Somalia is working to put in place a favourable regulatory framework to strengthen its digital infrastructure. In particular, regulator the National Communications Authority is preparing the introduction of new regulations on submarine cable landings.

Madagascar’s three mobile money operators – MVola, Orange Money and Airtel Money – have denounced plans by the government’s Directorate General for Taxes (DGI) to tax mobile money transactions, which they say will discourage financial inclusion and harm the economy.

South African wireline and wireless telecommunications provider Telkom has suspended plans to sell part of its fibre business, Openserve, according to a statement by CEO Serame Taukobong this week.

Telecom Namibia says it successfully completed eight FTTx projects worth NAB35.5 million (US$1.9 million) for underserved areas in 2023 and 2024, and will invest another NAB27 million to expand its fibre access network further in the coming year.

Mobile money services MTN MoMo in South Africa and EcoCash in Zimbabwe have partnered to provide what are described as effortless direct cash transfers between the two countries.

Bahrain-based technology group Beyon has announced that its telecommunications arm, Batelco, has launched the first off-grid mobile site in the region powered entirely by renewable solar and wind energy.

India’s competition regulator has ordered WhatsApp to cease sharing data for advertising purposes with other Meta-owned applications for five years and fined the US tech giant US$24.5 million for antitrust violations.

China Mobile Pakistan (CMPak), which operates under the Zong 4G brand, says that it is now logging 7 billion recharge transactions per month via its digital channels, which now account for 40% of prepaid recharges.

Global connectivity provider Angola Cables is reportedly planning to expand into Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe to cash in on Africa's growing appetite for digital infrastructure – provided regulators make it easier to roll out that infrastructure.

Eutelsat OneWeb announced on Thursday it has signed a new multi-year agreement with satellite solutions and services provider Q-KON to expand LEO satellite services across Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in the southern region.

Operator MTN South Africa and leading tech vendor Huawei say that they have completed the first 5.5G network trial in South Africa at the MTN head office in Johannesburg.

Global communications company Viasat has announced the launch of a home and mobile broadband service in Mexico that, they say, will boost cellular coverage in the country.

The London Internet Exchange (LINX) announced this week it will be expanding its interconnection footprint in Africa early next year with a new internet exchange point (IXP) in Ghana and its second IXP in Kenya.

Data centre company Open Access Data Centres (OADC) has had a busy few days, most notably with the announcement of the imminent launch of Open Access Fabric (OAfabric), which is described as a truly open-access and collaborative digital platform that promises to redefine African interconnection.

Cirion Technologies, a digital infrastructure and technology provider in Latin America, today announced what it describes as a new, wholly diverse and resilient Atlantic subsea route expanding fibre connectivity between Latin America and North America. It’s called the South American Crossing-2 (SAC-2) Route.

LEO satellite operator Starlink says its satellite broadband service is now available in Chad after the government approved its licence to operate in the country.

Nokia has announced its second fibre broadband partnership in South Africa in as many days – this one with ICT solutions provider Reflex and ISP Net Nine Nine, and also with the aim of expanding broadband access for underserved communities.

Technology group Liquid Intelligent Technologies, and South Africa’s Western Cape Government have announced at the Africa Tech Festival 2024 in Cape Town that they have renewed a partnership to continue expanding connectivity in the province.

State-controlled telco Telecom Egypt said on Monday it has signed several multi-year agreements worth up to EGP30 billion (US$609.5 million) to provide infrastructure services to Vodafone Egypt to support its preparation for rolling out 5G.

Dubai-based digital assets infrastructure company Hodler Investments and Chinese clean energy company Golden Concord Group (GCL) have agreed to jointly invest in an off-grid energy infrastructure project in Ethiopia to power data centres that support high-demand applications, including artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain.

Nokia has announced that South African internet service provider Fibertime will deploy Nokia’s fibre solution to rapidly expand broadband access to underserved regions of South Africa.

Orange Centrafrique says it has become the first mobile operator in the Central African Republic (CAR) to sign a 4G license with the Ministry of Digital Economy, Posts and Telecommunications, paving the way for 4G to finally be launched in the country.

Digital infrastructure company Equinix has officially opened what it describes as its state-of-the-art data centre in Salalah, Oman, built in cooperation with integrated telecommunications services provider Omantel.

In its latest report, the GSMA projected that tackling key connectivity barriers to facilitate AI, 5G, and satellite adoption could add $170 billion to Sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP by 2030.

At the Global Mobile Broadband Forum 2024 (MBBF 2024) in Istanbul, an exclusive ELITE FWA Club Media Roundtable discussed the potential for Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) and 5.5G, which is also referred to as 5G-Advanced or 5G-A technologies across the GCC.

Telecom Egypt and Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) announced on Wednesday they have successfully landed the Africa-1 subsea cable system at the first of two planned landing points in Egypt.

Several civil society organisations in Mozambique have reportedly filed an injunction against mobile operators TMcel, Vodacom and Movitel over ongoing mobile internet shutdowns and blocked access to social media and messaging sites.

Many operators are putting a lot of effort into encouraging recycling – and into being seen to lead that effort, as recent announcements from operators Vodacom in South Africa and du in the UAE indicate.

Latin American IP transit and connectivity provider EdgeUno has announced a new fibre optic route connecting Santiago de Chile and Buenos Aires in Argentina.