The third part of Estonia’s 3.5GHz 5G auctions appears to be over, but with much less excitement than the other two; operator Tele2 had no opposition to its bid on the first or second day.

Vodacom expanded its connectivity investment plan by pledging to pump ZAR600 million (US$35.5m) into the province of Mpumalanga this financial year.

A major debt finance deal promises to enable open access fibre provider MetroFibre Networx to bring more fibre connectivity to underserved markets in South Africa.

Niger’s Zamani Telecom has completed a wide-ranging upgrade of its 4G TD-LTE network.

Digital payment solutions provider Network International has announced it will bring WhatsApp for Business banking services to financial institutions across Africa through a collaboration with global cloud communication service provider Infobip.

Operator Zain South Sudan has gone live with a new digital service provisioning system (DSPS) supplied by Tecnotree, which describes itself as a global provider of digital transformation solutions for communication service providers (CSPs) and digital service providers (DSPs).

The South African Communications Workers Union (CWU) moved to urge authorities to block MTN’s acquisition of Telkom, claiming the buyout will lead to lower competition and mass redundancies.

Underlining the dominance of South Africa in general, and Johannesburg in particular, in the African data centre market, US-headquartered Vantage Data Centres, described as a leading global provider of hyperscale data centre campuses, has announced the delivery of the first facility on its Johannesburg campus.

MEASAT-3d, described by Malaysian operator MEASAT as its latest and most advanced satellite, has now entered commercial service, after its handover by Airbus Defence and Space.

Safaricom chief executive officer Michael Joseph calmed mounting interest in the operator spinning off its successful mobile money division M-Pesa into a seperate company.

India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has sought views on the need for overhauling laws governing the telecommunications sector.

Airtel Africa confirmed its Kenyan unit bought 60MHz of additional spectrum in the 2600 MHz band from the Communications Authority of Kenya for US$40 million, a move to expand its 4G network.

Guinea is the latest African country in which a telecoms regulator has seen fit to step in over allegations of unacceptable quality of service by an operator.

Now Telecom signed a memorandum of understanding with US-based infrastructure provider SBA Communications as part of plans to bolster its 5G deployment.

Claro, the second – and only other – network in Guatemala after Tigo, has claimed a 5G launch not long after its rival. This week it has launched 5G operations with initial coverage in parts of all of Guatemala's 22 departments (or administrative divisions).

Mexican operator Telmex is the latest company to face industrial action from staff, marking the first strike since 1985 after the company and trade union STRM (Sindicato de Telefonistas de la Republica) failed to agree on terms.

The Thai government’s digital arm has admitted the administration has used spyware to survey individuals deemed a national society threat or narcotics offender, despite previously denying the use of spyware.

Africa’s Phase3 Telecom, an independent aerial fibre optic network infrastructure and telecommunications service provider, has partnered with satellite broadband service YahClick to offer high-speed, low-latency satellite broadband services.

India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has approved four bidders for the auction of 5G spectrum in India scheduled to start on 26 July.

Vodacom pledged to invest ZAR1 billion (US$58.2 million) into its mobile network in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal to accelerate connectivity in the deep rural areas.

Vodacom will retain full ownership of the tower company subsidiary which will have full ownership of the operator’s tower portfolio.

International service provider Sparkle has added another submarine cable to its assets in the Atlantic with the activation of spectrum capacity on the Monet submarine cable system connecting Brazil to the United States.

Google and Twitter have yet to comply with a new licensing law in Indonesia, which could result in services being taken offline in the country.