The Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (BOCRA) has floated a tender for an international mobile telecommunications spectrum (IMT) licence for the provision of mobile broadband wireless access services.

After six weeks during which its government has faced increased criticism, Tanzania has finally reduced the amount of its controversial mobile money transaction levy – by 30 percent.

Despite the harsh impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the country’s population and economy, Colombia’s telecom sector had a solid year thanks to positive performances in the fixed-line broadband, mobile broadband, and mobile voice and data markets.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has won the backing of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for its 2019 decision to increase the licence renewal fees of mobile operators Jazz and Telenor Pakistan.

Paraguay’s regulator Conatel (Consejo Nacional de Telecomunicaciones) has agreed to renew Claro and Tigo’s 4G AWS licences.

The Russian telecom market is the largest in Europe, supported by a population approaching 147 million.

Romania’s telecom market has undergone several significant changes in recent years.

Although Croatia’s telecom market is dominated by the incumbent telco Hrvatski Telekom and the local units of United Group and Telekom Austria, there is effective competition from a number of smaller operators.

The Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) in Saudi Arabia announced the launch of the local roaming service, which aims mainly to maintain network service in villages and deserts covered by telecom services in all regions of the Kingdom.

Iran’s incoming Minister of ICT Isa Zarepour has indicated that the country’s long-delayed National Information Network (NIN) project should be completed by 2025.

The slow process to open up Ethiopia’s telecom market was completed with the licensing of the Safaricom-led Global Partnership for Ethiopia consortium.

Montenegro has a small telecom market supported by a population of only 623,000. Fixed broadband services are available via a variety of technology platforms, though fibre is the dominant platform, accounting for almost 40% of connections.

Brazil has one of the largest mobile markets in Latin America due to the sheer size of its population.

Cambodia’s mobile-dominated telecoms sector spent much of 2020 battling two major challenges: the global pandemic, and the government’s retraction of trial licenses for the rollout of 5G.

The Covid-19 pandemic had a relatively minor impact on the Philippine’s telecom sector in 2020. Subscriber numbers fell in some areas, but this was offset by strong growth in mobile data and broadband usage since a significant proportion of the population transitioned to working or studying from home.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) recommended a slew of measures, including fixing minimum broadband speed at 2 megabits per second, to promote internet connectivity and increase connection speed.

MTN Cameroon (MTNC), a subsidiary of the South African multinational mobile telecommunications company MTN Group, has requested a licence from the telecom regulator to deploy 5G.

The South African telecommunications regulator has finally decided it will call a halt to emergency spectrum use by the country’s mobile operators – after more than 17 months.

A1 Croatia will deploy 5G radio and core networks nationwide in partnership with Ericsson.

Honduras’ state-back operator Hondutel has revealed that its losses topped HNL298.9 million (US$12.4 million) for the first half of 2021, reportedly prompting a rescue package from the country’s government.

MegaFon, the second-largest mobile phone operator and the third-largest telecom operator in Russia, announced that its revenues grew by 7.1% year-on-year to RUB84.1 billion (USD1.1 billion) in the second quarter of 2021, with underlying service revenue improving by 4.5% to RUB76.6 billion.

Israeli mobile network operator company Partner Communications, formerly known as Orange Israel, has made a bid for Marathon (018) Xfone, offering ILS187 million (USD58 million) for the business activity of its smaller rival.

Ecuador’s regulator ARCOTEL (Agencia de Regulacion y Control de las Telecomunicaciones) has begun talks with the country’s two largest mobile operators about revising the terms of their licences after they expire.

Indonesian digital telco Indosat Ooredoo launched a commercial 5G network in Jakarta.

Brazil’s Federal Court of Accounts (Tribunal de Contas da Uniao, TCU) has approved the public notice for the proposed multi-band 5G spectrum auction.

Chinguitel, the telecommunications service provider in Nouakchott, Mauritania has announced the launch of its first LTE-based services - 4G services - in the country capital as well as six other regions after being awarded a 4G licence last September.

Botswana’s regulator has found operator BTC (Botswana Telecommunications Corporation) guilty of violating its licence terms by preventing a competitor from accessing high-speed data connectivity.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies (ICTs), is reportedly planning to open an India office fairly soon, although specific dates have not yet been given.

The Colombian ICT minister, Karen Abudinen, has announced the resumption of the installation of digital centres, or connection points, in rural areas of the country, a project that temporarily halted in 2020.

Cameroon’s state-owned CamTel has revealed that it will begin offering mobile and data services nationwide using the brand name Blue.

Digicel Fiji has announced plans to invest a further FJD13 million (US$6.2 million) in upgrading its 4G LTE infrastructure to meet the soaring demand resulting from the pandemic.

Chinese tech giant Baidu said its artificial intelligence (AI) voice assistant Xiaodu Technology has raised fresh capital at a valuation of USD 5.1 billion.