According to recent reports in the Nigerian press, the country’s telecommunications regulator has started licensing last-mile satellite operators.

It looks like Chile is aiming to be a leader among Latin American states in tendering 5G spectrum.

Citing the need for more flexibility than originally foreseen, Brazilian operator Oi is apparently restructuring its restructuring plan, which could, in turn, bring changes to the bidding process – now under way – for its assets.

Israel is about to join the ranks of 5G countries after the award by the Israeli regulator of licences for the country’s 5G networks.

Another long-running merger saga appears to be close to an end with the news that Israel’s communications minister has approved the merger of operators Cellcom and Golan.

According to Indian press reports, the country’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is having trouble with its incentive scheme encouraging local production of telecommunications network equipment.

The strange saga of Angolan billionaire Isabel dos Santos and an ongoing alleged financial scandal has taken a new turn with her decision to leave her position on the board of the country’s leading telecommunications operator.

Armenia’s Ucom has filed a lawsuit against Team LLC’s acquisition of Beeline, the local unit of Veon.

Helios Towers is acquiring the passive infrastructure assets of Senegal’s number two mobile player Free Senegal for US$188.2 million.

Not long ago Ethiopia invited foreign firms to buy stakes in Ethio Telecom to end its monopoly. Now according to The East African, a regional publication, the Ethiopian government has suspended the entry of foreign telecom infrastructure companies into the country.

The Indian Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is expected to shortly approve the applications of a number of operators for 5G trials. However, it is also expected to block the involvement of Chinese kit makers.

The Indian Supreme Court has asked, in a recent hearing, a question that does not appear to have occurred to India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT): how does it plan to recover adjusted gross revenue (AGR)-related dues from telecom companies facing insolvency?

Axiata has converted its Nepalese unit Ncell into a public limited company branded as Ncell Axiata Limited.

According to reports in the South African technology press, the long-planned migration of operator Cell C’s network traffic to rival operator MTN is definitely happening – but there may be a few more hurdles yet.

Following yesterday’s news that a number of kit vendors may not be taking new orders for 4G equipment from Vodafone Idea due to concerns about recovering payments comes news that Nokia may pull out of its relationship with BSNL.

The Telkom Kenya merger with Airtel Africa is off after lengthy regulatory delays have apparently contributed to both parties abandoning the deal.

MTN Group has confirmed that it will focus its strategy on its core African markets in the medium-term future.

There’s been yet another development in the long-running story of Brazilian telecommunications company Oi’s attempts to ease its debt by selling off some of its assets. There may now be at least three bidders for the company’s fibre unit.

The Slovenian telecommunications regulator has listed its requirements for winning bidders in the country’s delayed auction of 5G spectrum.

Poland’s government is looking to hold its delayed 5G spectrum auctions in early 2021.

Some of the more unusual recently reported side-effects of the coronavirus pandemic have been delays to the sale of part of Africa’s largest fibre company and extensions of operator licences in the Philippines.

Brazilian business outlet Valor Economico has named Banco BTG Pactual as one of the ten investors that have bid for Oi’s holding in fibre firm InfraCo.

XL Axiata has selected Ericsson to deploy 5G-ready cloud core technology solutions for the operator in East Indonesia. This includes Ericsson Cloud Packet Core and its network functions virtualization infrastructure (NFVI) solution.

The government of Namibia is reportedly undertaking an assessment of the environmental impact of 5G before introducing the technology to the market.