Operators

Philippines-based operator Globe Telecom blocked 2.72 billion fraudulent calls and messages in 2022, more than double the 1.15 billion figure from 2021.

Polish broadband provider Vectra was slapped with a PLN22 million (US$5m) fine for illegally raising subscription fees by Poland's consumer watchdog, which stated the company had taken advantage of consumers. 

XL Axiata hailed its deployment on the island province of Kalimantan in Borneo, where it increased base station presence by 1,100 sites (42% year-on-year), with coverage now reaching 75% of the location.  

Maxis, the last Malaysian operator yet to sign an access agreement with state-owned 5G agency Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB), said it would refrain from seeking shareholder approval to join the scheme until the government completes its review of the 5G strategy implemented by the previous administration.

Tigo Panama pledged to invest US$100 million into its network this year as part of its long-term modernisation and expansion strategy, to plug in coverage gaps and ready itself for 5G.

Madagascar’s Agency for Regulation of Technology and Communication (Autorite de Regulation des Technologies de Communications, ARTEC), revealed technical challenges are preventing operators from launching 5G services but stated commercial launches are on the horizon.  

Polish operator Play hailed its fixed network build-out in 2022 which resulted in the deployment of 10,500 base stations and over six million FTTH connections.

Tele2 Latvia announced it will invest €20 million to upgrading its network and the deployment of 5G this year, as well as constructing a new data core.

Guinea has reportedly made progress on its pledge to relaunch state-owned operator Sotelgui, which is apparently going to be operational at the end of January and rebranded as Guinee Telecom.

Thai operators True and Dtac revealed they are meeting to shape up their corporate structure, and forecasting the end of March as the completion of their long-awaited merger.

Ethio Telecom posted a 20% rise in H1 revenues to ETB33.8 billion (US$631m) despite fresh competition from international player Safaricom, Reuters reported.

Orange Slovakia pledged to double its 5G coverage by the end of 2025, which currently covers a quarter of the population, while also repeating that it will sunset 3G networks in the next two years. 

South Africa's Telkom and Rain appear to have abandoned plans for the country’s third-biggest operator to buy the major name in fixed wireless access (FWA) service provision. But what could this mean for other potential mergers or acquisitions in the telecoms space?

MTN Uganda chose Huawei as its supplier for a network upgrade through a cloud-native 5G-Capable Core, as part of a group-wide move to digitally transform its units and other sectors. 

There’s been some slightly disconcerting financial news for operator Safaricom in the past few days. The Kenyan giant expects to sustain losses from mobile termination rate (MTR) cuts and, possibly, to be hit with tax demands if plans to split mobile money service M-Pesa from its main business go ahead.

Regional media outlets are reporting that newly launched operator Safaricom Ethiopia has apparently claimed that price competition in the market will not be part of its strategy to win customers from state-owned operator Ethio Telecom.

Saudi operator Zain KSA sealed the sale of tower assets to the Saudi Public Investment Find (PIF) for SAR3.02 billion (US$803.5 million), a move to cut debt for the company.

Hungary’s 4iG has signed a binding sale and purchase agreement that will see it take a 100% stake in Vodafone Hungary.

Airtel Africa revealed it spent US316.7 million on 4G and 5G spectrum as part of wider plans to bolster connectivity in Nigeria, from an auction where it was the sole bidder.  

Safaricom chairman John Ngumi resigned to explore opportunities in the sustainability sector after less than a year into the job, reported Reuters.

Philippines operator Globe Telecom revealed it had more than doubled its 5G coverage nationally with 70 towns and cities seeing a connection at the end of 2022, compared to just 29 at the end of the year prior.

Almost a year after Indian operator Vodafone Idea thought it had been assured of government help with its debt issues nothing has happened – and local media outlets are suggesting nothing will happen unless government can be assured of substantial input from other investors.

Philippines-based operator group PLDT revealed uptake of 5G devices in 2022 was low, blaming this on devices being unaffordable for prepaid customers, which make up the bulk of its subscriber base.

State-owned operator Nepal Telecom held back plans to launch a 5G trial this month on hold due to the lack of compatible smartphones present in Nepal, reported The Kathmandu Post.

Lithuanian operator Bite began a plan to merge broadband subsidiary Mezon this year, a tie-up it claimed will provide competition against rival internet service providers, as Bite CEO Gintas Butenas bemoans a lack of competition in this segment. 

According to figures widely reported in the Indian press, India’s three major operators are well below Department of Telecommunications (DoT) targets for 5G base station rollout – and in fact Vodafone Idea seems not have started yet.

Angola’s government has appointed a consortium headed by asset manager Gemcorp to upgrade, manage and operate the national transmission network of state-owned fixed provider Angola Telecom.