With the world’s biggest football competition only days away, Gulf Bridge International (GBI) has announced that it has deployed Infinera’s ICE6 800G optical engine to boost capacity ahead of the World Cup.

Safaricom Ethiopia has hit what it describes as “a key milestone in operations” as it establishes its network across Ethiopia. It now claims it has registered one million active customers on its network.

Iran-focused technology group ASL19 has partnered with civil liberties NGO United for Iran to launch Meidoon, a platform that provides open and accessible data on trending Persian-language content on Telegram.

AIS announced its acquisitions of Jasmine International broadband units is going ahead despite certain conditions set for the buy being rejected when the deal was announced.

Pan-African payments provider Cellulant is back in the news again, this time thanks to  a financial services partnership with micro, small and medium-enterprise (MSME)-focused B2B digital platform Solv Kenya.

Having withdrawn its proposed personal data protection bill in August, the Indian government now expects to release a newly drafted bill in about a week for public comment.

Burkina Faso’s regulator ARCEP has warned all three of the country’s major operators that they are failing to uphold the quality of service (QoS) standards stipulated by their licences.

Estonia has wrapped its 700MHz spectrum auction, with its three incumbents all securing concessions.

Romania’s multi-band 5G spectrum auctions have come to a close, with the three participants pledging a total of EUR432.6 million (US$448.3 million).

The Ethiopian government opened up for international investors to acquire a 40% stake in state-owned operator Ethio telecom, a move seemingly to keep the provider competitive against new player Safaricom, while also touting a third telecoms licence.

It looks like some of the pressure on Ericsson over recent allegations of bribery may be easing with the news that Sweden has dropped an investigation into suspected Ericsson bribery in China.

Multinational technology company Gold Data has announced that it is building the first cable system in the Gulf of Mexico. It will connect Miami in Florida with strategic points in Mexico: Mexico City, Cancun and Queretaro.

Ghana’s Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation (MoCD) has said that all unregistered SIM cards will be deactivated at the end of this month, an extension to the previously announced deadline of the end of October.

At the B20 Summit, a business community focused event that is part of the G20 Summit, operator Telkom Indonesia and cloud computing company GoogleCloud have announced a multi-year strategic collaboration to realize Telkom’s vision of becoming a leading digital telco that empowers local businesses and communities.

An ongoing dispute between South Africa’s Vodacom Group and the Lesotho Communications Authority (LCA) has been resolved by the Lesotho High Court.

The Government of Senegal, through the country’s Ministry of the Interior, has awarded Motorola Solutions a contract to deploy a nationwide secure and resilient communications ASTRO P25 radio network to modernize public safety communications in Senegal.

Montenegrin operator One Crna Gora – formerly Telenor Montenegro, and now part of Hungary’s 4iG – is implementing Elisa Polystar’s KALIX and OSIX service assurance solutions.

The Indonesian smartphone market recorded a 12.4% year-on-year decline in shipments to 8.1 million units in Q3, as the market constricted due to inflation and rising fuel costs.

BDx Indonesia, one of the largest wholesale data centre and cloud-focused operations in the Indonesian market, has announced a plan to develop a new 100MW data centre campus on 12 acres of land acquired from industrial area developer Suryacipta.

Digicel Group Holdings has warned that its business is being impacted by current unrest in Haiti.

TeleYemen, the sole licensed provider of international telecommunication services in Yemen, has chosen the Linxa Connect Voice Platform from wholesale telecom software platform company Linxa for its international voice business.

South African operator Vodacom has registered an H1 drop in both operating profit and net profit which it has attributed to losses from its start-up business in Ethiopia and higher finance costs.

Orange Botswana has become the first Orange affiliate to launch 5G, covering 30% of the population including greater Gaborone and Francistown. Other cities will follow in early 2023.

Libya’s state-owned internet service provider LTT (Libya Telecom & Technology) has tapped P.I. Works to deploy its EXA automation solution across the ISP’s national radio access networks (RANs).

The role of satellites in supporting broadband access is again in the news, with Hispasat and Sencinet announcing plans to expand their collaboration to extend satellite broadband access in Mexico.

ZTE Corporation has officially released the Beyond 5G Technology Whitepaper at 5G Summit 2022.

Nigeria’s less well-served areas are set to benefit from a new deal bringing together satcoms and broadband.

Omani operator Omantel has launched what is described as the Middle East’s first 400GbE DCI service with networking systems, services and software company Ciena.

Telenor is pursuing the sale of its Pakistani operations, with invitations the first round of bids likely to be issued this month.

South Sudan detailed its plan on developing an infrastructure backbone to overcome connectivity challenges associated with being a landlocked nation and become a central hub for communications in eastern Africa.