Senegalese regulator ARTP (L’Autorite de Regulation des Telecommunications et des Postes) has issued formal notices to two of the country’s operators for failing to comply with mobile number portability (MNP) regulations.

After signing a partnership agreement with Ericsson in late 2020, Telia Lietuva has begun deploying the Swedish vendor’s next generation mobile base stations across Lithuania.

After a slow 2020, Vietnam has logged record revenue growth from the export of handsets and components during Q1 2021.

Global payments company Mastercard and Saudi fintech business Geidea have announced a strategic partnership agreement to accept Mastercard payments for Tap on Phone solutions in Saudi Arabia. This is claimed to be the first such agreement to be signed in the Middle East and North Africa.

Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual has reportedly won 58 percent of operator Oi’s fibre business, for which it is expected to pay $2.3 billion.

Zimbabwean financial services provider First Capital Bank has announced the launch of Alisa, a WhatsApp banking chatbot, bringing together machine learning and cognitive computing technologies to provide customers and clients with various banking services.

Sri Lanka’s regulator is introducing new legislation aimed at boosting mobile coverage and service quality across the island nation.

Filipino operator Globe Telecom has gone live with Amdocs’ service and network automation platform for network functions virtualisation (NFV) and cloud orchestration.

China Mobile Cloud has selected Nokia to provide its Nuage Networks end-to-end SDN solution for nationwide deployment of a public cloud service.

Tencent Cloud, the public cloud service provider business of multinational technology conglomerate holding company Tencent, has announced the launch of its first internet data centre (IDC) in Indonesia.

UAE-based operator du has selected Netcracker’s Digital BSS for its digital transformation program.

Polish operator Orange Polska (OPL) has partnered with pension fund management company APG for the deployment of fibre to the home (FTTH) in Poland through a 50-50 joint venture. 

Tele2 Russia has launched new base stations via the 2300MHz band to bolster its commercial 4G/LTE services in Moscow and St Petersburg.

Phase-outs of two forms of telecoms technology are under way in Russia and Ukraine. While the contexts differ, both phase-outs aim to improve and modernise end user connectivity – eventually.

IHS Towers is boosting its footprint in Latin America with the acquisition of Centennial Towers’ operations in Brazil and Colombia.

MTN Nigeria is engaging with local banks to discuss pricing models after it was blocked from selling products and airtime last week after it attempted to reduce commission on transactions.

With E-band spectrum seen by some as the key to supporting microwave and meeting increased capacity requirements for both backhaul and fronthaul, it may be no surprise that Kenya’s leading operator Safaricom has gone down the E-band route.

A good eight years after the idea was first mooted, Botswana’s attempt to introduce mobile number portability (MNP), which allows customers to change their network provider while retaining their original number, has ground to a halt.

The enterprise arm of Indian operator Vodafone Idea, also known as Vi, has strengthened its IoT portfolio with the launch of what it calls integrated IoT solutions for enterprises.

Millicom has announced that its Tigo Business division has teamed up with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to expand and integrate its managed and professional services into its cloud solutions portfolio in a number of Latin American countries.

Airtel’s Kenyan and Sri Lankan units are bolstering their coverage via 5G upgrades and new site deployments respectively.

Etisalat has collaborated with Parallel Wireless, Intel and Supermicro to deliver Central Asia’s first cloud-native O-RAN compliant 5G 4G 3G 2G Open RAN solutions in Afghanistan.

The Telecommunication and Posts Regulatory Authority (ARPT) of the Republic of Guinea and the company Global Voice Group (GVG), a provider of ICT and RegTech solutions, have announced a partnership relating to the deployment of what is described as a leading-edge mobile and digital ecosystem regulation platform in Guinea.

While South Africa is home to the largest concentration of data centres on the African continent, the appeal of West Africa seems to be growing, with new developments planned for both Senegal and Nigeria.

Bharti Airtel has agreed to sell its 800MHz spectrum for three of India’s telecom circles to larger rival Reliance Jio Infocomm.

ZTE Corporation has implemented Africa’s first live 3G/4G/5G Tri-RAT dynamic spectrum sharing solution, ZTE’s SuperDSS, in South Africa.

It appears that the dispute over 5G licenses in Bulgaria has been resolved after an apparently successful 3.6GHz spectrum auction finally took place recently.

In what has been described as an eleventh-hour decision in response to requests from bidders, the Ethiopian Communications Authority (ECA) has again extended the deadline for operators bidding for new operating licences. Instead of 5 April the bids are now required by 26 April.

The past few days have seen the Tanzanian government take action after what has been described as ‘public uproar’ relating to new data bundle pricing from the country’s operators.

Croatian regulator HAKOM (Regulatory Agency for Network Operations) has invited feedback on its proposals for the auction of 5G-ready spectrum in the 700MHz, 3.5GHz and 26GHz bands.