All Tech News

Microfinance firm Barko is entering South Africa’s retail banking market with a new digital bank built on Temenos Transact and powered by The Temenos Banking Cloud.

Bharti Group-backed satellite broadband startup OneWeb and Saudi Arabia's Neom Tech and Digital Holding Company have signed a pact for a USD200 million joint venture to provide satellite-based services to the Middle East and East African countries.

The telecommunications service provider in Balcarce, Argentina, Alvis SA has tapped Nokia for the deployment of a 4G/LTE and 5G-ready network to boost connectivity for underserved communities and businesses across the country.

Iraqi internet service provider ScopeSky has tapped Nokia’s Nuage Networks to deploy its Virtualised Network Services (VNS) Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN).

Digital Realty, the world's largest global provider of cloud- and carrier-neutral data center, and Pembani Remgro Infrastructure Fund announced the formation of a joint venture to acquire Medallion Data Centres, Nigeria’s leading colocation and interconnection provider.

Satellite communications company ST Engineering iDirect has collaborated with technology provider XipLink to implement a security feature required for 4G backhaul services with an eye to 4G LTE deployments across the EMEA region.

Two tower-related stories from Malaysia indicate the continuing need for reliable infrastructure to meet the requirements of underserved rural areas.

Raxio Group, which describes itself as Africa’s premier platform of carrier-neutral, colocation, Tier III data centres, has invested in the first carrier-neutral Tier III data centre in Cote d’Ivoire.

Veon has signed a seven-year agreement with Amdocs to enable innovative digital services for its customers in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. 

JioPhone Next, the smartphone jointly developed by India's largest 4G network Reliance Jio and global internet major Google, will run on a new operating system called Pragati OS. The Pragati OS, powered by Android, has been built specifically for the country.

American multinational investment bank Goldman Sachs, through its Goldman Sachs Asset Management unit, signed a credit agreement with Elea Digital, the digital infrastructure unit of Brazilian group Piemonte Holding, to expand data centers.

The Arabian Internet and Communications Services Co, known as Solutions by STC, a Saudi end-to-end digital solutions innovator, is the latest big name to become involved in the development of the new Saudi Arabian city Neom.

Santa Fe province – an area in northeastern Argentina – is to get a massive fibre boost after the government of the country approved the start of the Santa Fe + Conectada programme, which aims to deploy almost 4,000 kilometres of fibre optics.

With network traffic surging, Omantel has deployed Ciena’s coherent optical technology to connect data centres, submarine cable landing stations and telecom exchanges in various regions across Oman.

Russia’s national telecommunications operator Rostelecom PJSC has designed a cloud platform in cooperation with the company JSC MCST, which has developed the Elbrus processor.

Saudi Telecom Company (STC), Saudi Arabia-based digital company that offers telecommunications services, has deployed Huawei's BladeAAU Pro solution on its sites for the first time.

Africell has confirmed plans for an ambitious expansion of its network in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Philippines telecoms giant PLDT has announced plans to build its largest and most powerful data centre. The aim, according to local news reports, is to attract global technology giants and cloud service providers to the Philippines.

Bosnia-Herzegovina’s HT Mostar has signed new equipment deals with Croatia’s Ericsson Nikola Tesla (ENT) worth over HRK31 million (USD4.8 million).

Starlink, Elon Musk’s satellite internet service, received the operating permit from Chilean telecoms regulator the Department of Telecommunications (Subsecretaria de Telecomunicaciones, Subtel) to operate five satellite ground stations, enabling the operator to launch commercial services on a national level.

Emirates Telecommunication Group Company (Etisalat) and Microsoft have joined forces to unlock new 5G scenarios with Azure Multi-access Edge Computer as part of their strategic partnership.

The new mobile communications entrant in the Angolan market, Africell, says it has taken another major step towards launching services in Angola by opening a data centre in Luanda.

Multilateral development finance institution the African Development Bank has signed a grant agreement for $500,000 with Y’ello Digital Financial Services (YDFS), a fintech subsidiary of operator MTN Nigeria. The grant will be used for a study into economic, religious, and social factors hampering access to finance for women in northern Nigeria.

Etisalat Group, a leading telecom group in emerging markets, and AI and cloud computing company Group 42 have announced plans to merge their data centre businesses.

Indian government-owned telecommunications service provider Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has received Inflight and Maritime Connectivity (IFMC) license from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to offer Inmarsat’s Global Xpress (GX) mobile broadband services in the country.

Analysts from direct carrier billing (DCB) protection firm Evina, and DCB implementation specialists Telecoming, have developed the first Direct Carrier Billing (DCB) Index. This aims to provide an overview of the current state of the DCB business and its potential.

Arc Solutions, a joint venture between UAE's du and Bahrain's Batelco, has selected Nokia to provide a high-capacity data center interconnection solution in the Middle East.

China United Network Communications Group (China Unicom) and Chinese multinational technology corporation Huawei Technologies completed the initial test of the latest XMC-3E ODU product.

MENA-based integrated networking services provider Arc Solutions has expanded its network footprint to Oman with a presence in Equinix’s International Business Exchange(IBX) data center in Muscat.

Operator Vodafone Turkey, and wholesale telecoms platform provider Linxa have announced the deployment of Linxa Connect, which, the partners say, enables Vodafone Turkey to bring the automation, control and efficiency of its international and national voice wholesale business to the next level.

Underlining the growing importance of streaming video and OTT services, Indian operator Bharti Airtel has announced the launch of its video platform as a service (VPaaS); it’s called Airtel IQ Video and was developed by Airtel’s in-house engineering teams.

Interconnection platform provider Asteroid has announced the deployment of its modern internet exchange point (IXP) within the PAIX cloud-and-carrier neutral data centre in Nairobi, Kenya.

At the 7th Ultra-Broadband Forum (UBBF 2021), Kevin Hu, President of Huawei's Data Communication Product Line, introduced four new features of Huawei's Intelligent Cloud-Network Solution and all-scenario NetEngine series intelligent routers, providing differentiated cloud-network convergence service capabilities and accelerating digital transformation for industries.