There’s been positive news on the sustainability front from operator MTN in Cameroon, which has announced a renewable energy initiative.

Last week came news from The Federation of Businesses of the Congo (FEC)’s telecom commission that a hike in telecoms tariffs was on the way. But the telecoms regulator ARPTC has responded by saying it can’t happen.

Telefónica’s Latin American arm Telefónica Hispam (Hispanoamérica) has selected Mavenir to supply cloud-native IMS Core for fixed and mobile networks across Mexico, Colombia, and Chile.

Mobily Pay, a mobile wallet powered by leading Saudi Arabia-based telecommunications and digital service provider Mobily, and MoneyGram International, a major name in digital P2P payments, have announced a partnership to launch MoneyGram's international money transfer capabilities on Mobily Pay.

Kenya’s Safaricom and financial services giant Visa have introduced the first M-Pesa GlobalPay Visa Virtual card, a mobile-phone-based system that they say opens up global shopping for Kenyan consumers.

Satellite technology company Hughes Network Systems has announced a number of major deals that aim to bring connectivity to rural and hard-to-reach areas in Mexico.

Neptune Communications has received authorisation from Jamaica’s Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) to launch satellite broadband in the market.

Angolan operator Unitel has signed a three year partnership agreement with Chinese vendor Huawei.

Saudi Arabian operator Mobily has signed a strategic memorandum of understanding (MoU) with North African service provider Telecom Egypt to build the first submarine cable system to directly connect Saudi Arabia to Egypt.

Satellite operator and connectivity provider SES has been in the news recently with backhaul deals in Papua New Guinea (PNG), Peru and Chile aimed at supporting remote connectivity.

IHS Towers has completed the acquisition of 5,701 towers from MTN South Africa for ZAR6.4 billion (US$412.5 million) as part of a leaseback agreement.

Described as a key milestone in the company's regional expansion, the recent launch of Virgin Mobile Kuwait isn’t just a first for Virgin Mobile Middle East And Africa (VMMEA); this is, we are told, the first mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) in Kuwait.

The Communications Regulatory Commission (CRC) of Colombia is easing regulation around rural network deployments to incentivise regional ISPs to expand into previously unconnected areas.

Pakistani operators Jazz and Telenor Pakistan have paid the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) the next instalment of their licence renewal fees despite their objections to the increases imposed by the regulator.

Hayo Telecom, a Senegalese mobile network operator, has chosen Telesmart.io, a provider of global number and messaging services, to provide it with a fully API-enabled number and messaging platform.

Egyptian bank ADCB-Egypt has extended its collaboration with Temenos to deliver next-generation digital payments on the latter’s open platform for composable banking.

The Philippines regulator the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) late last week announced its approval of the registration of Starlink Internet Services Philippines Inc. as a value-added service (VAS) provider, according to local press reports.

Two Brazilian MVNOs have reportedly been the winners of a tender process to provide mobile connectivity to up to 700,000 students via the public network across the country – the first time that MVNOs have won a bid from the federal government to provide mobile connectivity.

It’s been a few days since the Peruvian telecommunications regulator Programa Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (Pronatel) sprung a surprise by calling a halt to a tender to take over the operation and maintenance of the national backbone network Red Dorsal Nacional de Fibra Óptica (RDNFO). But two questions still remain to be answered.

Chilean regulator Subtel (Subsecretaria de Telecomunicaciones / Department of Telecommunications) has plotted a course towards settling an ongoing dispute over 3.5GHz spectrum licensing.

MTN Group has formed a strategic alliance with BT Group that will see the UK-based firm offer business services to MTN’s African enterprise customers.

Malawian service provider Nyasa Mobile Limited (NML) is said, according to a number of reports, to be partnering the vast Vodafone Group in a deal that will lead to the rollout of the country’s third operator. However, Vodafone has clarified that its role is mainly a consulting one.

Following the demonstration of low earth orbit (LEO) satellite support for 5G backhaul in Latin America, reported yesterday, there’s now news of medium earth orbit (MEO) satellite applications for 3G and 4G in Kazakhstan.

Brazil can claim its first 5G backhaul demonstration over low earth orbit (LEO) satellite, according to satellite operator Telesat and international service provider Telefónica, which have together announced the successful completion of the demonstration in Brazil and Latin America.

NEC Corporation and Juniper Networks have partnered with Algeria Telecom to deploy the operator’s nationwide IP metro commercial network.

Wireless broadband technology Curvalux has announced a collaboration agreement Brazilian ITC Consultancy Tree Net to bring highspeed Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) solutions to Brazil.

Madagascan operator Blueline has selected Ribbon’s Apollo Optical Networking solution to upgrade the bandwidth capacity of its communications network.

Telefonica-owned Mexican operator Movistar has said that it is considering a launch of 5G in Mexico via a network sharing agreement with fellow operator AT&T.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Public Utilities Minister Marvin Gonzales has confirmed that TSTT (Telecommunication Services of Trinidad and Tobago) is set to shutter its legacy copper networks by September this year.

The government of Botswana is implementing new measures to help expand connectivity across the country.

Brazilian data centre firm Odata has opened its first Mexican data centre to add to its operations in Brazil, Colombia and Chile.