Operators

Russia’s MegaFon is spinning off its tower infrastructure into a new independent joint venture with the domestic tower firm Vertical.

Indian telecommunications company Reliance Jio has paid INR 10,792 crore (GBP 1.04 billion) to the Department of Telecomm­un­ications (DoT) for 269.2 MHz of the spectrum it acquired in 2016.

Digicel Haiti has confirmed that 15% of its cell sites are currently unable to function due to ongoing fuel shortages and other issues around security.

Hungary’s 4iG has signed a final agreement with PPF Telecom Group to acquire 100% of Telenor Montenegro.

Qatari multinational telecommunications company Ooredoo Group QPSC reported QR22.1bn (GBP4.4bn) revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2021, representing an increase of 3% compared to the same period last year.

Philippine mobile services provider Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) and Korea's largest telecommunications company KT Corp. are joining forces to explore and develop consumer 5G use cases for Filipinos.

Indonesia-based mobile telecommunications services operator XL Axiata has revealed that under its ongoing 4G LTE network rollout programme it has now switched on its signal in most of the sub-districts in West Kalimantan province.

Croatian telecommunications company Hrvatski Telekom (HT) has become the first operator in Croatia to trial the capabilities of the 5G+ network, achieving speeds of up to 4 Gbps and network response times of 10ms.

India's debt-ridden telecom operator Vodafone Idea (Vi) announced a partnership with private LTE and fifth-generation solutions platform provider Athonet to test 5G-based solutions to build Industry 4.0 for enterprise use cases.

The Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA), an industry organisation that represents the interests of mobile network operators worldwide, announced the formation of the Asia Pacific (APAC) 5G Industry Community.

Mexican telecommunications company America Movil announced that it was "ready" to launch a 5G market in Mexico.

Polish cellular telecommunications provider Play Communications SA (known as Play or P4) has signed a new agreement with Ericsson to expand its RAN (Radio Access Network).

Zain, the digital service provider in Kuwait, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with its global partner Huawei to advance its 5G infrastructure for achieving the best user experience and enhancing the network’s quality.

Angolan mobile phone company Unitel has so far invested 25 million U.S. dollars in technology innovation and digital upgrades to prepare for the launch of the 5G service in the country.

Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Digital Development has stated that Nur Telecom, which operates as O!, has opted not to acquire a 2300MHz TDD spectrum licence that it won at auction last month.

Argentina’s Grupo Datco, the owner of fibre-optic infrastructure firm Silica Networks, has announced plans to begin testing 5G and fibre-based fixed wireless access (FWA) technology.

Serbian state-owned telecommunications operator Telekom Srbija has taken over all cable providers in Serb enclaves in Kosovo-Metohija, the chief executive officer of Telekom, Vladimir Lucic, announced.

Malaysia’s Axiata Group and Indonesia’s Sinar Mas Group are reportedly in discussions over a possible merger of their units in Indonesia.

Russian telecommunications services provider MCN Telecom has started providing mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) services in three new regions in the cities of Kursk, Ulyanovsk, and in Ulan-Ude in the Republic of Buryatia.

Telenor subsidiary Grameenphone has selected NEC to supply equipment for the modernisation of its network in Bangladesh.

Indonesian mobile operator Indosat Ooredoo plans to expand its 4G LTE coverage to a further 645 remote villages across the archipelago by next year.

Airtel Africa plc, the provider of telecommunications and mobile money services, with a presence in 14 countries across Africa, announced the appointment of Olusegun "Segun" Ogunsanya, as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with effect from October 01, 2021.

Smart Communications, the mobile arm of Philippines telecoms giant PLDT Inc., has switched on its 5G Standalone (SA) mobile network in Makati City, powering up one of the first 5G SA networks in the world.

Orange Romania has closed its acquisition of a majority holding in Telekom Romania Communications (TKR) from Greece’s OTE.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has concluded the auction of 1800MHz spectrum in two of the country’s regions, with several operators acquiring holdings.

MTN Cameroon and Cameroon Telecommunications (Camtel) have signed a memorandum of understanding for a network infrastructure sharing deal for the implementation of national roaming services.

Kazakhstan’s state provider KT (Kazakhtelecom) is selling a 24% stake in its majority-owned mobile subsidiary Kcell.

Guinea-Bissau’s National Regulatory Authority for ICT (ARN) is reviving the country’s state-backed Guine Telecom (Companhia de Telecomunicacoes da Guine-Bissau) including its mobile unit Guinetel.

Pakistan’s government has settled a long-running spat with Etisalat that arose following the UAE-based group’s purchase of a minority stake in PTCL (Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited).

Mobile TeleSystems (MTS), the largest mobile network operator in Russia, has deployed two 5G network pilot areas for Russian bank Sber.