Citing next generation telecommunications business opportunities as a driver, Straits CommNet Solutions has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Malaysian telecommunications infrastructure company Edgepoint Towers.

Could established brands be keen customers for a white-label, fully-customizable solution that would turn them into telecom carriers? OXIO, the first telecom-as-a-service platform for brands and enterprises, is hoping so after it raised $40 million in Series B funding. Among the markets it is targeting is Latin America.

Africa’s largest telecom group MTN SA has announced a further investment of $46.4-million (ZAR 700-million) in order to modernise existing, and deploy new, network infrastructure across the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province in South Africa.

Bite Lithuania (Bitė Lietuva), a telecommunications and media group in the Baltic region, has announced the commercial launch of Voice over LTE (VoLTE) technology, providing customers with improved voice quality and faster call connectivity.

Hard on the heels of its announcement that it intends to sell off its data centre business, Chilean operator Entel is back in the news with plans to sell its fibre optic network – for which expressions of interest have already apparently been received from third parties.

Huawei has kept its place as the number one shipping equipment vendor on the back of high domestic operator demand, despite losing ground due to sanctions.

United Arab Emirates-based operator group Etisalat (e&) has made an offer to increase its stake in Saudi Arabia’s Etihad (Mobily) in a deal that could be valued at up to US$2.12 billion.  

Georgia’s telecom sector has been attempting for many years to overcome the decades of under-investment in its fixed-line infrastructure during the Soviet era. Concerted efforts to privatise state-owned enterprises and open up the telecom market have been mostly successful, with a large number of operators now competing in both the fixed-line and the mobile segments.

South African mobile communications company Vodacom Group said that it invested over ZAR 1 billion (USD 70 million) in the last financial year to enable connectivity for rural and urban communities in the Western Cape.

To date, Djibouti remains one of the last bastions where the national telco has a monopoly on all telecom services, including fixed lines, mobile, internet, and broadband. The lack of competition to Djibouti Telecom for such services has meant that the market has not lived up to its potential.

Egypt’s large telecom market is supported by a population of about 103 million and benefits from effective competition in most sectors. A liberal regulatory regime allows for unified licenses which permit operators to offer fixed-line as well as mobile services.

Sudan emerged as a poorer country when South Sudan separated from it in 2011. Although Sudan has about four times the population of South Sudan, the latter benefits from its control of the majority of known oil reserves.

Malaysia plans to make a final decision on its 5G network this week, according to the communications minister Annuar Musa.

Orange Group is asking for a discount of €24 million from its acquisition of Telekom Romania Communications (TKR) shares from Greek operator OTE, months after completing the €265 million deal

South African regulator ICASA has stated that the main stage of its ongoing mobile broadband spectrum auction has already exceeded its initial estimate of ZAR8 billion (US$531 million).

Gabon remains one of the wealthiest nations in Africa in terms of GDP per capita, with the economy largely buttressed by oil revenue.

Gambia’s telecom market is dominated by the incumbent telco Gamtel, which retains a monopoly on fixed-line telephony services. There are five mobile network operators providing effective competition, though Giraffe Telecom was only licensed in January 2022 and is yet to be assigned spectrum.

Senegal’s telecom market continues to show steady growth in all sectors. This has been supported by the particular demands made on consumers during the pandemic, which resulted in a particularly strong increase in the number of subscribers.

Sri Lankan telecommunications service provider Dialog Axiata has laid claim to being the first company in South Asia to successfully trial standalone 5G (5G SA) networks.

Indian communications minister Ashwini Vaishnaw (pictured, right) said that India should take the lead in 6G technology.

The Indian government has ruled operators must streamline the process to port over phone numbers regardless of their tariff plan.

The Turkey Wealth Fund has acquired 55% of shares in Turk Telecom from LYY Telekomunikasyon (LYY), a consortium of banks, for US$1.65 billion.

Nokia is currently in discussions to replace Huawei 4G gear in Vodafone Idea’s network in India, a potentially large contract for the Finnish vendor.

Nokia announced that it has successfully completed a trial on high-speed fibre optics (25 Gb/s) with Hrvatski Telekom (HT), which belongs to the Deutsche Telekom Group (DTAG).

Tanzania Telecommunications Corporation (TTCL) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with technology giant Huawei for the deployment of FTTH (fibre to the home), fixed wireless network (4G), and countryside deployment and expansion of mobile network and the fixed network.

Wateen Telecom, a leading ICT company in Pakistan, and Beaconhouse, the country’s largest network of private educational institutions, have partnered to provide managed internet services over SD-WAN across the Beaconhouse network.

Airtel Nigeria has announced the milestone of upgrading its entire footprint of cell sites to 4G.