Rwanda’s largest mobile network operator, MTN Rwanda, recently announced the rollout of its 5G network infrastructure across key locations in the country’s capital, Kigali. According to the operator, 5G availability will help accelerate the country’s socio-economic progress while empowering individuals, businesses, and communities. This Global Trends Flash also highlights that, in addition to Rwanda, several other African countries engaged in 5G-related activity in 1H 2025, including commercial launches, pilot trials, and initial infrastructure rollouts.

Thailand’s National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) concluded its auction of the 850 MHz, 1500 MHz, 2100 MHz and 2300 MHz spectrum frequency bands. This Global Trends flash highlights key details of the auction results, which strengthened the 5G network capabilities of Thailand’s two leading operators, AIS and True. This is significant, as Thailand lags behind other Asian countries (e.g. Malaysia and Singapore) in 5G speeds due to limited mid-band spectrum.

A landmark legal case in Kenya involving the World project, created by Tools for Humanity (TFH), has led the country’s data protection authority, Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC), to release a draft guidance note on processing biometric data. This Global Trends Flash reports on the TFH case and summarises the main aspects of the draft guidance. Kenya is joining a growing number of countries setting the pace for responsible biometric data governance in a context of growing scrutiny about global projects based on the collection and use of biometric data, such as World and Worldcoin.

The Brazilian telecoms regulator, Anatel, is reportedly proposing to oblige large platforms to comply with traffic management requirements and allow telecom operators to block or throttle traffic from uncompliant platforms, unless the parties sign a commercial agreement to prevent this consequence. This Global Trends flash summarises the proposal and next steps.

Nigeria’s Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) recently announced a fine of US$220m against Meta/WhatsApp following a multi-year investigation. As this Global Trends Flash explains, between 2021 and 2024 the Nigerian authorities found repeated infringements, including unauthorised data transfers, discriminatory treatment of Nigerian users, and abuse of market dominance through unfair privacy policies. While examples are limited, some other national authorities in Africa have also raised concerns over Meta’s non-compliance with data protection laws and regulations.

The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) announced the plan to auction four frequency bands at the end of June 2025. This Global Trends flash highlights key details of the bands to be auctioned, and some stakeholders’ concerns over market concentration. It also discusses the expected auction of 3.5 GHz band later, as Thailand lags other Asian countries (e.g. Malaysia and Singapore) in 5G speeds due to limited mid-band spectrum.