There has been a significant boost for Tanzanian operators with the government’s decision, announced late last week, to slash the country’s telecommunications right-of-way (RoW) fee from US$1,000 per kilometre to only US$200 per kilometre.

Axian Telecom signed a deal to acquire a further 40% stake in Senegalese operator Free taking its total ownership to 80% to consolidate operations.

Rwanda and Cameroon have recently announced significant education-related technology agreements – Rwanda with investment group SoftBank and Cameroon with UN agency UNICEF.

Malaysia approved Elon Musk’s satellite company Starlink to operate in the country and connect remote locations.

The Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN) has confirmed that it will end its year-long moratorium on issuing new telecom and broadcast licences on 1^st October 2023.

Malaysia’s communications minister revealed the government has reached a deal outlining stakes in its wholesale 5G company Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB) for the nation’s five MNOs.

Ghana’s National Communications Authority (NCA) is taking “a significant step towards correcting market imbalances” with the implementation of technology neutrality for non-dominant players.

There’s been significant data centre and undersea cable-related news from service provider PLDT in the Philippines this week, underlining the growth in data demand in that country that we reported on earlier today.

Costa Rica has confirmed that it plans to commence its multi-band 5G auction on 23^rd October 2023.

Airtel Africa has completed a digital transformation project across its African footprint in partnership with CSG.

Total mobile services revenue in the Philippines is predicted to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 2.7% to US$4.3 billion, as subscribers adopt more data services and consume over four times more data by 2028.

Mobile money growth continues across Africa. Two recent announcements, from IDT Corporation, a global fintech company, and from TerraPay, a leading global payments infrastructure company partnering with operator Safaricom, are the latest example of companies targeting consumers in Africa – and notably the remittance market.

As the number of Indian cities covered by 5G grows, India's 5G smartphone user base has passed the 100 million mark and monthly sales have overtaken those of 4G smartphones for the first time, according to recent research.

Safaricom announced plans to add 595 new 5G sites by the end of March 2023, as it aims to push ahead of rivals in Kenya and capitalise on rising connectivity demand.

Tonomus, the first subsidiary of Neom, a region in Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea coast described as 'building a future fuelled by the power of cognitive technology', has announced the opening of its first digital communications facility.

Senegal’s telecoms authority revealed it had provisionally given Sonatel (Orange Senegal) a 5G licence, after concluding a call for tender to extend concessions for operators. 

Israel’s Pelephone – the mobile unit of Bezeq – has been awarded 800MHz of spectrum in the 26GHz band by the committee in charge of the tender process.

SLA Digital, which works with many of the world’s major mobile operators to power mobile revenues through carrier billing and mobile identity, has partnered with Vietnam-headquartered Viettel Business Solutions Corporation (Viettel Solutions) – a member of Viettel Group – for carrier billing.

Is India about to relax its data storage rules? A widely reported (though as yet unconfirmed by government) new draft version of a planned privacy bill seems to indicate that it is.

Latin America and Caribbean-focused multilateral development bank IDB Invest says it has closed a standby letter of credit for about US$47.5 million to service provider Colombia Móvil (aka Tigo) to support the expansion and upgrade of telecommunications infrastructure in small municipalities in Colombia.

Portuguese telecoms regulator ANACOM has announced that it is working with the Cape Verdean communications regulator ARME on the installation of a remote station on the island of Boa Vista to improve its spectrum monitoring system.

Laser Light, the owner and operator of an emerging global optical platform and WIOCC, a major player in the deployment of carrier-scale, future-proofed network infrastructure into Africa, have signed a five-year US$129 million master services agreement.

Uganda has reversed a parliamentary decision to abandon a new tax law that imposes a 5% levy on income earned locally by foreign companies. The tax law had been debated and dropped in May. However, President Yoweri Museveni has now signed a bill that includes the levy clause.

Malaysian operator Maxis announced it will sign an access agreement with state 5G wholesaler Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB) to advance the country’s 5G rollout and remain competitive against rivals who have signed.

MTN Rwanda has partnered with data-driven platform Bboxx in a bid to increase smartphone access across Rwanda, accelerating the country’s digital agenda.

Oi Brasil, the cash-strapped Brazilian operator, has now seen a significant influx of revenue after completing the sale of selected tower infrastructure to Empreendimentos e Participacoes, an affiliate of comms infrastructure group Highline.

Belgium-based operator group Proximus acquired a 58% stake in Indian cloud enterprise company Route Mobile for INR59.2 billion (US$721 million), a strategic move to enhance its digital communications.

Nokia trimmed its sales and profit forecast for 2023 blaming a tightening economic landscape for cutting customer budgets.

Satellite networking technology, solutions and services company Gilat Satellite Networks has announced that it has won an award worth millions of dollars in orders for a project in Mexico involving cellular backhaul over satellite.

Citing the need for Kenya to be an attractive investment digital hub, Kenya is repealing a ruling that would have made meant only companies with at least 30% substantive Kenyan ownership, either corporate or individual, would be licensed to provide ICT services.

A decision by Croatia’s regulator to remove restrictions on dominant player Hrvatski Telekom (HT) looks set to provoke a backlash from smaller competitors in the country’s fixed broadband sector.

MTN subsidiary Bayobab has secured a contract to manage, operate and maintain national fibre infrastructure in the Central African Republic.