Enterprise Ecosystems

Thai telco True Corp said on Tuesday that its enterprise arm TrueBusiness is partnering with Japan’s SoftBank to co-develop innovations and tailor-made digital solutions for Thai enterprises.

PLDT Enterprise announced on Friday it is collaborating with TikTok to launch TikTok Go LIVE! Studio Packages targeted at creators, multi-channel networks (MCNs) and SMEs in the Philippines.

PLDT Enterprise said on Thursday it is partnering with local energy solutions provider Lin Man Power Technology to deploy cellular smart meters across the Philippines.

Malaysian telco CelcomDigi said on Wednesday it is collaborating with Google’s Firebase and Telenor Linx to boost its API-as-a-Service (APIaaS) offering for phone number verification.

Malaysian 5G telco U Mobile said on Thursday it will launch a neutral sandbox for enterprises to develop 5G-Advanced use cases, and has already signed on several big-name ecosystem partners to support the project.

Artificial intelligence technology company AfricAI says it has signed a multi-year exclusive distribution and deployment agreement with Micropolis Robotics, granting AfricAI sole and exclusive rights to commercialise, deploy, and scale Micropolis’s advanced robotics platforms across Africa.

Vodafone Business, a division of the country’s leading operator Vodafone Egypt, has announced its entry into Egypt’s agriculture sector, marking what is described as a significant expansion of its enterprise services into one of the country’s most critical economic areas.

Military-owned telco Viettel Group announced on Friday it has kicked off construction of Vietnam’s first semiconductor chip manufacturing plant to support the government’s ambition to develop a fully-fledged semiconductor ecosystem.

Malaysian operator CelcomDigi has announced the completion of a large-scale connectivity and tower infrastructure deployment across IOI Corporation’s plantation estates in Sabah, a state on the northern part of Borneo, and Peninsular Malaysia.

Ocean Network Express (ONE), one of the world's leading liner shipping companies, and Japanese technology group MTI have established a joint venture called Quaveo in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City.

Ooredoo Qatar has launched a new eSIM solution for IoT devices, which it says can help enterprises simplify device management, enhance security, and scale IoT operations across borders.

Ericsson and Zain Bahrain announced on Monday they have expanded their strategic partnership to include Ericsson’s 5G Edge User Plane technology, which Zain will deploy to enable Industry 4.0 technologies in Bahrain’s industrial sector.

Vietnamese telecoms player Viettel said it has held “high-level bilateral working sessions” with Japanese companies Nikon Corporation and Tokyo Electron Limited (TEL) as part of its preparation to help build Vietnam’s first domestic semiconductor manufacturing plant.

Uruguay-headquartered dLocal, which describes itself as the leading payment platform connecting global merchants to emerging markets, has announced a new strategic partnership with commercial payments specialist Convera.

Payments giant Mastercard say it has partnered with MoneyHash, a payment orchestration platform built for emerging and global markets, to expand merchant access to the newly launched Merchant Cloud across the Middle East and Africa.

China Mobile Pakistan (CMPak, a.k.a. Zong 4G), announced on Friday it has signed a strategic partnership deal with local communication-as-a-service provider Eocean to launch a digital commerce-as-a-service (DCaaS) offering.

Thai market leader AIS (Advanced Info Service) has tapped Netcracker for what the companies describe as the largest cloud deployment in Thailand.

Syria’s Central Bank (CBS) has announced a strategic partnership with Visa to accelerate the country’s integration into the global digital economy. Local press reports say that the agreement was formalised during a meeting at the Central Bank late last week.

Bharti Airtel is making its network capabilities available to third-party developers through a Nokia developer portal platform.

TrueBusiness – the enterprise arm of Thai telco True Corp – announced on Monday it has launched “True AI Hub”, an AI platform that provides organisations with access to over 50 AI models from more than 10 AI platform providers.

Gabon has introduced a new platform. Called Kimba, its aim is to drive demand and supply matching in digital services.

Ooredoo and Vodafone Qatar announced the commercial release of network APIs standardised under the GSMA Open Gateway initiative that enable identity verification tools to combat digital fraud in Qatar.

Viettel’s Cambodian subsidiary Metfone has reportedly signed a cooperation agreement with Cisco to distribute and deploy its ICT solutions to local enterprises as part of Metfone’s strategy to shift from traditional telco to tech solutions provider.

NetBIT, the enterprise services unit of Mexican ISP ENI Networks, announced on Thursday it has collaborated with Ciena and Braxem to launch a new offering that leverages passive optical network (PON) access technology to drive digital transformation for Mexican enterprises.

Sri Lankan telco Dialog Axiata says it has partnered with the Ministry of Environment’s Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) to launch a 5G-enabled autonomous water-surface cleaning robot.

ONATi, the incumbent telecommunications service provider in French Polynesia, has migrated the management of its interconnect voice traffic and national and international partners to Oculeus’ Captura NG solution.

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.

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).

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.

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.

Logistics solutions company DP World says it has launched the rollout of its Port Community System (PCS) platform in Kenya, marking what it calls a major milestone in the country’s journey towards more efficient and transparent trade.

Education and healthcare are the two sectors where artificial intelligence (AI) holds the greatest potential to deliver meaningful benefits for society, according to Frost & Sullivan’s Global ICT Practice Leader, Alexander Michael.