Pan-African technology group, Cassava Technologies and artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tools provider, Gebeya have reportedly collaborated to launch Gebeya Dala, a suite of AI tools aimed at enabling Africans to create digital content using Cassava’s data centres and infrastructure.

Global digital operator Veon announced on Friday that its financial services subsidiary, Mobilink Microfinance Bank has launched Islamic banking operations in Pakistan, in response to growing customer demand for Shariah-compliant financial services.

Digicel Fiji said on Friday it has signed a universal service obligation (USO) contract with the Telecommunications Authority of Fiji (TAF) to deploy mobile and digital connectivity services to underserved communities in the Lau group.

Dialog Axiata announced on Friday it has signed a partnership deal with SpaceX to resell its Starlink LEO satellite internet service to enterprises and underserved communities in Sri Lanka.

Telecoms activity, you might think, should be slowing down as the holiday season approaches – but 5G launches are still making headlines. Following recent announcements from Sri Lanka’s Dialog Axiata and SLT-Mobitel, it’s now the turn of Claro Paraguay.

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.

PLDT reported a decline in cable and telecoms equipment theft across most of 2025, citing closer cooperation with local government units, police and community groups.

Bharti Airtel has promoted chief executive Gopal Vittal to executive vice chairman as part of a wider reshuffle of its senior leadership.

Airtel Zambia has announced plans to invest US$107 million in a nationwide network upgrade programme, following pressure from the country’s telecoms regulator to improve quality of service.

Saudi Arabian telco stc group announced on Thursday that it has formed a a strategic joint venture partnership with Humain, a Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF)-owned AI company, to build AI data centres in the country.

Sri Lankan telcos Dialog Axiata and SLT-Mobitel commercially launched their respective 5G networks on Thursday, following years of trials, after the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) wrapped up its spectrum auction this week.

Google plans to build three subsea cables in Papua New Guinea, funded by Australia under a mutual defence agreement between the two countries.

Liberty Global has agreed to sell its Slovakian subsidiary, UPC Slovakia, to e& PPF Telecom Group’s local unit O2 Slovakia for EUR95 million (around US$110 million), as e& continues to diversify its telecoms portfolio.

Veon-owned digital telco Kyivstar says it has made first investment in renewable energy by buying solar power company Sunvin 11, which owns a 12.9-MW solar plant in the Zhytomyr region of Ukraine.

The Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) has launched an interoperable payments platform developed by the Mojaloop Foundation that enables mobile money transfers between mobile operators Lone Star Cell MTN and Orange Liberia.

The Medusa Submarine Cable System, the largest subsea connectivity project in the Mediterranean, reached another major milestone this week with the successful landing of its cable in Nador, Morocco.

Two new renewable energy agreements involving Malaysia are a reminder of the growing power demands of data centres and of date centre owners’ need to find cleaner, cheaper and more demand-responsive ways to meet them.

Omani operator Omantel and Archangel Lightworks, a UK-based pioneer in optical and laser communications, have announced the signing of an agreement to accelerate the future of satellite and optical communication services.

El Salvador’s telecommunications regulator, SIGET, has selected Liberty Networks to construct and deploy the country’s first subsea cable, in a move aimed at expanding international connectivity capacity and meeting rising demand.

Ethio Telecom plans to extend its telehealth services to an additional 200 hospitals, following the expansion of its 4G network to 93 more cities.

The move towards greater digital efficiency in retail operations continues in Egypt with two deals that are particularly relevant to fuel and food retail.

Airtel Africa announced on Tuesday it has signed a deal with SpaceX to launch Starlink’s Direct to Cell (D2C) LEO satellite service across all of its 14 markets across the continent sometime next year.

UAE-based satellite firm Space42 announced on Tuesday it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Telkom Satelit Indonesia (Telkomsat) to explore ways to collaborate on direct-to-device (D2D) satellite connectivity.

GIBO Holdings, which describes itself as an Asia-based AI-generated animation platform, has announced a strategic initiative to develop Malaysia's first phase of a high-performance AI data centre, beginning with a 30MW deployment featuring a 14,000-GPU supercomputing cluster.

Saudi Arabian digital enabler stc Group says it has signed a new five-year master frame agreement (MFA) with tech giant Ericsson to accelerate the delivery of advanced digital infrastructure and boost technology adoption across Saudi Arabia.

Globe Telecom has announced plans to build new subsea cables to improve connectivity for communities on the island of Mindanao.

UAE-headquartered telecom and digital services provider du has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with China Telecom Global (CTG), a division of China Telecom, one of the world’s largest providers of integrated telecommunication services.

More reminders of the importance of satellites, Wi-Fi and cellular to emergency communications come from recent events in Sri Lanka and on the Thai–Cambodian border.

South Africa's Electronic Communications Act, which requires foreign-owned communications licensees to sell 30% of equity in their local subsidiaries to historically disadvantaged groups, is to be amended.