Operators in Southeast Asia are laying out their deployment plans for the rest of the year, with the Malaysia’s Celcom claiming that it will be ready to launch commercial 5G services as soon as it holds suitable spectrum.

Niger is set to receive funding of US$100 million from the World Bank in order to push digital transformation initiatives.

There’s no denying that, even in post-lockdown India, demand for smartphones is still strong – but why can supply not keep up?

Indian regulator the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has told two leading operators that they cannot go ahead with recently launched premium plans, according to local press reports.

Armenia’s regulator has cleared Team LLC’s proposed acquisition of Veon’s local unit Beeline.

Kyivstar and Vodafone Ukraine have formed an active and passive infrastructure sharing agreement to boost 4G coverage in rural Ukraine.

Following yesterday’s announcement that Zain is offering 5G coverage in all of Saudi Arabia’s regions, we also have 5G coverage news from Brazil and South Africa, although, confusingly, neither country has formally auctioned long-term 5G spectrum yet.

Kenya’s Safaricom has selected Aviat Networks’ WTM 4800 multi-band radio platform for 5G backhaul.

We’ve mentioned Vodafone Idea subscriber losses a few times in the past twelve months. Now the Indian press suggests that a continuing decline in customer numbers is worrying the joint venture's partners, the Aditya Birla Group and Vodafone Group.

Iraq’s government will allow the country’s operators to renew their licences for a further five years – but with significant conditions attached.

Middle Eastern press outlets have reported an alliance between Ooredoo Kuwait, a telecommunications company owned by the Qatar-based Ooredoo group, and Batelco, the principal telecommunications company in Bahrain, to establish what is known as Global Zone Kuwait.

Novator Partners has acquired a majority holding in Colombian operator Avantel for an undisclosed sum.

Zain KSA now offers 5G coverage in all of Saudi Arabia’s regions after expanding its network to Al-Jouf and the Northern Borders.

Cuba’s sole telecoms provider, the state-owned ETECSA (Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba) has claimed via social media that it now has over one million 4G users.

A new era of stratospheric communications has begun, according to Loon, a company that offers a network of what it calls floating cell towers, and that is now providing service to subscribers of Telkom Kenya.

The government of Chad has launched a new initiative aimed at modernising the country’s networks.

Indian managed data centre service provider Yotta Infrastructure has announced the inauguration of what is described as India’s largest data centre building.

A premium residential internet service has been launched in Brazil, courtesy of global communications company Viasat.

The Chennai-Andaman & Nicobar Islands (CANI) submarine cable system project has received clearance from India’s National Board for Wildlife (NBWL).

Filipino fibre broadband provider Converge ICT Solutions has filed for an IPO of up to 35.92 billion pesos ($725 million) on the country’s stock exchange.

Telia Estonia is planning to build a solar plant to cut costs at one of its data centres.

Saudi Arabia’s stc has completed its due diligence for a possible acquisition of Vodafone Group’s majority holding in Vodafone Egypt.

Local press reports indicate that the installation of a new submarine fibre optic cable system from Montserrat to a branching unit between Guadeloupe and Antigua has been successfully completed.

Myanmar has completed a nationwide SIM re-registration programme, with millions of SIMs being disconnected by the country’s operators.

According to TeleGeography's CommsUpdate and local news reports, two of Saudi Arabia’s leading mobile operators are hoping to establish a joint tower company.

Indian press reports suggest that the country’s government is planning to provide nearly 500,000 fibre-to-home connections by September this year.

According to reports in the regional press and Reuters, a Vietnam-made 5G smartphone is on the way.

Data centre activity continues to ramp up across Asia, as underlined by a recent report from Malaysia, where a major new facility is planned in Selangor.