Malaysia is back in the data centre news again. Hard on the heels of news that Equinix has completed the second phase of a new data centre in Cyberjaya, Selangor, has come the announcement of an award by Google related to the building of a hyperscale data centre in the country.

Airtel Africa returned to profit in its latest financial year driven by a rise in subscriber base despite a continued hit from currency devaluation across its markets.

Indonesian telco Telkomsel says it has expanded its 5G network coverage in Makassar, on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, with the installation of 73 new 5G base stations in the city.

Bangladeshi telco Robi Axiata announced on Wednesday it has signed a tripartite MoU with two green-energy firms to establish a 100 megawatt-peak (MWp) solar-power park to power its operations in Bangladesh.

UAE-based satellite firm Space42 announced on Wednesday that its mobile satellite services (MSS) subsidiary Thuraya is collaborating with Danish software company Gatehouse Satcom to demonstrate the commercial viability of Thuraya’s upcoming direct-to-device (D2D) satellite IoT service.

There are both positive developments and a few problems for the digital infrastructure company Equinix in Malaysia, according to recent headlines.

Technology vendor Nokia has announced that Cybernet, Pakistan’s leading fibre broadband provider, has chosen Nokia’s optical transport solution for its new long-haul optical fibre cable (OFC) network.

Indian data centre firm RackBank says it has broken ground on a campus in the city of Nava Raipur in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Spanning 13.5 acres, the development will be Chhattisgarh’s first data centre campus.

Operator Orange Tunisie has announced the inauguration of a new data centre in Sousse in the central-east part of Tunisia. This latest-generation data centre is described as part of the country's digital transformation and, Orange Tunisie says, has been designed to meet the highest standards of performance, security and resilience.

The government of Cape Verde has officially launched Tech Park Cape Verde (TechPark CV), described as a major milestone in the country’s digital transformation strategy.

Nokia has signed a deal with Danish shipping giant Maersk to deploy private wireless network solutions across 450 vessels in its fleet.

Indonesian telco XLSmart on Tuesday released its last quarterly results for XL Axiata before last month's merger with Smartfren, which showed the telco reporting modest growth in revenues and customers but a dramatic slide in its net profit.

MTN’s digital infrastructure arm Bayobab announced on Tuesday it has completed a 260-km fibre route in Uganda from Malaba to Kampala that interconnects with Bayobab’s recently completed fibre route in Kenya from Malaba to Mombasa.

MTN has announced that it will offer up to 1.2 million of its prepaid subscribers an option to buy a 4G smartphone for just ZAR99 ($5.42).

The Liberian Telecommunications Authority (LTA) announced on Monday that it has launched a nationwide initiative to rehabilitate and maintain rural base stations deployed under the Universal Access Fund (UAF) that have since been abandoned.

India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has reportedly issued a list of additional security requirements that GMPCS licence holders offering satellite broadband services will have to fulfil.

Airtel Africa announced on Monday it has signed a deal with SpaceX to bring Starlink’s LEO satellite internet services to customers in all 14 African countries where Airtel operates – at least once Starlink has licences to operate in them.

Abu Dhabi-headquartered global technology group e& and Caribbean and Central America service provider Digicel Group have announced a strategic partnership to enhance Digicel’s international voice services across the Americas.

A reminder of the growing emphasis from governments on ensuring that local data stays within their borders comes from Azerbaijan, where edge AI, cloud, network, and security solutions provider Gcore has announced a strategic partnership with state-owned service provider AzInTelecom.

Indian operator Reliance Jio has reportedly started using its own network products for planned small cell-led densification of its pan-India 5G network.

Some years after Google’s failed attempt  to commercialise high altitude platform stations (HAPS), AALTO HAPS, a subsidiary of aerospace corporation Airbus based in the UK, says it is still on track for commercial HAPS services to begin in 2026 and that it has set a world record for global aviation with its solar-powered Zephyr HAPS.

Indian telco Reliance Jio reportedly acknowledged it has been using unlicenced spectrum as well as 5G spectrum to connect some customers for its 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) services, which it says is helping lower deployment costs.

UAE-based telco du says has officially set a new Guinness World Record for the "longest promotional livestream” with TikTok Live MENA, in which a single smartphone livestreamed across the country’s seven emirates for 48 hours straight over du’s 5G network.

Polish telecoms operator Exatel said it is deploying pluggable optical transceivers from Ciena in its multi-vendor SDN infrastructure to improve capacity and performance for its national fibre-optic network.

It now seems that the Democratic Republic of Congo has granted a licence to satellite communications company Starlink – despite an earlier ban, which finally appears to have been rescinded.

Last week’s news that Pedra Agroindustrial Group, one of the leading conglomerates in the Brazilian sugarcane and energy sector, will expand the digitisation of processes in three of its plants and a unit dedicated to livestock and soybean production through a new partnership with operator TIM is a reminder of the growth of wireless connectivity in the agribusiness sector.

Multinational technology company Meta has been in the news lately in Nigeria and Ghana – but not necessarily for positive reasons.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced plans to embed its cloud technology within Orange’s mobile networks in Morocco and Senegal this year, aiming to significantly improve connectivity speed and reduce latency.

Malaysian operator Maxis has unveiled plans to significantly expand its fibre network in the state of Penang, aiming to connect over 100,000 homes by 2027 in support of the government’s digital transformation agenda.

Global satellite operator Intelsat announced on Thursday it is expanding its partnership with Hispasat’s teleport operator and satellite services provider Axess Networks to provide satellite communications services throughout the Americas.

Zain Iraq says it has signed a strategic MoU with Krafton Europe – the global games company behind hit titles such as PUBG: Battlegrounds – to develop Iraq’s growing gaming and esports sector and improve the player experience.

There’s bad news and good news for ICT-related employment in India, with Zoho holding back on plans to put money into a semiconductor facility and Rakuten boosting its investment in the country.