Afghanistan’s government – which has been controlled by the Taliban since August - has revealed plans for an extensive restructure of state bodies relating to telecommunications.

India’s operators are bracing themselves for yet another delay in the 5G spectrum auction process.

Estonia looks set to offer three licences for 5G-ready 3.5GHz spectrum at auction in the first quarter of next year.

Rural communications firm NuRAN Wireless has signed a ten-year deal with MTN Group to deploy at least 250 sites across rural South Sudan.

Telekom Malaysia has signed an agreement with state-owned wholesale operator Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB) that will see the latter lease fibre as it seeks to accelerate its nationwide 5G deployment.

Polish telecommunications provider Orange Polska (Orange Poland) has deployed private LTE and 5G networks at Nokia's factory and R&D facility in the city of Bydgoszcz.

Brazilian telecommunications operator Algar Telecom has launched a commercial Non-Standalone (NSA) 5G service using its newly acquired 2.3GHz spectrum.

Indonesian digital telco PT Indosat Tbk (Indosat Ooredoo) announced the launch of 5G commercial services in Balikpapan.

Indian multinational telecommunications services company Bharti Airtel (Airtel) has announced the roll-out of Avanseus’ predictive maintenance (PdM) solution across its operations.

Indosat Ooredoo is shuttering its fixed broadband unit Indosat Mega Media (IM2) on the orders of the South Jakarta District Attorney.

Ooredoo’s flurry of recent agreements continues. As well as an FWA agreement with Nokia and a payment technology agreement with i2c, the international communications company operating across the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia recently announced a massive group-wide deal with Huawei.

Telekom Srbija is to receive a €70 million ($79.4 million) loan from the EU’s European Investment Bank (EIB) for the rollout of a 5G telecommunications network and the extension of the existing 4G network across the Republic of Serbia.

Omantel has signed a multi-year agreement with Optiva to upgrade Optiva Charging Engine to a cloud-native architecture on Omantel’s private cloud.

Angolan telecom sector regulator INACOM may announce this year the granting of the first license to operate with 5G, reports the local daily Expansao.

Indonesian telecommunications company PT Indosat Tbk (Indosat Ooredoo) established the 5G Experience Center in Surabaya, in partnership with Nokia, Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS), and the University of Oulu Finland.

Telkom Kenya, is an integrated telecommunications provider in the East African country, and Britam Holding, the financial services firm listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange, have partnered to bring a mobile-based insurance solution that will see customers benefit from a bespoke mobile and insurance bundle that includes mobile data, voice minutes, SMS, personal accident and last-expense insurance.

Nokia has been selected by Qatar’s Ooredoo Group to supply 5G CPEs and whole-home mesh WiFi solutions to residential and enterprise customers across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

WhatsApp shared the results of its pilot digital payments programme across 500 villages in the Indian states of Karnataka and Maharashtra.

“Transformational weather intelligence for resilient agriculture to Africa.” That’s the promise of TomorrowNow.org, a global non-profit helping vulnerable communities adapt to climate change, which has been awarded a $2 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Leading Colombian fibre optic networks service provider Integra Multisolutions (IMS) is to use SES’s satellite-based trunking services to enable it to extend and enhance fibre-like connectivity for Colombian municipalities with fewer than 100,000 inhabitants located out of the reach of terrestrial infrastructure.

Pakistani satellite communications systems integrator Supernet has signed an agreement with SatADSL allowing it to use the latter’s neXat platform.

Ooredoo Qatar has selected i2C Inc’s agile payments technology to help it launch modern payment solutions for its users in Qatar, including digital-first prepaid cards and mobile wallets.

China's largest wireless carrier by revenue, China Mobile Communications Group Co., Ltd has received the green light from Beijing regulators for what is shaping up to be the largest IPO in Shanghai in more than a decade.

Zain Jordan, part of Zain Telecom Group, announced a 15-year agreement to sell and lease back the passive physical infrastructure of its 2,607 towers in Jordan to TASC Towers for USD 88 million.

China United Network Communications Group Co (China Unicom) and Huawei jointly launched the Promotion Initiative for Smart Super Sensing with partners, calling for more joint research, application innovation, and standardization in 5G integrated sensing and communications to build an ecosystem for the smart super sensing industry.

Samsung Electronics and the Vietnamese multinational telecommunications company Viettel announced that the companies have started 5G commercial trials in Da Nang, the largest city in the Central Vietnam region.

Two very different recently announced initiatives are hoping to make some progress with the vexed question of managing data centre power use and emissions.

Bharti Airtel, a major Indian communications and solutions provider, and Capgemini, which describes itself as a global leader in consulting, technology services and digital transformation, have announced that they will collaborate on bringing 5G-based enterprise-grade solutions to the Indian market.

As the debate over whether a single wholesale 5G network will be rolled out in Malaysia rumbles on, it seems that some of the country’s operators are now arguing for a second 5G provider.

Omantel, the leading integrated telecom services provider in Oman, has selected the JUPITER System from Hughes Network Systems, a major name in satellite and multi-transport technologies and networks, to extend its mobile networks.

Employees of Lebanon’s two state-owned mobile operators Alfa and Touch commenced a strike yesterday (13^th December).

Mongolian operator Unitel has selected SLA Digital as its managed service provider for carrier billing.