Russian mobile phone operators have launched their first commercial 5G networks across 16 major cities, according to an announcement last Friday from the country’s Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media Ministry.

Moldova’s national telecommunications operator Moldtelecom has completed a joint network optimisation project with intelligent operations provider Kenmei focused on improving 4G LTE performance and initial optimisation of Moldtelecom's 5G NSA C-band network.

Veon-owned Ukrainian telco Kyivstar announced on Monday it has completed its migration of over 1 million 3G subscribers to 4G (with a few exceptions), which has freed up more spectrum capacity for its 4G network.

Kontron Transportation, a supplier of end-to-end communication solutions for mission-critical networks, says it has been awarded several contracts in the establishment of the Orient/East-Med Corridor,  with special relevance to Romania.

Orange Slovensko, one of the largest telecommunications operators in Slovakia, and Enery, a leading independent power producer in Central and Eastern Europe, have signed a ten-year physical power purchase agreement (PPA) linked to the supply of solar energy.

A major deal has been announced that could change the Polish telecom landscape. Deutsche Telekom has agreed to acquire 100% of Fiberhost, a Polish open-access fixed network operator, together with Inea, a retail broadband and TV provider.

Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar has ordered a review of state contracts with telecoms and technology group 4iG that were signed under his predecessor, Viktor Orban, putting one of the country's most prominent corporate groups under scrutiny.

Ukrainian operators Kyivstar and Ukrtelecom have signed an agreement to cooperate under an open access model, based on the shared use of telecommunications infrastructure.

There have been more headlines about the effect of data centres on water worries, this time in Poland, where a data centre announced for a suburb of the capital Warsaw has been met with protests from residents.

Nvidia announced on Saturday that AI cloud startup Firebird has launched a new AI data centre in Armenia, powered by Nvidia GPUs and Dell Technologies’ AI infrastructure.

Emitel, which says it delivers digital services and solutions powered by infrastructure, technology and data, has won a contract to build an intelligent street lighting control system for Warsaw.

Rakuten Symphony announced on Monday it has landed a grant from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) to partly subsidise its project with Ukrainian telco Kyivstar to expand their Open RAN tests from the lab to the field.

Ukraine’s three main telcos – Kyivstar, Vodafone Ukraine and Lifecell – expanded pilot 5G services to Kyiv on Wednesday, with Odesa next on the list.

GigaCloud, a Ukrainian cloud service provider, and Cubbit, described as the first geo-distributed cloud storage enabler, last week announced a new partnership designed to equip Ukrainian and Polish organisations with fully sovereign, resilient, and cost-effective cloud storage services.

Agribusiness seems to have become a very attractive proposition for IoT equipment and services providers, as a recent announcement from the LoRa Alliance, the organisation defining, evolving and promoting the LoRaWAN standard, indicates.

Latvia’s SJSC Latvijas dzelzceļš, a group of transport, logistics and technology companies mainly focused on the provision of a competitive railway infrastructure, will be the first railway company in the Baltics to use a private 5G network technology provided by Latvian operator LMT Group.

Ukrainian telco Kyivstar announced on Friday it has signed an MoU with the country’s Ministry of Economy to establish a sovereign AI-ready data centre in Ukraine.

ICT company Azerconnect Group has landed a US$20 million Shariah-compliant facility from the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) to help finance telecom infrastructure development in Azerbaijan.

KKR, Nvidia, the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) and power company Vistra have launched Helix Digital Infrastructure, a new company backed by more than US$10 billion in capital to build AI infrastructure for hyperscalers.

Russian telcos Rostelecom and VimpelCom announced on Monday they have completed the integration of their respective IT systems to automate coordination of access to Rostelecom's line and cable infrastructure.

Huawei executives said the company is repositioning itself from a traditional storage hardware supplier into a provider of full-stack AI data infrastructure, arguing enterprises will need to overhaul existing architectures to cope with the rapid rise of AI workloads.

Global digital operator Veon announced on Wednesday that Ukrainian ride-hailing platform Uklon – which is owned by Veon’s Kyivstar – has started testing autonomous vehicle technology for a planned robotaxi service in Ukraine.

Tirana International Airport (TIA) has become the first airport in the Western Balkans to deploy Airbus’ airport safety solution, a solution powered by Vodafone Albania’s 5G network.

Kyivstar announced on Tuesday it has completed its acquisition of six solar power plants in the Lviv region of Ukraine in a deal worth UAH3.6 billion (US$80.8 million) as it continues to chase renewable energy as a new revenue stream.

Critical event management company Everbridge has announced the next phase of Estonia’s nationwide public warning modernisation initiative, adding end-to-end cell broadcast capabilities across government agencies and all three mobile network operators in the country.

Ericsson announced on Tuesday that Telekom Slovenije has switched on Slovenia’s first 5G Standalone (5G SA) mobile service after completing an extensive modernization and expansion of its 5G network.

MagtiCom, the largest telecommunications provider in Georgia, has selected cloud-native software company Mavenir as its strategic small cell technology partner for a nationwide small cell deployment project.

Telekom Srbija has secured a $50 million loan from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) to support the expansion of its 5G network across Serbia.

International network services provider RETN announced on Thursday it has launched a new end-to-end backbone route through Romania that links the Balkans to Moldova and Ukraine.

Veon’s Ukrainian telco Kyivstar announced on Wednesday it has expanded its collaboration with LEO satellite player Starlink with a new agreement to resell Starlink's broadband services and hardware for businesses and public sector institutions.

Veon Group says it has fulfilled and exceeded its commitment to invest $1 billion in Ukraine, delivering $1.3 billion ahead of schedule.

Hungarian operator 4iG Group and Greece’s Grid Telecom have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to explore joint development of cross-border telecommunications and digital infrastructure across the Balkans and Mediterranean.