Another update of Developing Telecoms brings yet another series of 5G announcements, following hard on the heels of recently highlighted 5G FWA rollouts in the US and ongoing trials in China.

The potential arrival in China of Internet of things and machine-to-machine satellite services and solutions targeted at the heavy equipment, transportation and logistics and maritime industries, is further evidence of the growing importance of IoT and M2M strategies in industrial settings.

OTT services continue to be a hot topic lately, as recent news from India and Latin America proves.

Mobile payment technology and services have received a potential boost in the Philippines with the recent news of a major sales subscription for leading Philippines’ digital technology company, Voyager Innovations.

Africa is said to be a high-priority market for UAE-headquartered satellite communications services provider Yahsat and it certainly seems to be proving that with the recent announcement that it is providing internet services through its broadband offering YahClick in Cameroon.

Digicel has certainly come a long way since it was an upstart operator entering the Jamaican market in 2001.

Brazilian airline Latam, part of the Chilean-Brazilian Latam Airlines Group – the largest airline in Latin America with subsidiaries in Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru – has launched in-flight WiFi on board nine A319 aircraft in domestic routes.

Is the creation of the largest mobile operator in the Balkans about to be announced?

The news that India’s Department of Telecoms is to open an investigation into alleged historic under-reporting of revenues in India’s telecoms sector could hardly have come at a worse time for operators in the country.

There’s been much excitement over the recent news that the South Atlantic Cable System (SACS) is ready for commercial service, but another important undersea cable connectivity project involving Africa is also about to make history.

An interesting development in the ongoing infrastructure sharing debate came in the form of a recent presentation by the Philippines’ Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) of a new policy on infrastructure sharing.

Fixed and mobile customers of Movistar Chile can now subscribe and pay for Netflix on their bill.

Will the MTN IPO in Nigeria go ahead? Or could it be scuppered due to an ongoing row with government about allegedly unpaid tax and money the authorities claim was illegally taken out of the country?

A new report suggests that Indonesia can have a major role in the spread of digital communications services throughout Southeast Asia if it gives mobile operators access to vital spectrum bands.

Over-the-top (OTT) TV services in Mexico need greater regulation to ensure they pay taxes. That was the call from some speakers at a panel session called “How OTT pay TV will change TV” at the recent NexTV Series Mexico & Central America event.

Telia’s mooted sale of its majority stake in Kcell to fixed-line provider Kazakhtelecom has been abandoned after the two parties failed to agree on a price.

After being linked last week to a possible bid for Nextel Brazil, Telecom Italia has confirmed that its board is considering its investment strategy, which could include divesting non-core assets.

Axiata’s tower unit Edotco has stated its goal of strengthening its position in its current markets via two or three acquisitions across the next year.

Israeli data security firm C-Data has selected CloudBlue’s digital commerce platform for its cloud services division.

Malaysian data network provider Celcom Axiata Berhad has signed an agreement with Ericsson to expand and upgrade its LTE network in Malaysia.

Global telecommunication systems and solutions vendor Intracom Telecom has joined forces with COMATEC in order to deploy an IPTV solution in a luxurious compound in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The assets of bankrupt Indian operator Aircel have attracted bids from several interested parties, including Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio.

Myanmar’s two biggest mobile providers are picking up the pace of their 4G deployments.