Digital Realty announced on Monday it has formed a strategic joint venture with Turkish investment company Rönesans Infrastructure to develop and operate next-generation data centres across Turkey.

Singapore-based global payment platform Thunes announced on Monday that it’s expanding its cross-border payments network across the Middle East in six new markets: Bahrain, Lebanon, Oman, South Yemen, Syria and the UAE.

Space42, the UAE-based AI-powered SpaceTech company, and satcoms giant Viasat have signed a binding agreement to co-found Equatys, creating the first shared space and ground infrastructure platform for global direct-to-device and advanced MSS connectivity.

The SAMENA Telecommunications Council – the industry body representing the telecoms sectors in South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa – has called for stronger practical cooperation between the Arab region and Africa to invest and implement AI.

Saudi Arabian service provider and digital enabler stc Group, and Astranis, which builds advanced satellites for high orbits, have announced an agreement to deploy a dedicated satellite serving Saudi Arabia.

The installed base of fleet management systems in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and Turkey will reach 12.5 million units by 2030. That’s the headline finding of a new report called Fleet Management in the Middle East.

UAE-based data centre operator DAMAC Digital and Vodafone Türkiye have inaugurated the first phase of a new data centre in Izmir with an initial IT load capacity of 4MW and an investment of US$100 million.

Vodafone Business, Cassava Technologies and Elsewedy Electric signed an agreement on Tuesday to establish Africa Data Centers Egypt, a data centre project that will include Egypt's first sovereign AI data centre powered by Nvidia GPUs.

Algeria’s Ministry of Post and Telecommunications has announced the launch of plans to bring telecommunications services to 3,000 areas across the country, with a view to strengthening national coverage.

Telecom Egypt signed an agreement on Thursday with Greece-based Power Sub Link (PSL) to construct a mult-petabit subsea cable that will extend the reach of its Red2Med cable system up the Gulf of Aqaba coast from Sharm El Sheikh to Taba.

Saudi Arabian service provider Zain KSA has had a busy week – one involving announcements of both a major data centre deal and the deployment of cloud services for a major utility.

Ericsson announced on Tuesday it has signed a new multi-year agreement with stc Group to further expand the telco’s 5G network across Saudi Arabia.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced on Monday it has expanded its plans with PIF-owned Humain to launch an AI Zone in Saudi Arabia in 2028, whilst also confirming it’s on track to launch its first Cloud Infrastructure Region in the country December 2026.

The fast-growing number of artificial intelligence projects in Saudi Arabia has been underlined by recent announcements involving AI data centre development from Humain and Datavolt and enterprise AI from NTT Data.

Ericsson announced on Monday it has signed two MoUs with Saudi Arabian telco Mobily – one for AI-powered RANs, and another to boost Mobily’s network autonomy to Level 4.

The UAE’s Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA) has granted LEO satellite operator Starlink a ten-year licence to establish, operate, and manage broadband satellite internet services in the country.

Payment giants Visa and Mastercard have carried out their first international card transactions in Syria, indicating that the country is now much closer to reconnecting with global payment networks.

AMD, which describes itself as a high performance and adaptive computing leader, and Humain, which delivers global full-stack AI solutions, say they have launched a new ‘AI in a Box’ solution for enterprise users across Saudi Arabia.

Visa announced on Wednesday it has successfully tested its first live international transaction in Syria in its bid to help integrate the country’s financial services sector into the global digital economy.

Chinese smartphone manufacturer Vivo has opened a smartphone assembly plant in Algeria as it looks to increase its local manufacturing presence and tap into the country's growing demand for devices.

AI solutions company Mistral and Humain, a global AI company building the full AI stack and backed by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund have announced a strategic collaboration focused on sovereign AI.

Omantel announced on Monday it has partnered with Chinese LEO satellite operator GalaxySpace to explore ways to cooperate in next-gen satellite connectivity in Oman, to potentially include direct-to-device (D2D) satellite technologies.

Qatar Airways says it has become the first airline to operate Starlink-equipped Boeing 787-9 aircraft globally. The carrier has also completed Starlink rollout across its Boeing 787-8 sub-fleet in seven months, bringing the total number of its Starlink-equipped widebody aircraft to 150.

e& UAE announced on Thursday it has successfully tested enhanced RedCap (eRedCap) technology on its live network, which it says will broaden its ability to support native-5G IoT devices.

The Algerian government has reportedly warned Meta that all WhatsApp accounts in the country must be linked to a valid mobile phone number registered with an Algerian telco, and instructed it to ban all WhatsApp accounts that aren’t.

UAE regulator the TDRA has renewed the licences of both of the country’s telecom operators – e& and du – for another 20 years.

Ericsson and Zain Jordan said on Wednesday they have started the next phase of their project to modernise Zain’s business support systems (BSS) to advance its digital transformation and prepare its IT infrastructure to support 5G services.

The UAE-based AI-powered SpaceTech company Space42, and Autonomous A2Z (A2Z), South Korea's leading autonomous driving company, have signed a commercial agreement valued at US$7 million to deploy Level-4 mobility solutions in the UAE.

Global smartphone shipments fell 7% year-on-year in 2Q26 as the ongoing memory shortage pushed up device prices and weakened consumer demand.

Three companies – UNIFI Communications, Syrian Telecom, and CYTA – have signed a construction and maintenance agreement for UGARIT 2 – a new subsea cable that, at the outset, will connect Syria to Lebanon and Cyprus.

Iraq's Communications and Media Commission (CMC) kicked off legal proceedings on Monday to shut down the network of Korek Telecom, who is fighting the move, accusing the CMC of overstepping its authority.