The International Digital Infrastructure Alliance (IDIA) is finally up and running. Announced earlier this year, the new group aims to provide a unified global voice for the wireless tower industry.

Three tower firms in Bangladesh have asked to defer fee payments to the government as clashes with local operators have prevented them from commencing operations.

5G trials are continuing in multiple territories, but 4G is still rolling out in many developing countries.

Al Yah Satellite Communications Company (Yahsat), a global satellite operator based in the United Arab Emirates, and broadband satellite networks and services company Hughes Network Systems have announced the commencement of a joint venture to provide satellite broadband services in Brazil.

Turkcell, the largest mobile operator in Turkey, has announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding in relation to an eight-year term loan of 500 million euros with China Development Bank (CDB).

According to local press reports, Ooredoo Maldives, part of international communications company, Ooredoo, whose operations span the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia, has launched a voice-over-Wi-Fi (VoWiFi) service called Wi-Fi Calling.

Madagascar has signed a modernisation agreement with China in a bid to overhaul its telecoms sector.

The South African National Space Agency (SANSA) has reported plans to build a new engineering design facility that, it suggests, will bring immense benefits to the space industry in South Africa.

Liquid Telecom South Africa, part of the pan-African telecoms group Liquid Telecom, together with a consortium of telecommunications companies, has officially inaugurated the landing station of the Melting Pot Indianoceanic Submarine System (METISS).

Integrated ICT and infrastructure provider Vox has entered into a partnership with Angola Cables that will give it remote peering access to the undersea South Atlantic Cable System (SACS) linking Africa with the Americas.

NEQSOL Holding, representing Azerbaijan's Bakcell, has completed its acquisition of Vodafone Ukraine from Russia's MTS.

Satellite communications operators the Russian Satellite Communications Company (RSCC) and Azerbaijan’s  Azercosmos have signed a cooperation agreement relating to satellite communications and broadcasting services.

Operators Djibouti Telecom, Somtel Somalia and Telkom Kenya, along with SubCom, which designs, manufactures, deploys, maintains and operates fibre optic cable networks, have announced that all manufacturing aspects for the Djibouti Africa Regional Express 1 (DARE1) submarine cable system are complete.

Satellite-based systems designer Thales Alenia Space has signed a contract with the Egyptian operator Nilesat to build the Nilesat-301 geostationary communications satellite.

MainOne, a provider of telecom services and network solutions for businesses in West Africa, has announced that its submarine cable in Cote d’Ivoire is live and ready for service.

The African Development Bank and Microsoft have launched what they call the Coding for Employment digital training platform (Coding4Employment.org), described as an online tool to provide digital skills to African youth, wherever they are across the continent.

While it still faces challenges in terms of competition, Lesotho has received a substantial bandwidth boost from international cable landings, reports Research & Markets.

India’s big three operators— Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio – have, according to recent Indian news reports, asked the sector regulator to set up floor pricing for data services.

Local carrier SCCI and New Zealand submarine cable system operator Hawaiki Submarine Cable have signed a multi-million-dollar contract to provide SCCI with a turnkey solution to connect the island nation of New Caledonia to Hawaiki.

The African space industry is enjoying enormous growth, according to the recently published African Space Industry Annual Report.

Despite the launch of 4G/LTE services, Tajikistan’s overall telecom sector has continued to struggle, reports Research & Markets.

Orange Poland has selected Juniper Networks to enhance the resilience and automation capabilities of its IP network core.

Bangladesh has seen a very rapid increase in mobile broadband penetration over the past five years driven by a rising level of mobile subscribers with faster download speeds on 4G networks, reports Research & Markets.

Strong economic growth is benefiting the telecoms sector in Côte d'Ivoire, reports Research & Markets.

According to local press reports, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (Ficci) is now getting involved in the ongoing debt crisis affecting at least two of the country’s big three operators.

ZASpace is the name of a new South African organisation that will, it is hoped, galvanize the country’s geospatial industry and bridge the skills deficit in this sector.