Botswana and Nigeria are in the data centre news after recent announcements signalling plans to develop facilities in both countries powered, in part, by renewable energy.

Operator e& UAE says it has enabled a technology called Reduced Capability (RedCap) on its 5G standalone (5GSA) network, activating a smartwatch as the first live RedCap use case in the UAE.

IT infrastructure and data centre solutions company ByteBridge, has signed two memorandums of understanding (MoUs) in the past week, one targeting the Middle East with Naizak Global Engineering Systems, a Saudi-based engineering and technology solutions provider, the other addressing the Asia-Pacific market with FuriosaAI, an AI semiconductor company.

Telecom Egypt has appointed Tamer El Mahdi (pictured) as its new CEO and managing director, succeeding Mohamed Nasr.

Guinea Mobile, a Peruvian MVNE, running on operator Claro Peru’s network and powering seven digital brands, has selected SaaS specialist Totogi’s cloud-native multi-tenant BSS platform to support the next phase of its growth.

A previously little-known company called X8 Cloud Infrastructure has announced plans to build an artificial intelligence and cloud services data centre complex in Paraguay, leveraging hydroelectric power.

The government of Mauritania has indicated that it intends to develop a national space programme focused on nanosatellites to strengthen sovereign capabilities and support overall economic development.

Ericsson said on Monday that MTN South Africa has successfully completed its core network modernisation project that will give its mobile infrastructure reduced latency, enhanced data throughput and a better overall user experience.

Ooredoo Group, the international communications company operating across the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia, has announced the rollout of advanced cybersecurity services across its markets, in partnership with software development company Innovatix Systems.

Orange Egypt has partnered with Egyptian online gold trading platform mnGm to launch what they say is the country’s first digital platform for gold trading services using mobile wallets.

In a busy week for the payments giant, Mastercard has announced an extended digital identity partnership in Africa and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) relating to a national payments ecosystem in Syria.

Subsea cable provider Seacom revealed on Thursday it will build a new subsea cable system, Seacom 2.0, that will provide AI-level capacity across the Indian Ocean Basin, Middle East, Mediterranean, and Southern Europe.

Telefonos de Mexico (Telmex), a Mexican telecommunications company and a wholly owned subsidiary of telecommunications giant America Movil, with a portfolio that includes fixed line services, broadband internet and submarine cables, says its TMX5 submarine cable has officially launched operations.

NLT Telecom, a Brazilian operator focused in IoT, floLIVE, a provider of connectivity and network services, and TNS, which provides connectivity solutions and infrastructure as a service (IaaS), have announced a partnership to promote the use of eSIMs with the new SGP.32 standard from the operator association the GSMA in the Latin American Internet of Things (IoT) market.

The São Paulo Subway, one of Latin America's largest subway transportation operators, which operates in the most populous city in Brazil, has implemented a new P25 (two-way radio) land mobile radio (LMR) communication system from Motorola Solutions.

The World Bank Group has approved the Digital Zambia Acceleration Project (DZAP), a project that aims to support Zambian government efforts to increase access to, and inclusive use of, the internet and digitally enabled services.

Telecom Egypt says it has established a new point of presence (PoP) in Jordanian Tier III carrier-neutral data centre Aqaba Digital Hub that it says will enhance connectivity across the Middle East for businesses and hyperscalers.

The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has agreed to fund a feasibility study for a plan to extend AFR-IX Telecom’s Medusa subsea cable along Africa’s western coastline.

Loc8 has reportedly entered Namibia’s 5G arena, aiming to launch its network in Q1 2026 after years of securing telecoms licences for both 4G and 5G spectrum.

A new agreement announced this week between Amazon's Project Kuiper low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite broadband network and Kazakhtelecom, the largest telecommunication company in Kazakhstan, aims to bring high-speed satellite internet to communities throughout Kazakhstan.

Operator Airtel Chad is reportedly planning a XAF50 billion (about US$90 million) investment plan aimed at improving network quality and expanding digital connectivity across the country.

A scheduled upgrade to its M-Pesa mobile finance service, announced last week by Kenyan operator Safaricom, was successfully completed today. It has been described as the most significant upgrade of the M-Pesa platform since 2015.

Late last week, the Finance and Budgetary Control Committee of the National Assembly of Senegal adopted a bill taxing digital financial services, including mobile money transactions and merchant payments.

It’s been a busy week for ICT in Zambia with the approval of two new bills for the digital economy, a new strategic plan announced by Zambia's ICT regulator and the awarding of a World Bank grant that reports suggest may be used for digital infrastructure.

Ongoing efforts to make smartphones affordable to more Africans while still ensuring a margin for sellers are continuing. In fact, this week has seen an alliance between Africa’s best-known home-grown electronic marketplace and a financing group to encourage more Kenyans to buy smartphones.

The Iraqi government has announced plans to construct the country’s first data centres in partnership with Nokia.

There’s been an interesting new development in the ongoing story of the repositioning of Nigerian operator 9mobile as T2 Mobile. It involves a spectrum deal with one of the country’s leading operators, MTN Nigeria.

The Tunisian government has reportedly announced plans for a staggering 138 projects to accelerate the digital modernisation of government administration over the period 2025–2026.

The latest government attack on internet connectivity – and one of the most drastic so far – comes from Afghanistan, where ruling group the Taliban this week imposed an internet ban on the northern Balkh province, where a Wi-Fi shutdown was confirmed on Tuesday. The Taliban has said that the fibre optic internet ban will eventually be nationwide.