Philippines incumbent telco PLDT and wireless subsidiary Smart Communications have renewed their call for closer engagement with homeowners' associations (HOAs) to streamline telecoms network rollouts.

Malaysian telco CelcomDigi is set to boost its home fibre broadband business via an infrastructure-sharing deal with communications service provider Time dotcom.

Nigeria’s Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) is having a  busy week already, with the industry association expressing concerns about unpaid bank debts and the cost of spectrum licenses.

UAE operator etisalat by e& has announced a 5G standalone (SA) deployment and a 5G downlink speed record.

A preliminary agreement with Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation & Aerospace will see Starlink provide high speed internet access to around 2000 rural schools across the country.

Yettel Hungary announced it will switch off its 3G network next month, finally joining its rivals in ultimately sunsetting the legacy technology in Hungary.

Saudi Arabian mobile operator Zain KSA signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Huawei Technologies on Friday to cooperate on green energy solutions for 5G networks.

According to industry body the GSMA over half (54%) of the world’s population owns a smartphone, but the rate of new mobile internet users has slowed. 

Unifi Mobile, the mobile unit of incumbent telco Telekom Malaysia, is leveraging its Uni5G service to spice up coverage of Harimau Malaya home football matches with 360° livestreaming and virtual reality.

The Malaysian government aims to extend 5G coverage to at least 85% of the country’s rural population by the end of 2024, with the remaining areas served by broadband satellites.

Paratus, a provider of ICT network solutions, fibre, and satellite connectivity, has launched what it calls two game-changing cross-border fibre links enhancing connectivity for Mozambique.

Tecnotree has implemented a Business Support System (BSS) upgrade for MTN South Sudan.

At Ultra-Broadband Forum 2023 (UBBF 2023), which kicked off on 12^th October in Dubai, the 10 Gbps City Initiative was launched jointly by the UAE Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA), Omdia, etisalat by e&, MTN South Africa, Huawei, and others.

Malaysian operator CelcomDigi has teamed with DHL Supply Chain Malaysia to launch what is billed as Malaysia’s first autonomous inventory management system to be powered by both 5G and artificial intelligence (AI).

Sri Lankan telco Dialog Axiata says it has successfully completed what it claims is the first-ever trial of Voice over New Radio (VoNR) on a Standalone (SA) 5G trial network in Sri Lanka.

Madagascar’s Axian has closed its acquisition of additional shares in Senegal’s Free.

Argentina’s communications regulator Enacom has confirmed the country's planned upcoming 5G spectrum auction for 24 October and suggested it will raise about US$1.05 billion.

Paraguay is the latest market in which Starlink has procured a licence for satellite broadband.

Newly launched Beninese mobile provider Celtiis has deployed the Captura NG solution from Oculeus to help manage its wholesale operations and network of national and international interconnect partners for its voice and messaging services.

The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) says it needs spectrum in the 6-GHz band to enable nationwide 5G coverage without sacrificing data speeds, and that allocating it for Wi-Fi use would be wasting it.

Fixed wireless access (FWA) services are still forecasted to gain traction across Southeast Asia to help bridge the digital divide – but the experience in the Philippines shows that operators shouldn’t take that growth for granted.

Netherlands-based operator group Veon has announced that it has completed its exit from Russia with the closing of the sale of its Russian operations to a group of senior members of the PJSC VimpelCom management team, led by VimpelCom CEO Alexander Torbakhov.

CSquared has selected Adtran’s FSP 3000 open optical transport technology to bring high-speed broadband services to Togo.

In yet another reminder of the opportunities for private 5G in multiple industries, John Deere, a global leader in the delivery of agricultural, construction, and forestry equipment, has outlined plans to launch its first private 5G network in a new factory in Brazil later this year.

Thai mobile operator AIS has partnered with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) with a new campaign to boost the country’s tourism numbers by making mobile digital services easier to use.  

Nokia revealed on Tuesday that it has built a new 400G national optical backbone network for Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (EITC), a.k.a du.

Liquid Intelligent Technologies, a leading provider of pan-African digital infrastructure, has partnered with wingu.africa a provider of carrier-neutral data centre services, to introduce Tanzania’s second Azure Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) stack.

The Warsaw Stock Exchange (GPW), the leading stock exchange in the CEE region, has selected Equinix, a leader in hosting financial markets and trading ecosystems, as the provider of the state-of-the-art data centre where GPW’s proprietary Warsaw Automated Trading System (WATS) will be launched.

Plans for Colombian operators Tigo and Movistar to move towards unifying their networks have been approved by Colombian business regulator the Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio (SIC).

American Tower Corporation a leading independent owner, operator and developer of wireless and broadcast communications real estate, has released its 2022 sustainability report in which it says it has decreased its direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (scope 1) by 11% from 2019.

Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison (IOH) says it’s collaborating with Setara Networks (a.k.a. Tara) to launch zero-fee instant transaction features to further accelerate the adoption of digital payments in Indonesia.

Vodafone and Orange say they have completed the first 4G calls over a shared Open RAN network in rural areas of Romania.