The Latin American smartphone market recorded 34.8 million smartphone shipments in Q1 2026, representing 3% year-on-year growth, defying broader global declines driven by rising memory component costs.

It is being widely reported in the African technology press that pan-African operator MTN plans to turn its African towers into an AI inference grid.

Digital Edge, which delivers data centre and fibre solutions for hyperscalers and enterprises across nine countries in the Asia-Pacific region, has announced the successful closing of its inaugural US$575 million holding company (HoldCo) financing.

Togo and Poland have signed a EUR24 million (about US$27.85 million) financing agreement to support the local development of next-generation drones.

Omnia, a Brazilian data centre platform, has signed a 20-year energy supply deal with renewable energy firm Casa dos Ventos to use wind to power a planned data centre, potentially the largest in Brazil.

Kazakh telco Transtelecom JSC said on Wednesday it has kicked off a project with national postal operator QazPost to install satellite connectivity from LEO satellite operator Starlink in remote settlements in Kazakhstan.

Nigeria’s Kasi Cloud Datacenters said on Tuesday that it has flagged off its planned hyperscale, AI-ready, carrier-neutral data centre in Lagos that it’s positioning as a sovereign alternative to global platforms.

DE-CIX announced that its ACIX (Africa Congo Internet Exchange) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has expanded its presence to a second data centre, making ACIX the first distributed IX in the DRC.

The Mayor’s Office of Bogota in Colombia and cybersecurity and digital privacy company Kaspersky have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish closer cooperation and enhance the city’s cybersecurity ecosystem.

The United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has announced funding for a feasibility study to install approximately 1,500 turnkey mobile communications base stations across Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria.

Safaricom’s US$2.1 billion deal to sell a 15% stake to South Africa-based Vodacom Group has reportedly been put on hold after the Kenyan High Court allowed petitions challenging the sale’s constitutionality to go ahead.

Indian telco Bharti Airtel launched its 5G network slicing service for postpaid customers on Tuesday, making it the first such service in India.

Global operator Sparkle and Bolivian state-owned telco Entel announced on Tuesday they have signed an MoU to create a new coast-to-coast terrestrial fibre route across Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil.

Ciena’s GeoMesh Extreme solution, powered by WaveLogic 6 Extreme (WL6e) coherent optical technology, has been successful activated across the Batam–Jakarta segment of the Matrix Cable System (MCS), a submarine telecommunications cable linking Indonesia and Singapore.

Critical event management company Everbridge has announced the next phase of Estonia’s nationwide public warning modernisation initiative, adding end-to-end cell broadcast capabilities across government agencies and all three mobile network operators in the country.

Arab Financial Services (AFS), a leading digital payments and fintech enabler in the Middle East and Africa region, has announced a strategic partnership with Libyan Islamic Bank (LIB) to accelerate the modernisation of Libya’s payment landscape.

Plans by data centre company Equinix to build two data centres in Cape Town South Africa are facing opposition over alleged lack of transparency relating to their potential effect on the environment.

The Southeast Asian smartphone market declined 9% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026, as vendors raised device prices to protect margins amid rising memory chipset costs.

Philippine telco PLDT announced on Tuesday that three indigenous cultural communities (ICC) representing the Tagbanua in Palawan province have given the green light to a subsea cable project designed to boost the telco's network resiliency for the island.

Global digital infrastructure company Colt Technology Services said on Monday it has added a new point of presence (PoP) in Istanbul, Turkey, to meet growing demand for infrastructure capacity to support AI workloads and enterprise digital transformation plans.

Airtel Uganda announced on Monday it has begun testing Starlink’s direct-to-cell (D2C) LEO satellite service, shortly after Starlink received a provisional licence to offer services in the country.

Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) has approved a commitment of up to $100 million to invest in Africa-focused technology fund managers, as the institution looks to accelerate the continent’s digital industrialisation.

Kenyan operator Safaricom has secured what is described as a landmark 25-year operating licence from Kenya’s Communications Authority (CA). It’s certainly unusual; the CA has historically issued licences only lasting ten years.

Suriname’s Telesur has selected Squire Technologies to provide a Ribbon SBC replacement as part of a wide-reaching network transformation.

Debt-laden Vodafone Idea unexpectedly posted a profit in its full-year 2026 results and secured a fresh cash injection from Aditya Birla Group, in what could mark a turnaround moment for the Indian operator.

ICEYE, a major name in space-based intelligence, is apparently planning to establish its first Indian production facility within the next year to manufacture small satellites.

Edotco Malaysia said on Friday it has deployed a new fixed wireless access (FWA) solution in Uma Lesong, Sarawak that it’s also pitching as a viable and scalable model for other underserved communities in geographically challenging areas.

Chinese device OEM Honor announced on Thursday it is partnering with Netherlands-based digital mobile service provider OWN eSIM to enable smartphone users in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to access digital services internationally.

Australian data centre operator NextDC has launched its first overseas data centre – KL1 in Kuala Lumpur – to support the rapid growth of AI, cloud computing and digital services across Southeast Asia.

NEC and its subsidiary Netcracker Technology have completed the acquisition of US software company CSG Systems International, strengthening their telecoms software and digital services portfolio.

The Kenyan government has given social media platform X, formerly Twitter, three months to establish a physical presence in the country.

Ericsson, China Mobile and Chinese handset maker Oppo revealed on Wednesday they have successfully tested network slicing at the consumer device and app level on a live 5G Standalone (SA) network.