Mobile and Telecoms
Telkom Kenya Taps Ericsson & NEC XON in $100-Million 4G Network Expansion
L-R VP and MD of Ericsson South and East Africa, Todd Ashton, Telkom CEO, Mugo Kibati and NEC XON GM Wireless, Willem Wentzel. Telkom Kenya Limited, the Helios Investment Partners and Government of Kenya joint venture, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Ericsson, the telecommunications company, and NEC XON, the systems integrator, to add 2,000 wireless sites onto Telkom Kenya’s network by 2023. The approximately $100-million nationwide rollout is part of Telkom Kenya’s long-term network expansion strategy announced in August last year when it began its strategic digital transformation reorganisation, as well as lay the groundwork towards the company’s long-term goal to become the technology partner of choice in Kenya and the region. Telkom Kenya has identified its fibre in...
The 2021 Elections Were “The Most Technologically Advanced” in SA History
Image sourced from Biometric Update. Semi-private South African telecom and internet services provider Telkom says that this year’s municipal elections have been the most technologically advanced in the history of the Rainbow Nation. The firm provides the voice and data network backbone for the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), to allow for the collation and reporting of votes across the country, and this year Telkom has “The people of South Africa are dependent on our connectivity to make their votes count. It all boils down to the technologies we deploy to service the electorate and the IEC, regardless of where voting is taking place” says Managing Executive of Converged Communications at Telkom-owned BCX, Prashil Gareeb. “Telkom has been helping to bring democracy to the people si...
Liquid & Orange Trade Networks Through New Telecoms Partnership
A new strategic partnership has been announced in Africa’s telecom space as South African Liquid Intelligent Technologies (Liquid) and Orange, a French telecom and one of the largest telecom companies in Africa, sign a deal to leverage each other’s existing networks in Africa, allowing them even greater access and opportunity to build their businesses throughout the continent. This partnership will give Liquid access to Orange’s extensive network in West Africa, including the new Djoliba network. Likewise, it will give Orange access to Liquid’s pan-African network. As a result, the two organizations will offer end-to-end high-speed connectivity and services across their networks, servicing existing and new customers in over 20 African countries. “Our customers are the real winners in this ...
SEACOM Boosts Its Fibre Network After Acquiring This Kenyan Telecom
Image sourced from the Design Quarter. Pan-African telecommunications services provider SEACOM has announced that it has completed the 100% acquisition of Hirani Telecom’s metro fibre network. Hirani Telecom is one of Kenya’s fastest-growing triple-play service providers, and the largest last-mile provider in the region. The network will be incorporated into SEACOM’s existing metro network in the capital of Kenya, Nairobi and will be under its full control. According to a release, the acquisition is part of SEACOM’s ongoing strategy in the region to grow its on-net capabilities, and provide its enterprise customers with world-class connectivity. Steve Briggs, SEACOM CSMO, expands on what the acquisition will mean for the region: “This is a first step towards ensuring we can provide end-to-...
“Severe” Internet Shutdown in Sudan as the Military Violently Seize Power
Demonstrators protest against prospect of military rule in Khartoum, Sudan. Image sourced from Reuters. Local media in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum are reporting that internet services across the region have been interrupted, with many outright stating that the internet is down. This is after reports that Sudan’s military seized power during a coup on Monday, arresting members of a transitional pro-democracy government that itself overthrew the long-ruling autocrat Omar al-Bashir during a citizen uprising two years ago. NetBlocks is reporting that the network disruptions are severe and appear to be consistent with an internet shutdown. They write that the disruption has likely been implemented to block the free flow of information online and news coverage of incidents on the ground. &#...
How to Plan for 5G Success in Sub-Saharan Africa
Spectrum planning is key to the successful rollout of mobile services. While the rollout of 5G is only growing, what happens now with spectrum policy will have a massive impact on the success of 5G and its deployment in Sub-Saharan Africa. Forward-thinking governments and regulators across the region have the opportunity to make decisions to help make the most of the prospects 5G offers. So, what should governments and regulators do next? In a new report, we look at current spectrum assignments and future needs across Sub-Saharan Africa. The report then sets out a roadmap to help governments and regulators enable 5G in the most efficient way possible. It also provides recommendations based on international best practices. Building a Successful 5G Policy The first step on the path to settin...
3 Ways That Safaricom is Leading the Future of IoT in Kenya
Image sourced from Techweez The Internet of Things (IoT) sums up a collective web of interconnected smart devices all running through the internet across each other to a central information hub, working together in unison. IoT has become a buzz term in regards to the future of technology in recent years as the internet becomes more and more connected with our daily lives. While most IoT innovations fly under the radar, Kenya’s leading telecommunications company Safaricom has invested serious amounts of capital in a few major IoT partnerships in Kenya with some of the East Africa’s country’s most powerful firms. Here are 3 ways that Safaricom has Invested in IoT for the Future of Kenya: Kenya Breweries Interconnected Coolers In 2019, Safaricom signed a partnership agreement with Kenya Brewe...
umlaut Has Awarded Ooredoo Algérie the Best in Test 2021/09
umlaut – now part of Accenture – has awarded Ooredoo Algérie the Best in Test 2021/09 mobile certificate for scoring an impressive 572 dots out of 1000 in mobile network benchmarking survey to measure the mobile network in Algeria. For the extensive crowdsourced data analysis, 257.9 thousand users contributed 315.5 million samples in 6 months (W14 2021 to W37 2021). In the nationwide assessment, 96.1% of the urban ‘build-up area’ and 98.4% of the ‘Population area’ were tested, which constituted a total area size of 128.677 km2. Ooredoo Algérie excelled in 3 categories, including best in test, best-rated user download speed, and best-rated latency. Hakan Ekmen, CEO, umlaut Telecommunications, commented, “Congratulations to Ooredoo Algérie for being awarded ‘Best in Test’. Congrats to B...
Chat on WhatsApp from as Little as R3 with Telkom’s New Bundles
Image sourced from YoMZanzi Telkom South Africa has revealed new chat bundles available to customers. Subscribers can now gain access to eight social media platforms for as little as R3 for 50MB daily, including WhatsApp, Threema, WeChat, Viber, Telegram, LINE, Signal, and Facebook Messenger. New and existing customers on Post-paid, Hybrid and Prepaid mobile qualify for the following offers: Daily Chat bundles – valid for 24 hours from the date of activation. Weekly Chat bundles – valid for 7 days from the date of activation. Monthly bundles – valid for 31 days from the date of activation. Telkom’s new social media bundles. Telkom says in a statement that it has taken heed of its customers need for flexibility. “What informed the structure of these new chat bundles is our customer and real...
Liquid Connects East & West Africa with Brand New Fibre Cable Route
Image sourced from The Zimbabwe Mail. Liquid Intelligent Technologies, a leading pan-African telecommunications technology group has announced the launch of its shortest terrestrial fibre route between the East to the West coasts of Africa, connecting Mombasa, Kenya to Muanda, DRC. With the completion of this route, Liquid establishes a new global internet transit route between Asia and the USA through Africa, avoiding high-risk bottlenecks in the Middle East and Europe. Liquid hopes the new route will serve the tens of millions of people in Africa’s landlocked cities, towns, and villages. “Access to high-speed connectivity is vital to ensuring that organisations on the continent can continue their digital transformation journeys to remain relevant and be part of this growing digital econo...
SEACOM Boosts its IP Network with a Serious Bandwidth Upgrade
Image sourced from the Design Quarter. SEACOM, a fibre-led telecoms provider and owner of extensive ICT infrastructure across Africa, has announced a 100 Gigabit Ethernet (100GE) upgrade for its IP network. The increased capacity of 100 Gbps equipment reduces the cost and complexity associated with procuring and maintaining multiple 10 Gbps ports and also simplifies load balancing through the flexibility of having 10 times more bandwidth per port. Network providers will be able to add more customers, expand their networks, or reconfigure traffic flows without disrupting network traffic or incurring multiple cross-connecting fees. According to a statement from the company, this investment will allow ISPs, CDN’s, Global and African Providers to leverage SEACOM’s network infrastructure to acc...
Cell C Slashes Data Prices – 3GB for R85
Image sourced from Town Press Cell C has announced changes to its 30-day data bundles, dropping prices for several bundles and introducing a few new ones. The enhanced data bundles will not only see a reduction in price but an increase in some of the allocated data on certain bundles purchased. The updated price changes will give Cell C customers extra data for less, offering them more value for their money. See the full list of changes below: Customers will now be able to purchase a 1GB 30-day bundle for R85, but that’s not all, Cell C is also giving away an extra 1GB of nite data for free on all 1GB 30-day data bundles. Customers walk away with 2GB for R85. Cell C is also giving away an extra 1GB of any time data when customers buy the 1GB 30-day data bundle on the Cell C App or portal, ...
