According to local press reports, Jordan has taken the first steps towards formalising 5G adoption, after the country’s Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) signed an agreement late last week with two operators, Orange and Umniah, in preparation for the introduction of 5G services in the kingdom.

Citing sources with knowledge of the matter, a number of news outlets have been reporting that a cable project may soon be formally announced that will connect Morocco with Mauritania through Western Sahara.

The South African government disapproved of operator Rain touting a potential merger between it and to merge with rival Telkom.

Roaming between Togo and Gabon may soon incur no additional charges after an agreement between the two states, which was made last week but only reported in recent days.

A third of Mexican households have no internet access, something the Mexican president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, is keen to change with a massive proposed investment in internet connectivity.

To meet what it describes as growing demand for cloud services in Asia-Pacific, Google has announced plans to bring new Google Cloud regions to Malaysia, Thailand and New Zealand. This is addition to similar plans for Berlin, Dammam, Doha, Mexico, Tel Aviv and Turin announced in July.

Telecom Egypt has signed a five-year national roaming deal with Orange Egypt.

ICT data infrastructure owner Seacom and UK-based telecommunications service provider BT have announced a strategic alliance which, they say, will help Seacom further secure its own infrastructure and deliver new networking, security and communications solutions to enterprise customers in Africa.

Globe Telecom hit back at rival Dito Telecommunity by requesting permission from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to sever interconnection lines until the operator pays back PHP622 million (US$11.1m) in fines, for failing to prevent fraudsters from accessing its network.  

Ericsson has partnered with multinational wireless communications engineering company SkyMax Network, in a move to construct a next-generation 5G broadband network and deliver digital services across sub-Saharan Africa.

Argentinian regulator Enacom has granted authorisation to Google to carry out the installation of its Firmina fibre optic cable in Argentine territorial waters.

West African solar-based internet and voice service provider Tizeti says it is set to expand its operations within Nigeria and Ghana and move into Cote d’Ivoire and Togo. It is also considering listing its Nigerian subsidiary.

The long-awaited spin-off of its Latin America cellular tower business by the giant Mexico-headquartered operator America Movil has finally been completed.

Bangladeshi operator Robi Axiata has revealed plans to power more than 1600 base stations using renewable solar energy.

The Equiano subsea internet cable reached South Africa on Monday. It landed at Melkbosstrand, north of Cape Town, said to be the last stop on its route south for the 12-fibre-pair system.

In its continuing drive to boost local industry, it now seems that India is taking aim at low-priced smartphones from China of the sort sold in large quantities in the country by companies like Xiaomi.

Paratus, described as a full-service network spanning the African continent and connecting customers internationally, has launched Namibia’s largest carrier-neutral data centre.

Nokia has announced that it has successfully completed testing of voice and data calls over what it says is the world’s first 4.9G/LTE private wireless network to support European Train Control System (ETCS) Level 2 Signalling.

State-owned Ethio Telecom released three new mobile financial services, a move to remain competitive against Safaricom which recently set up a base in the formerly closed-off Ethiopian market.

Major operators and the Kenya Communications Authority (KCA) have mutually agreed to set new interim mobile termination rates (MTR) and fixed termination rates (FTR). 

Lithuania’s three main operators have all procured spectrum holdings following the conclusion of the regulator’s auction of 5G-ready 3.5GHz airwaves.

The Ivory Coast government has announced it will sell a part of its minority stake in Orange’s unit in the country, as the company prepares for an IPO.

The Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) has signed a ten-year contract with authentication solutions company Authentix, under the terms of which Authentix will provide a marketplace governance programme to BURS for the digital marking and tracking of tobacco and alcohol products.

Philippines-based integrated telecommunications giant PLDT has been in the news recently after announcing plans to close down its 3G network. It has also announced the activation of a trans-Pacific cable system.

The Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) has updated its roadmap for the issue of 5G spectrum, covering airwaves in the 700MHz, 2600MHz and 26GHz bands.

Orange Egypt has resigned Nokia to a five-year contract to modernise its subscriber data management (SDM), a move Nokia said will bolster reliability and security for Orange customers and prepare the operator for a commercial 5G launch.

Globe Telecom has partnered with two other telecom players to construct a US$150 million fibre cable network to boost mobile and broadband services.

At Huawei’s Win-Win Innovation Week, Ryan Ding, President of Carrier BG, Huawei, gave a presentation entitled “Green ICT for New Value.”

Internet para Todos (IPT) has expanded its contract with Gilat for 4G cellular backhaul services in Peru.