In what it calls a decisive turning point in its mission to bring finance and essential services closer to citizens, everywhere, for everyone, KaliSpot, which describes itself as a Senegalese fintech born in the United States, has announced the deployment of its first 1Net smart kiosks in the Senegalese capital, Dakar.

IDB Invest, a multilateral development bank committed to promoting the economic development of its member countries in Latin America and the Caribbean through the private sector, has partnered with technology giant Nokia to launch a US$50 million financing facility to strengthen digital connectivity in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Africa-focused telecoms firm Paratus Group has launched a private 4G/5G network in Namibia, positioning itself to compete with state-owned incumbents MTC and Telecom Namibia.

Pan-Asian data centre operator Digital Edge and Thai energy company B.Grimm Power announced on Thursday that they have broken ground on their first joint data centre in Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC).

South African telco Vodacom announced on Wednesday that its virtual wheeling solution is now live, enabling it to purchase renewable energy for its countrywide operations more efficiently and on a broader scale.

Axiata’s telecoms infrastructure company Edotco announced on Wednesday that its Sri Lankan subsidiary, Edotco Services Lanka, has received the country’s first licence to provide neutral-hosted infrastructure services in Sri Lanka.

Philippine telco PLDT and its wireless arm Smart Communications said on Wednesday they have expanded their grassroots programme to prevent theft of telecoms infrastructure by partnering with local communities, following its initial launch earlier this year.

Bharti Airtel-controlled telecoms tower firm Indus Towers revealed on Tuesday it is making plans to expand operations outside of India into select international emerging markets – particularly countries in Africa where Airtel currently operates.

Nokia has announced that it has been selected by Indian next-generation connectivity solutions provider Vortex Group to modernise its IP edge and transport network across the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat in the west of India, and Goa in the southwest.

Cloud-native network infrastructure provider Mavenir has announced the successful completion and go-live of its converged charging system (CCS) transformation for SETAR, the primary full-service telecoms provider on the Caribbean island country of Aruba.

Qatar-headquartered telecommunications and ICT provider Ooredoo and airline Qatar Airways have announced a strategic partnership to enhance artificial intelligence (AI), cloud and cybersecurity capabilities in Qatar.

Technology Innovation Institute (TII), the applied research arm of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), and VentureOne, ATRC's venture builder, in collaboration with technology group e&, say they have launched QuantumConnect, a next-generation hardware-based encryption solution, in the UAE.

The government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has confirmed that talks are still ongoing with satellite company Monacosat over launching a satellite to boost the country’s connectivity.

Amid the regular news of connectivity initiatives and new satellite deployments targeting remote areas, a recent report from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations agency for digital technologies, reminds us that there’s still a long way to go.

Jio Platforms parent company Reliance Industries (RIL) has announced a joint venture with Meta to build agentic AI enterprise platforms and tools for businesses in India and select international markets.

Nokia announced on Tuesday that that it has signed a contract agreement with Malaysian ISP Extreme Broadband (EBB) and its wholly owned subsidiary Open DC to upgrade Open DC’s AI data centres to improve security and network performance.

PLDT announced on Tuesday it has deployed free-space optics technology from Google Taara in three remote locations in the Philippines as an alternative to terrestrial and subsea fibre optic cables.

5G finally arrived in Bangladesh on Monday after telcos Robi Axiata and Grameenphone reportedly launched 5G services within a few hours of each other, and 18 months after receiving licences to streamline 5G rollouts.

The government of Chad late last week ordered mobile operators Airtel and Moov Africa to connect to its national fibre-optic backbone within seven days or face potential sanctions, after the Telecommunications Minister Boukar Michel met executives from both operators on Wednesday.

Two of Africa’s biggest operators – Vodacom and MTN – have, coincidentally, announced technology deployment firsts for the continent in the past few days – one involving MIMO, the other involving 5-band RRU commercial deployment.

Thai operator True Corporation has partnered with China Mobile International, T3 Technology and Tuya Smart to enhance its smart-home platform TrueX, aiming to migrate more than 3 million Thai users from Tuya’s ecosystem.

Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), the Costa Rican government-run electricity and telecommunications services provider, has announced that it will boost its current international capacity 23-fold through the integration of the Trans Americas Fiber Systems submarine cable TAM-1.

The past two years have seen an explosion in Generative AI. The ubiquitous technology has had a huge impact on customer service, but it also has a major shortcoming – it is predominantly reactive. While GenAI can respond to prompts, it is unable to take an independent action – to ‘take initiative’ by anticipating a customer’s needs, making a decision, and then interacting meaningfully with its systems to pursue a desired outcome.

Telkom Indonesia revealed over the weekend that it has launched an AI Centre of Excellence (CoE) supported by its digital services arm Telkom Solution that it describes as a “national AI ecosystem enabler.”

Djibouti Telecom has announced plans to extend the regional subsea cable, Djibouti Africa Regional Express 1 (DARE1), southward along Africa’s east coast to broaden reach and enhance route diversity.

Telkom Indonesia’s international arm Telin said it has signed an MoU with Malaysian engineering company ITCO Niaga to collaborate on planning and development of the Indonesia Cable Express II (ICE II) subsea cable system that now includes landing stations in eastern Malaysia.

Vodafone Idea’s infrastructure subsidiary is reportedly seeking loans worth INR50 billion (US$570 million) to finance network expansion.

Telkom Indonesia’s mobile unit Telkomsel has reportedly fully restored 4G internet services in Papua province and the Aru Islands of Maluku after repairing a damaged backup subsea cable that disrupted service in nine areas.

Smart Communications, the wireless subsidiary of PLDT, announced on Friday it has launched 5G Standalone in Iloilo City in the region of Western Visayas, which it says marks the beginning of a broader nationwide rollout of 5G SA across the Philippines.

Techno Digital, the digital infrastructure arm of India’s Techno Electric & Engineering Company Limited (TEECL), has announced the inauguration of its 36MW data centre at SIPCOT IT Park in Chennai.

There’s been a flurry of submarine cable deals in Iraq recently, including two contracts announced this week, one with Batelco and the other involving a company called Breeze Investments.