The World Bank has pledged US$100 million to fund a new project that promises to speed up development of Zambia's digital infrastructure and narrow the digital divide.

The Liberian Telecommunications Authority (LTA) has introduced a new set of regulations designed to empower fintech companies and foster a more competitive mobile market.

Nairobi-based IXAfrica Data Centres and Schneider Electric have launched what they say is the first AI-ready hyperscale data centre in Kenya, and the largest such data centre in all of East Africa.

The Women in the Digital Economy Fund (WiDEF) announced on Wednesday the launch of its second competitive funding round for enterprises to develop and scale solutions that can narrow the gender digital divide in developing countries.

Chad’s telecoms regulator, Autorité de Régulation des Communications Électroniques et de la Poste (Arcep), has renewed the licence of telco Airtel Chad with some new specifications and stronger QoS requirements.

Things are looking difficult for state-owned Zimbabwean mobile operator NetOne, which is now reportedly technically insolvent.

The West Africa Telecommunications Regulators Assembly (WATRA), which as its name implies, brings together the region’s telecommunications and ICT regulators, is apparently hoping to encourage infrastructure sharing to lower the cost of internet access in West Africa.

MTN Benin contracted NuRAN Wireless for 200 sites to deploy  2G, 3G and 4G in rural locations across Benin.

Artificial intelligence apps have the potential to boost the African continent’s economic growth by close to US$3 trillion over the next six years – and mobile operators will be key to unlocking that, says the GSMA, the world’s biggest mobile operator association.

South African fibre installation company Lightstruck has entered into an agreement with the Namibian City of Windhoek’s City Link initiative to advance the city’s fibre network commercialisation efforts.

Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT), which owns and operates Nigeria’s communications satellite systems, has begun the process of replacing its NIGCOMSAT-1R communications satellite. It is reportedly seeking support from investors and collaborators worldwide to do this.

Orange’s Burkina Faso unit has formed a direct connectivity alliance with A2P voice and messaging solutions provider VOX Solutions.

Starlink has officially launched services in South Sudan with the approval of the National Communications Authority (NCA), which hopes the LEO satellite operator will bring affordable internet services to the country.

Namibia has joined the growing list of southern African countries where power outages have affected telecom networks and services.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo recorded more mobile subscribers in 2023 with over half of the country’s large population now connected, reported Ecofin Agency.

A telecoms lobby group in Zambia has warned that lengthy power blackouts caused by load shedding over the past year is taking its toll on the quality of mobile services across the country.

Ethiopian state-owned operator Ethio Telecom announced revenues and profits surged over 20% in its full year ending in June.

The GSMA announced a global coalition with major telecom players, the ITU and World Bank to improve the access of affordable handsets and connect three billion people that are not online.

Telecel Centrafrique has reportedly been forced by the Central African Republic’s Ministry of Finance and Budget to close its offices over US$4.4 million in unpaid taxes.

DIDWW, a provider of two-way SIP trunking services to operators and businesses all over the world, says it has expanded the coverage of its virtual phone numbers to another five territories.

Another funding win has been announced by for mobile and broadband wireless infrastructure supplier NuRAN Wireless, this time involving Cameroon.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has announced the launch of the Africa Broadband Maps project, which aims to establish broadband mapping systems in 11 sub-Saharan African countries to help narrow the digital divide.

The Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST) and aerospace manufacturer EnduroSat have announced that they are together building the country’s first satellite, BOTSAT-1. The satellite will launch on the SpaceX Transporter-13 mission during or after February 2025.

TelCables South Africa, which offers a range of secure connectivity solutions to the Southern African market, says it has upgraded its backbone network infrastructure to accommodate the rapidly growing data traffic across its network and to provide faster, more secure connectivity.

Operator MTN Nigeria is widely reported in the African press to be building a 1,500-rack Tier IV data centre in Lagos, which would make it West Africa’s largest data centre.

Somalia-based operator Hormuud Telecom signed up to the GSMA’s Humanitarian Connectivity Charter pledging to provide connectivity in times of urgency and  enhancing collaboration with humanitarian organisations.

African money transfer company Dahabshiil and Safaricom Ethiopia's M-Pesa have signed a partnership that will enable the Ethiopian diaspora to send money directly to M-Pesa mobile wallets.

Congolese Fiber Optic Company (SOCOF SA) has reportedly signed a partnership with the Agency for the Coordination and Monitoring of Collaboration Agreements (APCSC) to deploy optical fibre networks along new roads to be built in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Nigerian banks have reportedly started paying a debt they owed operators, following the payment plan that was agreed upon in the last quarter of 2023. As of November 2023, Nigerian banks owed telecom firms ₦200 billion (about US$132 million) for using their unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) services.

Two years after India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) sought views on the need for overhauling laws governing the telecommunications sector (and nearly 75 years after the last relevant legislation of the sector) India has a new, updated Telecom Act. It came into effect on 26 June.

Africa-focused cross-border money transfer operator Mama Money partnered with payment processor firm Paymentology and Access Bank to launch a new bank card service that integrates WhatsApp banking.

Telecom Namibia has announced what it calls a three-year transformative partnership via a joint venture between mobile technology company ZTE Corporation and its partner company Huafull International Limited.