Technology news and insights in the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa
Technology News and insights in the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa
Bangladesh will auction the 700MHz band for the first time on 14 January 2026, offering 25MHz to the country’s four mobile operators. The band—critical for long-range 4G and future 5G expansion—comes to auction after years of disputes and legal delays. With reduced spectrum prices and strong industry demand, the auction is expected to reshape nationwide coverage and improve mobile broadband quality.
The Muslim World League has launched Minhaj, a new digital platform offering credible Islamic scholarship and multilingual, interactive learning tools. Presented in Makkah by Dr. Mohammed Al-Issa, the platform is based on a globally developed Shariah framework and formally approved by the Islamic Fiqh Council. Its goal is to eliminate contradictory interpretations and provide a unified, trusted reference for Muslims worldwide. The launch gathered key religious leaders from Saudi Arabia, Algeria, and Indonesia.
Africa’s smartphone market grew 24 percent in Q3 2025, rebounding strongly after five quarters of decline. Transsion, Samsung, and Xiaomi led the market as stabilising currencies, expanded financing, and improved retail activity lifted demand. South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, and Kenya saw major gains across both entry-level and premium segments. However, Omdia expects a 6 percent decline in 2026 as rising costs and currency pressures strain affordability, particularly in the low-end 4G category.
Algeria’s telecom minister Sid Ali Zerrouki attended MWC 2025 in Doha, meeting top regional and global telecom leaders to strengthen cooperation on technology parks, digital transformation, and job creation. He held talks with Qatar’s ICT minister, engaged with Ooredoo on future partnerships, and joined a ministerial roundtable on technological infrastructure, reinforcing Algeria’s expanding international digital agenda.
Algeria has launched the pilot phase of a shared national call center to support telecom operators and digitize citizen services, aiming to grow the sector to US$1.2 billion by 2029. The hub will centralize customer support, enhance coordination, and create up to 10,000 jobs by 2027. Part of the “Digital Algeria 2030” strategy, the initiative aligns with Africa’s fast-growing BPO market and strengthens Algeria’s ambition to compete regionally and globally.
This upgrade gives Pakistan a major capacity and resilience boost, improving latency, strengthening its role on the Asia-Europe digital corridor, and enabling faster growth across cloud, content and fintech ecosystems.
e& and Motorola Mobility have signed an MoU to co-develop AI-driven services and expand Motorola’s device footprint across the Middle East. The partnership will leverage e&’s retail and digital channels, co-invest in localized AI tools, execute joint marketing, and explore sustainability initiatives such as e-waste reduction and device recycling.
e& UAE has completed the world’s first IP+DWDM dual-800GE validation, proving high-capacity, low-latency transmission over an 800G DWDM network. The trial boosts EMIX gateway performance and integrates AI-based traffic prediction and energy optimisation, enabling greener, more efficient networks and paving the way for advanced 5.5G and AI-driven services.
Ethio Telecom has opened its third AI-powered EV charging station in Addis Ababa, expanding total capacity to 48 vehicles. Equipped with 180KWh chargers, AI diagnostics, and telebirr integration, the station supports Ethiopia’s green mobility goals. Ethio Telecom’s network has already served over 165,000 EVs and prevented more than 6 million kg of CO₂ emissions.
ABB has opened a $2 million AI and digital solutions training centre in Dubai to strengthen engineering and energy management skills across the Middle East. The 2,500 sqm facility will train 2,000 professionals annually in advanced electrification, predictive maintenance, and digital asset management, supporting the UAE’s energy transition and rising power demand.