M-Pesa Africa – the mobile money JV between Safaricom and Vodacom Group – says that it’s expanding its partnership with global payment infrastructure provider Thunes to enable users in Kenya and Tanzania to use their M-Pesa wallet to make payments when traveling to China.

Tunisian telcos Tunisie Telecom, Orange Tunisie and Ooredoo Tunisia have been granted 5G licences by the Ministry of Communication Technologies and Digital Economy, clearing the way for 5G services to be launched sometime next year.

MTN Rwanda's fintech arm, Mobile Money Rwanda (MoMo Rwanda), has partnered with payment giant Mastercard to launch a new virtual payment solution in Rwanda.

Chilean regulator Subtel says it has received four offers to carry out a feasibility study of a project to implement  the first submarine fibre optic cable between Chile and Antarctica.

Telefonica’s sale of shares in its fibre optic network in Peru to investment fund KKR and Chilean telco Entel collapsed after the deal was announced in July 2023.

IHS Towers, an independent owner, operator and developer of shared communications infrastructure, has signed a definitive agreement to sell its 70% interest in IHS Kuwait to Zain Group.

South African telco Vodacom says it has launched the first 4G base station in the village of Thathe Vondo in Thohoyandou, Thulamela Municipality in Limpopo province as part of its effort to expand rural coverage in the country.

Benin-based broadband provider Isocel Telecom has announced ambitious plans to expand its network to reach up to half a million households, emphasising that fibre is still essential to fill the gaps that mobile connectivity cannot yet address.

Public utility Namibia Water Corporation (NamWater) and mobile network operator and ISP MTC have announced a partnership to modernise Namibia’s water sector through digital innovation – and, importantly in a country where supply is more limited than most, save water.

The ongoing story of Brazilian digital infrastructure solutions company and neutral fibre optic network owner V.tal’s plans to buy financially troubled telecommunication company Oi's broadband unit has taken a positive turn as Brazilian competition regulator Cade has approved the purchase – though it’s far from over yet.

Built at du’s Dubai headquarters, the 5G-A Innovation Center is going to be a key building block of the next generation of 5G, not just for the UAE but for anyone associated with the next iteration of 5G.

MTN South Africa has reportedly signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with China Telecom Global and Huawei to develop digital infrastructure across MTN’s African footprint.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) stated that 227 million new people connected to the internet for the first time in 2024, bringing the total number of connected people to over 5.5 billion.

Satellite communications company Viasat has announced that it has successfully demonstrated direct-to-device (D2D) satellite connectivity in Saudi Arabia for the first time, in conjunction with its ecosystem partners.

South African operator MTN is launching an own-branded 5G smartphone. Called the Icon 5G, the new MTN smartphone will sell for 2,499 rand (about US$138). The smartphone is manufactured by ZTE.

A reminder of the difficulties that can be faced by a global brand working in multiple territories with specific local rules and concerns comes from multinational technology company Apple, which is facing two very different regulatory challenges in two very different regions. 

Orange announced on Tuesday it is partnering with OpenAI and Meta to fine-tune AI large language models (LLMs) to incorporate regional languages in Africa that are currently not understood by any GenAI model.

Digital technology, the web and data analysis for predictive maintenance have come together in a new services agreement between Saudi Railway Company (SAR) and smart and sustainable mobility company Alstom.

Pan-African operator Axian Telecom has announced the rebrand of its five mobile units to Yas, a move aimed at unifying the operators and creating synergies for future growth.

MTN Group announced on Monday it has commercially launched its 5G network in Congo-Brazzaville, making it the group’s sixth 5G launch in Africa along with last week’s launch of 5G in Benin.

Aramco Digital, the technology subsidiary of Saudi petroleum and natural gas company Aramco, is widely reported to be in talks to invest about US$1 billion in telecommunications software maker Mavenir.

As expected, Mexico has gone ahead with plans to abolish a number of regulatory bodies, including telecoms watchdog the Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones (IFT). However, it hasn’t been the wholesale clear-out some commentators feared.

Telecom operator MTN Benin officially launched the country's first commercial 5G network on Friday, with initial services available in select areas of the port city of Cotonou and Abomey-Calavi.

China Telecom Global has officially kicked off operations in Saudi Arabia with the launch of new subsidiary China Telecom Gulf, which has already secured its first cooperation agreements with local telcos STC and state-owned BTC Networks.

Brazilian neutral network, digital infrastructure and data centre group V.tal has agreed a contract with Atlas Renewable Energy, an international renewable energy solutions provider, which says it is entering the data centre sector in Latin America through the deal.

TIM has claimed that it is the first operator in Brazil to carry out 5G network slicing on a public network for real-time video transmission. The initiative took place with help from Ericsson in the design and optimisation process.

Underlining Saudi Arabia’s reputation as the fastest-growing data centre market in the Middle East are no fewer than three data centre-related announcements this week.

Analyst house Canalys revealed that the African smartphone market grew by 3% year-on-year in Q3 2024 despite macroeconomic challenges. It predicted that smartphone shipments would grow by a “cautious” 1% in 2025.

China Mobile Pakistan (CMPak), which operates under the brand Zong 4G, says it has developed its own in-house large language model (LLM) designed specifically for customer service support for its telecoms services.

Ghana’s National Communications Authority (NCA), in collaboration with the ministry of communications and digitalisation and mobile network operators, recently began negotiations with relevant stakeholders in The Gambia to advance the implementation of the ECOWAS Free Roaming Initiative.

SpaceSail, a Chinese low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite company, has signed an agreement to enter the Brazilian market. The signing took place during Chinese President Xi Jinping's recent state visit to the capital, Brasilia.