French Polynesian operator ONATi - a subsidiary of the OPT French Polynesia Group - has selected Intelia and Ciena to increase the capacity of the Honotua international submarine cable to 300Gb/s.

PT Profesional Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Protelindo), the largest telecommunication infrastructure company in Indonesia, has invested in UK-headquartered Stratospheric Platforms Limited (SPL), which seeks to provide high-bandwidth telecoms network coverage from the stratosphere using hydrogen-powered high altitude platforms (HAPS) delivered by unmanned aircraft.

Could the rollout of 5G services across India by operators be slowed without heavy investment in tower connectivity? That appears to be the question asked by ratings agency ICRA, which suggests that some three trillion rupees (about US$36.7 billion) will need to be spent over the next four to five years to fiberise towers.

State-owned Indian operator BSNL has apparently partnered Echelon Edge, a global information technology and system integration company. The aim? To set up private 5G networks.

Malaysian rural broadband service provider MEASAT has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Parcel365, an app-based platform that allows consumers and sellers to send and receive parcels 24/7.

India seems to have taken the self-sufficiency theme to another level with a home-grown mobile operating system developed at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. It’s called BharOS (Bhar is short for Bharat, or India).

Vodafone Idea (Vi) showcased how it opened nearly 1,100 retail shops across 18 Indian states in the last three months, a move to serve growing demand in rural locations.

Filipino operator NOW Telecom has selected Nokia’s Bell Labs Consulting to design a nationwide 5G Standalone (SA) network, and to design and plan a national broadband network.

XL Axiata hailed its deployment on the island province of Kalimantan in Borneo, where it increased base station presence by 1,100 sites (42% year-on-year), with coverage now reaching 75% of the location.  

India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has said it intends come up with a decision on whether to lift a ban on 5G around airports – but not until it has carried out a detailed study.

Telekom Malaysia’s TM R&D has signed an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with ZTE that will see the companies collaborate on optical network research, bringing the first 50Gbps bandwidth experience to Malaysia.

Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) hyperscale data centre specialist AirTrunk has announced its entry into Malaysia with plans to develop a 150+ megawatt (MW) data centre.

Hard on the heels of Nokia’s collaboration with UNICEF to improve digital education and training in schools in parts of Senegal comes news of a USTDA and AirJaldi Networks partnership focusing on digital connectivity in India.

Multiple recent data centre development announcements have underlined the growth of the sector in India. This time Airtel, CtrlS Datacentres and Google are involved.

JioGames part of Jio Platforms Limited, described as India's leading gaming service, has partnered with French white label cloud gaming solutions provider Gamestream to launch a 10-year strategic partnership that, the partners say, will provide 1.4 billion Indians with unlimited access to cloud gaming anywhere, anytime.

Thai operators True and Dtac revealed they are meeting to shape up their corporate structure, and forecasting the end of March as the completion of their long-awaited merger.

Arch Capital Management, a leading Asia-Pacific-focused private equity real estate investment manager, has this week announced the launch of affiliate Digital Halo (DH), a regional digital infrastructure platform based in Singapore. DH will capitalise on the growing demand for digitized information tech and operations solutions in Southeast and North Asia, starting with a data centre in the Philippines.

International insurtech bolttech and Thailand’s leading mobile network operator AIS have partnered to deliver embedded protection services, including mobile device switch and replacement services, to AIS customers for the recently launched AIS Care+ programme.

Cropin, which describes itself as the global agritech pioneer that has built the world's first industry cloud for agriculture, says it has secured 1.130 billion rupees (about US$13.8 million) in funding from new investors Google and JSR Corporation, as well as existing investors ABC Impact and Chiratae Ventures.

Widely reported Indian government plans (though they have not been officially confirmed) suggest winding up the Digital Communications Commission (DCC), described as the highest decision-making body of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

A rather unusual intergovernmental row seems to have broken out in Nepal, where the country’s Ministry of Communication, and Information Technology (MoCIT) has indicated its displeasure over the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) cutting internet cables, resulting, predictably enough, in internet outages for many customers.

3i Infotech, an India-headquartered global provider of IT Infrastructure services, has reportedly won a five-year Wi-Fi monetisation deal from RailTel Corporation of India.

Philippines operator Globe Telecom revealed it had more than doubled its 5G coverage nationally with 70 towns and cities seeing a connection at the end of 2022, compared to just 29 at the end of the year prior.

Almost a year after Indian operator Vodafone Idea thought it had been assured of government help with its debt issues nothing has happened – and local media outlets are suggesting nothing will happen unless government can be assured of substantial input from other investors.

Philippines-based operator group PLDT revealed uptake of 5G devices in 2022 was low, blaming this on devices being unaffordable for prepaid customers, which make up the bulk of its subscriber base.

State-owned operator Nepal Telecom held back plans to launch a 5G trial this month on hold due to the lack of compatible smartphones present in Nepal, reported The Kathmandu Post.

Multinational information technology services and consulting company Cognizant has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Garuda Aerospace, an Indian drone start-up, to power its drones with advanced digital tools.