Mobile and Telecoms
MTN Users Can Get 3GBs of Free Data by Using This Web Browser
Image sourced from Iberdrola.com. Opera, the company that maintains the Opera and Opera Mini web browsers has partnered with MTN South Africa to provide South African users with 3GB each of free data per month while they are using Opera internet browsers. The offer is effective immediately with no sign-up required by users, only that they browse the internet using Opera browsers and be using MTN as their operator. The company says that in July 2022 alone, Opera and MTN delivered a total of 17.7 petabytes (1 petabyte is 1,024 terabytes) of free data to 5.9 million users in South Africa. Opera says that this initiative is in part to provide more free data and internet access to more people, working toward closing the digital divide. “We intrinsically agree with this view and believe that hig...
Reducing the Cost of Rural Connectivity
Danial Mausoof, Head of Mobile Networks Sales and Solutioning for Middle East and Africa at Nokia. With 60% of the African population residing in rural areas, there is an enormous opportunity to connect people in rural communities and villages. In Morocco, a third of the population lives in rural areas, and there is still a need to connect more communities to move the country onto the cutting edge of digital technology and in support of the National Broadband Plan, which aims to provide the entire population with fixed or mobile broadband by the end of 2022. Reducing the cost of rural connectivity in North Africa When it comes to rural connectivity, one of the biggest obstacles is the associated cost. At Nokia we create the technology for the world to act together and that is why we have d...
MTN Could Sell its Afghanistan Business for $35-Million
South Africa’s MTN Group, the largest telecom in Africa in terms of revenue and subscriber base, has finally received a binding offer to sell off its Afghanistan business for $35-million. The Group will end its Middle East operations after the sale. In 2021, reports began to indicate that MTN was in talks with potential international buyers to sell its wireless business in Afghanistan in part of the company’s larger plans to completely exit the Middle East. At that point, MTN was the market leader in Afghanistan with a 40% share. According to Reuters, MTN Group CEO Ralph Mupita told journalists that the Group received the offer from an undisclosed buyer for the gross sum of $35-million. The amount will be paid over a period of time, and the proceeds would be $31-million. Mupita confirmed t...
Airtel Africa Signs $124-Million Credit Facility with Citi Bank
Sourced from Comms MEA Airtel Africa, one of Africa’s largest telecom groups with a presence in 14 countries across the continent, today announced the signing of a $125-million revolving credit facility with investment banking group Citi through its branch offices/subsidiaries in sub-Saharan Africa. The telecom says that this facility is in line with its strategy to raise debt in its local operating companies, and will include both local currency and US dollar-denominated debt. The facility has a tenor up to September 2024 and will be used to support Airtel Africa’s operations and investments in four of its subsidiaries. Airtel says the facility provides potential interest rate savings in exchange for achieving social impact milestones relating to digital inclusion and gender diversity, wi...
Google’s Equiano Subsea Cable Lands in South Africa
Image sourced from Medium. Google’s Equiano Subsea Cable, which seeks to connect Europe to Africa via the ocean, has reportedly made its final stop on Monday, landing in Melkbosstrand, Western Cape, South Africa. The cable was originally announced to land in South Africa by June 2022. This landing represents the end of the Equiano cable’s $14-billion journey, which began in Lisbon, Portugal in 2019 and had several stops along the Western coast of Africa. Its latest stop was in Swakopmund, Namibia, last month. The Equiano cable route. The Equiano cable serves as an internet infrastructure connection between South Africa, Portugal and several other countries including Nigeria. The cable has a capacity of 144 terabytes/second, making it the highest-capacity internet cable ever landed on the A...
Cell C Offers Free Data Bundles to Those Affected by Load Shedding
South African telecom Cell C has launched a new solution to help its prepaid customers claim some of the data they may have lost during the country’s ongoing rotational blackouts, either as a result of inability to access data due to power outages or limited network access due to unpowered towers. The offers are free to customers who make purchases from 150MB of mobile data across qualifying bundles and can be claimed on *147#. These bundles are not available for purchase and are available to prepaid customers only. Offers are for either social or streaming mobile data that can be claimed within three days from date of purchase of a Cell C data bundle. The bundles can be claimed 24/7 even when loadshedding is suspended. “Cell C understands the frustration customers experience when loadshed...
MTN South Africa Apologises for Wide Ranging Data Outages
MTN South Africa has experienced outages in its mobile data networks in two of the country’s provinces, leaving customers without access to the carrier’s data. Customers in parts of the Free State province and Western Cape Province in South Africa experienced these outages in the early hours of Thursday morning. According to an MTN spokesperson, the network downtime was due to “urgently planned repair work” but restorations are in progress. The carrier says that restoration should be completed around 09:20, however, users on DownDetector are still reporting a heightened level of network outages as of 10:00 on Thursday morning. The outage spike was around 8:00. Image sourced from DownDetector.co.za. “Our apologies to our customers in those areas who were affected. The work was urgently requ...
Openserve Splits From Telkom South Africa
Image sourced from MoneyWeb.com. South African wholesale network infrastructure provider Openserve has officially split from its parent Telkom Group today, according to an announcement from Telkom. As part of its Q1 SENS announcement, Telkom Group says that it has approved the legal and structural separation of Openserve. The ISP will split from its parent effective 1 September 2022. Highlighting the decision, Serame Taukobong, Telkom Group CEO says, “We have been on a journey to transform and unlock value in the Group by separating the operating businesses to become standalone entities, which started with BCX and subsequently Gyro, which now operate as separate legal entities wholly owned by Telkom SOC.” “Openserve follows suit as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Telkom Group, which will ...
Orange Telecom Casts Its Tall Shadow Over Nigeria
Sourced from MSNBC. France’s Orange Group, one of the largest telecom companies in Africa, has reportedly set its sights on a possible expansion into Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria. This is according to a statement issued by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), where it is detailed that Orange sent a six-person team from its Middle East and Africa division led by non-executive Victoria Adefala to scout the Nigerian market for expansion opportunities. Orange would be entering a highly competitive telecom market in Nigeria, with four other operators already vying for power, with MTN Nigeria holding the largest market share, followed by Globacom, Airtel, and finally 9Mobile. “We are here to ensure steady investment for the long term. We also want to support the vision of the...
MTN Nigeria Posts Latest Results, Sees Massive Fintech Boom
MTN Nigeria has today announced its unaudited results for the half-year ended 30 June 2022. The company, an arm of MTN Group, considered Africa’s largest telecom in terms of subscribers and revenue, continues to report positive growth, particularly in its fintech wing. The half year saw MTN Nigeria’s active fintech subscribers grow by 87.3% to 11.5-million, including the registration of 4.2-million MoMo wallets since the launch of the fintech PSB on 19 May of this year. A massive gain for the business that was affected by a series of shady bank transfers in the country in June. Across the board, MTN Nigeria reported positive results with a 7.6% increase in mobile subscribers to an enormous 74.1-million, adding 5.7-million in the quarter alone. Active data users also increased by 13.2% to 3...
Airtel Reports 13% Revenue Growth for the Second Quarter
Sourced from Comms MEA Airtel Africa, a telecommunications company, has reported a 13% revenue growth for the second quarter of 2022. Total revenues, for mobile services and mobile money services combined, grew in Nigeria by 18.3%, in East Africa by 14.1%, and in Francophone Africa by 11.7%. On its own the mobile money service grew by 26.5%, driven by growth of 26.9% in East Africa and 25.4% in Francophone Africa. The company’s operating profit grew by 20.6% to $425 million. Segun Ogunsanya, CEO of Airtel, expressed that he is pleased with the results. “I am pleased to report that the Group has continued to post double-digit revenue growth, margin improvement and strong earnings growth. I am also particularly pleased with our ongoing strengthening of the balance sheet which continued after...
Safaricom Scoops Up 400 Developers in Kenya to Stave Off Competition
Safaricom, Kenya’s top telecom group, has reportedly hired 400 software developers in 2022 to keep up with the demand for digital talent as other digital business competitors set up shop in the country. According to Business Daily, the new hires are 6.4 percent of Safaricom’s 6,230 permanent, temporary, and contracted employees at the end of last year. The mobile operator’s CEO, Peter Ndegwa, said that the company is expanding its technical staff as it is gravitating toward offering a wide range of IT-linked services including an e-commerce platform on the M-Pesa Super app, loans, wealth management, and savings and insurance. The African mobile giant says it wants to transform from a connectivity business to a technology business. “The technology side of the business is becoming bigger, th...
