IDC has cut its forecast for global smartphone shipments in 2025 to just 0.6% growth (1.25 billion units) down from a previous projection of 2.3%, due to persistent economic uncertainty and volatility across many regions as key factors behind the revision.

Philippines-based operator Globe Telecom has deepened its partnership with government agencies to prevent fibre cuts caused by roadworks, following a spate of accidental cable damage.

Vi Business, the enterprise arm of Indian operator Vodafone Idea, has announced a strategic managed services agreement with information technology company Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) in India to deliver what it calls innovative and future-ready solutions tailored to the evolving needs of modern enterprises.

Naver, a Korean technology company whose interests include internet, artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for a sovereign AI business with Thailand-headquartered AI and cloud platform firm SIAM.AI for the joint development of a Thai large language model (LLM) and a tourism-specific AI agent.

Indian IT services group Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and networking company Tejas Networks have been the beneficiaries of a new contract from state-controlled operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).

Xiaomi reportedly revealed plans to invest CNY50 billion (US$6.9 billion) over the next 10 years to develop its own mobile processors, and is set to unveil such chips this week.

Thai operator Advanced Info Service (AIS) has denied reports that it is in the running to acquire the broadband subscriber base of state-owned National Telecom (NT).

The extraordinarily long and complex story of the Indian government's adjusted gross revenue (AGR) payment demands on operators continues to make headlines with Monday’s news that India’s Supreme Court has rejected pleas from operators Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea to support a waiver on their AGR dues.

According to analyst firm Canalys, the Southeast Asian smartphone market declined in Q1 2025, marking the end of five consecutive quarters of growth due to economic headwinds.

A new benchmark in intelligent mining has been set at the Yimin open-pit mine in Inner Mongolia, China, with a fleet of 100 Huaneng Ruichi autonomous electric mining trucks entering into operation.

Digital Edge, a data centre developer and operator with a strong presence in the Asia-Pacific market, has agreed a partnership with Philippines-based renewable energy provider First Gen to power one of its data centres.

Digital infrastructure company Equinix has inaugurated its first International Business Exchange data centre in Jakarta under a joint venture with Indonesian conglomerate Astra International.

The GSMA has urged governments worldwide to reduce spectrum prices, warning that high fees are choking the telecoms industry and threatening long-term economic development.

Philippines-based operator Globe Telecom has revealed that the use of artificial intelligence (AI) has helped reduce its operating costs, with plans underway to deepen AI integration across the business.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has swiftly emerged as a game changer in digital transformation and cloud services, with a broad spectrum of use cases across industries at all levels, from the front office to the backend. But for AI to truly thrive – and for enterprises to gain the most benefits from it – a vibrant partner-driven ecosystem that can maintain a competitive edge and ensure sustainable development is absolutely critical.

Sri Lankan service provider Dialog Axiata has announced the launch in the country of the IAX (India Asia Xpress) submarine cable system, which it describes as a significant part of its total investments in international connectivity infrastructure (said to be over US$100 million) aimed at bolstering Sri Lanka’s international network and future-proofing the country’s digital infrastructure.

Cloud networking and security-as-a-service provider GTT Communications says it has expanded its global Tier 1 IP backbone in nine more countries in the Latin America and Asia Pacific regions.

Amdocs, a provider of software and services to communications and media companies, has announced the successful go-live of the Amdocs Customer Engagement Platform for Philippines service provider PLDT.

dLocal, a cross-border payment platform for emerging markets, has announced what it calls an expanded relationship with financial technology company PayPal to offer businesses access to payment processing and local payment methods in more than 40 new untapped emerging markets.

GX Group, a Netherlands-based fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) and optical networking gear maker, has extended what it calls its ‘Ecoverse’ initiative aimed at manufacturing Wi-Fi routers and GPON optical network terminals (ONTs) with recycled and biodegradable materials. In this case it plans Wi-Fi routers made from Khadi and bamboo, with, it seems, an eye to the Indian market.

Malaysia is back in the data centre news again. Hard on the heels of news that Equinix has completed the second phase of a new data centre in Cyberjaya, Selangor, has come the announcement of an award by Google related to the building of a hyperscale data centre in the country.

There are both positive developments and a few problems for the digital infrastructure company Equinix in Malaysia, according to recent headlines.

Technology vendor Nokia has announced that Cybernet, Pakistan’s leading fibre broadband provider, has chosen Nokia’s optical transport solution for its new long-haul optical fibre cable (OFC) network.

Indian data centre firm RackBank says it has broken ground on a campus in the city of Nava Raipur in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Spanning 13.5 acres, the development will be Chhattisgarh’s first data centre campus.

Nokia has signed a deal with Danish shipping giant Maersk to deploy private wireless network solutions across 450 vessels in its fleet.

Indian operator Reliance Jio has reportedly started using its own network products for planned small cell-led densification of its pan-India 5G network.

Malaysian operator Maxis has unveiled plans to significantly expand its fibre network in the state of Penang, aiming to connect over 100,000 homes by 2027 in support of the government’s digital transformation agenda.

There’s bad news and good news for ICT-related employment in India, with Zoho holding back on plans to put money into a semiconductor facility and Rakuten boosting its investment in the country.

The global smartphone market recorded flat growth in the first quarter of 2025, as signs of saturation emerge in key developing regions, according to the latest report from analyst firm Canalys.

Cataleya and Aarenet have announced that they have established full interoperability to facilitate their expansion into Southeast Asia.

State-owned operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and telecom and digital infrastructure solutions provider ACES India have signed an agreement to deliver seamless voice and data connectivity across the Kanpur Metro's deep underground stations and tunnels.

Payment services are again making headlines in India. Both Shriram Finance, an Indian non-banking finance company (NBFC), and online retail giant Amazon have recently made news with their plans for the sector.