Operators

Claro Chile has signed a US$10.75 million deal to acquire a 2×15MHz holding of 3.5GHz spectrum from rival operator Entel.

Days after confirming that Jamaica’s 700MHz tender had been successful, the Minister of Science, Energy and Technology Daryl Vaz has named domestic operator Rock Mobile as the island nation’s third licensee.

Lycamobile, which describes itself as the world’s largest mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), has been awarded a National Telecommunications Operator (NTO) licence in Uganda. It now becomes Uganda’s fourth national operator alongside Uganda Telecom Limited (UTL), MTN and Airtel.

America Movil has been ordered to pay $2.2 million to cover the legal costs of its case against the state of Colombia, in which the operator accused the government of illegally expropriating its local subsidiary Comcel.

Benin has begun tendering for a new mobile network operator, with foreign firms invited to participate on the grounds that they already operate a telecoms network.

The number of telephone subscribers in India increased from 1,168.66 million in the third quarter of 2020 to 1,173.83 million in the last quarter of 2020, registering a growth rate of 0.44%. This reflects a Year-On-Year (Y-O-Y) growth rate of 0.12% over the same quarter of the last year.

Only a few weeks after the country’s 3.6GHz spectrum auction finally took place, operator Telenor Bulgaria has announced that it has scheduled the commercial nationwide launch of its 5G service for 10 June.

Japanese group OCC (Ocean Cable & Communications Corporation) is reportedly acquiring Nepalese operator Smart Telecom for NPR12 billion (US$99 million).

As the government of India implementing curfew and lockdown situations in many states due to surging COVID-19 cases, it becomes of utmost importance to ensure the continuity of telecom tower operations 24 x7.

Neterra, the Bulgarian operator for telecommunications services and projects in Southeast Europe, said that it expanded Dedicated Internet Access (DIA) service in over 180 countries.

Filipino operator Globe Telecom has surpassed its network upgrade targets for Q1 2021, deploying 318 new sites for a year-on-year increase of 152%.

State-owned operator Telecom Egypt and Sudatel Group, a leading telecommunications service provider in Sudan, have signed a cooperation agreement in the field of international connectivity.

Slovenia’s multi-band 5G spectrum auctions have generated a total of EUR164.2 million (US$195.7 million).

Bharti Airtel’s board has approved a proposed restructuring of the operator’s business to shift its focus towards digital initiatives.

Phase-outs of two forms of telecoms technology are under way in Russia and Ukraine. While the contexts differ, both phase-outs aim to improve and modernise end user connectivity – eventually.

IHS Towers is boosting its footprint in Latin America with the acquisition of Centennial Towers’ operations in Brazil and Colombia.

Bharti Airtel has agreed to sell its 800MHz spectrum for three of India’s telecom circles to larger rival Reliance Jio Infocomm.

Cellnex will formally assume control over 7000 telecom tower sites formerly owned by Poland’s Play (Polkomtel).

Brazil’s Oi has closed the sale of its tower unit to Highline after signing an initial agreement in November last year.

Digitec Communications appears on track to launch mobile services in Papua New Guinea by the end of 2021.

Cambodian operator Smart Axiata has announced plans to invest more than $90 million in its mobile network infrastructure in 2021.

Senegal’s Sonatel has won a contract from Benin’s government to run the state-owned SBIN (Societe Beninoise d’Infrastructures Numeriques, or Beninese Digital Infrastructure Company) with the ultimate goal of launching a third network in the market.

Zimbabwe’s smallest mobile operator Telecel is reportedly courting investors to generate funds for a new network expansion.