Mobile and Telecoms
Huawei Pens Deal with African Telecom Union in Bid to Boost Digital Transformation in Africa
Left to right: Samuel Chen, Vice President at Huawei Southern Africa region, Mr. John OMO, Secretary-General of the ATU. The African Telecommunications Union (ATU) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Chinese tech giant Huawei that will see African countries and organizations build capacity for ICT transformation. Under the agreement, Huawei will provide training on skills development, including reskilling and upskilling for ATU members. The MoU will also see the two organizations collaborate to support local innovation, share information on the latest trends, challenges and solutions in Africa and globally, and expand the digital economy as well as rural connectivity, in the continent, through furthering research. Digital Transformation is Vital for Africa A 2019 report by ...
Ethio Telecom Partners with Ericsson to Launch 4G Network for South West Ethiopia
Image sourced from FurtherAfrica. Ethio Telecom is partnering with Ericsson to expand its 4G services into the South West region of Ethiopia during 2021. A decisive move that correlates with Ethiopia’s plans into introducing international investors and partners into their monopoly-laden and virtually untapped telecoms space. The service provider will use Ericsson Radio System products and solutions for this deployment. The core expansion will take place in Ethio Telecom’s regional data centres and the data centres in Addis Ababa. Through this partnership, Ethio Telecom will seek to modernise its network by transitioning from the current Operations Support Systems (OSS) systems to the more advanced and high-capacity Ericsson Network Manager (ENM). Ethio Telecom will also introduce Ericsson ...
Mastercard and Zamtel Partner to Drive Financial Inclusion in Zambia
Today Zamtel, a government-owned telecommunication service provider in Zambia, and Mastercard have announced a strategic partnership that will enable Zamtel Mobile Money customers – even those without bank accounts – to make safe and seamless digital payments on the Mastercard network including international e-commerce transactions. This is expected to drive financial inclusion and improve access to the digital economy. Under the agreement, Zamtel will launch a suite of Mastercard products including a Mastercard virtual solution, a physical debit card, and Mastercard QR, giving its Mobile Money customers new ways to access and pay for products and services at the millions of merchants that accept Mastercard in Zambia and abroad. Virtual Payments via Zamlet Mobile Money With a Mastercard vi...
MTN Commits $1.5-Billion for Broadband Access Across Nigeria
Sourced from TheTechieGuy (https://thetechieguy.com/) MTN Nigeria plans to invest 640-billion naira (approximately US$1.5 billion) over the next three years to expand broadband access across the continent’s most populous country, in line with the federal government’s 2020-2025 National Broadband Plan and in support of MTN Group’s Ambition 2025 strategy. “Nigeria is one of our most important markets. We have a proud history of partnering with Nigeria and Nigerians to drive faster and more inclusive growth through digital transformation,” said MTN Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita after a three-day visit to Abuja and Lagos, in which he met a number of key stakeholders. These included President Muhammadu Buhari; Vice President Oluyemi Oluleke Osinbajo; Minister of Communications and Digita...
More than Half a Billion 5G Subscribers Expected by End of 2021 via New Report
Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company, Ericsson projects that 5G mobile subscriptions will exceed 580-million by the end of 2021, driven by an estimated one million new 5G mobile subscriptions every day. The forecast, which features in the twentieth edition of the Ericsson Mobility Report, enhances the expectation that 5G will become the fastest adopted mobile generation. About 3.50-billion 5G subscriptions and 60% 5G world population coverage are forecast by the end of 2026. However, the pace of adoption varies widely by region. Europe is off to a slower start and has continued to fall far behind China, the U.S., Korea, Japan and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) markets in the pace of 5G deployments. 5G is expected to surpass a billion subscriptions two years a...
MTN to Launch OpenRAN Network in Africa
MTN Group is leveraging its expansive footprint across Africa to test and ultimately deploy OpenRAN – an innovative technology that will enable it to launch new services more quickly, cost-effectively and seamlessly, supporting future strategies in line with the company’s Ambition 2025: Leading digital solutions for Africa’s progress. MTN plans to modernise its radio access networks using OpenRAN. This is in line with one of five vital enablers of MTN’s strategy: to build technology platforms that the company believes are second to none, thereby allowing for the rapid expansion of 4G and 5G population coverage across its markets. With up-to-date technology, MTN expects a reduction in its power consumption and associated carbon emissions. This, in turn, supports its plans to decarbonise its...
Ghana Sees Huge Surge in Digital Communications with COVID Pushing Customer Experience
Image sourced from Goobjoob Education. To a large extent, enhancing the customer experience (CX) has been a game of catch-up for most organisations in Ghana, until the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic which significantly accelerated the uptake of digital channels by enterprises last year. As the pandemic drove consumers to avoid traditional physical interaction with brands, so many corporates were forced to move their services and products online. For example, many insurance companies that used third-party agents before the pandemic are now adopting digital channels at a significant rate. This is to allow customers to buy policies online, via Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) or through a mobile app or website. Not only was the adoption of digital channels significantly accel...
Ethiopian Government Selling a 40% Stake in Ethio Telecom
Image sourced from Africanews. The Ethiopian government has announced a new tender process to begin the sale of a 40% stake in the state-owned telecommunications company, Ethio Telecom. The sale is still in its very early stages with the selection of a successful bidder expected only at the end of a significantly lengthy process. According to reports, the government plans to retain a 55% stake in the operator while the remaining 5% will be offered to domestic investors through an initial public offering. This new proposed sale of a large minority stake in the telecom comes as part of the Ethiopian government’s plan to liberalise the country’s monopoly in its telecom sector. Another key piece of the plan is for two foreign carriers to be granted licenses to operate in the vast, nearly-untap...
MTN Deploys “First-of-its-Kind” Infrastructure Advancing Network Automation in Uganda
Sourced from TheTechieGuy (https://thetechieguy.com/) MTN Uganda and several members of the Telecom Infra Project (TIP) have signed an agreement that will advance network automation in the country and abroad using TIP’s Disaggregated Cell Site Gateway (DCSG). This first of its kind network deployment in Africa will see MTN evolve its Transport Network and turn it into a future-proof asset that will seamlessly enable its network transition to 5G. Transport Network transmits data traffic between points within a network that enable access to the internet. Through Ambition 2025, MTN’s strategic blueprint, Network-as-a-Service (Naas) is one of five scale platforms for growth that contribute to leading digital solutions for Africa’s progress. TIP’s Disaggregated Cell Site Gateway (DCSG) DCSGs ul...
Airtel Nigeria Awarded “Best in Test” – An Interview with Hakan Ekmen of umlaut
Hakan Ekmen, CEO of Telecommunications for umlaut. Hakan Ekmen, CEO of Telecommunications at umlaut – an international, full-service, cross-industry, end-to-end company that offers advisory and fulfilment services to clients all over the world – chats with ITNA about umlaut’s recently published telecommunications report in Nigeria and the company’s future plans in Africa. Here’s what transpired: umlaut is well known in the Telecommunications industry, but that’s only part of the story. Can you please tell us a little bit more about umlaut? umlaut is a technology-driven and future-oriented company, providing services to numerous sectors and industries, like automotive, energy, aviation, rail and telecommunications. We transfer our expertise and knowledge across the industries. Our own value...
Safaricom’s eSIM – What is it and How to Get It
Image sourced from Techweez. The much-rumoured eSIMs developed by Safaricom have officially been released in Kenya. All your biashara and personal lines can now be managed on one device. Better yet, you don’t have to switch physical SIM cards! Switch to #SafaricomEsim at a Safaricom shop near you. Available on select devices. #TwendeTukiuke pic.twitter.com/Nm3FtJnHj5 — Safaricom PLC (@SafaricomPLC) June 8, 2021 What is an eSIM? eSIM or embedded SIM is built into your phone. It is a tiny device, much smaller than even the smallest available micro SIMs. The smallest “nano” SIM is 8.8 mm by 12.3 mm, whereas an eSIM is 2.5 mm by 2.3 mm with a thickness of 0.2 mm. Since eSIMs are installed directly on your device’s motherboard, they are re-writable, which opens many more customization options f...
Offline Device Locking: Protect Your Financed Devices against Non-payment with NuovoPay
Sourced from Travellers With the advent of 4G technology and the promising 5G technology, smartphones have offered people a gateway to enter the digital economy and get socio-economic benefits. According to Statista, in 2020 global smartphone unit sales for end-users were 1.38 billion. This shows a strong demand for smartphones, which is largely driven by consumers from developed countries. The consumer in developed countries has easy access to smartphone finance, affordable loans, alternative forms of credit scoring, etc. This necessarily does not hold true for certain emerging markets such as Sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia. According to Newzoo Global Mobile Market Report 2018, Smartphone penetration in South Africa was 35.5%, Vietnam was 37.7%, Indonesia was 27.4% as compared to 83% an...
