Operators

Suriname’s Telesur is offering high-volume mobile data bundles for users on both its 4G and 5G networks.

Indosat Ooredoo chose Cisco for the construction of its 5G-ready transport network for the island of Java, a move to deliver one of the most advanced transport networks in Southeast Asia.

Econet Group tapped Alphabet’s Moonshot Factory for its high-speed internet solution to roll out affordable broadband offerings across its subsidiaries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Brazilian operator Oi announced it will sell its stake in Companhia Santomense de Telecomunicacoes (CST), a move to increase cash flow and offset economic pressures brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.

A Brazilian court announced the long-awaited auction of Oi Movel will take place next month in Rio de Janeiro, where its three main rivals plan to acquire a stake.

Safaricom pledged to cover the whole of Kenya with its 4G network by the end of this year by ramping up investments despite a dip in its H1 financial results.

Brazil’s largest operators snubbed a senior US official who advocated the exclusion of Huawei gear from the country’s 5G market, an apparent blow to the US government’s campaign against the Chinese vendor.

Airtel Africa announced plans to shed 4,500 towers across five countries to aid the company in reducing its $3.5 billion debt, and prepare for upcoming repayment dates.

Telefonica’s Colombian unit Movistar chose Nokia to modernise its operations support systems (OSS), to expand the provisioning of mobile and fixed services.

Vodafone Romania called for government investment in the telecoms sector which the operator claimed is at a crossroads in the eastern European country.

Ericsson announced it will supply Telia with gear for its 5G deployment in Lithuania, the fourth contract to be awarded to the vendor by the operator in the Nordics and Baltics.

Employees of Kosovo Telecom threatened the government with protests and disruption to telecoms services, if the government does not take action against a private company it accuses of funnelling money.

Tunisia tipped 2022 to be the year the country launches commercial 5G services.

Reliance Industries raised $1 billion in investment from two sovereign wealth funds, a move for the oil-reliant company to diversify from its staple business.

Philippines operator DITO Telecommunity said it is on target to launch commercial services in March next year, saying it is on track to pass a government technical audit.

Veon announced it reached it an agreement to sell its Armenian unit to Team LLC, putting an end to months of dispute amongst rivals.

Orange stated its Guinea unit suffered a cut to its international communications for three days without any prior knowledge to it happening, as the country was rocked with protests.

Vodacom said it had seen a surge in base station vandalism and battery thefts in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal, urging communities to aid it in preventing connectivity switching off in the region.

Network testing company Ookla reported UAE-based operator Etisalat had the fastest mobile data speeds in 2020 so far.

AT&T Mexico has returned a portion of its 800MHz spectrum to the country’s regulator in a bid to reduce its costs.

Telecom Egypt tapped Ericsson to leverage the vendor’s technology to migrate its international gateway, in a bid to accelerate services and commence entry into the IoT market.

Bharti Airtel announced it will exit the Ghanaian telecoms market with the government set to acquire all shares in its joint venture AirtelTigo.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) revealed it approved MTN Nigeria and Emerging Markets Telecommunication Service (EMTS) to carry out a network sharing trial, a move to spur resource sharing among operators to improve connectivity services.

Philippines operator PLDT announced it secured permission to double its tower presence in the country, as part of plans to meet growing connectivity demands and government targets.

Telecom Egypt announced plans to construct Egypt’s largest international data centre, in a move to fortify its standing in the country as the largest subsea cables operator in the region.

STC reportedly took a step forward in the potential IPO of its products and services arm Solutions by STC, by hiring banks to arrange the sale of shares in the subsidiary.

T-Mobile’s Czech unit will switch on its non-standalone 5G network on November 1 in two locations with the aim to cover 25% of the population by the end of the year.

Telenor Myanmar has apparently lost more than six million customers in the third quarter of this year. However, as parent company Telenor of Norway points out in its recent third quarter results summary, much of this is related to SIM deactivation.

Airtel Lanka, a Sri Lankan operator and subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, this week announced that it has been awarded 4G spectrum in the 850MHz band.

Indonesian operator Telkomsel announced an IDR10.3 trillion ($701 million) deal to sell 6,050 towers to tower company PT Dayamitra Telekomunikasi (Mitratel), a deal to support its focus on main parts of the business.