The Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced on Sunday it will back two new initiatives priced at US$70 billion total to connect power grids, expand cross-border electricity trade and improve broadband access across Asia and the Pacific.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) said on Thursday that it will take several months to fully restore services for its Middle East (UAE) Region (ME-CENTRAL-1) after its data centres in the UAE and Bahrain sustained damage due to the war between the US, Israel and Iran.

Kenya, South Sudan, Uganda and Rwanda agreed on Thursday to move forward with a plan to launch a regional satellite to boost connectivity in East Africa’s northern corridor.

Sierra Leone is ramping up efforts to strengthen digital infrastructure through satellite-enabled solutions, as part of a wider strategy to expand nationwide connectivity.

MTN Nigeria has secured shareholder approval to sell its stakes in fintech subsidiaries MoMo Payment Service Bank and Yellow Digital Financial Services to parent company MTN Group.

Data centre operator Princeton Digital Group (PDG) has announced the acquisition of a new site in Indonesia for its latest hyperscale data centre campus, JC4.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is considering doubling its initial loan to tower company Eastcastle Telecom to $60 million, backing the firm’s expansion in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE),  the Costa Rican government-run electricity and telecommunications services provider, has awarded a contract relating to its 5G network to tech giant Ericsson.

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

Hyperscale data centre platform AirTrunk has announced plans to invest about US$3 billion to develop two new data centres in Malaysia, to be called JHB3 and JHB4.

GLN International, a cross-border payment infrastructure provider in Asia and a subsidiary of Korea’s Hana Bank under Hana Financial Group, says it has launched a nationwide QR payment service in Vietnam in partnership with local payment processor NAPAS.

Kenyan opposition leader Kalonzo Musyoka has petitioned the High Court seeking to block the government’s proposed sale of its 15% stake in Safaricom to Vodacom, arguing that proper legal and constitutional procedures have not been followed.

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.

Malaysian telco U Mobile has partnered with Pavilion Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) to enable seamless 5G-Advanced indoor coverage in high-traffic commercial and lifestyle locations in Kuala Lumpur.

ZTE announced on Wednesday that Dominican Republic fixed-line telco Wind Telecom has commercially deployed its Smart Cloud Platform (SCP) and intelligent home solutions that it says will deliver a better smart-home experience for residential users.

Afghan Wireless Communication Company (AWCC) has reportedly launched Afghanistan’s first trial of 5G in Kabul, six weeks after the telco began testing the technology.

Thailand’s National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has approved a request to install a subsea cable landing for the TalayLink project, a regional digital infrastructure initiative backed by Google Cloud.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council has reportedly approved a temporary scheme for businesses to access the global internet with fewer restrictions. The authorities had imposed a blackout since the start of the war against the US and Israel.

Independent infrastructure investment manager I Squared Capital has announced that it has agreed to acquire Elea Data Centres, one of the largest carrier-neutral data centre platforms in Brazil.

Airtel Africa is lining up a potentially sizeable IPO of its mobile money business, with the deal expected to raise between $1.5 billion and $2 billion, according to a Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the matter.

Digicel has secured a reduction in the interest rate on a major portion of its debt, in a move that signals growing lender confidence in the operator’s turnaround.

Digicel PNG has reportedly signed an agreement with Papua New Guinea’s National Information and Communications Technology Authority (NICTA) to deploy 4G services to rural communities around the country.

AI company Pleias and the GSMA announced on Tuesday they have released CommonLingua, an open-source language identification (LID) model that they say will help close the African language gap in AI.

AI computing company Blaize revealed on Tuesday it has signed an MoU with Nokia and IT services provider Datacomm Diangraha to accelerate deployment of hybrid AI inference inference infrastructure in Indonesia.

It is being widely reported that Indian multinational conglomerate Reliance Industries (RIL) is planning to invest more than US$17 billion in setting up a 1.5-gigawatt data centre cluster and a captive solar battery storage system in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

The Starlink satellite communications service is expected to be permitted to operate in Papua New Guinea (PNG), more than two years after a ban was imposed on it by the country’s Ombudsman Commission.

MTN Group has appointed former Deloitte executive Lwazi Bam as its new Group Chief Risk Officer, effective 1 June.

Telkom Indonesia announced on Monday that it has launched a next-gen agentic AI platform that it says will accelerate digital transformation via intelligent automation, business process integration and data-based decision making.

Saudi Arabian telco Zain KSA announced on Sunday its digital platform Yaqoot is partnering with Huawei to upgrade Yaqoot’s BSS to boost operational efficiency and make its digital services more competitive.

Pan-African infrastructure and services group Axian Telecom announced on Monday it has signed a partnership deal with Oracle to unify its ERP across its portfolio.

Myriota, a leading name in low-power satellite connectivity, says it is accelerating its ongoing expansion into the ASEAN market with a strategic focus on Malaysia.

Togo, Benin and Senegal have launched free roaming services. The launch, announced late last week, marks the implementation of two bilateral agreements — one between Togo and Senegal, the other between Senegal and Benin — signed on the sidelines of the ARTAO 23rd annual general assembly.

State-run operator Telecel Zimbabwe is looking for an investor willing not only to take on a very big debt burden but also to put a lot of fresh capital into reviving the company.