Iraq continues to face a number of political and economic challenges, though increasing civil stability has made it easier for mobile and fixed-line operators to rebuild telecom services and infrastructure damaged during the last few years.

The Dominican Republic’s telecom sector continued its solid though unspectacular form throughout 2020 and into 2021, shrugging off the economic turmoil unleashed by the Covid-19 pandemic to maintain a decade-long run of low but positive growth across all areas of the market.

The Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (BOCRA) has floated a tender for an international mobile telecommunications spectrum (IMT) licence for the provision of mobile broadband wireless access services.

Digital infrastructure products provider Vertiv announced a distribution agreement with the US IT services company Ingram Micro covering the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) distribution markets.

After six weeks during which its government has faced increased criticism, Tanzania has finally reduced the amount of its controversial mobile money transaction levy – by 30 percent.

Altan Redes, the consortium tasked with deploying Mexico's 4.5G shared network – called Red Compartida – has announced that it has secured a $50 million loan from shareholders.

Despite the harsh impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the country’s population and economy, Colombia’s telecom sector had a solid year thanks to positive performances in the fixed-line broadband, mobile broadband, and mobile voice and data markets.

Cellulant has entered into a five-year partnership with Senegal-based Gainde 2000 to offer an end-to-end Pan-African technology infrastructure and payments solutions for trade, revenue & tax collection for governments and multinational companies.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has won the backing of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for its 2019 decision to increase the licence renewal fees of mobile operators Jazz and Telenor Pakistan.

Paraguay’s regulator Conatel (Consejo Nacional de Telecomunicaciones) has agreed to renew Claro and Tigo’s 4G AWS licences.

TIM Brasil and suppliers Ericsson and MediaTek conducted the first pilot tests in the Brazilian city of Itajuba, in the state of Minas Gerais, with carrier aggregation (CA) in 5G standalone architecture.

Iran’s incoming Minister of ICT Isa Zarepour has indicated that the country’s long-delayed National Information Network (NIN) project should be completed by 2025.

The slow process to open up Ethiopia’s telecom market was completed with the licensing of the Safaricom-led Global Partnership for Ethiopia consortium.

Brazil has one of the largest mobile markets in Latin America due to the sheer size of its population.

The South African telecommunications regulator has finally decided it will call a halt to emergency spectrum use by the country’s mobile operators – after more than 17 months.

Honduras’ state-back operator Hondutel has revealed that its losses topped HNL298.9 million (US$12.4 million) for the first half of 2021, reportedly prompting a rescue package from the country’s government.

Iraqi operator Asiacell Telecom has chosen Nokia to build its next-generation microwave network.

Chinese multinational technology company Huawei Technologies has teamed up with the Brazilian National Service for Industrial Training (Senai) to open a professional training and certification lab for the ICT and telecom sectors in Cachoeiro de Itapemirim (Espirito Santo).

Confirming what a lot of people might have guessed given the events of recent years, Nigerian regulator the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) recently reported an increase of over 200 per cent in data usage over the last three years in the country.

FiBrasil (FiBrasil Infraestrutura e Fibra Ótica SA), a Brazilian company whose focus is the construction and operation of a neutral fibre network, has announced a major acquisition with the potential to boost its coverage plans.

Ecuador’s regulator ARCOTEL (Agencia de Regulacion y Control de las Telecomunicaciones) has begun talks with the country’s two largest mobile operators about revising the terms of their licences after they expire.

Brazilian plans to encourage lower energy use amid an ongoing drought include a mandate to federal data centres to moderate their power use.

Brazil’s Federal Court of Accounts (Tribunal de Contas da Uniao, TCU) has approved the public notice for the proposed multi-band 5G spectrum auction.

Botswana’s regulator has found operator BTC (Botswana Telecommunications Corporation) guilty of violating its licence terms by preventing a competitor from accessing high-speed data connectivity.

A second data centre is on the cards for Huawei in Mexico, according to reports from an online event marking two years since Huawei’s first Latin American data centre opened in Chile. The precise location of the planned site has not yet been revealed.

Airtel Niger has reportedly invested $5.7 million in deploying optical fibre from a major Nigerien city to the country’s border with Nigeria.

The Colombian ICT minister, Karen Abudinen, has announced the resumption of the installation of digital centres, or connection points, in rural areas of the country, a project that temporarily halted in 2020.

Cameroon’s state-owned CamTel has revealed that it will begin offering mobile and data services nationwide using the brand name Blue.

Facebook has announced the launch of its Marketplace service (described as "a convenient destination where people can discover, buy and sell items from others in their local communities") to 37 countries and territories in sub-Saharan Africa.

SoftBank Vision Fund’s first investment in an African start-up has been announced – and it’s a big one for fintech company OPay.

MTN Ghana’s CEO Selorm Adavehoh has expressed his hope that the operator will be able to launch 5G services as early as next year.