Somaliland’s Somtel has begun its initial public offering (IPO), with interested parties able to acquire a minimum of 20 shares for US$100 apiece.

We briefly noted earlier this week that Liquid Intelligent Technologies, formerly Liquid Telecoms, had deployed a fibre network in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The company has now supplied more details of the deployment – and it makes some impressive claims for the new network.

IBM has announced the opening of its first IBM Cloud Multizone Region (MZR) in Latin America. Building on its existing data centre footprint in Brazil, IBM says that the MZR is a result of the company's continued investment in cloud infrastructure to accelerate hybrid cloud adoption and help foster business growth in Latin America.

January 2021 saw Vodafone Idea (Vi) register its first monthly increase in subscribers for over a year, amid a broader nationwide trend towards subscriber growth.

Senegalese operator Expresso has launched its 4G network after extensive delays.

The Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) has published its Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector annual market report for the year 2020, and many of its findings – and predictions – are positive.

Algeria’s telecoms minister Brahim Boumzar has confirmed that the government’s current focus is on improving 4G services rather than introducing 5G.

Digital fintech enablement provider Ukheshe Technologies and Infobip, a global cloud communications platform that enables businesses to build connected customer experiences, say they have developed South Africa’s very first WhatsApp payment gateway. It is to be used by mobile operator Telkom.

UAE-based operator du has signed a four-year 5G expansion deal with Nokia.

Infinera, a supplier of networking solutions, and American Tower, a leading independent owner, operator and developer of multi-tenant communications real estate, have announced the successful completion of the first point-to-multipoint coherent optical transmission in a carrier network environment in Latin America.

Botswana Fibre Networks (BoFiNet), a wholesale provider of national and international telecommunication infrastructure, has announced plans to build a data centre at the Science and Technology Park in Gaborone, the country’s capital.

Brazil’s Oi has sold off a data centre unit to Piemonte Holding for BRL367 million ($65.3 million) in a further manouevre to restructure its debt burden.

Orange Cameroon has extended its Network as a Service (NAAS) contract with NuRAN Wireless to add a further 120 sites to its footprint in the market.

LogRhythm has partnered with Mideast Communication Systems (MCS) to deliver next-generation security information and event management (NextGen SIEM) solutions to organisations across the Middle East and East Africa.

Israel’s Bezeq has begun the commercial rollout of its fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) network.

A Zimbabwean union of communications workers is calling for the beleaguered state-backed mobile firm Telecel to enter receivership or a corporate rescue process.

Malawi has unveiled a five-year Digital Economy Strategy aimed at massively boosting access to connectivity by 2026.

Cape Verde is on track to clear its “digital dividend” spectrum by the end of June.

Jordan’s Umniah has confirmed imminent plans to shutter its 2G network to allow further investment and more extensive upgrades to its 3G and 4G networks.

Digicel has signed an agreement with the Government of Curaçao under the School Digitalisation Project that will see 118 schools receive high-speed fibre optic internet connectivity.

Hot on the heels of its rival Claro, Entel Peru has announced the launch of a 5G New Radio (NR) fixed-wireless broadband offering using 3.5GHz spectrum.

Telecom Armenia has begun construction on a new fibre-optic Next Generation Network (NGN) in the Armenian capital of Yerevan.

The saga of South African regulator ICASA and the release of more spectrum to operators has taken another twist, with ICASA now planning to appeal a recent court order halting a forthcoming spectrum auction.

Hard on the heels of South Africa’s similar announcement, Nigeria’s National Broadcasting Commission now says that the country’s Digital Switch Over (DSO) project will be completed by middle of 2022 when the country will fully transit from analogue to digital terrestrial broadcasting.

Guinean regulator ARPT (L’Autoritie de Regulation des Postes et Telecommunications) will deactivate any SIM cards that remain unregistered from 2nd May this year.

Claro Peru is now offering commercial fixed-wireless 5G broadband via its 3.5GHz spectrum holding.

Last week saw Paratus Namibia announce the signing of its first fibre Open Access agreement, onboarding Africa Online as a client.

Brazilian regulator Anatel (Agencia Nacional de Telecomunicacoes) has cleared a proposal that will see the 6GHz (5925MHz-7125MHz) frequency band opened for unlicensed Wi-Fi 6E access.

Zain’s local unit in South Sudan has launched a commercial 4G offering in the capital city Juba.

Ghana’s only Tier IV data centre has reportedly been bought by fund management group African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM), which now promises to make the former Etix facility the largest data centre in the country.