At the Global Mobile Broadband Forum 2024 (MBBF 2024) in Istanbul, an exclusive ELITE FWA Club Media Roundtable discussed the potential for Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) and 5.5G, which is also referred to as 5G-Advanced or 5G-A technologies across the GCC.

Telecom Egypt and Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) announced on Wednesday they have successfully landed the Africa-1 subsea cable system at the first of two planned landing points in Egypt.

Several civil society organisations in Mozambique have reportedly filed an injunction against mobile operators TMcel, Vodacom and Movitel over ongoing mobile internet shutdowns and blocked access to social media and messaging sites.

Pakistan operator Jazz has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the country’s National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) and the National Information Technology Board (NITB).

Many operators are putting a lot of effort into encouraging recycling – and into being seen to lead that effort, as recent announcements from operators Vodacom in South Africa and du in the UAE indicate.

Latin American IP transit and connectivity provider EdgeUno has announced a new fibre optic route connecting Santiago de Chile and Buenos Aires in Argentina.

On Day 2 of the Global MBB Forum 2024, Yang Chaobin, Huawei's Board Member and President of ICT Products and Solutions, opened the keynote speech with the declaration that the mobile AI era is roaring in.

Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison (IOH) and Ericsson have unveiled a full-stack Digital Monetisation Platform (DMP), which the companies claim will drive Indonesia’s digital transformation.

Global payment infrastructure provider Thunes said on Tuesday it has expanded its collaboration with Philippine mobile payments platform GCash to enables users to top up their wallet balances directly within the app using funds from UK and European bank accounts.

Following this week’s news that GDS International received approval to build a hyperscale data centre in Thailand, GDS officially announced on Tuesday it will invest up to US$1 billion over the next five years in the project, and has signed a partnership deal with real estate developer Amata for the site in Chonburi.

Ericsson announced on Tuesday it has completed the expansion and modernisation of MTN Rwanda’s network in Kigali to extend coverage and make the network ready for 5G rollouts in the future.

Satellite operator Sateliot, which says it is the first company to operate a  constellation of 5G NB-IoT satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO), has formalised a collaboration agreement with UNESCO Santiago, the regional office for Latin America and the Caribbean of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Funke Opeke, founder and CEO of Nigerian internet connectivity giant MainOne, has stepped down from her role after 14 years – two years after digital infrastructure business Equinix bought her company, albeit news reports indicate that the completion of MainOne’s full integration with Equinix, was more recent, taking place this month.

Sri Lankan operator Dialog Axiata has claimed a first: the deployment of the world’s first commercial virtual base station controller (vBSC) with Ericsson.

Thailand’s Board of Investment (BOI) says it has approved 66.2 billion baht (US$1.96 billion) worth of investments for new data centre projects in Chonburi Province backed by Google and China’s GDS.

Mastercard announced on Tuesday it has launched Mastercard Pay Local, a new global service that enables digital wallet users in Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East and Africa to pay locally when they travel.

Saudi Arabian telco Mobily and Telecom Egypt announced on Monday that they have signed a cooperation deal to land the first subsea cable directly linking Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

While Nigerian plans to open up the market to many new MVNOs are not necessarily guaranteed success, they have certainly been good for Wireless Technology Labs (WTL), which recently announced that it had been chosen by MobileCoreX Ltd (MCX), a Nigerian mobile virtual network enabler (MVNE), to spearhead the development of the country’s first mobile virtual network.

State-owned operator Ethio Telecom has officially expanded its commercial 5G network in southern Ethiopia, as the operator continues to deploy fifth-generation technology.

Recently in the news for a strategic partnership with Jaza Energy to deploy solar-powered hubs at 250 towers in underserved communities across Nigeria, IHS Nigeria, a subsidiary of the IHS Towers group, has now made headlines with another solar-related contribution: the donation of four solar-powered boreholes to support victims of recent floods in Maiduguri, Borno State.

In news that is likely to be relevant to developing world markets where coverage of remote areas remains a problem, iPhone maker Apple has announced that it will invest up to US$1.5 billion in Globalstar, a provider of satellite and terrestrial connectivity services, to fund the expansion of its iPhone communication services.

Vodafone Group announced that its Romanian unit and rival Digi have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Hellenic Telecommunications Organization (OTE) to acquire its subsidiary, Telekom Romania Mobile Communications (TKRM). This move would reduce the number of market players in Romania to three.

As the digital landscape evolves, ZTE Corporation, a global leader in information and communication technology solutions, reaffirms its leadership with the launch of its latest G6 server series at annual 5G Summit & User Congress 2024 in Istanbul, Türkiye.

Global digital operator Veon said on Friday that its unit Beeline Uzbekistan has developed and launched an AI-powered super app called Hambi for all mobile users in the country.  

Governments in Mozambique and Mauritius have reportedly shut down access to social media and messaging sites, as Mozambique deals with election protests while Mauritius is trying to control the fallout of an alleged wiretapping scandal.

Malaysian operator U Mobile has won the rights to implement Malaysia’s second 5G network to compete with original 5G operator Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB), leaving rival contenders CelcomDigi and Maxis to rethink their 5G plans.

Croatian operator Hrvatski Telekom (HT) has partnered with Nokia to launch projects aimed at connecting developers to Nokia’s coding platform to foster the creation of new consumer and industrial 5G applications.

El Salvador aims to enhance its digital government services with the help of a $60 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which partners with the public sector in the Latin America and Caribbean region to design and provide innovative, high-impact solutions for sustainable and inclusive development.

UAE-headquartered telecom and digital services provider du has this week announced two major deals: one, with tech giant Ericsson, relating to 5G network expansion and another, with strategy and consulting company Accenture, linked to IT application development and maintenance.

The Day One Keynote session at MBBF 2024 emphasised that we are entering a new era of AI facilitated by the expansion of 5.5G. With 5.5G expanding the boundaries of connections, AI allows them to connect intelligently.

Nokia has announced that Vietnam’s largest service provider, Viettel, will use its optical transport solution to cost-effectively address growing demand for 5G and data centre interconnect (DCI), consumer data consumption, and cross-border connectivity.

Brazilian neutral network and digital infrastructure company V.tal, recently in the news thanks to its interest in troubled operator Oi Brasil’s fibre broadband base, is now making headlines through an indoor 5G deal for Brazilian shopping centres.

ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC) Philippines said on Thursday that the first phase of operations for its upcoming STT Fairview 1 hyperscale data centre is on track to be ready for service by the second quarter of 2025.