All Tech News

Small cells are back in the news again with an announcement that local vendor SAR Televenture is to deploy 4G small cell sites for Indian operator Vodafone Idea (aka Vi).

Indian telco Bharti Airtel announced on Monday that it has started refarming its existing 4G mid-band spectrum to support migration of 4G customers to 5G services, as well as its planned launch of standalone (SA) 5G.

Malaysian telco U Mobile said it has established a strategic backhaul partnership with Time dotCom as it continues its preparations to help build the country’s planned second 5G network.

Australia has launched a new ‘Cable Connectivity and Resilience Centre’ for Indo-Pacific subsea cable projects on Monday that also serves as the latest initiative by the Quad alliance of Australia, India Japan and the US to limit China’s influence in the Pacific Islands region.

Cloud computing services company Google Cloud and professional services firm PwC India have announced an enhanced strategic alliance that, they say, will leverage the power of generative AI (GenAI) to augment enterprise solutions.

Google’s application for its Teros data centre project in the Parque de las Ciencias free trade zone in the Canelones department in the south of Uruguay has now been approved by the country’s Environment Ministry.

Costa Rican company Radiografica Costarricense SA (RACSA, a Grupo ICE company) has claimed a 5G first in the country with the launch of 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) services on the market, supported, it says, by the country's first and only network designed for this technology.

The Chinese smartphone market experienced 10% growth in the second quarter with units reaching 70.5 million units, and local vendors occupying the top five spots for the first time.

Digital infrastructure giant Equinix has announced yet another deal in Asia. This one is an estimated US$5 million investment to acquire land from former landowner and now tech hub developer Cyberview in ICT-focused city Cyberjaya in Selangor state.

Indonesian telco Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison continued its push into the AI space via a strategic partnership with AIonOS, revealed on Friday, that aims to transform businesses into AI-native enterprises and accelerate AI sovereignty in Indonesia.

The Vietnam Internet Network Information Centre (VNNIC) said on Thursday the latest upgrade of its network speed test app 'i-Speed' turns phones into an automated crowdsourcing tool for telcos to measure and optimise network performance.

Thai telco AIS and Malaysian telco Maxis signed MoUs with Singtel on Thursday to use its open API-based solutions suite that authenticates digital identities for consumer services – a day after the Bridge Alliance launched a new regional telco API exchange to facilitate such deals.

East African carrier-neutral data centre operator Wingu Africa, and Gebeya, a pan-African company that specializes in SaaS-enabled custom talent cloud innovation, have announced the launch of what they call a groundbreaking ‘talent cloud solution’ aimed at developing human capital for the data centre industry in East Africa. 

Ericsson and Etisalat’s e& United Arab Emirates (UAE) say they have successfully conducted end-to-end verification of RedCap software on e&’s 5G Standalone (5G SA) network, which will enable it to support IoT devices as it evolves to 5G Advanced.

Indonesian telecoms service provider Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison has announced a new strategic partnership with Garuda Indonesia, the country’s national airline.

Digital infrastructure company Equinix has announced its planned entry into the Philippines with the acquisition of three data centres from Total Information Management (TIM), a technology solutions provider.

An interesting take on the issue of how to manage energy-hungry data centres comes from Burkina Faso, where plans have been proposed to launch a data centre powered in an unusual way.

Philippine fibre broadband provider Converge ICT Solutions says it is collaborating with Ribbon Communications to boost the capacity of its fibre backbone to terabit levels using Ribbon’s Apollo optical networking system.

Rijeka Gateway has announced a 5G standalone (SA) connectivity partnership with Croatian telecommunications company Hrvatski Telekom (HT), involving the adoption of what is described as a next-level private 5G campus network.

A new high-capacity cable system connecting Greece with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia may be on the way after a recent agreement between the two countries.

The number of active mobile money accounts in Tanzania has reportedly more than doubled in the last five years up to the end of 2023, according to the latest figures from the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA).

LEO satellite operator Starlink has received a temporary permit to operate in Tonga in an apparent retreat by the government who had earlier banned the service outright as residents sought to cope with last month’s subsea cable outage.

Sky Cable Corporation, the pay television and broadband arm of ABS-CBN, a leading media and entertainment company in the Philippines, has announced a partnership with Philippine fibre broadband provider Converge Information and Communications Technology Solutions.

Telcos across Southeast Asia said that they were mostly unaffected by a global internet disruption on Friday caused by a flawed software update from endpoint security firm CrowdStrike that crashed millions of Windows-based computers worldwide.

Nairobi-based IXAfrica Data Centres and Schneider Electric have launched what they say is the first AI-ready hyperscale data centre in Kenya, and the largest such data centre in all of East Africa.

Telecom Fiji announced on Wednesday it has signed an agreement to become an authorised reseller for LEO satellite operator Starlink, and is already pitching it as a connectivity solution for businesses in underserved areas.

Avanti Communications a global multi-orbit provider of fully integrated connectivity services and solutions, says it has undertaken a satellite connectivity test with BankservAfrica, Africa’s largest automated clearing house, and with Capitec Bank, one of South Africa’s top retail banks.

LORIOT, a long-range IoT solutions company, and LORATECH, an IoT technological solutions business, have joined forces in a partnership they say is set to transform the Internet of Things (IoT) landscape in Latin America.

The Indian smartphone market was flat with a growth rate of only 1% in the second quarter of 2024 due to subdued seasonal demand.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a source of long-term financing for economic, social and institutional development in Latin America and the Caribbean, says it has approved a US$100 million loan to Brazil's federal government to improve digital connectivity and expand fixed broadband coverage in the country.

South African fibre installation company Lightstruck has entered into an agreement with the Namibian City of Windhoek’s City Link initiative to advance the city’s fibre network commercialisation efforts.

Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT), which owns and operates Nigeria’s communications satellite systems, has begun the process of replacing its NIGCOMSAT-1R communications satellite. It is reportedly seeking support from investors and collaborators worldwide to do this.