India’s Vodafone Idea (Vi) has become one of the largest customers for Ericsson Charging integrated with Ericsson Policy after the successful completion of a charging consolidation programme for the leading operator.

Liquid Dataport, a business of Cassava Technologies, a pan-African technology group, has launched what it describes as the first terrestrial fibre route connecting Mombasa to Johannesburg.

The Philippines’ Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) confirmed that between 95 million and 96 million mobile SIMs were registered nationwide by 10^th May.

A new distribution partnership agreement for high-speed, low-latency broadband connectivity across Africa has been announced.

iot squared and OQ Technology have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will help expand satellite IoT connectivity in Saudi Arabia.

Ghanaian broadband wireless access (BWA) provider Surfline Communications has shuttered its data centre and radio access network (RAN), citing financial problems.

Guinea’s telecom minister Ousmane Gaoual Diallo has confirmed that state-owned player Guinee Telecom – formerly Sotelgui (Societe des Telecoms de Guinee) – has commenced the public test phase of its mobile network.

The Egyptian government has sold a 9.5% holding in fixed-line provider Telecom Egypt for EGP3.747 billion (US$121 million).

Malaysian company Sustainable Hrvest, a pioneer of smart farming, has deployed LoRa-enabled sensors and LoRaWAN-based gateways across its durian fruit farms in Malaysia, with the help of semiconductor, IoT systems and cloud connectivity service provider Semtech.

An investment consortium led by Zimbabwean businessman Edd Branson is mobilising a US$100 million fund to obtain holdings in mobile network providers in Benin, Chad and Gambia.

As seen in other global markets, smartphone shipments in the Middle East and Africa have fallen 11% year-on-year, the lowest Q1 shipment figure since 2016, as macroeconomic factors continue to batter economies.

MTN and Airtel Africa have confirmed that their respective Nigerian units will renew their 2100MHz spectrum licences for a further 15 years.

Telekom Malaysia pulled out of its deal to acquire shares in state-owned 5G wholesale company Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB) after the government revealed plans to deploy a second 5G network.

Malaysia’s Axiata Group has confirmed a restructuring plan that will alter the roles of its Indonesian units to improve efficiency via more effective asset utilisation.

Cisco announced it will start manufacturing in India as part of plans to diversify its global supply chain and drive US$1 billion in domestic production and exports over the next few years. 

Mavenir has formed a strategic partnership with BSS provider i2i Systems to drive collaboration for Open RAN in Turkey.

ThinkWiFi, an Africa-based ad-tech free Wi-Fi internet service provider, and Mawingu, an internet service provider backed by Microsoft, have announced the launch of the first outdoor Telecom Infra Project (TIP) OpenWiFi network in Kenya.

Cambodia’s Minister of Post and Telecommunications, Chea Vandeth, has announced government plans for a submarine cable connection from Hong Kong to Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh in 2024.

Senegal’s regulator ARTP (L’Autorite de Regulation des Telecommunications et des Postes) has confirmed plans to launch national mobile roaming this month, ahead of 5G licence allocation by end-July.

Uruguay’s 5G spectrum auctions have concluded with the local units of Claro and Movistar each obtaining holdings in the 3.5GHz band.

RETN, an international network service provider, has announced the launch of a new fibre route connecting Berlin in Germany and Poznan and Warsaw in Poland.

Telecom Egypt announced the landing of the 2Africa subsea cable in Port Said, a move that will enhance connectivity in Egypt and provide capacity for the operator to grow. 

Claro Colombia has deployed solutions from Casa Systems as it seeks to expand its broadband capacity and build a converged, cloud-native network.

MTN celebrated its super app Ayoba for gaining 25 million monthly users in four years after launching, with ambitions laid out to reach 100 million by 2025.

Yet another private 5G initiative has hit the headlines, with news that Ericsson and operator Telia have launched the Baltic region's first enterprise 5G private network, Ericsson Private 5G.

Axess Networks, a global provider of satellite communications solutions, has announced plans to connect more than 700 new 4G nodes via satellite as part of the CFE TEIT programme, a national development plan in Mexico. TEIT stands for TElecomunicaciones e Internet para Todos or Telecommunications and Internet for All.

The Middle East data centre market has been in the news recently, with plans announced for a massive new data centre in Cairo and the arrival of a new report suggesting impressive growth expected for Oman’s data centre sector.