According to a recent press release from A1 Belarus the operator has begun work on launching voice and data mobile communications at all new stations on the Minsk metro, as well as along the lines connecting them.

Mexican cable operator Megacable is deploying fibre GPON infrastructure across its footprint via a US$400 million investment.

Ericsson’s 2019 annual report seems to have confirmed what many people suspect – that 5G deployment in India will be delayed due to spectrum allocation-related constraints in the market.

India’s Vodafone Idea has launched a new pilot deployment of cloud-native Optiva Charging Engine on its Universal Cloud.

Internet services group Rakuten and telecoms and technology service provider Vodafone have become the lead investors in a satellite venture that aims to extend mobile coverage to more people and devices across the planet.

The DARE1 consortium has landed cables in Somalia’s two largest coastal cities, Mogadishu and Bosaso.

Internet para Todos Perú (IpT Peru) has partnered with Parallel Wireless to deploy hundreds of programmable virtualised 4G OpenRAN sites for mobile broadband.

Expanded internet access is coming to rural customers throughout Mexico over the next three years thanks to thousands of new Wi-Fi hotspots.

India has given Apple the go-ahead to open branded retail outlets in the market, with the US firm planning a launch in 2021.

Now Indian banks are getting involved in the ongoing pricing and debt issues afflicting operators in the country. In particular, suggestions that there should be a hefty raise in mobile tariffs seem to have worried the Reserve Bank of India.

Chile is implementing a new tax law that obliges overseas providers of OTT and e-commerce services to pay VAT from 1^st June 2020.

Telefonica has completed the process of returning its Mexican spectrum licences and raised EUR95 million (US$104 million) as a result.

A Rwandan data centre that hosts servers related to the country’s government has been brought offline by hackers.

Pioneering South African operator Rain, which launched a 5G service late last year, has now launched a new payment product, called the Standard Plan, which offers subscribers an uncapped 30Mbps service for R699 (about $44.75) per month.

Orange, a multi-service telecommunications operator present in 18 countries in Africa, will be the first operator to adopt the O3b mPOWER  from SES, a next-generation medium earth orbit (MEO) satellite communications system, starting in the Central African Republic.

A new open-access agreement has been signed by six broadband providers in Saudi Arabia.

In the mobile broadband data era it is forecast that over 80% of traffic will occur in indoor locations creating demand for new indoor coverage solutions.

The Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA) has partnered with tower firm K-Net to deliver connectivity to one of the country’s more remote regions.

Huawei has launched new a new range of OceanStor 5G-Era storage solutions designed to help carriers and enterprises cope with the explosive growth of mass data in the 5G era.

Turkcell has selected Mavenir to test and deploy OpenRAN vRAN within its home market.

Namibian market leader MTC (Mobile Telecommunications) has completed the first phase of the 081Every1 network expansion that it began in July 2017.

Indonesia is the latest country to introduce a Sigfox IoT network, with the recent official launch by Sigfox Indonesia of what it calls its 0G network for IoT operation in the country.

The government of the Cook Islands has appointed a new chairman to the country’s regulator ahead of a planned break-up of the monopoly currently held by Vodafone in the market.

Recent 5G coverage has reported launch activity in Thailand, Tajikistan and Croatia, though what constitutes a launch may be up for debate; a couple of 5G debuts are concentrated in a relatively small area.

Nepal’s Subisu Cablenet is boosting its network capacity using Nokia’s 100G backbone optical network.

MTN has selected Tecnotree as its strategic partner for Digital Transformation across Africa and the Middle East.

Telefonica has launched an IP Network Fusion Project for digital network transformation in the Chilean market.

Adjusting a recent strong statement from a senior executive implying that AGR dues could bankrupt it, US satellite communications provider Hughes Network Systems has said it has no plans to shut its Indian arm, Hughes Communications India.

South Africa’s Econet Global is the latest operator to express an interest in obtaining a licence to deliver services in Ethiopia.