The long-anticipated merger of Telenor Pakistan with Pakistan Telecomm­unication Company Ltd (PTCL) does now appear to be close to becoming a reality after it received the approval of The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) late last week.

It’s only been a week or two since its launch was formally announced, but it seems that Huawei’s RuralCow, a rapid-deployment, all-in-one mobile base station that provides mobile coverage to remote rural areas, has already made an impact in a major market.

K-Towers, a tower infrastructure-as-a-service provider (and subsidiary of Singapore-headquartered next-generation broadband satellite operator Kacific), and UK-based PowerX, a data intelligence platform for optimising tower infrastructure, have announced a strategic partnership to modernise rural tower networks in the Pacific.

Vantage Data Centers, a global provider of hyperscale data centre campuses, has announced that its fourth facility (KUL14) on the company’s first Cyberjaya campus in Malaysia is now operational, completing the development of the KUL1 campus.

A UNDP report, published this week, warns that unmanaged artificial intelligence (AI) could reverse the trend of narrowing development inequalities that has marked much of the last half-century.

Papua New Guinea telco Digicel PNG and local microbank MiBank announced on Friday they have formed a new strategic partnership that enables two-way transfers between MiBank accounts and Digicel’s mobile money service CellMoni.

India has announced that, in future, all mobile phones will need to be preloaded with a government app called Sanchar Saathi (meaning Communication Companion) to ensure cybersafety.

5G subscriptions across the Asia–Pacific region are expected to reach 4.6 billion by 2030, up from 2.7 billion in 2025, according to GlobalData.

Telkomsat, Indonesia’s leading satellite service provider, has formally signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Australia-headquartered satellite IoT company Myriota, to bring its connectivity and solutions platform to the country.

South African operator MTN and technology giant ZTE Corporation have announced three major joint innovations in South Africa that they say will transform network performance and customer experience.

Amazon has started trialling its Leo (Project Kuiper) satellite broadband service with selected enterprise customers, marking the first phase of a broader commercial rollout planned for later this year to take on Starlink.

Jiangsu, one of the most economically dynamic coastal provinces in eastern China, has a permanent population of over 85 million and has ranked first nationwide in per-capita GDP for 16 consecutive years. Its 13 cities boast diverse cultural heritages and historical backgrounds, creating a “mega-market” with varied demands.

China has launched a two-year commercial trial programme for satellite Internet of Things (IoT) services, a move designed to expand low-Earth-orbit (LEO) connectivity and speed up adoption of non-terrestrial IoT across key industries.

Technology giant ZTE, operator China Unicom Liaoning and Dalian Changhai Airport have announced the successful launch of a 5G-Advanced (5G-A) ISAC private network aimed at improving low-altitude security and airport safety.

A potentially significant new approach to enabling real-time network optimisation and coverage improvement, particularly in underserved areas, has been trialled in the Philippines.

Thailand is offering another strong reminder of its intentions in the data centre market with the recently reported approval of US$3.1 billion in new investments by the country’s Board of Investment (BOI) for four new data centre projects.

Princeton Digital Group (PDG) has begun construction on a new 120MW data centre campus, claiming it to be one of the largest single-site builds underway in Indonesia.

Globe Telecom has signed a new JPY20 billion (US$127 million) loan facility with Japan’s Mizuho Bank, adding fresh financing to support its capital expenditure plans and debt refinancing efforts.

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) is set to sell around half of its stake in Ooredoo Group in a move to raise additional capital on the Qatar Stock Exchange.

Huawei’s sixth Innovation and Intellectual Property (IP) Forum, held in Beijing this month, saw experts in innovation and intellectual property from around the world gather to explore the importance of openness and IP protection in driving innovation and social progress.

Indian real estate developer Anant Raj, now also operating in the data centre space as Anant Raj Cloud, has reportedly signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Andhra Pradesh, a state on the east coast of southern India, for the development of new data centre facilities and an IT park.

Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison (IOH) has teamed up with Nokia and NVIDIA to open an AI-RAN Research Center in Surabaya, Indonesia, marking a major step toward building AI-native telecom networks in the country.

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.

A number of major data centre operators in the Philippines have come together to form what is described as a unified alliance that aims to strengthen the country’s position as the next digital hub of Southeast Asia.

BENEFIT, a leading Bahrain company in fintech and electronic financial transactions, licensed by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) as an ancillary service provider to the Kingdom’s financial services industry, has announced a deal that will help to enable real-time cross-border payments between Bahrain and India.

There is a shortage of high-quality teaching in schools across the globe, but a new, innovative model is equipping teachers with the tools they need to prepare the next generation of minds.

Open RAN pioneer Rakuten Symphony and SLT-Mobitel, the national telecommunications services provider in Sri Lanka, are to collaborate on a pilot project to build an open radio access network (open RAN) comprising 4G and 5G NSA/SA (non-standalone and standalone) sites within Sri Lanka.

Humain, a global artificial intelligence company based in Saudi Arabia building end-to-end AI capabilities, and AirTrunk, a data centre platform in the Asia Pacific region, have agreed to establish a strategic partnership to build data centres in Saudi Arabia.

Indian operator Vodafone Idea finally has some good news to celebrate after a reported gain in subscriber numbers and a potentially positive outcome in its pursuit of relief from AGR debt demands. But will this good fortune last?