Qatar Airways says it has become the first airline to operate Starlink-equipped Boeing 787-9 aircraft globally. The carrier has also completed Starlink rollout across its Boeing 787-8 sub-fleet in seven months, bringing the total number of its Starlink-equipped widebody aircraft to 150.

Qatar Airways says it remains on track to complete the Starlink rollout across its Boeing 787 fleet by the end of 2026. The airline now operates the world’s first and largest Starlink-equipped Boeing 777, Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 fleets.

By building a Starlink-connected journey at a scale unmatched by any other widebody operator, Qatar Airways says it is bringing passengers closer to a future where travelling no longer means stepping away from the digital world, offering on-board Wi-Fi speeds of up to 500 Mbps.

Since launching Starlink connectivity onboard in October 2024,  the company claims that more than 23 million passengers have connected to what it calls the fastest Wi-Fi in the sky across over 86,000 of its flights.

What it describes as the fastest and most ambitious Starlink widebody installation programme in aviation history has now surpassed 83% completion. There are up to 323 Starlink-flights operating daily.

According to some estimates, about 40 airlines have committed to high-speed in-flight Wi-Fi powered by SpaceX’s low-Earth-orbit constellation. Reports suggest that 16 airlines have actually installed such systems so far. They include Dubai carrier Emirates, which In April completed the first installation of next-generation Starlink Wi-Fi on its flagship Airbus A380.

Smartphone shipments in Latin America fell 10% year-on-year in Q2 2026, marking the region’s largest annual decline since Q3 2023, as the ongoing memory shortage pushed up component costs and weighed on demand.

According to Counterpoint Research, the downturn was particularly pronounced in the entry-level and mid-range segments, which account for around three-quarters of smartphone sales in the region. Inventory carried over from Q1 and economic pressures in major markets also contributed to the decline.

Counterpoint principal analyst Tina Lu said rising memory and SoC prices forced manufacturers to increase prices, although appreciation in several Latin American currencies allowed OEMs to absorb some of the higher bill of materials costs.

Samsung was the region’s leading smartphone brand, increasing shipments by 6% year-on-year and taking 38% of total shipments. It regained the top position in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, helped by the availability of its Galaxy A and S series, broad retail presence and discounts.

Apple shipments increased 5%, with the company absorbing higher costs to limit price increases. Demand for the iPhone 17 Pro Max and growing sales of the iPhone 17e supported its performance. Apple retained around 51% of the region’s premium smartphone segment, defined as devices costing more than US$600.

Motorola, the region’s second-largest brand, saw shipments fall 14%, while Xiaomi suffered a sharper 27% decline as it prioritised supply for its Chinese market. Honor shipments fell 8%. Both Xiaomi and Honor have greater exposure to entry-level and mid-range devices, leaving them more vulnerable to higher memory costs.

Economic conditions also weighed on demand, with inflationary pressures in Colombia, Mexico and Brazil reducing consumer purchasing power. Elections in Colombia and upcoming elections in Brazil contributed to more cautious consumer spending.

Counterpoint expects memory shortages and price pressures to continue through the second half of 2026, with the market’s recovery dependent more on memory supply and pricing than underlying consumer demand over the next 18-24 months.

The Dominican Institute of Telecommunications (Indotel) has announced the award of radio spectrum frequency blocks to operators Viettel and Claro Dominicana after a recent public tender.

Viettel obtained 240MHz in the 700MHz, 2.3GHz and 3.6GHz bands, while Claro Dominicana acquired 20MHz in the 700MHz band.

The decision was declared as taken unanimously after Indotel’s Board of Directors had seen a report of the process presented by an evaluation committee. It also means that Viettel and Claro Dominicana were the only companies that passed the legal, technical and economic qualification stages.

Viettel obtained the right to use 240MHz in a 20-year concession, distributed in 40MHz in the 700MHz band, 100MHz in the 2.3GHz band and 100MHz in the 3.6GHz band. However, as a new arrival, Viettel, part of a Vietnamese group, must establish a company in the Dominican Republic. The new company will hold the license for the use of the 240MHz assigned.

Claro Dominicana meanwhile acquired 20MHz in the 700MHz band, for the remaining period of its current concession, equivalent to 15 years.

Indotel also offered 30MHz in the AWS band (1700/2100MHz), but received no bids, so those blocks were declared unclaimed.

The general tender specifications apparently include a provision that up to 30% of the payments may be made through the execution of Indotel development projects.

The tender, launched in February 2026, seeks to expand spectrum availability, encourage investment and strengthen the country’s telecommunications infrastructure.

At the moment the main mobile network operators in the Dominican Republic are Claro Dominicana, Altice, and Viva, though Claro has not only the largest market share but also the most extensive nationwide coverage.

This Industry Spotlight was authored by Chris Osian, Product Manager at Starline, a brand of Legrand

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Research group Omdia says the Africa smartphone market is expected to decline 26% in 2026 following its first contraction in three years, blaming rising device prices for a fall in shipments of about 7%.

The company’s research highlights the sub-US$100 segment, which has long served as the entry point to digital connectivity for Africa’s emerging middle class. Shipments in the segment fell 34% year on year, representing a decline of nearly three million units, as rising memory costs and the AI-driven shifting supply chain placed further pressure on entry-level smartphone availability and pricing. Essentially, it seems vendors can no longer profitably manufacture US$75 smartphones, and consumers must pay more.

Manish Pravinkumar, Principal Analyst at Omdia, puts it starkly, saying: “Average selling prices increased by US$41 year on year to US$202, reversing the aggressive price reduction seen in 2Q25.”

Of the big markets, Nigeria declined 11%, Egypt contracted 26%  and Kenya fell 15%. This isn’t continent-wide however. South Africa grew 17% year on year, supported by stronger consumer purchasing power and the market’s continued transition to 5G devices.

Of the main device-making players, market leader Transsion (whose brands include TECNO, Infinix, and iTel) saw shipments fall 14% proably due to its strong presence in the sub-US$100 segment. Samsung performed strongly amid the  shift towards higher price bands, growing shipments 15%, supported by strategic inventory management that allowed it to maintain multi-month stock buffers for key volume.

Honor continued its growth trajectory for a second consecutive quarter, supported by its focus on the more resilient $300-plus mid-to-high-end segment and a focus on markets such as South Africa, which accounts for roughly 60% of its regional volumes.

Meanwhile, Xiaomi (down 30%) and Oppo (down 25%) recorded shipment declines as both vendors prioritised profitability and took what Omdia describes as a more disciplined approach to the highly price-sensitive entry-level segment amid rising component costs. 

So what happens now?  Pravinkumar says: “Device financing will become an increasingly important part of vendors’ affordability strategies, particularly as higher device prices make upfront costs harder for consumers to absorb. » He adds: « As cost and currency pressures persist, the next phase of competition will depend on how effectively vendors can balance affordability, volume and profitability.”

Africa’s mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) space has evolved significantly in the nearly two decades since Virgin Mobile was licensed as the continent’s first MVNO in 2006. Since then, two major factors have increasingly started driving this evolution: mobile financial services and service innovation underpinned by technology.

In the last year alone, certain developments in this space have added further variety to the landscape in the form of new types of MVNOs that do not possess the typical attributes usually associated with traditional MVNOS. Depending on the success of these new models, we may begin to see renewed changes to the MVNO ecosystem in Africa.

In the beginning

The concept of MVNOs dates back to the mid-1990s both as a way of addressing spectrum scarcity and as part of the telecommunications liberalisation process. MVNOs were seen as a way to increase competition, disrupt pricing, attract investment, allow for service innovation, address market niches and give consumers more choice.

In light of this, governments began determining the type of regulatory environment  needed for MVNOs to enter the market, including mandatory wholesale access, infrastructure sharing, mobile number portability, and interconnection rules. In addition to an enabling regulatory environment, MVNO licences relied on the presence of at least one operational mobile network operator that had invested adequately in infrastructure and could host an MVNO.  

On the investor side, MVNO licences were mainly positioned to non-telco players who possessed certain attributes such as:

• A considerable customer base on whom these players possessed information and to whom they could position mobile services alongside other offerings. In many cases the existing customers represented a market segment from which a niche could be carved;
• An existing and extensive branch network through which they could sell and support mobile services;
• A strong brand whose equity and trust they could extend to their mobile services to reduce the load of selling to and on boarding new customers.

Naturally, the banking and retail sectors immediately stood out. In the early days, voice and data services were expected to augment existing revenue streams of such players, so price competition for these services was an area of focus. Nowadays, revenue from voice and data is a secondary consideration after mobile financial services.

Market developments and impact

Over the past two decades, numerous MVNOs have been licensed but very few of them have become operational.  As of mid-2026, there are just over 50 operational MVNOs across the continent, with the majority in South Africa. Some MVNOs were licensed and launched but failed to thrive due to issues such as strong competition, weak enforcement of fair wholesale pricing, and infrastructure sharing.

For voice and data services, it is unclear whether MVNOs have met ambitions such as increasing subscriptions, disrupting pricing, fostering competition and allowing for consumer choice. However, for mobile-based financial services (including payments, lending and banking), innovation and addressing niche markets, they continue to make a significant impact.

Emerging Archetypes

In the past year, developments in this space are signalling the addition of a new dimension to the MVNO space in Africa.

Some of the latest MVNOs to be licensed do not meet some of the traditional requirements (i.e. an existing customer base branch network and a strong brand), but instead meet some of the regulatory and market development objectives (e.g. fostering competition, service innovation, increasing penetration). They also require similar market conditions such as an enabling regulatory environment and a host mobile network operator.

Thus, in addition to the originally envisaged banking and retail MVNOs, three new models are emerging from beyond the original mould, although they are unproven.

These include:

1 – Technology focused : Vitel Wireless was among the 46 recently licensed MVNOs in Nigeria. It launched operations in late 2025 and now stands as an outlier across the continent as a new brand in the market without any existing customers or a branch network.

Its ambition is underpinned by its goal of distinguishing itself through collaboration with different ecosystem players as well as diversifying offerings to include areas such as the Internet of Things (IoT),where it can supply its SIM cards to enterprises for tracking goods and products. 

It will be interesting to see how Vitel navigates the stormy quality of service seas, as it will invariably inherit the same electricity supply and power backup issues faced any host networks – an issue singled out by market players as the main cause of poor quality of service.

Depending on how well wholesale access and pricing regulations are enforced in Nigeria, this model may herald a new type of MVNO that is viable in markets that share one of Nigeria’s key characteristics: a high population. 

Countries like Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which have relatively low penetration rates and potential host operators, may be viable for similar MVNO models as long as there is an enabling regulatory environment.

Technology companies across Africa will be watching Vitel closely and may seek to make inroads in other markets with this model.

2 – MVNO extension – Dolphin Telecoms recently launched in South Africa on the back of its existing MVNO operations in Zimbabwe. The operator, which is hosted by Cell C, targets the diaspora, offering a range of mobile-based financial services. It has long-term plans to build a digital payment ecosystem across different countries in the region.

Investors and existing players in countries that host huge diaspora populations or displaced persons, like those around the horn of Africa and the Great Lakes region, may be viable markets for this type of model as long as local regulations allow for the entry of MVNOs.

Existing MVNOs like Kenya’s Equitel (owned by Equity Bank) may also want to consider replicating their existing successful model to markets where they already have banking licences such as the DRC, Uganda and South Sudan – again, if local regulations allow for MVNO operations.

3 – “Rescue” Model – Sierra Leone’s highly indebted, state-owned mobile operator, Sierratel, was recently relaunched as an MVNO hosted by the market leader, Africell. Sierratel is expected to regain its footing in the market to compete against its host as well as Orange and QCell.  It plans to target the underserved segments of the market along with government and public sector education institutions.

It should be noted that Sierra Leone does not have any tower leasing companies, though infrastructure sharing already takes places among existing operators. As such, this kind of transition may only be applicable to similar markets.

Beleaguered mobile arms of state-owned operators in countries like Kenya and Uganda, would have been ideal candidates for transitioning into MVNOs using this model to help unburden them of capex.  However, unlike Sierra Leone, both these markets already have established tower leasing companies as a recourse to owning and operating towers.

Furthermore, this model is not yet proven; taking this direction may be putting a struggling entity under palliative care that prolongs its demise rather than preventing it.

Overall, across these emerging models, a strong play in mobile money offerings is among the key differentiators to help new MVNOs carve a niche in existing markets, especially for those with cross-border elements (such as diaspora remittances) or where existing mobile money markets could stand some disruption or innovation (e.g. integration with banks and international payment providers, Islamic banking compliance, new micro lending offerings,  insurance services etc.). 

For both new and existing MVNO models, effective and fair market regulation remains a key enabler that allows a healthy MVNO market to thrive.

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A major deal has been announced that could change the Polish telecom landscape. Deutsche Telekom has agreed to acquire 100% of Fiberhost, a Polish open-access fixed network operator, together with Inea, a retail broadband and TV provider.

Deutsche Telekom will buy the companies  for an enterprise valuation of about EUR1 billion (US$1.16 billion) from current shareholder Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 5, a fund managed by Macquarie Asset Management, and minority shareholders.

DT says the acquisition will accelerate T-Mobile Polska’s growth by adding Inea’s over 300,000 customers and Fiberhost’s fibre network passing over 1.4 million homes.

The transaction is also a new stage in T-Mobile Poland’s transformation from a mobile-only operator into a fully convergent telecommunication provider. Since signing its first wholesale access agreement in 2018, T-Mobile has expanded its fixed coverage through wholesale partners and built a nationwide convergent offer. 

Together, the businesses say they will be better positioned to compete more effectively with operators that already own substantial fixed infrastructure. The acquisition also strengthens T-Mobile Poland’s role as an investor in critical infrastructure supporting Poland’s digitalisation.

T-Mobile Poland CEO Andreas Maierhofer explains: “Our award-winning mobile network, nationwide backbone, data centres and fibre infrastructure will now be complemented by our own fibre-to-the-home network reaching 1.4 million households. Owning an FTTH network will allow us to further develop our already successful portfolio of convergent products.”

Fiberhost will continue to offer transparent and non-discriminatory access to its state-of-the-art fibre infrastructure to all existing and potential internet service providers in Poland.

Closing of the transaction is conditional upon customary Polish competition approvals.