Mobile and Telecoms
Telkom Announces New ‘Closer Calling’ Plans
Telkom has introduced new closer calling plans for customers looking to ‘get more value for their money. The telco says that, starting in March 2021, copper landline customers will be able to align their calling plans to its SmartVoice plans. The new Closer Calling plans are available to new and existing customers and can be provisioned on Copper, Fibre and as a bolt-on to IPVoice (Internet Protocol Voice); replacing the stand-alone fixed-line as well as the old Closer Calling plans known as Weekend and Evening, Anytime, Anytime Extra, Anytime Plus and Unlimited Fixed Line. New Telkom Closer Calling plans: Closer Basic @ R199 Closer 100 @ R299 Closer 300 @ R399 Closer Unlimited @ R599 Closer Basic Bolt-on @ R40 Closer 100 Bolt-on @ R70 Closer 300 Bolt-on @ R130 Closer Unlimited Bolt-on @ R...
Nigeria has the Least Affordable Internet, Global Report Shows
Nigeria has the least affordable internet in the world, according to the Digital Quality of Life Index by Surfshark which takes in to account the quality of digital wellbeing in 85 countries (essentially 81% of the global population). In Nigeria, people have to work for 27 minutes 55 seconds to afford 1GB of mobile internet while the global average is 10 minutes. To pay for the cheapest broadband Internet, Nigerians have to work for 33 hours 42 minutes. The overall affordability is measured by combining the affordability of the cheapest mobile and broadband plans available in Nigeria. And essentially, people in 75% of the researched countries have to work more than the global average to afford the Internet. “Any country’s digital advancement has a tangible relation to its economic pot...
MTN Nigeria Subscribers Grow to 76.5 Million
Sourced from TheTechieGuy (https://thetechieguy.com/) MTN Nigeria has published its financial year results – ending December 2020 – which reveal an increase of 12.2 million mobile subscribers to total 76.5 million. The telco also recorded: Active data users increased by 7.4 million to 32.6 million Service revenue increased by 14.7% to NGN1.3 trillion Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 9.7% to N685.7 billion EBITDA margin declined by 2.5 percentage point (pp) to 50.9% Profit before tax (PBT) grew by 2.6% to N298.9 billion Earnings per share (EPS) rose by 0.9% to N10.1 MTN Launches Supersonic AirFibre in South Africa MTN has launched its Supersonic AirFibre offering in South Africa. The product is said to overcome distance and a lack of infrastruct...
Vodacom Launches First-of-its-Kind Mobile Health Service in DRC
Vodacom and Mondia have partnered to launch ‘Mum & Baby’ across the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Mum & Baby is a free-of-charge mobile health intervention service that provides subscribers with maternal, neonatal and child health information designed to encourage good health practices amongst pregnant women, mothers, partners and caregivers. Mondia creates Mum & Baby’s tailored content in the local language and includes expert articles, videos and information-sharing SMS messages. Mum & Baby’s future enhancements in the DRC will provide interactive tools including a due-date calculator, an immunisation calendar, medication reminder, medication safety information and other health tools and services. “Accessing healthcare services in Africa can be challenging, and ...
Telkom to Support Community-Led Coding Programme in South Africa
Telkom has partnered with the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies to hand over a community lab as well as a community-led coding programme to the Alice community in Eastern Cape, South Africa. As part of the Digital Skills Development Programme, Telkom has identified 25 unemployed youth aged between 18-35 with IT background from the community to partake in a month-long coding programme. The youth will be provided with laptops and software. The company has also donated a fully fitted computer lab and a comprehensive educational content platform to enhance digital skills and online learning at Healdtown High School in Fort Beaufort. “The Telkom Foundation’s mission is rooted in meaningful and sustainable community upliftment and development,” says Sarah Mthintso, Head of Te...
Vodacom and Google Give Smartphones to Rural Communities in South Africa
Vodacom has partnered with Google to give away hundreds of Android-powered smartphones to communities across Limpopo, South Africa. This move forms part of the companies continued efforts to “reduce the digital divide” and offer many who reside in deep rural communities “access to the internet for the first time”. “At Vodacom we are optimistic about how technology and connectivity can enhance the future and improve people’s lives. Through our business, we aim to build a digital society that transforms communities, embraces everyone, leaving no one behind. Our purpose is to ‘connect for a better future’, improving the lives of the next 100 million customers by 2025,” says Imran Khan, Managing Executive for Vodacom Limpopo. “In our pursuit to build an inclusive and sustainable digital societ...
Rain Suffers Private Data Breach
Image sourced from MyBroadband Rain has confirmed that hit by a security breach. The South African telco revealed in an email to subscribers that its security team discovered unauthorised access to the group’s invoice storage system. According to BusinessTech, the vulnerability has been “identified and remedied”. However, some historical invoices “may have been accessed”, with the information limited to customers name and postal addresses. “Firstly, we want to assure you that your sensitive information is secure, and no action is required from you at all. We can confirm that there has been no unauthorised access to any systems that store information such as login details, ID numbers, banking or card details. This information was never at risk,” says the company. “We would like to assu...
Why Telcos Should Prioritise Efficiency and Sustainability in 5G Networks
5G is expected to be one of the most transformative communication technologies in a generation – thanks to its ability to enable new services including advanced energy management capabilities that will be critical to solving growing energy and sustainability challenges. But new research highlights the practical challenges of 5G energy management facing telco operators. Estimates suggest 5G networks can be up to 90% more efficient per traffic unit than their 4G predecessors. However, they still require far more energy due to increased network density, heavy reliance on IT systems and infrastructure, and increased network use and accelerated traffic growth. A recent report from Vertiv concludes telecom operators should address these challenges in two ways: by adopting energy efficiency best ...
What could 5G mean for South Africa?
The rollout of 5G in South Africa’s urban centres is likely to be one of the most significant technology events of 2021. Where 3G and 4G LTE technology provided increased speeds compared to their predecessors, 5G will establish an entirely new innovation platform upon which many of the technologies and day-to-day conveniences of the future will be built. It’s less of an iteration on previous technologies and more of a total digital transformation in how we connect to virtual and physical worlds. The number of connected devices will grow exponentially, linking previously static infrastructure – cars, clothes, parking meters – to a smart network that constantly generates and processes vast amounts of data. In line with this, the 5G services market is expected to grow at an astronomical rate,...
Safaricom to Bid on Opportunity to Expand in Ethiopia
Image sourced from Techweez Safaricom is now one of six companies vying for the chance to claim one of two Ethiopian telecoms licences. This is one opportunity that the telco has been waiting on and one that might grant access to a licence in an economy with more than 100-million people. This comes after the Ethiopian Telecommunication Authority (ECA) issued a statement last year announcing that the country would be open to selling a 40% stake in the state-owned company. In response to this announcement, Safaricom and, its parent company, Vodacom both expressed their interest in buying a stake in Ethio Telecom. According to Bussiness Daily, the ECA has “whittled the list down from a consortium of 12 that had expressed interest in entering the country’s telecommunications market”. The conso...
Mastercard Partners with MTN to Enable MoMo Customers to Transact Globally
Mastercard has joined forces with MTN to enable millions of MTN MoMo customers in 16 African countries to shop and pay online with global merchants. Through a Mastercard virtual payment solution linked to MTN MoMo (Mobile Money) wallets, consumers can now unlock a host of opportunities and shop from their favourite international brands online while in their home countries or travelling abroad. The announcement comes at a time when eCommerce and online shopping are reaching record levels across Africa. According to the Economy 2021 outlook conducted by the Mastercard Economics Institute, 20-30% of the COVID-19-related surge in eCommerce will remain a permanent feature of overall retail spending. And shopping through mobile is largely how consumers access these opportunities. Across Sub-Saha...
Paratus and Telecom Namibia to Land Subsea Cable in Namibia
Telecom Namibia CEO, Stanley Shanapinda and Paratus Group CEO Barney Harmse Paratus and Telecom Namibia have agreed to land subsea cable, Equiano, in Namibia. This move is expected to provide Namibian networks with greater capacity, stimulate economic growth and support a competitive telecommunication sector. “This is a major milestone for Paratus,” says Paratus Group CEO, Barney Harmse. “We are honoured to be co-investing with Telecom Namibia on the Equiano subsea cable project because this matches our goals of delivering unlimited connectivity and building Africa’s quality network with all the Internet capacity it needs.” In 2019, Google first announced its subsea cable project would connect Africa with Europe, running along the west coast of Africa, between Portugal and South Africa. Th...
