East Africa
Tanda Secures Funding for East African Expansion
Kenyan-based startup Tanda is expanding its operations after securing funding from early-stage African tech investor HAVAÍC, Zedcrest Capital, DFS Lab, Victor Asemota and three other investors. Tanda has also secured key strategic partnerships with Mastercard and Interswitch which is expected to further accelerate its growth. The company’s expansion comes on the back of successfully pioneering and proving the viability of the interoperable agent and merchant model in Kenya, a model that has only been validated in West Africa prior to Tanda. “Tanda is solving one part of the very deep and complex problem of financial inclusion that is not only Kenyan but a problem across all emerging and undeveloped markets,” says Rob Heath, partner at HAVAÍC. “HAVAÍC believes that the wider Tanda team have...
Airtel Kenya Makes Network Upgrades to Avoid CA Fines
Sourced from Comms MEA Airtel Kenya has made a number of improvements to its network in order to meet the regulatory minimum threshold on quality of calls across the country. Airtel Managing Director, Prasanta Das Sarma told Business Daily that 270 sites were upgraded from 2G and 3G sites to 4G while more than 400 sites were added in upcountry towns and highways. “In total, the upgrade covered 20 counties. Some more sites will be added by end of April when the work will be done,” says Sarma. “We are vindicated when we see more customers using us. With this kind of expansion, we will be able to satisfy CA criteria (on voice quality).” Airtel Africa – and Telkom – came under fire earlier this year when the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) placed the telco’s under scrutiny after alleged...
Uber Expands Ride-Hailing Service in Kenya
Sourced from CNet. Uber has expanded its ride-hailing service and online food delivery business to Nakuru, Kenya. According to Business Daily, this move will increase competition in the East African town where taxi-hailing services are dominated by Wasili Cabs and Bolt. “We remain optimistic about the business opportunity in Kenya, and the launch of Nakuru shows our commitment to the region,” says Brian Njao, Uber Head for East Africa. “With the COVID-19 pandemic, we are committed to helping people take essential trips safely while providing more avenues for economic opportunities for Kenyans.” /* custom css */ .tdi_3_d33.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_d33.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Uber Eats Nakuru has partnered with restaurants including KFC, Java House, Jamia Food ...
5G Rollout in Kenya Escalates as Airtel Upgrades 600 Sites
Sourced from Comms MEA Airtel Kenya has upgraded over 600 sites in Nairobi, Mombasa and Malindi to ensure that they are 5G ready – this comes shortly after rival telco, Safaricom, launched the first 5G commercial services in East Africa. “These 600 sites are now 5G-ready. We don’t have to make any further modifications to the network. We will just get the spectrum and decide when to switch on,” says Prasanta Das Sarma, MD of Airtel Kenya. According to Business Daily, the new 5G network will “give consumers Internet speeds of 700 megabits per second, more than three times faster than the current 4G network, allowing operators to offer an alternative service for homes and offices in areas which are not currently covered by its fibre network”. Sarma also revealed that subscribers can hope to ...
Bolt Kenya Launches Food Delivery Service to Rival Uber Eats
Bolt has officially launched a new food delivery service in Kenya after announcing this plan in 2020. So far the service – which aims to give users access to restaurants and menus from the palm of their hands – has partnered with around 200 restaurants, including KFC, Big Square, Pizza Mojo, Urban Gourmet Burger, Debonairs Pizza, Steers, Ohcha Noodle Bar, The Chef House, Wings Kenya Alchemist, Shokudo Japanese, Barista & Co, Mercado, Awash Ethiopian restaurant, Charlie’s Bistro and Bao Box. “Food delivery has been a popular request for quite some time and we are glad to bring this service to the millions of people who are using our platform. The infrastructure and experience we have built up with our ride-hailing business give us a good platform to expand and diversify our services,” s...
Nokia Joins Forces with Safaricom to Launch the First Commercial 5G Network in East Africa
Nokia and Safaricom have joined forces to launch the first 5G commercial services in East Africa. According to the companies, Nokia’s 5G Single Radio Access Network (SRAN) technology and 5G FastMile gateways will enable ultra-fast Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) services to Safaricom’s subscribers across Kisumu and the Western Province of Kenya. 5G technology is expected to enable new applications in areas such as virtual reality, augmented reality and artificial intelligence for Safaricom subscribers. It will also benefit enterprises across important energy, healthcare, education, transport and entertainment applications. “We are proud to be the first operator in East Africa to launch 5G services, bringing the benefits of 5G technology to our customers. 5G capabilities will change a lot ...
Paratus Zambia Introduces New Unlimited Internet Deals for Businesses
Image sourced from Patriot Paratus Zambia has introduced a new range of Infinity business deals. The telco says that these packages have been designed to give business customers access to more affordable and unlimited connectivity in Zambia, a market where a quality affordable internet connection is difficult to obtain. “We have created these Paratus Infinity packages because we fully understand how important it is for businesses to have access to quality unlimited connectivity,” says Paratus Zambia Country Manager, Marius van Vuuren. “We do not cap or shape our connectivity solutions because we know that our customers need to be always online to do their business.” The Infinity packages give customers access to uncapped and unthrottled data without dips in service quality or speeds due to...
Nutanix and CLC Africa Partner to Provide Digital Skills Across East Africa
Image sourced from Glassdoor Nutanix and Computer Learning Centre (CLC AFRICA) have joined forces to provide access to technical and sales skills across Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia and Rwanda. The partnership is expected to help provide access to valuable certified digital training to a region where demand for hyper-converged and cloud solutions is growing. “As legacy environments come to their end-of-life, African businesses are rapidly upscaling their environments to software-defined environments based on hyper-converged infrastructure solutions that will ready them for the cloud,” says Rowen Grierson, Sales Director for Sub-Saharan Africa at Nutanix. “We are delighted to announce that CLC is now an official ATP for the region. Their experience in training, the quality of their ins...
INTERVIEW: Strengthening the ICT Sector in Ethiopia
The ICT sector is fast-growing. To unpack this, Co-founder and CEO of iceaddis – Ethiopia’s first innovation hub and tech incubator – Markos Lemma talks to his experience of the East African country’s innovation ecosystem: How do you picture the development of ICT in Ethiopia? When we started iceaddis in 2011, Internet penetration was less than 1% among the population; and the role of ICT was limited. 10 years have passed since then; the internet penetration rate is around 19% today. We have seen significant progress in infrastructure, service provision, human capital and research. There are key players in the ICT sector and there is political willingness to advance this sector. In this regard, the contribution of the private sector is unneglectable. The Ministry of Innovation & techno...
Telkom Kenya Revises its Mzito Data and Voice Bundles
Image sourced from Bandwidth Blog Telkom has made revisions to its Mzito Data and Voice Bundle deals – this includes adding more data and cutting voice minutes. The telco says these changes are to make the bundle options more competitive. Here’s a closer look at the new bundles: MZITO 500 MZITO 1000 MZITO 2000 CURRENT NEW CURRENT NEW CURRENT NEW VOICE 100 50 300 150 600 400 DATA 3 GB 3 GB 8 GB 10 GB 17 GB 25 GB VALIDITY 30 days No expiry 30 days No expiry 30 days 30 days CALL RATE PAYG PAYG PAYG PAYG PAYG PAYG PRICE KES 500 KES 500 KES 1000 KES 1000 KES 2000 KES 2000 “The new combo bundle is built with the evolving data and experience needs of our customers in mind. While they continue to demand for affordability, they are also keen on holistic and comprehensive offerings that address thei...
Security and Medical Response Platform, Aura Expands to Kenya
Security and medical response platform, Aura has announced its plan to expand into Kenya by offering its emergency and medical response services in Nairobi and Mombasa. The rollout will be led by the newly appointed General Manager, Hilary Itela. Warren Myers, CEO of AURA, says that the intention is to address the fragmented and idle response capacity in Kenya while also “democratising access to critical services by making them more widely available and more affordable than ever before”. With over 15 years of experience in various management roles in East and Central Africa, Itela brings with him a wealth of specialist expertise within various verticals including security, eCommerce, logistics, pharmaceuticals, FMCG and renewable energy. In addition to working closely with Kenyan partners ...
Bolt Launches Eco-Friendly Ride Service in Kenya
Bolt has launched Bolt Green – a new eco-friendly ride offering – in Kenya. The service part of the company’s effort towards reducing its carbon footprint. “We continue to scale up our operations for the benefit of our customers and the communities in which we operate. Having electric and hybrid vehicles on our platform is a step towards ensuring environmentally conscious ways for people to move around in the city and reduce our ecological footprint,” says Ola Akinnusi, Country Manager for Bolt Kenya. “The new category also aims at expanding Bolts ride options thereby creating more economic opportunities for drivers and providing passengers with more options to choose from.” The service is currently only available in Nairobi, but Bolt plans to expand it across the country soon. /* custom c...
