All Tech News

Brazilian neutral network, digital infrastructure and data centre group V.tal has agreed a contract with Atlas Renewable Energy, an international renewable energy solutions provider, which says it is entering the data centre sector in Latin America through the deal.

Underlining Saudi Arabia’s reputation as the fastest-growing data centre market in the Middle East are no fewer than three data centre-related announcements this week.

Analyst house Canalys revealed that the African smartphone market grew by 3% year-on-year in Q3 2024 despite macroeconomic challenges. It predicted that smartphone shipments would grow by a “cautious” 1% in 2025.

Indonesian telco Telkomsel said on Thursday it has teamed with ZTE to implement an AI-powered network solution in its 4G network to optimise base station performance after completing tests in Makassar and Kendari.

China Mobile Pakistan (CMPak), which operates under the brand Zong 4G, says it has developed its own in-house large language model (LLM) designed specifically for customer service support for its telecoms services.

SpaceSail, a Chinese low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite company, has signed an agreement to enter the Brazilian market. The signing took place during Chinese President Xi Jinping's recent state visit to the capital, Brasilia.

MTN South Africa and sportech company Telecoming said on Wednesday they have extended their partnership to launch a new cloud gaming service in South Africa.  

Apple has reportedly offered to invest an additional US$100 million in Indonesia to convince the government to approve its new iPhone 16 to be sold in the country.

Madagascar’s three mobile money operators – MVola, Orange Money and Airtel Money – have denounced plans by the government’s Directorate General for Taxes (DGI) to tax mobile money transactions, which they say will discourage financial inclusion and harm the economy.

Colt Data Centre Services (Colt DCS) and Indian realty firm RMZ announced on Tuesday that they have formed a joint venture to invest US$1.7 billion in data centre development in India.

Cybersecurity and digital privacy company Kaspersky and AFRIPOL, the African Union’s dedicated police cooperation body, have signed a cooperation agreement focused on preventing and fighting cybercrime.

5G connected cars are expected to be an increasingly hot item for India’s smart-device consumers next year as new models include 5G IoT connectivity and onboard GenAI as default technologies, says a new research report.

Telecom Namibia says it successfully completed eight FTTx projects worth NAB35.5 million (US$1.9 million) for underserved areas in 2023 and 2024, and will invest another NAB27 million to expand its fibre access network further in the coming year.

Malaysian telco U Mobile announced on Tuesday it has launch an Open API portal based on the GSMA Open Gateway Initiative, which also makes it the first operator in Malaysia to do so.

How should the telecommunications industry respond to the transformation that technology evolution – and especially AI – will drive? It’s a transformation that will affect strategy, services and operations, as Huawei’s Liu Kang explained at OTF2024.

Mobile money services MTN MoMo in South Africa and EcoCash in Zimbabwe have partnered to provide what are described as effortless direct cash transfers between the two countries.

Bahrain-based technology group Beyon has announced that its telecommunications arm, Batelco, has launched the first off-grid mobile site in the region powered entirely by renewable solar and wind energy.

As industries worldwide accelerate digital transformation in an AI-driven era, resilient, high-speed networks have become essential.

China Mobile Pakistan (CMPak), which operates under the Zong 4G brand, says that it is now logging 7 billion recharge transactions per month via its digital channels, which now account for 40% of prepaid recharges.

ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC) says its India unit has broken ground on its edge data centre in Jaipur, which also marks its entry into India’s edge data centre market.

Global connectivity provider Angola Cables is reportedly planning to expand into Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe to cash in on Africa's growing appetite for digital infrastructure – provided regulators make it easier to roll out that infrastructure.

Eutelsat OneWeb announced on Thursday it has signed a new multi-year agreement with satellite solutions and services provider Q-KON to expand LEO satellite services across Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in the southern region.

Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison and Indonesian tech firm GoTo Gojek Tokopedia said on Thursday they have begun work on Sahabat-AI, an open-source large language model (LLM) ecosystem specifically designed for Bahasa Indonesia and other local languages.

Operator MTN South Africa and leading tech vendor Huawei say that they have completed the first 5.5G network trial in South Africa at the MTN head office in Johannesburg.

Global communications company Viasat has announced the launch of a home and mobile broadband service in Mexico that, they say, will boost cellular coverage in the country.

Yet another renewable energy deal aimed at the power-hungry data centre market has been announced this week. It involves digital infrastructure company Equinix and renewable energy provider CleanMax, with which Equinix has signed its first power purchase agreement (PPA) in India.

The London Internet Exchange (LINX) announced this week it will be expanding its interconnection footprint in Africa early next year with a new internet exchange point (IXP) in Ghana and its second IXP in Kenya.

UAE-based operator Etisalat by e& and Mauritius-based digital infrastructure provider WIOCC say they have formed a strategic partnership to integrate their subsea networks to accelerate growth of Africa’s hyperscaler ecosystem.

Vietnamese telco Viettel announced on Wednesday it has commercially launched Open RAN 5G on its network using its in-house gNodeB solution developed in partnership with Qualcomm.

Data centre company Open Access Data Centres (OADC) has had a busy few days, most notably with the announcement of the imminent launch of Open Access Fabric (OAfabric), which is described as a truly open-access and collaborative digital platform that promises to redefine African interconnection.

Cirion Technologies, a digital infrastructure and technology provider in Latin America, today announced what it describes as a new, wholly diverse and resilient Atlantic subsea route expanding fibre connectivity between Latin America and North America. It’s called the South American Crossing-2 (SAC-2) Route.

Digital infrastructure platform Empyrion Digital has announced its strategic expansion into Thailand to develop a minimum 12MW (IT load) edge co-location data centre in Bangkok. It’s Empyrion Digital’s first major investment in Southeast Asia following its establishment in Singapore in 2021.