Vodafone has sold its 49% stake in Vodafone Fiji to the Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF). The deal closed for FJD160 million (almost $87.5 million).

China Telecom and China Unicom have received licences to begin trialling FDD-LTE networks in 16 Chinese cities.

Zain Kuwait is transforming its operations support systems (OSS) to become more customer-centric.

Caribbean operator Wind Telecom has awarded ZTE a contract to build the Dominican Republic’s first 4G TD-LTE network.

Indian operator BSNL and Syniverse have signed a multiyear agreement which will implement Syniverse’s SMS Interoperability Solution to provide BSNL’s subscribers with greater mobile messaging reach.

Satellite service provider Gilat has signed a multi-year, multi-transponder agreement under which Gilat Colombia will use Intelsat Ku-band capacity to support the Kioscos Vive Digital 2 (KVDII) project.

Zain Jordan has deployed Jinny Software’s SmartGuard Messaging Control Suite for message filtering and content subscription control.

Zimbabwean operator Telecel is introducing WhatsApp Bundles to allow subscribers to chat and share videos, voice notes and files with anyone on any network without having to worry about running out of data.

Birdstep Technology and Syniverse are providing Samsung with an end-to-end solution for an enhanced & customised Wi-Fi connection management solution, including back-end billing integration.

Bahraini operator Menatelecom has successfully deployed its LTE network in tandem with its ongoing WiMAX network using Elitecore’s revenue and customer management platform.

Telekom Malaysia Berhad is transforming its delivery of data services for enterprises with the implementation of support systems from Accenture.

Brazilian operator Nextel has launched 4G/LTE services in Rio de Janeiro, allowing subscribers access to download speeds up to 10 times faster than 3G.

Micromax is launching two new smartphones running on the Windows Phone 8.1 OS, making it the first Indian smartphone provider to launch a device that uses the Microsoft platform.

Orange and the BNP Paribas group are offering retail banking customers in Africa direct access between their BNP Paribas account and their Orange Money account through their mobile phones.

Thailand’s ongoing political unrest has stalled its 4G auctions, with the country’s military ruling council requesting that the upcoming spectrum licensing process be postponed.

Bharti Airtel has now launched 4G/LTE services in Kolkata for certain smartphones.

Middle Eastern service provider du has signed a contract with Nokia to deploy its IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS).

Sri Lankan operator SLT (Sri Lanka Telecom) is upgrading its NetCracker billing and mediation environment to the firm’s next-generation billing, rating and active mediation solutions.

ZTE and MNC Kabel Mediacom are deploying Indonesia’s first ultra-broadband Internet service, delivering connection speeds of up to 200Mbps to users for a richer and more interactive online experience.

Gemalto will implement its UpTeq Multi-Tenant NFC SIM for China Telecom as part of the operator’s commercial rollout of contactless services for mobile.

Voting technology and services provider Smartmatic has been awarded a contract by Brazil´s Superior Electoral Court (TSE) to guarantee data and voice communications in the 15 most isolated states during the general elections to be held in October.

Seacom has deployed CDNetworks content clusters and caching nodes on its Pan-African IP network footprint in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.

Vodacom DRC is implementing Emagine’s Campaign Management Platform and Managed Marketing Operations services to execute contextual marketing campaigns.

China Mobile is acquiring an 18% stake in Thai operator True Corp for around $880 million.

Anticipating a surge of user activity surrounding 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil, three operators in Brazil are working with Aptilo Networks to enable Wi-Fi offloading and carrier Wi-Fi throughout the country.

Zimbabwean mobile operator Econet Wireless Zimbabwe has partnered with Jasco for a contact centre to deliver a superior customer experience across its operation.

Vodafone’s Czech unit has taken issue with an LTE network-sharing arrangement between two of its main rivals, arguing that the country’s regulator has stipulated that such arrangements should not be exclusive.