A rationalisation drive is apparently under way in South Africa’s telecommunications sector – at government level.

Barely a week goes by, it seems, without the announcement of another digital money transfer service in Africa. The latest involves Co-operative Bank of Kenya, a leading financial institution in Kenya and the larger East Africa region, and Thunes, a cross-border payment provider.

Pressure on unregistered SIM owners has intensified after a new ruling from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

Chad’s digital economy looks set for a boost following the approval by the European Investment Bank (EIB) of a range of new measures aimed at boosting the country’s development.

The Maldives-Sri Lanka Cable (MSC) has successfully landed in the Maldives, connecting the coastal Sri Lankan capital Colombo to Hulhumalé.

Parallel Wireless, an open RAN company delivering software-defined end-to-end 5G, 4G, 3G and 2G open RAN solutions, is to be part of a partnership to deliver rural communications in Nigeria.

According to a number of news outlets, operator Liberty Latin America is considering an acquisition of Telefonica’s businesses in Colombia and Ecuador.

More news of satellite support for rural connectivity comes from South Africa with the announcement of a deal between operator Telkom and satellite broadband solutions provider YahClick.

Orange Morocco is implementing Neural Technologies’ revenue assurance and fraud management solution.

Brazil’s embattled operator Oi has sold its mobile assets to the sole party that bid on them – a consortium of rival operators Claro Brasil, Telefonica Brasil (Vivo) and TIM Brasil.

Iraqi operator Asiacell Telecom has selected Nokia to optimise its nationwide network, in a two-year contract beginning in January 2021.

MTN Group could sell and lease back as much as 50% of its towers in its home market of South Africa.

Just when SIM-linked controversies appeared no longer to be news, two SIM registration stories have hit the headlines – this time from Nigeria and Malaysia.

Colombian operator WOM is deploying 125 cellular backhaul sites in partnership with Axess Networks as it seeks to connect rural areas as part of its nationwide build-out.

South African communications minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams has been ordered to cut mobile data prices in half.

Welcome news for Kenyan operator Safaricom, though possibly less so for its customers, is that coronavirus-related price cuts affecting its mobile payment business may end soon.

Nokia conducted 5G standalone tests in the 3.5GHz band in collaboration with Colombian operator Tigo in the city of Medellin, as the companies prepare for the country’s commercial launch of 5G.

Recent reports from Zimbabwe indicate that the Ministry of Information Communication Technologies, Postal and Courier services has completed the development of its five-year strategic plan.

MegaFon Tajikistan is now offering commercial VoLTE services, which it claims is a first for the market.

A couple more examples of the growing importance of cashless, mobile phone-based payments in Africa have emerged in recent days – this time in South Africa and Uganda.

Zimbabwe’s telecoms regulator outlined $123 million was needed to deliver on its plan to bring connectivity to all districts of the country.

Peru’s MTC (Ministry of Transport and Communications) has issued draft proposals for active infrastructure sharing.

Trade association the GSMA tipped the Latin American telecoms market to reach 15 million 5G connections by 2022, as the continent recently saw network launches in Brazil and Uruguay and spectrum auctions lined up next year.

Burkina Faso’s regulator ARCEP (Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications and Posts) has opened a public consultation over issuing spectrum for fixed internet offerings.

Argentina’s Metrotel is deploying Nokia’s Altiplano cloud platform for fibre access throughout its network.

Mali has endured a number of challenges contributing to the poor state of its telecom infrastructure. The country’s topography includes large tracks of sparsely populated desert, with many settlements being hard to reach and so rendering it difficult and expensive to service with effective fixed or mobile networks.

Zimbabwe is to allocate a significant sum of money to infrastructure improvement in the ICT sector over the coming year.

Rwanda’s steadily developing telecom market has attracted the attention of a range of organisations which have chosen the country as a test bed for internet connectivity projects. Most recently these have included the ITU and UNICEF, which are involved in a global scheme to provide internet services to schools.

Backhaul specialist Ceragon Networks Ltd has won a major contract related to communications support for Cameroon’s rail system.

The telecommunications sector in Bahrain is robust and progressive and it contributes about 4% a year to the Kingdom’s GDP. Bahrain is striving to drive further growth in the telecoms sector in 2020 by ensuring it is competitive and adaptable to market dynamics. It has the added pressure of coping with the impact from the global Covid-19 outbreak and ensuring provision of adequate Internet services and applications to home-based citizens.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) was under a 30-year dictatorship between 1967 and 1997. Since then the country has continued to suffer from regional wars among rival groups, resulting in considerable social upheaval.

The Brazilian Attorney General Office ruled to strike-off half of operator Oi’s fines totalling BRL14.3 billion ($2.7 billion) owed to watchdog Anatel, a major boost for the debt-ridden operator.