Axiata and Sinar Mas announced on Tuesday they have signed two Letters of Intent (LOIs) – one to jointly explore digital transformation opportunities in Southeast Asia, and the other confirming the planned merger of Indonesian telcos XL Axiata and Smartfren.

Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Communications Innovation & Digital Economy (FMCIDE) and WIOCC Group, a provider of digital infrastructure and connectivity solutions, have announced a strategic partnership.

Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB), Malaysia’s 5G network provider, and EDOTCO Group, the national digital infrastructure provider, say they have successfully completed the installation of 5G in-building solutions (IBS) at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and KLIA terminal 2 (KLIA2).

Liberty Costa Rica and Claro have each paid $16.2 million for 5G spectrum rights, marking a major step toward launching commercial 5G services in the Central American nation.

Indonesian telco Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison says it has formed a partnership with Vietnam-based electric taxi service Xanh SM to create smart mobility solutions leveraging ICT, IoT and analytics for Xanh SM’s new taxi fleet in the country.

USAID’s Better Access and Connectivity (BEACON) project has soft-launched the first Open RAN laboratory in the Philippines, in collaboration with international and local telco industry stakeholders, and is targeting a full launch in May this year.

Ericsson says it has signed a strategic IT transformation deal with Bangladesh telco Grameenphone to upgrade its backend with what the vendor says is one of the largest catalog-driven charging and mediation deployments in the world, with added AI.

Operator Orange Jordan and independent software provider SoftAtHome say they have announced the imminent deployment of the world’s first fully prpl-based broadband solution with a home gateway and Wi-Fi repeater powered by prplWare and complementary SoftAtHome products.

Satellite communications provider Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT) and Eutelsat Group, a global leader in satellite communications, have announced what they describe as a groundbreaking multi-year, multi-million-dollar partnership to deliver low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite services in Nigeria.

South African communications regulator ICASA has approved the transfer of operator Cell C’s spectrum and network licences to Blue Label Telecoms, paving the way, except for one more approval, for the technology company to take control of Cell C.

Cloud technologies provider Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced a plan to invest US$8.3 billion into cloud infrastructure in the AWS Asia-Pacific (Mumbai) Region in Maharashtra, a state in the western peninsular region of India, to further expand cloud computing capacity in the country.

Operator TIM Brasil and independent growth and monetisation platform Digital Turbine have announced a strategic partnership that they say will enhance the smartphone experience for millions of TIM customers.

The 45,000 kilometre 2Africa subsea cable systems interconnecting Europe, Asia and Africa is back in the news again, this time thanks to an announcement from Telecom Egypt and Cisco.

While the growth of 5G private networks in Africa may not so far have been as spectacular as some operators had hoped, such networks are certainly gaining traction in South Africa, as a recent agreement signed by operators MTN and China Telecom and tech giant Huawei seems to indicate.

Ericsson has extended its managed services and customer support contract with e& Egypt for another five years, pledging to enhance the operator’s AI integration and operational efficiency as part of the renewed agreement.

The Angolan government plans to sell its shares in the troubled state-owned operator Unitel as part of broader efforts to privatise the country’s economy.

WOM Colombia has announced plans to roll out its 5G networks this year, following a bailout from new investors that rescued the operator from bankruptcy last week.

Independent investment benefit corporation and asset manager Meridiam says it has acquired a majority stake in Ilitha, an innovative telecommunications company whose main objective is to provide affordable, unlimited internet solutions to underserved areas in South Africa.

MTN Nigeria has renewed its spectrum band licence (referred to as Channel 1) in Nigeria for an extra ten years, effective from the start of this year.

Intracom Telecom has upgraded its uni|MS Network Lifecycle Automation & Management Platform.

UAE-based e& Carrier & Wholesale says it is partnering with global internet exchange operator DE-CIX to create an IX ecosystem in the Middle East that they also claim will turn the UAE into a major interconnection hub.

Philippines-based PLDT Global said on Thursday it has extended its exclusive partnership with Saudi Arabia’s STC Group for a second year to deliver high-quality international voice services across Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and Africa.

The board of Thailand’s National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has reportedly approved draft rules that would require telcos to add biometrics to their SIM card registration processes.

C3ntro Telecom (C3ntro), a provider of AI-enabled fibre networks and data centre connectivity solutions, has announced the successful deployment in Mexico of a solution from Infinera, a global supplier of innovative open optical networking solutions and advanced optical semiconductors.

Officials from China, Myanmar and Thailand have reportedly reached a consensus on eradicating telecommunication fraud centres in Myanmar, a country with a long-standing fraud problem, exacerbated by the ongoing war in that country.

PAIX Data Centres, a leading data centre provider in Africa, has announced plans for the construction of a new state-of-the-art data centre in Dakar, Senegal.

Indonesia’s antitrust watchdog has ordered technology giant Google to pay IDR202.5 billion (US$12.4 million) for monopolistic practices related to payment services on its app store.

MainOne, Solutions by Equinix, which provides connectivity and data centre solutions in West Africa, said on Tuesday it has acquired and lit up capacity on the Equiano subsea cable to add more redundancy to its services.

Telkom Kenya, Rakuten Symphony and Airspan announced on Tuesday that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on testing Open RAN technology in Kenya.

Malaysia’s National Water Services Commission (SPAN) has reportedly warned that the country’s data centre boom could create a water crisis in the longer term unless reforms on data centre water usage are enacted in the next few years.