The Indian government has announced plans to geotag key telecom infrastructure, including telecom towers and optical fibre cables, to facilitate coordination, particularly in disaster situations.

High altitude pseudo satellites (HAPS), aka high-altitude platform systems, are back in the news, this time thanks to a deal affecting India.

Globe Telecom hailed milestones in building 276 new cell sites and upgraded 2,509 sites to 4G LTE in the Philippines island of Mindanao in 2023, as part of its strategy to connect new subscribers for growth ambitions. 

Neways, which specialises in mission-critical technology for leading semiconductor, connectivity and smart mobility companies, has announced the establishment of a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Klang, a major city in Selangor, on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia.

Nokia has published the findings of its latest annual Indian market-focused Mobile Broadband Index (MBiT).

Mastercard has signed a deal with China’s Alipay to facilitate international remittances into the market.

Philippines-base operator Globe Telecom closed the sale of 154 towers to Miescor Infrastructure Development Corporation (MIDC) for PHP 13.5 billion (US$242 million). 

An expanded connectivity offering from two major names in satellite communications – Intelsat and CDL – is said to hold out the promise of delivering new land mobility services throughout India.

Philippines-based operator Globe Telecom deployed hybrid solar units across 26 sites as part of wider plans to become a net zero emissions company by 2050. 

Data from Dell’Oro Group showed Huawei was the leading telecom equipment vendor by revenue in 2023, but the overall market had contracted 5% year-on-year, snapping five years of consecutive growth. 

Private equity firm KKR & Co will invest US$400 million in telecoms tower operations in the Philippines, according to an announcement made by the US Department of Commerce this week.

A number of Indian press reports have suggested that state-owned operator BSNL has installed 3,500 4G-capable base transceiver stations (BTSs) in five north Indian states, including Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh West.

Thai operator AIS is in the news again today, this time through the announcement that it is joining forces with IPification to deliver next-generation phone number verification solutions to Thailand.

Technology giant Microsoft has said it will train 100,000 Philippine women in artificial intelligence technology and cybersecurity.

AIS partnered with Google Cloud to deliver a suite of business solutions to SMEs in Thailand, a move to push growth in its enterprise segment. 

Networking systems, services and software company Ciena has announced an upgrade to support growing demand for more bandwidth for the SEA-ME-WE 4 cable across the Asia-to-Europe route.

Demand for fixed-line telephone services has reportedly spiked in North Korea’s North Pyongan Province due to the easing of border restrictions with China, which has also led to a spike in installation prices.

Huawei President of Data Storage Product Line, Peter Zhou (pictured), urged the telecoms industry to utilise efficient data infrastructure to effectively leverage AI to bolster their operations.

Zoho Corp, a leading global technology company, has announced the opening of two Middle East data centres in Saudi Arabia. Located in Jeddah and Riyadh, the two data centres are now fully operational. With this addition, Zoho Corp now has 18 data centres worldwide.

Huawei signed global patent licensing agreements with Amazon and Chinese smartphone firm Vivo, moves the infrastructure company said will provide consumers with more innovative products and services.

An ongoing dispute between Google and Indian start-ups over charges in its Android and Play Store app ecosystem seems to have escalated in the past few days.

The much anticipated commercialization of 5.5G (5G Advanced) which starts in 2024 has energized exhibitors and speakers at MWC 2024 in Barcelona.

Indonesian operator Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison and India’s Tech Mahindra, an information technology services and consulting company, have announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at MWC 2024 to build Garuda, a large language model (LLM) to preserve Bahasa Indonesia, the official and national language of Indonesia and its dialects.

Could the fortunes of Indian operator Vodafone Idea be about to change? That’s probably too optimistic an assessment at this stage, but recently announced plans to raise Rs45,000 crore (about US$5.5 billion) via equity and debt signal that a much-needed funding boost may finally be on the way for Vodafone Idea.

At MWC24, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison announced a collaboration with NVIDIA to help establish Indonesia as a leading player in the AI sector.

Telkomsel has signed an agreement with Google Cloud to integrate enterprise-grade generative AI (gen AI) into its operations and core product offerings for consumers and businesses.

As 4G delays and subscriber losses continue, it has been reported that the Indian government is looking at ways to improve operational efficiencies in state-owned operator BSNL to enhance its competitiveness.

Bharti Airtel, one of India's leading telecommunications service providers, has announced what it calls a pioneering initiative to deliver uninterrupted connectivity to metro commuters by deploying high-capacity nodes 35 metres below the River Hooghly (popularly known as the Ganga) in West Bengal.

G+D a major name in digital security, financial platforms and currency technology, and operator China Unicom have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at this year’s MWC to establish a strategic partnership in the areas of eSIM technology and services.

Ericsson revealed it will upgrade Malaysia’s 5G network to 5G Advanced, a move the vendor claimed will open new features and capabilities to attract adoption from enterprises. 

There’s more environment-focused news from big industry names at MWC 2024. This time it involves Indonesian telecommunications company Telkomsel, which has formed a strategic collaboration with vendor Ericsson.