ZTE said it has successfully collaborated with Viettel-backed Peruvian telco Bitel to upgrade its 4G mobile network ahead of the telco’s official launch of 5G on Monday.

Airtel Malawi, one of the two dominant mobile operators in the Southeast African country along with TNM, has announced plans to boost its network with additional data links and to enhance reliability.

Apple entered the top five highest-shipping smartphone vendors in India, as the overall market recorded a 5% shipment increase in 2024, despite ending Q4 with a decline.

Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT) has reportedly struck a multi-year, multi-million-dollar partnership with Eutelsat OneWeb to deliver LEO satellite services across Nigeria.

Mexican telecoms regulator, the Federal Telecommunications Institute (FTI), has cancelled the auction for 5G spectrum that was scheduled for this month.

The Communications Regulatory Authority of Mozambique has completed a nationwide assessment of telecom operators’ quality of service, revealing significant disparities in performance and compliance. Movitel emerged as the worst-performing operator for data services, while Vodacom demonstrated the highest reliability.

Satellite operator Arabsat says it has established a partnership with UAE-based digital and ICT solutions provide ZainTech to provide satellite-powered cloud, IoT, AI, drones, digital and data services across the MENA region.

State-owned Ethio Telecom revealed on Thursday that it has initiated strategic discussions with the African Development Bank (AfDB) to finance its digital transformation initiatives, amid reports that the telco also pushed back the deadline of its planned 10% share sale to mid-February.

The mixed fortunes of WOM Colombia, the country’s fourth largest operator, have been at least slightly boosted by news of an acquisition that will allow it to continue to operate.

UAE-based satellite firm Space42 said on Wednesday it has successfully deployed the second of its Foresight earth observation LEO satellites in partnership with synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite constellation operator ICEYE.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has reportedly issued an ultimatum for nine banks: pay up on their Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) codes or be disconnected before the end of this month.

Nokia and Zain KSA announced on Wednesday they are partnering to deploy a 4G/5G femtocell solution for enterprise customers in Saudi Arabia to fill indoor mobile coverage gaps and optimise connectivity.

Local media reported that India-based Adani Group is planning to release the 5G spectrum it acquired in 2022 as India’s telecoms regulator pushes the company to fulfill its coverage obligations.

Revenues from fixed wireless access (FWA) equipment are set to exceed US$48 billion over the next five years, driven by growing adoption across enterprise and residential markets in North America and India, according to a report from Dell’Oro Group.

Data centre developer Stack Infrastructure said on Tuesday it is joining the Malaysia data centre frenzy with plan to establish a new 220MW campus in Johor Bahru in two phases.

Nigeria and the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) have announced the award of a USTDA grant to Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy (FMCIDE) for a feasibility study to support internet access for 12 million people through the deployment of new fibre optic backbone infrastructure across the country.

Financial services platform Mukuru says it has launched a mobile wallet in Zimbabwe called Mukuru Wallet. This follows Mukuru’s award of a Deposit-Taking Microfinance Institution (DTMFI) licence in the country by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.

Seven prequalified companies have confirmed to Costa Rica’s regulator Sutel their participation in the 5G spectrum auction in Costa Rica, which will take place this month.

A new data centre campus is being developed in Leopoldina in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, a large inland state in southeastern Brazil, by two major names in their respective fields.

Burkina Faso has announced the launch of plans to tax e-commerce. Sales of goods and services rendered through e-commerce platforms in Burkina Faso are now subject to value added tax (VAT) for the year 2025.

Iraqi operator iQ Networks says it has signed the country’s first dark fibre IRU framework agreement with Qatar-based subsea cable operator Gulf Bridge International (GBI), whilst also announcing its terrestrial transit network now has over 1 Tbps of capacity.

Nokia and Saudi Arabian telco STC Group say that they’ve successfully wrapped up what they claim is the first trial in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region of a long haul terabit optical solution for data centre interconnectivity.

Data discovery, classification and remediation company Spirion LLC, has announced the opening of its first data centre in South Africa and its third international expansion in the past five months to support customers moving to Spirion’s software as a service (SaaS) offering.

Incumbent Maldives telco Dhiraagu said on Wednesday it has extended its high-speed fibre broadband network to all inhabited islands in the Maldives in a project that took five years to complete.

Proposed new licensing rules and fees from regulator the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) could financially impact distributors of terminal electronic devices and complex network equipment as well as satellite internet service providers (ISPs).

Tecto, the data centre subsidiary of global end-to-end digital infrastructure solutions company V.tal has announced some of the details of its first hyperscale data centre in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Cameroon’s state-owned telco Cameroon Telecommunications (Camtel) has reportedly revealed a budget of XAF326.2 billion (US$514.7 million) for 2025 to upgrade its network infrastructure and improve service quality, along with a strategic roadmap to steward its evolution to 2027.

Alleged pressure on Nigerian operators to raise mobile tariffs because of economic factors is continuing to inspire a lively debate between various factions over what sort of rise might be acceptable.

Two months after Ghana saw the launch of its first 5G wholesale network, telecoms operators have yet to lease capacity from it to offer commercial 5G services, according to Minister of Communications and Digitalization Ursula Owusu.

UAE-based Space42 says it successfully launched its Thuraya 4 (T4) geostationary satellite, which it says will be key for launching new services across Africa, Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East.

Pan-African operator MTN Group has announced the conclusion of the sale of its MTN Guinea-Conakry operation to the State of Guinea. This took place on 30 December 2024.