Brazilian carrier Vivo has announced the start of 5G tests in the millimeter-wave (mmWave) of 26 GHz band in partnership with Finnish vendor Nokia.

Cable & Wireless Panama (CWP), which is 49% owned by Liberty Latin America (LLA), is acquiring Claro Panama from America Movil (AM) for US$200 million.

Brazilian telecom operator Mhnet Telecom has finalized negotiations for the acquisition of Creral Telecom, located in the Alto Uruguay region, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

Satellite networking technology, solutions and services company Gilat Satellite Networks has announced that it has received a $12 million service award for recurring revenues from broadband services in Cusco, Peru.

The giant telecoms corporation America Movil, having decided on a reorganization earlier this year, is now to propose a spinoff of its towers business to shareholders.

The Peruvian Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC) has announced continued enhancements in its drive to expand mobile coverage in rural areas.

The Dominican Republic’s telecom sector continued its solid though unspectacular form throughout 2020 and into 2021, shrugging off the economic turmoil unleashed by the Covid-19 pandemic to maintain a decade-long run of low but positive growth across all areas of the market.

Altan Redes, the consortium tasked with deploying Mexico's 4.5G shared network – called Red Compartida – has announced that it has secured a $50 million loan from shareholders.

Despite the harsh impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the country’s population and economy, Colombia’s telecom sector had a solid year thanks to positive performances in the fixed-line broadband, mobile broadband, and mobile voice and data markets.

Paraguay’s regulator Conatel (Consejo Nacional de Telecomunicaciones) has agreed to renew Claro and Tigo’s 4G AWS licences.

TIM Brasil and suppliers Ericsson and MediaTek conducted the first pilot tests in the Brazilian city of Itajuba, in the state of Minas Gerais, with carrier aggregation (CA) in 5G standalone architecture.

Brazil has one of the largest mobile markets in Latin America due to the sheer size of its population.

Honduras’ state-back operator Hondutel has revealed that its losses topped HNL298.9 million (US$12.4 million) for the first half of 2021, reportedly prompting a rescue package from the country’s government.

Chinese multinational technology company Huawei Technologies has teamed up with the Brazilian National Service for Industrial Training (Senai) to open a professional training and certification lab for the ICT and telecom sectors in Cachoeiro de Itapemirim (Espirito Santo).

FiBrasil (FiBrasil Infraestrutura e Fibra Ótica SA), a Brazilian company whose focus is the construction and operation of a neutral fibre network, has announced a major acquisition with the potential to boost its coverage plans.

Ecuador’s regulator ARCOTEL (Agencia de Regulacion y Control de las Telecomunicaciones) has begun talks with the country’s two largest mobile operators about revising the terms of their licences after they expire.

Brazilian plans to encourage lower energy use amid an ongoing drought include a mandate to federal data centres to moderate their power use.

Brazil’s Federal Court of Accounts (Tribunal de Contas da Uniao, TCU) has approved the public notice for the proposed multi-band 5G spectrum auction.

A second data centre is on the cards for Huawei in Mexico, according to reports from an online event marking two years since Huawei’s first Latin American data centre opened in Chile. The precise location of the planned site has not yet been revealed.

The Colombian ICT minister, Karen Abudinen, has announced the resumption of the installation of digital centres, or connection points, in rural areas of the country, a project that temporarily halted in 2020.

Brazilian Internet broadband services provider Vero SA has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) at the Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM).

Telefónica Global Solutions (TGS) partnered with Viasat to provide satellite communications services in Brazil.

Brazilian telecommunications company Embratel has announced plans to build 15 edge data centres in the country.

Brazil’s Minister of Communications Fabio Faria has indicated that the country’s delayed 5G spectrum auctions will finally take place in October this year.

SES, the provider of global content connectivity solutions, granted Gilat Satellite Networks a multi-million-dollar contract for multiple broadband applications in Latin America.

Brazilian Internet Service Provider (ISP) Desktop Sigmanet (Sigmanet Comunicação Multimídia SA) has acquired Net Barretos, a small-scale broadband provider that serves the interior of Sao Paulo.

Targeting in particular the 1.7 billion consumers that it says have joined the world’s middle class in the past decade, most of them in emerging markets, fintech Boku has launched M1ST (Mobile First), which it calls the world’s largest mobile payments network.

Brazilian telecommunications company Algar Telecom has completed the purchase of 100% of the share capital of Vogel Telecom. The operation was announced in May this year.

Altice Dominicana and Claro Dominicana have submitted technical and economic offers to The Dominican Telecommunications Institute (Indotel) as the regulator prepares to auction 5G spectrum.

Brazilian manufacturer and provider of optical solutions serving the network operators, IT, and multimedia, Padtec reported operating revenue of BRL 119.6 million for 2Q 2021, an increase of 38.8 percent on the previous quarter and 86.3 percent year-on-year.

Sercomtel, a regional telecom operator in the state of Paraná, Brazil, Nokia, and Brazilian agricultural research corporation Embrapa have launched 5G connectivity pilot projects in Brazil to develop techn services for the agribusiness sector.

Global infrastructure operator Telxius said that its new Mistral subsea cable is now ready for service. Running up the western coast of South America, the Mistral cable links Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, and Chile.

Wind Telecom, a service provider in the Dominican Republic, says it is modernizing its GPON network infrastructure for its FTTH and FTTO services by implementing digital transformation company Alepo’s AAA (authentication, authorization, accounting) solution.