Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Russia's 5G grand plan; Google, Apple threatened over Navalny app; EIB funds Somalia subsea link.
South African operators MTN, Vodacom and Telkom are among those trying to settle a dispute over the country's wireless spectrum auction. As Bloomberg reports, they are looking to reach an agreement with the regulator between now and the middle of September so that they avoid a costly and prolonged legal battle. MTN and Telkom have both appealed to the courts about the planned structure of the auction, while Vodacom has long been demanding more spectrum to expand its data services – though it hasn't formally complained about the auction terms.
5G services must reach all Russian cities of more than a million people by 2024, Russian Digital Development Minister Maksud Shadayev told a group of students at the Volga State University of Telecommunications and Information Technology. As Interfax reports, Shadayev added that while Russia's decision to produce its own, home-grown 5G equipment might put a brake on the progress of the rollout, "the state deemed it more important to control this technology."
Still in Russia, the country's communications watchdog has threatened to fine Apple and Google unless they remove an app created by government critic Alexi Navalny from the respective app stores. Allies of Navalny, who is currently languishing in a maximum security prison in Pokrov for his troubles, planned to use the app to organize a tactical voting campaign, Reuters reports.
The European Investment Bank has approved a US$14 million loan to help fund a project to connect Somalia to the largest submarine cable system in Africa. The project – the total cost of which is $29 million – also includes the deployment of the first segment of a new national fiber-optic backbone to connect the capital city, Mogadishu, to regional hubs.
— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading
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