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.

Kenya’s Court of Appeal has lifted an injunction blocking the government’s planned sale of a 15% stake in Safaricom to South Africa’s Vodacom, reviving a transaction valued at KES204.3 billion (US$1.6 billion), reported to Bloomberg.  

UNESCO said on Wednesday it has launched the rollout of a new mobile-based teacher professional development initiative in South Sudan that focuses on empowering women school leaders and teachers.

Amazon has announced plans to invest an additional US$13 billion to expand AI and cloud infrastructure in India, taking its total investment in the country to US$48 billion between 2026 and 2030.

Chad’s government has warned Maroc Telecom-owned operator Moov Africa Chad to improve network performance, amid growing frustration over what officials described as the deteriorating quality of mobile services across the country.

Mauritius Telecom CEO Veemal Gungadin highlighted the operator’s progress  to build trust in AI-native learning across its home market, a strategy culminating in the creation of a national AI registry.

Philippine operator Globe Telecom has secured a PHP5 billion (US$88 million) loan from BDO Unibank to help fund capital expenditure, refinance debt and support general corporate requirements.

Jordan’s Department of Statistics and operator Orange Jordan have signed a technical and institutional cooperation agreement under which the company will develop and implement the software system and digital solutions supporting the 2026 General Population and Housing Census project.

African operator Airtel Madagascar has announced the introduction of the new 035 mobile prefix, suggesting that this marks a significant milestone in the operator’s expansion strategy as it continues to grow its customer base and network coverage across the country.

Namibia’s communications regulator has dismissed an appeal by Starlink against the rejection of its licence applications, reaffirming that the satellite broadband provider failed to meet the country’s local ownership requirements.

Messaging platform Telegram has lost its bid to overturn a government order that temporarily blocked access to the app during national medical entrance examinations, after an Indian court ruled the measure was legal and proportionate, Reuters reported.

PLDT’s wireless arm Smart Communications said on Friday it has switched on a new mobile site in San Vicente, Palawan, as part of the Philippine government’s Bayanihan SIM programme to connect geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas (GIDAs).

Lao Telecom announced on Friday it has signed a cooperation agreement with Lao-China Railway Company Limited to build a 4G signal network along the Lao-China railway that will also serve passengers.

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.

Chinese vendor Huawei has announced a patent licensing royalty rate of US$0.50 per device for products compliant with the Wi-Fi 7 standard, as it seeks to provide greater transparency around its intellectual property licensing framework.

Communication & Renewable Energy Infrastructure (CREI), a telecom energy service and asset management company and part of global corporate group two33, has received a funding boost for the expansion of its renewable energy assets across Africa.

Colombia's Ministry of ICT (MinTIC) has fined operator Telecall Colombia COP7.42 billion (US$1.8 million) for failing to meet obligations attached to its 5G spectrum licence.

Jamaican operator Flow has claimed to launch the country’s first commercial 5G network, providing coverage to around 70% of the population.

Asiacell announced on Tuesday it has become the first telecoms company in Iraq to successfully implement IPv6 Dual Stack technology.

Indian authorities have intensified inspections around Tata Electronics’ iPhone components facility in Hosur following concerns that wastewater discharge from the site may have contaminated groundwater in nearby agricultural areas.

Adani Enterprises and US-based manufacturing company Jabil plan to establish an AI and data centre infrastructure manufacturing platform in India, targeting both domestic demand and global exports.

Satellite operators Starlink, Eutelsat OneWeb and SES reportedly face new obstacles in getting final clearance to launch internet services in India after the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) expressed concerns over signal spillage in border areas.

Grameenphone announced on Sunday it has launched nationwide deployment of its recently acquired 700-MHz spectrum band across Bangladesh.

Somalia is reportedly moving ahead with its structural transition to the new generation of internet addresses (IPv6), a change necessary to build the capacity of the country's digital infrastructure and anticipate the future growth of online applications. 

Bharti Airtel shareholders have overwhelmingly approved the operator’s proposal to increase its stake in Airtel Africa through a share-swap transaction with promoter group entity Indian Continent Investment Limited (ICIL).

There’s been further good news for India’s number three operator Vodafone Idea (aka Vi) after the announcement of a major investment.

India’s Jio Platforms (JPL) announced on Sunday it has surged 320 places year-on-year in the latest Patent Co-operation Treaty (PCT) rankings released by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) to crack the global top 20 list of PCT applicants.

Telecom Namibia has taken more steps to expand its regional satellite and subsea cable connectivity with Angola via separate agreements signed with Angola’s Gabinete de Gestão do Programa Espacial Nacional (GGPEN), Angola Telecom, and SATCAB (Satélite e Cabo TV).

The Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) has said it has surpassed 241,000 active .ng domain names, less than a quarter of the one million active-domain target that NiRA set in 2019 for achievement by 2024.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has signed a global partnership with AI company Anthropic to help enterprises deploy generative AI at scale, with a particular focus on highly regulated industries.

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.