Dispatches from Rest of World: October 10

Here are this week's biggest stories in tech from the regions that we cover. For more exclusive content, sign up for Rest of World's weekly global newsletter .

Image source: India shuts down the internet far more than any other country

Latin America Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s newly inaugurated president, announced that the country will begin producing its first 100% electric car. The small vehicle, named Olinia — “to move” in Nahuatl — will be designed entirely by Mexicans. Electric vehicles have become increasingly popular in Mexico, particularly those built by Asian companies. The most prominent of these, BYD, is eyeing locations to build its first manufacturing plant in Mexico. Last week, U.S. lawmakers sent Sheinbaum a letter , urging her to address national security concerns related to data-sharing devices in vehicles produced by Chinese automakers “with deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party.” — Karla Zabludovsky from Mexico City

Africa Last week, Elon Musk’s satellite internet network Starlink nearly doubled its subscription prices in Nigeria, citing the rising inflation rate in the country. A monthly subscription to the service now costs around $45. The price of a new Starlink kit has also been increased by 30% to around $350. This is a reversal from the company’s recent stance in Africa, where it has been cutting prices sharply to deepen its footprint. Following Starlink’s move, telecom operators MTN and Airtel also asked the Nigerian regulator to allow them to raise prices. — dámiláre dòsùnmú from Lagos

Southeast Asia Indonesia may ban Chinese e-commerce firm Temu, as its direct-to-consumer model could hurt the country’s small and medium-sized businesses, a local official said. “Allowing Temu to enter Indonesia would jeopardize domestic SMEs, as the platform enables direct transactions between Chinese factories and consumers,” said Fiki Satari, an advisor to the cooperatives and SMEs minister. Indonesia has already introduced a slew of measures aimed at limiting the sales of cheap imports from e-commerce platforms such as Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok Shop. — Rina Chandran from Bangkok

South Asia Coldplay has caused clamor in India. On September 22, around 10 million people joined the virtual queue on ticketing platform BookMyShow to buy tickets for the band’s concerts, scheduled in Mumbai in January 2025. The 180,000 available tickets, priced between around $30 and $145, were sold within minutes. However, days later, several tickets appeared on resale websites like Viagogo, each costing thousands of dollars . Last week, the Mumbai police called the CEO of BookMyShow for questioning after a lawyer filed a case accusing the ticketing platform of colluding with black marketeers. BookMyShow has said it had no part in scalping. Viagogo also denied any affiliation with BookMyShow. — Ananya Bhattacharya from Mumbai