With hopes high that the country might finally be able to auction spectrum after many delays, it seems that South Africa’s operators are now keen to get involved in the process.

The results of the Series 1 Offer for the sale of MTN Nigeria ordinary shares have come in – and by all accounts they seem to be very positive.

Indian state-run provider BSNL looks set to begin offering commercial 4G this year following years of delays.

After news that Peru and Ecuador have indicated that they support the proposal of the Andean Committee of High Telecommunications Authorities (CAATEL) to extend the elimination of international roaming costs in the Andean region to the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, who – or where – will be next?

Brazilian regulator Anatel unanimously approved the sale of Oi’s mobile unit Oi Movel to a consortium of its former rivals in a vote held on 31^st January.

5Gi, an extension of 3GPP 5G standards to meet the rural (extended) coverage requirements of India, is under deliberations with the industry ecosystem in India under the consultative process of Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC) and TSDSI, India’s Telecom Standards Development Organization.

Indian multinational telecommunications services company Bharti Airtel Limited has announced an agreement to acquire an approximate 25% equity stake in Bengaluru (Bangalore) based technology start-up, Lavelle Networks.

Mobile Telecommunication Company Saudi Arabia (Zain KSA) has seen a 17.7 percent decrease in net profit in 2021 as COVID-19 driven repercussions weighed on revenues.

Almost three years after acquiring Telenor’s operations in Bulgaria, Hungary and Serbia, PPF Group has confirmed that it will stop using the Norwegian group’s branding from 1^st March 2022.

It looks like this may finally be the end for any form of home-grown version of 5G in India – even one merged with standards body the 3rd Generation Partnership Project's (3GPP) global 5G standard. The country’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has now apparently decided to abandon 5Gi, as the local standard is known.

Earlier this week, Latvia’s Public Utilities Commission SPRK closed its tender of 1.5GHz spectrum without confirming the results. Bite Latvia has now stated that it will acquire spectrum in the 1432MHz-1452MHz range for EUR200,000.

Kazakhstan is finalising new draft legislation covering spectrum licences ahead of a competitive tender later this year.

India's No. 2 mobile-phone operator Bharti Airtel announced that it will receive a US$ 1 billion investment from Google as part of its Google for India Digitization Fund.

Nokia has joined hands with OIV, a provider of communications infrastructure in Croatia, to deliver a 5G private wireless network solution for AD Plastik’s automotive component manufacturing facility in Croatia.

Globe Telecom, a provider of telecommunications services in the Philippines, has launched the first-ever Eco-SIM cards in Asia for its postpaid mobile customers.

TIME dotCom, a fixed-line telecommunications provider in Malaysia, has become the first telecommunications provider in Southeast Asia to obtain the MEF 3.0 SD-WAN certification.

After a few months during which South Africa’s operators have had a number of reported disagreements with each other or the South Africa regulator, MTN, Vodacom, Telkom, Cell C and Liquid Intelligent Technologies have now joined forces in a common cause: to take on criminals.

The finance ministry of Chad has decreed that equipment related to telecom and internet services, including network equipment, devices, modems and routers, are exempt from import duties and taxes for the next five years.

Latvia’s Public Utilities Commission (SPRK) has concluded its tender for 1.5GHz spectrum permits, with the regulator’s council due to approve the results by the end of January 2022.

Ericsson has established a network operations centre (NOC) in Malaysia dedicated to Digital Nasional Bhd’s (DNB) 5G network as well as its key performance indicators. DNB is Malaysia's single wholesale 5G network operator.

IHS Towers, which describes itself as one of the largest independent owners, operators, and developers of shared telecommunications infrastructure in the world by tower count, just got even bigger after a major acquisition in Brazil.

Will South Africa’s next spectrum auction now go ahead on 8 March as planned? A compromise gesture on the part of operator Telkom, whose court proceedings threatened to derail the process, implies that it may.

Following reports late last year that Philippines telecommunications company DITO had hit its target of five million subscriptions before the end of 2021 in the nine months since its commercial launch in March, recent announcements suggest that the company is aiming even higher.

Croatian operator Telemach has closed its acquisition of a majority holding in local broadband provider Optima Telekom.

Even with Covid-19 pandemic-related mobility restrictions in place, Vietnam’s economy has continued to outperform the rest of the region in 2020 and 2021. Nevertheless, the telecom sector essentially spent most of this period in a holding pattern, focusing on maintaining service throughout the crisis while preparing for some major changes to come in the mobile market in 2022.

Brunei Darussalam seemed poised to start its economic recovery from the double blow it received to its GDP in 2020 from the Covid-19 crisis and a global slump in oil prices. However, expectations may have been dashed by the sudden emergence of the Covid-19 Delta variant in the country in August 2021, which followed months of zero cases.

With its economy so heavily dependent on tourism, the Maldives has suffered heavy economic as well as health casualties during the pandemic. The country had a relatively short period of lockdown and was willing to welcome visitors back as early as July 2020.

Camtel, a national telecommunications and Internet service provider in Cameroon, is gearing up for the commercial launch of its new nationwide GSM mobile service, after unveiling the 'Blue' brand for its operations in August last year.