Mobile and Telecoms
MTN South Africa Partners with Ozow to Make MoMo Transfers Simpler
MTN South Africa has partnered with Ozow to make loading funds simpler for Mobile Money (MoMo) users. “We see this partnership as one more step in our efforts at displacing cash and enabling greater digital and financial inclusion for all South Africans. The rapid growth of mobile money services this year points to the growing demand among South Africans for safe and efficient ways to store, send and spend money via their mobile device,” says Thomas Pays, CEO and co-founder at Ozow. MTN MoMo was launched at the beginning of 2020 and crossed the one million user milestone in June. It offers users an easy way to send money to friends and family members as well as access to a range of value-added services such as purchasing prepaid electricity, renewing car licence discs, and purchasing produ...
Econet Teams Up with Alphabet to Expand Network Connectivity in Africa
Econet has teamed up with X’s Project Taara – Alphabet’s moonshot factory (formerly known as Google [x]) – to expand and enhance affordable, high-speed connectivity to communities across Sub-Saharan Africa. This makes it the first roll-out of Taara’s wireless optical communication technology in Africa. Taara’s links offer fibre-like speed internet access in areas where it’s not economically viable, or too difficult to install fibre, for example, over rivers or in areas where it is unsafe to dig trenches for cables. Econet will deploy Taara’s technology in Africa across Liquid Telecom’s Fibre Optic Backbone and Mobile Network Infrastructure starting in Kenya. “This technology and our partnership with Taara forms an important building block towards realising our vision of a digitally c...
Telkom Reports 19% Increase in Mobile Subscribers
Telkom South Africa has revealed its interim results for the six months ending 30 September 2020. The telco was driven by a 19% increase in mobile subscribers – reaching 13.7 million – to claim the position of South Africa’s third mobile operator. Telkom delivered solid EBITDA growth despite a slight revenue decrease of 0.4% to R21.4 billion in the face of difficult trading conditions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. “Telkom’s decision to invest in infrastructure ahead of demand enabled us to meet the surge in demand and weather the acceleration of the decline in fixed voice revenue during the national lockdown,” says Sipho Maseko, Telkom Group CEO. Telkom Mobile expanded margin by 13.2 ptts to 29.9%, optimised direct cost to revenue ratio from 53% in the prior period to 38% and more t...
Telkom and Frogfoot Partner to Increase Fibre-to-the-Home Coverage
Telkom has chosen Frogfoot to be its third party fibre network operator as of 2 November 2020. The Fibre-To-The Home (FTTH) provider has an expansive fibre footprint in South Africa with more than 220 000 homes passed. “We are proud of this collaboration with a credible fibre provider that has over 15 years’ experience in the telecoms industry,” says Gugu Mthembu, Executive: Brand and Product Segments at Telkom. “The partnership will widen our reach in the areas where OpenServe fibre currently does not exist, meaning Telkom’s competitive offerings will now become available to customers we couldn’t reach previously. However, we will not be leaving behind our existing customers with services running over the copper infrastructure within the Frogfoot footprint.” /* custom css */ .tdi_3_4...
Rain Introduces ‘My Rain’ Mobile App
Image sourced from MyBroadband Rain South Africa has introduced ‘My Rain’, its new mobile app which is expected to allow customers to manage their accounts and data usage directly from their smartphones. Rain lists the following app features on the Google Play Store page: Manage your account – Users can update their personal details and payment method, and view their current and past invoices. Billing info – Users can see how much they’re going to be billed for the month. No nasty surprises. Daily usage – Users can see how much they’ve been using for every day of the past month. Complete control – Users are always in control. Upgrade, switch plans, or even cancel at any time. Contact support – Users can get support directly through my rain. Log a network, billing, RICA or onboarding query ...
MTN Adds 12 Million New Subscribers in Q3
MTN Group has reported a strong set of financial results for the third quarter, supported mainly by its larger operations in South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana as well as the addition of 12 million new subscribers across the continent. “As the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to impact lives and livelihoods across our markets, the group has demonstrated strong operational execution and resilience,” says MTN Group president and CEO, Ralph Mupita. To meet the increase in data and digital usage, he added that MTN had focused its investment on network capacity and resilience and modernising its IT systems, spending R16 billion in the year to the end of the third quarter. Service revenue grew by 11,4% to more than R43 billion. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (...
Telkom Reintroduces Pawa Combo Bundles in Kenya
Telkom Kenya has revamped its Pawa bundles to include SMS and mobile data at more affordable price points. “It is worth noting that SMS and WhatsApp communication are popular among the young audiences who have been actively at home following the prolonged closure of educational institutions due to the current pandemic,” says Telkom’s Marketing Director, Eric Achola. The bundles will now be available as follows: /* custom css */ .tdi_3_f6f.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_f6f.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Pawa 10- 30 minutes (Telkom to Telkom)+50MB WhatsApp (valid for 24hrs) Pawa 20- 5 minutes (Across networks)+100SMS+100MB (Valid for 24hrs) Pawa 20 Extra- 100 minutes (Telkom to Telkom)+100SMS+100MB (Valid for 24hrs) Pawa 50- 600 minutes (Telkom to Telkom)+200SMS(across net...
Vodacom Partners with Nokia on 5G Network
Vodacom has join forces with Nokia to enable ultra-fast 5G services for South Africans. Nokia is said to be deploying its 5G radio, core and fixed network solutions across Vodacom’s network. The telco is using Nokia’s 2G, 3G, 4G and fibre access networks, as well as 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) and mobile broadband services. Vodacom will also use Nokia’s FastMile 5G gateway to offer FWA broadband services in areas not currently served by a fibre network. The solution is expected to be easy for subscribers to install, delivering fibre-like speeds to homes while using Wi-Fi to connect devices within the home. “We are committed to providing the most innovative products and highest quality service to our subscribers. 5G technology allows us to deliver ultra-fast mobile networks and support e...
MTN Appoints Group Chief Risk Officer
Ferdi Moolman, MTN Group Chief Risk Officer MTN Group announced the appointment of Ferdi Moolman to Group Chief Risk Officer, a new Executive Committee (exco) position – effective from 1 March 2021. Moolman joined MTN in 2002 and has held several senior positions within the group in Nigeria and in Iran. He has spent the past five years as the CEO of MTN Nigeria and, as its CFO prior to that. During that time, the company says that significant progress has been made in stabilising the business and setting it on a sustainable growth path. That’s why the management of enterprise-wide risk is integral to MTN’s growth strategy. Moolman will bring extensive operational and financial experience to the role given his deep knowledge of the MTN Group, its markets and the telecoms sector. He will rem...
MTN Nigeria Appoints New CEO
MTN Group has appointed Karl Toriola, current VP for MTN Group’s West and Central Africa (WECA) region, as the new CEO of MTN Nigeria – effective 1 March 2021. Toriola will take over as MTN Nigeria CEO from Ferdi Moolman, who has served MTN Nigeria with distinction in this role for the past five years. Moolman will return to South Africa, where he will assume the new role of Group Chief Risk Officer. Toriola has a BSc Hons in Electronic and Electrical Engineering and an MSc in Communication Systems. In his five years as VP of MTN’s WECA region, he has overseen the steady progress of the operating companies in the region, notably the turnaround of MTN Ivory Coast and MTN Cameroon over the past two years. In addition, the WECA markets have made significant commercial and strategic strides, i...
NCC Approves MTN and 9mobile’s Roaming Service Trial in Nigeria
Sourced from the Guardian Nigeria. The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has granted MTN and 9mobile permission to trial a national roaming service. According to The Vanguard, this roaming service will allow a mobile subscriber “to automatically make and receive voice calls, send and receive data, or access other services when travelling outside the coverage of a particular network geographical area by utilising the network coverage of other networks”. “The approval requires 9mobile and MTN to configure and test their networks towards simulation for customer experience [and it] covers a few local governments, designated as the National Roaming geographic area, in Ondo State.” Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Umar Danbatta says that “the primary objective of the National Roaming Servi...
Vodacom Partners with AFI to Drive Financial Inclusion in Africa
Vodacom has joined forces with AFI to drive financial inclusion across Africa through knowledge sharing with financial policymakers and regulators. According to the companies, the partnership, which runs until October 2021, should enhance select AFI member services and platforms with private sector insights. “AFI members in Africa are among the world’s pioneers in mobile money services, having fostered decades of ground-breaking innovations that have shaped the financial inclusion landscape across the continent and beyond,” says Dr Alfred Hannig, AFI Executive Director. Regulators in the region have turned the current pandemic into opportunities to accelerate financial inclusion and ensure that no one is left behind. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_891.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_891.t...
