Mobile and Telecoms
MTN Liberia to Introduce New Voice and Data Surcharge
Lonestar Cell MTN has introduced a mobile voice and data surcharge – these charges are expected to abide by government regulations and directives. In an official statement, the telco says it “wishes to notify the public that in accordance with LTA-Order 0016-02-25-19 issued by the Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA), a surcharge on mobile voice on-net (Lonestar to Lonestar calls) and mobile data services has been introduced”. The surcharges are as follows: On-net (Lonestar-to-Lonestar) voice calls: US$0.008/min (or 0.8 cents/min) Data (per MB) US$0.00065/MB (or US$0.065 cents/MB) “Lonestar Cell MTN understands that these are tough economic times, but we assure you that we still have many products to allow our customers to communicate affordably. We remain com...
Airtel and Ericsson Partner to Modernise Kenya’s 4G Network
Sourced from Comms MEA Airtel has partnered with Ericsson to modernize its 4G network in Kenya. The telco signed a deal in August 2020 to enhance the quality of voice and data – this is expected to be done by leveraging Ericsson’s Radio System and Packet Core solutions. According to TechWeez, this project is also expected to make Kenya ready for 5G deployment. “Robust and secure communications are an essential component of a digital society in Kenya. We are firmly anchored to the strategy of delivering reliable connections across the country and are looking forward to expanding the high-quality mobile broadband services to our subscribers,” says Prasanta Das Sarma, CEO of Airtel Kenya. Fadi Pharaon, President of Ericsson Middle East and Africa, says, “Together with Airtel, we will imp...
MTN Joins Forces with the Telecom Infra Project
MTN Group has teamed up with the Telecom Infra Project (TIP) to support the evolution of its communication transport infrastructure – something the telco hopes will become a platform for ‘future revenue growth and profitability’. “Our partnership with TIP will drive the specific requirements of our network to meet our subscriber demands, setting us apart on our network scalability and adaptability,” says Charles Molapisi, MTN Group CIO. Through the partnership, communication transport capacity will be deployed to support traffic growth over the next three years. In addition, it aims to provide support for new services as part of the evolution of 5G and new enterprise services. It will also reduce the time to market through more focused agile service provisioning. “Through the use of open p...
Airtel, MTN and Stanbic Bank Fall Victim to Major Data Breach in Uganda
Sourced from IDG Connect Mobile money transaction company, Pegasus technologies has suffered a major data breach resulting in the loss of billions of Ugandan Shillings – according to PLM Daily. The breach is said to have impacted telcos, Airtel and MTN Uganda, as well as Stanbic Bank, Uganda’s largest bank. “Stanbic Bank Uganda, MTN Uganda and Airtel Uganda inform the public and their customers that on Saturday 3 October 2020, a third-party service provider experienced a system incident which impacted Bank to Mobile Money transactions. All Bank to Mobile Money/Wallet services have since been temporarily suspended,” reads an official statement from the companies. “This system incident has had no impact on any balances on both Bank and Mobile Money accounts. Our technical teams are analysing...
Rwanda to Host MWC 2021
GSMA has revealed that it will host MWC Africa in Kigali, Rwanda in 2021 – this comes after MWC 2020 was scrapped in the wake of numerous wireless tech heavyweights deciding to pull out from the conference citing the coronavirus outbreak. MWC21 Africa is expected to bring together the leading names in business and technology from all around the world. “I am proud of what we have built with Thrive and the previous Mobile 360 events, which have helped shape the continent’s connected digital future,” says GSMA Director General, Mats Granryd. “From 2021 we will celebrate MWC Africa, joining our world-leading platform for thought-leadership and technology, recognising the important role Africa will play in our connected future.” /* custom css */ .tdi_3_b57.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: ...
Red Hat and Samsung Partner to Drive 5G Adoption
Red Hat and Samsung have partnered to deliver 5G network solutions, built on Red Hat OpenShift, across 5G core, edge computing, IoT and machine learning. According to the companies, it is important for telecommunications service providers to adopt a consistent horizontal cloud-native platform hardened for their environments. A recent Red Hat-sponsored report from ACG Research, open horizontal platforms can lower total cost ownership (TCO) up to 30% when compared to siloed vertically integrated deployments of virtualized radio access networks (vRANs). By taking this horizontal approach, customers have access to more choice and better service. This collaboration will utilize Red Hat’s hybrid cloud portfolio including Red Hat OpenShift, Red Hat OpenStack Platform, Red Hat Enterprise Linu...
Is South Africa Capable of Managing its own Telecoms Infrastructure?
If South Africa has the local talent and resources to construct, maintain and manage the country’s telecommunications infrastructure, why doesn’t it do so? asks Victor Stephanopoli, chairman at MzansiSat. He says South Africa needs to harness the resources and assets it already has on its shores to boost its telecommunications infrastructure rather than outsourcing to foreign players. “South Africa has the technology, expertise and persistence to address complex issues. The country would do well to harness the creativity and flexibility of its small to medium enterprise (SME) sector to find solutions to its telecoms challenges.” “South Africa could take a leaf from Germany’s Mittelstand model and position itself as a successful nation going forward by recognising good, specialised and mid-...
Telkom Makes New Changes to Board
Telkom has made new changes to its board committees. In a recent statement, the telco says “shareholders are advised that Telkom will reconstitute various of its Board Committees with effect from 28 September 2020.” Here is a closer look the changes that Telkom will make to its board committees: Botha will resign from the nominations committee and the remuneration committees Dolly Mokgatle will be appointed as a member of the nominations committee Sibusiso Sibisi will be appointed as a member of the risk committee Rex Tomlinson will be appointed as the chairman of the remuneration committee and a member of the nominations committee. He will retire from the audit committee Louis Von Zeuner will be appointed as a member of the remuneration committee and will retire from the social and ethics...
Global 5G Networks Reach Major Connectivity Milestone
101 mobile operators in 44 countries have launched one or more fully commercial 5G networks, according to the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA). Of these commercial networks, GSA data records that there are now 94 operators live with 3GPP-compliant 5G mobile services (up from 63 at the end of March 2020), while 37 have launched 3GPP-compliant 5G FWA or home broadband services (up from 34). “5G remains on track to become the fastest adopted mobile technology ever,” says Joe Barrett, GSA President. “There are now over 400 announced 5G devices; 5G subscriptions are doubling quarter on quarter; there are 20 commercially available 5G mobile processors and platforms and eight discrete 5G modems from five different semiconductor companies.” “With over 100 commercial 5G networks now launch...
Telkom Kenya and Airtel Subscribers Fall Over Failed Merger, says CA
Image sourced from Bandwidth Blog Telkom Kenya and Airtel have recorded a 16% fall in mobile Internet subscribers after consumers grew uncertain over a proposed merger of the telcos, according to Gadgets Africa. A report by the Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) reveals that there were only 38.85 million Internet subscribers as of March 2020 – this resulted in a decline from 46.46 million in the same period last year. “The merger deal collapsed last month with Airtel Kenya and Telkom Kenya citing unacceptable conditions placed on the proposed amalgamation besides delays in receiving regulatory approvals,” reports Business Daily. “The companies had entered into an agreement on February 8, 2019 to combine their mobile, enterprise and wholesale divisions, a proposed deal that led to uncert...
Cell C Joins #SavingTheClassOf2020 Project
Image sourced from Town Press As the fourth industrial revolution becomes reality on a global scale, the need for learners to master STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects has never been more important. According to STEMblogSA, this revolution will create more jobs than technology displaces, but STEM skills will be more critical than ever, given that between 65% and 85% of jobs that will exist in the future, currently do not exist. STEM subjects don’t just equip learners with know-how about how jobs in the future will work, it teaches them critical and creative thinking to navigate this space. In South Africa, the importance of STEM education is vital. The country lags behind a lot of other nations in the world in equipping its youth with STEM knowledge; in 2019, ...
Airtel Africa Introduces ‘Amazing’ Data Bundles
Sourced from Comms MEA Airtel Africa has introduced a new range of data bundles that could see customers receive up to 15GB of free data. According to Gadgets Africa, new daily, weekly and monthly data promotion will allow customers to get 500MB free data every day – depending on their data plan. For a weekly plan, customers can get Free 3.5GB – 500MB is awarded on a daily basis for 7 days. For a monthly plan, customers can get Free 15GB – 500MB is awarded on a daily basis for 30 days. Here’s a closer look at the data bundles: /* custom css */ .tdi_3_2b2.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_2b2.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Airtel Nigeria Introduces New Unlimited Data Plans Airtel Nigeria has introduced a new range of unlimited data plans – known as ‘Unlimited Ultra Plans’. Th...
