The government of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil has announced plans to invest $18.3 million in a new disaster recovery data centre.

A ‘green’ high-speed underwater backbone communication network is coming to Brazil’s Amazon River thanks to a partnership between Seja Digital, a non-governmental, non-profit institution created by regulator Anatel, and HMN Tech, a provider of turnkey submarine network solutions.

Venezuela’s Digitel has confirmed its aim of launching a VoLTE offering in 2023.

As part of the operator’s wide-ranging network upgrade, Nokia will deploy its XGS-PON equipment for Cable Bahamas (REV)’s new fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network.

Chile’s Entel has pledged to invest more than US$665 million throughout 2022 into its operations across Chile and Peru.

Broadband internet via satellite is coming to 500 rural communities in Mexico thanks to Spanish telecommunications satellite operator Hispasat and Mexican internet service provider GlobalSat.

Parallel Wireless is conducting an Open RAN field trial over the 2600MHz band in Brazil, in partnership with local operators and organisations.

Brazilian telecoms regulator Anatel is exploring the possibility of punishing vendors of grey market devices with fines up to BRL50 million (US$10.5m) per infraction.

Saint Kitts and Nevis is set to build a new data centre in a bid to boost its economy.

Satellite operator Intelsat has been part of two very different deals recently, both underlining the diverse uses of satellite communications. One involves extending video connectivity in Brazil. The other aims to improve maritime connectivity across an area that includes Africa and the Middle East.

Trilogy International Partners has agreed to sell a majority stake in Bolivian operator Nuevatel to Balesia Group for an undisclosed fee.

Panama’s competition regulator has given the green light for the proposed merger between Liberty Latin America’s unit Cable & Wireless and local rival Claro Panama.

Brazilian regional operator Copel Telecom has changed its name and is now called Ligga.

Chile’s WOM has launched commercial 5G services across several regions of the country.

Liberty Latin America has selected Matrixx Software’s Digital Commerce as part of its ongoing digital evolution in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Hard on the heels of its recent deals involving education and OTT video in the Latin American market, Spanish operator and satellite solutions and services provider Hispasat has said that it has now reached an agreement to acquire teleport operator and satellite services provider Axess Networks.

TIM Brasil has claimed that it is the first operator in Latin American to launch Core 5G standalone (SA), meeting the requirements of regulator Anatel and allowing it to offer networks and services using the 3.5GHz spectrum.

Could established brands be keen customers for a white-label, fully-customizable solution that would turn them into telecom carriers? OXIO, the first telecom-as-a-service platform for brands and enterprises, is hoping so after it raised $40 million in Series B funding. Among the markets it is targeting is Latin America.

Hard on the heels of its announcement that it intends to sell off its data centre business, Chilean operator Entel is back in the news with plans to sell its fibre optic network – for which expressions of interest have already apparently been received from third parties.

Hispasat, the Spanish operator and satellite solutions and services provider, has been involved in two very different deals recently, covering education and OTT video.

Global internet backbone provider Arelion has announced two deals in the Latin American market, where it has expanded its network in Mexico with help from data centre operator KIO Networks and also partnered with Gold Data, a leading Latin American network provider, to expand its reach in both Mexico and other parts of Latin America.

Brazil’s Telefonica Vivo is deploying a simplified and automated, 5G-ready IP network for its converged mobile and fixed networks as part of the Fusion Network Project in Brazil using solutions from Cisco and NEC Corporation.

Panama has seen a steady increase in revenue from the telecom sector in recent years. Mobile services and broadband remain the key growth sectors, with mobile connections accounting for 90% of all connections, and over half of telecom sector revenue.

International payments platform Paysend has expanded its money transfer services with Pix, the Central Bank of Brazil’s instant payment platform.

EllaLink, the high-capacity and low latency fibre-optic submarine cable directly connecting Latin America and Europe, which recently announced a partnership with internet operator Group IP Telecom, has announced another strategic partnership – this time with internet exchange (IX) operator DE-CIX.

Altan Redes, the Mexican public-private initiative that seeks to expand mobile communications coverage in remote areas of Mexico, has been granted an extension of its coverage target timescale.

Barbados has licensed a third operator in a bid to introduce more competition to the market.

Completing a very busy few days for Intelsat, the satellite operator has added deals in Brazil and Mali to the recently reported Ku-band-related agreement in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Mexican quad-play (cable television, broadband internet, fixed telephony and mobile telephony) operator Megacable has come to an agreement with AT&T Mexico whereby it will to be able to use AT&T’s network.