Orange announced it will begin switching off its 3G network at the end of September in six counties, to re-farm spectrum and enhance its LTE network to serve growing demand.

United Group, which describes itself as the leading multi-play telecoms and media provider in Southeast Europe, has confirmed that it has completed the sale of its mobile tower infrastructure unit (TowerCo) in Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia to Tawal, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia's STC Group and a leading integrated ICT infrastructure company in the MENA region.

The proposed sale of United Group’s mobile telephony towers in Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia to Saudi telecom infrastructure company Tawal has been approved by Bulgaria’s Commission for Protection of Competition.

Authorities in Kosovo have reportedly revoked the licence of MTS Kosovo, a subsidiary of Telekom Srbija, with “seemingly” immediate effect.

Veon has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Rakuten Symphony with a focus on rebuilding infrastructure in Ukraine through collaborative investment in Open RAN and digital services.

Georgian telecoms service provider Cellfie Mobile has announced that Nokia has won an expansion deal to upgrade its 4G network and introduce 5G-ready network services.

Nokia trimmed its sales and profit forecast for 2023 blaming a tightening economic landscape for cutting customer budgets.

A decision by Croatia’s regulator to remove restrictions on dominant player Hrvatski Telekom (HT) looks set to provoke a backlash from smaller competitors in the country’s fixed broadband sector.

Vivacom received the green light to acquire seven broadband and TV providers, despite backlash and furore from rivals who harbour concerns about competition. 

Ericsson is building a next-generation smart manufacturing and technology hub in Tallinn, Estonia.

Chinese companies have taken the majority of the Russian smartphone market after Western vendors departed the country for humanitarian reasons stemming from the invasion of Ukraine.

Hungarian operator group 4iG struck a deal to sell its mobile network assets and spectrum to Budapest-based wireless communications company Pro-M for HUF68 billion (US$199 million), via its subsidiary Antenna Hungaria. 

Operator iliad has sold its current stake (30%) in OnTower Poland, the Polish telecommunications infrastructure company controlled by Cellnex (which holds 70%). The company was set up by both operators in 2021 as part of Cellnex’s acquisition of the network of some 7,000 sites from mobile operator Play in Poland.

A1 Serbia has signed a deal to acquire a portion of Conexio’s infrastructure.

Operator Beeline Kazakhstan has launched a software company, QazCode, to boost the development of new digital products and services. This was announced by parent company, global digital operator Veon.

Illiad-owned Polish operator Play expanded its TV and broadband arms by acquiring 100% shares in rival provider Syrion. 

Russia’s MegaFon has issued a legal challenge against sanctions placed upon it by the European Union.

Azerbaijani operator Azercell expanded its 4G network to reach the city of Nakhchivan as part of its nationwide network modernisation project to blanket the Nakhchivan municipality with 4G by the end of the year.

All three bidders in Hungary’s 32GHz spectrum auction have procured licences.

Poland’s government is reportedly planning to commence the process of licensing 3.5GHz spectrum within weeks.

Tele2 Estonia has commenced its trial of mmWave 5G with a new 26GHz base station in the town of Lagedi, near the capital of Tallinn.

International network services provider RETN has announced that it has completed the second phase of its Budapest to Sofia ring, achieving, it says, 100% network diversity from Budapest in Hungary to Sofia in Bulgaria via Romania.

RETN, an international network service provider, has announced the launch of a new fibre route connecting Berlin in Germany and Poznan and Warsaw in Poland.

STC’s tower infrastructure company Tawal signed agreements to acquire towers in Bulgaria, Croatia, and Slovenia from United Group for €1.2 billion, as part of a wider move to expand overseas.

Telekom Romania Mobile has entered the country’s 5G market with a stealth launch via its existing spectrum holding.

4iG group has announced that DIGIMobil customers will be switched over to Vodafone Hungary’s network from 1^st June.

Armenia’s telecoms regulator the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) will reportedly block the proposed sale of MTS Armenia (Viva-MTS) due to national security concerns.

Uzbektelecom (Uztelecom) trialled its 5G network on consumers in the capital city of Tashkent as the operator prepares for a full launch, reported CommsUpdate.