Vodafone Qatar has signed what is described as a landmark five-year partnership agreement with Microsoft, which, it says, will see the transformation of its network and customer service operations through the deployment of cloud computing platform Microsoft Azure and the suite of artificial intelligence services known as Microsoft Azure OpenAI.

The GSMA revealed former Vodafone executive Vivek Badrinath (pictured) will take the hot seat as director-general of the GSMA from Mats Granryd who will depart at the end of March 2025 after MWC Barcelona.

Service provider Ooredoo Qatar has announced the successful completion of its trial of Wi-Fi 7 technology. The trial was completed on fibre-to-the-room (FTTR) devices for the first time in the region. The company plans to launch the technology in 2024.

The World Health Organization found there is no link between brain and head cancer from use of mobile phones or being situated close to mobile towers.

Qatar’s mobile operators have been given seven months to switch from FDD to TDD in the 2.6GHz frequency band by the country’s regulator.

Abu Dhabi-based Marlan Space, a new space company affiliated with International Holding Company (IHC), a global diversified conglomerate, also based in Abu Dhabi, has established a joint venture with US-headquartered space infrastructure company Loft Orbital to form Orbitworks, the Middle East’s first private space infrastructure company.

Ericsson has announced a new partnership with operator e& Egypt that marks what is described as a ‘significant milestone in advancing ICT infrastructure in Egypt and the wider region’.

Mubadala Investment Company, the Abu Dhabi sovereign investor, has announced an investment in Yondr Group, a leading global hyperscale data centre developer.

A2P voice and messaging solutions provider Vox Solutions said on Tuesday it has signed an exclusive interworking agreement Libyan mobile operator Almadar Aljadid to help it combat A2P SMS and flash call fraud.

The African smartphone market saw smartphone shipments grow by 6% year-on-year to 17.8 million units in Q2 2024, continuing recovery over the past three quarters against macroeconomic volatility.

Bayanat, a provider of AI-powered geospatial solutions, and Yahsat, the UAE’s flagship satellite solutions provider, have announced the successful launch of their first low Earth orbit (LEO) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite. It went into orbit at the end of last week.

Attempts across Africa to manage the proliferation of SIM cards are continuing. This time it’s Tunisia’s turn.

The Arab Organisation for Industrialisation (AOI) has announced this week the establishment of a mobile phone tower manufacturing facility in Egypt at the group's Aircraft Factory.

Telecom Egypt said on Wednesday it has signed a multi-year agreement with Mada Communications to be its “preferred strategic provider” for international application-to-person (A2P) messaging services.

Orange credited “remarkable” results from its Africa and Middle East unit for a solid performance in the second quarter.

Ericsson and Etisalat’s e& United Arab Emirates (UAE) say they have successfully conducted end-to-end verification of RedCap software on e&’s 5G Standalone (5G SA) network, which will enable it to support IoT devices as it evolves to 5G Advanced.

Analyst houses Canalys and IDC reported growth in the global smartphone market fuelled by the hype from gen AI equipped devices.

Nokia and Telecom Egypt are partnering for Egypt’s first 5G launch.

Ericsson announced on Sunday that Jordanian telco Umniah will deploy its artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions to reduce energy consumption across its network operations, following a successful proof-of-concept (PoC).

UAE-based operator group e& said it will continue to fight against a half a billion dollar fine for anti-competitive practices in Morrocco.

Service provider Ooredoo says it has entered into a partnership with Qatar Airways to embark on what is described as a large-scale cloud adoption journey.