The Superintendence-General (SG) of the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Cade) has approved without restrictions the purchase of the towers of Telxius Torres (a subsidiary of Telefónica / Vivo) in Brazil by American Tower.

Brazilian operator Telefônica Brasil, known as Vivo, has announced the launch of Vivo Pay, which is described as a fully digital account that allows for banking transactions directly through an application.

Brazil’s Oi is now offering its fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) service in Sao Paulo.

Spending on global cloud infrastructure services increased 35% in the first quarter of 2021 to a record of US $41.8 billion as businesses leaned heavily on the internet in the wake of the pandemic, said a study.

The Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT)’s wireless unit Smart Communications said it has expanded its 5G network to over 2,600 sites nationwide, solidifying its position as the country’s most extensive 5G network.

The mobile data services revenue in India is expected to grow from $6.3 billion in 2020 to $12.5 billion in 2025, said a study.

According to its website, Tele2 has carried out research work on 5G in the 700MHz frequency, making it the first Latvian operator to do so.

Panama-based company Trans Ocean Network has announced that it will provide cable company Ocean Networks with landing party services and infrastructure in the Republic of Panama for the Caribbean Express submarine cable system.

In Q4 2020, Apple shipped its most iPhones ever in a single quarter, at 81.8 million units, up 4% against the previous year, said a report by Canalys.

Turkish operator Turkcell is seeking to transform its mobile and fixed network in the country by moving it to a cloud-based network function virtualization (NFV) platform.

80% of Indian enterprises have kept the next-generation connectivity technology, 5G, on their priorities list said a study.

Chinese partially state-owned international provider of telecommunications ZTE and China Mobile has completed the automatic service provisioning pilot in the existing SPN (Slicing Packet Network) in Zhejiang, China.

Hard on the heels of its acquisition of Millicom’s Tanzanian operations, Axian Group has announced a major investment in the country and is apparently looking at more investment opportunities in the region.

Ethio Telecom, the – for now – monopoly telecommunications provider in Ethiopia, has announced the roll-out of a mobile money service.

The number of telephone subscribers in India increased from 1,168.66 million in the third quarter of 2020 to 1,173.83 million in the last quarter of 2020, registering a growth rate of 0.44%. This reflects a Year-On-Year (Y-O-Y) growth rate of 0.12% over the same quarter of the last year.

Indonesia's Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (Kemenkominfo) has announced the auction results for the 2.3GHz frequency.

Chinese technology giant Huawei is planning to launch two satellites with two Chinese partners in July this year, which will focus on verifying 6G network technologies that are currently under research and development.

India's 4G mobile data subscribers are expected to rise to 820 million by the end of March 2022 - higher than in the last financial year (April to March) despite a Covid spike.

Nigerian operator 9Mobile has selected digital business support systems (BSS) company Tecnotree to replace its wholesale and carrier billing solution.

The African telecommunications giant MTN Group has confirmed yesterday’s news that it is involved in a bid for a telecoms licence in Ethiopia.

In what could be seen as a necessary brake on the power of tech giants to intrude on the personal lives of app users or a potential further encroachment by the state on businesses, China has proposed new regulations on the use of apps by companies.

As in so many other regions, data centre openings are in the news in Latin America, most recently in Bolivia and Chile.

Serbia’s Commission for the Protection of Competition has approved an infrastructure sharing agreement between Telekom Srbija (MTS) and Telenor Serbia that will allow the latter to begin offering fixed broadband services.

Vanuatu’s Ministry of Health has partnered with Kacific and its local service provider 3 Link Communications to deploy the Health Project, a programme to bring fast broadband to health clinics and communities across Vanuatu.

Cambodia's telecommunications service provider Smart Axiata has announced it has deployed 68 new network base station sites in the Siem Reap province as part of its USD 90 million investment plan in 2021 to expand and upgrade its network across the Kingdom.

Russian mobile operator Beeline has partnered with the Istanbul-headquartered P.I. Works on a network planning project, aimed at streamlining the operator’s investment planning processes and revolutionising customer experience, said a joint press release.

Azerbaijan operator Azercell Telecom said it has expanded the network coverage significantly to 85.3% of the population by end of March 2021, soared from 35.9% of January 1, 2019. Meanwhile, its geographical coverage surged to 72.8% during this period.

Croatian operator Hrvatski Telecom has started the implementation of the modern optical infrastructure in the area of ​​the City of Krapina and five municipalities.

Only a few weeks after the country’s 3.6GHz spectrum auction finally took place, operator Telenor Bulgaria has announced that it has scheduled the commercial nationwide launch of its 5G service for 10 June.

Operator stc Bahrain has announced plans to launch what it calls a first-of-a-kind camouflaged small cell solution across Bahrain.

Serbia’s telecom industry has been liberalised in line with the principles of the EU’s regulatory framework for communications, focussed on encouraging competition in telecom products and services, and ensuring universal access.