India has increased its policing of online technology platforms as it has reportedly demanded messaging services Telegram and Signal explain their safeguards around users keeping their phone numbers hidden, after WhatsApp saw its usernames rollout paused.

Papua New Guinea saw movement on the 5G front on Friday after Digicel PNG announced its mobile network is now officially 5G-ready, while the country’s regulator released two draft plans for 5G spectrum bands.

Paratus Zimbabwe and Powertel Communications, the ICT arm of Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA), announced on Friday that the first phase of their national fibre backbone project is now live and carrying traffic.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) announced on Friday that international connectivity services on the SEA-ME-WE 5 subsea cable system have been fully restored following a fault on the cable a day earlier.

Chile telecoms regulator Subtel has this week announced plans to expand competition in satellite services in Chile and to incorporate new bands to improve connectivity.

The Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Digital Affairs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Genew Technologies for a major fibre optic initiative covering the Congo River.

Indonesian telecoms infrastructure and network provider MoraRepublic and Chinese subsea cable firm HMN Tech announced on Thursday that they have completed factory acceptance testing of wet plant gear for the Moratelindo International Cable System-3 (MIC-3).

Indonesian telco Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison announced on Thursday it has successfully spun off its fibre business, which has relaunched as Infra Fiber Teknologi (IFT), an independent fibre infrastructure platform backed by Indosat and Arsari Group.

Google Cloud launched several new initiatives to boost AI development in Africa on Wednesday, including new infrastructure, a new AI lab, digital skillsets development and startup funding.

A new partnership has been announced that will build sovereign AI data centre infrastructure in Saudi Arabia.

Yet another India-Southeast Asia undersea cable is in the news after an announcement that a consortium plans to build a new undersea cable linking India with Malaysia and Singapore.

Global digital operator Veon – which owns Bangladesh telco Banglalink – announced Tuesday it has committed an initial US$250 million anchor investment as part of a new initiative to attract US$1 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) to Bangladesh.

Elea Data Centres says it is partnering with renewable energy company AXIA Energia to launch what they say is the first neutral AI data centre in the Amazon region in the second quarter of 2027.

Malaysian 5G wholesaler Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB) announced on Wednesday it’s doubling the mid-band capacity of its network, whilst also confirming that second 5G telco U Mobile has offboarded all of its 5G subscribers from DNB’s network to its own.

The GSA (Global mobile Suppliers Association) has elected a new President, Patrik Cerwall, who will take the helm from 1^st January 2027.

Zain Group, a Kuwaiti mobile telecommunications company operating in eight markets across the Middle East and Africa and serving 51.2 million customers, has been awarded a 25-year licence to operate the former MTN mobile telecom network in Syria.

Thales Alenia Space, the joint venture between French aerospace and defence corporations Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), has announced the signing of a contract with Es’hailSat, the Qatar Satellite Company, to develop a new-generation software-defined satellite.

Communications technology giant Tata Communications has announced strategic investments in subsea cable infrastructure to strengthen its connectivity solutions between the emerging AI hubs of Mumbai and Chennai in India and Singapore.

The Chad QoS saga, pitting authorities against operators, continues. This time operator Airtel Chad has presented a new investment plan to improve service quality as Chadian authorities intensify pressure on telecom operators over network performance.

Globe Telecom announced on Monday it has officially launched Starlink’s direct-to-device (D2D) satellite service across the Philippines after receiving regulatory approval National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).

Cambodian engineering and infrastructure firm Comin Asia said on Monday that it’s partnering with Nokia to to design and deploy AI-ready data centre infrastructure across Southeast Asia, starting with Cambodia and Laos.

The East African Communications Organisation (EACO) and the Smart Africa Secretariat have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen strategic collaboration in advancing the digital transformation and accelerating the realisation of a single digital market in Africa by 2030.

This week will see Tunisian plans to make mobile IDs mandatory for investment project declarations come into force.

The approval, early last week, of the installation of Google’s underwater cable linking Chile to Asia-Pacific means the Humboldt Cable, as it is known, is on track to be installed in the last quarter of 2026 and become operational in 2028.