The first low-cost smartphone targeted specifically at the Africa region will launch in the first quarter of 2013...

Myanmar’s national mobile licences have roused the interest of four international operators after the country’s government made them available to foreign firms in a bid to encourage investment from overseas...

Bangladesh’s largest mobile service provider has deployed a new solution to consolidate and transform its network inventory management systems and processes...

Internet enabled devices are becoming more and more popular in all markets, but not all operators are seeing cellular data usage or revenues rise in line with this growth. Feature phones hide rarely used web technology, and smartphones are often used over WiFi networks only. As competition forces voice and SMS revenues to decline, smart operators are aware that a huge revenue stream is about to open up for them once they convince consumers to embrace mobile data...

The CEO of Scandinavian operator TeliaSonera has resigned following an investigation into the firm’s dealings in Uzbekistan...

Relations between China and the European Commission have hit a new stumbling block, with officials in the Asian nation reacting negatively to an offer made by the European trade commissioner aimed at safeguarding European interests...

Demand for high-speed broadband access, IPTV services, mobile video and more is expanding dramatically in the UAE...

The CEO of China Mobile Li Yue has confirmed that the operator will use the FDD LTE strand in addition to the TDD strand...

Nine African countries will be united by the continent’s largest single fibre network following a new acquisition...

Russia’s leading mobile operator is enabling 100G services with a new platform...

Developing Telecoms annual survey of telecom trends in emerging markets is now complete. We contacted senior executives at over 700 companies - vendors, network operators and mobile service providers - known to be active in emerging markets.

So what are the top telecoms trends for 2013 in emerging markets?

2013 will prove to be another interesting year for the sector...

As 2013 gets underway, we will see a shift towards a truly digital society...

Emerging markets have always been quick to adopt innovative mobile technologies:  low ARPUs means this is essential to creating a strong business case. In 2013 as we see smartphone penetration in emerging markets rising rapidly, we’ll see this trend continue, with new, efficient technologies deployed throughout the network...

The mobile data boom that is set to continue into 2013 and beyond, and service providers will need to find technologies and strategies to survive and thrive...

A major Mexican operator is optimising its 2G and 3G networks to improve the quality and capacity of its voice and data service...

China Mobile is reportedly considering expanding into five new markets...

India's telecom sector faced a particularly turbulent year, but 2013 may well turn around a lot of the negativity that affected the country's market last year.

Broadband will only get bigger and better in 2013...

Emerging markets will have easier access to high-speed internet in 2013, which will accelerate uptake...

Content delivery networks will become even more widespread in 2013...

In 2013, there will be a continued shift in focus for Communications Service Providers (CSPs) from ‘volume-led’ acquisition growth to a ‘value-based’ retention and growth strategy...

LTE will continue to grow, with the TDD strand becoming more high-profile in 2013...

Western Union views the following as the strongest digital trends in the financial services industry in emerging markets in 2013...

Brazil will see a major overhaul of its networks in 2013... 

The key word for emerging markets this year is mobility...

This year, there will be a significant shift from VPNs to public, private and, importantly, hybrid clouds...

Churn will continue to be a major issue for operators in emerging markets in 2013...

Some emerging markets are amongst the most "bandwidth-hungry" environments, even compared to the traditional, more mature North American and European markets...

The CSPs in emerging markets making the most gains in 2013 will be those prepared to innovate in service offerings and customer experience, making the most of the information they will have at their fingertips...

After a period of uncertainty, the Indonesian telecom sector has settled into a healthy development phase...

Bandwidth-intensive rich media services will continue to grow this year as BYOD and universal communications take centre stage...

Smart device users will increasingly consume data that they don't have to pay for in 2013...

Network virtualisation will be a major trend going into 2013...