The Israeli government appears to be keen to encourage operators to make plans for the next 5G spectrum auction with a call for smart city-focused rollout.

Kyrgyzstan’s state-owned MegaCom has rebranded as MEGA.

The near-decade long legal dispute between Turkcell and South Africa’s MTN about shares in an Iranian operator may not be over yet.

Ericsson announced it will operate a key global research site in Brazil in collaboration with the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) and the Sao Paulo State Research Support Foundation (FAPESP), a move to advance research in cloud computing and AI automated networks by 2030 in Latin America.

Smart cities are back in the news in Dubai, where du, part of Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company, has joined forces with Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority (DIEZ) and Derq, a leading provider of AI analytics solutions for road safety and connected vehicles.

The Turks and Caicos Islands Telecommunications Commission (TCTC) has successfully completed its Emergency Preparedness Agreement (EPA) between the Islands' network operators, Digicel and Flow.

Algeria’s state-backed operators Algerie Telecom (AT) and Djezzy have signed a new partnership agreement focused on boosting quality of service (QoS).

Airtel Africa signed a new US$194 million facility with World Bank sister organisation the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a move to upgrade operations across its footprint in Africa.

Pan-African operator Airtel has announced that it has partnered with child-welfare-focused NGO UNICEF under UNICEF’s Reimagine Education initiative and will be connecting 620 primary schools in Nigeria to digital learning in the coming three months.

The Telecommunication Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) has confirmed to the country’s government that it is preparing for the implementation of commercial 5G services in 2023.

New market entrant Africell Angola says it is launching mobile services in Benguela Province in the west of Angola, thus accomplishing the second phase of what it describes as its ambitious national roll-out strategy.

Kuwaiti operator group Zain pledged to invest US$800 million into its Sudanese unit over the next five years, with plans to deploy new and upgrade infrastructure to remain competitive in Sudan.

Cote d’Ivoire’s government is divesting a 9.95% stake in Orange’s local unit via a public offering, set to run between 5^th and 19^th December 2022.

Optical fibre and satellite are driving two very different business models from Ekinops and World Mobile which could, potentially, boost African connectivity.

Allegations of impropriety by Turkish operator Turkcell and its subsidiary East Asian Consortium (EAC) against South African operator MTN over the award of the first private mobile telecommunications licence in Iran have been dismissed by the High Court of South Africa.

Service provider Mauritius Telecom has revamped its Wi-Fi network by implementing Wi-Fi Service Management Platform (SMP) from technology solutions provider Alepo.

Fibre to the home and fibre to the business (FTTH/FTTB) are continuing to make inroads into African markets, as indicated by recent announcements from operator Telekom Networks Malawi (TNM) and pan-African full service network company Paratus in Botswana.

Kazakhstan is putting two 1×100MHz blocks of 5G mobile spectrum up for sale, with bidding scheduled for 20^th December 2022.

Bahrain's Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has made part of the C-Band spectrum available for 5G private networks. The spectrum will be made available in the 3.8 to 4.2GHz band.

Zambia is aiming for 100% national network coverage by the end of 2024 with the help of the country’s Universal Access and Services Fund and money raised from the sale of spectrum.

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite broadband provider Starlink has been licensed to operate in Haiti – and applied for a permit in Tanzania.

MegaFon Tajikistan (TT Mobile CJSC) has signed an exclusive partnership with Vox Solutions to help identify Application to Person (A2P) voice (Flash Call) traffic and combat fraudulent routing and illicit bypass attempts.

The Somali National Communications Authority (NCA) issued Hormuud Telecom with the country’s first spectrum licence closing its vetting processing which began earlier this year, a move to promote open markets, competition, and investment in the telecoms sector. 

It appears African operators no longer have the fintech market all to themselves. In fact NCBA Group, a Kenya-headquartered financial services conglomerate, recently announced that is planning to work with partners to bring its mobile phone banking service M-Shwari to Ghana, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Africa Data Centres, Africa's largest network of interconnected, carrier and cloud-neutral data centre facilities, has announced that it is building its first data centre in Rwanda.

Liquid Intelligent Technologies has launched operations in Nigeria, delivering high-speed connectivity, cloud and cyber security services to the market.

A report from Analysys Mason commissioned by Ericsson highlighted the potential economic, consumer and environmental benefits from 5G connectivity in 15 emerging markets, stating these countries could see GDP growth between 0.3% and 0.46% through 2035.

Vodacom Congo subsidiary Vodacash is launching its new service M-Pesa Rallonge in the DRC, granting mobile banking customers access to financial assistance from their cell phones.

The Peruvian Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC) has announced plans to begin reassigning spectrum in the 800MHz band in order to allow the deployment of 4G and rural services.

Pan-African payments technology company Cellulant is in the news again, this time thanks to a partnership with B2C e-commerce platform Copia focused on the Kenyan market.