South Africa's Competition Commission has unconditionally approved the merger of ISPs Afrihost and Cool Ideas.

Brazilian Internet broadband services provider Vero SA has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) at the Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM).

Ciena, a networking systems, services and software company, says it is working with Djibouti Telecom to increase digitisation in the East Africa region by deploying Ciena’s GeoMesh Extreme solution to upgrade one of Djibouti Telecom’s submarine cable systems.

Namibia’s market leader MTC (Mobile Telecommunications) has been cleared for a public listing by the main board of the Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX).

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has outlined its plans for auctioning 1800MHz and 2100MHz spectrum in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan regions.

Telefónica Global Solutions (TGS) partnered with Viasat to provide satellite communications services in Brazil.

Brazilian telecommunications company Embratel has announced plans to build 15 edge data centres in the country.

The government of Kyrgyzstan is reportedly evaluating a number of proposals for the sale of the state-owned mobile provider MegaCom, with the National Bank of Kyrgyzstan one of several potential buyers.

Brazil’s Minister of Communications Fabio Faria has indicated that the country’s delayed 5G spectrum auctions will finally take place in October this year.

SES, the provider of global content connectivity solutions, granted Gilat Satellite Networks a multi-million-dollar contract for multiple broadband applications in Latin America.

African vendor-neutral data centre and interconnection services provider Teraco Data Environments Proprietary Limited says it has completed the JB3 data centre facility, which is sited on the Isando Campus in Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg.

Brazilian Internet Service Provider (ISP) Desktop Sigmanet (Sigmanet Comunicação Multimídia SA) has acquired Net Barretos, a small-scale broadband provider that serves the interior of Sao Paulo.

Targeting in particular the 1.7 billion consumers that it says have joined the world’s middle class in the past decade, most of them in emerging markets, fintech Boku has launched M1ST (Mobile First), which it calls the world’s largest mobile payments network.

The Maldives’ Dhiraagu is upgrading its systems and consolidating its standalone assurance functions with Subex’s Revenue Assurance and Fraud Management (iRAFM) solution.

Vodacom DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) has commissioned ST Engineering iDirect and Gilat Telecom to help it migrate its VSAT-based 2G network to 3G.

Brazilian telecommunications company Algar Telecom has completed the purchase of 100% of the share capital of Vogel Telecom. The operation was announced in May this year.

EdgeConneX, which provides a full range of data centre solutions worldwide, has agreed to acquire Global Data Center (GDC), an Israel-based data centre operator headquartered in Herzliya, the hub of Israel’s hi-tech district.

Broadband network and digital services offered in Seychelles will soon get a boost from a new cable system that will be leased by Seychelles-based telecommunications provider Intelvision Limited with support from global development institution IFC.

A fascinating initiative announced recently involves what will probably be one of the first government-backed digital currencies in Africa – if it happens.

Altice Dominicana and Claro Dominicana have submitted technical and economic offers to The Dominican Telecommunications Institute (Indotel) as the regulator prepares to auction 5G spectrum.

Lebanon’s state-owned provider Ogero confirmed that it is unable to offer connectivity in three locations until further notice, since no diesel is available to fuel electricity generators.

Brazilian manufacturer and provider of optical solutions serving the network operators, IT, and multimedia, Padtec reported operating revenue of BRL 119.6 million for 2Q 2021, an increase of 38.8 percent on the previous quarter and 86.3 percent year-on-year.

Spanish technology services company Lleida.net has signed contracts with the postal operators of five African countries to provide them exclusively with digital postal services and registered electronic communications technology.

2Africa, not only Africa’s biggest subsea project but, the consortium behind it says, the largest subsea cable project in the world, is in the news again with plans for more branches.

Sercomtel, a regional telecom operator in the state of Paraná, Brazil, Nokia, and Brazilian agricultural research corporation Embrapa have launched 5G connectivity pilot projects in Brazil to develop techn services for the agribusiness sector.

Hard on the heels of yesterday’s announcement that Sanlam and telecoms giant MTN Group are to distribute Sanlam Group insurance and investment products across Africa comes news that microinsurance fintech aYo has partnered with MTN to launch insurance for all Ivorians – and Sanlam will be involved.

Telefonica Tech has signed a collaboration agreement with STC’s cybersecurity unit ATCSC to share intelligence and develop responses to cyber threats in their markets.

Two of Azerbaijan’s operators have detailed recent deployment expansions, with both noting that they have installed base transceiver stations (BTS) in a region that experienced military conflict during 2020.

CAMPOST, the national provider of postal and financial services in Cameroon, and VYZYO, a mobile financial services technology company, have signed a commercial partnership agreement to deploy and operate digital payment and mobile financial services throughout Cameroon.

According to local press reports, state-owned operator Uganda Telecom Limited (UTL) has announced a Memorandum of Understanding with AST SpaceMobile.