The Iranian government has adopted major legislation to enable the government to take back control of physical hardware and transmission equipment used for the delivery of fixed data services.

Altel Communications has been awarded a new allocation of 2x5MHz, totaling 10MHz of the 900MHz band for five years, reported Malaysian newspaper The Star quoting ministerial orders/direction (MO).

Argentina is in the subsea cable news again. Late last week wholesale telecom service provider GlobeNet’s new subsea cable system Malbec, which connects Argentina and Brazil, was launched.

The process that will lead to the sale of just under half of Ethiopia’s state-owned operator Ethio Telecom is apparently under way.

As part of what is described as an ambitious plan to strengthen Ghana as a maritime forerunner in West Africa, the Ghana Maritime Authority and Danish commercial satellite operator Sternula have announced a new partnership involving e-navigation connectivity.

Ooredoo Oman has launched super-fast, reliable 4G and 5G fixed wireless (FWA) access throughout the country, powered by Nokia.

Romanian cloud service provider ClusterPower will build the largest data centre in Romania and one of the largest in Europe in the southern part of Craiova.

Kenya’s leading telecommunication company Safaricom has been officially awarded a licence to become the first foreign entity to provide such services in Ethiopia.

The mobile operator Tele2, together with Nokia, launched a 5G test zone in the Kazan Metro, which thus became the first fifth-generation network in the Russian metro.

Estonia’s competitive telecom market continues to progress with a range of regulatory measures which have enabled alternative operators to chip away at the fixed-line market share of the incumbent telco Telia Estonia. Fixed-line infrastructure upgrades have been focussed on fibre, and the legacy DSL network has gradually been replaced.

Colombia’s WOM announced that it has connected its 700MHz 4G network to 525 previously unserved rural areas.

IoT specialist Kerlink has partnered with wireless, real-time water-management systems provider WEGoT to expand and accelerate adoption of WEGoT’s solutions to help address serious water shortages in India.

Nepalese service provider Subisu has selected Nokia to modernise its 1500-kilometer backbone network stretching across East and West Nepal.

The Polish competition authority has cleared the acquisition by Cellnex Telecom, an operator of wireless telecommunications and broadcasting infrastructures, of Polkomtel Infrastruktura.

Poland’s liberalised telecom market has seen considerable development in the broadband and mobile sectors. The incumbent telco, Orange Poland, dominates the broadband market and has invested in fibre infrastructure to support the growing adoption of bundled services among customers.

America Movil's Claro Uruguay unit began technical tests in 5G in the 28 GHz band in the country after receiving authorization from the Communication Services Regulatory Unit (URSEC).

PCCW Global's Pakistan and East Africa Connecting Europe (PEACE) submarine cable and PCCW Global have announced that they will deploy Infinera ICE6 optical engine equipment on the Mediterranean segment of the PEACE submarine cable system.

Claro Argentina, a part of the América Móvil group, has partnered with DOCOMO Digital, the integrator of digital app stores, to facilitate the purchase of applications and content with direct carrier billing (DCB), within the Samsung Galaxy Store, using Claro's pre-paid or post-paid accounts.

A 5G will be pilot launched in Kyrgyzstan by the end of 2021, according to Talant Kalykov, director of the State Communications Agency.

Google has announced plans to build Firmina, an open subsea cable that will run from the East Coast of the United States to Las Toninas, Argentina, with additional landings in Praia Grande, Brazil and Punta del Este, Uruguay.

It looks like Hype –the in-browser chat service for Opera Mini users – is not just hype after all. This week has seen the launch of the service by global internet brand Opera in South Africa, Zambia and Ghana.

The demand for data-based services in the Pacific region is growing, aligning with similar trends around the world. In particular, the demand for mobile broadband is increasing due to mobile services being the primary and most wide-spread source for internet access across the region.

Venezuela’s fixed-line teledensity was relatively high for the region before the steady growth in the number of lines came to an end in 2015. Since then, the number of lines has plummeted, and by late 2020 teledensity had fallen to about 18.6%.

Cuba’s telecom sector remains a peculiarity, with state control having stymied rather than promoted the development of all sectors.

A1 Bulgaria has chosen Nokia as the main equipment supplier for its radio access network (RAN).

To boost the Railways network in the country, India's Union Cabinet announced to provide 5 megahertz spectrum in 700 MHz band.

Ooredoo Oman said it recently recorded downlink speeds of more than 5 Gbps on a commercial 5G Massive MIMO single sector, one of the first such tests in the region.

Indosat Ooredoo, the telecommunications provider in Indonesia, will soon launch its fifth-generation or 5G network.

Southeastern Europe (SEE) region pay-TV, internet, and telecoms provider United Group’s spate of acquisitions boost its annualised revenues almost treble in the year to March to close to EUR 2 billion.

Orange Centrafrique has been unable to offer mobile services after its core network, data centre and radio installations were destroyed in a fire on 6th June.

Lebanon’s continued rationing of electrical power in the face of national shortages may prevent state operator Ogero from providing internet services, its chairman has warned.

There’s been some Interesting news from research group IDC, which has reported a strong performance for Africa's smartphone market in the first quarter of 2021.