Vodafone Ukraine has extended its branding and access partnership with Vodafone Group.

Tele2 has completed the sale of its Croatian unit to the United Group for EUR220 million (USD241 million).

Romania has become the latest country to announce a 5G spectrum auction. According to the Romanian regulator, the National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM), the auction will take place in the fourth quarter of this year.

According to a recent press release from A1 Belarus the operator has begun work on launching voice and data mobile communications at all new stations on the Minsk metro, as well as along the lines connecting them.

Mexican cable operator Megacable is deploying fibre GPON infrastructure across its footprint via a US$400 million investment.

Recent 5G coverage has reported launch activity in Thailand, Tajikistan and Croatia, though what constitutes a launch may be up for debate; a couple of 5G debuts are concentrated in a relatively small area.

North Macedonian regulator the Agency for Electronic Communications (AEK) has extended the deadline for comments on the award of 5G frequencies in the country.

Intracom Telecom has announced the delivery of its NGINius-Charging solution to a major Greek operator, member of a global Tier-1 Group.

Polish operator Polkomtel – branded as Plus - has chosen Ericsson to supply equipment for its 5G Radio Access Network.

Telekom Slovenije and Iskratel are partnering to develop 5G networking solutions.

North Macedonia’s regulator, the Agency for Electronic Communications (AEK), is planning to award 5G spectrum in the second half of this year and has opened a public consultation on the initiative.

Ukraine is allowing the repurposing of 800MHz and 900MHz spectrum to facilitate deployments of 4G/LTE mobile networks.

Orange’s local unit in Slovakia, Orange Slovensko, has selected Nokia to prepare its Radio Access Network for 5G.

5G continues to make news as five Thai operators submit bids for spectrum and a Polish operator claims it is ready to commercialise 5G.

Mavenir has deployed its cloud-native, converged IMS solution for both T-Mobile Czech Republic (TMCZ) and Slovak Telekom (ST).

Tele2 has been informed by Croatia’s competition authority that its proposed sale of its local unit will receive formal clearance within the next month.

As might be expected, the continuing drive to get 5G auctions and rollouts under way is throwing up a number of controversies. The latest policy debates have taken place in Poland and the Czech Republic.

The government of Croatia is pushing for a 5G launch in the country’s fourth-largest city, Osijek, by the end of the year.

Russia’s MegaFon is entering into Fixed Virtual Network Operator (FVNO) partnerships with domestic ISPs in order to extend the reach of its converged fixed and mobile services.

Estonia’s scheduled spectrum auction has stalled following a legal challenge from a smaller local player.

Representatives of Telekom Romania have reportedly met with the country’s Prime Minister Ludovic Orban to discuss the sale of OTE Group’s holding in the operator.

In another busy period for state regulators, recent spectrum news includes planned auctions and completed auctions in Thailand and Nepal, and the end of CDMA-800 in Ukraine.

Czechia may delay the 5G spectrum auction that it has scheduled in January in order to attract more bidders.

It seems that Ukraine’s mobile operators may have more spectrum to play with after an announcement from Ukraine’s National Television & Radio Broadcasting Council (NRADA).

NEQSOL Holding, representing Azerbaijan's Bakcell, has completed its acquisition of Vodafone Ukraine from Russia's MTS.

Orange Poland has selected Juniper Networks to enhance the resilience and automation capabilities of its IP network core.

Poland’s P4, which operates as Play, has announced its intent to use frequencies that it holds in the 2100MHz band to offer 5G services without having to obtain spectrum at auction.