Google’s Russian subsidiary is filing for bankruptcy after the country’s authorities seized its bank accounts, preventing it from continuing operations or paying staff and vendors.

Deutsche Telekom’s Romanian unit GTS Telecom has commissioned Ciena to upgrade its network from 10G to 100G nationwide.

Hungary has commenced the next stage of its device replacement subsidy programme, which offers mobile users HUF20,000 (US$63.4) towards the cost of a 4G or 5G device if they currently only have access to a 2G or 3G handset.

Romania’s Supreme Council of National Defence (CSAT) has approved Ericsson as a supplier of 5G network equipment, two months after refusing to authorise Nokia as a 5G provider.

Russian mobile market leader MTS has indefinitely postponed the planned sale of its tower assets.

Hard on the heels of Ericsson suspending all business in Russia, Nokia has announced that it will exit the market.

Ericsson has confirmed that it will indefinitely suspend its business in Russia.

Lithuania’s regulator has unveiled plans for its 5G spectrum auction in the 3.5GHz band, revealing the starting price for airwaves. 

Iliad Group has closed its acquisition of cable operator UPC Poland from Liberty Global for a total of PLN7 billion (US$1.6 billion).

Nokia has instituted legal action against the Romanian government after being refused authorisation to provide 5G network hardware in the country.

Bosnia-Herzegovina’s BH Telecom is upgrading its core network with Ericsson Nikola Tesla.

Fixed broadband providers in Ukraine are continuing to connect bomb shelters with fixed internet and Wi-Fi capabilities to keep citizens connected during the ongoing war in the nation.

Colt Technology Services, a provider of network and voice connectivity to businesses in Europe, Asia and the US, has announced that it is enhancing the reach of its Polish metropolitan area networks (MANs) in six cities across Poland: Katowice, Wroclaw, Warsaw, Krakow, Gdansk and Poznan.

From the start of this week, the users of Crnogorski Telekom in the Montenegrin capital Podgorica have had access to a 5G network in a number of locations, making the company the first operator in Montenegro to put a 5G network into commercial operation.

Lithuania’s regulator RRT will allow operators to offer 5G services using their existing spectrum holdings.

Ukraine’s three major operators Kyivstar, Lifecell and Vodafone Ukraine have enabled free roaming between their networks in a bid to ensure continued communications as Russia continues to pursue a war in the nation.

Despite a setback from the EU, the Czech Telecommunication (CTU) Office is drafting new measures to spur competition and designating incumbent

Vodafone Group broke off a 14-year partnership with Russian operator MTS, following waves of other firms in multiple sectors breaking professional ties with the country, after the invasion of Ukraine commenced.

The ongoing war in Ukraine has, inevitably, had a variety of impacts on the telecoms business. Perhaps the most high-profile news so far has been Ericsson’s decision to suspend deliveries to Russia.

Orange has announced suppliers for its 5G standalone (5G SA) networks in Europe, including networks in Poland and Slovakia.

Telekom Kosovo (TK) has hit another setback in its long-running spat with Dardafon with the loss of another arbitration case.

Ukraine’s Lifecell has launched VoLTE services that it plans to expand “in stages”.

Almost three years after acquiring Telenor’s operations in Bulgaria, Hungary and Serbia, PPF Group has confirmed that it will stop using the Norwegian group’s branding from 1^st March 2022.

Earlier this week, Latvia’s Public Utilities Commission SPRK closed its tender of 1.5GHz spectrum without confirming the

Latvia’s Public Utilities Commission (SPRK) has concluded its tender for 1.5GHz spectrum permits, with the regulator’s council due to approve the results by the end of January 2022.

Croatian operator Telemach has closed its acquisition of a majority holding in local broadband provider Optima Telekom.

Slovenia’s government is mulling a potential sale of all or part of its holding in Telekom Slovenije.

There’s been no let-up in 5G activity lately, with Zambia’s MTN announcing the country’s first 5G launch and Telia highlighting a dynamic spectrum sharing-based 5G launch now underway in Lithuania.

Investment firm Kismet Capital Group, through its joint venture with telecoms company Megafon, can apparently now boast the largest tower asset portfolio in Russia after a major acquisition involving a Russian infrastructure company.

North Macedonia’s Mtel – which currently offers satellite TV services – has announced plans to begin a mobile offering in spring 2022.

Following a competitive auction process, Latvian fixed broadband operator Tet is acquiring 100% of Telia’s local B2B unit Telia Latvija for EUR10.75 million (US$12.1 million).

Montenegrin regulator EKIP (Agency for Electronic Communications and Postal Services) confirmed that the country’s latest round of spectrum auctions saw 220MHz of frequencies sold.

Latvia’s Public Utilities Commission (Sabiedrisko Pakalpojumu Regulesanas Komisija / SPRK) has named the winning bidders in its recent auctions for technology neutral spectrum licences in the 700MHz band.

Hungary’s 4iG group has completed the acquisition of two European operators and announced an agreement to acquire a third.

Nokia is extending its partnership with Tele2 to deploy 5G RAN in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in a long-term deal.

Orange Polska has signed a new long-term PPA for the purchase of renewable energy in Poland.

Elisa Estonia has signed a five-year deal with Nokia that will see the Finnish vendor replace the operator’s existing 4G infrastructure and deploy 5G RAN nationwide.

Estonia looks set to offer three licences for 5G-ready 3.5GHz spectrum at auction in the first quarter of next year.

Telekom Srbija is to receive a €70 million ($79.4 million) loan from the EU’s European Investment Bank (EIB) for the rollout of a 5G telecommunications network and the extension of the existing 4G network across the Republic of Serbia.

Poland’s regulator UKE (Urzad Komunikacji Elektronicznej / Office of Electronic Communications) has confirmed its reallocation plans for the 2100MHz band.

Starlink Internet Services, a division of the SpaceX aerospace company, plans to apply for the appropriate licences to sell satellite-based internet commercially in India. This happened after last week’s announcement from India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) that the company had no

The Czech units of O2 and T-Mobile have confirmed that they shut down their 3G networks on 30^th November.

Ukrainian fibre infrastructure and digital services provider Datagroup has tapped Cisco to modernise its backbone network.

Veon has closed the sale of its Russian mobile towers to local firm Service-Telecom, a partner of VimpelCom’s Beeline, for RUB70.65 billion (US$957 million).

North Macedonia’s Agency for Electronic Communications (AEK) has begun a tender process for 5G-ready spectrum in the 700MHz and 3.6GHz (3400MHz-3800MHz) bands.

Estonia’s parliament The Rigiikogu has approved new legislation that effectively bans the country’s operators from using network equipment from China’s Huawei.

Thirteen foreign technology firms have been reminded by Russian communications regulator Roskomnadzor that they must set up in Russia by 2022. However, actual instructions on what they need to do to meet this mandate have been in short supply.

Latvia’s regulator SPRK (Sabiedrisko Pakalpojumu Regulesanas Komisija / Public Utilities Commission) has announced that it will hold auctions next month for 700MHz 5G-capable spectrum.

Romania has concluded its multi-band auction of 195MHz of available spectrum.

T-Mobile Polska, one of the largest mobile operators in Poland, has launched a long-haul 400 Gigabit Ethernet (400GbE) service.