Mobile payment-based offerings are growing rapidly across Africa, driven, as ever, by low banking penetration and rapid mobile adoption, a trend underlined by two more announcements – from Egypt and Tunisia – in recent days.

African technology startups – including mobile-focused initiatives – will receive a financing boost through a €40 million (about US$46million) commitment from EIB Global, the development arm of the European Investment Bank (EIB).

Zain Omantel International (ZOI), an international carrier that delivers a unified, AI-ready network across the Middle East and beyond, and Zong, a leading mobile network operator in Pakistan, have partnered to expand voice interconnect and roaming services between the Middle East and Pakistan.

Globalsat Group, a provider of satellite connectivity and communications solutions, has announced a reseller agreement with Amazon Leo, Amazon's low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite network.

It’s already looking like another busy month for digital payments news in Africa, and notably for payments giant Visa, which has been prominent in recent announcements from Tanzania and Ethiopia.

Veon has unveiled a series of senior leadership changes as it looks to sharpen execution across its markets and step up its digital and financial services ambitions.

The MANTA subsea cable consortium has selected MDC Data Centers as its neutral landing partner in Mexico, marking further progress in the rollout of the regional connectivity project.

Service provider Edotco Malaysia says it has entered a next generation network operations partnership with technology giant Huawei to enhance telecommunications infrastructure management through technology-enabled operations and automation and smarter infrastructure solutions.

The continuing relevance of USSD-based transactions is underlined by news from Sudan where the country’s telecommunications ministry is launching a service using USSD that allows citizens to access banking apps without recourse to the internet.

Kuwaiti conglomerate Alghanim Industries announced on Tuesday that its tech venture Sama X is officially reselling Starlink’s LEO satellite broadband services in Kuwait, a day after the country’s regulator granted Starlink an operating licence.

TelCables Brasil announced on Monday it has added three new Points of Presence (PoPs) in Belo Horizonte, the capital city of Minas Gerais state, bringing its total number of PoPs in Brazil to ten.

Vodacom Tanzania has claimed to launch Africa’s first mobile money-native contactless payment feature, following a collaboration with Visa and Paymentology to upgrade its M-Pesa app.

PLDT Global Corp, part of Philippines’ telco group PLDT, has expanded its Tindahan ni Bossing (TinBo) digital platform, described as the go-to app for all the needs of overseas Filipinos, with the launch of a new service called ePadala.

M-Pesa Ethiopia last week announced the signing of an agreement with the country’s postal service EthioPost, officially designating EthioPost as the primary agent within the M-Pesa ecosystem.

The TAM-1 submarine cable system has reached Colombia, marking a key milestone in its rollout across Latin America and the Caribbean.

Digital Edge announced on Monday it’s secured a US$665 million green loan to support development of the first phase of its planned 500MW AI-ready hyperscale data centre in Indonesia.

Cambodian telco Smart Axiata says it has signed an MoU with super app firm Grab to look at ways to collaborate on B2C and B2B initiatives that leverage Smart’s 5G network to create a more connected and customer-centric digital and mobility ecosystem.

Telekom Malaysia (TM) and state utility company Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) announced on Monday they have signed an MoU to develop green energy solutions for more sustainable and interconnected energy and telecoms infrastructure across Malaysia.

Ericsson said on Monday it is partnering with Vietnamese telco VNPT to install next-gen mobile infrastructure for major airport projects in Vietnam.

It looks like Papua New Guinea intends to join the growing list of countries insisting on SIM card registration after a lengthy consultation process that ended recently.

Cambodia's government approved a draft law late last week targeting fraudsters running cyberscam operations and promises to shut down such operations completely by April. But previous crackdowns against online scam centres have not eliminated the problem. Will this one?

MTN Group hailed its full-year 2025 performance as “exceptional”, reporting a return to profit and surpassing the milestone of 300 million customers, driven largely by strong growth in its Nigerian and Ghanaian businesses.

Mirova, a global asset management company dedicated to sustainable investing, has announced a US$15 million senior secured facility for iSAT Africa Mauritius Limited, a leading rural connectivity platform, to support the deployment of fully solar-powered mobile towers in Liberia and Zambia.

Philippine telco PLDT and its wireless arm Smart said on Friday it's doubling down on measures to lessen operational reliance on fossil fuels in light of the impact of the Middle East on global oil prices.

Orange Tunisie announced on Friday it has launched satellite broadband services in Tunisia via an earlier deal with Eutelsat, offering connection speeds of up to 100 Mbps.

Work on the Middle Eastern segment of the 2Africa Pearls subsea cable system has reportedly stopped due to the war between the US, Israel and Iran as Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) says it’s unsafe to continue operations.