’s 5G RAN equipment in its nationwide tri-band network.

Filipino operator Smart Communications has launched commercial 5G services in the business districts of the Manila metropolitan area.

Leading Kenyan operator Safaricom has announced the launch of a scheme that will allow customers to access a brand new 4G-enabled smartphone by paying as little as KES20 (about $0.19) daily for the devices.

Angola’s state-owned fixed provider Angola Telecom is scrapping its mobile partnership with Angorascom Telecomunicacoes.