Tajikistan's telecommunications infrastructure was arguably the least developed of all the former Soviet republics. With a telecom network that was at near total collapse, the government has had the daunting task of bringing it up to modern standards...

Following a bribery charge, a Malaysian operator has prohibited international vendor Alcatel-Lucent from involvement in any contracts, tenders and joint ventures for the next year...

The growth of mobile services is a key part of extending the benefits of communications in emerging markets. It is also essential for mobile operators looking for new services to differentiate their offering and generate new income. Mobile banking has been one of the big success stories in the last few years. Now attention is turning to other areas in the financial area. One of these areas is mobile insurance...

Cameroon's economic growth has lagged behind other countries in the region, and this is mirrored by the development of its telecommunications sector...

One of the six GCC countries, Oman has a GDP per capita at a similar level to that of Saudi Arabia but with a much smaller population...

A lengthy saga has finally come to a close, with Etisalat announcing that it is no longer aiming to purchase a controlling stake in the Kuwaiti firm Zain...

Following on from the announcement that acquisition laws could be relaxed, India’s Department of Telecom is reportedly considering further overhauls to the country’s telecoms regulations that would favour equipment manufactured in India...

India could soon see the number of operators in its market drop significantly, with recent reports suggesting that the country’s Department of Telecoms may relax merger and acquisition rules “so significantly that it will leave only around six operators in any service areas”...

Equipment giant Nokia Siemens Networks is set to establish an LTE manufacturing facility in Russia...

A new joint venture between France Telecom and Kuwaiti logistics firm Agility has been formed in order to purchase a 44% stake in the Iraqi operator Korek Telecom...

Fourth quarter data provided by operators in the Philippines has resulted in expectations being checked for the market’s growth...

The South African operator MTN is set to provide its Nigerian subsidiary with an investment of US$1 billion. MTN Nigeria is the largest operator in the country, which is Africa’s biggest mobile market...

Yemen is much the poorest country in the Middle East and economic difficulties are numerous. Around 35% of the population is below the poverty line...

New deals between America Movil and Digicel will see operations from each firm change hands. Digicel is set to acquire America Movil’s Jamaican operations, but will also sell its businesses in Honduras and El Salvador to the Lat-Am giant in a separate deal...

The Ghana Cocoa Board, The Hershey Company, and the World Cocoa Foundation have announced a first-of-its kind program to use mobile technology to deliver practical information on agricultural and social programs to rural cocoa farmers and enable the farmers to ask questions and provide feedback...

The beleaguered merger proposal between Zain and Etisalat could be back on track, with Zain reportedly agreeing to sell its Saudi Arabian operations...

Two Indian operators have received notices of cancellation from the country’s Department of Telecommunications regarding the licences which they hold in certain regions, following their failure to comply with the requisite 2G network deployment criteria...

The Russian mobile broadband service provider Yota is readying its first LTE modem for launch next month. The firm aims to follow this launch with mobile routers, embedded laptops and smartphones...

The CEO of VimpelCom, Alexander Izosimov, has made it clear that while he expects the firm’s shareholders to greenlight its planned merger with Wind Telecom next week, the Russian operator will not be pursuing any more large scale acquisitions for some time thereafter...

Iraq’s government is aiming to raise around US$2 billion by auctioning off the country’s fourth national mobile licence by the end of 2011...

The Chinese government has proposed tracking the location of smartphones as a means of managing and ameliorating heavy traffic in Beijing...

The gravity of India’s 2G licensing investigation is becoming increasingly apparent, with another high-profile industry member resigning after being implicated in the scandal...

On International Women’s Day, the GSMA urges all members of the mobile industry, the international development community and the public to support women’s freedom to connect by signing the GSMA mWomen Charter...

The Honourable President of India, Smt. Pratibha Patil today launched ‘Sanchar Shakti’ - the Gender Budget scheme for Mobile Connectivity & ICT related livelihood skills for Self Help Groups – an initiative by Vodafone Essar, one of India’s leading cellular services provider under the aegis of Universal Service Obligation Fund of the Department of Telecommunications...

Thailand could see 3G auctions by the end of 2011, according to statements from Natee Sokonrat, the commissioner of the country’s new regulator...

Following on from allegations originating from European vendors that Chinese firms such as Huawei and ZTE are receiving state funding, China’s Ministry of Commerce has accused the EU of the same thing in a new study...

With Thailand beset by ongoing political problems on top of a sluggish economy, the country's telecom sector seems to have lost direction...

The main challenge now in emerging markets is to deliver mobile internet affordably, both to urban elites and to presently unserved remote areas. To do this, operators will need to be innovative...

If there is such a thing as the hot topic in telecoms, Mobile World Congress is where you will find out about it. And right now the issue that is taking up more time than anything else in the minds and engineering departments of service providers as well as vendors it is the explosion of data over mobile networks...

The Bahraini operator Batelco has had its offer to buy a 25% in Zain’s Saudi operations rejected by the Kuwaiti firm. This development is yet another setback for Etisalat’s bid to purchase a controlling stake in Zain...

NFC retail payment and other POS services are set to gain traction in emerging markets following the announcement of a partnership between contactless network provider accells and Fundamo, the specialist mobile financial services provider...

Following on from the arrest of former telecoms minister Andimuthu Raja, the investigation into India’s 2G licensing scandal by the country’s Central Bureau of Investigation has resulted in several other arrests...

The biggest story of this year’s Mobile World Congress may have broken before the show has even started, with the announcement that Nokia and Microsoft have entered into a “broad strategic partnership” which will see Nokia adopt Windows Phone 7 as its primary smartphone operating system...