MegaFon Tajikistan has switched on 60 new 4G base stations across the country as part of its efforts to enhance service quality.

India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has reportedly dropped a plan to waive adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues of telcos, which is especially bad news for financially struggling telco Vodafone Idea.

TIM Group's global operator Sparkle and Al-Bawaba for Telecommunications and Informatics, a Libyan ISP provider offering a wide range of ICT solutions, say they have enhanced their commercial partnership to provide international connectivity services to and from Libya.

Uruguay-headquartered payment platform dLocal, which connects global merchants to emerging markets, has announced a strategic partnership with fintech Belmoney, the first remittance-as-a-service (RaaS) provider in Europe.

Vodafone Idea (Vi) has launched 5G services in Mumbai.

Abu Dhabi’s Department of Government Enablement has announced an agreement with Microsoft and Core42, a G42 company specialising in sovereign cloud, AI infrastructure and digital services. G42 is an artificial intelligence development company based in Abu Dhabi.

StoneX Group and Bamboo Payment Systems say they are planning a leading solution for global merchants and financial institutions that need to collect and make payments in Latin America.

Safaricom M-Pesa announced on Monday it is partnering with Ethiopian fintech startup LakiPay Financial Technologies to enhance digital payment services in Ethiopia.

The three partners behind MANTA, a new subsea cable system connecting Mexico and the USA with Central and Latin America, have announced that  SubCom, which engineers, manufactures, and installs subsea fibre optic data cables, has been awarded a contract for the design, manufacture and installation of the MANTA system.

Wholesale connectivity provider WIOCC has joined forces with iColo, a carrier-neutral data centre provider, in a strategic colocation agreement aimed at accelerating the growth of internet service providers (ISPs) in Mombasa, a coastal city in southeastern Kenya, and across the country.

Veon Group has appointed Singapore-based operator StarHub’s consumer chief, Johan Buse (pictured), as the new CEO of its Banglalink unit, in a move to accelerate its digital expansion in emerging markets.

The Zambia Tourism Agency (ZTA) and operator Airtel Zambia have signed what the two groups describe as a landmark memorandum of understanding (MoU) to enhance tourism planning and development using anonymised telecommunications data.

Bangladesh Satellite Company Limited (BSCL), the country’s sole satellite company, reportedly met with Starlink officials on Sunday to discuss partnership options for fast-tracking the LEO satellite operator’s entry into the market in the next couple of months.

Qatar-based Ooredoo Group announced on Sunday it has signed a landing party agreement with Iraqi Telecommunications and Post Company (ITPC) to land Ooredoo’s planned Fibre in Gulf (FIG) subsea cable in Iraq.

SpaceX’s LEO satellite operator Starlink has officially launched services in Niger, while also obtaining its operator licence for Chad some four months after the licence was approved.

Operator Ooredoo Qatar and tech giant Ericsson have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to accelerate digital transformation for enterprises and public sector organisations in Qatar.

A new company called VSData has announced plans to build a spring water-cooled data centre outside Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. It is expected to be a 2MW, 125-rack facility.

Ericsson revealed on Thursday it has signed a strategic partnership with TIM Brasil to consolidate and modernize its billing systems using Ericsson’s cloud-native billing solution.

Spanish multinational telecommunications company Telefonica has agreed to sell its stake in its Colombian unit to Millicom, a provider of fixed and mobile telecommunications services in Latin America, for US $400 million.

Brazil’s giant state-owned oil and gas company Petrobras has launched a tender aimed at enhancing its data processing and storage capabilities.

Ugandan MPs have adopted a proposal for a single SIM card policy, which aims to simplify communication across the country’s networks. It also means, in theory, that mobile phone customers will not need to carry multiple SIM cards or handsets.

Pan-African telecommunications and network services provider Paratus Group has announced that, having secured the necessary regulatory licenses, it has launched a new division called Paratus Tanzania through a joint venture with Tanzanian company Green Telecom.

Intelsat and MaxIQ Space are expanding efforts to deliver Intelsat’s Africa Space STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) Program to schools in four different countries across Africa.

Kacific Broadband Satellites Group announced on Tuesday it is partnering with satellite operator Paksat International and Pakistan’s national space agency, the Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), to expand high-speed, affordable satellite internet across the country.

The PEACE subsea cable cut in the Red Sea, reported by a number of news outlets early last week, could be a long-term issue, with repairs taking months.

Hard on the heels of recent news, reported here yesterday, that the long-anticipated sale of financially troubled Brazilian operator Oi’s fibre broadband unit ClientCo to fibre provider V.tal had gone ahead, the Brazilian market will soon gain a new fibre services player with the launch of Nio.

The Bangladesh government is reportedly planning a major overhaul to the country’s telecoms policy to speed up its transition to a digital economy and improve service quality.

NTT Data announced on Friday that its global cellular connectivity subsidiary Transatel has formed a partnership with Toyota Motor Corp to support the car maker’s deployment of connected vehicle services in Latin America.

Sri Lankan telco Dialog Axiata said on Friday it has wrapped up a successful trial with Meta to integrate AI into its network to enhance network optimisation and quality of experience (QoE) for its customers.

Tech giant Microsoft has announced two major investments – in South Africa and India – though with two very different focuses. One involves cloud expansion. The other involves afforestation. 

Troubled Brazilian operator Oi has hit another landmark its ongoing corporate restructuring and asset disposal push, with the disposal of both its fibre broadband and pay-TV businesses.