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.

Oman has cleared Huawei to supply equipment for 5G network deployments in the market.

Infinet Wireless has installed a new high-capacity wireless infrastructure to improve public safety and expand its geographical coverage in Mexico’s Zacatecas state.

Kenyan operator Safaricom is one of a number of technology companies that has joined an initiative for disability inclusion.

At the Huawei products and solutions launch in London, Huawei unveiled the world's first series of ONTs OptiXstar V864/K654 with embedded AI (eAI).

Only days after these news pages reported that the new Philippines mobile operator DITO Telecommunity had claimed adequate funding to enter the country’s mobile market, DITO has delayed a planned commercial launch in the Philippines until March 2021.

Claro Argentina, a leading mobile network operator in the Argentine market, has signed an agreement with Spanish satellite telecommunications operator Hispasat.

An independent survey has once again named Huawei as market leader in the optical network terminals (ONT) sector, a position it has now occupied for the last seven years.

According to local press reports, Malaysia’s Axiata Group, one of the leading telecommunications groups in Asia, is planning to go ahead with a bid for a digital banking licence in the country.

While much if the rest of the word is arguing about whether or not to partner with China for 5G rollouts, the expansion of 5G networks in China itself may be slowing – an unexpected victim of the ongoing Covid-19 (coronavirus) outbreak.

Lesotho’s regulator has threatened to revoke Vodacom’s licence in the market and issued the operator with a fine of 8.2 million Maloti ($549,000).

Uzbekistan’s state operator Mobiuz has embarked on a wide-reaching modernisation of its network in order to boost capacity and quality of service.

Albania’s antitrust watchdog the Competition Authority has approved – subject to a few conditions – Vodafone Albania’s acquisition of Albanian Broadband Company (ABCom).

Will Russia’s 5G millimetre wave (mmWave) auction go ahead as planned? It’s unlikely according to recent news reports, which cite official documentation saying that the auction is off.

Thailand’s AIS has earmarked an initial THB10 billion ($318.8 million) budget for deploying 5G across the next year, with the potential for this to increase to THB15 billion.

North Macedonian regulator the Agency for Electronic Communications (AEK) has extended the deadline for comments on the award of 5G frequencies in the country.

Given everything else that the sector has been dealing with, the timing of India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) announcement on 5G field trials is quite interesting.

Etisalat is set to trial Parallel Wireless 2G, 3G, 4G & 5G OpenRAN across its markets in Middle East, Asia and Africa.

Gambian operator Africell has disputed claims by the country’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) that it had been ordered to refund and compensate subscribers over inaccurate tariffs.

Israel’s Cellcom has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Golan Telecom to acquire the latter operator for ILS590 million (US$172 million).

Zimbabwe is investing US$6 million into improving rural connectivity.

The Europe India Gateway(EIG) submarine cable system has been upgraded to accelerate and strengthen connectivity between businesses in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and India, says Ciena, a networking systems, services and software company.