Veon Digital Financial Group and Veon-owned Beeline Kazakhstan announced on Tuesday they have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with the National Bank of Kazakhstan to explore the development of digital payment services in the country.

Tencent Cloud announced on Tuesday it has signed an MoU with Malaysian 5G operator U Mobile to explore development of practical 5G and AI solutions for enterprises and SMEs.

Cybastion, a US company that delivers digital and infrastructure solutions in Africa, reportedly plans to mobilise about US$300 million for several projects supporting Senegal's digital transformation.

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.

The GSMA has warned that rising smartphone component costs could widen the digital divide as 3.1 billion people remain offline despite living within mobile broadband coverage.

The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) is funding a feasibility study for a new submarine cable system linking Thailand with the US via up to five other Southeast Asian countries.

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.

Digicel announced on Monday that it has signed a definitive agreement to sell its El Salvador operations to General International Telecom El Salvador (GITES) as it sharpen its focus on its core Caribbean markets.

Bangladesh telcos Grameenphone and Robi Axiata have launched separate AI subscription services that aim to make overseas AI models easier to access and pay for.

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.

Confirming Nigeria’s plans to expand its satellite resources, telecommunications and technology giant Thales Alenia Space says it has won a contract to build the NigComSat-2A geostationary telecommunications satellite.

In what could prove an important boost for the drive towards enabling cash-free economies in the developing world, the World Bank Group has launched an initiative to help local financial institutions expand digital payments in emerging markets.

ZTE and Uruguay's Antel have completed what they describe as the first validation of symmetric 50G PON technology in Latin America, demonstrating the coexistence of GPON, 10G PON and 50G PON on the same access network.

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.

Pan-African telecoms firm Africell confirmed on Friday it has secured a US$99.6 million direct loan from the US Export-Import Bank (ExIm) primarily to enable the American-owned company to buy only US and European mobile network equipment.

Azerconnect’s international backbone operator AzerTelecom announced on Friday it has entered into a strategic partnership with DE-CIX to launch a new internet exchange in Azerbaijan.

South Africa-based Digital Parks Africa (DPA) says it’s expanding into West Africa with plans to develop a new carrier-neutral data centre in Nigeria in association with the Master Power Technologies Group.

Vodafone Idea has secured about US$3.5 billion in debt financing from a consortium led by State Bank of India (SBI), providing the Indian operator with funding to rebuild its network and compete with rivals Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel.

Liberty Business has partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to provide Jamaican businesses and organisations with access to cloud services supported by local expertise and managed services.

Ethio Telecom revealed on Thursday it has held a stakeholders' workshop with Djibouti Telecom and Sudatel Group to push their planned Horizon Cross-Border Terrestrial Fiber Initiative into the pre-commercialisation phase.

The US Export-Import Bank is reportedly set to award pan-African telecoms firm Africell a loan worth US$100 million as part of a move by the Trump administration to discourage it from buying network equipment from Chinese vendors like Huawei and ZTE.

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.

Mongolian broadband provider Mobinet is deploying Plume Design’s Plume Platform to power its mobihome broadband service.

The 15th ZTE Global Summit & User Congress officially opened in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, co-located for the first time with the GSMA M360 ASEAN.

The growing importance of mobile money in Sri Lanka is underlined by two recent announcements from leading operator Dialog Axiata relating to the remittance market and lifestyle retail.

Vietnamese operator VNPT has selected Israeli telecom software provider Radcom to provide service assurance for its roaming network, replacing its incumbent vendor following a competitive tender.

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.

Thailand-based holding company Gulf Development and Singaporean telecommunications conglomerate Singtel Group have announced a strategic partnership to develop new submarine cable connectivity between Thailand and Singapore.

Mobile operators in Asia Pacific are making progress on climate targets, but limited access to renewable electricity is slowing efforts to cut emissions, particularly in emerging markets, according to the GSMA.

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.