The Nepalese Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has reportedly pulled Smart Telecom’s licence again for failing to pay its renewal fee and associated fines on time.

Ericsson says it has enhanced its remote management feature on Etisalat Egypt by e&’s network by implementing the Ericsson Smart Connected Site solution, enabling diesel generators that run in shorter bursts to save up to 40% in fuel cost and in carbon dioxide emissions.

Nokia is supplying its WDM optical network solutions for Lightstorm’s network expansion into the Eastern and Northern regions of India.

The latest landing of the 2Africa cable has been announced: it’s at Port Said, at the northern end of the Suez Canal, on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast.

Network International, an enabler of digital commerce across the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region, says it has renewed its partnership with one of Nigeria’s largest financial service providers, Polaris Bank Limited, to deepen financial inclusion and digital transformation.

Chinese vendor ZTE has won two more notable contracts. One, in India, is from Vodafone Idea. The other, in Brazil, is from new entrant Unifique.

Now Telecom completed the last bit of paperwork needed to secure a full grant from the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), paving the way forward to construct its full 5G network for the Philippines-based operator.

Key executives at PLDT have left their posts following the operator’s massive PHP48 billion (US$853 million) budget overspending, including the operator’s chief financial officer.

Cellcom, a leading service provider in Israel, and open RAN software platform provider Parallel Wireless have announced the launch of what they describe as their first-of-a-kind pilot, which will demonstrate the deployment of autonomous 5G standalone (SA) core sites in Israel.

Following on from last year’s announcement, reported on this site, that internet exchange operator AMS-IX had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with MainOne’s Lagos data centre, MainData Nigeria (MDXi), AMS-IX and MDXi have announced the launch of a new internet exchange in the city.

A sustainability-linked debt facility of up to US$170 million in multiple tranches has been secured by Raxio Data Centres, a leading pan-African data centre developer and operator.

The Vietnamese communications regulator announced it will auction off 4G and 5G spectrum with companies only having two days to submit interest.

Telekom Romania Mobile has entered the country’s 5G market with a stealth launch via its existing spectrum holding.

4iG group has announced that DIGIMobil customers will be switched over to Vodafone Hungary’s network from 1^st June.

Apple sales in India surged to hit almost US$6 billion in the year through March according to sources speaking to Bloomberg.

Within the space of a few hours on Sunday 16^th April, MTN Sudan was ordered by the state regulator to block then restore access to internet services amidst escalating fighting in the country.

Global communications company Viasat has confirmed that the scheduled launch date for the ViaSat-3 Americas satellite is 18 April this year. The ViaSat-3 satellite will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.

There’s been good news recently for South Africa’s telecommunications sector, with Cassava Technologies and AWS announcing major investments and Vodacom saying it plans to enhance its network spending.

Mozambique’s state asset management unit is taking over the daily operations of Mocambique Telecom (Tmcel).

Senegal’s telecoms regulator announced plans to introduce national roaming between operators to bolster coverage in the country.

Digital infrastructure and technology provider Cirion has announced the expansion of its fibre network and data centre capabilities across Latin America “to better serve the growing demands of our customers and continue to migrate workloads to hybrid cloud solutions”, as the company puts it.

Meta Platforms launched a payments tool in WhatsApp designed for SMEs in Brazil, with plans in future to roll out the feature in other markets.

Uruguay’s regulator URSEC (Unidad Reguladora de Servicios de Comunicaciones / Regulatory Unit of Communications Services) has agreed to delay the 5G spectrum auctions that it had scheduled for 28^th April in response to an extension request from Claro Uruguay.

Sri Lanka national ICT solutions provider SLT-Mobitel is to implement Netcracker Digital BSS and Professional Services to consolidate its billing system for upgraded fixed, mobile and online charging capabilities.

The wait is, apparently, nearly over. Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of global conglomerate the Aditya Birla Group, and one of the shareholders of operator Vodafone Idea (aka Vi), has been heard on Indian TV saying Vodafone Idea is to begin its 5G rollout soon.

Not long after last year’s efforts by Ghana’s National Communications Authority (NCA) to register SIMs, culminating in over 8 million unregistered SIM cards being deactivated, the NCA now plans to introduce shortcodes to verify SIMs linked to Ghana Cards.

With data drawn from Interpol’s member countries, private partners, and research conducted by its Africa Cybercrime Operations Desk, the latest Interpol African Cyberthreat Assessment Report looks back over 2022 and provides a comprehensive overview of cyberthreat trends in the African region.

Beleaguered Brazilian fixed-line provider Oi has been authorised to take out a loan of US$275 million from its creditors.