Broadband provider Converge ICT Solutions announced on Thursday that the South-East Asia Hainan-Hong Kong Express Cable System (SEA-H2X) subsea cable has officially landed in the Philippines.

Service provider Ooredoo Qatar has announced the successful completion of its trial of Wi-Fi 7 technology. The trial was completed on fibre-to-the-room (FTTR) devices for the first time in the region. The company plans to launch the technology in 2024.

Two recent deals in Sierra Leone and Malawi underline the continuing role of Chinese telecommunications in general, and tech giant Huawei in particular, in the ongoing digital development of the African market.

SierraIG, a joint venture (JV) between dense dark fibre infrastructure provider SummitIG and Neutral Networks, a Mexican company focused on providing 100% neutral connectivity to carriers, service providers and operators, plans to establish itself as a pure-play dark fibre infrastructure provider in Mexico.

Globe Telecom expanded coverage with 20 new sites across four provinces in the administrative region of Central Luzon, a move to boost digital infrastructure and support the agricultural and tourism sectors on the Philippines’ largest island.

At the IEEE PIMRC conference held on September 4, 2024, Dr. Tong Wen, Huawei Wireless CTO, presented his views on the development direction of the 6G industry. Titled “The Architectural Framework for A-RAN and A-Core”, Dr. Tong Wen noted “6G will not be a simple upgrade of 5G - it should integrate AI revolution for the past 20 months, so to reshape the wireless industry and take it to the next height.”

Philippine data centre developer and operator A-FLOW – the JV partnership between PAG-owned FLOW Digital Infrastructure and AyalaLand Logistics (ALLHC) – announced on Thursday that it has topped off its first data center in Biñan, Laguna.

The Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC) for Sudan reports that it has installed a new dedicated subsea fibre connection in Port Sudan to boost internet connectivity for humanitarian operations in the war-torn country.

Indian telco Bharti Airtel said on Wednesday it has deployed recently-acquired extra spectrum in Rajasthan, which it says will boost performance of its 4G and 5G services in the state.

Two positive announcements for Nigerian connectivity have made headlines in the past week – one from pan-African operator Airtel Africa’s recently established fibre unit, Telesonic, and one from Hotspot Network Limited, a leading last-mile connectivity and telecom tower operator in Nigeria.

Not for the first time, officials in Mauritania have targeted mobile operators for alleged failure to provide a service of acceptable quality.

Space X subsidiary Starlink reversed course and agreed to block access to fellow Elon Musk-owned company X (formerly Twitter), to maintain its satellite internet service in Brazil.

In what is claimed to be a first for Europe, service provider Vodafone and Czech power generation conglomerate ČEZ Group have introduced what they say is Europe's first private 5G mobile phone network (MPN) at a nuclear power plant – albeit in pilot form – in Temelin, a municipality and village in the south of the Czech Republic.

The World Health Organization found there is no link between brain and head cancer from use of mobile phones or being situated close to mobile towers.

Guinea's Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and the Digital Economy (MPTEN) reportedly plans to interconnect the country’s national fibre optic network with the network of Côte d'Ivoire in yet another move to boost its international capacity.

China Mobile International (CMI) announced on Tuesday that the PEACE subsea cable running from Singapore to France is now fully activated end to end, adding more open and flexible connectivity between Southeast Asia and Europe.

Malaysian communications service provider Maxis has announced the latest addition to its managed services portfolio by becoming a managed service provider (MSP) for multinational information technology company Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) in Malaysia.

Highlighting an increase in natural disasters in the Pacific Region, Digicel Pacific and SES have announced an agreement to bolster Digicel Pacific’s network with SES's service to enable critical communications to be restored quickly in the event of natural disasters. This agreement is an extension of the companies' long-standing partnership.

International money transfer operator Sasai Money Transfer has announced that it has partnered with Airtel Money, the payments division of operator Airtel, to expand what it describes as its revolutionary offer of free remittances to more African markets, this time targeting Uganda.

Hungary-based 4iG Group received backing from the North Macedonian government to launch its operations in the country, edging the operator closer to a commercial launch in the Western Balkan nation.  

The Philippines’ Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is reportedly preparing to tender a contract worth just over PHP37 million (around US$652,540) to roll out free wireless internet access services in 67 “roll-on, roll-off” (RoRo) ports across the country.

The government of Mauritius has launched a new scheme under which citizens aged 18 to 25 years are eligible to get free mobile internet services as part of a government drive to prepare the younger generation for the country’s digital future.

Indian telco Bharti Airtel, MediaTek and Nokia announced on Monday they have completed a trial that successfully combined TDD and FDD mid-band spectrum to boost 5G uplink speeds as high as 300 Mbps.

Qatar’s mobile operators have been given seven months to switch from FDD to TDD in the 2.6GHz frequency band by the country’s regulator.

Burkina Faso is planning to extend mobile and internet services to 1,000 remote areas over the next three years. These areas, known as ‘white zones’, are regions without access to telephony and internet services.

Will Albania soon join the club of 5G-ready countries? Telecoms regulator AKEP has officially opened the competition for the first frequencies to be used for 5G. This will involve five blocks in the 3400-3800MHz frequency band – two of 80MHz and three of 40MHz.

Brazil’s telecoms regulator Anatel announced 94.5% of Brazilian will theoretically have access to 5G from today (September 2) after releasing licences to operators for spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band.

Delivering a satisfying customer experience is essential to any sales process, but the expectations that telecom operators face are higher than most.

LEO satellite operator Starlink has scored another licence in the Pacific Islands to offer services – this one in the Solomon Islands, after two years of discussions with the government.

Google announced on Thursday it will invest US$850 million in its long-planned Terros data centre in Canelones, Uruguay, a month after convincing the government that the facility won’t exacerbate the country’s water shortage due to drought.

Malaysian telco CelcomDigi and agritech startup BoomGrow Productions say they have partnered to launch 5G and AI-powered machine farms that they say will enhance sustainable farming practices and food production in the country.

Indonesian operator Telkomsel announced an expansion of its ‘Hyper 5G’ network in Bali, as part of broader plans to deliver comprehensive 5G across the nation.