MTN Group has moved to quell speculation that it could be mounting another takeover bid for Telkom SA, following the confirmation of a buyout offer from the operator’s former CEO.

Colombia’s long-anticipated spectrum auction process is slated to begin on 20^th December 2023.

Startup Hello Space, described as Turkey's first commercial ‘pocketqube’ satellite venture, has launched what it describes as the world’s tiniest satellite – with the help of SpaceX.

Pan-African service provider Vodacom has been busy with payment services both in South Africa, with extensions to the operator’s VodaPay super app, and regionally, with a managed payment service.

Following Monday’s news of an acquisition bid, Serame Taukobong, the CEO of Telkom, South Africa's third-biggest telecom company, has apparently said his company does not need saving.

Guyana’s mobile network operators welcomed with open arms the government’s decision to abolish taxes on mobile phones, in a bid to spur growth in the telecoms sector.

MTN Sudan has chosen Skyvera’s cloud-native digital BSS/OSS portfolio for its digital transformation programme.

International voice and messaging specialist VOX Solutions has been appointed as the exclusive gateway for international application-to-person (A2P) short message service (SMS) traffic delivery into the Telekom Networks Malawi (TNM) network.

Attempts to finalise SIM registration in Ghana are continuing, even though the latest deadline seems to have past and many unregistered SIMs have been blocked.

Solomon Islands operator Our Telekom has launched its “highly anticipated” mobile money service, M-SELEN.

Peruvian operator Bitel has won bids for spectrum in two bands.

Vodafone Fiji has extended its partnership with Paymentology to enable the issue of Mastercard digital first cards to its customers via the M-PAiSA app.

Liquid Dataport, a business of pan-African technology group Liquid Intelligent Technologies, and fixed network operator Angola Telecom have announced a new terrestrial fibre route between Luanda in Angola and Johannesburg in South Africa.

Digital infrastructure company Equinix plans to open its first data centre in Kuala Lumpur in Q1 2024, following its announcement last year of plans to enter Malaysia with a data centre in Johor.

Nigeria’s Globacom has launched an LTE-A network across several of the country’s main cities to bolster the speed and resilience of its existing 4G services.

Two World Bank members revealed plans to invest in Safaricom Ethiopia, intending to invest US$157.4 million in the operator’s parent company and loan the operator US$100 million, to enable expansion plans.

Colombian mobile providers Movistar and Tigo have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to pursue a network sharing arrangement via a jointly-owned infrastructure company.

Mitsumi Distribution has expanded its distribution partnership with Dell Technologies in the French speaking countries of West Africa.

France’s telecoms regulator Arcep has confirmed the results of spectrum auctions held in the French overseas territories of French Guiana, Saint Barthelemy and Saint-Martin.

The Zambian government revealed Elon Musk’s satellite connectivity firm Starlink has been awarded an operating license. 

The Sri Lankan government was advised by the Sectoral Oversight Committee to not pursue privatisation of state-owned telco operator Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT-Mobitel), stating national security concerns. 

A1 Serbia has signed a deal to acquire a portion of Conexio’s infrastructure.

QCell claims to have launched Gambia’s first commercial 5G service.

Ericsson and Thailand’s Digital Economy Promotion Agency (DEPA) announced ambitious plans to develop Thailand’s own version of Silicon Valley. 

IHS Towers subsidiary IHS Brazil equipped 16 airports in Brazil with connectivity upgrades to enhance coverage and enable operators to provide services in dense travel hubs. 

UAE-based du has selected Nokia’s Multi-Access Gateway (MAG) to deliver enterprise and residential broadband via 4G and 5G wireless access (FWA) networks.

The Princeton Digital Group, a leading developer and operator of internet infrastructure across Asia, has signed a renewable power consumption agreement (PCA) with a subsidiary of Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited (TPREL), one of India’s largest renewable energy companies.

Paratus Botswana has completed its new metro fibre ring around Gaborone.

An encouraging example of how IoT can boost sustainability comes in the form of this week’s news from Kenya that operator Safaricom is partnering with the Kenya Water Institute (KEWI) to deploy a smart water system at the institute’s Nairobi and Kitui campuses.