Africa By Region
MTN Bids for Ethiopian Telco Licence Alongside Vodacom and Safaricom
MTN Group has reportedly made a bid for an Ethiopian telecommunications licence alongside Vodacom Group and Safaricom. Finance ministry adviser, Brook Taye says that the consortium of bids is led by Safaricom. “We always wanted quality providers and this is what we have received,” adds Taye. “These are two African giants — the Safaricom-led consortium and MTN — either one or two of the operators will get a licence in Ethiopia.” Kenya’s geographical proximity to Ethiopia is expected to be one reason why Safaricom leads the consortium. “I think it will be a very good exposure to Safaricom from the perspective of geographical closeness on the one perspective, but also giving Safaricom additional exposure to more growth areas,” says Vodacom’s chief executive, Shameel Joosub. In an interview wi...
Airtel Africa Refutes Plans to Exit Kenyan Market
Sourced from Comms MEA Airtel Africa has denied reports that it plans to halt operations in Kenya. The rumours were reported by Techweez after Prasanta Das Sarmato, CEO of Airtel Kenya, assessed the viability of the company after The National ICT Policy 2019 was signed. “Equity Participation, a clause in the policy states that only companies with at least 30% substantive Kenyan ownership, either corporate or individual will be licensed to provide ICT services.” The telco, however, has said that it would not be leaving the Kenyan market – “we remain committed to delivering quality and value for money products and services to all our customers whilst ensuring effective, uninterrupted communication is achieved across the entire country.” Airtel goes on to say that it would cont...
Tecno Mobile Outsells Samsung Across Africa in 2020
Tecno Mobile has reportedly outsold Samsung in Africa during 2020, confirming its status as the top smartphone brand on the continent – this is according to research from Counterpoint. The Chinese smartphone brand managed to achieve this despite a 6.7% year on year fall in Africa’s smartphone shipments in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The IDC (International Data Corporation) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker had already placed the company first in Africa for Q1 to Q3 last year, achieving an overall 4th Global Mobile Phone Ranking. According to the Counterpoint data, Tecno Mobile was responsible for 18% of the total smartphone shipment to Africa last year thanks to the company enjoying a strong second half of the year. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_8a0.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; ...
How the Haller Foundation is Helping Smallholder Farmers Across Africa
The Haller Foundation is a grassroots organisation that guides communities through a holistic four-stage economic development model that is sustainable and environmentally sound. The model kick-starts a fragile farming community and, over a 3-year collaborative partnership, educates them to restore their soils, improve their environment and ultimately build the capacity to achieve economic resilience. Throughout the process, the organisation partners with the Ministries of Agriculture, Water, Health and local Government. And as an extension of its farmer training, the Haller Foundation uses its app — Haller Farmers — as well as Africa’s increasing mobile penetration, to reach those communities who they cannot reach directly. It all started in the 1970s when Dr Rene Haller, an a...
Top Tech Companies Driving Africa’s Growth – Africa Tech Week
Enhancing Tech-Parity Across Africa On May 5th and 6th, Topco Media and partners will be presenting a robust networking experience aimed at kick-starting economic growth in Africa, using technology. Africa Tech Week is alive with gleaming opportunities to shape fruitful connections, forge clearer paths to digital transformation and inspire collective and personal growth. Enjoy the Inside Scoop from Top-Tech Companies Registered attendees gain access to the 2-day hybrid conference where they can enjoy the inside scoop from top-tech companies. Listen eagerly as renowned leaders including, Dr Marian Croak – vice president of engineering for Google USA, Abe Smith – international lead for Zoom USA and Ayodele Odusola – United Nations representative for South Africa unveil their winning formulas...
Millicom Sells Operations in Tanzania and Ghana
Millicom has signed agreements for the sale of its operations in Tanzania and for its stake in the AirtelTigo joint venture in Ghana. Once closed, the transactions will complete Millicom’s multi-year plan to divest its African operations and focus on its Latin American markets. In Tanzania, Millicom has agreed to sell its entire operations to a consortium led by Axian, a pan-African group that was part of the consortium that acquired Millicom’s operations in Senegal in 2018. In Ghana, Millicom along with its joint venture partner, Bharti Airtel Limited, have signed a definitive agreement for the transfer of AirtelTigo to the Government of Ghana. Millicom will take a $25 million charge as a result of this agreement. “Today Tigo is a leading provider of broadband services to consumers, busin...
Showmax Reveals Reduced Mobile Plan Prices Across Africa
Showmax has revealed that African mobile subscribers could pay up to 20% less each month. “We believe this change will be appreciated by our mobile customers as will the decision not to increase any of our other prices,” says MultiChoice Group CEO for Connected Video, Yolisa Phahle. “We have our most exciting slate of Showmax Originals this year and look forward to more of our subscribers enjoying our proudly African stories”. Here’s a quick look at how the mobile plans will now be priced /* custom css */ .tdi_3_e69.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_e69.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Showmax Showmax Mobile WAS Showmax Mobile NOW Showmax Pro Showmax Pro Mobile South Africa R99 R49 R39 R449 R225 Kenya KSh 790 KSh 380 KSh 300 KSh 2100 KSh 1050...
Ericsson and Unitel Partner to Expand Telco Network in Angola
Unitel Angola and Ericsson have signed a three-year agreement for the supply of Radio System solutions as well as core solutions and related services. The Radio & 5G ready core expansions are expected to enable Unitel to meet increasing data demands of customers in the Angolan market. The agreement sees the expansion of Ericsson’s Packet Core and User Data Consolidation network and readiness for 5G non-standalone services. Unitel’s Business Support Systems (BSS) will be upgraded and enhanced to enable catalogue-driven charging across its services and prepare itself for the introduction of innovative Business-to-Consumer (B2C) and Business-to-Business (B2B) 5G products and services. Using these solutions, Unitel’s network performance will improve to meet growing end-user expectatio...
Unlocking the Potential of Healthcare Data at Zebra Technologie’s Free Webinar
On 14 April 2021, leading healthcare technology solutions provider, Zebra Technologies in partnership with IT News Africa will virtually demonstrate how to streamline workflows and significantly reduce costs in healthcare facilities as well as identify patterns to enable intelligent predictions. Under the theme “Patient Journey and the Digital Twins” this free and innovative webinar will empower the healthcare sector with technology solutions that enable them to instantly connect, collaborate and communicate with colleagues. Register and learn how to better support patients and improve performance with the insights that come from capturing real-time data in your emergency department or operating theatre. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_66e.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_66e.td-a-rec...
Vodacom and AUDA-NEPAD Partner to Build Digital Infrastructure to Manage COVID-19 Vaccinations
Vodacom Group has announced that it will work with AUDA-NEPAD to build digital infrastructure to manage COVID-19 vaccinations across up to 55 countries, following successful deployments in South Africa – to manage vaccinations – and in Mozambique, Tanzania and Nigeria – to manage infant inoculations. The roll-out of mVacciNation, developed by Mezzanine, a member of the Vodacom Group, is the first project in a public-private partnership that has been formed between Vodacom Group and AUDA-NEPAD to boost Africa’s digital transformation and build resilience for the post-Covid world. “Vodacom has been at the forefront of helping governments where we operate to curb the spread of COVID-19,” says Shameel Joosub, CEO of Vodacom Group. “Making our mVacciNation platform available to all African coun...
Huawei Partners with Mondia to Expand Contactless Payments Across Africa
Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) has teamed up with Mondia Pay, a digital payments company, to roll out seamless and contactless payments solutions for mobile network operators. Since the commencement of the partnership in September 2020, demand for the implementation of Direct Carrier Billing service (DCB) for seamless, contactless payments for mobile users in the MEA region has grown. Mondia Pay’s direct carrier billing service integration was launched with Vodafone Egypt and Etisalat UAE. During this quarter the following operators – Ufone Pakistan, Cell C South Africa, Orange Tunisia and Ooredoo Algeria – will go live with the DCB service, following the testing phase. As a DCB services for consumers, Mondia Pay is available on HuaweiAppGallery, to facilitate online payments. Subscribers ca...
Safaricom Partners with Ericsson to Provide Gbps Backhaul Capacity in Kenya
Image sourced from Techweez Safaricom has chosen Ericsson to supply microwave solutions based on the E-band platform to achieve multi Gbps backhaul capacity for mobile broadband nationwide coverage in Kenya. The solution – MINI-LINK 6352 – is expected to offer high capacity, efficient use of spectrum, low-energy consumption and simplified operations and maintenance. With technological advances in microwave system software and new radio hardware, microwave transport capacity has moved from megabit-per-second capacity to gigabit-per-second capacity. By deploying Ericsson’s microwave solution, Safaricom will benefit from multi Gbps links as an alternative in areas where fibre is not viable. The links will assist in providing the much-needed capacity to assist the service provider to expand da...
