Blogs

Cell C's financial struggles continue

Paula Gilbert
10/20/2020

South African operator Cell C recorded a net loss after tax of almost R7.6B (US$460M) in the six months to June 2020 and lost 4.5M customers in a year.

API marketplace Chenosis is gaining traction

Paula Gilbert
10/19/2020

MTN Group CTIO, Charles Molapisi, shared his ambitious plans for API marketplace Chenosis which has already signed up over 250 developers in just two months.

Safaricom contributed 6% of Kenya's GDP

Paula Gilbert
10/16/2020

Safaricom's 2020 Sustainable Business Report places its overall social impact over the past year at 6% of Kenya's GDP.

Telkom SA wants Vodacom, Rain spectrum deal scrutinized

Paula Gilbert
10/14/2020

Telkom has approached South Africa's Competition Tribunal to get it to look into spectrum deals between fellow local operators Vodacom and Rain.

MTN Ghana pulls back on dominance court case

Paula Gilbert
10/14/2020

MTN has withdrawn a court case in Ghana related to its market dominance, and is trying to find an amicable resolution with the National Communications Authority.

Telkom SA launching streaming service

Paula Gilbert
10/13/2020

Telkom South Africa is launching a new streaming service called TelkomONE and is looking for original local content.

Vodacom gets a lifeline in Lesotho

Paula Gilbert
10/12/2020

The High Court of Lesotho has granted an interim interdict stopping the Lesotho Communications Authority from revoking Vodacom's unified license in the country.

Vodacom Lesotho's license revoked

Paula Gilbert
10/9/2020

Vodacom's license in Lesotho has been revoked by the Lesotho Communications Authority for failing to pay a hefty fine, but the telco will fight the decision in court.

Airtel, Samsung in smartphone financing deal

Paula Gilbert
10/7/2020

Airtel Africa is partnering with Mastercard, Samsung and Asante Financial Services to launch a smartphone financing project as a way to entice users to upgrade from feature phones to smartphones.

SA operators allowed to keep COVID-19 emergency spectrum longer

Paula Gilbert
10/1/2020

South Africa's telecoms regulator says operators don't have to give back temporary 4G and 5G spectrum until March next year.

Strong mobile growth predicted for sub-Saharan Africa – GSMA

Paula Gilbert
9/30/2020

Nearly half a billion people subscribe to mobile services in sub-Saharan Africa with 4.3% annual growth predicted until 2025.

Orange, Google launch $30 smartphone for Africa

Paula Gilbert
9/29/2020

Orange CEO Stéphane Richard told the GSMA Thrive Africa conference that the telco is partnering with Google to launch a low-cost smartphone aimed at the African market.

Hot startup of the month: Kenya's MPost

Tom Jackson
9/25/2020

MPost, a Kenyan digital addressing company, is providing those without physical addresses a way to receive mail using a virtual address linked to their mobile number.

Safaricom to launch M-Pesa 'super app'

Paula Gilbert
9/15/2020

Safaricom is launching an M-Pesa 'super app' which will let SMEs create their own business apps within the mobile money ecosystem, according to CIO, George Njuguna, who was speaking at East Africa Com.

View4all.tv targets education in SA with zero data costs

Paula Gilbert
9/11/2020

View4all.tv founder Gregory Sheppard chats to Connecting Africa about the free content delivery platform providing both educational and entertainment content in SA with no data costs.

Ozow zero-rates SA mobile payment platform

Paula Gilbert
9/9/2020

Digital payments company Ozow has announced new mobile payments solutions for the South African market and is zero-rating data costs for users.

Nigeria sees mobile subs boom – Ericsson

Paula Gilbert
9/8/2020

According to the latest Ericsson Mobility Report stats, Africa added 12 million new mobile subscriptions during Q2 2020, half of which were in Nigeria.

Cell C recapitalization making good progress

Paula Gilbert
8/27/2020

Major shareholder Blue Label Telecoms is confident that Cell C's recapitalization will be concluded by the end of 2020.

Women in Tech Interview: GoDaddy regional director Selina Bieber

Paula Gilbert
8/26/2020

GoDaddy's regional director for MENAT and South Africa, Selina Bieber, talks about working with female entrepreneurs in Africa, and the things that connect us.

Cell C planning mass store closures in SA

Paula Gilbert
8/21/2020

Embattled South Africa operator Cell C is planning to close 128 out of its 240 stores as COVID-19 bites.

CFO Ralph Mupita to take over as MTN CEO

Paula Gilbert
8/19/2020

MTN has announced that group CFO Ralph Mupita will replace current CEO Rob Shuter in September 2020.

Hot startup of the month: Ethiopia's BeBlocky

Tom Jackson
8/18/2020

Ethiopian startup BeBlocky is trying to make learning to code easier and more accessible for young people, by turning it into a game.

Join us for the AfricaCom 2020 Digital Symposium

Paula Gilbert
8/14/2020

On August 18 and 20, Connecting Africa and AfricaCom will run a two-day Digital Symposium covering the 2020 outlook, 5G, mobile money, connectivity and more.

MTN reports COVID-19's impact on voice and data growth

Paula Gilbert
8/11/2020

MTN has seen some interesting voice, data and fintech trends emerge over the first half of 2020, caused by COVID-19 lockdowns across its markets.

MTN planning Middle East exit

Paula Gilbert
8/6/2020

MTN has announced an 'orderly exit' out of Middle East operations and is in advanced discussions to sell its 75% stake in MTN Syria.

Orange sees strong 4G growth in Africa

Paula Gilbert
7/30/2020

French operator Orange is making strides in its 4G rollout in Africa and the Middle East with 4G customers growing 40% in the region over the past year.

Somalia has Africa's cheapest data prices

Paula Gilbert
7/29/2020

The price of 1GB data in Somalia is the cheapest in Africa and the seventh cheapest globally, says Cable.co.uk study.

Hot startup of the month: Zimbabwe's Dr CADx

Tom Jackson
7/27/2020

Zimbabwean startup Dr CADx has developed a diagnostics system that is harnessing the power of AI to help doctors remotely diagnose medical images.

Airtel Africa gains customers despite COVID-19 challenges

Paula Gilbert
7/24/2020

Airtel Africa recorded decent growth in the quarter ended June 30, 2020, despite challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

African lockdowns boost Vodacom data traffic

Paula Gilbert
7/23/2020

Vodacom recorded major data traffic growth over the past three months with COVID-19 lockdowns forcing Africans to work and study from home.

Vodacom launching fintech 'super app' with Alipay

Paula Gilbert
7/21/2020

Vodacom will next year roll out a financial services 'super app' in partnership with Chinese digital payment provider Alipay.

Crosscall eyes African expansion for 'rugged devices'

Paula Gilbert
7/17/2020

French brand Crosscall is looking to launch its 'rugged devices' in ten more African countries in the next six months.

Follow Me Talk launching new MVNO in Kenya

Paula Gilbert
7/15/2020

A Kenyan smartphone financing company, Follow Me Talk, is now launching an app-based mobile virtual network operator.

Zimbabweans are trading traditional voice calls for app-based services

Paula Gilbert
7/14/2020

Zimbabweans are making fewer voice calls and using more mobile data for app-based voice and video calling, according to the latest report from the telecoms regulator.

Nigeria will have 246M mobile subs by 2025 – Omdia

Paula Gilbert
7/10/2020

Market research firm forecasting that mobile subscriptions in Nigeria will hit 246 million in 2025, rising from 180 million in 2019.

Ethiopia's telecoms liberalization is critical for digitization – report

Paula Gilbert
7/9/2020

The planned opening up of Ethiopia's telecoms sector will go a long way toward improving the affordability, coverage and quality of Internet services, says a new report from HIP Consult.

Balloon-powered 4G takes flight in Kenya

Paula Gilbert
7/8/2020

Balloon-powered 4G is now available in Kenya's rural areas through a project between Loon and Telkom Kenya.

MTN named SA's best mobile network during lockdown

Paula Gilbert
7/8/2020

MTN has been ranked as South Africa's best network during the COVID-19 lockdown in the country, according to a new report from MyBroadband Insights.

COVID-19 store closures hurt SA's Blue Label Telecoms

Paula Gilbert
7/7/2020

SA's Blue Label Telecoms is expecting to bounce back from last year's losses related to its investment in Cell C but is now predicting an earnings knock from its WiConnect business.

M-Pesa has almost 99% market share in Kenya

Paula Gilbert
7/6/2020

Safaricom is still extremely dominant when it comes to Kenya's mobile money market, but its overall mobile customer market share declined slightly in the first quarter of 2020.

Leadership changes for MTN in Cameroon, Benin and Liberia

Paula Gilbert
7/3/2020

MTN is once again shuffling around its CEOs with leadership changes at its operations in Cameroon, Benin and Liberia.

MTN 5G goes live in South Africa

Paula Gilbert
6/30/2020

MTN has launched 5G across 100 sites in South Africa and made some big promises about its future rollout if it gets access to the spectrum it needs.

Hot startup of the month: Ghana's SynCommerce

Tom Jackson
6/29/2020

SynCommerce is a cloud-based multichannel inventory and order management platform for online merchants which was born out of an entrepreneurial school in Ghana.

South Africans want free mobile data as COVID-19 ups Internet use

Paula Gilbert
6/25/2020

SA operators are experiencing increased traffic and demand for free data as the COVID-19 pandemic drives users online, according to data from Upstream's Zero-D.

African operators reinstate mobile money fees

Paula Gilbert
6/24/2020

Some operators have started to reinstate mobile money transfer fees that were waived three months ago when the COVID-19 pandemic first hit the continent.

Africa set for mobile data traffic boom

Paula Gilbert
6/23/2020

Mobile data traffic in Sub-Saharan Africa is predicted to multiply by 12 by 2025, according to the June 2020 Ericsson Mobility Report.

Telkom SA's profit falls despite mobile success

Paula Gilbert
6/22/2020

Despite strong growth in its mobile business, the South African operator saw a major drop in group earnings over the past year.

Cell C may lay off 40% of its staff

Paula Gilbert
6/19/2020

Financially strained South African mobile operator Cell C says it may cut 960 junior management and semi-skilled staff.

Orange sets sights on expansion into Nigeria and SA

Paula Gilbert
6/17/2020

French mobile operator Orange is eyeing expansion opportunities in Nigeria and South Africa, CEO Stéphane Richard told French newspaper Les Echos.

MTN has zero-rated 120M MoMo transactions during COVID-19 outbreak

Paula Gilbert
6/12/2020

MTN believes COVID-19 has triggered acceleration toward cashless, digital economies in Africa.

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