Brazilian telecoms regulator Anatel is exploring the possibility of punishing vendors of grey market devices with fines up to BRL50 million (US$10.5m) per infraction.

Tanzania’s telecom sector enjoys effective competition, particularly in the mobile segment. There remains considerable movement within the market, with Smart having stopped services in late 2019 and Tigo Tanzania having completed its merger with Zantel. Tigo Tanzania in April 2021 was sold by its parent company MIC as it sought to focus on its operations in Latin America.

Eswatini (or eSwatini) was one of the last countries in the world to open up its telecom market to competition. Until 2011 the state-owned Eswatini Posts and Telecommunications also acted as the industry regulator and had a stake in the country’s sole mobile network, in an uneasy partnership with MTN Eswatini.

The telecom sector in Mauritius has long been supported by the varied needs of tourists. This has stimulated the mobile market, leading to a particularly high penetration rate.

Philippines telecommunications major PLDT has deployed Segment Routing over IPv6 (SRv6) on its commercial network, a technology that enhances network efficiency to deliver 5G, home broadband, and enterprise services.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has scrapped rates for unstructured supplementary service data (USSD)-based mobile banking and payment services in order to promote the digital economy in the country.

South African multinational mobile telecommunications company MTN Group has joined forces with the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), Meta, International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC), and Child Helpline International to launch the Help Children be Children campaign.

Now Telecom had its regulatory restraints lifted and is now able to sell mobile broadband services in the Philippines.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has published its annual report. It contains a number of complaints about slow decision-making on the part of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB).

Not too surprisingly perhaps, the Nigerian federal government’s call to operators to bar outgoing calls by subscribers that have yet to link their SIMs with their National Identity Numbers (NIN) has reportedly led to huge crowds at enrolment centres.

Vodafone has reportedly entered a joint venture with Papua New Guinea operator Digitec and will begin rolling out services under the red banner later this month (April).

Telecel Group is acquiring 100% of shares in Mauritanian operator Mattel (Mauritano-Tunisienne des Télécommunications) from BSA Telecommunication and Tunisie Telecom (TT), BSA telecommunication and COMATEL.

Africell has launched commercial mobile services in Angola after months of delays, with ambitions to shake up the telecoms sector with more significant investments.  

India has more than 1.15 billion mobile phone subscribers and nearly 98% of the population is covered with a 4G network, the government informed the Indian Parliament.

India’s telecom minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw said in Lok Sabha (House of the People) that Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is planning to install 112,000 mobile towers across India to roll out 4G services.

Asia Pacific spending on artificial intelligence (AI) systems will rise from $17.6 billion in 2022 to around $32 billion in 2025, said a study.

Only a day after we reported that the Indian government had approved a revival plan for the state-owned telecom companies Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL), it seems that the planned merger of the two businesses has again been postponed.

The story of the recently reported US$100 million tax levy in Papua New Guinea that has so far targeted only two companies – one of which is operator Digicel Pacific – has now taken a rather dramatic turn. It appears senior Digicel staff have left the country.

Telecommunications giant MTN South Africa is investing ZAR 820 million (US$ 56 million) to modernise its network and deploy new infrastructure across Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces.

The shipments of mobile phones to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region grew 8.3% quarter on quarter (QoQ) in Q4 2021 to a total 6.10 million units, said a report.

Bharti Airtel, one of the leading operators in India, has announced the successful completion of what is described as India’s first open radio access network (open RAN)-based live 5G network validation in partnership with network software provider Mavenir.

A major deal, through which digital infrastructure company Equinix is to acquire West African data centre and connectivity solutions provider MainOne for an enterprise value of US$320 million, is now complete.

Lithuania’s regulator has unveiled plans for its 5G spectrum auction in the 3.5GHz band, revealing the starting price for airwaves. 

Nigeria’s government has ordered the country’s mobile operators to block SIM cards from making outgoing calls if they have not been registered to their user’s National Identity Number (NIN).

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where opposition to the recent Registre des appareils mobiles (RAM) – a tax on mobile devices – caused it to be withdrawn, it looks like the regulator, the Autorité de Régulation de la Poste et des Télécommunications du Congo (ARPTC), is trying a different money-raising approach, this time through a tax targeting consumption.

After months of delay, Africell has finally set a date for its Angola debut next month to become the fourth operator in the country.

The Philippines-based operator PLDT has reportedly selected two bidders for half of its towers valued at around US$1.5 billion, a move to cut its debt pile.

Iliad Group has closed its acquisition of cable operator UPC Poland from Liberty Global for a total of PLN7 billion (US$1.6 billion).

Zain Global Connect (ZGC), its wholly-owned subsidiary of Zain Global, has announced that it’s investing in the development of a submarine cable that will connect the Middle East with Europe through the J2M (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to Marseille, France).

According to a statement from the government of India, it is estimated that out of 5,97,618 inhabited villages in the country, 5,58,537 villages have mobile wireless broadband coverage.