The Indonesia Ministry of Communication and Information (MCI) began the process to award spare spectrum in the 2.3GHz band to operators, a move to boost operator capacity and encourage digital transformation.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) continued its 5G deployment plan, granting state-owned operator VNPT-Vinaphone permission to conduct 5G trials.

Indonesian operator Telkomsel invested $150 million into taxi-booking firm Gojek, a move to expand their services and accelerate digital transformation in the country.

Thailand’s Digital Economy and Society (DES) minister has confirmed that the merger between the country’s state operators TOT and CAT Telecom should be complete by 13th January 2021.

Philippines operator Globe Telecom announced it expanded its 5G network to 17 key cities in populous areas Metro Manila, Visayas and Mindanao, as the operator continues its mass connectivity upgrade campaign.

Samoa was one of the first Pacific Island countries to establish a regulatory infrastructure and liberalise its telecom market. In 2006, it became the first in the region to see the market entrance of Digicel, which has since launched services in other Pacific nations.

Mobile Internet Holdings BV (MIH) is set to receive around $75 million in growth financing from a group of investors led by Gemcorp Capital.

Vietnamese company Vingroup secured a contract to manufacture two million 4G smartphones for an undisclosed US operator, a showing of overseas market expansion for the company.

The GSMA, which represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, has announced the signing of three memorandum of understanding (MoU) agreements, in order, it says, to help foster and accelerate digital nation opportunities.

Global investment company KKR announced it will invest in telecoms infrastructure company Pinnacle Towers, a move to capitalise on growing connectivity demand in Southeast Asia.

Chilean telecommunications watchdog Subtel announced a search for partners to finance a project to lay subsea fibre optic cables to connect South America to the Asia-Pacific region.

Philippines operator PLDT announced it secured permission to double its tower presence in the country, as part of plans to meet growing connectivity demands and government targets.

Indonesian operator Telkomsel announced an IDR10.3 trillion ($701 million) deal to sell 6,050 towers to tower company PT Dayamitra Telekomunikasi (Mitratel), a deal to support its focus on main parts of the business.

Filipino mobile provider Smart has selected Nokia to launch IoT services across the archipelago.

Telecom Vanuatu Limited (TVL), a provider of landline, GSM, internet, and 4G+ to the island country of Vanuatu in the South Pacific Ocean, has begun modernising its network using solutions by digital enablement firm Alepo.

Malaysian operator Digi Telecommunications announced it chose ZTE to supply equipment for its nationwide network modernisation project, as part of plans to prepare for a commercial 5G launch.

The telecom sector in Laos still has numerous issues to address. For a number of years, the rate of regulatory reform has been well behind wider industry development. However, Laos has started to make significant progress in strengthening its telecom infrastructure. As a result, it has attracted greater foreign investment into the sector.

NTT has completed an end-to-end network consolidation project for Indonesian operator PT Smartfren Telecom.

Six Malaysian operators have been issued fines collectively totalling MYR700,000 ($168,500) for neglecting to authenticate new prepaid subscribers during 2019.

Viettel Business Solutions will provide NOW Corp with ICT products and services in the Philippines as the latter’s mobile subsidiary NOW Telecom looks to establish itself as the market’s fourth major operator.

Huawei has announced a new next-gen data storage solution, OneStorage, to provide on-demand storage resources and automatic data O&M management, enabling both operators and enterprises to move towards all-scenario intelligence and multi-cloud convergence.

Guangzhou is leading the 5G development in China. In this article Liu Min, Branding Director of ZTE RAN Products, outlines some key recent developments in this important city in Southern China.

Indonesia’s large population and complex geography pose a number of challenges for governments to develop economic growth. These challenges are mirrored in the telecom sector, which is well served by mobile infrastructure, but which has inadequate fixed-line capacity in many areas.

Filipino operator PLDT has stated that it will migrate all customers still using its legacy copper wire network onto fibre within the next 18 months.

Philippines-based operator Globe Telecom rolled out 5G connectivity to more key cities in Metro Manila, as the operator continues deployment plans.

Philippines-based telecoms group PLDT hailed its preparation in future-proofing its network which proved vital during the Covid-19 pandemic, and urged other operators to diligently bolster their networks, in order to prepare for a new normal of operating.

Cloud and data centres in the Asia-Pacific region are among the fastest-growing in the world. That’s the finding of a new report from Tariff Consultancy Ltd service Datacentrepricing.

Globe Telecom has reached out to several independent tower firms in the Philippines in a bid to boost the quality of its mobile network.

Papua New Guinea is set to gain a greenfield 4G mobile network, as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a $25 million investment into a project for its construction in the Pacific country.