Investment

Within the past two weeks, two shareholders in the Philippines’ new market entrant DITO Telecommunity have “withdrawn funds” from the venture, reports The Manila Standard.

Following yesterday’s promise of a major investment in the Indian market from Google there’s another Indian investment story in the news, this time relating to Apple products manufacturer Foxconn.

Qualcomm has acquired a 0.15% stake in Jio Platforms for INR7.3 billion ($97.1 million).

Niger is set to receive funding of US$100 million from the World Bank in order to push digital transformation initiatives.

Filipino fibre broadband provider Converge ICT Solutions has filed for an IPO of up to 35.92 billion pesos ($725 million) on the country’s stock exchange.

Intel has acquired a stake in Jio Platforms, becoming the latest in a long line of overseas investors in Reliance Industries’ digital unit.

After the publication on 15 June of the Judicial Reorganisation Plan that made clear Oi’s plans to sell its mobile assets via what it describes as a competitive process, the cash-strapped Brazilian fixed and mobile operator may be much closer to finding a buyer.

Among five major projects mentioned in a government presentation at the launch earlier this week of the Sustainable Infrastructure Development Symposium South Africa (a virtual event this year) were two important telecommunications initiatives in satellite communications and broadband.

Jio Platforms has confirmed funding from two more overseas investors, racking up a collective investment of $13.7 billion within two months.

After yesterday’s announcement that Zambia’s UZI has finally abandoned its attempts to roll out a network, it looks like another long-running saga involving a cash-strapped operator is coming to an end with an announcement from Brazil’s Oi.

Indian operators aren’t just selling stakes it seems; they’re also buying them. A number of Indian news media outlets  have reported that Bharti Airtel has now upped its stake in Bangladesh operator Robi Axiata.

It’s not just India’s mobile communications industry that is complaining about its treatment by regulators. Now India’s satellite builders and communications service providers are asking for a much speedier authorisation system for would-be overseas investors.

Only days after Mubadala, Abu Dhabi’s second-largest sovereign wealth fund, announced plans to buy a 1.9 per cent stake in Jio Platforms, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), the largest investment arm of the government of Abu Dhabi, has become the seventh investor in Jio Platforms in the past two months.

Jio Platforms’ hot streak of investment continues, with Microsoft reportedly in talks to buy a 2.5% stake for US$2 billion.

As part of its liberalisation of Ethiopia’s telecoms market, the country’s government will sell a 40% stake in state operator Ethio Telecom to private overseas investors.

KKR has become the fifth major foreign investor in Jio Platforms in a month, acquiring a 2.32% stake in the digital unit for INR113.7 billion (US$1.5 billion).

According to reports in the West African regional press, the World Bank has allocated $30 million to Gambia for use in telecommunications and energy.

Reliance Industries is on something of a hot streak of overseas investment, having sold a 1.34% stake in its digital unit Jio Platforms to US-based private equity firm General Atlantic.

Reliance Industries has attracted a further INR113.7 billion ($1.5 billion) of investment into its Jio Platforms tech unit, this time from Vista Equity Partners.

Chilean operator group Entel has earmarked an investment fund of US$371 million for 2020.

According to recent reports in the UK’s Financial Times newspaper the multibillion-dollar stake in India’s Reliance Jio that Facebook allegedly intends to buy could be delayed.

MTN Group is continuing to invest in its Iranian unit despite the sanctions imposed on the market by the USA.

Mexican cable operator Megacable is deploying fibre GPON infrastructure across its footprint via a US$400 million investment.

Zimbabwe is investing US$6 million into improving rural connectivity.

MTN is planning to invest US$1.6 billion into its Nigerian unit across the next three years.

Bharti Airtel has been granted permission by India’s Department of Telecommunications to receive up to 100% of its paid-up capital from overseas investors.