Telecom

Regulators must look past politics when banning Huawei, report warns

The exclusion of Chinese tech companies from Western countries’ fifth generation rollout efforts due to alleged security concerns will negatively impact the progression of the technology for years to come, a recent report highlighted.  According to a new report by global tech advisory firm ABI Research, phasing out vendors could hamper worldwide deployment by several […]

The gaming industry’s widespread success in the era of Covid-19

Gaming has changed significantly over the years; and massively so during the novel COVID-19 pandemic. Not many industries can look back at 2020, wipe the blood, sweat, and tears off their faces and say “okay, the worst is behind us.” Even less so, are the industries that didn’t just survive during a bustling year full […]

Uganda lifts internet ban, as social media remains blocked

Uganda has lifted its blanket ban on internet access on Tuesday following a heated presidential election that saw the country’s long-time president Yoweri Museveni declared the winner. However, many have reported that certain social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are yet to be restored, with access to them only attained via Virtual Private […]

BT slapped with a lawsuit over overcharging elderly customers

British telecom giant BT is being slapped with a class action lawsuit over allegations that it has been overcharging elderly customers for eight years. The lawsuit came in the wake of a 2017 report from telecoms watchdog, Ofcom, which found that the operator had been overcharging 2.3 million of its landline customers since 2009. Since […]

Saudi’s CITC fines several operators for violating telecom laws

Saudi Arabia’s Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) fined late last week, a number of local telecoms providers for violating several telecommunications laws in the Kingdom. CITC imposed fines reaching more than SR40 million ($10.67 million) for making promotional offers in violation of CITC’s decisions, using frequencies without licenses, failing to comply with the CITC’s […]

Three Angolan operators cleared for IPO listing with more to come

Angola has cleared the way for three state-owned telecoms companies to be listed on Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), according to a presidential decree published on Thursday. Local media have reported that two presidential decrees have authorized IPOs for the privatization of state assets in TV Cabo Angola and Multitel respectively. However, a third decree has […]

Uganda bans social media in run off to presidential election

Uganda’s communications regulator has imposed a blanket ban on all social media and messaging apps since Wednesday until further notice, South African telecoms company MTN Group said in a statement. Reuters confirmed it had seen a letter from the Ugandan communications regulator dated 12th January 2021 which ordered internet service providers to “immediately suspend any […]

Good news looms for Vodafone, as Telefonica offloads towers

Spanish telco Telefonica agreed on Wednesday to sell its tower portfolio in both the European and Latin American markets to American Tower for €7.7 billion (or $9.4 billion). Telefonica will offload almost 30,722 existing communications sites pertaining to its telecom infrastructure subsidiary, Telxius Towers across Brazil, Chile, Peru, Argentina, Germany, and Spain. American Tower is […]

India’s Tata acquires majority stake in French eSIM provider Oasis

Indian telecoms giant Tata Communications has acquired a majority equity stake of 58.1 percent in Oasis Smart SIM Europe SAS (Oasis), a France-headquartered embedded-SIM (eSIM) technology provider, according to a joint statement by both companies. Oasis develops and provides advanced technologies and personalized services to enable the deployment of eSIM and SIM technologies. With this […]

Iran to rollout 5G services in March 2021

Hamrave Aval, operator of the Mobile Company of Iran (MCI), has announced that it will begin its 5G rollout efforts by the 20th of March 2021, as the country began commissioning fifth generation networks in March of 2020. While details and size of the project remain unknown, the director general of MCI suggested that the […]