Operators

State-owned operator Guinee Telecom, formerly known as Sotelgui, will not relaunch operations until next year, dismissing reports claiming the operator will do so this year.

A good financial showing in 2022 from pan-African service provider MTN Group was accompanied by stern comments from the group’s CEO Ralph Mupita about the situation it faces in South Africa.

Telekom Malaysia (TM) and Chinese vendor ZTE partnered up to build a hybrid cloud 5G core network, a move designed to deliver new technologies and applications.

Reliance Jio subsidiary Radisys acquired fixed wireless access (FWA) specialists Mimosa Networks for US$60 million from Airspan Networks, to move to accelerate Jio’s telecom network product development.

Reliance Jio expanded its 5G network yet again, this time to 27 cities taking its total to 331 across India, as the operator aims to stay on pace against rivals that are also rapidly expanding their 5G network.

Dayamitra Telekomunikasi (Mitratel) posted double-digit growth in net profits and revenue in its full-year 2022 results and forecasts further growth in 2023.

Jamaica’s newest player Rock Mobile is reportedly on track to complete deployment of its 700MHz network by the end of this month.

Bharti Airtel launched 5G in a further 125 cities bringing its total to over 265 locations across India, as it aims to cover priority locations in the next two years.

It seems that mobile money is a major driver of an impressive set of figures from operator MTN Uganda, the country's largest telecom company, which has a subscriber base of about 17.2 million, and is part of the pan-African MTN Group.

Axian Telecom expanded its vendor partnership with a deal with Ericsson, for the Swedish vendor to upgrade its network in Madagascan unit Telma.

Ethio Telecom CEO Frehiwot Tamru (pictured) expressed confidence in the state-owned operator’s ability to remain a market leader while highlighting milestones the company made in its mobile money platform Telebirr, and repeating its ambition to transact half of Ethiopia’s GDP.

MTN Rwanda recorded a drop in profits in its full 2022 financial year due to the renewal of its operating license, despite seeing increased revenues, subscribers and its mobile money platform.

Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison (Indosat) president director and CEO Vikram Sinha (pictured) said the operator proved doubters of its US$6 billion mega-merger wrong, and the company is poised to achieve growth in Indonesia.

There seems to be reasonably positive news for Digicel, an operator present in about 25 markets across the Caribbean and Central America, but less positive news for its founder and Chairman Denis O’Brien, as creditors move to seize control of the business in return for its writing off $1.8 billion of its borrowings.

At Mobile World Congress 2023, Ooredoo has extended its partnership with Huawei to implement the vendor’s 5G solutions in Iraq, Kuwait, Oman and Tunisia.

Vietnam’s MobiFone has signed a 5G cooperation agreement with Nokia at MWC 2023.

Etisalat launched standalone (SA) 5G in the United Arab Emirates, claiming this to be the first SA 5G in the Middle East and North Africa.

Indonesia’s Telkomsel is boosting its collaboration with ZTE, with the two parties signing an MoU at Mobile World Congress 2023 that will see them jointly develop enterprise 5G services.

Econet Wireless selected Ericsson to upgrade its RAN and mobile core network in Zimbabwe's capital city Harare, as part of its wider strategy to expand 5G footprint in the country and enable enterprise use cases.

It’s only been a matter of months since a new service provider, Celtiis, entered the Benin market. Now, however, the number three operator is apparently preparing to deploy 5G mobile technology.

Denis O’Brien, founder and Chairman of Digicel, an operator present in about 25 markets across the Caribbean and Central America, is reportedly asking for extra time for the company to make debt repayments.

Angolan operator and market leader Unitel saw market share decline as newcomer Africell launched services in April last year. 

It’s not just in India that telecoms giant Airtel is driving 5G rollout. A recent announcement from Airtel Uganda highlights plans to upgrade key infrastructure for 5G purposes.

Reliance Jio announced it has reached 277 cities in India with its standalone 5G network after its recent deployment in 20 locations nationwide.

Ooredoo Group CEO Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo said the operator is in the last rounds of negotiations with interested parties for its portfolio of towers, with a deal it expects to be finalised this year, reported Bloomberg.

A1 Telekom Austria Group’s board agreed to a plan to spin off its passive telecoms infrastructure into a separate company.

Following approval from Ghanaian authorities, Vodafone Group has sold off its majority 80% stake in Vodafone Ghana to Telecel Group, continuing its strategy to streamline its footprint.

Globe Telecom lauded its achievement in hitting infrastructure deployment targets as the Philippines-based operator continues its build-out to meet consumer demand for connectivity, which has gathered pace since the pandemic.

Africa and the Middle East continued to boost revenues for Orange as the group claimed success in its 5-year plan to invest in “fundamentals” to achieve growth.