Mobile and Telecoms
Kenyans Can Now Use Telkom T-kash to Pay for eCitizen Services
Telkom’s T-kash, the telco’s Kenyan-based mobile money platform, has been fully integrated into the governments’ digital services platform, Citizen. According to Gadgets Africa, this partnership will “enable T-kash customers to pay for National and County Government Services that are able to be found on the portal”. The list of services users will be able to pay for are those offered by the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA); Directorate of Criminal Investigations, Business Registration Service and Immigration Services. The list also includes services under the Civil Registration Department, Office of the Attorney General, Higher Education Loans Board (HELB), The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), National Construction Authority, Kenya Film Commission, National Environment Manageme...
MTN Completes NLD Fibre Cable Project in South Africa
MTN has officially completed its Coastal National Long Distance (NLD) fibre cable project. The fibre route starts in Cape Town, and runs along the N2, moves through Gqeberha and East London and then on to Durban. It is expected to offer an exciting alternative to existing fibre networks and older, slower options and covers an impressive 1,822 kms while supporting several other sites. “The project gives MTN an opportunity to provide additional and significant capacity between coastal cities and the rest of SA, ensuring the digital world is brought one step closer for many more people,” says Giovanni Chiarelli, CIO at MTN SA. The NLD 5/6 project commenced over 3 years ago, constructed by Liquid Telecoms (Liquid Intelligent Technologies), with MTN as the key anchor investor. Apart ...
Telkom Group Records Growth in Mobile Business
Telkom has released its financial results – ending 31 March 2021. The telco saw the lion’s share of its income made up by “next-generation technologies” like its mobile business. Growth, driven by the mobile business, saw EBITDA grow 11.7% to R11 973 million, with EBITDA margin expanding by 2.8 ppts to 27.7%. Despite a challenging environment, Group revenue grew 0.4% to R43 222 million. Mobile business revenue growth now more than offsets the anticipated structural decline in fixed-voice revenue and revenue pressures from COVID-19. The results showed a change in revenue mix, with legacy fixed-voice income now contributing only 15% to the business. Notwithstanding the challenging trading environment, the Group delivered underlying earnings growth of 88.1% to R2 622 million, growing BEPS and...
Safaricom to Pay $850 Million for Ethiopian Operating Licence
Image sourced from Techweez Safaricom, alongside parent company Vodafone, has been awarded one operating licence by Ethiopia’s telecommunications regulator. The telco is expected to pay $850 million for the licence. In a tweet, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed says “The Council of Ministers has unanimously made a historic decision today allowing Ethiopian Communications Authority to grant a new nationwide telecom license to the Global Partnership for Ethiopia which offered the highest licensing fee and a very solid investment case.” According to Reuters, the consortium – led by Safaricom – plans to invest up to $8.5 billion in infrastructure as well as create up to one and a half million jobs. Ahmed adds, “with over $8 billion total investment, this will be the single largest FDI into Ethiop...
Airtel Kenya Joins forces with MyDawa to Provide Fast Access To Medicine
Sourced from Comms MEA Airtel Kenya has partnered with ePharmacy platform, MyDawa, so that subscribers can have easy and fast access to their medication. According to Gadgets Africa, Airtel subscribers will be able to log on to the MyDawa app or website without incurring additional data charges. They will also be able to use Airtel Money to pay for medicine, health, wellness, personal care and other essential items. “This is a great partnership that will increase the access to healthcare products in Kenya. We are happy to partner with Airtel, one of the top telecommunications service providers in the country, to ensure that their subscribers are able to access quality medical products in a convenient and affordable way,” says Tony Wood, MD of MyDawa. “Free access to MyDawa’s services with ...
Liquid Telecom Launches New Identity in Kenya
Liquid Telecom has unveiled its new identity as Liquid Intelligent Technologies in Kenya. As part of the rebrand, the pan-African technology group also revealed its plan to go from being a telecommunications and digital services provider to a full one-stop-shop technology. Over the last two decades, Liquid has established itself as a leading pan-African digital infrastructure provider with an extensive network spanning over 73,000 KM. This rebrand to Liquid Intelligent Technologies highlights the organisation’s expansion of its Cloud business, Cyber Security services, and other technologies added to its existing telecoms and connectivity capability. This also furthers the Group’s aim of accelerating growth by providing tailor-made digital solutions to businesses in the public and private s...
Why Broadband Connectivity is Crucial to Sustainable Development in Africa
Over the past year or so, digital transformation accelerated at an unprecedented rate in societies around the world. Whether we were working, learning, or staying in touch with friends and family, being online became more critical than ever. Even as vast numbers of people were adapting to their new realities, it became increasingly apparent that equally large numbers of people were shut out from being able to do so. In Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, approximately 800-million people are not connected to the mobile internet. Of those, some 520-million can access the mobile internet but don’t, because of factors such as smartphone penetration and lack of skills while 270-million cannot access the mobile internet because they don’t have the requisite coverage. Across the region, 4G broadband...
MTN Data Introduces New Pricing for EverydayGig Data Bundles
Sourced from TheTechieGuy (https://thetechieguy.com/) MTN South Africa is expanding its EverydayGigs data bundles as a convenient way for prepaid customers to stay connected by paying once and getting allocated with 1GB of data daily without the fuss of recharging or converting airtime to a bundle. Among the price decreases, the 7GB weekly offer price falls from R149 to R99, 14GB weekly from R199 to R179 and the 30GB monthly offer has been reduced from R499 to R349. Here’s a closer look at the MTN EverydayGigs offers: MTN Everyday Gigs Validity Total Data Allocation Daily Allocation Old Price New Price 1 Day 1GB 1GB R29 R29 2GB 2GB R49 R49 3 Day 3GB (New) 1GB – ...
Starlink Partners with Google to Deliver Data and Cloud Services
SpaceX’s broadband internet company, Starlink is partnering with Google to deliver data, cloud services, and applications to customers at the network edge by leveraging Starlink’s ability to provide high-speed broadband internet around the world and Google Cloud’s infrastructure. In a statement, the companies revealed that SpaceX will begin to “locate Starlink ground stations within Google data centre properties, enabling the secure, low-latency, and reliable delivery of data from more than 1,500 Starlink satellites launched to orbit to date to locations at the network edge via Google Cloud”. Google Cloud’s high-capacity private network will support the delivery of Starlink’s global satellite internet service, bringing businesses and consumers seamless connectivity to the cloud and Interne...
