Mobile and Telecoms
MTN Liberia and Sendwave Partner to Expand International Remittences
Sourced from The Techie Guy Lonestar Cell MTN has partnered with Sendwave to enable customers to receive international remittances from the US straight into their Mobile Money accounts. MTN believes that using MoMo for international remittances and daily financial transactions makes life easier, safer and more convenient. “We are excited and very proud to be at the forefront of innovative financial technologies and partnerships which can help Liberians live convenient and safer lives. Our international remittances partnership with Sendwave does just that,” says Christopher Ssali, Acting GM of Lonestar Cell MTN Mobile Money. “What is even better is that with our rapidly expanding MoMo ecosystem, MoMo customers can use the money they receive to pay bills, buy goods and pay for services...
Paratus Deploys 100Gig Fibre Ring in Zambia
Paratus Zambia confirmed the deployment of a 100Gig metro fibre ring in Zambia – marking a first for the pan-African telecommunications Group. The fibre ring is expected to utilise technology that increases bandwidth over an existing fibre network, meaning businesses can transmit data at speeds of up to 100Gbps. Coupled with the additional capacity of Paratus’ network footprint, businesses not only get speed but much-needed bandwidth for data-hungry applications, as well as reliable access to their branches, private data centres and cloud services such as Microsoft Azure, Amazon and Google Cloud. The telco believes that simply having a fast Internet connection is not enough, ‘businesses need a connection that won’t bite into their bottom line with the risk of outages. Staying operational i...
1000 Kenyan Schools to be Connected to the Internet
Sourced from ICT Authority KE Kenya’s government is planning to spend KES15 billion to allow schools to teach four subjects online. This comes after ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru announced plans to pilot a programme that would aid in digital learning. According to The Star, Mucheru appeared before the Senate ICT Committee to “answer questions about the digital literacy programme and broadband to the school project. He said planning is underway to provide schoolchildren with customised devices to aid in digital learning”. “The devices will be developed in partnership with local universities.” Mucheru also said the funds, in partnership with Unicef, would “be used to lay infrastructure such as fibre optic cables, build ICT laboratories, connect electricity, buy tablets for learners ...
Telkom takes on eCommerce Partnership with Takealot
Image sourced from Bandwidth Blog Telkom has announced that a number of its products would now be available from Takealot.com. The companies believe that this new partnership will bring superior service and convenience to new and already existing Telkom customers. “This partnership with Takealot.com brings together a vision centred around one important stakeholder, the customer. The connectivity of our customers from the comfort of their homes during this pandemic has been our primary focus and with Takealot’s innovative e-commerce platform and success in customer service, we will leave no man behind. Our strategic partnership is sure to add much-needed comfort and value to our customers,” says Gugu Mthembu, Executive of Brand & Product Segments at Telkom. “Selected Telkom Prepaid...
Nokia to Expand LTE Network in Nigeria
Nokia and Tizeti have partnered to supply over one million subscribers in Nigeria with LTE technology. The telco will deploy Nokia’s AirScale Base Station TDD-LTE and Fastmile Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) gateways in order to deliver Internet and Virtual Private Network (VPN) services. The solution is expected to enable Tizeti to deliver a more robust, high-speed internet service to subscribers and the flexibility to seamlessly evolve to 5G Fixed Wireless Access when needed. Nokia says that its FWA solution will allow Tizeti to fast-track broadband access and provide a best-in-class broadband experience to its subscribers. Whereas its AirScale Base Stations ensure high-quality connectivity and coverage and enable Tizeti to evolve the network in line with customer demand. “We are committed t...
Telkom SA Signs Roaming Agreement with Telenor
Image sourced from Bandwidth Blog Telkom South Africa and Telenor have announced the signing of a three and a half year Managed Roaming agreement that will enable Telkom to improve the roaming retail offering to its end users. Through this agreement, Telenor will be responsible for the full end-to-end wholesale roaming process for Telkom. Meanwhile, Telkom will be able to utilize the Telenor wholesale roaming group platform and leverage on the group scale in terms of cost and revenue. “We have a long-standing and important relationship with Telenor. Their extensive roaming coverage combined with the vast experience and competence is significant in providing our end users with the desired roaming experience,” says Althon Beukes, CEO of Telkom’s Wholesale division, Openserve. “Partnering wit...
Cell C Makes Changes to Board
Image sourced from Town Press Cell C has appointed David Shimkins to its board, as one of the shareholder representatives for Net1. Shimkins will replace Paul Edwards with immediate effect. In line with Cell C’s shareholder agreement, Net1 can appoint two directors to the board. The Net1 representatives will be Alex Smith and David Shimkins. Net1 recently made these changes to its board. Shimkins is said to be a highly proficient deal executive with a deep knowledge of debt and capital markets and experience across a variety of industry sectors. He is the founder of Nitinol Capital, a company that invests in and facilitates alternative debt and equity transactions. Prior to this, he was a partner at Calculus Capital and Capital Investment Advisory and also held positions at Grin...
Lonestar Cell MTN and WorldRemit Expand International Remittances in Liberia
Lonestar Cell MTN and WorldRemit have partnered to make it possible for customers to receive international remittances straight to their Mobile Money accounts, free of charge. With over 7,000 Lonestar Cell MTN agent cashpoint locations across Liberia, the service is expected to eliminate the stress, risks and long queues in banking halls associated with receiving remittances sent by loved ones. “Liberians can now receive international financial remittances from family and friends in Europe, Canada and the USA more easily and safely,” says Christopher Ssali, Acting GM of Lonestar Cell MTN Mobile Money. “Our MoMo ecosystem has grown so customers can use the money they receive to pay bills, buy goods and pay for the services they need with Mobile Money. We are excited about this because it ma...
Kenyan Telcos could Compensate Users for Network Outages
Safaricom, Telkom and Airtel Kenya have decided to compensate customers who experience interrupted services due to network outages, reports Gadgets Africa. This comes shortly after the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) issued new draft regulations “to compel telcos to either pay or offer credit equivalent of the time users are without voice, data and SMS services”. These guidelines are said to be part of the Kenyan governments “effort to shield the millions of subscribers across the country from poor services related to network outages which include lack of internet connections”. This is something that is expected to push telcos to step-up the quality of their services. CA draft regulations “A licensee shall develop and implement an outage credit policy in situations where servi...
Telkom Makes Changes to Board of Directors
Image sourced from Bandwidth Blog Telkom has made two changes to its board of directors – the appointment of Alphonzo Samuels as a non-executive director with effect from 1 January 2021, as well as Hemmanth (Herman) Singh as an independent non-executive director with effect from 25 September 2020. This comes after the telco revealed that Santie Botha and Khanyisile Kweyama, both independent non-executive directors, have made the decision to retire, with effect from 25 September 2020 and 31 December 2020 respectively. Samuels holds a Bachelor of Technology degree from UNISA and is said to be a seasoned executive with more than 35 years’ experience in the telecommunications industry. He also completed an Executive Development Program and a Program for Enterprise Leadership. He is well-positi...
Vodacom Zero-Rates COVID-19 Alert App
South Africa’s National Department of Health (DoH) and Discovery have partnered to launch a COVID-19 Alert app in an attempt to strengthen the existing contact tracing methods in the country. The app is a free exposure notification tool that lets users know if/when they have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. It uses Bluetooth contact tracing technology, which simply tracks close contact (proximity) between smartphones and not the actual locations of the smartphones. Once users have downloaded and installed the app, it runs in the background. Bluetooth and notifications must be enabled for the app to work and users need to have access to a mobile or Wi-Fi network to send and receive exposure alerts. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_517.td-a-rec-img{ text-align:...
MTN Ghana to Become a Fully Digital Operator by 2023
MTN has introduced a month-to-month payment option that aims to give customers “control of their spend commitments”. With no lock-ins, no credit checks and no complicated paperwork, MTN Month-to-Month is available to anyone that either doesn’t want to be tied to a contract or who is unable to get a long-term contract due to not meeting minimum requirements. New or existing customers simply need to choose the package they want and opt for the month-to-month payment option, allowing them to experience the MTN network without a 24-month obligation. All they will be asked for is their name, SA ID and debit order details should they opt to pay via debit order. “These are uncertain times for many, so with this product, we are responding to our customer’s needs with greater flexibility, as not ev...
