All Tech News

The drive to bring affordable smart connectivity to tens of millions of Africans continues, this time through a partnership involving MediaTek, Digit and pan-African operator Vodacom.

The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has awarded a feasibility study grant to Malaysia’s Hexa Capital Consultancy to develop what would be the first subsea cable system directly connecting Malaysia and the US.

What is described as a “landmark agreement” will lay the foundation for South Africa’s Gugulethu Colliery, a newly developed mine in Mpumalanga, to integrate 5G technology in its operations.

A project to build submarine cable network between Sihanoukville, a coastal city in southern Cambodia, and Hong Kong is to be completed in July 2025, according to regional press reports.

Satellite connectivity company Astranis announced it will have two satellites in operation next year over the Philippines to connect remote islands. 

Intelsat and Africa Mobile Networks (AMN) have revealed plans to deploy 1,340 new satellite-connected cellular towers in Madagascar, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Eutelsat OneWeb signed a multi-year master distribution agreement on Wednesday with African ICT integrator NEC XON to bring OneWeb’s LEOsat connectivity to Sub-Saharan Africa.

NOW Corp added another satellite broadband partnership to its collection on Wednesday, this one with aspiring LEOsat operator Rivada Space Networks to target enterprises in the Philippines.

Italian international service provider Sparkle has announced the expansion of its network footprint to South Africa with the opening of two new points of presence (PoPs) in Cape Town and Johannesburg.

Converged open-access digital infrastructure company WIOCC Group has launched what it calls “the first truly holistic managed network and infrastructure services company to serve Africa”.

Teraco, Africa’s largest interconnection hub and vendor-neutral data centre provider, has made two recent announcements relating to expansion in the key South African market.

The London Internet Exchange (LINX) said on Tuesday that its internet exchange point (IXP) in Nairobi is now live and ready to serve East Africa.

Tunisian national operator Tunisie Telecom, and mobile transaction platform Telepin have announced the signing of a partnership agreement for the launch of the converged charging system for Tunisie Telecom’s customers.

Operator MTN Nigeria and the African operation of American Tower Corporation, a leading independent owner, operator and developer of multitenant communications real estate, have entered into a new agreement that, they say, is expected to enhance wireless connectivity across Nigeria.

The Republic of Djibouti has launched its first satellite, Djibouti 1A. It took off last weekend from the Vandenberg Space Force Base onboard the SpaceX Transporter-9, a dedicated SSO rideshare mission carrying a variety of payloads into sun-synchronous orbit.

According to a number of recent reports, Saudi Arabia’s new Red Sea International Airport has become an early example in the region of the benefits of neutral host technology.

Hughes Communications India (HCI) has announced a new managed services deal for cement companies ACC and Ambuja Cement, through which it plans to deploy dual LTE/4G at over 100 manufacturing and field units across India.

SES announced on Monday that it has launched two more O3b mPOWER satellites into medium orbit, making its mPOWER satellite broadband offering ready for service despite reported electrical problems with the satellites.

Vietnam Internet Network Information Center (VNNIC) has struck a deal with telecoms infrastructure firm CMC Telecom to establish a PoP connecting to Vietnam National Internet eXchange (VNIX) in one of its data centres.

ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC) has revealed plans to develop a second data centre campus in Malaysia – this one in Johor – just one week after announcing the first one.

It looks like the mobile money service that helped to make Safaricom the dominant player in Kenya is making reasonable headway in Ethiopia too.

Argentinean service provider Telecentro is deploying Netcracker’s Digital OSS to advance its operations automation and deliver new use cases across its operations.

Fibre and satellite connectivity provider Paratus Group secured a US$31 million debt facility from Private Infrastructure Development Group, to expand its fibre and data centre business in Africa into 2026. 

Satellite internet service Starlink, from rocket manufacturer SpaceX, has won a tender from Mexico's state energy firm to provide services until the end of December 2026, according to Reuters.

Chipset manufacturing giant Intel has reportedly shelved plans to double its operations in Vietnam, a blow to South East Asian nation’s ambitions in the chipset sector, reported Reuters. 

Digital Edge, one of Asia’s fastest-growing digital infrastructure providers, has deployed across its footprint a full stack of wired and wireless upgrades from Juniper Networks, a major name in secure, AI-driven networks.

Libya has now formally acknowledged that it will be connecting to the Medusa submarine cable project. The Medusa submarine cable system will connect Libya to Europe via the countries of the Mediterranean Basin.

Data centre provider ST Telemedia Global Data Centres Philippines (STT GDC) is expanding its presence in the Philippines with the construction of a second facility in its STT Cavite data centre campus.

The two-day 2023 Global Talent Development Forum (TDF), themed "Leading an Intelligent Journey to a Bright Future", concluded successfully at Huawei’s Global Training Center in Hangzhou.

There’s more data centre news from Indonesia – though the new launch and a planned development making recent headlines are not, for once, taking place in Jakarta.