In a fairly turbulent week for telecoms, there has at least been one encouraging piece of telecommunications news: an education-linked story from Zimbabwe – or rather from a Zimbabwean AI expert.

Myanmar’s state-owned MPT has launched its mobile money platform after getting the green light from the country’s central bank in October last year.

Speedcast International Ltd, a provider of remote communications and IT services, has announced that is has been awarded a 12-month contract with a mobile operator in Mexico.

Iridium Communications Inc calls it the first and only satellite cloud-based solution offering truly global coverage for Internet of Things (IoT) applications. This week the satellite communications giant announced that Iridium CloudConnect is up and running.

Qatar has launched its first Internet exchange point.

MTN is planning to invest US$1.6 billion into its Nigerian unit across the next three years.

Saudi Telecom Company (STC) is acquiring Vodafone’s 55% stake in Vodafone Egypt.

A cable company working across multiple regions has high hopes for its latest project which, it says, is designed for poorer countries with limited internet connectivity.

Djibouti and Somaliland are at loggerheads over the installation and proposed route of the DARE1 (Djibouti Africa Regional Express 1) submarine cable.

As might be expected, the continuing drive to get 5G auctions and rollouts under way is throwing up a number of controversies. The latest policy debates have taken place in Poland and the Czech Republic.

It seems that industry sympathy for Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel after the two Indian operators were hit with a massive bill for unpaid dues may not be shared by some members of the general public.

OneWeb has partnered with Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) to boost broadband connectivity in Kazakhstan.

In an extraordinary series of announcements, the giant Chinese equipment maker ZTE has highlighted the potential role of telecommunications in disease management – and specifically management of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak in China.

There’s been an interesting development in Angola, where oil and telecoms are two components of a new sale involving troubled Brazilian carrier Oi.

Ghanaian bank GCB has stated that it will launch its G-Money mobile money platform on 30^th January.

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has deployed Nokia’s technology to expand the capacity of its recently installed 100G transport network to 200G optical network for both domestic and international traffic.

The government of Croatia is pushing for a 5G launch in the country’s fourth-largest city, Osijek, by the end of the year.

The cable breaks we reported earlier this week are still disrupting communications in parts of Africa and will do so for a while – but help is on the way, according to regional press reports.

Russia’s MegaFon is entering into Fixed Virtual Network Operator (FVNO) partnerships with domestic ISPs in order to extend the reach of its converged fixed and mobile services.

Partners in an extension to a submarine cable system connecting Asia, Africa and Europe are claiming it will deliver a major bandwidth boost for Africa as it enters a new phase.

Estonia’s scheduled spectrum auction has stalled following a legal challenge from a smaller local player.

Recent reports from the Liberian press indicate that local operator Lonestar Cell MTN has extended its mobile coverage in Liberia.

As we suggested earlier this week, Indian operators Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea have told the country’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) that they will not pay an estimated $12.4 billion between them in adjusted gross revenue (AGR)-related fees due today as they are awaiting next week’s Supreme Court hearing relating to a modification petition. 

Thai regulator NBTC expects the country’s upcoming spectrum auction to bring in THB64 billion ($2.1 billion) now that state-owned operators TOT and CAT are allowed to participate.

Telefonica has received a €10 billion offer on a majority stake in its business across eight Latin American markets.

Bharti Airtel has been granted permission by India’s Department of Telecommunications to receive up to 100% of its paid-up capital from overseas investors.

To meet the needs of new access technologies and growing transport requirements, as well as growing data demand in its region, Ooredoo Algeria is modernizing its infrastructure by boosting capacity throughout the network, with the help of SIAE Microelettronica.