Among five major projects mentioned in a government presentation at the launch earlier this week of the Sustainable Infrastructure Development Symposium South Africa (a virtual event this year) were two important telecommunications initiatives in satellite communications and broadband.

Claro Colombia has received a block of 3.5GHz spectrum to conduct 5G trials.

An ongoing 100 per cent physical inspection of Chinese imports into India has taken a number of businesses by surprise, is leading to delays in the release of cargo, and is a major worry to the Indian smartphone industry in particular.

Cambodia’s Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPTC) has revoked the licence and spectrum of one of the country’s operators.

Rain claimed a first in 2019. Vodacom, with a little help from temporary spectrum, followed in May this year. Now it’s the turn of South Africa’s number two mobile operator MTN to launch 5G.

Telenor Group is selling its entire 34.2% stake in Wave Money to Yoma Strategic Holdings for $76.5 million.

The drive to register or reregister SIM cards continues, with Myanmar among the latest countries to set a deadline.

UAE operator group Etisalat is unlikely to introduce standalone 5G for at least two years, and will instead focus on non-standalone (NSA) 5G architecture in this period.

Croatia’s Hrvatski Telekom (HT) has awarded a five-year 5G RAN contract to Ericsson.

According to Bloomberg and recent Indian news reports, the country is looking at proposals to reduce the license fee for fixed-line broadband services to households.

Ukraine’s three largest mobile operators have commenced “joint actions” to expand their 4G-LTE networks using redistributed 900MHz frequencies.

According to Reuters and local press reports, South Africa's third-biggest operator, Cell C, has announced plans to lay off more than 38 per cent of its workforce.

Meeza, an end-to-end managed IT services and solutions provider based in Qatar, has announced plans to build a data centre in the capital, Doha. It will be the company’s fourth such project in the country.

Estonian mobile operators have called for the country’s Minister of Foreign Trade and IT to revise its licensing strategy for spectrum in the 3.4GHz - 3.8GHz range.

The upturn in Bharti Airtel’s financial fortunes continues, with a major sale netting it close to $46 million.

It’s been a newsworthy week for Digicel, a communications and entertainment provider in the Caribbean, Central America and Asia Pacific. Following a major step in the process of reducing its debt, which it announced last week, it has won an important court case.

Supermarket chain Walmart de Mexico y Centroamerica is now offering MVNO services in Mexico, branded as BAIT (Bodega Aurrera Internet y Telefonia).

The aftermath of the border skirmish between India and China in Ladakh is continuing to have an effect on telecommunications, with Chinese app vendors coming under attack from Indian consumers and uncertainty being expressed about operator contracts with Huawei and ZTE.

The company selling the assets of bankrupt Indian operator Aircel expects them to raise between INR9.5 billion and INR15.1 billion (USD124.8 million and USD198.4 million).

Digicel, a communications and entertainment provider in the Caribbean, Central America and Asia Pacific, has concluded what it calls the last significant milestone in the process to reduce its debt.

TurkNet is upgrading its core network with 400Gbps optical transport solutions from Ekinops.

At a time when the future of energy – not just oil and gas but renewables – is again a hot topic, Inmarsat, which owns and operates a global portfolio of mobile telecommunications satellite networks, plans to expands its presence in the Middle East by joining the Energy Industry Council.

Orange Botswana has announced the launch of LTE-A services, increasing data transfer rates on its 4G network. The upgrades are being branded 4G+ and have already rolled out in Greater Gaborone (which houses about 10 per cent of the country’s population) and Francistown, the country’s second-largest city.

The deadly skirmishes on India’s border with China may have a knock-on effect on the telecommunications market after government officials, quoted in the Indian media, floated the idea of barring Chinese vendors from supplying telecommunications companies.

O2 Czech Republic is launching its commercial 5G network next month, becoming the first operator in the market to achieve this milestone.

Some sort of resolution to India’s ongoing legal wrangles about AGR still looks a long way off after two operators refused to offer bank guarantees requested recently by the Supreme Court.

Romanian regulator ANCOM (National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications) has begun a public consultation after its own review identified no issues requiring new regulation for the wholesale fixed market.