Smartphone shipments for Latin America declined 2.5% year-on-year to 32.2 million units in Q2 but proved to be a bright spot as the global smartphone market collectively dropped 9%.

African payments technology company Flutterwave says it has been granted a Switching and Processing License by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). This license allows Flutterwave to offer a wide range of services to a diverse selection of customers.

The Malaysian government said it is working to get all operators to buy shares in its 5G Agency Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB) this month, after Maxis and U Mobile reportedly declined the offer earlier this week, reported Reuters.

As data demand increases across the world, there’s more pressure to ensure that telecoms infrastructure is able to deal with it  – as shown by recent announcements involving fibre and submarine cables in Bangladesh.

ZTE’s H1 results for 2022 painted a rosy picture, with the Chinese vendor’s operating revenue up 12.7% year-on-year alongside a 12% increase to its net profit.

Vodacom launched its non-standalone commercial 5G network in Tanzania, delivering higher download speeds and enabling new technologies such as IoT in the country.

Philippines-based Converge ICT Solutions is reportedly mulling the sale of its shares in its infrastructure platform, a move to potentially raise US$1 billion in capital for investment across its business.

MTN Sudan has deployed LigaData’s data analytics and AI platform to accelerate its digital transformation strategy.

The Asia-Pacific tower-selling trend may be about to continue with widely reported news that PT Indosat (aka Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison), one of Indonesia's largest telecommunication networks and services providers with around 63 million cellular subscribers, is planning to sell some of its passive infrastructure.

MTN Nigeria has signed a multi-million-dollar deal with Tecnotree, a major player in the business support system (BSS) space, for the deployment of 5G-ready digital BSS solutions.

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL), the loss-making state-owned telecom firm that provides fixed line telephones, WLL services and mobile connectivity in the cities of New Delhi and Mumbai, has defaulted on an interest payment of Rs35.15 (about US$4.4  million crore) to Union Bank of India (UBI) – and has stated this fact in a regulatory filing.

Lebanon has seen nationwide internet shutdowns as employees of state-owned telco Ogero walked out in protest over the company’s failure to adjust their wages in the face of the country’s devastating economic crisis.

Argentina’s sell-off of unused 4G spectrum in the 2600MHz band has raised US$27.7 million for the country’s National Communications Agency ENACOM (Ente Nacional de Comunicaciones).

Mexican operator Telmex offered union workers a new deal that bolsters retirement packages in an attempt to smooth relations with striking workers.

Equatorial Guinea could see its internet services disconnected in as little as two weeks if it fails to make outstanding payments to its bandwidth providers.

Lithuania’s Communications Regulatory Authority (RRT) has concluded the 700MHz spectrum auction that commenced in May.

The private network concept isn’t waiting for 5G, as Nokia and AT&T Mexico have just shown by deploying what they call the first industrial-grade LTE private network in a maritime terminal in the country.

Palestine Cellular Communications Ltd (Jawwal), a leading Palestinian provider of cellular communications, has signed an exclusive interworking agreement with international voice and messaging specialist Vox Solutions for direct termination of A2P (application-to-person) SMS international traffic to Jawwal's network.

Telecommunications services provider Saudi Telecommunication Company (STC) says it has launched its first high-speed cable in the Red Sea, through a landing station in Jeddah.

The search for clean, safe and cost-effective power-supplies for mobile networks continues with a fascinating new off-grid power solution being trialled in Romania.

The telecoms-led financial revolution is continuing in Africa. This time it’s South Africa’s Vodacom Financial Services that has extended the scope of digital finance with VodaLend Cash Advance, described as a product that gives customers quick and secure access to money when they need it most.

It’s not just Indian operator Reliance Jio that has been making the news for parent company and  multinational conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd. Now RIL’s technology business Jio Platforms and US technology giant Meta have collaborated to launch JioMart on WhatsApp.

In a flurry of announcements underlining its plans for an aggressive 5G rollout in India, the giant operator Reliance Jio has revealed partnerships with Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung, Cisco, Google, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Meta and Intel.

Three Zambian mobile operators, MTN Zambia, Airtel Networks Zambia and Zamtel, have reportedly set up an industry lobby group called The Global System for Mobile Association of Zambia (GSMAZ).

In another attempt to speed up mobile services rollout across a vast country, an effort made even more urgent given the imminent arrival of 5G, India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has again amended the rules concerning right of way (RoW).

MTN Nigeria launched an open 5G pilot ahead of its commercial launch making it one of very few operators to offer 5G on the continent.

In a somewhat disturbing turn of events it has been alleged that the authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have banned some telecommunications executives from leaving the country in response to their companies’ apparent unwillingness to pay a tax on mobile services introduced in June.

State-owned Indian operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is apparently planning to sell 10,000 of its 68,000 towers with an estimated value of 4,000 crore (about US$501 million).