Amid the regular news of connectivity initiatives and new satellite deployments targeting remote areas, a recent report from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations agency for digital technologies, reminds us that there’s still a long way to go.
The formal listing of Indian telecommunications giant Reliance Jio Infocomm is still months away but the recent announcement by the chair of parent company Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani, of plans to list India’s largest mobile network next year will probably continue to make headlines until the the initial public offering (IPO) actually happens.
The government of Chad late last week ordered mobile operators Airtel and Moov Africa to connect to its national fibre-optic backbone within seven days or face potential sanctions, after the Telecommunications Minister Boukar Michel met executives from both operators on Wednesday.
Two of Africa’s biggest operators – Vodacom and MTN – have, coincidentally, announced technology deployment firsts for the continent in the past few days – one involving MIMO, the other involving 5-band RRU commercial deployment.
Thai operator True Corporation has partnered with China Mobile International, T3 Technology and Tuya Smart to enhance its smart-home platform TrueX, aiming to migrate more than 3 million Thai users from Tuya’s ecosystem.
Vodafone Idea’s infrastructure subsidiary is reportedly seeking loans worth INR50 billion (US$570 million) to finance network expansion.
Telkom Indonesia’s mobile unit Telkomsel has reportedly fully restored 4G internet services in Papua province and the Aru Islands of Maluku after repairing a damaged backup subsea cable that disrupted service in nine areas.
Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa is unfazed by media reports surrounding a potential breakup of the company in Kenya, which briefly surpassed the KES1 trillion market capitalisation milestone only two months ago.
Digicel Tonga announced that CEO Daniel Horan will step down from his role next month after just two years, citing personal reasons.
Argentina has apparently made plans to start allocating spectrum for private mobile networks. RegulatorEnacom has assigned the 2300-2400MHz frequency band for private mobile wireless broadband systems. The spectrum allocation will be for ten years and can be used for indoor or outdoor deployments, according to the resolution published on Monday.
MTC Namibia has fired the starting gun in the country’s 5G race, launching commercial services across four locations.
Ethio Telecom CEO Frehiwot Tamiru (pictured) revealed ambitions for the state-owned operator to almost double revenue at the end of its financial year in June to ETB236 billion (US$1.6 billion), on the back of increasing users and data usage.
Legislation intended to make it easier for new players to enter the Philippines’ data services market lapsed into law on Sunday over the objection of telcos that have complained the bill is unfair to them and raises cybersecurity issues.
Japanese agriculture fintech Degas Limited has announced a US$100 million investment over the next four years to help establish Ghana as Africa’s first AI-powered agricultural hub, expanding a model that, it says, has already financed more than 86,000 smallholder farmers across 122,000 acres nationwide.
A feared increase in telecom service prices, an apparent extension of a 5% excise tax previously earmarked for telecommunications services in Nigeria, may not now happen.
Malaysia operator CelcomDigi announced CEO Datuk Idham Nawawi (pictured) will step down from the market leader, citing personal reasons.
PLDT’s Smart Communications aims to expand eSIM adoption in the Philippines with the launch of a “pluggable eSIM adapter” for Android users whose phones don’t support eSIM.
The Kenyan government is mulling a division of the nation’s largest publicly listed company, Safaricom, into mobile, tower, and mobile money units, citing potential efficiency and value gains.
Turkey is officially going ahead with 5G spectrum auction plans. Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu announced earlier this week that the 5G frequency tender would take place in October.
Bharti Airtel subsidiary Bharti Hexacom has reportedly received approval from the majority of its shareholders to sell 3,400 telecoms towers to Indus Towers after its minority shareholder Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd (TCIL) initially opposed the deal.
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