Enterprise Ecosystems

Ooredoo Qatar has launched a new eSIM solution for IoT devices, which it says can help enterprises simplify device management, enhance security, and scale IoT operations across borders.

Ericsson and Zain Bahrain announced on Monday they have expanded their strategic partnership to include Ericsson’s 5G Edge User Plane technology, which Zain will deploy to enable Industry 4.0 technologies in Bahrain’s industrial sector.

Vietnamese telecoms player Viettel said it has held “high-level bilateral working sessions” with Japanese companies Nikon Corporation and Tokyo Electron Limited (TEL) as part of its preparation to help build Vietnam’s first domestic semiconductor manufacturing plant.

Uruguay-headquartered dLocal, which describes itself as the leading payment platform connecting global merchants to emerging markets, has announced a new strategic partnership with commercial payments specialist Convera.

Payments giant Mastercard say it has partnered with MoneyHash, a payment orchestration platform built for emerging and global markets, to expand merchant access to the newly launched Merchant Cloud across the Middle East and Africa.

China Mobile Pakistan (CMPak, a.k.a. Zong 4G), announced on Friday it has signed a strategic partnership deal with local communication-as-a-service provider Eocean to launch a digital commerce-as-a-service (DCaaS) offering.

Thai market leader AIS (Advanced Info Service) has tapped Netcracker for what the companies describe as the largest cloud deployment in Thailand.

Syria’s Central Bank (CBS) has announced a strategic partnership with Visa to accelerate the country’s integration into the global digital economy. Local press reports say that the agreement was formalised during a meeting at the Central Bank late last week.

Bharti Airtel is making its network capabilities available to third-party developers through a Nokia developer portal platform.

TrueBusiness – the enterprise arm of Thai telco True Corp – announced on Monday it has launched “True AI Hub”, an AI platform that provides organisations with access to over 50 AI models from more than 10 AI platform providers.

Gabon has introduced a new platform. Called Kimba, its aim is to drive demand and supply matching in digital services.

Ooredoo and Vodafone Qatar announced the commercial release of network APIs standardised under the GSMA Open Gateway initiative that enable identity verification tools to combat digital fraud in Qatar.

Viettel’s Cambodian subsidiary Metfone has reportedly signed a cooperation agreement with Cisco to distribute and deploy its ICT solutions to local enterprises as part of Metfone’s strategy to shift from traditional telco to tech solutions provider.

NetBIT, the enterprise services unit of Mexican ISP ENI Networks, announced on Thursday it has collaborated with Ciena and Braxem to launch a new offering that leverages passive optical network (PON) access technology to drive digital transformation for Mexican enterprises.

Sri Lankan telco Dialog Axiata says it has partnered with the Ministry of Environment’s Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) to launch a 5G-enabled autonomous water-surface cleaning robot.

ONATi, the incumbent telecommunications service provider in French Polynesia, has migrated the management of its interconnect voice traffic and national and international partners to Oculeus’ Captura NG solution.

Telkomsel says it has struck a partnership deal with Indonesian smart home solutions firm BARDI to implement its dashcam smart device as an IoT-based vehicle security solution for Indonesia’s automotive and manufacturing sectors.

Smart utilities are again in the news after InfraX, a subsidiary of Digital DEWA, the digital arm of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, and technology giant Ericsson recently announced that they had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to accelerate the digital transformation of the utility sector in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Qatar-based Ooredoo Group announced it is collaborating with Ericsson-led open network API joint venture Aduna to make its open network APIs available to businesses across the MENA region and around the world via the Aduna platform.

Reliance Industries announced on Thursday that its AI arm Reliance Intelligence has struck a partnership with Google Cloud that will, among other things, give Reliance Jio users 18 months of free access to Google’s AI Pro plan and expand access to Google Cloud’s AI hardware accelerators in India.

Logistics solutions company DP World says it has launched the rollout of its Port Community System (PCS) platform in Kenya, marking what it calls a major milestone in the country’s journey towards more efficient and transparent trade.

Education and healthcare are the two sectors where artificial intelligence (AI) holds the greatest potential to deliver meaningful benefits for society, according to Frost & Sullivan’s Global ICT Practice Leader, Alexander Michael.

UAE-based digital solutions firm Yango Group and China Mobile International (CMI) have reportedly signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop technology solutions for businesses in Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

UAE-based satellite firm Space42 says it has signed separate MoUs with e& UAE and South Korean autonomous driving company Autonomous A2Z to develop the UAE’s autonomous mobility services ecosystem.

Telecom infrastructure and connectivity solutions provider ACES India announced on Friday it has partnered with state-owned telco Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to deploy 4G and 5G in-building solutions (IBS) across the newly inaugurated Mumbai Metro Aqua Line-3.

Polish dry bulk vessel operator Polsteam has chosen Marlink, which supplies managed services for business-critical ICT solutions, to upgrade connectivity and cybersecurity solutions on board 50 of the vessels it controls.

e& UAE announced on Tueday it has signed a performance partner program agreement with Honeywell to deploy pre-configured, mobile-first 5G and AI-enabled solutions tailored for the UAE’s private sector.

Tech Credit Fund, which says it backs entrepreneurs bringing the net to the ‘kasi’ (township), has launched a credit facility to help Black-owned internet service providers (ISPs) to expand broadband access in South Africa’s townships and rural communities.

Subsea cable operator and managed connectivity service provider Seacom says it has signed an MoU with broadcast and digital services provider Sentech to accelerate the growth of small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMMEs) in South Africa’s telecoms sector.

Vodafone Idea’s enterprise arm, Vi Business, said on Monday it is partnering with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) to launch an IoT Innovation Lab to help enterprises develop solutions for things like connected vehicles, smart manufacturing and enterprise automation.

PLDT Enterprise, the corporate arm of Philippines operator PLDT, has in recent days announced not only a remote connectivity initiative but a mixed reality (MR) trial that could benefit remote healthcare.

Malaysian telco  U Mobile has signed separate deals with Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE, both aimed at driving adoption of 5G-Advanced and AI for enterprise use cases.

Malaysian operators, CelcomDigi, Maxis, U Mobile, Telekom Malaysia and YTL Communications have unveiled plans to launch a new federated network service via the GSMA Open Gateway initiative to help online businesses combat fraud and digital identity theft.