MANILA, March 31, 2026 – ePLDT Group, the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) subsidiary of PLDT, has chosen CSG^® (NASDAQ: CSGS) to support the next phase of its business growth. Together with CSG, ePLDT and its data center subsidiary, VITRO Inc., continue to build on their robust digital backbone to bring enterprise customers a faster activation process, more tailored tech offerings, and simpler billing experiences.  

“As we continue to advance our digital transformation capabilities, our focus is to deliver tangible value for our customers by simplifying engagements and enabling faster outcomes,” said Victor S. Genuino, President and CEO of ePLDT & VITRO Inc. “With its deep domain expertise and longstanding relationship with PLDT, CSG plays an important role in helping us deliver more responsive, efficient, and customer‑centric experiences for Philippine enterprises.” 

With CSG Quote & Order and CSG Encompass, ePLDT Group further expands its ability to simplify complex enterprise requirements, drive sustained revenue and customer lifetime value, and reinforce its digital foundation across its portfolio of multi‑cloud, data and AI, managed services, cybersecurity offerings, and data center solutions. In turn, these capabilities enable enterprises to reduce complexity, accelerate decision‑making, and stay competitive by accessing ICT services that are easier to understand, procure, and deploy. 

“In our digital economy, demand for data center, cloud, and cybersecurity services has skyrocketed,” said Ian Watterson, Senior Vice President, Go-to-Market, CSG. “As a trusted digital transformation enabler, ePLDT Group serves as the backbone to many of the most important modernization initiatives in Asia-Pacific. We are humbled to build on CSG and PLDT’s 20+ year relationship as we help ePLDT scale its business and power the next wave of enterprise transformation in the region.” 

Learn more about how CSG Quote & Order accelerates time to value and unlocks stronger B2B experiences for global industry innovators, from Telenor Denmark to One NZ. 

About CSG

CSG empowers companies to build unforgettable experiences, making it easier for people and businesses to connect with, use and pay for the services they value most. Our customer experience, billing and payments solutions help companies of any size make money and make a difference. With our SaaS solutions, company leaders can take control of their future and tap into guidance along the way from our fiercely committed and forward-thinking CSGers around the world.

Want to be future-ready and a change-maker like the global brands that trust CSG? Visit csgi.com to learn more.

Contacts:  

Julia Dakhlia

External Communications, +1 (402) 431-7376, julia.dakhlia@csgi.com

John Rea

Investor Relations, +1 (210) 687-4409, john.rea@csgi.com

A few stories to keep up with from: … [visit site to read more]

Smart Communications, Ericsson and Meta announced on Tuesday they have jointly optimised Smart’s network to support better-quality OTT voice and video calls for Meta’s Messenger app in the Philippines.

Ericsson and Smart said they fine-tuned key technical parameters in Smart’s live network in the Luzon area of the Philippines in collaboration with Meta’s local team to enhance network performance.

The result: 24.6% lower round-trip time for Messenger calls, 55% lower packet loss for fewer interruptions, and clearer video at nearly 20% higher video bitrate, all of which enable more stable and reliable real-time conversations.

“These improvements mean [customers’] video calls over Messenger are sharper, and they can enjoy continuous calls with their loved ones,” said Debbie M. Hu, head of network at Smart Communications.

Hu added that the network enhancements also benefit other OTT voice and video call apps, not just Messenger.

Daniel Ode, head of Singapore, Philippines and Brunei at Ericsson, added that the initiative “demonstrates how focused global technical expertise, decades of trusted telco leadership, and platform-level coordination can come together to produce tangible, customer-facing improvements — clearer audio, fewer interruptions, and a more dependable calling experience that Filipinos can rely on every day.”

Interview

Despite decades of technological change, from early mobile devices to eSIM, the core telco retail experience has remained largely static. For Christopher Krywulak, CEO and founder of iQmetrix, the industry now faces the harsh reality of a long-delayed transformation, with raising customer expectations and rapid AI advances pushing operators towards a more holistic retail model.

Speaking to Total Telecom, Krywulak shed light on the broken customer retail experience, organisational inertia, and why operators must embrace AI and hybrid retail models.

Fragmented and frustrating

The mobile industry has long suffered from a persistent failure to connect digital and physical channels into a seamless journey. Despite operators investing heavily in apps and online tools, the in-store experience often remains disconnected from the online experience.

“The retail experience fundamentally still hasn’t changed significantly since the first introduction of mobile phones,” said Krywulak. “It was very transactional and, from a carrier perspective, we have not yet really shifted. There’s no real appetite from telcos to take the lead and bridge their systems.”

This fragmentation is most visible when customers move between channels. Journeys that begin online frequently collapse in-store, resulting in a frustrating customer experience.

“Telcos have always been so focused on their networks that the channel is something of an afterthought. In their minds, it’s just the part at the end of the transaction, where it really needs to be part of the whole flow,” said Krywulak. “Our best-in-class retailers create a continuous experience that moves from online to in-store seamlessly. That’s a great experience and it generates loyalty.”

A ‘phygital’ future

Of course, addressing this challenge is no small feat. The telco industry has long discussed the challenges and benefits of creating a seamless digital–physical retail experience, but few have truly embraced the approach.

“There is awareness that this customer experience really matters, but it has not really been solved at scale yet for telcos,” said Krywulak. “There’s been much talk of multi-channel, omnichannel, but I like the term ‘phygital’ – it literally blends the digital and physical together.”

In practice, this means ensuring that the same systems and data underpin both environments. Key customer interactions, such as checking upgrade eligibility, trade-in value, or product availability, should be consistent regardless of channel.

“A lot of the plumbing that we do at iQmetrix is ensuring that the physical orchestration level is the same as the digital,” Krywulak explained. “We need to be able to hand off from one service platform to the other while retaining the customers’ identity to deliver a unified experience.”

Culture, not technology, is the primary barrier

While legacy systems and siloed data are often cited as the main obstacles to delivering a ‘phygital’ channel experience, Krywulak argues that organisational structure and mindset are equally significant barriers. Operators are used to their various departments operating largely independent, each with its own priorities and little motivation to work across teams. This, Krywulak says, makes it inherently challenging to deliver a consistent customer experience.

“They have their sales team, their marketing team, and their IT team, but no one’s really working on the shared strategy,” he said, describing a lack of ownership over the end-to-end customer experience.

This fragmentation is further entrenched by telcos’ tendency to approach change incrementally, aiming to solve problems in isolation rather than redesigning journeys holistically.

“There’s been a bottom-up reductionist approach to retail,” explained Krywulak. “They do a piece at a time, rather than thinking about how the system works as a whole.”

For Krywulak, this is a fundamental error, arguing that operators’ strategies should begin by defining the desired customer experience and expanding from there.

“What kind of experience do you want your customer to have? What problems do they have and how can you solve it for them? These are the key questions to ask, rather than leading with technology,” said Krywulak.

This lack of a top-down, experience-led strategy contrasts sharply with best-in-class retailers, like Apple, who design their retail strategy around the user journey from the outset

Apple, frequently cited as a benchmark, exemplifies a model where digital and physical interactions are tightly integrated and designed around the user journey from the outset.

“Apple is really the ‘North Star’ for where telco should be headed,” said Krywulak. “The company really understands that the digital and physical should be considered a single, unique final experience for customers. They are creating brand theatre in their stores. When customers come to your store regularly because they trust you to solve problems, not just sell products, then there’s so much commercial opportunity.”

Agentic commerce will demand change

The next phase of retail disruption is rapidly approaching in the form of agentic AI, where digital agents can act on behalf of customers to navigate purchasing decisions.

In this model, the customer journey increasingly begins outside traditional telco channels, with AI tools aggregating options and guiding decisions. This presents both an opportunity and a threat for the telcos. Those that adapt quickly can capitalise on a new route to customer acquisition, while those that fail to expose their offerings via APIs risk being excluded from these new buying pathways.

At the same time, these AI agents will play a growing role within retail operations, supporting both customer journeys and employee workflows.

“Shopping is not far from beginning at the AI agent level […] Agents will orchestrate the entire retail journey, from answering customer questions to building personalised packages,” said Krywulak.

This will inevitably reshape the role of physical stores. While Krywulak admits that there will “likely be fewer physical stores” in the future, he sees stores evolving to focus less on transactions and more on solving complex customer needs, from repairs to upgrades and advice. At the same time, they may double as logistics points, enabling faster fulfilment for online orders.

“I see telcos having large flagship stores that are full service, offering not only basic retail and device support but unique hybrid experiences,” he predicts. “Telecoms’ complexity makes it ideal for the mixture of the physical and digital in retail. That’s not going to change.”

Learn more about how iQmetrix is helping telcos bridge digital and physical retail at https://www.iqmetrix.com/.

Christopher Krywulak is CEO and founder of iQmetrix

iQmetrix is a global provider of Interconnected Commerce software solutions for telecom retail. Interconnected Commerce is an AI-native telecom commerce platform that acts as a system of intelligence. It replaces fragmented legacy stacks with a modern, modular operating layer, connecting telcos, retailers, and OEMs into one flow across channels and markets. The result is less complexity, lower cost, and the speed to move ahead.

For 26 years, we’ve been passionate about helping the leading brands in telecom to grow by providing best-in-class software, services, and expertise that enables them to adapt and thrive. Our solutions power $17BN in sales annually, handling nearly 53 million invoices and more than 28 million activations, and are used by more than 370,000 telecom retail professionals across almost 1,000 clients. iQmetrix is a privately held software-as-a-service (SaaS) company with employees in Canada, the U.S., India, and Europe.

For more information, please visit www.iqmetrix.com.

A few items from over the Easter break worth to catch up on: … [visit site to read more]

Dubai, April 2, 2026: Freedom Telecom International (FTI), a subsidiary of Freedom Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: FRHC), and global technology group e& have entered into an agreement establishing a structured framework to capture business opportunities worldwide. The arrangement creates a platform for the two organizations to engage a wider circle of telecom operators and contribute to their growth, while maintaining full operational independence.

e& brings diverse telecom expertise gathered throughout its operating footprint, such as advanced capabilities in commercial optimization, digital transformation and large-scale operational execution. FTI, through its parent Freedom Holding Corp., commands expertise on the creation, development and operation of a diversified digital ecosystem encompassing financial technology platforms, digital banking and investment services, as well as loyalty and customer-experience solutions.

Khaled Hegazy, Chief Operations Officer, e& international, commented:
“At e& international, we look for partnerships that create practical routes to growth for operators seeking to strengthen performance and expand their digital service capabilities. This agreement with Freedom Telecom International gives us a clear framework to explore those opportunities together, combining our experience in commercial optimization, digital transformation and operational execution with Freedom’s ecosystem expertise. It also provides a structured basis for engagement across markets while preserving the independence of both organizations.”

The agreement comes at a time when telecom operators and digital financial ecosystems are seeking new ways to collaborate through clearly delineated models. The framework is designed to spark dialogues with operators that are looking to advance their telecom and digital services capabilities or aspire to advance their fintech- and digital services infrastructure.

Timur Turlov, Founder & CEO of Freedom Holding Corp., said:
“Building the Freedom ecosystem in Kazakhstan has given us deep experience across multiple areas of digital transformation, and through this journey we have seen growing interest from global organizations to leverage the technologies we have developed. We believe this new structure with e& provides an additional channel through which such conversations can take place, as opportunities arise in various markets.”

Johannes Hummer, CEO of Freedom Telecom International, added:
“In the past year we have encountered the telecom-fintech convergence topic frequently in various global forums. Many international organizations I speak to are keen to learn about digital infrastructure and ecosystem models – like the one we have been developing in Kazakhstan. With a clear engagement structure in place between FTI and e&, we hope to broaden the circle of interested organizations and the projects we realize will be key to our growth.”

About the Signing Parties
About e&
e& (ADX: EAND) is a global technology group committed to advancing the digital future across 38 countries in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Europe. Founded in Abu Dhabi in 1976, e& leverages its five decades legacy in advanced connectivity to deliver powerful digital solutions that unlock value and drive progress.

For enterprises and governments, e& provides mission-critical infrastructure, including sovereign cloud platforms, data centres, and AI-powered solutions to solve complex challenges and accelerate growth. For millions of customers, the Group brings world-leading connectivity together with digital services across entertainment, fintech, and superapp experiences that enrich daily life.

Driven by innovation and strengthened by global partnerships, e& delivers secure, high-performance technology that strengthens economies and expands opportunity globally.

To learn more about e&, visit eand.com

Freedom Telecom International supports global partners in deploying and integrating Freedom Holding Corp’s portfolio of digital financial and lifestyle services. FTI also evaluates and executes investment opportunities in the telecom and fintech sectors, promoting financial and digital inclusion in emerging and frontier markets.

Freedom Holding Corp. is a leading international provider of investment and brokerage services across the markets of Central Asia, Americas, and Europe and Middle East, with more than 16 years of experience in global financial markets. The Holding’s shares are publicly traded on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the ticker FRHC with current market capitalization at USD 7.3 billion, and total assets amounting to USD 10.3 billion. The total number of clients in its digital ecosystem exceeds 11 million.

Freedom Holding Corp. employs over 11,000 professionals who are based in 231 offices in 22 countries, including Kazakhstan, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Cyprus, Spain, France, Germany, Greece, Uzbekistan, and Armenia. The company’s principal executive office is located in New York City.

To learn more about Freedom Telecom International, visit: freedomtelecominternational.com freedomtelecominternational.com
To learn more about Freedom Holding Corp., visit: freedomholdingcorp.com

Media Contacts
Freedom Telecom International: contact@freedomtelecominternational.com
e&: mediaoffice@eand.com

According to a number of recent news reports, the government of Equatorial Guinea is considering joining the Medusa subsea cable to improve network stability.

Medusa is a submarine cable system linking the Mediterranean countries with the Atlantic and the Red Sea. While it was initially planned to connect Mediterranean countries, the project has been extended to Africa.

Medusa has been designed as an open access submarine cable system providing a full portfolio of services, including full fibre pairs and half fibre pairs. The system is designed to deliver a capacity of 480 terabits per second through a total of 24 fibre pairs.

The plan for Equatorial Guinea to join the cable, estimated to cost at €20–60 million (about US$23.1 million to US$69.3 million), with rollout targeted for 2029–2030, could cut outages, lower costs and expand digital access.

If it goes ahead, the city of Bata could be a logical landing point due to its population density and proximity to the capital, La Paz.

That said, this appears to be only a proposal at present; it is one of the priority measures outlined in a strategic study conducted by digital and technology consultancy Mason to modernise the country’s digital infrastructure.

The study highlights the need to strengthen the country’s links to high-capacity international networks to address current limitations.

The study was presented to government last week. Vice President Nguema Obiang Mangue has said it would be reviewed in detail by a technical committee in coordination with Medusa project officials.

The Ecofin news service says that in February the government of Equatorial Guinea signed a cooperation agreement with Nigeria to deploy a separate subsea fibre optic infrastructure. Nigeria is already connected to seven major international subsea cables.

Equatorial Guinea relies mainly on the ACE cable for its international connectivity, though it also operates several regional links.

African payments technology company Flutterwave has announced that it has secured a Nigerian banking license.

This license, it explains, enables the company to hold funds and deposits directly, strengthening its financial infrastructure across its largest market and permitting more efficient financial services and settlement flows for consumers, businesses and enterprises.

Flutterwave says it will continue to work closely with banking partners across the broader financial ecosystem. However, the license enables the company to internalise key elements of its financial value chain, improving operational efficiency and supporting faster product development.

This shift strengthens operational autonomy and allows Flutterwave to capture more value from the transactions processed within its ecosystem.

For over a decade Flutterwave says it has powered payments for millions of Nigerians and businesses across the world. With this license, the company explains, it is bringing that same infrastructure into a new generation of banking built for a number of areas including consumer financial services, notably seamless accounts, transfers, and payments for everyday users within the SendApp ecosystem, which enables users to send money internationally.

There will also be a focus on business financial tools, including accounts, payouts, payroll, and multi-currency capabilities; enterprise treasury infrastructure, including tools to manage complex financial operations, treasury, and liquidity; and digital platforms – embedded financial services for marketplaces and platform operators.

For developers there will be programmable financial infrastructure enabling the creation of financial products through APIs.

The banking license also enhances Flutterwave’s core payments business. Over a million people using SendApp will now access enhanced financial services, including personal account numbers and instant transfers, without switching apps. In addition, over two million businesses can now open accounts, manage payouts, run payroll, and access multi-currency capabilities.

Flutterwave says it will also introduce data-driven financial services, including working capital financing and merchant lending powered by real transaction data, alongside treasury and savings products.

Huawei and Jazz, Veon Group’s telco subsidiary in Pakistan, announced on Friday that they have deployed solar power systems across 1,000 base station sites nationwide, with a total installed capacity of 13 MW.

The project leverages Huawei’s integrated green site solutions, combining solar power, battery storage, and intelligent energy management to optimize performance across diverse operating conditions.

Huawei senior VP Steven Yi said the solution enables Jazz to transition traditional sites into more efficient, low-carbon infrastructure while improving overall energy availability.

Yi also said the solar-powered sites are expected to generate approximately 11 GWh of clean energy annually, reducing carbon emissions by around 15,000 tons per year.

Apart from the environmental benefits, the project also boosts Jazz’s network reliability, particularly in energy-constrained and underserved areas, enabling more consistent connectivity for customers, said JazzWorld CEO Aamir Ibrahim.

“Expanding solar across our network allows us to reduce our environmental footprint while improving service reliability for our customers,” he said in a statement.

Ibrahim added that Jazz will continue to expand its use of renewable energy across its network as part of its broader commitment to sustainable operations, which also aligns with Veon’s goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

South African open-access fibre network provider Maziv has announced a major investment to expand its network connectivity across South Africa over the next five to seven years.

Maziv, which owns a number of major brands in the country, including fibre network operator Vumatel and open-access fibre infrastructure and connectivity provider Dark Fibre Africa, committed to a R9 billion (about US$530 million) investment, with an additional pledge to create 10,000 new jobs, at the recent 2026 South African Investment Conference.

According to news resource MyBroadband, the company says it will prioritise low-income and underserved areas with the rollout of new fibre infrastructure and has promised to deliver high-quality broadband to these communities.

It also plans to provide 1Gbps free, uncapped internet access to every public or private school, public clinic and library within its network coverage area as part of its social mandate.

The 10,000 new job opportunities over the next seven years will either be created directly as part of the infrastructure rollout, or indirectly through the company’s partner ecosystem of local SMMEs, fibre installers and community-based service providers, many of which are likely to be involved in the expansion of its fibre network.

MyBroadband notes that the investment is good news for fibre rollout programmes in South Africa, which have slowed across the industry as companies struggled to secure capital for more infrastructure.

Capital expenditure across the industry apparently stagnated as a transaction through which operator Vodacom aimed to acquire a 30% stake in Maziv had trouble getting approval from the Competition Commission.

As we reported in November last year, the deal finally went ahead after a number of concessions were offered that allowed the Competition Commission to withdraw its objections to the transaction. It was then approved by telecommunications regulator ICASA.

The knock-on effect of the deal finally being allowed to proceed, it appears, has been to help unlock industry-wide investment, as this announcement indicates.