Two 5G spectrum allocations owned by government-owned groups in Argentina are now to be put up for sale after a presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni made an announcement to this effect earlier this week.

Nokia announced on Tuesday it has opened its first innovation centre serving Africa and the Middle East in Morocco, which will not only provide Nokia's network infrastructure technologies to play with, but also programmes to boost digital skillsets.

Kenyan operator Safaricom's M-Pesa mobile money service has teamed up with Kenyan start-up tappi to digitise 650,000 business users in the country.

Brazilian telecommunications company Oi is continuing the slow business of restructuring its operations and settling debts. It has now signed a deal with infrastructure business American Tower Corporation (ATC) that will see it transfer selected towers (the number has not been revealed) and properties to ATC.

Telecom Namibia said on Monday it has launched a dedicated whistleblowing hotline that enables anyone – including its own employees – to report any fraudulent and corrupt activities being committed within Telecom Namibia’s organisation.

Ericsson says it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with UAE-based operator e& International to explore the potential for developing autonomous networks powered by AI over the next three years.

Brazil has imposed new tariffs on various imports from China and other Asian nations, including iron, steel and fibre optic cable, in what officials say is an effort to combat dumping.

V.tal, a global end-to-end digital infrastructure solutions company operating in the Americas and owner of the largest neutral fibre optic network in Brazil, has unveiled the new brand for its data centre business unit, Tecto Data Centres.

A long-term investor in Veon has publicly criticised the operator’s board of directors for underperformance, calling for immediate action to improve the company’s fortunes.

Bangladesh’s telecoms regulator has reportedly fined mobile operators Grameenphone, Robi Axiata and Banglalink for breaching regulations on promotional SMSs, despite telcos saying the regulations are impractical and too restrictive.

Ericsson said on Friday its Nigerian unit has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Nigerian government to establish a framework of cooperation covering 5G technology development, deployment and innovation.

The Intelsat 33e geostationary high-throughput satellite (HTS) covering Europe, Africa, the Middle East and parts of the Asia-Pacific experienced a permanent power failure on Saturday and has since broken up.

Hormuud Telecom strengthened its EVC Plus mobile money platform by making it interoperable with MyBank and Agro Bank, with plans to onboard more banks in 2025.

Liberty Networks and Gold Data announced on Wednesday that Telecom Italia’s international telecoms arm Sparkle has joined their plan to construct a new subsea cable system – renamed MANTA – connecting the US, Mexico, Panama and Colombia.

Colt Technology Services says it has formed a partnership with Telecom Egypt to launch two new high-speed internet transit nodes in Cairo and Alexandria that will enable both firms to offer digital services to customers across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

Satellite and terrestrial network operator Intelsat has unveiled a new satellite cellular backhaul service platform, located at  the Open Access Data Centres facility in Lagos, Nigeria. Data centre facility provider OADC is a division of core digital infrastructure solutions and managed network services company WIOCC.

Two UAE-headquartered companies, artificial intelligence (AI) pioneer nybl and Space42, which describes itself as an AI-powered spacetech company with a global reach, have unveiled what they call a first-of-its-kind satellite-enabled AI solution for oil and gas companies that, they say, will optimise oil wells’ efficiency and productivity.

From one dynamic city to another, Mobile Broadband Forum 2024 is a must-attend event for anyone interested in technology.

Service provider e& UAE and leading technology company Huawei have announced a strategic collaboration focused on what they describe as  revolutionising voice network innovation through convergence and voice over new radio (VoNR).

Six months after having started the first pilots, Mas Movil last week officially announced the activation of the initial phase of its 5G network in Panama. But it is also looking forward to 2025 when new spectrum should be available.

Kenyan service provider Safaricom has announced a strategic partnership with Cloudflare, a global web infrastructure and cybersecurity provider, and Copycat, a leading systems integrator in East Africa. This collaboration, it says, will significantly reduce the costs of integrated cybersecurity services for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Research from Finnish vendor Nokia predicts that one in four mobile subscriptions in the Middle East and Africa will be connected via 5G within the next five years.

Satellite communications provider Viasat announced it has tested direct-to-device (D2D) satellite connectivity in India for the first time, in collaboration with state-owned operator BSNL. This move aims to expand satellite services for consumer and IoT devices globally.

Ericsson announced on Tuesday it has completed an automated upgrade of Vodafone Oman’s core network applications and cloud infrastructure, which will enable the telco to deploy standalone (SA) 5G services.

Analyst firm Canalys reported that global smartphone shipments grew 5% year-on-year in Q3 2024, marking the fourth consecutive quarter of growth. 

Kenyan and Ethiopian service provider Safaricom has extended its M-Pesa Global service – which enables M-Pesa registered customers to send and receive money globally – to Ethiopia, allowing customers to make mobile money transactions from Kenya to Ethiopia.

Somalian operators Hormuud Telecom, Golis Telecom, and the GSMA have moved to deepen their collaboration with NGOs by developing a strategy to fully harness mobile technology for humanitarian efforts.

Tech vendor Ericsson and service provider e& United Arab Emirates (UAE) have announced the successful implementation of low latency, low loss, scalable throughput (L4S), a time-critical communication technology, in a 5G commercial network for the first time in the Middle East and Africa.

Leading financial services platform Mukuru has announced the launch of its new mobile wallet in Malawi, the Mukuru Wallet, which, Mukuru says, is designed to address the growing demand for a convenient, secure, efficient way to manage funds and make money transfers.

Veon announced plans to shift its headquarters from Amsterdam to Dubai, as part of a strategic alignment to bring the operator closer to key markets.