Operators

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.

Polish wireless operator Aero2, an affordable mobile operator, with the legendary Free Internet Access (BDI) offer, will merge with the operator cellco Plus (Polkomtel).

Iliad Group has signed an agreement to acquire cable firm UPC Poland from Liberty Global for PLN7 billion (US$1.8 billion).

Indonesia-based mobile telecommunications services operator XL Axiata said that it has started operating a 4G network spread across 14 districts in Maluku and 10 districts in Papua and West Papua.

Globe Telecom, provider of telecommunications services in the Philippines, deployed Infinera's Auto-Lambda platform, to upgrade its existing 4G access and aggregation networks and in anticipation of providing future 5G services.

Telecom Fiji Limited (TFL) will no longer charge for calls made from its network of public phone booths to emergency numbers or any TFL landlines.

Debt-ridden telecom operator Vodafone Idea (Vi) claimed to have recorded a peak speed of 3.7 gigabits per second (Gbps), the highest by any operator in India, during 5G trials in Pune (a city in the Indian state of Maharashtra) on the mmWave spectrum band.

Cable & Wireless Panama (CWP), which is 49% owned by Liberty Latin America (LLA), is acquiring Claro Panama from America Movil (AM) for US$200 million.

Mauritius Telecom, a telecommunications company in Mauritius, has begun providing 1 Gbps broadband connectivity, claiming Mauritius is just the second African country after South Africa to provide gigabit speeds to residential subscribers.

The merger of Papua New Guinea’s state providers Telikom PNG and bmobile is reportedly on track to close by the end of this month.

Telenor has confirmed that it still aims to exit the Myanmar market through a sale of its local unit.

Telekom Srbija is acquiring ISP Posta NET from Post Srbije, a Serbian postal service provider.

A1 Slovenija, the second-largest mobile operator in Slovenia, has launched commercial 5G services, offering download rates of up to 1Gbps.