Gulf Bridge International (GBI) has partnered with Iraq IXP to extend low-latency Peering services from the Gulf to Iraq, enhancing Iraq’s connectivity and access to global digital services.

TikTok, the short-form video hosting service owned by Chinese internet technology company ByteDance, has ended its online retail operation in Indonesia after the country imposed a ban on e-commerce transactions on social media platforms.

SoftBank Corp, the telecommunications subsidiary of the investment holding company SoftBank Group Corp, has announced that from October 2023 it will launch a full-fledged expansion of its global IoT business in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

Technology giant Huawei has announced a five-year investment initiative, totalling US$430 million, for the 28 African countries north of the equator.

Sabah, a Malaysian state located on the northern portion of Borneo, in the East Malaysia region, is to play host to a Tier IV data centre worth RM119 million (about US$25.2 million).

Tanzania and Uganda have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to integrate their national information and communication technology (ICT) networks in a deal said to be worth US$28.8 million.

Thailand’s PROEN Corp has deployed Qwilt and Cisco’s Open Edge Content Delivery Network (CDN) solution to improve the quality and delivery capacity of its digital content and applications.

A legal case brought against the Philippines’ National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) by operator NOW Telecom has been dismissed by the country’s Court of Appeals.

In an interesting recent development, Nigeria’s mobile operators are threatening to abandon uniform tariffs. Thus subscribers could be charged differently for telephony services depending on their locations.

The Indian Institute of Technology at Kanpur (IIT-K) and InterDigital, a mobile and video technology research and development company, have announced a bilateral research partnership to develop enabling technologies that impact future wireless standards.

Kenyan operator Safaricom has announced an upgrade to its local cloud computing platform and cloud services suite.

African e-commerce platform Jumia has announced an agreement with satellite internet service Starlink to retail the Starlink Residential Kit in Africa.

Indonesian fintech firm Yokke has formed a strategic partnership with Japan’s SB Payment Service Corp, a unit of SoftBank.

PLDT’s enterprise subsidiary ePLDT is set to invest US$600 million to build its 12th data centre facility in the Philippines, a move to remain competitive against rivals in B2B.

Globe Telecom struck a deal to sell off its 77% stake in fintech company Electronic Commerce Payments (ECPay) to Mynt for PHP2.3 billion (US$40.7 million).

MTN has partnered with global consulting firm Accenture and customer experience solutions provider Genesys on an intiative that aims to boost customer care for MTN’s subscriber via cloud-native solutions and advanced AI capabilities.

Telkom Indonesia’s Patara-2 submarine cable system, supplied by NEC, is now complete and operational.

Copenhagen, September 20, 2023 – Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison (“IOH” or “Indosat”) will celebrate its 56th anniversary this year. Since officially operating as a newly merged entity on January 4, 2022, Indosat was born with the larger purpose to connect and empower the people of Indonesia by accelerating the nation's digital transformation.

MTN revealed plans to expand its fintech arm to include remittance services in a move to tap into the 15% of South Africans who are unbanked. 

African technology group Cassava Technologies is in the news yet again, this time through a partnership with Atlas AI, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) analytics platform.

Two stories involving enhanced coverage and connectivity have emerged from Brazil this week – one involving satellite networks for enterprises, operators and aviation, and the other involving terrestrial internet access for schools.

The announcement from telecom giant Orange of the launch recently of Sophie Germain, its new cable ship, has been picked up with some enthusiasm in the African technology press.

Allo Technology is implementing Infinera’s ICE-X intelligent coherent pluggables and XTM Series to boost its nationwide optical network and expand services across Malaysia.

State-backed Argentinean provider ARSAT is reportedly planning to deploy fixed wireless access (FWA) services using its 700MHz and AWS spectrum holding.

Telecom Egypt finalised a deal to host AFR-IX Telecom's  Medusa subsea cable which will connect to the Red Sea through the operator's network by the end of 2025.

The Costa Rican government reportedly gave permission for Elon Musk’s broadband provider Starlink to operate in the country in Q4 this year. 

In what could be a significant development for space-based 5G, operator China Telecom, technology giant ZTE and Beijing-based company SpaceIoT say they have completed the industry’s first 5G non-terrestrial network (NTN) deployment in a marine scenario.