Safaricom
Orange Submits Interest for Stake in Ethio Telecom
Sourced from MSNBC. French telecom firm Orange has submitted an expression of interest to participate in the ongoing partial privatisation of Ethiopia’s Ethio Telecom. This is according to Ethiopia’s ambassador to Paris, sharing the news on Twitter. Fruitful discussions with team of @orange which has formally submitted interest to participate in the partial privatization of @ethiotelecom! 🇪🇹 with fast growing economy & income of +100 mln people remains very attractive to foreign investors. @MoF_Ethiopia @mfaethiopia pic.twitter.com/vXJxTnYHas — Henok Teferra Shawl (@_HenokTeferra) July 20, 2021 Henok Teferra Shawl said in the tweet that Orange had “formally submitted interest to participate in the partial privatisation of Ethio Telecom.” Saying that discussions with Ora...
Kenya’s IEBC Denies Servers Were Hacked to Steal Personal Details from 61,000 Voters
Image sourced from Brookings.edu. Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has refuted claims that hackers infiltrated its servers and obtained the personal details of at least 61,000 registered voters. This comes after reports from the Directive of Criminal Investigators (DCI) were released, saying that the directive has arrested a 21-year old fraud suspect claimed to have allegedly hacked into the IEBC’s servers. Only identified by the alias ‘Kiprop’ by the DCI, the suspect is said to be the mastermind behind a high-tech mobile phone scam syndicate that has been stealing millions of dollars from M-Pesa agents across Kenya. DCI’s Report According to Nation, the DCI claim that Kiprop gained access to IEBC’s database and stole the personal details of 61,617 registered ...
Kenya’s IEBC Denies Servers Were Hacked to Steal Personal Details from 61,000 Voters
Image sourced from Brookings.edu. Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has refuted claims that hackers infiltrated its servers and obtained the personal details of at least 61,000 registered voters. This comes after reports from the Directive of Criminal Investigators (DCI) were released, saying that the directive has arrested a 21-year old fraud suspect claimed to have allegedly hacked into the IEBC’s servers. Only identified by the alias ‘Kiprop’ by the DCI, the suspect is said to be the mastermind behind a high-tech mobile phone scam syndicate that has been stealing millions of dollars from M-Pesa agents across Kenya. DCI’s Report According to Nation, the DCI claim that Kiprop gained access to IEBC’s database and stole the personal details of 61,617 registered ...
Safaricom’s Plans in Ethiopia Hit Snag Due to Possible US Payment Ban
Image sourced from Techweez Safaricom’s plans to expand into Ethiopia have hit a complication as a US State financier is threatening to recall its loans to a Safaricom-led consortium following an escalation of armed conflict in the horn of Africa. The US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) says that acts of violence against civilians in Ethiopia’s Tigray region could affect the release of $500-million in loans to the consortium. If the conflict deepens, it could push the DFC to forgo the investments altogether and pressure the telecoms in the consortium to seek finances from elsewhere. War in Tigray DFC’s financing of the consortium had previously been thrown into doubt over US economic sanctions against Ethiopia related to the ongoing conflict in Tigray, which has killed t...
Ethio Telecom Partners with Ericsson to Launch 4G Network for South West Ethiopia
Image sourced from FurtherAfrica. Ethio Telecom is partnering with Ericsson to expand its 4G services into the South West region of Ethiopia during 2021. A decisive move that correlates with Ethiopia’s plans into introducing international investors and partners into their monopoly-laden and virtually untapped telecoms space. The service provider will use Ericsson Radio System products and solutions for this deployment. The core expansion will take place in Ethio Telecom’s regional data centres and the data centres in Addis Ababa. Through this partnership, Ethio Telecom will seek to modernise its network by transitioning from the current Operations Support Systems (OSS) systems to the more advanced and high-capacity Ericsson Network Manager (ENM). Ethio Telecom will also introduce Ericsson ...
Kenyans Are Being Registered for Political Parties Without Knowledge or Consent
Image sourced from The World. Kenyan users are reporting on social media that they are being signed up as members of political parties in the country without their knowledge or consent via the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP). Many are finding the developments baffling: According to the Registrar of Political Parties (@ORPPKenya), I am a registered member of ANC. Eeerm, since when? Why? How? @anc_party how did I get on your membership roll and how do I get out? pic.twitter.com/KqcD53OBEH — E. Chenze (@echenze) June 18, 2021 As of yet, there is no clear answer for why this is happening. Theories are running rampant on social media. Some users are claiming that information is being leaked via security breaches in Safaricom’s M-Pesa platform. Though this is a significantly ...
Ethiopian Government Selling a 40% Stake in Ethio Telecom
Image sourced from Africanews. The Ethiopian government has announced a new tender process to begin the sale of a 40% stake in the state-owned telecommunications company, Ethio Telecom. The sale is still in its very early stages with the selection of a successful bidder expected only at the end of a significantly lengthy process. According to reports, the government plans to retain a 55% stake in the operator while the remaining 5% will be offered to domestic investors through an initial public offering. This new proposed sale of a large minority stake in the telecom comes as part of the Ethiopian government’s plan to liberalise the country’s monopoly in its telecom sector. Another key piece of the plan is for two foreign carriers to be granted licenses to operate in the vast, nearly-untap...
9 out of 10 Kenyan SMEs Use M-Pesa for Payments, via New Survey
Image sourced from WeeTracker /* custom css */ .tdi_4_9b7.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_9b7.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } A new survey conducted by Amethyst Consultants on SME perceptions of banking products in Kenya showed that up to 95% of SMEs (9 out of 10 companies) in the country use M-Pesa, Vodafone’s mobile money service, according to Business Daily Africa. The survey, commissioned by SNDBX, took place between the months of March and April 2021 and included 131 small to medium enterprises (SMEs) across 17 “key sectors”. “The survey highlighted that SMEs continue to be resilient through the pandemic season and a third [of SMEs] are looking forward to a better future in 2021,” says Amethyst Consultants Founding Director, Sharon Mbugua. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_7f1.t...
MTN Plans to Build New ICT Centre in Ghana
Sourced from TheTechieGuy (https://thetechieguy.com/) MTN Group CEO Ralph Mupita has made a three-day visit to Ghana and launched major projects that the operator aims to achieve by 2022, Ecofin reported. It intends to improve and expand network infrastructure to bring quality telecom services to rural areas and supporting Ghana’s QR code project and other digital initiatives such as combating cyber-attacks and developing women’s participation in ICT, he said. Mupita also revealed MTN’s intention to build an ICT centre in Ghana and finalise the opening of 30% of MTN Ghana’s capital to local investors by the end of the year. MTN plans to open up 30% of the capital MobileMoney by January 2022, too. Since March, the company has initiated a strategic repositioning to attract third-party capita...
Safaricom Introduces New Video Streaming Platform
Image sourced from Techweez Safaricom has launched Baze – its new video streaming platform – in Kenya. This subscription-based mobile-first service is expected to offer a wide selection of local and regional short-form videos in entertainment, music, news and sports. The telco says it is placing the entertainment Kenyans want at their fingertips while providing local content creators with an additional platform to share their stories and monetize their content. “The new service will offer customers a wide variety of video content and provide content creators an additional platform to monetize their content. We are looking to get the best forms of monetisation for creators and to give users a worry free experience when using the platform” says Kenyan business person, Sylvia Mulinge. “As we ...
Safaricom Subscribers to Receive Free Data For 90 Days
Image sourced from Techweez Safaricom Kenya has launched a campaign where subscribers can get free data every day for 90 days depending on their data usage profiles. According to Gadgets Africa, this offer is “aimed at empowering more customers to take their offline passions online as part of the country’s digital transformation agenda”. Peter Ndegwa, CEO of Safaricom, says “smartphones and the internet have become critical in our day to day lives, empowering us in different ways by connecting us to more opportunities. The 90-day free data campaign seeks to ensure that no customer is left behind by ensuring that all our customers can now access the internet, even at no cost”. Subscribers can redeem free daily data by dialling *544#. Safaricom to Pay $850 Million for Ethiopian Operatin...
Safaricom to Pay $850 Million for Ethiopian Operating Licence
Image sourced from Techweez Safaricom, alongside parent company Vodafone, has been awarded one operating licence by Ethiopia’s telecommunications regulator. The telco is expected to pay $850 million for the licence. In a tweet, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed says “The Council of Ministers has unanimously made a historic decision today allowing Ethiopian Communications Authority to grant a new nationwide telecom license to the Global Partnership for Ethiopia which offered the highest licensing fee and a very solid investment case.” According to Reuters, the consortium – led by Safaricom – plans to invest up to $8.5 billion in infrastructure as well as create up to one and a half million jobs. Ahmed adds, “with over $8 billion total investment, this will be the single largest FDI into Ethiop...
