All Tech News

Morocco’s three main telcos – Maroc Telecom, Orange Maroc and Inwi – officially launched 5G services in the country on Friday, mainly in urban centres, four months after receiving their 5G licences.

Veon Group’s Beeline Kazakhstan has partnered with Starlink to deliver mobile connectivity across Kazakhstan, extending service to remote regions currently beyond the reach of terrestrial networks.

An interesting memorandum of understanding (MoU) has just been announced in Brazil. It aims to support power infrastructure at the Rio AI City project and involves a number of partners – including one that is part of the Google Moonshot initiative.

Digital transformation projects focused on younger end users have been highlighted this week in West Africa where operator Orange Liberia has signalled its support for digital literacy and the government of Guinea has targeted internet provision for schools.

SpaceX’s satellite internet unit Starlink is reportedly in talks with operators in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to expand coverage to remote and underserved areas.

Satellite communications provider Globalstar has announced the addition of eight new six-metre C-3 tracking antennas to its ground stations across Brazil, supporting its third-generation mobile satellite services across Central and South America.

Multinational telecommunications corporation Orange and satellite operator Eutelsat have announced the inauguration of a new teleport hosting Eutelsat's satellite gateway in the Caribbean island Martinique. This strategic project aims to strengthen satellite coverage for the Eutelsat OneWeb constellation in the Caribbean region.

UAE-based Space42 announced on Wednesday that its next-gen Thuraya-4 satellite is now globally available for customers in Europe, Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East, with new markets including South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique and Zambia.

Bharti Airtel was given the greenlight to increase its shares in Indus Towers by up to 5%, strengthening its control in India’s largest tower infrastructure provider.

Axian Telecom’s fibre subsidiary, Axian Telecom Fibre, has completed the acquisition of 99.63% stake in Wananchi Group, a fixed broadband provider, as it looks to strengthen its position in high-demand fibre markets across East Africa.

Ericsson announced on Tuesday that it has renewed its partnership with Bahrainian telco Batelco by Beyon, which will deploy Ericsson’s latest RAN solutions to expand coverage of its 5G network.

Telkomsel says it has struck a partnership deal with Indonesian smart home solutions firm BARDI to implement its dashcam smart device as an IoT-based vehicle security solution for Indonesia’s automotive and manufacturing sectors.

Microsoft officially unveiled plans on Tuesday for its second cloud region in Malaysia, Southeast Asia 3, which it said will meet growing demand for cloud services and drive long-term economic growth for Malaysia, as well as accelerate AI uptake across Southeast Asia.

Bahrain-headquartered technology group Beyon has announced the establishment of its second fully green solar-powered data centre with the successful completion of Phase 3 of the Beyon Solar Park developed in partnership with solar solutions company Almoayyed Solar.

Orange submarine cable subsidiary Orange Marine announced the construction of two new cable ships to boost the resilience of digital infrastructure across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Digital Realty has launched ACR2, its first data centre in Ghana, that it says will serve as a critical hub in Ghana’s digital ecosystem by connecting it to global markets and empowering businesses with highly connected infrastructure.

Ericsson said on Monday it has successfully completed MTN Nigeria’s first field trial of a triple-band FDD massive MIMO radio that integrates the telco’s entire 4G mid-band spectrum into a single, compact radio unit.

PLDT’s corporate arm, PLDT Enterprise, said on Monday it has partnered with API exposure platform developer Nabstract to enable direct user authentication via open network APIs rather than one-time passwords (OTPs).

Two submarine cables – one linking the UAE and Kenya and the other linking Tunisia with France – have made news recently, the former thanks to a new launch, the latter because of a successful landing.

Smart utilities are again in the news after InfraX, a subsidiary of Digital DEWA, the digital arm of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, and technology giant Ericsson recently announced that they had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to accelerate the digital transformation of the utility sector in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Wingu Africa, a specialist provider of carrier-neutral, Tier III-standard data centres in East Africa, has entered a strategic partnership with Africa Data Centres, which operates the continent’s largest network of interconnected facilities.

MTN said on Friday it has migrated its Enterprise Value Analytics (EVA) platform in South Africa to Microsoft Azure, which it says will give the telco greater agility and intelligence in how it uses data to enhance customer experience, improve operational efficiency, and enable responsible AI deployment.

Ukrainian telco Kyivstar said on Friday that it’s preparing to expand its testing of Starlink’s Direct-to-Cell (D2C) satellite service to all areas of Ukraine, apart from border zones, temporarily occupied territories and areas where fighting is happening amid the ongoing invasion by Russia.

Qatar-based Ooredoo Group announced it is collaborating with Ericsson-led open network API joint venture Aduna to make its open network APIs available to businesses across the MENA region and around the world via the Aduna platform.

Indonesian data centre firm NeutraDC Nxera Batam announced on Thursday it has topped off its new hyperscale data centre in the Kabil industrial estate in Batam, and has also secured Tier III design certification from the Uptime Institute.

Reliance Industries announced on Thursday that its AI arm Reliance Intelligence has struck a partnership with Google Cloud that will, among other things, give Reliance Jio users 18 months of free access to Google’s AI Pro plan and expand access to Google Cloud’s AI hardware accelerators in India.

Two MoUs announced in the past week underline the ongoing focus of many major corporations in telecommunications and energy supply on pursuing – or being seen to pursue – sustainable strategies, notably in the area of energy efficiency.

MTN MoMo South Africa is expanding its strategic collaboration with Mastercard in a bid to increase access to digital financial services and support greater financial inclusion across South Africa.

Saudi Arabian telco stc Group announced on Wednesday it has signed a strategic agreement with LEO satellite operator AST SpaceMobile to develop direct-to-device (D2D) satellite connectivity services across Saudi Arabia and select markets in the Middle East and Africa.

Singapore-headquartered global payment platform Thunesand pan-African financial institution Ecobank Group signed an agreement on Wednesday to collaborate on enabling instant cross-border payments for individuals and businesses across Sub-Saharan Africa, starting in Togo.

Safaricom has officially confirmed it is partnering with Meta subsidiary Edge Network Services to establish the Daraja subsea cable system that will connect Kenya and Oman.

Fibre network operator Cabos de Timor-Leste (CTL) and Telin – the international arm of Telkom Indonesia – signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Wednesday to explore ways to collaborate on digital infrastructure and connectivity between Timor-Leste and Indonesia.

Open RAN pioneer Rakuten Symphony and SLT-Mobitel, the national telecommunications services provider in Sri Lanka, are to collaborate on a pilot project to build an open radio access network (open RAN) comprising 4G and 5G NSA/SA (non-standalone and standalone) sites within Sri Lanka.