Mobile and Telecoms
MTN Ghana Continues to Fight Against Regulator’s Attempts to Restrict Operations
Sourced from The Techie Guy MTN Ghana has initiated a new move in seeking a judicial review of Ghana’s National Communications Authority (NCA)’s decision to declare the telecom a Significant Market Power (SMP) in the country. MTN says that this declaration could mean significant regulatory restrictions being placed upon it by the NCA which could potentially limit the telecom’s growth in the country, as well as its performance, innovativeness and competitiveness in the global telecoms market. MTN Ghana heads to court All Africa reports that a statement issued by MTN Ghana in Accra on Friday and signed by its CEO, Selorm Adadevoh, who says that that the SMP declaration raises concerns about clear procedural breaches. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_ec2.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_ec2.td-...
How to RICA a Sim Card Using Vodacom’s ChatBot TOBi
With social distancing as the new norm, one of the most innovative and convenient ways to Self-RICA is through TOBi – Vodacom’s chatbot and trusted self-service team member – which allows existing Vodacom customers to RICA prepaid SIMs from the comfort of their own homes. Since the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information Act (RICA) came into effect in 2011, Vodacom is said to have been working on ways to simplify the process, making it as quick and efficient as possible. Traditionally customers would have to visit a store and present some form of identification, proof of residence and the SIM card. Now customers simply need to take a picture, scanning a new prepaid SIM card, an ID document or passport for foreign nationals and then re...
MTN is Recognised as Most Admired Telecom Brand in Uganda
Image sourced from Pinterest. MTN has been recognised as the Most Admired Telecom Brand in Uganda by Brands Africa in the 2020 Africa’s Best Brands Survey which is conducted across 27 countries on the continent. “This award is an endorsement of our efforts towards keeping every Ugandan connected,” says Joseph Bogera, MTN Uganda’s GM of Sales and Distribution. “I would like to thank all our customers and communities for the trust that they have shown in us. It encourages us to work harder every day to deliver on our belief that everyone deserves the benefits of modern connected life.” MTN reaches 100 million active user milestone MTN Uganda’s announcement comes hot on the heels of the group’s overall impressive performance across the African continent. Just last week, MTN Group a...
Intelsat and Liquid Telecom Agree to Extend Partnership
Intelsat and Liquid Telecom have announced the extension of their partnership agreement. The companies have collaborated since 2016 to bring broadband and other critical communications services to people throughout Eastern, Central and Southern Africa. Intelsat has been an integral part of Africa’s communications fabric since 1965; it was the first operator to introduce satellite services on the continent, sparking the growth of critical communications infrastructure. It was also a crucial component to the delivery of Liquid Telecom’s multi-award-winning very-small-aperture terminal (VSAT) service thanks to its high-throughput satellite fleet, providing a robust, secure and reliable communications network to communities, schools and businesses in 20 countries across the African contin...
Huawei Partners with SovTech to Develop HMS Apps
Sourced from Getty Images. Huawei has partnered with software development company, SovTech, to assist with refiguring the core services of some of South Africa’s most used mobile apps to be able to function fully on its mobile ecosystem – Huawei Mobile Services (HMS). “SovTech is responsible for developing a new Android Package File (APK) that would work on the Huawei AppGallery using only HMS integration kits. Huawei is focusing on a lot of research and development and will really challenge the status quo in terms of what we are used to in the space of mobile services offerings,” says Luke Hunt, Director of Product Advance at SovTech’s app division. To kick off the partnership with Huawei, SovTech had a codeshare agreement with Travelstart, using it as a proof of concept to demonstrate th...
Central Bank of Kenya Lengthens its COVID-19 Emergency Mobile Money Measures
Sourced from Forbes. The Central Bank of Kenya announced that it will extend the measures placed on mobile money transactions put forth back in March. Charges for mobile money transactions of up to KES1000 ($9,39) and the withdrawal of money between bank accounts and mobile money wallets. These emergency measures were put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown in Kenya. The initial announcement had the measures in place until 1 July 2020, but now the Central Bank is increasing the duration of the measures by 5 months until the end of the year, 31 December 2020. The Central Bank of Kenya says that in line with these measures: /* custom css */ .tdi_3_5fc.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_5fc.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } There will be no charge for mobi...
MTN Records 100 Million Active Users Across Africa
Sourced from The Techie Guy Access to the Internet has the power to change lives and bridge inequalities. With this in mind, MTN Group has announced that has reached a significant milestone by recording 100 million active data users on its networks across Africa and the Middle East. “We believe that everyone deserves the benefits of a modern connected life,” says MTN Group president and CEO, Rob Shuter. “We are delighted to have connected 100 million of our customers to the power of the Internet as we have increased data coverage and reduced the cost to communicate across our markets.” MTN has a total base of more than 257 million customers in 21 markets. Growth through scaling data and digital services is central to its strategy. The group is overcoming the barriers to greater mobile inte...
Mobile Data Traffic in Africa to Grow 12 Times by 2025
Sourced from Getty Images. Mobile data traffic in Sub-Saharan Africa is estimated to grow by 12 times the current figures with total traffic increasing from 0.33 Exabytes (EB) per month to 4EB by 2025. At the same time, average traffic per individual smartphone is expected to reach 7.1GB over this period 5-year period as well. In Sub-Saharan Africa, LTE accounted for around 11% of subscriptions in 2019. Over the forecast period, mobile broadband subscriptions are predicted to have a massive increase, reaching 72% of mobile subscriptions. LTE share will reach around 30% by the end of the forecast period, and LTE subscriptions are set to triple, increasing from 90 million in 2019 to 270 million in 2025. In terms of 5G penetration, discernable volumes of subscriptions are expected by 2022, ex...
MTN to Launch its 5G Network Next Week
Sourced from Business Tech MTN South Africa will finally launch its 5G network next week, 30 June 2020, becoming the first of the telecommunications group’s 22 operations to launch the next-generation broadband technology. The pan-African telecom is hosting a live event on its YouTube channel that same day. The event will be hosted by CEO Godfrey Motsa, chief consumer officer Mapula Bodibe and chief technology & information officer Giovanni Chiarelli. [embedded content] At the beginning of the month, MTN began announcing that it would launch 5G networks in major cities across South Africa. The exact locations for these launches have been confidential. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_3b3.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_3b3.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Initially, MTN had been ...
Vodacom Business and Microsoft Partner on Digital Education Platform
Vodacom Business and Microsoft South Africa have partnered to provide access to continuous, connected digital learning for South Africa’s education institutions, educators and learners through their Connected Digital Education initiative. This is in response to the growing need for affordable online learning solutions that meet the educational requirements of today’s learners through a secure combination of connectivity, collaboration, communication and educational tools and resources, while also considering the long-term need to transform education. The Connected Digital Education Platform is a trusted education platform that enables remote learning with affordable connectivity, ultimately turning the learning environment into a single, simple solution for the learner and giving them acce...
Telkom Records R43 billion in Revenue, Up 3%
Image sourced from My Broadband South African network provider, Telkom has delivered a solid top-line performance in the year to 31 March 2020, with revenue increasing 3.0% to R43.0 billion, mainly driven by a 54.4% increase in mobile service revenue. The company says its performance was underpinned by capital investments of R7.8 billion within the same period. The mobile business continues to gain scale and remains the fastest-growing mobile business in South Africa. With 12 million customers, it now accounts for 35% of Telkom’s total operating revenues. “Our Group revenue performance represents how ongoing investment – particularly in mobile, IT and masts and towers – enables Telkom to grow new revenue streams and offset traditional business shrinkage,” says Telkom Group Chief Executive,...
MTN Pulse Introduces New Data Bundles for Social Media
Sourced from Business Tech MTN Pulse has announced the launch of the new MTN Pulse Daily, Weekly and Monthly Social Pass bundles, effective immediately until 16 July 2020, which sees the introduction of 1GB valid for a day for R25. The new MTN Pulse Social Pass bundles are an extension to the existing Social bundles. The network provider says that these bundles give customers on MTN Pulse access to Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and YouTube, all in one bundle. “Social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter are essential for our youth customers to remain connected. Through these attractively priced bundles, MTN is connecting its youth customers with the services that resonate with them by ensuring that they can use their favourite online pla...
