DCI Indonesia, a leading data centre provider in Indonesia, has opened the first phase of its second data centre campus outside Jakarta. H2 campus, as it is known, is sited on 791 hectares and has a total capacity of up to 600MW.

The regular issues facing Vietnam’s undersea cable connections since 2017 have continued long into 2021. Not long ago, the Asia America Gateway (AAG) undersea cable broke down yet again. This is apparently the third time the cable has been broken this year.

Telecommunication infrastructure in the Solomon Islands requires significant investment due to the geographical make-up of the islands.

French Polynesia has one of the most advanced telecoms infrastructures in the Pacific Islands region. The first submarine cable was deployed in 2010 and additional cables have been connected to the islands in subsequent years, vastly improving French Polynesia’s international connectivity.

Banking software firm Temenos has announced contract wins in Cambodia and Egypt.

Two tower-related stories from Malaysia indicate the continuing need for reliable infrastructure to meet the requirements of underserved rural areas.

Philippines telecoms giant PLDT has announced plans to build its largest and most powerful data centre. The aim, according to local news reports, is to attract global technology giants and cloud service providers to the Philippines.

The Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA), an industry organisation that represents the interests of mobile network operators worldwide, announced the formation of the Asia Pacific (APAC) 5G Industry Community.

Telekom Malaysia (TM) is providing MEASAT Broadcast Network Systems (Astro) with a full suite of wholesale infrastructure and connectivity solutions, allowing Astro to deliver reliable broadband and content services.

Malaysia’s Axiata Group and Indonesia’s Sinar Mas Group are reportedly in discussions over a possible merger of their units in Indonesia.

Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Information (MCI, aka KemKominfo) stated that it has completed the refarming of the 2.3GHz band after selling the frequencies at auction in May 2021.

China Mobile has selected its compatriots Huawei and ZTE as equipment suppliers for a converged 4G/5G core network contract reportedly worth CNY7.5 billion ($1.16 billion).

The third and final reading of a bill imposing a 12 percent value-added tax (VAT) on digital transactions in the Philippines has taken place in the country’s Lower House of Congress, underlining a trend that seems to be extending to a number of countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Kingdom of Bhutan in the Eastern Himalayas will soon enjoy the benefits of 5G thanks to a deal between Ericsson and Bhutan Telecom, one of two mobile operators in the country.

In yet another boost to connectivity across the more than 16,000 islands that make up Indonesia, Ceragon, a solutions provider of 5G wireless transport, has said it has been selected to provide connectivity to remote Indonesian islands and regions.

Telecom Fiji Limited (TFL) will no longer charge for calls made from its network of public phone booths to emergency numbers or any TFL landlines.

Yesterday’s big story that Ooredoo and CK Hutchison have agreed to merge their Indonesian units is not the only hot telecoms news from Indonesia in recent days. A 5G network launch and a potentially major data centre initiative have also made headlines.

The merger of Papua New Guinea’s state providers Telikom PNG and bmobile is reportedly on track to close by the end of this month.

Telenor has confirmed that it still aims to exit the Myanmar market through a sale of its local unit.

Investors continue to display a strong appetite for data centre investment in the Asia Pacific region. The data centre market across the region is expected to see another record year in terms of investment, with an estimated US$1.8 billion in direct investments already transacted in the first half of 2021.

Broadband satellite networks and services provider Hughes Network Systems and Indonesian operator DTP plan to connect citizens in Papua and throughout Indonesia with satellite broadband.

According to a number of reports, PLDT, a leading operator in the Philippines, is considering selling its data centres, with a potential value in the region of half a billion dollars. However, its towers, also the subject of sell-off speculation, could make even more money.

Toko Wireless (Tonga) and WanTok Networks (Vanuatu) have announced the formation of WanTok Pacific Corporation, a company that will launch a new local mobile operator and, it says, provide a full suite of additional telecom services.

Cambodia’s mobile-dominated telecoms sector spent much of 2020 battling two major challenges: the global pandemic, and the government’s retraction of trial licenses for the rollout of 5G.

The Covid-19 pandemic had a relatively minor impact on the Philippine’s telecom sector in 2020. Subscriber numbers fell in some areas, but this was offset by strong growth in mobile data and broadband usage since a significant proportion of the population transitioned to working or studying from home.