Mobile and Telecoms
Vodacom SA Vows to Go 100% Green by 2025
Vodacom South Africa has announced that it pledges to halve its environmental impact by 2025, an effort that is well underway, according to the telco group, with a target set to accelerate the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The group says that within the next three years, it aims to diversify its energy mix which includes buying electricity needed for its operations from renewable energy sources. This target will have a huge impact on Vodacom’s pledge, as electricity consumption is the primary source of the telco’s GHG emissions. Furthermore, by actioning this target, Vodacom expects to contribute nationally to a transition to a low carbon economy thereby helping government achieve its Paris Agreement goal, which requires countries to cut GHG emissions to keep global temperat...
PayPulse Reports Almost a Million Transactions in a Year in Namibia
Image sourced from /www.thegrovemallofnamibia.com Since launching in 2018 PayPulse, Standard Bank’s cashless transaction app has gained significant traction in the Namibian market, processing just under a million transactions to the value of N$ 442 million ($29.7-million) during the period 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2021. Standard Bank, a South African bank and financial service group, developed the PayPulse app, which allows anyone, no matter who they may bank with, to create a virtual wallet from which to pay for bills and services and send or withdraw money. Rejoice Itembu Head of Client Solutions at Standard Bank says that the app is unique in that it is the first of its kind to let users link up to three different credit or debit cards from different commercial banks, which, Itembu...
Safaricom to Start Hiding Identity of Subscribers on Lipa na M-Pesa
Sourced from Tech Weez. Safaricom will start hiding contact details of customers making payments through Lipa na M-Pesa at the end of June to curb trade and leaking of personal information to advertisers and fraudsters. “Pursuant to the Data Protection Act 2019 which came into law on 25th November 2019, Safaricom will be changing how they share data with Lipa Na M-Pesa Partners in general,” says Safaricom, East Africa’s largest telecom group, about its new privacy shift. According to Business Daily, the telco will only display the first name of subscribers who are making payments through the platform and a few digits of their phone number. Safaricom seems to be adopting the same model as the one used by banks in Kenya, in line with the data protection law, which was enacted in 2019 to prot...
MTN Drives Rural Expansion with 39M Injection in Eastern Cape, SA
MTN SA has today announced that it is investing $39.1-million (R624-million) into the Eastern Cape province of South Africa to drive upgrades and deploy new network infrastructure across the region this year. The company says it is focusing on launching 5G and connectivity services, especially in rural areas. This latest cash injection falls as part of MTN’s “Modernisation of Network South Africa project” (MONZA) project. Last month, the telco invested nearly $57-million in rural Limpopo in the North of South Africa. MTN says this latest investment will expand network reach into rural communities, drive 5G expansion and work to restore vandalised network infrastructure. “We are working across the country to modernise the entire MTN network. Just over 68% has already been completed national...
Ethiopia Changing Laws to Prepare for M-PESA Launch
Image sourced from WeeTracker Ethiopia has reportedly started changing certain national payments laws in an effort to clear the way for Safaricom to launch M-PESA, Africa’s largest fintech platform, to the Horn of Africa country’s virtually untapped market of 110-million people. The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) has drafted a bill that will allow foreign investors to launch and operate mobile money services in the country, making way for companies like Safaricom, which is planning to begin operations in Ethiopia within the year. Last year, a consortium led by Safaricom and Vodafone secured Ethiopia’s first-ever private mobile telephony license for $850-million, however, the deal did not include or permit mobile financial services like M-PESA. According to Business Daily Africa, the NBE n...
ICYMI: Google’s Undersea Cable Finally Lands in Nigeria
Image sourced from Medium. Late last week, Google announced that its Equiano undersea cable, which successfully landed in Togo last month, has arrived in Lagos, Nigeria, marking the cable’s second stop along Africa’s Atlantic coast. Back in 2019, when Google introduced Equiano, the company said that the subsea cable upon completion, will start in western Europe and run along the West Coast of Africa, between Portugal and South Africa, with branching units along the way that can be used to extend connectivity to additional African countries. The technology giant says it is partnering with multiple key telecom players, including its landing party, the West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC), where Equiano lands to ensure that the cable can reach more businesses and end-users across Nigeria a...
MTN SA Launches New FLTE & 5G for the Home Packages
MTN has yesterday announced a new range of 5G offerings and has expanded its Home FLTE offerings through its Supersonic brand. The newly launched month-to-month Uncapped Home FLTE priced from R499 and Uncapped Home 5G from R699, come with a free-to-use router, the telco says via press release. This builds on the launch of the innovative Airfibre solution at the beginning of 2021 and makes further strides in helping connect the unconnected at affordable prices. “Our aim is to consistently provide additional affordable options for more people to access high-quality solutions, with low latency and stable download speeds. We are extremely excited to build on our FLTE and Air fibre innovations to now bring the cutting-edge benefits of 5G to our users,” says Megan Nicholas, MD at Supersonic. “5G...
Affordable & Reliable Internet Access Critical to Economic Growth, Standard Bank Says
Image sourced from Regent Lighting. In the post-COVID-19 environment, access to digital devices and the internet has become a must-have for school assignments, healthcare, communicating with friends and family, finding a job, or starting a business. Yet many South African families remain unconnected and are thus excluded from the opportunities that connectivity provides. According to The State of ICT in South Africa report, most South Africans cannot afford to connect online due to data costs, and lack of internet-enabled devices. Data costs in South Africa are notoriously high when compared to other emerging markets, with research showing that SA’s data costs are about six times higher when compared to other emerging economies. “But the pandemic, which has accelerated the reliance on digi...
MTN Cameroon to Support Camtel to Expand its 4G Coverage
MTN Cameroon and Cameroon Telecommunications (Camtel) have signed a national network roaming agreement on Wednesday which will see Camtel expand 2G/3G and 4G coverage in areas of Cameroon which are not already covered by its network. This is in line with the Cameroonian telecommunication ministry’s transformation objective, which includes initiatives to accelerate citizens’ participation in the digital economy in a cost-effective way. It is also aligned with MTN Group’s Ambition 2025 strategic intent of leading digital solutions for Africa’s progress. “One of MTN Group’s strategic priorities is to build the largest and most valuable platforms, including network as a service,” said MTN Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita. “The roaming agreement with the state-owned Camtel is a significant ...
Yoco Adds the Khumo Print to its Flagship Range of Smart Card Machines
Yoco has added the Khumo Print to its range of flagship card machines in its mission to help the self-employed get paid no matter what their needs are. The Khumo Print, an addition to the smart card machine Khumo, comes with a built-in printer for businesses specifically looking to provide customers with receipts. “While our earlier card machines focussed on bringing the necessities to small business owners who did not have access to card payments, we are now concentrated on providing them with every tool they need to get paid and run a successful business,” said Lungisa Matshoba, Yoco’s CTO. Like its namesake, the Khumo Print is a full touchscreen standalone card machine with unlimited 4G data and wifi to ensure that merchants are able to transact in any business environment. The Khumo Pr...
KZN Floods Shut Down 500 MTN Sites
MTN confirmed on Tuesday that 500 of its sites have shut down due to the ongoing floods in some parts of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). According to Independent Media, the South African mobile telecommunications company said that the floods have caused a lot of damage to infrastructure and have caused power outages in the province. “The flooding in the KZN region has caused power outages at many of our sites, and while we have battery back-up at many of the sites, these batteries have been depleted,” Jacqui O’Sullivan, MTN SA’s spokesperson, said. Areas that have been impacted by the outage include Durban South, South Coast, Umlazi, Amanzimtoti, Ballito, and Salt Rock, according to the giant network provider. O’Sullivan said that their major challenge is getting to the impacted areas at the moment b...
MTN Nigeria Attains Approval to Operate Mobile Money Bank (MoMo)
MTN Nigeria received approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria on Monday to operate Mobile Money (MoMo). MTN Nigeria’s Mobile Money (MoMo) service has more than 9-million users since it launched in 2019. According to TechCabal, the approval means that MTN Nigeria will be able to provide all the services offered by conventional commercial banks virtually, with the exception of granting credit and processing foreign exchange transactions. “We are grateful to the CBN for granting the final approval to commence the operations of MoMo PSB, which is an important milestone for our Ambition 2025 strategy. We are excited about the opportunity for MTN Nigeria to support the CBN and the Federal Republic of Nigeria in fulfilling the agenda of driving financial inclusion in Nigeria,” MTN Group CEO Ralp...
