All Tech News

Rival Indian service providers Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel have made major announcements relating to their undersea cable interests.

Two of Somaliland’s operators, Somtel and Telesom, have agreed to enable interconnecting calls between their networks.

China Mobile joined hands with Huawei in building an optical network to connect the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao area. Huawei says that it is “the world’s largest green all-optical switching hub network”.

Philippines fibre broadband company Converge ICT has launched a new web portal and new app, both working in tandem as a one-stop shop for new and existing customers for application, payment, and other customer services.

Ukraine’s Lifecell has launched VoLTE services that it plans to expand “in stages”.

Pakistan’s largest bank network HBL is adopting Temenos’ core banking platform to improve the user experience of its domestic and international operations.

Following the intense competition, China’s smartphone shipments dropped 11% YoY in Q4 2021 with Apple ending on top and reaching its highest market share ever.

Iran has announced an ambitious project to connect over 20 million homes and businesses to the high-speed fixed fibre network in the country.

The role of entertainment content in offering new revenue streams for mobile operators has again been underlined after recent deals involving Indian giants Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel and content suppliers.

Infinet Wireless, the global developer and manufacturer of broadband wireless access solutions, has assisted ASTEL, Internet service provider in Kazakhstan, to expand its backbone network via radio links in the Almaty region.

Yahsat Government Solutions (YGS), the dedicated government arm of Yahsat, which offers multi-mission satellite services in more than 150 countries, has been awarded a contract, whose value is estimated at US$247.5 million, to provide enhanced managed services to the UAE government for its satellite communications capabilities.

International service provider Orange, which has a presence in 18 African countries, along with its subsidiary, Senegalese telecommunications provider Sonatel, has announced a partnership with satellite operator SES.

Further evidence of the continuing importance of satellites in extending the reach of mobile services come from Brazil where satcoms equipment and services giant Hughes has announced the successful three-month pilot of what it calls a new Community LTE service in five villages in Brazil.

Gilat Satellite Networks hailed a strong Q4 as revenues were up 58% year-on-year to $67.3m, crediting this to major contract wins for the company.

5G spectrum auctions and rollout may still be some months off in India, but 5G trials are well under way. Vodafone Idea Limited (aka Vi) is the latest operator to announce that it has successfully demonstrated 5G voice over new radio (VoNR).

Indian multinational telecommunications services company Bharti Airtel has chosen Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Oracle Fusion Cloud Supply Chain and Management (SCM) to digitise and simplify its finance, planning, and supply chain processes.

Russia’s largest integrated digital company Rostelecom has launched the second phase of its mega data centre Udomlya.

Sri Lankan operator Dialog Axiata has tapped telecoms systems vendor Intracom Telecom to enhance its fixed wireless access (FWA) technology.

Hungary’s telecommunications regulator the National Media and Communications Authority (NMHH) launched a mobile device replacement programme to encourage consumers to trade in 2G and 3G phones for 4G devices, before planned network shutdowns.

Overall spending on information and communications technology (ICT) across the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa (META) will top $229 billion this year, an increase of 2.7% over 2021, said a study.

India’s true wireless stereo (TWS) market grew  74.7% YoY (year-over-year) to 20.3 million units in 2021.

Telecom Egypt, Egypt’s first integrated telecom operator and one of the largest subsea cable operators in its region, and Grid Telecom, subsidiary of the Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO) in Greece, have signed a strategic memorandum of understanding (MoU) to connect Greece and Egypt using submarine cable infrastructure.

In another example of the apparently unstoppable growth of digital finance in Africa, the African Development Fund (ADF) and the government of Malawi have signed a grant agreement for $14.2 million to undertake infrastructure upgrades and create a more efficient and transparent digital payment system.

Indian digital service provider Jio Platforms and SES, a global satellite-based content connectivity solutions provider, are the latest companies to target the Indian satellite communications market with the formation of a joint venture called Jio Space Technology Limited.

Eutelsat Communications and network company Marlink signed multi-year extensions to their global maritime partnership to support expansion in Africa and the Middle East.

Over 463,000 people have used mobile money services in Vietnam since operators Viettel and VNPT launched the cashless payments  last year.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched the radar imaging satellite EOS-04 along with two others on board Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C52) today (February 14) this morning.

India shipped 161 million smartphones in the year 2021, up by 7 percent year over year, said the International Data Corporation (IDC)’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.

Submarine fibre optic cable systems operator Seabras 1 Brasil (Seaborn) announced its network has been approved to provide connectivity to the Brazilain Stock Exchange (B3, enhancing the financial services market in Brazil. 

Part of a multi-million-euro investment fund has been spent to bridge the digital divide for 1.3 million Urktelecom customers in Ukraine, as the operator hailed its strategy in sourcing international investment.

Ethiopian telecommunication company Ethio Telecom partnered with Subex for a new business assurance solution using the enterprise AI platform HyperSense.

Chinese technology giant ZTE Corporation and China Mobile have verified the rule/policy-based SPN intelligent fault diagnosis system on the intelligent management, control, and analysis platform ZENIC ONE (UME) and deployed it across Liaoning province in China.

Chilean fibre to the home provider Mundo has been sold to private equity group Digital Bridge, by owners Linzor Capital Partners and minority shareholder Teras after picking up the company in 2019.