Mexico’s Grupo Alfa has abandoned its plans to sell its telecoms arm Axtel despite a high number of interested bidders.

Telefonica is reportedly in advanced talks to sell its Chilean unit with Liberty Latin America and Claro among bidders, as the company continues its divestment plan to focus on core regions.

Given the reported uncertainty surrounding spectrum availability, the news that Iran will see the launch of 5G this year may come as a surprise to some readers.

Indonesia’s large population and complex geography pose a number of challenges for governments to develop economic growth. These challenges are mirrored in the telecom sector, which is well served by mobile infrastructure, but which has inadequate fixed-line capacity in many areas.

Airtel Networks Zambia Limited has been awarded 20 MHz of radio spectrum by the Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) in the 800MHz frequency band.

There’s been a boost for the relatively underpenetrated fintech services market in the Middle East with the award to operator Zain’s subsidiary Tamam of a Saudi microfinance licence.

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) reversed course on plans to delist shares of China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom, following further regulatory advice before enacting.

The Dominican Republic’s fixed-line teledensity is well below the Latin American average, a legacy of under-investment in network infrastructure over the years.

Safaricom paused its 5G network launch plans to instead focus on converting 2G and 3G customers, to its 4G network which it previously pledged to boost coverage to 100% in Kenya.

Telecom Egypt, Egypt’s first integrated telecom operator and one of the largest subsea cable operators in the region, has announced an agreement with Google.

Home-made solar-powered mobile phones are on their way to Uganda, says local manufacturer Simi Mobile.

Ooredoo Group, an international telecommunications company headquartered in Qatar, and Ericsson have announced the signing of a five-year strategic 5G agreement.

Hot on the heels of confirming Nokia as a 5G RAN partner, Thailand’s dtac has stated that it will power its 5G services in several regions of the country using equipment from Ericsson.

Saudi Arabia-based operator STC launched three “mega data centres” in Riyadh, Jeddah and Madina with an investment of SAR1 billion ($266 million) pledged for the project, as part of the country’s digital transformation programme.

India’s market leader Reliance Jio has called on courts in the Haryana and Punjab regions to take action to prevent further destruction of the operator’s infrastructure.

Unlike some neighbouring Central Asian countries, Kyrgyzstan has developed an open telecom sector that has encouraged foreign and domestic investors.

Telecom services in Lesotho are managed by a privatised national operator, Econet Telecom Lesotho (ETL). The mobile sector is a duopoly between South Africa-based Vodacom and ETL, though competition is insufficient to promote effective price reductions for consumers.

Thai operator dtac is partnering with Nokia for a three-year 5G RAN deal covering the north and northeastern regions of Thailand.

Serbia delayed its 5G auction again for the end of 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic scuppering investment plans of operators, reported Serbian news agency Tanjug.

Peru’s Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC) announced electromagnetic waves emitted from radio broadcasting and telecom antennas in the city of Cusco, are below the legal international limit.

Hungarian operator DIGI Hungary was confirmed to not be participating in the country’s upcoming spectrum auction, with its three main rivals Magyar Telekom, Telenor, and Vodafone Hungary registering.

The flurry of news from Nigeria in the wake of government threats to block SIMs not integrated with National Identification Numbers (NIN) continues. Now, it seems the deadline has been extended.

Google has invested in two Indian start-ups that focus on supplying personalized news and entertainment to smartphones.

Digi Communications announced it entered a senior facility agreement gaining two loans totaling €150 million from a syndicate of large banks, as the company stated intentions to refinance a previous loan and push investments.