Blogs

Amazon is creating 3,000 new jobs in SA

Paula Gilbert
6/19/2020

The e-commerce giant is adding 3,000 full-time positions in customer service, bringing its total permanent workforce in South Africa to 7,000.

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.

Safaricom is looking for a new CFO

Paula Gilbert
6/10/2020

Safaricom's Sateesh Kamath is leaving the Kenyan telco to join Vodafone Business as CFO.

Africa is a big growth market for Cloud Credential Council certification programs

Paula Gilbert
6/2/2020

Cloud Credential Council MD Mark O'Loughlin spoke to Connecting Africa about the growth it is seeing with its vendor-neutral certification programs in Africa.

Hot startup of the month: Nigeria's Crop2Cash

Tom Jackson
5/26/2020

Crop2Cash is addressing financing gaps for Nigerian farmers by making formal financing a transparent process and helping responsible farmers get access to capital.

Ethiopia telecoms liberalization moves forward despite COVID-19

Paula Gilbert
5/25/2020

Ethiopia's communications regulator is going ahead with plans to issue two new telecoms licenses in the country, despite the current COVID-19 crisis.

Vodacom plots fintech path with nano-loans

Paula Gilbert
5/21/2020

Vodacom wants to extend successes with its nano-lending products in Kenya and Tanzania to its other markets.

Exclusive: MTN Zambia and Vanu to provide off-grid connectivity

Paula Gilbert
5/19/2020

Vanu has been selected by MTN to extend mobile connectivity to Zambia's off-grid communities.

African smartphone users could help find COVID-19 treatment while sleeping

Paula Gilbert
5/18/2020

Smartphone users in Ghana, Lesotho and South Africa can now help scientists speed up COVID-19 research by letting the DreamLab app run on their smartphones while they sleep.

5G in Africa is inevitable, but not imminent – GSMA

Paula Gilbert
5/15/2020

GSMA Africa Head, Akinwale Goodluck, believes Africa needs to get a few more things right before 5G can significantly roll out on the continent.

MTN cuts spending plans as COVID-19 crisis bites

Paula Gilbert
5/14/2020

MTN has revised down its capex plans for 2020, from about $1.5 billion to $1.1 billion, as the coronavirus pandemic spreads uncertainty throughout African markets.

Loon brings balloon-powered Internet to Mozambique

Paula Gilbert
5/13/2020

Alphabet's balloon Internet project, Loon, has partnered with operator Vodacom to bring Internet connectivity to Mozambique's hard-to-reach areas.

Vodafone Egypt rakes in revenue ahead of sale

Paula Gilbert
5/12/2020

Vodafone Egypt saw a major revenue spike in the past financial year, while its parent group goes ahead with a planned sale to Saudi Telecom.

African operations boost Vodacom revenue

Paula Gilbert
5/11/2020

Vodacom's operations outside of SA continued to show strong growth over the past financial year, while the domestic market recovered in the second half.

Telkom SA delays retrenchments, postpones results due to COVID-19

Paula Gilbert
5/6/2020

Telkom South Africa is postponing the planned shedding of around 3,000 jobs and pushing back its full-year results publication due to COVID-19.

MTN Ghana boasts double-digit Q1 growth

Paula Gilbert
5/5/2020

MTN Ghana saw Q1 service revenue jump 20%, buoyed by double-digit growth in its voice, data and Mobile Money revenue.

Vodacom launches 5G in South Africa

Paula Gilbert
5/4/2020

Vodacom has launched a live 5G network in three South African cities, supporting both mobile and fixed wireless services.

MTN extends dominance in Nigeria

Paula Gilbert
4/30/2020

MTN has extended its dominance in Nigeria, adding more than 4 million subscribers in the past quarter.

M-Pesa still a cash cow for Safaricom, but COVID-19 impact looms

Paula Gilbert
4/29/2020

Safaricom's M-Pesa continues to be a strong revenue driver for the operator, but it is anticipating a negative short-term impact from the COVID-19 pandemic.

ZTE's African growth plans

Paula Gilbert
4/28/2020

ZTE has been actively trialing 5G technology in Africa but still sees 3G and 4G as big growth areas for its business on the continent.

Huawei warns of Africa impact to US chip-making restrictions

Paula Gilbert
4/24/2020

Huawei has warned that proposed US restrictions on chip-making equipment will likely hurt Africa.

MTN, Etisalat rated top telco brands in Africa and Middle East

Paula Gilbert
4/17/2020

Brand Finance has ranked MTN as the most valuable and strongest telecoms brand in Africa, while Etisalat was the leader in the MEA region.

SA telcos pledge big in COVID-19 battle

Paula Gilbert
4/16/2020

South Africa's mobile operators are making sizable pledges toward the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as spending on improving network capacity.

Vodacom CEO pledges a third of salary to COVID-19 battle

Paula Gilbert
4/14/2020

Vodacom Group's CEO, Shameel Joosub, is donating a third of his salary for the next three months to the fight against COVID-19 in South Africa.

MTN dominates market share in over half its operations

Paula Gilbert
4/9/2020

MTN has the biggest market share in 13 out of the 21 countries where it operates mobile networks in Africa and the Middle East.

SA releases emergency spectrum for COVID-19 broadband demand

Paula Gilbert
4/7/2020

South Africa's telecoms regulator is releasing emergency spectrum to meet the spike in broadband services demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gist Mobile unveils mobile service for African diaspora

Paula Gilbert
4/6/2020

Gist Mobile has launched a new mobile calling and messaging app for the African diaspora.

Vodacom, Discovery launch free online COVID-19 screening platform

Paula Gilbert
4/2/2020

Discovery and Vodacom have together launched an online healthcare platform to help South Africans during the COVID-19 pandemic.

New Safaricom CEO takes the helm

Paula Gilbert
4/1/2020

Peter Ndegwa officially took over as Safaricom CEO on April 1, 2020.

How much MTN execs get paid

Paula Gilbert
4/1/2020

MTN's Group CEO Rob Shuter made $3.3 million in 2019 while Group CFO Ralph Mupita took home $3.7 million.

Sub-Saharan Africa adds 50M mobile money accounts in 2019

Paula Gilbert
3/30/2020

Sub-Saharan Africa added 50 million new mobile money accounts in 2019, and global mobile money accounts surpassed 1 billion for the first time.

Telkom SA to cut IP Connect pricing

Paula Gilbert
3/26/2020

Telkom has come to an agreement with the SA Competition Commission to address concerns over IP Connect pricing and reducing the digital divide.

Cell C planning to give customers free 'lifeline' data

Paula Gilbert
3/24/2020

Cell C's CEO says the telco is planning to give its customers a 'lifeline package' of free data, in response to the South African Competition Commissions call for operators to do so.

Cell C narrows loss, but loses customers

Paula Gilbert
3/23/2020

South African telecom operator Cell C managed to reduce net losses in 2019 and is seeing some success from a turnaround strategy introduced from March 2019 onwards.

MTN to give SA users 20MB free data every day

Paula Gilbert
3/20/2020

MTN SA has promised to reduce its smaller data bundle prices by between 25% and 50% and is offering 20MB daily free data to users.

What African operators are doing to help during COVID-19 outbreak

Paula Gilbert
3/18/2020

African operators are stepping up to help during the COVID-19 outbreak which is now affecting at least 30 African nations.

Telkom job cuts to cost $90M

Paula Gilbert
3/16/2020

Telkom's plan to shed around 3,000 jobs is going to cost the telecoms operator about R1.5 billion (US$90 million) and will have a negative impact on its earnings for the 2020 financial year.

SA tech stock bloodbath

Paula Gilbert
3/13/2020

South Africa's tech and telecoms stocks plummeted on Thursday as worries over the spread of the coronavirus caused massive equity sell-offs.

MTN prepared for coronavirus supply chain woes

Paula Gilbert
3/12/2020

MTN Group CEO Rob Shuter says the company is prepared for possible supply chain issues as a result of the spreading coronavirus.

Nigeria, Ghana shine for MTN but SA struggles

Paula Gilbert
3/11/2020

Strong performances in Nigeria and Ghana helped push up MTN's profitability in 2019 as the South African business struggled to grow.

Rob Shuter to step down as MTN CEO in 2021

Paula Gilbert
3/11/2020

MTN Group President and CEO Rob Shuter will be leaving the telco when his contract ends at the end of March 2021.

Telkom selling 53 properties in SA

Paula Gilbert
3/6/2020

The operator is auctioning off 53 properties in South Africa as it moves forward with plans to modernize its network and improve efficiency.

BICS commits to free roaming initiative in Africa

Paula Gilbert
3/3/2020

Global communications enabler BICS has joined the Smart Africa Alliance, which is working to reduce roaming charges among the 30 participating African countries.

MTN Nigeria's data customer base grows 35%

Paula Gilbert
3/2/2020

MTN Nigeria added 6.5 million new active data users in 2019.

Cell C is being courted by multiple suitors

Paula Gilbert
3/2/2020

Cell C's CFO, Zaf Mahomed, has confirmed that the group has received multiple offers to sell the business.

Blue Label turns the corner after Cell C write-off

Paula Gilbert
2/28/2020

Blue Label Telecoms is back in the black after two tough years, including writing off its investment in troubled mobile operator Cell C.

Bank cards still beat mobile payments in Africa

Paula Gilbert
2/28/2020

A new research report from Omdia and OpenWay has found that consumer demand for debit and credit cards still outweighs that for mobile money, according to African banks.

Safaricom pens cloud deal with AWS

Paula Gilbert
2/27/2020

Safaricom will become both a customer and a reseller of Amazon Web Services cloud services in East Africa.

Econet throws hat in ring for Ethiopia license – report

Paula Gilbert
2/25/2020

Zimbabwean billionaire Strive Masiyiwa's company is reportedly looking into a telecom license in Ethiopia.

Vodacom facing trouble in Lesotho

Paula Gilbert
2/20/2020

The Lesotho Communications Authority is not happy with Vodacom and has fined it $549,000 – and is threatening to revoke its license.

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