Poland-based telecoms infrastructure company Emitel has signed an agreement with Orange to build several hundred new mobile towers across the country.

In a statement, Emitel said the new towers will be used for the installation of base stations and other telecommunications equipment. The infrastructure will be rolled out nationwide under a Build-to-Suit model over the coming years.

“We are pleased that Orange Polska has once again placed its trust in us by commissioning a significant infrastructure project,” said Emitel CEO Maciej Pilipczuk. “As an experienced technology partner, we guarantee the highest standards of execution and efficiency in delivering even the most demanding investments.”

As of the end of 2024, Emitel operated 762 towers and counts all of Poland’s major mobile network operators as tenants.

“Our many years of experience in building and managing telecommunications infrastructure enable us to support the expansion of mobile networks in Poland, meeting the growing needs of both operators and end users,” Pilipczuk added.

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Finnish development financier and impact investor Finnfund says it has closed a US$5million equity investment with Netwey, a Mexican internet service provider (ISP), to expand its fibre optic network and improve internet accessibility.

This investment, says Finnfund, aims to bring unlimited high-speed internet to more low-income households, bridging the digital divide. The digital infrastructure and solutions sector is one of Finnfund’s key strategic priorities and its most rapidly growing sector, although this is the group’s first digital sector investment in Latin America.

The investment is part of a US$10 million equity round in collaboration with IDB Invest, a multilateral development bank committed to promoting the economic development of its member countries in Latin America and the Caribbean through the private sector.

As Finnfund explains, more than 21 million Mexican households in underserved areas lack adequate internet access, with many in lower socioeconomic tiers. It agrees that significant investments have been made in fibre optic infrastructure but says that these investments have been largely concentrated in high-income urban centres, leaving a significant part of the country underserved.

The aim, therefore, is to broaden Netwey’s fibre optic network, enabling more low-income households to access high-speed internet. Increasing digital connectivity, Finnfund says, supports economic growth, facilitates inclusive access to critical services, and provides possibilities for small businesses to connect with global value chains.

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Southeast European media and telecoms operator United Group has completed the sale of Serbian cable TV and broadband provider SBB to e& PPF Telecom for €825 million.

In a statement, United Group described the divestment as “a significant milestone” in its strategy to streamline operations and sharpen its focus on EU markets.

The company also confirmed the sale of sports broadcasting rights for the Western Balkans—covering Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia—to Telekom Serbia.

Both deals, signed on 11 February following regulatory approval, have a combined enterprise value of €1.5 billion.

United Group will retain ownership of its key media outlets in Serbia and is currently negotiating deals for Telemach Sarajevo and Telemach Podgorica. The company stated that it has no plans for further asset sales in the near future.

United Group CEO Victoriya Boklag said previously the divestments enhances efficiency and ensures long-term success for the group. 

Viettel’s Myanmar operator Mytel said on Thursday that it has restored International and mobile connectivity following last week’s 7.7 magnitude earthquake, although questions remain over how much ordinary users can access it in the midst of reported internet shutdowns by the ruling military junta. 

Recovery and rescue efforts are ongoing since the quake struck on March 28 near Mandalay, with the death toll reaching 3,145 as of Thursday, according to the Associated Press. State television broadcaster MRTV reported that 4,589 people were injured and 221 others were missing. 

In a press statement, Mytel said that more than 2,100 base stations were damaged by the quake around Mandalay and Naypyitaw, which are reported to be the hardest hit areas. By April 1, over 90% of its mobile network was up and running again, and international connectivity was fully restored, the statement said.

Mytel also said it has been coordinating with international rescue teams to provide critical communications. The telco said it has supplied nearly 1,000 SIM cards to responders, along with 20,000 additional SIMs and 100 Wi-Fi hot spots to streamline coordination. Mytel said it deployed five extra base stations and optimised 46 existing sites to boost connectivity for field hospitals and search and rescue operations in Mandalay and Naypyitaw.

The operator also said it has provided over 4 million customers free access to 1GB of data, 300 call minutes and 300 SMS messages to reconnect with loved ones and access vital updates. With power outages still widespread, Mytel also said it set up over 500 mobile charging stations across affected regions. 

It’s unclear the extent to which residents can make use of the offer. On March 31, the Myanmar Internet Project (MIP) – an advocacy group documenting internet shutdowns in the country following the 2021 military coup – issued a joint statement with local and international rights groups accusing the military junta of imposing communications blackouts, including internet shutdowns, which were preventing people from coordinating with each other and calling for help. 

The junta has a history of frequently imposing internet shutdowns during its ongoing civil war with rebel pro-democracy forces and ethnic militias. In the province of Sagaing, where the earthquake’s epicentre is located, the junta ordered 94 shutdowns in 2024 alone, according to MIP.

The March 31 statement from MIP demanded that the junta restore all internet and communications services to ensure full access, and called for the military to be “held accountable for all loss of life and suffering caused by these various internet restrictions.”

A statement from MIP on Thursday reported that telcos in Myanmar are providing free services for phone calls and text messages between operators, but that “while telecommunications services are available in one area, it has been difficult to use them in other areas.”

The group urged telecoms operators to provide free assistance by enabling phone calls between any operators.

Amazon’s Project Kuiper has announced it will finally launch its first batch of LEO satellites next week, almost one year behind schedule, with more launches already booked and commercial services expected to kick off later this year.

According to a blog post from Amazon on Wednesday, United Launch Alliance (ULA) will launch the first 27 Kuiper satellites on an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida on April 9. The satellites, launched under the mission name “KA-01” (Kuiper Atlas 1), will be placed in orbit around 450 kilometres above the Earth.

The initial Kuiper constellation will comprise over 3,200 LEO satellites. Amazon said it has secured more than 80 launches to deploy the remaining satellites over the next few years, including seven more Atlas V launches and 38 Vulcan Centaur launches with ULA, plus an additional 30+ launches with Arianespace, Amazon-owned Blue Origin and SpaceX.

Amazon has been testing its LEO broadband service on two prototype satellites launched in October 2023. The company said the satellites being launched this Wednesday have been upgraded “to improve the performance of every system and sub-system on board, including phased array antennas, processors, solar arrays, propulsion systems, and optical inter-satellite links.”

Amazon added that the satellites are also coated in a dielectric mirror film that scatters reflected sunlight to help make them less visible to ground-based astronomers.

“We’ve done extensive testing on the ground to prepare for this first mission, but there are some things you can only learn in flight, and this will be the first time we’ve flown our final satellite design and the first time we’ve deployed so many satellites at once,” said Project Kuiper VP Rajeev Badyal in the blog post. “No matter how the mission unfolds, this is just the start of our journey, and we have all the pieces in place to learn and adapt as we prepare to launch again and again over the coming years.”

Project Kuiper was originally scheduled to start launching satellites in the first half of 2024. In July that year, the launch date was pushed back to October 2024, and then again to early 2025 after ULA bumped the Amazon launch to prioritise two missions for the US Space Force.

According to Space News, Amazon has little room for further delays, as its FCC licence requires it to deploy half the constellation by July 2026, and the full constellation by July 2029.

Meanwhile, Amazon said it has already begun shipping and processing satellites for the KA-02 mission, which will also use a ULA Atlas V rocket and launch from Cape Canaveral, although no launch date has been given.

A dispute over a real estate loan that left operator MTN Cameroon unable to get its hands on over US$20 million worth of assets may finally be over.

After a wait of nearly two and a half years, and following an appeal, a Cameroon appeals court has ordered the release of MTN’s bank accounts in the country. These were seized in 2022, apparently over a loan dispute with a Cameroonian businessman.

A court order froze MTN Group’s Cameroon accounts containing 14 billion CFA francs (about US$23.20 million) in September 2022.

The dispute is said to be over a real estate loan. It involves Cameroonian business mogul Ahmadou Baba Danpullo, the owner of Bestinver Group companies, and lender South Africa’s First National Bank (FNB).

After FNB liquidated a number of properties belonging to Danpullo in South Africa, the businessman was somehow able to convince a Cameroonian court to freeze the accounts of a number of South African companies. These included MTN, whose network in Cameroon has around 15 million users. The other major players in the country are Orange Cameroon, Nexttel Cameroon (a venture between Viettel Group and Danpullo’s Bestinver Cameroon) and Camtel.

Reuters explains that in 2023 MTN Cameroon said its funds were to be transferred into an escrow account managed by the court registrar as part of a third party debt, or « garnishee », order related to the dispute.

After an MTN appeal a court ruled on 24 February that the Bestinver Group companies were not entitled to impose these seizures.

That said, one of Danpullo’s lawyers has said he plans to make a new attempt to seize the assets and is following legal procedures to obtain an enforcement order.

An iconic brand has been reborn in the world of subsea cable operators. Global Cloud Xchange has announced that it is rebranding, and will now be known as FLAG. … [visit site to read more]